Hopalong's Spooky Scone report

a big well done!!! I'd say condition wise shes looking hard and fit, how an eventer should be! First thing i thought when you said about her being off it a bit was possibly a low grade virus? george had something similar once and it completely wiped him out! I'd say give her a couple of day off/easy light hacking and then see how you feel from there?
 
well done on your DC! :) fabby result especially at scone, with its hard tracks!

looks like you have been some good advice on electrolytes/feeding etc. the medic in me would start at the head and work down, check her eyes: clear bright? then nostrils and gums, (medical word is perfusing) but means do they seem ok in colour or a bit pale? pinch the skin on her neck? ping back quick or slow? next heart and resp rate? then weight tape and condition score? have a prod all over her body and legs then finally check urine/droppings(urine straw colour and poo soft but not runny or hard) and temp?

i know completely OTT i cant help it! i'd be better grooming at the olympics than working for the NHS! wish horses could talk that would help (wish some of my patients couldnt talk that would help also!!) whoops!!

find anything worrying and you will have somewhere to go from - though you are probably right about the heat. Read an article recently about how horses dont actually feel thristy when dehydrated? tricky! phone a feedline too always good for some advice :)

but well done again, lovely report and fabby piccies as always! you give me such inspiration :D:D
drumclog ground is looking good and prep going well i hear so we will hopefully see you there if we get our blinking jeep to go on time!! :rolleyes:
 
Well done on your DC, thats fantastic!!!

Just a word of warning I put my mare on A&P Power and performance and she completly lost her head tried schooling and I spent over a hr fighting her (she is bad buty not that bad)! I spoke to there nutritionist and they suggested something else I think there comp mix, for my mare the D&H staypower worked wonders!! Hope u get it sorted!
 
Ems-
laughing.gif
at you and your ever changing scary fillers! Maybe I need to take Hopalong up and get her jumping those since she's decided SJ can be spooky?! ;)

SW66- thank you. Yes, I am 90% sure it was mostly weather related and possibly me not providing enough fuel (especially when it is a hot day), so hopefully an easy fix. Just not nice to have a niggle, but I am known for being a little precious and paranoid when it comes to her! ;) I was doing the whole "OMG, she is not feeling right and needs to be retired" thing after SJ initially which may have been a slight over reaction! :o

georgiegirl- thank you. I guess it's a fine line- I want to keep her lean and fit, but she is an older girl and I guess it wouldn't hurt her to carry a little more. I don't think we ever get it right?! :rolleyes:

kez- poor H, I think she prefers Joss' suggestion of bucketfuls of feed, not poking and prodding! ;) I do (sometimes!) wish she could talk and tell me, I'd hate to think I was pushing her when something wasn't right. Nothing looks out of place/odd and she is eating etc fine. I'm hoping some extra fuel and maybe FC's suggestion of red cell for a pep up will do the trick. Fingers crossed Jeep behaves and we'll see you on Sat. :) Thanks for local conditions update! ;)

Nic- thank you. Look forward to catching up (at last!) on Sat and fingers crossed it's cooler, I do think a large factor was heat, she's a warm pony normally (only wore a 200g rug this winter just passed, even when clipped and it was -silly degrees!) so think it affects her quicker than non-coblets.
 
Well done on the DC - wahooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have B on staypower and LOVE it, really really suits him. Warning on the red cells, B is generally very sane although can be a little looky at things (sounds a bit like H in that way) but i put him on red cell after his virus last year. Sent him off the planet - literally into a snorting idiotic maniac and i could barely get him to walk across a lorry park, let alone around a show jumping course. Having said that i know some people it's worked for.

Fingers crossed she's back to herself soon :) :)
 
woooooooooooooooooo double clear!!!

:D :D :D :D :D

Hope she feels her normal self at Drumclog.

I just ordered a Strathallan SJ pic from Mr FJ this morning, Max and I have our best concentrating faces on haha.
 
stop being so hard on yourself!!!!!!

you did fab and Heidi looks fab - look at the Air she gives everything!!!! and she obviously loves it and loves her mummy otherwise she wouldn't do it ;)

ps was that horrid raised log going down the hill in the course this year? very spooky fence that has seen some very nasty falls
 
Eek well done you! DC is great and that course was testing. Really wouldn't worry if she felt a bit laclustre on Sat - it was scorchio!

Would echo what others have said tho - sometimes they just need a wee break after a few events in a row - I find it freshens up NotMuffin loads - he gets a short break in the middle every season and normally comes back raring to go.

Sorry I missed you - we did stay and watch a fair bit of PN SJing but it had been a pretty long day by then and headed up the road.

Love your determined face over the Castle fence hehe!
 
FigJam said:
A
George- you should have, would have been very funny! ;) By the way, will def be spending pennies with you- love your XC shots! :D

Some more photos for folk to check out- click here and then next a few times for us over the parallel rails after the water. :) I love these ones! :D
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FJ....stop encouraging him! I think he already has pictures of me in the ditch and generally mooching about!

Not bad angle George. Whoever came up with the suggestion of going to that fence must be good! :p
 
Hey, super up to standard report & fabulous Mr FJ pics as usual. I think HHO is a bit of a bad encouragement to too much over analyising so please dont!!!! Keep the 40 dr & DC in mind:D

Glad Heidi enjoyed her extra bit of grub, hope it does the trick but be careful to alter very slowly especially with a girly like Heidi they are much more prone to annoying things like tying up.

Really nice to have a good catch up yesterday & thanks so so so much to Mr FJ for superb pics which even emailed their way to me before the strike of midnight yesterday. Off to do my bit & post a report:)
 
Great report and photos as usual from Team Hopalong and the FigJam Massive. :D I know you don't want to be happy with a double clear and an improved dressage because it didn't feel that great, but there'll be better days. Meantime keep on keepin' on ;) and the frillies will come.:)
 
langside- thank you. I would just hate to ignore something that was bothering her as she's my one and only! :( Would feel terrible if I broke her. :( I'm hoping the increased food will help and a wee quiet week or two. It's a pain that there are so many events so close together this month, stupid scheduling.

I want to stick with doing Drumclog to see if she feels better/the same/worse and then she's two weeks until Turnberry, with an easier intro run. Dithering about the Hutton plan now though, maybe it will be too much and I'll just have to settle for finishing the season bottom of a dressage-based intro RF! :(

muffinthemule- I saw you and NotMuffin zoom past the potato box and corner, he looked like he was having a ball. :D Would have been good to see you, but just as well you didn't hang around to watch our SJ. ;) Hopefully catch you soon. :)

Joss- thank you. Was lovely to catch up with you all and always great seeing Flying Echo and A! :D Last night was just increased chaff and oil, have picked up P&P today and soaked some sugar beet last night, so will add these in gradually through the week and see if this helps put some condition on. Looking forward to report! :)

Baydale- you're spot on, I do feel like I shouldn't be happy with the run, even though on paper it looks good. We're never happy- excusing the "bad on paper, great in reality" runs and whinging about "not so great" DCs?! :rolleyes: I hope it's a tiny little blip and H is back on form this weekend.

Thanks to all for the CC, words of wisdom and support. :)
 
MrFigjam said:
FJ....stop encouraging him! I think he already has pictures of me in the ditch and generally mooching about!

Not bad angle George. Whoever came up with the suggestion of going to that fence must be good! :p
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PMSL :D I'll send on that photo of you in the skijump :D

I seem to remember you saying we should go to the water jump, or big puddle as it became on Sunday :p The angle you had from the other side was better though, If I'd had the 300mm on I'd have gone for that after you'd finished with it.

Glad you like them missus :)
 
A great big massive well done on your double clear and a neeeearly sub 40 dressage. You should feel really proud on achieving something that lots of us can only dream about!

Owning an oldie myself, I know how worrying it is when they don't feel 'right', and an 'off day' for M automatically makes me think that it's her way of wanting to slow down and retire. :( But you can see from the great big smile on H's face that she absolutely loves her jumping and there's no way she wants a quiet life just yet. That show jumping pic made me laugh; any other pone and you'd put money on that being a refusal. Hopalong? Na, she can put in an extra special prancing pony leap and make it look easy.

Love the halt pic of the dressage. It look like she's saying 'Ok, I've done the pretty pony stuff, now can we go jumping?!"

I didn't get up to Scone on Sunday afterall. Didn't finish my ponying until gone 2pm and we had my Sister in law visiting in the evening so had to do mad house tidying! But will deffo catch you on Saturday. :)

p.s. for what it's worth, she's far better off being a wee bit lean than a wee bit fat ;)
 
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FigJam why don't you come up here and do Aswanley to finish the season? I know its maybe a bit of a trek with the trailer but if you were planning on doing Hutton anyway..?
:)
 
Hello Mrs FJ

Sorry just caught this. Honestly, she's not really looking too lean, she looks (as someone else said) very hard and fit, which is a good thing. But as she's a bit older she might just be feeling a bit tired - as I said in my text earlier, my older one ran out of steam at this time of year, and he was a full TB. So you aren't being a bad mum as it's not about what she's looking like necessarily but how she's feeling, and she's only just told you ;) So you've listened to her, and are acting on it! If she was REALLY feeling rough, she would NOT have done a DC, so you ARE NOT A BAD MUM :mad: Right, lecture over :rolleyes:

TBH, if she is feeling a bit tired now, I'd stick to your plan of finishing at Turnberry; but wait to see how she goes next weekend. If she's back to her usual hyper self, then you know it was more heat than anything. Think the HorseQuencher is worth a try just in case.

Hopefully see you both back on form on Wednesday xxxx (shhh don't tell Madge).
 
angelish- thank you. :)

daveismycat- phew, I am so glad I have a fellow drama queen who instantly jumps to the worst possible case scenario! I was indeed walking back to the SJ wondering if it all meant she wanted to retire... :( Of course, this is a proper over reaction until otherwise proven! I do think it's the added worry of knowing they're an "oldie" with more limited miles than a young 'un. :( I would hate to think I was pushing her too far. Hoping it's just a blip as she certainly looks like she's enjoying it in the piccies.

Hope SJ boot camp is going ok and look forward to a catch up on Sat. :)

Kerri- I'd thought of it, but it's such a trek with a wee trailer. :( It's further than Hutton. Am now dithering about Hutton also, maybe I should just finish at Turnberry. There's always Gleneagles HT in Oct for a blast round their old PN track.
 
n_l_m- thank you. :) I just want to do the best by her, whilst also having as much fun as possible. I'm glad you don't think she's quite ready to be reported to SSPCA etc yet. ;) Hopefully some extra feed and little more condition ("help my horse is too fat" post in a month or two's time?! :p ), cooler weather and she'll be right as rain.

I guess you're right, I've had no reason to worry before now, so why would I think to pre-emptively worry?! Hopefully catch you on Wed, will keep it quiet from both H and Madge! ;)

now_loves_mares said:
Think the HorseQuencher is worth a try just in case.
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Ooooh, meant to post this- tried the apple flavour one tonight and she guzzled half a bucket in one go then hoovered up the "bits" at the bottom! :D Have a peppermint one to try also, and will definitely be taking some to Drumclog with me. H is a terrible drinker, so I am very impressed with it!
 
FigJam said:
n_l_m- thank you. :) I just want to do the best by her, whilst also having as much fun as possible. I'm glad you don't think she's quite ready to be reported to SSPCA etc yet. ;) Hopefully some extra feed and little more condition ("help my horse is too fat" post in a month or two's time?! :p ), cooler weather and she'll be right as rain.

I guess you're right, I've had no reason to worry before now, so why would I think to pre-emptively worry?! Hopefully catch you on Wed, will keep it quiet from both H and Madge! ;)



Ooooh, meant to post this- tried the apple flavour one tonight and she guzzled half a bucket in one go then hoovered up the "bits" at the bottom! :D Have a peppermint one to try also, and will definitely be taking some to Drumclog with me. H is a terrible drinker, so I am very impressed with it!
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Someone else on here (spottedcat maybe?) was the first person to mention it (as in first I'd heard of it) and she was raving about it in the same way; sounds good!
 
I'm a worst-case scenario drama queen too. :D Seriously, after Strathallan I was all ready for retiring M to a career of in hand coloured showing (for all of one minute ;) ).

As n_l_m said, I think H looks great, she's a real credit to you. I'm hoping she's back to turbo charged pingy pony by Saturday.

I wondered about the horsequencher as M flatly refuses any water at events, even delicious (!!) sugarbeet water. That's fab that H enjoyed it. Do you know if anywhere in our neck of the woods stocks it??

Will make sure I find you on Saturday. SJ bootcamp is going okay, but may just withdraw after dressage depending on how we are feeling. I'm determined not to put us under any 'pressure' and I am clinging onto the fact that this is supposed to be fun. Like I said, £20 note burning might prove a suitable alternative hobby! :)
 
n_l_m- I'd heard a few folk mutter about it but was very suspicious of it being an expensive con, however bought a couple trial sachets from Olivio's lovely stand at Scone and having seen it work so well I'm a convert! Hope it works at shows too, will maybe try the other sachet on Wed night.

daveismycat- aw thank you, that's a lovely thing to say about H. :o She is a very special pony and one in a million, so I do need to look after her. :)

See how you go on Sat, I agree it is supposed to be fun, but also remember you are both very capable of it- I've seen the proof myself! ;) I should be done and finished cooling H off in plenty of time for your section's SJ starting, so if you would like me to help you warm up or just mooch about with you for morale support, I'd be more than happy to. :)
 
Ha! Keeping up your reputation as HHO most helpful member! We'll see, going with no expectations (except she better at least go in the blimmin' dressage arena!), just going to a (very expensive, far away) party to have fun.

And can't wait to FINALLY meet H. :)
 
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