Laafet
Well-Known Member
Well its been a busy old weekend. I decided that taking Mr T for his first ever cross country schooling effort might help cheer me up from the Murphy saga. He's never been ridden away from home and has only been cantering for a month so I thought I'd give it a bash. All I really wanted to achieve at this stage was to be able to load him, get on him, ride round, hopefully do a few jumps, go in the water, do the steps and not fall off. He had jumped out of his field again this week so was interested in to what he'd think of proper fences and not just electric fencing!
So my friend got her trailer out Saturday morning and we prepared to load up, he was an absolute angel to load which was good as he's never been on a trailer before and only travelled about 8 times in a lorry. I did travel him in his saddle too as he's not always the best to tack up at home so I didn't want to get all stressed out at Elevden trying to chase him round the car park with my saddle!
Anyway we got there and they had not moved a muscle all the way there, Tarquin unloaded nice and calmly, he looked about as if to say, 'hmmm what are we doing here?' then proceeded to graze while I got myself together. We got on and walked about for 10 minutes as there isn't really a warm up area there and as his lead horse has come back from a tendon injury we did want to make sure she was warmed up.
Setting off around the course he was incredibly calm, I wasn't. But we did pop a few low fences and he makes a lovely shape. He also was not at all bothered to trot or canter along while his lead horse jumped bigger fences. He was a bit strong and bronced a bit but nothing spectacular. At the water we failed to get him in at all, which was really disappointing as he goes through large puddles at home, I even got off and stood in my lovely Ariats in the water to get him in but he ws very determined. He got this look in his eye that I hadn't really seen before, that very stubborn Welsh Cob look, 'I shall not, will not, cannot not'. I got back on and tried some more, he got his front feet in and then stood up a few times and I decided as I was 'sans whip' that I would not push the issue this time.
After another good canter with his lead horse going over fences next to him we got to the steps and he was very good. He is quite brave if a little stubborn. But atleast he did it. We then went on to the hollow and cantered around there doing some jumps and he was starting to tire. So I didn't jump any more just tried to achieve a good canter out of him.
All in all I was very pleased, I have not done an awful lot of jumping with him ridden as yet, just small things out on rides. When I broke in him I did a lot of lungeing over poles and small fences so he has the basic idea and obviously loose he is jumping over 4ft. We got round though, he behaved as well as I could have expected and I did not fall off! He loaded like a dream so I can atleast get him out and about. There is nothing more annoying than a talented horse that doesn't load. It took me 7 years to get Murphy as good as Tarquin is to load.
Then in the afternoon I went to see Murphy. It was heartbreaking to see him. He was very happy mooching about in his stable. He mugged me for carrots when I went in with him and I gave him his lick and treat ball. His leg is huge, the chip is on the inside of the right hock. But he was sound walking around the box although he is on 4 bute a day so should be sound on that! He was just the same as usual in his behaviour so I am happy about that. He doesn't like his drugs though and he now isn't keen on his dinner as they had tried to feed him the drugs in his feed, even though they are now syringing it down his throat, he is still funny about his feeds. That did make me sad as he's always been a hoover.
I went and had a look at his x-rays and had a chat with his trainer about the prognosis. I could not believe what I saw on the x-rays. The chips is in three fragments and very large and have come off the top of the hock joint, some of the bones in the hock joint are already fused and the long bones leading into and out of the hock have a honeycombe like appearence. I've never seen that degree of deterioation in a joint on a horse so young. I really fear that after 6 weeks of box rest and a withdrawl of the bute that he won't be sound. Even if he is, how can I turn him out with Tarquin knowing that his leg is so fragile. His trainer said I do need to consider what to do if he's not sound. I'd always said that he'd come home and I'd get the deed done myself but had never expected to have to come to terms with it so soon. To think at Christmas I took him round Elveden, where I took Tarquin yesterday and did all the big fences and he was not even stiff the next morning. I guess I cannot dwell too much until he is reassessed but I had no idea that the x-rays would be so bad.
So my friend got her trailer out Saturday morning and we prepared to load up, he was an absolute angel to load which was good as he's never been on a trailer before and only travelled about 8 times in a lorry. I did travel him in his saddle too as he's not always the best to tack up at home so I didn't want to get all stressed out at Elevden trying to chase him round the car park with my saddle!
Anyway we got there and they had not moved a muscle all the way there, Tarquin unloaded nice and calmly, he looked about as if to say, 'hmmm what are we doing here?' then proceeded to graze while I got myself together. We got on and walked about for 10 minutes as there isn't really a warm up area there and as his lead horse has come back from a tendon injury we did want to make sure she was warmed up.
Setting off around the course he was incredibly calm, I wasn't. But we did pop a few low fences and he makes a lovely shape. He also was not at all bothered to trot or canter along while his lead horse jumped bigger fences. He was a bit strong and bronced a bit but nothing spectacular. At the water we failed to get him in at all, which was really disappointing as he goes through large puddles at home, I even got off and stood in my lovely Ariats in the water to get him in but he ws very determined. He got this look in his eye that I hadn't really seen before, that very stubborn Welsh Cob look, 'I shall not, will not, cannot not'. I got back on and tried some more, he got his front feet in and then stood up a few times and I decided as I was 'sans whip' that I would not push the issue this time.
After another good canter with his lead horse going over fences next to him we got to the steps and he was very good. He is quite brave if a little stubborn. But atleast he did it. We then went on to the hollow and cantered around there doing some jumps and he was starting to tire. So I didn't jump any more just tried to achieve a good canter out of him.
All in all I was very pleased, I have not done an awful lot of jumping with him ridden as yet, just small things out on rides. When I broke in him I did a lot of lungeing over poles and small fences so he has the basic idea and obviously loose he is jumping over 4ft. We got round though, he behaved as well as I could have expected and I did not fall off! He loaded like a dream so I can atleast get him out and about. There is nothing more annoying than a talented horse that doesn't load. It took me 7 years to get Murphy as good as Tarquin is to load.
Then in the afternoon I went to see Murphy. It was heartbreaking to see him. He was very happy mooching about in his stable. He mugged me for carrots when I went in with him and I gave him his lick and treat ball. His leg is huge, the chip is on the inside of the right hock. But he was sound walking around the box although he is on 4 bute a day so should be sound on that! He was just the same as usual in his behaviour so I am happy about that. He doesn't like his drugs though and he now isn't keen on his dinner as they had tried to feed him the drugs in his feed, even though they are now syringing it down his throat, he is still funny about his feeds. That did make me sad as he's always been a hoover.
I went and had a look at his x-rays and had a chat with his trainer about the prognosis. I could not believe what I saw on the x-rays. The chips is in three fragments and very large and have come off the top of the hock joint, some of the bones in the hock joint are already fused and the long bones leading into and out of the hock have a honeycombe like appearence. I've never seen that degree of deterioation in a joint on a horse so young. I really fear that after 6 weeks of box rest and a withdrawl of the bute that he won't be sound. Even if he is, how can I turn him out with Tarquin knowing that his leg is so fragile. His trainer said I do need to consider what to do if he's not sound. I'd always said that he'd come home and I'd get the deed done myself but had never expected to have to come to terms with it so soon. To think at Christmas I took him round Elveden, where I took Tarquin yesterday and did all the big fences and he was not even stiff the next morning. I guess I cannot dwell too much until he is reassessed but I had no idea that the x-rays would be so bad.
