RachelB
Well-Known Member
Many of you have followed Maiden's ups and downs over the last (almost) two years. She has now had just short of 10 months of field rest and was due to start being worked about two weeks ago, but she went lame again and I was totally devastated and had decided to give up (both on her and me, it really brought me down). After the lameness last month she came sound after two days so vet reckoned it couldn't have been the tendon again, more likely a little bit of gravel that she found stuck up her toe on her bad (left fore) leg. I was still quite depressed about everything even when Maiden did come sound and was hoping to get a new horse if I managed to get a job after graduating in June (more pressure...)
I've just been on the phone to my vet as my circumstances have changed slightly - I now have her in a field surrounded by the most boring flat and straight road hacking (miles of it, literally). When I moved Maiden on Saturday I expected her to be as footsore as usual coming over the stones on the way out of her new field, but she towed me out and into the trailer. When we arrived at the new yard, she trotted around her new field with her tail in the air looking more sound than she has done for literally a year. No-one at my new yard thinks she looks unsound either uphill or downhill in the field, although she is slightly iffy still turning around her bad leg. Farrier came this morning and did a lovely job, and said she has lovely hard feet and in his expert opinion she will be fine to start work if the vet agrees. Now, my vet is reknowned for being a complete pessimist and telling you your horse has 100 things that could be wrong with it (but she's a damned good vet) and she just told me that I seem to be in a perfect situation for Maiden to start work now, especially with the boring-but-great-for-rehab-purposes hacking, and as long as I keep a close eye on her legs and take things at snail's pace, I CAN START WALKING HER OUT!!!!
I am over the moon!
All I will do with her up until winter will be walk out in hand for two months, then get her up to doing an hour's hacking each day, then turn her away again for the winter to start trotting work next year. It's not much but she'll love doing things again and I will love having my pony back
I've just been on the phone to my vet as my circumstances have changed slightly - I now have her in a field surrounded by the most boring flat and straight road hacking (miles of it, literally). When I moved Maiden on Saturday I expected her to be as footsore as usual coming over the stones on the way out of her new field, but she towed me out and into the trailer. When we arrived at the new yard, she trotted around her new field with her tail in the air looking more sound than she has done for literally a year. No-one at my new yard thinks she looks unsound either uphill or downhill in the field, although she is slightly iffy still turning around her bad leg. Farrier came this morning and did a lovely job, and said she has lovely hard feet and in his expert opinion she will be fine to start work if the vet agrees. Now, my vet is reknowned for being a complete pessimist and telling you your horse has 100 things that could be wrong with it (but she's a damned good vet) and she just told me that I seem to be in a perfect situation for Maiden to start work now, especially with the boring-but-great-for-rehab-purposes hacking, and as long as I keep a close eye on her legs and take things at snail's pace, I CAN START WALKING HER OUT!!!!
All I will do with her up until winter will be walk out in hand for two months, then get her up to doing an hour's hacking each day, then turn her away again for the winter to start trotting work next year. It's not much but she'll love doing things again and I will love having my pony back
