WWYD, nappy horse out hacking

[eahotson]

Wanted to update on this, in case it helps anyone else.

I had the saddler out, whilst the saddle still fitted, his back had dipped further since she last saw him as he's not been using his core at all. She gave me some exercises and carrot stretches to do. Apart from the napping, he's pretty much the perfect horse so I decided to really invest some time and money into him. I concentrated more on !ong reining and started taking him to a water treadmill, I took him to stay for 2-3 days at a time to really give his fitness a boost rather than going for weekly sessions.

After his first stay at aqua training, we went to camp and he was a different horse, both on a surface and on the grass. I hacked out one day with @The Fuzzy Furry and we even had some "wheel spinning" ? It made me remember why I bought him in the first place, he was a total star.

I decided to put hind shoes back on him, as he really struggled on any surface apart from sand or grass, they was obvious at camp with the contrast from one to the other.

Since then, he's had several short stays at aqua training and the difference in him is incredible, he feels so much stronger and fitter, he's forward and keen to go out. I've boxed out to ride with friends a couple of times recently, and we've had jogging and some great gallops too. I've also started him on Vit E although that's only been about 3 weeks so far so I wouldn't expect anything immediate from that.

Thanks for all the suggestions, and I'm so pleased it was as simple a thing as hind shoes and proper fitness. My next challenge will be keeping the fitness going once winter arrives!

Well done!

 

[ycbm]

Well done JB. He's a lovely looking horse.
.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

It's always great to see a success story!

 

[JennBags]

Well done JB. He's a lovely looking horse.
.

Thanks, he's really fab.

It's always great to see a success story!

I hate it when people get loads of advice and support and don't update later, especially when they've found a solution ?

 

[paddy555]

glad you have made good progress. You are right it is really nice when someone updates.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I'm so glad he's going well, Jenn. ?

 

[splashgirl45]

thats really odd about hind shoes, someone on my yard bought a pony who was only shod in front, when he was delivered by the dealer (i know, she didnt have him vetted etc!!) he only had 1 front shoe on. what a lovely dealer!! she decided to have the other front taken off . he was ok for a couple of days and then started napping, after a while she got a professional in and after a lot of kicking and whacking she managed to get him to go forward, but the owner couldnt. the other livery and i had tried to get her to put fronts on as we felt he was sore ,she eventually gave in and he was then ok and the napping stopped, he had been trying to say something was wrong and his owner wouldnt listen..