A Trachea Scope

During August I had a slightly concerning time with Phoenix. She was doing well under saddle, but something wasn’t quite right and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but the result was that I was riding cautiously, and I felt that Phoenix was quite flat when I rode her. I was carrying her around the second test at competitions, and after jumps she readily fell to walk unless I actively rode her away.

There was nothing to see, she moved well. Then I wondered if she wasn’t fit enough, so I upped her canter work. One day in mid August I took her for a canter around the fields, which she was most definitely up for, pulling my arms out my sockets on the way home. But she was puffing away for significantly longer afterwards than normal. Then a few days later she was breathing very heavily during a dressage lesson and I could only do short bursts of work before letting her rest, nostrils flaring.

I monitored her closely for a few days; there weren’t any clinical signs at rest, no coughing, breathing rate was normal, and she recovered quickly after exercise, but she was definitely “puffy” and flat in her work.

So I called the vet, who came a week later to check her over. In the very least, Phoenix would get an MOT and my mind laid to rest. The vet listened to her heart and lungs in the stable, declaring them problem free. Then I lunged her.

As is typical when you have the vet, Phoenix looked slightly off on the left fore when I lunged her. Not hugely concerning to the vet, but it was flagged up. However, Phoenix did show an “intolerance to exercise” which concerned the vet.

We decided to rest Phoenix for a week to hopefully resolve the mild lameness, and see if a rest caused her respiration to sort itself out. A week passed and Phoenix was sound, but I still wasn’t happy with her breathing, so I booked the vet to scope her trachea so we could see if there were any issues, and take a sample of the cells to test for abnormalities.

I found the experience fascinating and really educational. Phoenix was sedated, and then a thin tube with a camera was pushed up one nostril. At the end of the tube was a box, held by the vet. This had a screen, showing an image of her trachea from the camera, and some knobs to control the angle of the camera.

The vet showed me Phoenix’s larynx, and explained that she was looking at the movement of the arytenoid tendons to see that they’re both opening and closing evenly and fully. It is fairly common for horses to have a mildly paralysed left arytenoid cartilage, causing them to “roar”. You may have heard of the “tie-back operation” which is often done to improve the performance of sufferers. Thankfully, Phoenix’s larynx looked very healthy and fully functional.

I then got to slowly push the tube further down Phoenix’s trachea, while the vet controlled the camera, studying the screen intently. Again, her trachea looked healthy. There was no obvious mucus, no inflammation.

The next job was to take a fluid sample from her trachea. This was really interesting! The vet syringed some water down the tube so that it formed a puddle in her trachea. Then the syringe was used to suck the liquid back up.

The liquid which came back from Phoenix’s windpipe was unexpectedly dirty given her mild symptoms, so the vet sent the sample to the lab to be analysed for signs of infection and abnormalities.

In the meantime, we discussed potential management techniques to help improve Phoenix’s respiratory health. Things like soaking hay, dust free bedding, maximise turnout, different drug options including Ventapulmin and steroids.

Two days later I spoke to the vet. To her surprise, the samples had come back clear. Which didn’t really solve the mystery of why she was puffing when being ridden. Apart from the fact that she had lost fitness with me riding more cautiously and backing off her exercise. But at least I now know that there isn’t anything seriously wrong with Phoenix.

The scoping gave me the confidence to start pushing Phoenix’s fitness and work intensity, because her respiratory system is healthy. I’m still concerned that she had some form of reaction mid August, perhaps a low level virus or to a type of pollen, but as there are no long term symptoms I’ll just have to keep a close eye on her at that time next year to see if she has a similar flat, puffy phase. Then I can liaise directly with the vet, picking up where we left off this autumn.

Whether it’s the change in weather – wetter, less humid, less pollen – or the fact that with better ground I’ve taken her for a couple of pipe openers around the fields and cleared her lungs of any muck, but Phoenix has been coping better with exercise, and although not her usual sharp self (perhaps she’s grown up?) she’s still forwards in her work and not trying to fall into walk after a couple of jumps.

To some, I may have overreacted to Phoenix’s mild symptoms and overthought things, but getting her an MOT has allowed me to push aside doubts and ride more positively, which has broken the cycle of doubt where I don’t ride positively so Phoenix doesn’t go positively… And now we’re back on track!

Horses and Heat

Horses and Heat don’t mix very well do they? Poo picking, stable chores and riding are sweaty work in average temperatures.

The trouble in the UK is that we aren’t geared up for hot weather. Our native breeds have dense coats all year round, and the temperatures tend to sky rocket for days at a time before dropping again, which makes it hard for everyone to acclimatise.

If we are due only a couple of days of hot weather then I think I sit with the majority of equestrians in either riding early in the morning or giving the horses a day off. It’s also then easy to rearrange my work onto cooler days.

However, if the heat is here to stay, then there’s a degree of acclimatising to do. Especially if you compete. It’s all very well avoiding the heat and riding early in the morning, but what if your class falls at midday? As painful as it is pulling jodhpurs on over slippery, sun creamed legs, you do need to ride during the day so you are both prepared to ride a dressage test in the scorching heat. If a horse is in rehab, or needs to be exercised in order to lose weight then long periods of down time aren’t conducive, so it’s better to do lower intensity work for a few days than nothing at all. For example, I’d say that this week it is acceptable for a pony on fat camp to do less work because he’s unfit and finding it difficult to work and plateau in terms of building fitness and losing weight. Weight is maintained rather than lost, or even worse put on! When it gets cooler, his workload and weight loss can increase again.

However, exercise does need to be adapted in this heat, taking into account humidity, horse and rider fitness, taking lots of breaks, seeking shade, avoiding fast work and jumping in the heat of the day. Some horses cope better with the heat – usually finer coated animals, and those with no excess fat. Older horses tend to struggle with the heat too.

My lessons this week, working around the heatwave, have involved;

• Hacking with a young client and teaching her about the ground, where it is suitable to trot, how to ride up and down hills, and what to look out for when riding in woods and fields. All the time building her confidence to trot independently on hacks.
• Long reining and in hand work.
• Walk poles.
• Teaching the different types of walk so that rider and pony don’t waste the elongated walk breaks, and to encourage them to have slow and steady schooling sessions for the rest of the week.
• Taking a horse into the jump paddock and desensitising him to traffic on the other side of the hedge, and riding him around and between jump fillers.
• Stable management.
• No stirrup work, as riders are usually happier with shorter bursts of work.
• Transitions, especially halt transitions.
• Lateral work and rein back.
• Bareback.

I like having lessons at an enforced steady pace. Walk is so often overlooked, and improving the walk makes dramatic improvements to the quality of the trot and the transitions. I was really pleased with how one lady started to get a longer striding, swinging walk and then floated along in the trot, truly using his back and looking very supple through his ribcage.

The important thing to remember is that everyone copes with the hot weather differently, and to remember frequent breaks, sun cream, modified riding attire (I’ve not used gloves all week), and to drink lots of water. Each lesson has begun with me asking my client where their water is, and to say if they feel unwell or need to stop for a break. Then I know the lesson will run more smoothly.

Make Your Own Fly Spray

I’ve considered making my own fly spray for a couple of years now, but never gotten around to it. However, my Mum tried and tested a recipe last year and was pleased with how effective it is. So with extra time on my hands this spring, I decided to give it a go.

Once I’d sourced the ingredients (mostly online) and bought two 1L spray bottles, it was fairly straightforward.

Ingredients

• 225ml dettol
• 250ml Avon skin so Soft (Dry oil spray)
• 250 ml cider vinegar or white vinegar
• 1 squirt of washing up liquid
• 5ml citronella essential oil
• 5ml lavender essential oil
• 5 ml tea tree essential oil
• 5ml neem oil.
• Approximately 1250ml cold tea made from 6 tea bags.

It’s very simple, I mixed all the ingredients except for cold tea in a bowl and stirred them well, then I put half into each of my 1l spray bottles (one for each horse) and filled each up to the 1l mark with cold tea.

It smells quite similar to the shop bought ones, which is a relief, although darker in colour. You need to shake the bottle well before use, but otherwise it has the same application directions. I have heard that it is effective for sweet itch sufferers, so am hoping that it really helps Otis.

I’ve just done the calculations, and aside from the £6.99 one off cost for the bottles, the ingredients to make 2l of fly spray cost £10.95. we did however have white vinegar, washing up liquid, and tea bags in stock. So you can probably round that figure to £12 to safely include all ingredients.

A quick look online shows that you can pay at least £12 for a 500ml bottle of branded fly spray. For ease of comparison, including the cost of the two bottles, 500ml of fly spray costs £4.95 to make. It’s got to be worth trying it.

I’ll let you know how we get on!

Pony Club Camp

My blog has been a bit quiet this week as I’ve been at Pony Club camp; I’d forgotten how exhausting it is as I’ve spent every evening comatosed on the sofa, contemplating whether I need wine or chocolate. I then finished off the week thinking it was a great idea to surprise my friend by having her horse at her wedding reception. She loved it, but I needed that lie in!

Anyway, I thought you’d appreciate a run down of the highs and lows of camp. Just in case you’d forgotten how fun pony club is!

I actually had a lovely group of girls, aged between eight and ten, most of who I’d met in previous years, but had all grown and some had new ponies. Each ride is assigned a meeting point, underneath a tree; at which point the children learn who their instructor for the week is. I was secretly very chuffed when I was greeted with cheers and squeals of delight as the girls had been hoping to have me. Although there is then a lot of pressure to meet their expectations!

I started as I always do, by getting them to introduce themselves to each other, and myself. They always have first day nerves so I try to get them opening up by telling us their name, their pony’s name, one thing they enjoy about riding, and what area they want to improve on during camp. This helps me get to know them and also assess their confidence as well as getting any suspicions about the areas that they may need a bit more TLC in so I can tread carefully then.

At this camp there is a lot of walking; from the meeting place, to an arena at one end of a ginormous field, to the woods, to another field, so I find the most efficient and effective approach is to put the kids in an order. They have to stay in this order when we walk between sessions, and during each lesson. It helps me learn names, speeds up the process of getting started each lesson, and really helps settle the ponies as they learn which tail they are following and so it doesn’t become a race back to the pony lines. I quickly put them in order, with the reliable pony with the capable rider at the front, the next quickest ponies, then the one who had the tendency to kick at the back. The girls stayed in this order all week and I found that the fast pony (more about her later) who was on her first camp soon stopped racing past the others, and walked calmly third in line. Which helped relax her little jockey.

We do a tack and turnout inspection every day, and I have to say that they always look very smart! It’s so difficult to judge, but my winner at the end of the week went to the girl who had learnt to plait herself, and who managed to avoid getting grass stains on her light jodhpurs each day!

On Monday morning our first session was showjumping, so I used the warm up to assess them all. We ride on grass and the ponies can be a bit fresh on day one, so I try to get them all trotting in a ride (easier said than done!) to allow me to assess them, make some corrections, and take the edge off the ponies. I check their jumping position and steering. The first canter can be nerve-racking so I give explicit instructions of where to trot, where to canter, and where they must trot again. The aim is to check their control and that the ponies won’t bolt back to the ride.

My first pony was a lovely leg at each corner, predictable, kick along type who trotted and cantered at the correct points. I decided at this point that my aim for the week was to get this rider using her seat more and being less flappy.

The next pony was a bit quick in the canter; his rider has just moved up on to him and found him a bit strong, but I wanted to work on her sitting on her bum and carrying her hands so that the pony couldn’t put his head down and pull. She hadn’t done any cross country with him, so my aim for the week was to give her a good experience at new disciplines and give her the chance to go out her comfort zone should she want to, by offering two height options.

I had been warned that my third rider and pony were very fast. In the trot she’d struggled to maintain trot and had been breathing down the neck of the pony in front. I covered my face and peered through my fingers as they galloped around the arena. The pony does stop eventually, but I started to get my rider to think about steadying her pony before she set of as the pony responded well to the voice and rein, we just needed to curb the speed. For once, I wanted her to ride with the handbrake on. This partnership was again new, so it was about finding out about each other and working out how the manage the pony.

Behind this pair, I had another new partnership. This girl I taught last year and she lacks confidence. Unfortunately, her pony was quite excited on Monday and whilst he didn’t do anything wrong, his bouncy walk and quick trot unnerved her. I knew this was my most fragile partnership, so I decided to focus on getting my rider to sit up and “look at the top of the trees” and be prepared to hold her hand the first time they did any exercise, but hope that helps giving her the good experience she’d try slightly faster, or go for longer, or jump higher.

My next pony was a very sweet, willing type who was unfortunately overbitted. It was their first camp so her parents were being a bit cautious, but it did unfortunately mean that the pony started backing off jumps. He has a good little pop in him, but that often caused his rider to be left behind over fences, which when a strong bit was factored in meant the pony was pulled in the mouth. I soon changed him back to his snaffle and started to focus his rider on giving with her hands over fences.

Finally, I had a sweet mare at the back who did unfortunately kick. However, her rider was very switched on to this and she wore a red ribbon so this didn’t cause any problems throughout the week. They were an established partnership, and whilst not the most confident on the first day, I didn’t feel there would be a problem. I did notice that the rider pinned her hands down to the wither, and had very short reins, as if worried the pony would shoot off. Once I could see that they were settling, I started work on encouraging a longer length of rein and independent hand carriage, which actually made an instant difference to the pony’s stride length, which my rider felt.

During the week we did showjumping, handy pony, dressage, cross country, and mounted games. Here are a few highlights.

• In our warm up for our second showjumping lesson, rider number two cantered to the rear of the ride, yet her pony had other ideas and put his head between his knees and bronced down the slope back to the others. How my rider stayed on, I have no idea! From then on I had my lead file stop halfway around any arena and wait for her friend so that the pony couldn’t get any ideas. This seemed to work well.
• The pony who had been overbitted on day one still refused to jump when back in the snaffle, so on day two I got one of the junior helpers (16 year olds) to hop on. With the stirrups at their maximum and her knees still by her ears I had her trotting over some small showjumps with minimal contact to rebuild his confidence. I had to do this during our cross country session too, but it was really helpful for his rider to see him jumping and for him to then pop over jumps happily so she could concentrate on holding her neck strap.
• During our flat session I had all six riders trotting in a ride, looking like they were enjoying themselves, looking like they were all in control. It all went wrong moments later when I mentioned the “c” word (canter!) but I will treasure the memory of those first few minutes.
• On Monday we had glorious sunshine. On Tuesday we had stairrods coming at us sideways. We were all absolutely drenched. But my girls were still grinning at the end of the day, and they all worked really hard on our musical ride.
• I decided to do a pop quiz for stable management, mixing the girls into two teams to help them bond. One team had a whistle to blow, the other a triangle to ding (don’t ask why there was a triangle at camp!). I was actually very impressed with their knowledge, but so deaf by the end of the hour!
• One of the ponies decided to nap back to the others when they were practising their dressage tests. He just set his neck and turned round and returned to his friends, upsetting his rider in the process. Cue another junior helpers hopping on and reminding him that he had to leave his friends and only return when he was told to. This gave me a real predicament for their dressage competition. How could we stop him trotting back to his friends in the corner? In the end we sent the rest of the ride away so that they could watch in the distance but the ponies were out of sight. And then helpers and parents positioned themselves strategically around the arena to catch the pony if he decided that dressage wasn’t for him. However, my rider did me proud and determinedly kept that pony in trot and inside the white boards!
• I did a polework session, hijacking the seniors’ jumping arena. That was a memorable lesson. In part the wobbles some had trotting over a line of poles. Partly the very fast pony doing two VERY FAST laps of the very large arena. Partly the seniors cheering my nervous rider on until she kicked into canter, and then her asking to canter again because she loved it so much! Partly the fast pony walking towards the line of poles, doing two strides of trot before the poles and then getting faster and faster over the trot poles to exit the poles in canter. Lastly, seeing them all pop over a little jump with a much more stable jumping position was very satisfying.
• I warmed up my ride in an enclosed arena (that very fast pony still hasn’t slowed down!) before heading out into the woods for cross country on Thursday, taking lots of helpers to build a human wall to stop said fast pony. The girls all jumped in a controlled manner, jumping some little and not so little, logs and riding some tricky lines around the trees. When we got to the end of the woods I sidestepped the little dingy water feature as I didn’t fancy wading through the green slime. Instead, I asked them if they wanted to canter up the very steep hill. One poor helper ran up that steep hill with my nervous rider, before I sent the others up in twos and threes. They had to start in walk, trot on my cue then canter when I shouted. Unfortunately my second rider (remember the one who bucked?) turned a circle in walk and the very fast pony missed out the trot part. Which meant the second pony got his knickers in a twist and gave a couple of hops in the air before realising that the hill was very steep and settling into canter! This meant my rider didn’t enjoy it as much as she should’ve and refused to do it again. However, the next day my nervous rider cantered up that hill with the others, so it was a success!
• We were scheduled to do mounted games after cross country, so I hoped the ponies would be tired and not lose their heads. However, after the second game in which one girl stood there crying and the very fast pony had cantered a couple of laps, I called it a day, even refusing to do a mounted games competition on the Friday.
• Instead, I let the girls swap ponies, which they all loved. It was great seeing how they all rode different ponies, and what weaknesses or strengths were shown up on different ponies. And yes, I did find two other riders who would be happy on the very fast pony! I think this was the session that they learnt the most.
• My proudest moment was during the showjumping competition on Friday when my nervous rider cantered over some jumps, didn’t let her pony nap, and enjoyed herself. Then my rider who had overbitted her pony rode a very sweet round, remembering to keep her hands forwards for longer over each fence and, I felt, finishing the week with better trust with her horse. One rider rode beautiful lines in a lovely rhythm … Then sailed past number six! My lead file managed to maintain a balanced canter throughout her round. Then the very fast pony walked in. I was just looping the string back up after letting out the previous rider when I heard “tell her to slow down!” I turned to see them galloping towards the first jump – the pony had gotten bored of walking! It was a very fast round, with a hair raising moment when they had to turn back on themselves but were going so fast they almost didn’t make it and narrowly missed jumping the wings. My heart was in my mouth!
• Everyone’s favourite part of the week is undoubtedly the musical ride. My girls worked hard on our routine, we had some unrequited canter but given how they started the week, the independent and confident routine made up for it. They also dressed up as cats because our music was Mr Mistoffolees from the musical.

In all, camp had some nail-biting moments, and plenty when I had to think on my feet, but I think the girls finished the week more confident than they started, and all took something away from the week to practice at home. On my feedback sheets I gave all of them a piece of homework, which tied in with my focus of the week for each rider. They also had a party bag from me with lots of sweets, and an armful of rosettes for all the competitions. In return, I had a lovely thank you card, telling me how I was the best teacher ever (it’s official!), a voucher and some chocolate.

The week absolutely flew by, and was tiring, but great fun as always, and I’m already looking forwards to next year!

A Hole In The Market

I think I’ve found a hole in the market. A gaping big hole filled with equine owners needing advice.

When I was doing GCSEs and had no idea what I wanted to do as a career my Dad organised me to have a day out with one of his customers, getting an insight to his job. I think Dad was hoping I’d be inspired to follow in his (Dad’s, not the unknown man) footsteps and do a degree in soil science.

I wasn’t. It was quite an interesting day, but I wasn’t inspired. I spent the day visiting farms, and having meetings with the farmers about their soil pH levels, appropriate fertilisers and what crops to grow where. I can’t really remember the job title of this man, but it was along the lines of soil analysis advisor.

Anyway, it’s come to my attention recently, probably stemming from my experience with the independent equine nutritionist, that a lot of horse owners need help with managing their land.

The trouble is, as I see it, that there is less rotation nowadays of horses, sheep and cattle, who all eat different types of grasses which results in stressed paddocks. The fields are usually not rested sufficiently, or people have limited acreage with relation to the number of horses.

Additionally, horse owners may take on land which hasn’t been used for horses before, or even take over very poor grazing, and without the right care these types of land never become suitable for horses.

How great would it be if you could approach a consultant of sorts. Who would run a soil analysis, look at the land, and advise how best to fertilise and care for the land?

Did you know that buttercups (which are poisonous to horses) grow in acidic soil. So if your pasture is full of buttercups you could spray them annually (and what of the environmental impact of this?) or you could slake the field, and apply limestone to raise the pH level and so deter the buttercups from growing next year. Or, if your field is full of clover and previously used as cattle grazing it will be high in nitrogen levels, so you want to apply a fertiliser which has lower levels of nitrogen.

Someone well versed in caring for soil, and have an interest and understanding of equine requirements could easily do a report for you, using the results of a soil test, photographs and maps of the land. They could tell you what to do this year, including harrowing, topping and reseeding (such as what grasses will grow best on your land and be most suited to your horse), and could tell you what action to take in the future for the long term health of your fields. Perhaps, they could also be involved in helping you ascertain how best to rotate your paddocks with regard to drainage and shelter. Or with limited acreage, help you design an effective pattern of electric fencing so that you can adequately rotate grazing. Not only would individuals with their couple of horses on their own land be interested (in my opinion), but livery yards may well be interested in having a plan drawn up for field management. After all, we work with, or own horses because we like riding and caring for the horse; caring for the land is an aside and often overlooked.

If I had my time again would I see this as an alternative career? Possibly, after all I come from a family who sit in a coffee shop and notice that the molecule of coffee painted on the wall is both incomplete and unstable, and then have a twenty minute conversation about it. But ultimately I think I’d have stuck with teaching. So maybe if you’re looking for a career, or niche in the market, you should be investigating this avenue.

Ticks

I’ve had to invest in a tick twister for my grooming box in recent weeks, as Phoenix and her stable mates have had a couple of unwanted freeloaders.

These freeloaders are brought into the horse’s paddocks by deer, of which we have plenty in the area. The ticks then attach onto the horses.

Before we look at the ins and outs of ticks, let’s see what tool I had to purchase. I bought a tick twister, which is a nifty little hook. You hook the split end under the tick, against the skin, and when the tick is “locked in” the twister you simply just twist the twister (the name gives it away, doesn’t it?) and the tick is removed whole, and the horse unharmed. Don’t forget to stamp on the tick for maximum satisfaction!

It’s very important that the whole of the tick is removed; if you use tweezers or any other tool the legs can easily be broken off and left in the skin, causing a risk of infection. Which is why I’d rather be prepared and have a tick twister to hand!

In this country, we only really see multi-host ticks, which happily live on deer or dogs, yet will catch a ride on horses too. If your fields are regularly used as deer highways then you want to keep an eye out for these bloodsuckers. They live in long grass and hedgerows, so within reason keep the grass short and hedges cut back. Horses often pick up ticks when being hacked, especially through woods. They also dislike sunlight so hopefully the upcoming summer will deter them!

Birds, especially guinea fowl, love eating ticks so they can be a helpful tick deterrent.

There’s only so much you can do to minimise ticks in your horse’s environment, especially as the ticks we see in the UK are predominately hosted by wild animals. If you have a horse particularly attractive to ticks, just like some children are prone to getting headlice, then you can use spot-on treatment or purchase fly sprays which also repel ticks.

Otherwise, just keeping an eye out for ticks when you are grooming them and remove them immediately.

Rug Wear

WordPress won’t let me reblog a post more than once … so I’m going to direct you to one of my earliest posts, which I think is important to bear in mind.

Whilst rug designs have come on in leaps and bound, so there is far less of a problem of badly fitting rugs causing rubs, horses are wearing rugs much, much more.

They used to wear rugs in the winter, then go without from spring through to autumn. Nowadays, horses wear rugs of varying weights autumn through to spring, then wear fly rugs or rain sheets throughout the summer.

Which of course is absolutely fine, and often a necessity for convenience, or to protect horses who are particularly irritated by flies. But wearing rugs constantly, however well fitting, can cause patches of hair or mane to disappear and the skin to become sore.

I recently noticed that one of the horses that I ride had the slightest pink patch on his withers, so we immediately removed his lightweight rug, and have left him naked for a week, despite rain forecast and despite flies coming out of the woodwork. I was really pleased today to see that his wither looks completely normal again, and hopefully a few more days with no pressure on that area and he’ll be fine.

And now, you can go and peruse my original post about fistulous withers !

Perfect Circles

Last week I had a new experience; I was videoed teaching a masterclass with two young riders for Demi Dressage.

Since Christmas I’ve been involved with Demi Dressage – Which you can read about here – and the theme for the Easter holiday tests is circles, so we decided to have two guinea pig riders of different abilities and record a masterclass to help teach our young competitors how to ride round circles, rather than egg shaped circles.

Considering I’m the person who hated my mentor observing my lessons while I trained for my BHS PTT exam, and she had to leave me with my clients and sneak into the gallery to watch, this was quite a big deal for me. I was fairly nervous, and even got as far as writing down my lesson plan rather than just having the vague agenda in my head.

One of my riders was five, not particularly confident and not ready for canter. The other rider, she was ten I think, was more advanced and cantering competently.

Before we got mounted, we looked at the Crafty Ponies Dressage Arena diagram (not heard of Crafty Ponies? Where have you been) they’re amazing! ) to see what a correct circle looks like in the arena and how circles are often ridden as either ovals or egg shapes. My youngest rider told me that the most important thing about the shape of the circle is that it is round. Whilst my older rider told me that the hardest part about riding circles was making them round.

Whilst the girls warmed up their ponies I got busy with setting up a perfect circle. My able assistant stood on the centre line ten metres from A, holding a lunge line. I then walked the circumference of the 20m circle, laying out small sports cones. These are my new toy; soft and flexible it doesn’t matter if they get stood on (although I do charge a fee of one Easter egg per squashed cone) but they provide a great visual aid for riders.

I used plenty of cones to help my younger rider mainly, but you can reduce the number of cones as you get less reliant on the cones. I also used yellow cones for one side of the circle and red for the other – for reasons that will become obvious later.

I ran through the aids for riding a circle with the girls: turning your head and body to look halfway round the circle, indicating with the inside rein and pushing with the outside leg. The girls then rode the circle in walk so that I could see that they were using the correct aids, and also check their level of understanding. This is more important for the younger rider really. I had gotten the older rider to ride a 20m circle at C in the warm up, with no help so that she could compare her before and after circles.

Using the perfect circle of cones, we could see where the ponies tended to lose the shape. All ponies are reluctant to leave the track and security of the fence line, and the cones made both girls more aware of this so they had to apply their aids earlier and more strongly in order to leave the track at the right place. With my older rider I could talk about the balance of her aids, and fine tune the circle, whilst with the younger one I kept it simple and focused on her looking further around the circle, which automatically applied her weight and seat aids.

The girls worked on the circle in walk and trot in both directions, and then the elder rider cantered it on both reins. The canter was more interesting as we could see the difference in her pony’s suppleness (I racked up a few Easter eggs here!) which led to an interesting conversation on the asymmetry of the canter gait.

With the girls understanding and experiencing a perfectly round circle, we then talked about how to ensure that the second half of our circles are the same size as the first half.

I got the girls to ride their circle in trot, counting their strides all the way round. This part of the session would go a little over my young rider’s head, but I felt she’d still benefit from learning to count her strides and the theory. The bigger pony got 32 strides on the whole circle, so then we tried to get sixteen strides on the yellow side of the circle and sixteen strides on the red side. With the cones to help, she pretty much nailed it first time.

With my younger rider we aimed to get twenty strides on each half of the circle, and whilst she struggled to count and get the circle round, it did help improve her understanding of the previous exercise, and she did manage it with some help from Mum counting aloud with her.

I didn’t do this exercise in canter as I felt my older rider had enough to digest, and she can apply the same theory to it another day. However, I did set her a challenge to finish the lesson. We tidied up the cones, and I asked her to ride a twenty metre circle with sixteen strides on each half.

Which she did correctly first time! And could analyse the differences between the circles she’d ridden in her warm up, and her final circles. Overall, a successful and enjoyable lesson I believe. And the videos aren’t too cringeworthy either – to my relief!

The Best Fly Mask

Earlier this week one of Phoenix’s field friend’s owner asked me about her fly mask as she was very impressed with its stay-on-ability.

I bought both Otis and Phoenix the same mask in the spring, and I have to admit I have been pleased with my purchases.

It’s made by Shires, so is reasonably priced and good quality. The masks have light net ears, which both horses need. Otis has previously has a horrible ear abscess, and Phoenix was irritated by the little black flies in the spring so I like them both to have their ears protected. The masks also have nose nets. Not so important for Otis, but Phoenix has definitely benefited from having a UV net protecting her white muzzle from the strong summer sun. Shires also offer variations of the fly mask without ear covers or nose nets.

The masks have shaped netting over the forehead and eyes, so it stays away from their eyes, which I think helps keep their eyes healthy and stops them getting gunky and sore. It definitely looks more comfortable than the flimsy fly masks. The only potential issue with this design is that if a fly or ten get under the mask they can cause havoc and really distress the horse. Which is why the edge needs to fit snugly around the poll, throatlash and jaw.

The best thing about the fly masks, however, is how well they stay on. At the risk of tempting fate, Otis has only lost his when he ripped the side. It’s elasticated around the poll and has two strong Velcro straps which for once are the correct length so that the mask sits snugly whilst the straps don’t overshoot the Velcro pad thus providing field mates with a fun handle to pull.

The downside to these masks, as with any, is that you have to keep a close eye that they don’t rub. With all masks I find the tips of Otis’s ears get sore unless I turn the ears inside out, remove the loose hair and scurf that’s built up in the tips, and also cut off any excess material. This one’s no different. I think it’s because his ears are so long! Because they’re snug fitting and have elastic around the poll you have to keep an eye out for rubs developing here too. Phoenix is currently having a break from her mask as she’s got a bit of a rub on her poll which I’d like to settle down before it causes any problems. Plus having a few overcast days is providing some relief from the endless smothering of sun cream I’ve been doing to her. But daily checking, readjusting the masks, and giving them time without them makes these negative points manageable, and the pros of the mask fitting and staying on without slipping far outweighs the cons.

To testify how popular these masks seem to be this year, when I looked at ordering a mask for Phoenix’s field friend, I was surprised to find that there’s only a handful available online and definitely none available if you need a cob size!

Coping With The Heat

How is everyone managing during Britain’s 2018 heatwave? We’ve been doing horses and any outdoor jobs in the morning and evening; hiding from the heat during the day because it’s too hot for anyone, let alone babies.

In general, horses in the UK seem to find it difficult to adapt to the heat. Partly because it’s so infrequent and comes along suddenly, and partly because a lot of horses are colder blooded, native types with thick, dense fur.

So with the hot weather, comes a few routine changes. I for one have been riding later in the evening. In my pre-baby life, I’d have been up with the larks riding in the cool. Schooling sessions become shorter or non existent. I did a lesson yesterday morning which consisted of about fifteen minutes in trot, split over the lesson, and the rest in walk. It was a good opportunity to practice lateral work without stirrups and nit pick on my rider’s aids. Hacks become much more appealing, don’t they? Any woods provide some shade and there’s usually more of a cool breeze. I read last week that horses feel the heat more than we do so it’s important to consider them when deciding to ride.

Some people prefer to have their horses stabled during the day in summer, and turned out overnight when it’s cooler and there are less flies about. For me, it depends on the horse and their field. People underestimate the shade that trees provide. I found this out a couple of weeks ago at a wake. The back garden of the house we were at had several large trees on one side and a sunny patio on the other. Sitting on the grass under the trees I was lovely and cool while those sat at the patio table with a parasol up were still boiling hot. So if your horse’s field has trees to provide shade and they aren’t bothered by the flies I would personally prefer them to stay out where they can move around and benefit from any breeze (which also deters the flying pests) that’s about. It’s also worth considering your stables. Wooden ones can become ovens whilst stone barns stay lovely and cool.

Wash them off liberally. Yes they may not have worked up a sweat walking around the woods, but they’ll still be grateful for a shower. There is the age old argument about how to cool off horses properly. The way I see it, the majority of the time horse owners aren’t dealing with a horse on the verge of hyperthermia and heat exhaustion (this week excepted) so hosing them and allowing the cooling process of evaporation to cool them down is sufficient. This week though, you may want to opt for continuous hosing and sweat scraping to bring down their core body temperature quicker.

Then of course is ensuring they’re hydrated. Horses will drink more in hot weather, much like us humans, so making sure they have plenty of clean water available is paramount. Ideally the water wants to be cool so that it is more appealing to the horse and refreshing. Standing water buckets need to be in the shade, but be aware of flies congregating around them. Self filling troughs are very often cooler despite being in the full sun because they’re continuously topped up with cold water from the underground pipes as the horses drink.

When a horse starts to get dehydrated they also stop wanting a drink, which obviously compounds the problem. What’s the evolutionary benefit to this, I wonder? It’s far better to never let them get thirsty in the first place. Adding salt to their diets, in feeds or with a lick, encourages them to drink. It may also be worth having a feed such as Allen and Page’s Fast Fibre which has very little calorific value but needs soaking for ten minutes before feeding. Adding that to their bucket feed, or even substituting that for part of their hay ration will help keep them hydrated. Some horses like their bucket feed to be sloshy so that’s a good way of giving them more water. You can add electrolytes to their feed too which aids hydration.

With this intense heat we’re having, there’s also the risk of sunburn. For both humans and equines! I heard a few weeks ago about a horse who had been clipped. I think he was a predominantly white coloured. But over the next couple of days his back got sunburnt due to the coat no longer protecting his pink skin. That’s a good reason to use a quality UV-proof fly rug, only half clip or indeed not clip at all! The UV-proof fly masks with nose nets are great at protecting white noses, and using factor 50 suncream helps prevent sunburn – don’t forget to use it on yourself too! I’d also be wary of white legs, particularly on fine coated horses as these could also suffer from sunburn.

Finally, check they aren’t overheating in any rugs. A lot of fly rugs are very breathable and thin, but sweet itch rugs tend to be of a thicker material. It might be worth using a lightweight fly rug on a sweet itch horse during the day, and sacrificing it if they start a scratching session and them staying cooler rather than them getting too hot in a sweet itch rug.

It is also worth reading up on the signs of equine heatstroke and be prepared to call the vet if you think your horse is suffering from it. Here are the symptoms:

-Weakness

-Increased temperature

-High respiratory and heart rate

-Lethargy

-Dehydration

-Dry mucous membranes in the mouth – they should be pink and have a slimy feel to them. To check the mucous membranes, press your finger on the gums and they should turn white with pressure. Once you have released your finger they should return to a normal pink colour.