Snip's Story: August 2009

Some History

Ok, so it’s probably about time I wrote all this down in one place, it’s been a hell of a three years with more ups and downs than I can count any more!Firstly, a bit of the history…I bought Snip from a dealer. The dealer told me he was a 5 year old, 16hh gelding who had been backed and ridden away’ (always wondered exactly what does that term mean!?) He was 3 ½, 16.1, and ‘backed and ridden away’, in this instance, meant they’d bunged a saddle and bridle on, chucked a brave rider up and chased him round their round pen a few times with a lunging whip. He was skinny and wild eyed and looked like he’d been dragged through a hedge in every direction!Well, I probably should have walked away, that would have been the sensible thing to do!So after getting him home (oops, what happened to walking away?!) I started with basic ground work, grooming, general attention. There was a really pretty horse under there – fed him up, had him chucked out in a good field for a while. Once he was handleable (that took a while – he was WILD) I started to move from ground work to lunging, then I backed him, was lunged on him, gradually started being able to ride him on my own – we had the odd setback, he had a hell of a buck/rear and had broken my ribs just by flinging his head back at me whilst I was sat on him – but I’d sort of factored in a few injuries along the way (didn’t factor in having at least one broken toe permanently, but hey!) Over the first 6 months of owning him (summer time) he went from a wild, unhandled baby who’d been dragged off a field in Ireland and shipped over wit a ‘job lot’ of youngsters…to a loving, talented, promising, willing (mostly) youngster.Then I broke my arm, badly. Not falling off Snip – I was ice skating, of all things. I was standing STILL on the ice rink and some tit skated into me. I was operated on, pinned back into place and in cast for 10 weeks – then still out of action for a further 8 weeks as the arm was so weak, almost had to have a second op…In this time Snip was out of work, it was winter and he was stabled. He was, and always has been, a stable stresser. When I was finally able to ride again I started back from the beginning, backed him and started the ridden work – the rearing and napping was back, but he was a 4 year old who’d had an entire winter off…kind of expected a few problems!Very quickly he started to come around to the idea and by the time they were out 24/7 for the summer he was a lovely, if somewhat opinionated, riding horse again. Had a fab summer. He hacked alone, we tried a few tiny cross poles, and we had some dressage lessons. Not a problem (ok, still a few broken toes, clumsy oaf he is!)Then it was winter again, what did I go and do? Got myself in a car accident (well, I was a passenger) and was out of action for 10 weeks. Idiot. Again, stable stress, few manners lost and general stroppy youngster behaviour. When I started riding him again we took it right back to basics and went at a pace that suited him. This time I was noticing some strange problems, kicking up at my legs when I asked him to go forwards, napping more than usual, refusing to go forwards, the odd rear, the occasional buck.Ok, so he’s a rising 5 year old who’s had 10 weeks off after being relatively fit, he’s naturally opinionated, theres going to be some issues…Then we moved into spring, and into better grazing, and then out 24/7….and the problems disappeared completely and we had the best summer ever. Hacking alone, with galloping and o/ditch jumping. We accompanied a baby horse on hacks – he was the sensible older horse!!! Woohoo!We had jumping lessons, we even went to a dressage competition where he excelled himself and was an utter star!Then it was winter again. This time I didn’t get injured (an achievement in itself!) the problems came back. Napping, rearing, bucking, kicking up at me….slowly at first but getting gradually worse. I started having nasty falls, I had one really bad one out hacking on Christmas eve. This is the point I decided, finally, that something was wrong with my horse.I’d always been good about making sure his teeth were done, back checked, saddle checked (saddle had been bought made to measure earlier that year after insurance payout for the car accident!) I had noticed odd behaviour ridden was always worse when he then went for a pee after being untacked…so I had liver/kidneys blood tested – nothing.We did all the normal checks like eye sight, hearing, back, feet, legs, and many more. Vet did a full work up and I had dentist, back person and saddler out again to be sure.In a conversation with the vet, we both said the word ‘stomach ulcers at the same time, and that’s the next route of investigation we tried.The scope showed grade 2 ulceration of the stomach and Pylorus. I was both elated and gutted. On the one hand I had something ‘real’ to fix, on the other hand I’d put my poor boy through hell for how long? After talking to the vet about his history we were both sure that the ulcers had been there for both previous winters, and probably when I initially bought him.But guilt over that was going to get me nowhere. I had a problem to fix and, damn it, I was going to fix it to make it up to him. After just 3 days on Gastrogard you could see the old Snip back. He relaxed, he was happy….everyone on the yard commented that you could see the change in his eyes. The vet had told me that I was to start riding him again as soon as possible because this was the main way to monitor his behaviour patterns – nothing too challenging, just gentle schooling to see his reactions.After initially napping a bit and being a bit of a git, he seemed to realise they actually, this didn’t hurt anymore! Very quickly he opened up and was obviously trying so hard for me. After a month on Gastrogard we rescoped him, and I saw for myself, a lovely smooth white stomach linin, no ulcers! Brilliant. The vets advice was to stop the Gastrogard and put him on to a maintenance supplement, Neighlox. A much better price than the £900 of Gastrogard!But after only 10 days the behaviour started to show again, gradually he became stuffier, crabby, not himself until after 3 days of this I got on and he dropped to his knees in pain, eyes rolling back in his head.I phoned the vet in floods of tears, and drove over to the practice later that day to collect our next course of Gastrogard. The ulcers were back.Again, after 3 days he was back to himself again, and the vet told me to start the ridden work again after a further week. This time Snip was not so convinced. The reactions were different, he wasn’t reacting as though he was in pain, but he wasn’t giving it chance to get to hat point, he was going to fight before it hurt. It took a lot of time, and a lot of convincing to even start to gain his trust that it wouldn’t hurt. I would sit on his back, holding my legs away from his side for ong periods of time, just willing him to take one step forward of his own accord, and when he did, praising him as though he’d just been round Burghley!During all of this time I was spending my entire non work life (and a good portion of the working time!) obsessing over researching ulcers, symptoms, cures etc. His diet and supplements were geared to solving the problem, I changed his stable layout, put p a breast bar so the door could stay open, all sorts.Then one day I went to the yard early and found him left on his own in the stable, climbing the walls in panic as all the other horses had been moved away from him for the day. I learned that they did this regularly, it was almost a ‘game’ to wind him up. I was furious and out for blood!I demanded to be allowed more turnout (in winter we were restricted) but was refused, so spent 8 hours driving round the area, stopping riders out on hacks, knocking on farm doors, texting all my horsey friends, anything to fond anther yard. I found one, a lovely place where an old friend of mine had her and her daughters ponies, they had space, they welcomed us in. So a few weeks later (in the remaining few weeks I had managed to get more turnout) we moved. He seemed to settle instantly, the layout of the place meant that even when he was in the stable, he was able to see all the other horses, the arena, and the fields….so none of the worry about being left alone.He was still on the Gastrogard, a scope had proved him clear again, so after a couple of weeks we started to gradually reduce the dosage of GG, until eventually it was all gone. In this time I was riding him more and more, this time the behaviour was worse than ever, total loss of trust, he was convinced it was going to hurt and the slightest thing would have him shaking with anxiety.But he did come round. For about 3 weeks I was able to get on, ride a bit, walk him across the fields….we even jumped! Then suddenly he threw in the towel and didn’t want to try anymore. Another scope showed he was still clear of ulcers, so this was different.He’s been having Bowen Therapy, he’s had an iridology assessment, he seen 2 communicators and he’s had a session learning how to ‘self medicate’ with a herbal therapist. But at the moment it seems the more of these things I do, the worse he gets. One theory is that the Bowen is working on deeper problems and he’s panicking at feeling the changes happening, fighting it before it can hurt him, which he’s convinced everything will.But after the hellish time I’ve been through, I’m an emotional wreck, he’s a wreck. So I’ve turned him away…I’ll give him 2 months entirely without non essential human contact…taken rugs off and just chucked him in a field full of grass. After 2 months I’ll start to groom and give him attention again and take it from there. At that point I’ll get professional help to start him again. This time is sort of a last chance; I don’t know where to go from here.Sorry, that was a very long account, but it has covered 3 years of ups an downs! I’ll keep a track of his progress on here, once I start working him again.

Sunday, 16 August 2009

A perfect transition!

Such a small thing really, but I'm so happy!

After a bit of a low week where Snip seemed to take several steps back and was grumping a little, and spooking a little (nothing like how he used to be, but still not close to the improvements of late) and I felt we'd hit a kind of plateaux and we were sort of floundering about in it a bit.

So I took a few steps back in the work I was asking, to repeat what we were doing when we WERE making the progress, and it seems to have worked because today he was full of confidence again.

Did a lot more leading work than I would normally just to make sure I was boss. Then the long lining (there was one spook, but it was small)

He was totally chilled at the monting block and behaved impeccably when I got on. I've been working on getting him to move foreard from a release of leg pressure, rather than forward to a squeeze r kick, and so far he's sort of picked it up but it takes 2 or 3 squeeze and releases to get him into trot, and it's not usually a very good trot.

Today the trot was better but was still taking 2 squeeze/releases - but then I got a perfect one!

I'd picked a spot, did a small squeeze a stride before that trot and released and lifted my seat and he actually PINGED into trot! He only managed one perfect one, the others were a bit sticky still, but just that one ping forwards into a lovely swinging trot has made my weekend!

Thursday, 13 August 2009

A slightly off day

Well, at least he was clean tonight (after plastering himself beyond recognition yesterday) but he had a sort of nettle rash all down each flank and quarters....not 'bad' but covering quite a large area of his body on both sides.

He seemed fine in himself so I went ahead with plans, no issues with tacking up etc, but I did notice some tension at the mounting block - he hasn't been like that for a while now, but he did a bit of head bobbing and his ears were 'tense' and both back listening to me, where normally they are both relaxed with one forward and one listening to me.

So I spent most of the session just walking him up to and away from the mounting block until he relaxed, then decided to get on and just do a few laps in walk - he was fine with me getting on, fine walking away from the block, no napping. I asked for halt and he did, but squirmed a lot. So did a few halts and he squirmed each time, not naughty as such, but like he was anxious.

I kept everything really low ley and then as soon as he gave me one nice quiet halt I got off and ended the session - probably lasted about 5-10 mins in total (after about 15 mins of mounting block work and some ground work)

He wasn't naughty at any point, but he was definitely not the happy chilled Snip I've seen in the last few weeks. Not sure if maybe he is feeling a little off after his slip the other night, or if that mud he was plastered in last night had a few nasties in it that has brought this rash up and that might be bothering him.

To take the positive out of the evening, he was affectionate, calm, and we achieved going from tense, to more relaxed.

I guess I'll just keep an eye on him over the next few days - Bowen Therapist is out to see another horse on the yard on Monday evening so I could always tag a session on for him if he's not right.

Monday, 10 August 2009

Nearly fell off tonight!

but for the first time in, maybe ever, it wasn't because he was panicking or stropping, or acting dangerously.I was pootling round the school on him, asking for a few walk to trot transitions and playing with our steering skills in the Dually. He started to really go nicely forwards into trot, so i let him, then he did his little skip again and popped into canter, so i let him.Unfortunately the great big oaf tripped over his own feet, or an uneven bit of sand or something and PROPERLY stacked it, when I got off later he had sand up his entire underside, both knees and hind legs, up his face and even inside his lower lip, he really went down with a crash, but bless him he didn't panic or worry at all.Normally, or should i say in the past, his reaction to something like that would be to fling his gead up and run away, but he didn't and I didn't even lose a stirrup. The person watching said it looked suspisciously like he was trying his best to keep me on top! Have to say it was a heart in mouth moment though! Tis a long way down from up there!The incident didn'y seem to dent his confidence either and he happily went back into trot again afterwards! Funny how the oddest things show just how much progress has been made!

Saturday, 8 August 2009

Small steps turn into big steps!!

So, today I decided to do something a little different. I have been taking him through the yard gates to give him a change of scenery, and he's not been at all bothered, so today I took him for a long walk - about 4 miles! (not recommended in the full sun like we had today, stupid girl I am!)

He was so so good. At first he walked perfectly at my shoulder, not with a lowered head but that's a little much to expect as there was so much to look at that was new. But he was in the right place, no barging or spooking (oh, apart from a pheasant moment! but it was only a small spook) we then turned off the road and onto a bridleway where he started to get a little enthusiastic and I did 5 mins of Dually work with him to get his attention back and to let him realise that the Dually rules still apply in this situation - it worked and he fell back into step and did even lower his head after a while. I only had to remind him a couple of times that he was not to get ahead of me.

He seemed to really enjoy it, and by the time we got back to the yard (1.5hrs later) he was so chilled and like he does this every day. There were odd moments throughout the walk where he'd spot something scary and do a few seconds of fire breathing dragon, but he was quite polite about it.

THEn, and this is the best bit, I decided to push my luck a bit (I know, a bit naughty but it just felt right) so I put his saddle on and got on!

There was another girl at the yard, but this is the first time I've got on without anyone directly helping me.

We walked around for a bit with no problems at all...and then we trotted. Shuffley and stiff at first, as always, then he sort of opens up when he realises there's no pain, and we floated around for a couple of laps and he did a kind of skip and a hop and cantered!!! Solo!!!! in a Dually!!!!

Felt fab...and I now know I can do all three paces in the Dually, and still have full control.

I got off after that to end on such a good note!

So proud of him.

Friday, 7 August 2009

So, this week has been mixed...

Last Saturday we had a fantastic session, and Snip offered canter again, and actually did a whole lap on the lunge, in canter. He also began to really open up and free his shoulders in the trot.

Sunday he had a well earned day off whilst I scummed it at Sonisphere.

Monday I had to work late so I didn't even get to see him. Tuesday I saw him briefly as I had to work late AGAIN.

Wednesday was....interesting! It started off well until the guy in the field next door started flying his new plane! Snip was terrified, we had panics and whites of eyes. The works.

Then the flying stopped and Snip did settle a bit so I longreined, had a bit of a confrontation over going to the 'scary end' of the school - which is the end the the plane is flown! But he did settle, and did do as I was asking after just a few minutes.

I did get on, and he was very good, but kept it short.

Thursday we had torrential rain, no way I was going to wrok him but I did think he'd appreciate coming into the stable to eat his feed, as it really was wet.

Wrong!

He went in, panicked, reared, hit his head on the ceiling, and barged out the door. Gave the evening up as a bad job!

Tonight couldn't have been more different, he was happy and chilled and lovely. Long reined him without any issue, got on - best ever, he never moved a hoof! The school was so wet so he was struggling a bit with the footing, but once he relaxed he did float nicely above the mud sand!

We then came off the lunge and went solo! Did some walking and trotting around on our own, and even did a step or 2 of rein back.

Was so so pleased with how chilled out he was about it all!

Saturday, 1 August 2009

Sweat....

Without any blood or tears! Actual real life SWEAT, my horse is SWEATY!

Sound a bit of an odd thing to get excited about?? Not for me, because I made him sweaty, by riding him! He hasn't broken into a sweat in what seems like forever! All the work I've been doing with him so far has been all gently gently, nearly all in walk with only the last few days where we worked on a little trot.

Today I didn't long line.

I didn't do any ground work.

I led him to the mounting block, I got on (first time - no stress!) we walked away and straight onto a circle (remember all this is on a lunge with someone in the middle!) and he walked out happily and was actually forward....little bit of leg and we got trot, a couple of stuffy transitions and then he just popped forwards like he'd never even had a problem!

In fact he got so fast and forward in the trot that he broke into canter (yesterday he sort of skipped into a half stride of it) so I just sat there and said 'fine, as long as it's forwards, you choose the pace'

We did this 2 or 3 times, and on the last time he did a whole lap on the lung of canter.

LOTS of praise, and I asked to be unclipped, and then we were off, walked all around the arena, and even had a little solo trot! Left it at that as I didn't want to push my luck, but I'm so so so happy, he felt like Snip again, his ears were forwards, he listened, he was (or seemed to be) happy!

When I untacked him, his girth area was so sweaty I actually had to sponge him down, I'd started to feel like I'd never get to do that again!

Snip's Story