Rare Breed Fell Pony - December

Find out about how I am getting on with training my rare breed Fell pony Merlin and my decision to move him to a new yard.

Transcript

When I last left you I had had a successful hack on Merlin and was hopeful that things would progress in the right direction, however go back to the old adage, one step forwards two steps backwards when training horses, the next hack I took Merlin on was going well until he decided that he didn’t want to go any further, he must had known I was in a rush that morning, three rears later, fortunately no cars were coming, I did manage to get him moving forward, I rode about 100 yards down the road then I turned him around on my terms, just in case he started again.  All was going well as we headed back until we reached another yard where a horse was in a field moving about and Merlin got a bit excited and started to be a bit silly, so at this point I hopped off quickly, there is no point having a battle, scaring yourself and losing confidence.  Instead I did lots of small circles with him in hand in the road, keeping and eye out for traffic and made him walk backwards, just getting him to focus on me and what I was asking him to do rather than the other horse.  

The next morning I lunged him, then the morning after I opted for the school, I lunged him first then hopped on, my aim just being to get him listening to me and to relax and it was all going well until the neighbour arrived to also use the school. He spooked at the lorry, then I could feel he was about to explode and so hoped off and put him back on the lunge where he ran around like an idiot for a bit, then I hopped back on, he was still what we would call wound up, which basically felt like I was sitting on an unexploded bomb, but I got him to focus with the other horse in the arena and even managed a little trot and no rears, so all headed in the right direction.

The next time I rode him I did the same lunge him before I got on him, lots of transitions, so that is halt to walk, walk to half, trot to walk, walk to trot and some circles and the trot on one rein was really nice he is starting to feel balanced on that rain, the trot on the other rein was not so good, but it is all progress and I am getting him to do more canter work when I lunge him now.  He then had the equine tooth dentist, who sedated him to do his teeth, but this was only because she was doing training and this was an element that she needed and the vet checked his teeth and was training her which is great as it is important to make sure that you have a qualified equine dentist as there are lots out there who are not qualified.  The vet said I have to make a note that he is a lightweight having had the same amount of sedation that the vet used to give her Shetland pony.  I always give horses a day off after they have had their teeth done. Sunday was also pooh collection day, a small sample to be taken for testing at the veterinary hospital where the yard vet works, they look for worm counts in the lab, if they are under 400 you don’t need to worm them, Merlin’s came back at 50 so very low, so we will test him again in September at the end of the grazing season.  It used to be we did tactical worming but worms have grown resistance to wormers so now you have to do worm counts in the grazing season and then a wormer like Equest Paramox in the autumn to kill all the eggs off and various other types of worms, it is all very technical so it is great to have a vet working all this out for us. Looking after horses is really complex and even we as owners get it wrong, I opted to try grazing Merlin on richer grass for a couple of hours but I think this contributed to his behaviour as well, as we have now moved him to a different paddock and he is a lot better.  

I popped down and lunged Merlin first thing this morning before it got to hot, I was working on getting him to canter a bit more on both reins and also transitions from trot canter to trot and then trot to walk, nothing particularly eventful to add, I will aim to ride him tomorrow am, as long is it is not chucking it down and it wasn’t it was a cool start so idea pony riding conditions.  I lunged for 5 mins and then rode in the school for 25 mins, just short bursts is good.  All I am concentrating on is to get him to relax which he is starting to and to halt when I ask, walk when I ask and trot when I ask, I worked him on a very large circle, over 20m diameter any one who has done dressage will know how big that is as you have to ride a circle of that size in prelim and novice tests.  No rearing which was good, he did try and stick his nose in the air and tank off with me, but manage to stop him, he is very strong and not for the faint hearted rider.  I had a couple of nice trots on both reins and he did what I wanted which is what it is all about, he is still a bit spooky, looking for something to spook at is a distraction from listening to the rider, so I am working to get him to focus on what I am asking him to do, but he is getting there.

We have had a lot of rain recently and combined with the warm weather there are lots of warnings out about laminitis which the equine version of diabetes, The Fell pony breed is in danger of getting it so it is important to make sure that he stays fit and gets lots of exercise, in the same way I need to exercise to loose weight.  So this morning I did about 15-20 mins on the lunge at him with 5 mins of canter on each rein and the rest in a fast trot then a walk cool down.  That is the cardio element that I did myself yesterday, when I walked 4 miles with Pippa and ran 1.5 of them at a decent speed.  

After a day off yesterday, I decided to ride Merlin in the school today, I quickly lunged him and there were some trotting poles out so I got him over those, Jackie at the yard asked if she could watch me and I said that’s fine and I started telling her what I was doing and immediately she noticed that my shoulders were more relaxed and so were my hands and consequently Merlin was starting to look more relaxed through is back and I could feel that. It is good to have someone experienced watching you ride as they can see things that you are maybe not aware of.  So the next time I ride I will do some shoulder stretches to loosen them off before I get on and concentrate on relaxing my hands, as if Merlin feels the tension in my hands he will think what is the problem and that will cause him to go into flight mode and run. 

I lunged Merlin for a couple of days, the first session I concentrated on cardio work with him, so I got him to canter for 5 mins then 5 mins of trot on both reins then 4 mins of walk to cool him down, he only coughed a couple of times.  The next time I lunged him he set off in canter straight away and he only coughed once, there were some poles out in the school a line of 4 of them so I got him to trot over these 5 times in both directions which he did really nicely no trying to avoid doing it which means that he is enjoying doing things.  He is starting to turn back into the really nice pony that I previously owned.  He is still not as confident, but he is getting there, I am really happy with his progress.  I will pop on him again this week and see how we get on in the arena.  I got up really early the next morning and Merlin seemed really chilled so I hopped on him without lunging him and he was great, really relaxed so we worked on trot and if he tensed up, I just stroked his next to reassure him.  He even wanted to canter, but my stirrup leathers are a bit too long I need to put a couple more holes in them so I can make sure that I am balanced when he canters. He didn’t cough at all either so really pleased with him.  I lunged Merlin after a day off and this time I popped him over 4 poles all placed together so he had to jump them, he didn’t over jump them at all and happily trotted over them and jumped in canter, it is good to do different things with him.  I want consistency when I ride him, but for lunging if you have poles in different places it stops him from getting bored and gives him things to think about and he is getting less spooky now as well which is really good.  

I then had a problem with my hamstring, it was really pain full when I was doing rising trot and I was competing in a marathon in two weeks so I opted to give Merlin two weeks off, which ended up being three weeks off.  I took him for a stroll in hand, which means that I was leading him one day, then I lunged him and he was a bit excitable and had a bit of a buck then I got back on and he was really nervous and tense again.  I am now training for the London marathon so I am going to have this persistent hamstring issue so I have decided to move him to a different yard, where there are a lot more people, I already know someone else there and there are a lot more people to hack out with which will put a lot less strain on my hamstring and I did loads of hacking with Merlin when I backed him the first time, it is what he likes doing and it will be good for him to do that at the weekends over the winter and go in the school a couple of times in the week.  It might also help with his allergies, as it is a different environment, it is a bit more exposed there, he will be in a barn which has a lot more airflow through it and I will put him on a wood pellet bedding which is completely dust free. I will miss the people at the current yard, as the owners are lovely and the other liveries are really nice, but it is the right move for me and him, as I am also putting him on assisted DIY, which means I will have to go and muck him out everyday as I feel really detached from him and I did more with him when he was at home and I was seeing him all the time.  It will be better for social interaction, as there will be more people on assisted DIY about as well to chat to and to go places with.  

I had a bit of an issue with Merlin with Friday before I was due to leave yards, he went lame on the hind and also looked in a lot of discomfort, I called the vet out and he took his shoe off suspecting an abscess to I had to poultice the foot, which was a new skill and not one that I had done before, fortunately he was a very well behaved patient.  When I got down to check him the next morning, he had been rolling around a lot and was covered in manure which is not normal for him, so I did wonder if it might have been colic.  I was relieved that it was not something called laminitis though.