Not for the faint hearted.

For us equestrians; horses mend our soul, give us daily therapy and let us reach for our dreams. They really do. They also break our hearts; push us over the edge and seriously make us question our mentality. 

It’s not easy, we all have times where nothing is going right, our beloved four legged isn’t well and we just can’t seem to get on top of working, looking after our neds and being competition ready. Being an equestrian is tough...not enough of us are so open to that. We should be. 

It’s ok to not be ok some days, we all have those days but it’s really important you’re able to tell someone about them. Tell you’re family, have a great trainer to talk to or even better some horsey friends who know all about it. 

Remember the good, the achievements and most importantly failure can never be, if you never give up. Keep those goals in mind. 

The bad times, lameness, injuries and ailments they shape us. They make us stronger horse people; better at our jobs and better at recognising the path we need to take. Importantly it makes us tougher than anything that’s thrown our way. 

Our horses are our everything, with them and a great team we can achieve our dreams no matter how far from reach we think they are. Go and smash them...because that’s what we’re going to do as well! 

PSSM : Our miracle diet

So this year with Drift we made it through the Winter/Spring and Autumn/Winter transition without too much trouble. The seasonal changes in the weather and therefore the grass seem to have brought on his two major episodes of azoturia. He has PSSM and the chronic nature of it means his AST and CK levels only have to be slightly elevated for him to be pretty poorly. 

The unpredictability of the weather is a nightmare at the change of seasons; one minute it can be quite warm in the sun, the next a bit of rain and it can feel absolutely freezing! So we’ve managed him really carefully this year, we’ve been monitoring him constantly and he has a rug collection that outdoes my coat collection (and I love coats, I’m always feeezing!)

Keeping him warm is absolutely crucial in preventing and episode occurring and he has to have a long warm up and equally long cool down after a session. 

But mostly what is the magic to keeping him right?!

 

Diet diet diet.

Drifter has a bare minimum diet- we have to keep his sugar and starch intake as low as possible! He doesn’t get carrots and apples or anything with molasses in and we try to be careful with lush grass. Realistically he’d be better off only having grass at night when the sugars are lower but it isn’t viable for us at the moment as the other option would be to stable him daily which I won’t do. He’s a horse and being outside with his herd is his happy place. In future I’m hoping to get a track system in place like Kate’s, so he has the best of both worlds!

LET US OUT!!

Now he has a very specialised hard feed too. I choose to get my supplements from Forage Plus. They are incredibly knowledgable, helpful and the supplement quality is the best we’ve had by far. 

So Drifts diet breaks down like this:

1 scoop simple system Lucie nuts

1 cup micronised linseed 

1 tbs Forage plus Magnesium oxide

1 10g scoop Forage plus Natural Vitamin E oil equivalent to 5000iu.

1 tsp salt 

He also loves a treat of course and for these we rely on Agrobs!

When I was having on going issues with Drift it took a while to figure out what was causing the issue. Once we transitioned his diet, in just seven days he had significantly improved and within six weeks he was back to the old drift who we know and love. We are always tweaking his diet and we’ve found what works for him through trial and error! And you know what, that’s okay. 

Drift has to have a diet of high protein which is provided by the Lucie nuts but in recent reading it has been documented that an amino acid supplement can also significantly help horses suffering with pssm. So we’ll be trialing this over the coming weeks once our order arrives from forage plus, and we’ll keep you all updated!

Flying a whopping 1m25

 

Now he is fit and healthy and he feels fabulous! We try and do our absolute best for him, but I’m sure we have lots of further challenges ahead, but for now we are just enjoying him :) He’s had a couple of months off competing before we have slowly brought him back and he kicked back off a few weeks ago with a lovely double clear at Southview. Now onwards and upwards to get him back out to BS again over the next few weeks.

 

Lia’s (barefoot) dancing shoes...

When Lia arrived we knew she was in extremely poor condition, but what we hadn’t anticipated was the state of her feet. You’ll know from previous posts, I FREAKED OUT and poor Haylz had to deal with me, going on and on and on... 

‘What are we going to do?’ 

‘Her feet are clubbed! Well I think they’re clubbed!’

‘Hayl, those feet are not ok!’ 

‘Kate, they’re not clubbed. You know we will be able to sort them, don’t worry.’

Then came one of the worse abscesses we’ve had to deal with; two months of determination, trying not to panic as my next dressage horse hopped around on three legs. Eventually it burst EVERYWHERE - the sole, the coronet band in two places, taking half the hoof wall with it (she didn’t have much to start with!!). That was the start of Lia’s hoof rehab journey. 

At 16’2 she had pony sized feet,  heals that would give my stilettos a run for their money, decent lateral flare, two great hoof cracks and worryingly a nearly toe first landing. But she wasn’t lame, so we had a positive start. 

16 months later, we are not there, but the improvement has been incredible. Lia now has a heal first landing, her feet have balance, the cracks have gone and her heals are lowered meaning they’ve become less contracted. She’s still got some lateral flare, which may or may not go, time will tell. 

So we wanted to share with you our approach to giving Lia her barefoot dancing shoes; 

1. DIET - we keep this simple; adlib hay and haylage, along with a low sugar and starch diet. We opt for Alfalfa Nuts & Micronised Linseed in equal amount. 
2. Vits & Mins - thanks to Forage Plus, we’ve been able to balance her diet perfectly with Natural Vitamin E, Copper and Zinc which has created a huge improvement in the strength of her hoof wall and over all condition. 
3. Movement - this is key, the more the horse moves the healthier they are. We are lucky enough to have a track system, so Lia spends equal amounts of time of hard terrains, gravel and grass to stimulate her feet. She’s on 24 hour turnout. 
4. Trimming - the right trim helps the horse. We’ve got an excellent trimmer who has helped balance her feet which I assure you is not an easy task. The view from the sole is not the view when the foot is on the floor. 

Does Lia have story book picture hooves, no! But they work. She’s comfortable, she can go dancing and hack out with no hoof boots on any surface, which we’re pretty proud of. 

‘Don’t try to make the hooves match - try to make the horse move in a more balanced way.’  Pete Ramey 

New year; new goals...

So 2018 was a year of ups and downs. 

We’ve had accidents, abscesses and ailments galore. I think it’s fair to say we’ve shared them out equally between the two and four leggeds! So some of our dreams were put on hold; however we mustn’t forget what we have achieved. 

So here’s a look back at what we made happen in 2018 and our targets for 2019. We’re so excited looking towards our goals for the next 12 months. We are starting this year with all six horses in the herd sound, happy and in work, for the first time..EVER. 

Thanks to Drifter’s tip top diet from Forage plus, keeping his pssm at bay, he has started to compete in affiliated showjumping and he gained a couple of placings and qualified for second rounds.

Drifts goals: our main aim for him each year is to keep his muscles healthy. If we can achieve this and prevent his pssm from taking hold, I would like to continue his affiliated showjumping career. It is my goal for him to get 5 double clears so he can go the national amateur champs at Aintree in November!

Rush is working Medium and is fitter than he’s ever been. He competed a few times, with over 70% in every test - we’ve even managed our first 9!! 

Rush’s goals: the main aim this year is for him to compete affiliated at elementary. I’d love to qualify for regionals with him, so we’ll need some high percentages with consistency. At home we’re going to continue his dressage career by teaching him the advanced work. Starting by adding changes on each rein over the next few weeks! 

 Biz, is now lightly ridden, her second round of sarcoid treatment has appeared to work and she finally trusts enough to start her work. 

Biz goals: for Biz this year we want her to be happy under saddle and confident in herself. I hope to get her out to do some lower level dressage and around a course of Showjumps. The most important this is we crack her sarcoid condition and ensure she’s comfortable to continue her work. Lastly, I’m hoping to increase my own confidence with Biz, she’s not been easy, but I’m sure she’ll be my biggest teacher. 

Lia is broken and went out to do her first intro test. She’s the sanest baby I’ve ever known and has taken to work like it’s always been part of her life. 

Lia’s goals: the aim for Princess Lia is to register her affiliated dressage this year. She’ll be 5 this year. To do this we’ll work on her strength and ability to carry herself through her back.  She’ll progress slowly at her pace, she’s got a lot more growing to do, but elementary at home is our goal. We’re also off to horse camp in March! 

 Joli is now properly riding away, she has had a few successful trips in the trailer since her accident and she has popped her first jump under saddle. 

Joli’s goals: this year for her is all about gaining strength, balance and suppleness. She is 5 this year and she is enormous and still growing. She has done very little so far as she is so gangly! So this year she needs to build strength through her frame so she is able to carry herself properly. She will be going to some dressage competitions and by the end of this year, hopefully be popping a course of showjumps. We also really need to build her confidence with travelling and get her out to see lots of the world. We are aiming her for a horse camp in March! 

6. Hope has been very lightly started and has hacked to the pub and had a little walk, trot and canter on each rein and is taking to it all like a duck to water.

Hope’s goals: for Hope this is a year of learning the basics. She has a great head on her shoulders and is so bold, which we hope will also carry through onto the cross country field as we are aiming to event her. So we need to get her dressage right. She will go out to some dressage competitions this year and we will also take her out on some farm rides and cross country rides, with a lead horse to build her confidence and to show her some natural fences. Thanks to the wise words of Will FP, we will be showing her the solid fences first. As young event horse, we don’t want her to assume that all jumps fall down if you get it wrong!

So there you have it. Six horses, some big goals and a whole lot of fun to come for Team EL I’m 2019. 

Whatever you plan to do this year, we’d love to know! Aim high, enjoy your horses and remember to hug them everyday!