...Kingsley got himself a brand new injury. He jumped over the field gate and ended up with hematoma in between his front legs/girth area. It's not overly big but large enough not to allow me to put a saddle on as the girth would lie just at the end of it.
He doesn't seem bothered too much when it's being touched so I massaged some Anica gel into the area gently. Just to be sure I phoned my vet but he said to just leave it be, keep him moving as much as possible and start riding as soon as it's possible to girth him up.
I took some photos but very cleverly I left my mobile on the yard! Will add them tomorrow.
Instead of walking under the saddle I walked him in-hand for 35 minutes, doing quite a few halt transitions and a few trot transitions. I am going to start long-reining him so I can practise all the transitions from the ground. His responses are actually very similar to the ones he offers when ridden. His halts were getting much better the more I've done them and I think he is starting to get the idea that he needs to yield to the rein pressure.
More worrying than the hematoma is a cut he has on the back of his pastern. With the mud as we have right now it's going to get infected in no time so he will have to stay in until the cut has closed up. I hate these type of wounds as they are so difficult to treat. His pastern moves constantly and the cut is where the skin creases naturally so it takes ages to close up.
I washed it a few times during the day with an anti-bacterial wash, slapped lots of MSM cream on and bandaged both of his hindlegs for the night. The one with the cut is swollen a little so the bandage will hopefully keep the swelling to the minimum as well as providing some protection for the cut.
Ah the joys!
Oh, and thank you HorseOfCourse for the cotton gloves tip! I got a pair from Boots yesterday and pop them on for the night and ta dam! It works! My hands are saying big Thank You :)
3 comments
- been following the Kingsley diary as havent been up much at the mo.
On the subject of longreining and the halt transitions I would make sure you use the arena to your advantage - Ask for the halt transition as you are going towards the fence. I dont mean walk towards it as that would encourage him to swing his quarters without reinforcing the rein aid commands he needs. Just angle him so the outside fence is there - for example almost at F on the right rein - you then encourage him to understand the half halt a better as you can have him a little more on your outside rein. Only when that is working I would move to halting perhaps in front of a pole so he has to think whether or not to take the next step. Then with practice intertwined with other work (ensuring that he understands that sometimes he goes over the poles) it should come together for a squarer halt with more submission. I trained at College with a guy who was the pupil of Chris Bartle and if it was good enough for him I decided it was good enough for me .. lol hope to see u all soon for some horsey fun/ dramas..
Hey Gillian! Thank you for that - wish I had read it before today...all in all he was quite good but quite difficult to keep straight. I will give your exercises a go tomorrow :) The one with the pole sounds good, think it should work with him!
Hematoma went down considerably today so hopefully will be able to ride him again from tomorrow.
See you soonx
What bad luck, Wiola. And one of those low cuts in addition, not easy in muddy conditions as you say.
Glad the glove thing helped though!
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