Well the start of the season is rolling around again, and its
time to start thinking about bringing the muddy creatures back into
work again.
I dont know about everyone else, but I gave up over the earlier
part of June, it just never seemed to stop raining and I was really
struggling to get the horses into any sort of routine.
However just because its winter, doesn't mean they are not up to
mischief in the paddock. I recently went out to see a regular
clients horse, that had moved to a new property, and been running
around in the mud. Unfortunately while doing this, the horse
must have gotten deep in the mud, and unbeknown to anyone, actually
done a bit of a worrying mischief.
Its quite clear to see that the off fore tendon, is very
inflamed. This is always a concern, as we all know just how long
tendon injuries can take to heal. However, because the early strain
was discovered, the workload was completely dropped, the leg was
treated and in a fortnight, back to right as rain. However had this
not have been discovered, the results could have been disastrous,
and all for a small break, the owner has now avoided what was
potentially a serious, expensive and time consuming recovery.
This is the same leg a couple of weeks later. Now if your
confused about the obvious inflammation in the now near side, it is
a separate issue thats also being dealt with, this blog is about
the tendon though, so have not ventured into hooves for awhile!
I personally feel that the importance of making sure your horse
is in the best physical condition, at the start of the season,
cannot be taken seriously enough. Last year at the start of the
season, and my debut back into eventing, I spent 6 weeks riding in
the howling rain, howling wind, knee deep mud, to get my horse fit
enough for the opening horse trial. I sent away my entry, enclosed
was a small fortune, and awaited my start times and started packing
up the truck for the new season. You guessed it, my horse made it
very clear ten days prior to the start, that he was not right. I
ended up with a horse out the entire season, nothing to compete and
still feel extremely bitter about all the soakings I got getting
him fit. However I am getting over it, counselling is a
wonderful thing (just kidding!)
In my case there was nothing much I could have done to change
the way things went last season, but I could have avoided spending
a substantial amount of money and time, hoping to start a horse
that was simply not up to the task. Thats worst case scenario, and
in a lot of cases, like the one highlighted above, things can be
dealt with before they become such a big problem. Anyway, some food
for thought, and I know we all hope everything will go to plan for
the entire season, however if it doesn't, give me a call!