18 March 2+2=

18 March

Started the day with mucking out 4 boxes...Madame Crotte was very happy!!

Then a team meeting to discuss the way forward. Some important decisions need to be made but we will wait for Francois so that we can take into account  his opinion.

I have been thinking a lot about Eric and his shoulder problem. I was not correct when I said that the only tie he had been lame was when the farrier had over tried his hinds. The last time he was hopping lame was 5 years ago. It was just after I had met Stephen Goodridge, Willy's apprentice, at Pompadour with his stallion, Vigo. I had made arrangements to visit Le Frelut but Eric came in hopping lame from the paddock on his right shoulder. I called Stephen to say I couldn't go, and, after consulting briefly with Willy, they told me that they would come to me the following morning! On that occasion I decided not to get Eric treated. I hot and cold hosed and massaged his injury and he got better. At least that is what I thought! He has carried muscle tightness in his left loin for some time. I am always massaging there....but as Willy says it is not deep enough. My Eric has been working with an old injury for 5 years......it is only as I have pushed for more that the old injury has once again made it's presence known. That is my hypothesis. As Yves the vet has already told me, it will improve again and he will work with it but I will have to be very careful. I think I owe my horse the chance of something more. I think I want him to be treated........

Willy took me to the wash box and put my hand in a jug of the special oil he uses. I felt nothing. It had no effect. The only sign was that the skin on my hand went white and dry. I have taken a photo of my hand that I will attempt to share. Willy wanted me to feel this so that I would know that if Eric is ok he will feel nothing.

When I arrived again after lunch Willy had turned Hermanus out in the paddock. I found him sitting watching and talking to the horse. He told me afterwards that he always sits with his sports horses in work when they are turned out. That way he knows exactly what has happened and he can intervene if things start to go awry. As with Eric's shoulder injury, he told me that most injuries occur when the horse is turned out. He does what he does to limit the risks.

Before we set off to visit Josephine and Argenta we talked about feeding. I shared the interesting conversation I had with Jo Bower of Horsesource Solutions. Jo told me that she wasn't surprised about the length of time it takes for the horses here to eat their forage mix. She told  me that short chop forage and chaff takes 1.5 times as long to chew as long fibre such as hay and haylage. I told her about my search for data to understand the digestibility of feed when the horse has for example poor teeth or parasites. How much of the feed is wasted due to such oversights? She told me that she once took samples of the dung at a yard, dried it and made it into brickettes. then she burned it in front of the yard's owner...to show how much energy was being wasted by their feeding regime. Willy told me that it wasn't really fair as all dung would burn in this way (that is why so many much heaps are set on fire to reduce!) He told me that he is more interested in what he can actually see in the dung. If he can see whole pieces of components of feed then this is clearly not digested. I wonder if I can find any proper studies on this? I am particularly interested in the effects of dentition and parasites. Jo told me that the two biggest effects are feeding poor quality feed and the ultimate is stress. Limiting the horse's stress is the best way to enhance digestibility and avoid wasting money.

Josephine did a super job of managing Argenta through a variety of jumping exercises Willy set for her. No running out and all very cool and calm. Once again well done Josephine. Jean is back tomorrow so we will see what he thinks of her progress in the coming week.