2 March An early start

2 March

So far I have rarely made it to the stables  before 11am. This is because I tend to use the mornings to write and catch up on emails etc. This morning I decided to make an exception and indulge my curiosity to experience morning stables.

First thing was feeding and then I watched as a young black mare was prepared for work. At her side Elouise's mare, Beatrice. It was interesting to compare the condition and fitness of the two. The black mare is in very good condition thanks to Willy's feeding regime, however, she is just starting to work a little bit so she is not fit. The bay mare is fitter. Elouise works her most days....she is leaner and her musculature is more obvious. Willy explained that we need the condition to create the muscles. Then we need to work the muscles patiently to make them strong and flexible.

Many vets say that horses should be kept skinny when they are young to avoid joint problems and the dreaded laminitas. Willy told me that this is the source of a lot of future problems....poor nutrition when the horse is growing.

A horse does not reach maturity until he is 8 years old. It is for this reason that we need patience and luck. Patience in our development of musculature and fitness and luck in avoiding injuries. Unfortunately many horses are already on the scrap heap at 5 or 6 years old as a result of either lack of patience in the training or lack of luck.....before the horse has even reached maturity! A number of the horses at Willy's are still alive and with a future as Willy saved them from the butcher!

We talked about how sad it is: the loss of all those horses and the dreams of all those owners/riders. What can we do to prevent this happening? Well I am writing this blog and I hope that when you read it you tell others what you have learned. I also think that we need to be able to demonstrate that Willy's 4 key principles of horsemanship (genetics, health, patience and luck) make economic sense too. I will try to put together a spreadsheet with the cost comparison. Maybe also we could create a "Horse Service Log Book"? Like we have for our car with the record of the servicing and maintenance done. As Willy always says "prevention is better than cure".

Next we went to watch Josephine have a lesson with Jean at Josephines. It was pleasing to see how Josephine is increasing in confidence. There was dialogue between her and Jean....always a good sign of a partnership. Jean worked the pair over a single upright and an oxer having Josephine approach the fence from different angles and working on maintaining straightness. He used a circle a lot before a fence to stop the mare from thinking that on an approach she would always jump.Well done!

Back at Le Frelut we worked Eric loose in the manege.  We checked his muscles too. He has a tight muscle on the left hand side behind the saddle. I asked Willy if it was the saddle or my riding but Willy said no. The more likely cause is a slip resulting in a small injury. Many horses sustain small injuries like this. The problem is that if they go un-noticed and untreated and we continue to work the horse then the small problem will get bigger. These problems often go un-noticed as the horse is not lame.

I asked Willy what I could do about it? In the past I have given Eric a little massage but Willy explained that the massage will not go deep enough to have an effect. What Eric needs is some treatment with Willy's massage oil. I will have to give it a go! It will be an interesting experiment. Once he is free-er there I can maybe start to work him in the pessoa to re-educate the muscles.

Tamtam had an easy day. He went for a little walk in hand and then had his beard singed with Willy's candle!

Hermanus was worked loose in the school on the flat and over a fence. Unfortunately he jumped awkwardly over a large oxer and dropped his hind legs heavily on the back pole. He was (understandably) reluctant to jump the fence again and Willy had to drive him at it. Afterwards we tended a number of small cuts and Willy gave him a full pressure wash. The issue will be the damage we can't see....to his soft tissues and his confidence. Let's hope it is not too much.

Afterwards we worked a young chestnut stallion loose in the manege. F came in for a lot of criticism over the way he approached and handled the horse in the box and in the manege. "Contact with yourself, contact with the cheval"!!

Finally Willy insisted we finish by working the bay mare who had given us so much trouble the previous day. First of all he worked her in the pessoa over her saddle - on the flat and over a fence - and then he put F on board. There was a raging storm going on outside with high winds and rain. The manege rattled and shook. F managed to retain control of himself and therefore control of the mare.... a big step forward I think for F with his riding. However, in my humble opinion, the mare is still not accepting the hand. We shall see!