Last night I went to see Gillian Higgin's demonstration of how the horse moves. Jemima, a grey Irish Draught cross, had been painted on one side with all the bones of the horse and on the other with all the muscle groups. It was then fascinating to see these "bones" and "muscles" on the move - at walk, trot, canter and jumping. Once again she emphasised the need to keep young untrained horses long and low and to make sure that they get to rest and stretch their necks at frequent intervals and also the need to feed horses at floor level. Her book "How Your Horse Moves" is a must have - the illustrations are fascinating and there is nothing stuffy about the book at all; really accessible.
Cello seems to have received lots of testosterone for his first birthday and, having lost his mum, he has found his er...willy and has started to plague the mares. As a result of this havoc he has also lost too much weight so I have brought him in for the rest of the summer and then he can be gelded before he goes back out. In the meantime, Kanuthi has come back from Liz's because he has taken to lane creeping and gains too much weight if he is kept in. The plan is to reunite him with his Mum, Blue, during the next week when she comes in to have her feet trimmed and then the two of them can go back out on the Forest. I'm really looking forward to seeing them together again. Blue and Nelly are both looking splendid and can stay out all summer.
