19th December, 2009 A Road Less Travelled

Today it was off towards Bath to meet a handsome Cleveland Bay cross that has fallen on hard times until very recently. He was so thin and anaemic when his new owner got him that she hasn't been able to bring herself to take a photograph of him. She is keen to get their relationship off to the best start and to answer some of the questions he has started to ask now that he is feeling better and brighter. He has had a few ridden issues including napping, bucking and rearing. It was great to work with someone who recognises that it might be a long (and expensive, time consuming and patience testing) road to his recovery and that there may be a stack of issues to deal with along the way starting out with all of the physical things. Even before my visit today she has had his back checked, his teeth done and he has had blood tests to make sure he has no lasting deficiencies. He has had a new saddle and will have that checked every three months to make sure that it continues to be comfortable and to take account of his developing muscles and, hopefully, fat (not fat fat but just weight). Today we went through the basic groundwork exercises to make sure that there are no gaps there and next she is going to cover desensitisation. He is already being lunged but there would be a lot of value in long reining him to help him to build up his muscles whilst working in straight lines, to address any crises of confidence and to ask him to accept direction.