Made it worse!

The Sudocrem caused Caddy's cut to swell and weep :-( :-( It's a lot better now I've got it off again. It's a shame because it is fly repellent - it's 1% benzyl benzoate, which is what I spray on Tetley to stop the midges irritating his tail. But it seems to cause any open wound on a horse to weep - I use it on Tia to soften the scabs on the mud fever from the boot rubs. 10 minutes after putting it on they are soggy and easy to scrape off. No good for cuts though, obviously :-( Caddy's stitches won't be coming out tomorrow now, they'll have to wait until it has all sealed up again.

Tia and I went up to try and find the cows but they have been moved to another field. It's a darned good job I didn't walk up with her as I originally planned. It's a long steep climb and it's a very hot day and I would have been MOST disgruntled to have got all that way and found I had done it for no reason.

We did some schoolng on rough ground instead. When she loses her balance she drops her shoulders, sticks her nose out and sets her mouth on the bit. She takes considerable persuasion and a constant "fiddle" on the bit to stop her doing it. When I say fiddle, I mean that I am responding to her constant shoulder wriggle and rearrangement of her contact with the bit, putting it back where it should all be, every second or so! She did some lovely work after a while. It wasn't perfect of course, but you could tell what an effort she was making not to dump herself onto her forehand. As long as she tries, that's all I want, not perfection she isn't capable of giving yet.

Tetley needs work for his waistline but I had no more energy left after Tia, so he got put on the lunge again and worked while I stood still. He seems to be moving very well indeed, as well as I have seen him do this year. He will halt, walk, trot and canter on command. Since he was never lunged when I broke him I'm really surprised how easily he has learnt it at ten.

It took only a week for him to return to total soundness after the farm ride and jumping. And most people would have said he was sound days ago. So I am very, very pleased with him. If the ground was not like concrete I would take him out to some riding club events, but it won't be fun for either of us as it is at the moment.

Tia and he are scoffing their minerals. Caddy is kicking his all over the stable and then eating the cubes out of the shavings one by one. It takes a loooooooong time to eat 4 kilos of food that way. Before you have horrors at feeding 4 kilos in only one feed, racing TB's are routinely fed those quantities and he kicks up a fuss if I only give him 3! I am holding off measuring him because I don't want to disappoint myself if I'm wrong, but it looks to me as if his front end has come up in height. He has certainly got a lot more substance on his bum, which used to be an A shape and is beginning now to round up a bit. Another week or two and a photo will be worth showing I think.

C.