Nearly placed!

The scores are up and Tia was 11th out of 37. Her dressage score was in the top thirdish (haven’t counted properly) of the class. I’m cock a hoop. One less penalty point and we’d have been placed and got a rosette!!

I left a rug on her in the sun yesterday and her back has gone lumpy again. The hair roots get a tiny infection at the bottom, and then her skin swells. I scrub it with hibiscrub to keep the bugs out of her coat and that seems to help and she seems to like it. It’s better today than it was yesterday. I think she is also sensitive to any numnahs that are slightly dirty. So I’ve changed to using pieces of stretch fleece, which are much easier to bung in the washing machine. I’ve got 9 of them so I can keep using a clean one. The added bonus is that they cost £10 for all of them. They also stop the Geleze from making marks on her and Caddy where the holes are, because they are so stretchy that you can use them under the geleze. I was worried when the marks on Caddy stayed over a whole day and could still be seen; I didn’t think that was right.

For the sake of completeness, I think I should report that both Tia and Tetley mark with the WOW saddles if I don't use the geleze - Tia where the bags overlap (there are two on each side) but we know what a sensitive soul she is and that's no real surprise. But Tetley is now getting some little bumps too, near the spine. I think it might be because I put a wider gullet plate in and on a steep hill his back is just touching it. The saddle seems fine and the geleze works and I already have it so it's no big deal. Just thought that I should tell the full story in case anyone is thinking of buying one.

I took him out for a walk today for 40 minutes and he was a lot better. Not sound in trot, but nowhere near as bad as he has been. The heat has swapped back into his white leg today. He also has two strange holes, one in the outside heel of each hind foot. For all the world as if there had been abscesses in them and wear on the road has opened a little "window" into the pocket left behind. It's possible I suppose, that some of his recent lameness could have been that and not the spavin at all. I don't think his feet would have changed shape though, so I don't believe it's the whole answer. Anyway, if he did have two abscesses, they are well drained now!

Caddy was a bit stiff today. I schooled because the wind had got so high I just didn't feel like being outside. But really he would probably have been better with a leg stretch. Still, he did some nice work after a while. I have to slow the trot right down to get any suspension in it, but there is promise of really nice work there. He can have tomorrow off, I think. I am hoping for weather decent enough to take him to Somerford on Thursday to go around the farm ride with Tam and Murphy and see if he is happy to jump the tiny jumps on the course at less than hurdling pace :-)

C.