Harrrrd work

Well both Jazz and I were tired after our lesson with Sonia today!  In many respects it was the simplest lesson we have ever had. Straight lines and circles. But boy did she work us hard. We have gone up a huge step in engagement, resulting from working on his straightness. A year ago he never would have accepted the amount of pressure that we put on him today, but aside from a bit of kicking out a hind leg in protest, he knuckled down and really tried. The result was the kind of movement that I have never ridden in my life before. Huge and immensely powerful. He felt like a different horse. This is new territory for me and I am only beginning to get the hang of it. What I do feel is that I bought a better horse than I thought I had - he is SO capable of this powerhouse stuff!

When I got home I had just enough energy to get four boots onto Campero and take him for a hack. He was bouncing and happy. He was clearly anticipating pain from his feet, and also clearly surprised when it did not happen. After a while he began to trust the boots and we had a lovely hack. In a test 50 m trot, he was sound. Things are going very well.

The increase in sensitivity in the last week was very disappointing, but I now believe that his feet were totally numb and have come alive in stages. They are certainly well alive now, but his soles are still not thick enough to cope with stones, even though they are palpably thicker and stronger than they were. I think something has also happened to his liver. It was clear from the number of things that affect his skin, and that he ties up when given a wormer, that his liver was compromised. I could swear that in the last two or three days, his digestion has changed. There is a different appearance to his poo, drier and more fibrous, and he is putting on weight in spite of having no more to eat. The weight gain is not welcome and I intend to combat it with increased work now that we have got hold of botos to fit his hind feet.  Meanwhile, he is shedding odd bits of frog left, right and centre and his feet continue to grow at a great rate.

C