I thought it might be interesting to blog the horses and their issues while we change their feed over to Thunderbrook Equestrian Firstly I have to say that all of the horses we have came to us with issues, they have showed talent but were finding it difficult in one way or another. Up to now the first thing we have always done is treat the gut with relevant supplements as I truly believe that 80/90% of all issues come from the gut. what I hadn’t done though is change the hard feed. Apart from Fred, who has been on the chaff/base mix, gut restore/liquid gold and oats for about a month. (I will comment on Fred at the end) Stephan – Stephan is 16yr old gelding that has won alot of money in Belgium who when we got him rushed his fences and was very very strong, he is however a super star, we have always been aware of how heady he is and that he didn’t come back from any stay a way shows 100% sound and it was always his right hind that didnt look 100% so he is going to very interesting. Stefan is on The Chaff, base mix, charcoal and gut restore. We will keep an eye on him and if we feel he needs more then he will also get oats. Dougal – is an 11yr old coloured gelding and as you know apart from on a surface we have struggled to keep Dougal sound and again it is his right hind that is an issue, his feet also didn’t stand up to being turned out for 6 months with no shoes on, apparently poor feet can also be gut related. Dougal is also on the same as Stefan. Spud – Spud is 7 this year and had just started to jump a few 1.20s with William before he got this dreadful infection. And as you all know has been very ill with an infection that started out in the gut (pasturella) that leaked through the gut wall and into his blood stream….we now know after yesterday’s talk that a leaky gut is also a symptom of chemical sprays, as is rubbing the mane and tail and he is a bugger for this. As Spud is still on medication from Rossdales he is having straight chaff and base mix with gut restore to help with all the antibiotics and general anisthetics. We can not feed him charcoal as it takes all toxins including medications out of the system. So Fred. Fred, a 10yrs old Dutch warmblood, he was jumping 1.20 with his previous owners, we havent taken him out recently as he was too dangerous. Again as I have told you all before Fred was offered as a gamble from a very respected client. He felt Fred needed a home rather than a professional yard where he wouldnt be one of many. We were told he was difficult to bit.. What we found was he was also difficult to compress and if you did ask him to come back to you he would bolt, he would also lean on your hands.. All of these things I knew were gut related. We put him on Coligone and that did make a difference and we played a lot with training methods with him. About a month ago a client gave me a bag of base mix to try, we then bought some of the chaff, gut restore and liquid gold. Its funny when you are around horses all the time that you don’t always see how big of an improvement there has been. BUT he looks fantastic and you cant help but stare at him when you walk down the barn, his eye looks soft and like a pool you could get lost in and his coat has this unbelievable shine to it. He has also started to take an interest in everything, he even calls when you enter the barn. Sarah came to watch him work today and with everything that has happened and losing Trigo we haven’t seen a lot of Sarah up the yard when we have been working the horses…WELL to say she was blown away. William could let him go down the long-side, sit up, get him back to him using the weight of his seat, canter a 10m circle and then push him on again until the next corner where he rides another 10m circle and so on. Even one month ago this would have been impossible. He was smoother through his changes and when it came to jumping he was calm and relaxed before and after the fence regardless..so if he made a mistake he didn’t run on but listened to William and came back to him when asked. In a really calm smooth way. William is now riding him in curbed gag with a straight ported mouth piece. William rides with two reins. 99% of the time he rides him off the snaffle but if he needs to ask him to listen he picks up the gag rein.. the aim is too wean off the gag rein altogether, but after being on Fred when he bolted and me coming off him with such force I bust up my head and hand I can not take all control away, I have to consider Williams safety. We are so excited about the coming months, William is away so Sarah and I will ride the horses and it will be interesting to see if William feels a change when he gets back. I will update weekly and any changes that we notice.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 20:44:04 +0000
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