A trip to.......the Equine Aqua Centre

One thing which has been noted by a few of Romy’s many ‘therapists’ was that he had a weak behind, compared to his big hulk shoulders. So in an effort to bulk him up I have been doing lots of pole work but wanted to check out alternatives for helping build up his hindquarters and lumbar region. A quick search on The Google tells me that ‘Working a horse on a water treadmill can help improve the horse’s range of movement and build muscle...the horse takes bigger, longer steps than they would on land. This helps to build up the muscles in the hind quarters and over the lumber area of the back’. Sign me up Scotty. Another friendly Google search lead me to the Equine Aqua Centre, based in racing land, which didn’t have a water treadmill but has the next best thing, a water walker. Essentially this is like a normal walker which is filled with water up to the horses chest, thus getting them to use their hindquarters and hopefully end up with a booty similar to Kim Kardashians in a Herve Leger dress.  Peachy.

True to the fabulous Irish weather we get on this side of the world, the day started out with a downpour and it just got wetter from there. But I guess there’s nothing more suitable than getting into the water when you’re already drenched to the bone...in you get big man! We were met by the lovely Robbie who gave Romy a temporary stable until it was his time to get on the walker. There was a lot of ‘Good JAYSIS the size of him’ from people who saw me take him off the trailer...’What the jaysis is he...an eventer?’

Me: ’Um no, he’s a dressage pony daaaaaahlink’.
‘Jesus, he’s some beasht...what weight is he, do you know’.
Me: ‘Not sure, but I’m trying to put weight on him’
‘Mother ah gaaahhhd he must be some pampered pet, that one’
Me, beaming: ‘Yes, yes he is’

Romy was the best boy and went straight on the water walker with all the little thoroughbreds, half his size. They were doing Paso Fino impressions around the water walker while Romy was taking big long strides and had to pause every now and then to let the walker catch up with him so if we’re going again I’d like to see if he can go on with the bigger ponies and perhaps turn it up a notch to really get his ass moving. I stood in the lashings of rain watching my horse go around in circles, questioning exactly why I chose a life with horses. But who doesn’t like to have mascara dribbling down their cheeks while they watch their four legged pet walk around in circles, hmmm?

 

 

Next up was the hydrotherapy spa. Ala Google; ‘An equine spa allows the horse to enjoy the therapeutic benefits of cold water therapy. This works to minimise heat and inflammation in the lower legs making it ideal for treating soft issue injuries, as well as being suitable to use as a preventative measure’...yah, preventative so long as your horse doesn’t TRIP ON HIS GOD FORSAKEN HEAD ON THE WAY OUT OF THE THING. He went in with a little persuasion but I don’t blame him, it was minus a gazillionty degrees in there* (*true story, between 2°C and 4°C). He stood there for 20 minutes while the Jacuzzi jets did their thing. And then we had to leave. Nope, no, nosiree, aint happenin’, nope. Little persuasion from Kind Robbie finally convinced Romy to make the leap to dry land. And leap he did. Leap and miss. He went half way up the ramp, slipped, and landed on his head. Cue legs flailing everywhere. His legs flailed, my heart stopped. Remind me again why I chose a life with horses? Anyway, Romy dug right down to the bottom of his belly and channelled his inner Big Star. One leap to infinity and beyond and he was on dry land, quivering like a baby and holding his previously sore leg up. FML, seriously?! On quick inspection he looked fine but after bringing him home we noticed a cut on the leg, literally a scratch the size of an eyelash. Biggest drama queen ever.  

So our trip to the Aqua Centre had it’s ups and downs, to say the least. I will definitely be back but think we’ll stick to the water walker for now. Those little thoroughbreds I’m sure can prance up the ramp with the same grace as a woodland nymph. Romy, with his big chest and broad shoulders, was more like an All Black tackling a scrum trying to get out of the thing, the big oaf.

Till next time

V x

 

 

 

 

 

 

A clinic with……Matthew Burnett

One of the things I miss most about the UK is the opportunity to train with different instructors. There is often a bit of a faux pas with riders training with multiple instructors, I know I sometimes felt like I was doing the proverbial dirt on some of my previous trainers if I went off the yard for training but I really do believe in having as many eyes on you and your horse as much as possible. Not only will different trainers pick up on different things or offer you alternative ways around fixing bad habits, it is also great to meet various people in the industry because you get considered for fun hoolies such as team events or additional training.
 

I am incredibly lucky to be based at a fantastic dressage yard with a really super instructor, but I have missed being able to go out and have lessons off other instructors because it’s  something fun to look forward to without having the pressure of competition. So when I heard Matt Burnett was coming to our yard to do a clinic (from my own instructor, I might add...kudos Sandra!) I jumped at the chance.

Matt Burnett and the 'lush' Treliver Decanter

Not to be mistaken with Wikipedias suggestion of who Matthew Burnett is (a multi-platinum selling hip hop and R&B producer from Toronto, Canada), Matt is in fact a professional dressage trainer and Grand Prix rider competing internationally, who has trained with world famous trainers, including Carl Hester and Conrad Schumacher. Matt trained the renowned palamino British warmblood stallion, Treliver Decanter, to Grand Prix and I managed to embarrass myself in the midst of a discussion about palaminos (which I hadn’t caught the beginning of) by saying ‘You know that famous palamino dressage stallion...something Decanter...he’s a bit lush isn’t he’...cue confused faces around the table and a ‘Erm, yeah, he’s my ride’ from Matt. Oh THAT palamino. *Blush*

Romy has been a little on and off over the past week and I realised that he was throwing some shapes because he was pulling a Princess and the Pea situation on me. Except in this instance the princess is him and the pea is his sheepskin saddle pad which we didn’t have on so it made him cranky. Diddums. Washed, dried and fluffed up for our day with Matt, the forevermore needed saddle pad was donned and Romy was on his best behaviour.

I gave Matt a brief run down of Romy’s history and asked to pay close attention to his leg booboo. We had to make sure he was comfy and didn’t work too hard as he is essentially still coming back into full work and is still a little stiff behind the saddle. After the warm up, we started with spiralling in and out of a circle and making transitions between walk and trot. Matt picked up on Romy falling on to the forehand in trot, losing the connection a bit and lengthening too much through the frame so when I felt him get heavy I needed to make another transition down to walk by squeezing inside leg to outside hand but actually releasing my inside hand a bit, rather than let him fall onto it for support. This helped him to lift his back and create more throughness and suppleness. Romy tends to get tense in the walk, I believe because any type of collected walk makes him think passage, so when we made the downward transition we used more of a wide turn on the forehand before picking up the trot straight out of that. This helped him to keep supple and on my aids and the lateral movement meant he didn’t lose rhythm by getting tense in the walk. After a few of these transitions we could go in between walk and trot with a better balance, better rhythm and a better quality walk. The moment he was feeling heavy in my hands meant he was getting too straight in the hind leg so it was time to do a transition. The aim wasn’t necessarily to get him more active but to help him stay supple behind the saddle and carry himself.

Checking our position down the long side

Next came the canter left, which is Romy’s UNparty piece. He is overall more supple and balanced on the right rein and is very, VERY sensitive to the spur on the left rein. I’m also much stronger on my right side so I think his weak left side plus my strong right leg can be too much for him. I need to consider canter left by using my seat and upper body, rather than touch with the spur. He is very ‘stallion-like’ and when I put the leg on he gives a reaction but it’s not always the reaction I want, which was evident by a massive kick out which echoed around the yard when I touched him with my right spur. Matt said I need to direct Romy with the flat side of my leg and my upper body but keep my knees and toes facing straight rather than out so I don’t use the spur for anything other than quickness. We worked on leg yielding along the long side, facing the wall and then going straight but by using my upper body and opening the outside rein rather than using my legs. Keep. Your. Legs. Steady. Actually on that note, I’ve recently transitioned over to hard boots after some mild bullying from friends. I was always a fan of soft leather boots which moulded to my legs but after getting used to the harder boots they definitely put me in a better position, which I think my horse appreciates too rather than have my tree trunk legs flopping about all over the place.

We finished with shoulder out in canter and Matt said I was holding Romy a little in the reins so rather than hold on to him let him cover the ground and use my seat to keep the rhythm (see, I’ve learnt how to spell it from my judging days). If I felt him coming a little too collected in the shoulder out I would use my upper body to straighten him out again before putting him back into the shoulder out position. Romy was so well behaved, there was lots of carrots for him that evening and I parked up at the end of the menage with my nerd book to make some notes on the other lessons of the day. Anyone interested in watching a clip of my lesson with Matt can find it here.

Helen and Felino were next in the ring and straightness and forwardness were the key ingredients in their session. Felino, the wiggly worm, finds lateral work easy so Helen had often used that as a tool to get him forward but Matt tried to bring it back to straightness so Felino could set himself up for a more powerful hind leg. The theme of straightness continued through the up and downward transitions as well as around the corners. Similar to Romy, Felino collects more when Helen used the spur so Helen had to think of alternative ways to encourage him forward. They worked on improving the suppleness over the back by encouraging him forward and out (rather than down) and by the end of the session Felino had a lovely swing through his back.

Last in for the day were Katarina and golden oldie, Jack. They had many of the same corrections as I had with Romy...keep the contact and ride him into it by stabilising the upper body. Katarina was encouraged to turn from the upper body without collapsing the shoulders, which would then mean the leg comes up and that in turn would allow Jack to fall out through the shoulder. So maintain the contact, shoulders back and BOOBS OUT, WHOOP! If he got too heavy in her hand she would make a transition while maintaining that contact. Matt had them work on the shoulder out, straight, back to

shoulder out along the long side by turning the upper body. Use of leg was for forwardness rather than bend so he discouraged her from using too much inside leg for the angle.

They then moved on to canter half pass and Matt asked Katarina to sit tall and open her hands to allow the sideways movement, rather than lock her hands by his withers. To encourage suppleness in the canter half pass they first worked down the long side with transitions from straight to haunches in and back to straight again. It was a tough session and Katarina was matching her burgundy bandages by the end of it but it was accompanied by a big smile and it was the best I had seen them go so I’m sure the rosy cheeks were worth it! A divil for punishment, Katarina had another lesson with Matt the following day but I couldn’t attend because as Donna Summer once described me; ‘She works hard for the money. So hard for it honey. She works hard for the money so you better treat her right’. #truestory

Katie and her lovely mare Polly also had a lesson while I was busy trying to keep the economy together and Matt worked on their overall connection through transitions. Katie commented that Matt was able to relate to the couple as he has a mare similar to Polly...not straightforward so they needed to come up with alternative ways to encourage the connection.

We finished off the first day with beers and a barbeque and I’m hopeful that this clinic was the first of many more to come because I loved Matt's sympathetic way of teaching and he seemed to already know Romy inside out after watching him for ten minutes. These bloomin Grand Prix riders knowing it all. I've had the horse a year and I'm still trying to figure him out! The two words that are ringing in my ears from it are 'transitions' and 'connection' and I think it was a common theme across all riders from the clinic. It made me so excited for Romys future...why can’t I just have a job where I ride my pony every daaaaayyyyy. Oh well, I guess finance is the second best thing...pause...nooooooot.

Till next time,

V x

　

Product Review - Ice Vibe Boots

 

OK so as promised, I am continuing my product review and today I am reviewing the Ice Vibe boots by Horseware. These are the piece de le resistance of cold therapy boots which I was initially interested in because of the strong reviews that back them (see Horse and Hound, Chronofhorse, Eventing Nation etc). They have a fuzzy little vibration bit which helps to boost circulation prior to work and also snug fitting ice pack boots which work alongside said fuzzy vibrating bit to use post work out. Quite a bit of research I had read said that while cooling down is good for the legs, it also slows circulation which is vital for repair. So given my horse was coming back from some time off due to injury I didn’t then want the leg to completely fall off due to his blood freezing in his leg. So the Ice Vibe boots seemed to fit the bill because the massaging effect of the boots helps ensure blood flow is not completely restricted, which allows oxygen to reach tired and damaged tissue to promote better recovery. Huzzah!

 

 

I got mine from https://www.horseworldeu.com/products/therapy-boot-ice-vibe-by-horseware-ireland and the lovely Anne offered great customer service. I wanted to go for the extra full size because of two reasons: 1: Romys injury had been close to his hocks so I wanted something that would come up as high as possible 2: My horse is a 17.2 (debatable) oversized beast so the ‘regular’ was never going to work for my irregular sized poneh. Anne didn’t have any in stock so kindly ordered them in for me and sent them, along with lots of other exciting surprises, for me and oversized fluffster.

Pre Work, Sans Ice

The first thing to note is the quality of the boots and their packaging. I’ve always been a fan of the quality of Horseware products and these boots didn’t disappoint. Sent in a handy little tote for storage with meshing to allow oxygen into the bag and keep the dratted Mould Maestro away, the boots themselves feel like they will go the distance and are handy to store, charge and clean.

Ice Packs

There are three settings, the first which is 10 minutes and should be used when getting your horse used to vibrations. At this stage, given the amount of gadgets I have for my horse, there’s not many hours in the day when he ISNT vibrating so I was pretty confident that he would breeze this stage. And breeze it he did. The second setting is for 20 minutes and the setting is slightly stronger. This setting should be used before training and also afterwards with the ice packs. The third setting is also 20 minutes but is much stronger and should only be used post exercise with the ice. So, we use setting 2 pre exercise and setting 3 post exercise.

The boots fit him perfectly but I would have liked the ice packs to come up higher on the leg.  HOWEVER, being the incredibly resourceful person I am, I realised that if I turned the ice packs upside down, the drop down sections which would ordinarily cover his fetlock area did in fact reach up to his hocks, so this is how I now use them.

Ice Packs and Vibration Boots

The science shows the difference in temperature in a horses leg, following use of these boots. Given I DON'T in fact have thermal imaging technology close to hand (list for Santa next year?!) I had to go on how Romy felt when I rode him (sh’amaaaaazing) and how cold his leg was when I removed the boots. Definitely colder than cold hosing alone and the leg stayed colder for much longer once the boots were removed versus cold hosing alone.

Romy is now completely back on track, he is showing no sign at all of lameness and is ready to go out and start competing again. I can’t say if the Ice Vibes are behind it but I can say he has improved since wearing them (along with all the other pieces of vibrating gadgets I have for him!). I also appreciate having a few extra minutes in the evenings, instead of standing there with a hose to my horses legs for ten minutes each side. Romy also appreciates being released from this mild form of torture.

So. The digits:

Value for money: 8/10 At €235 these ain’t cheap. BUT I really think they are worth the buy if you can fork out for them.
Comfort: 8/10 I would like if Horseware offered even longer ice packs but my workaround is suiting us both.
Negatives: The fact that the freezer at my yard doesn’t do a great job of freezing the ice packs. Moral of the story? Get a new freezer. Instead I freeze at home and bring them to the yard and they stay pretty cold until after I ride. I did find adding the boots with vibration on top of the ice packs lead them to heat up so I'm only getting roughly 10 minutes of cooling time out of them.
Positives: Great quality, multiple uses, easy to use, easy to clean.
Overall impression: It could be that Romy has turned a corner, or it could be that he is feeling great because of the boots. But Romy has been feeling all Valegro over the past two weeks. I am happy to put the boots on for 20 minutes before and 10 minutes after riding and my thoughts are if you can afford them, they are a great piece of kit to have.   
Would I recommend: Yes! Along with the equilibrium pad, these will come along to every outing with us.

I’ll also definitely be keeping an eye on the website (www.horseworldeu.com) because I’ve struggled to find online tack shops in Ireland that has a broad range of products and offers the dressage brands I like so I was impressed with their selection. Brava!

Next up: Dressage clinic with Matt Burnett. I’ll do a brief post on how we get on with hopefully some photos and videos, if I can convince / bribe / hoodwink someone into helping out! I have done lots of pole work A La Rob Jackson and I've also been trying a few different feed options and Romy is finally starting to chunk up and look like a grown up dressage horse and get that Beyoncé arse we all so desperately strive for. So hopefully we are back on the road to RED FRILLIES!!!!

Till next time y'all

V x