Sarnie is still in as is her companion Batty so my mucking out has trebled and shavings bill gone through the roof! Sarnie to my mind still quite quiet although eating well. The vet phoned with the results of the blood tests today and they are pretty normal, we are still waiting on the one that checks she is still in foal. Worm count was normal as well which is a relief, would hate to feel it was poor management.

Will wait and see what the final test says and then reassess next week. Definitely Sarnie is milking the TLC!

Forecast for this weekend is terrible. We are meant to be eventing in 4 weeks and I really can’t see Moreton running unless there is a change in the weather soon. I had intended to do dressage tomorrow but luckily Colraine accept entries until Thursday by which time I realised the weather was likely to be rough and wimped out. Don’t get me wrong I am not a fair weather rider but see little point competing when there is a weather warning out - it is meant to be fun after all.

Posy is very pleased her first wormer from Supplement Solutions was accompanied by some nice treats.

The wormer is to start Posy's worming programme to treat encysted small redworm. Some info that may be useful from Supplement Solutions.

What is Encysted Small Redworm? Encysted Small Redworms (ESRW) are the most common and harmful worms found in horses with the larval stages of this parasite giving the greatest cause for concern. Small redworm larvae can encyst within the gut wall throughout the year - especially in Autumn and Winter. Without treatment, sudden mass emergence will occur in Spring and can cause diarrhoea and colic (with a 50% mortality rate).

Worm count tests are excellent tools to monitor roundworm and tapeworm burdens, however, ESRW's cannot be detected through a worm count kit as they are encysted in the gut wall.

Plan It is important that you consider the seasonal worming threats when formulating your worm control plan. Every horse at risk should be treated for ESRW in late Autumn or Winter to prevent small redworm larvae from encysting.

Dose Horses should be does accurately, according to their weight. This is important because under-dosing can increase the risk of resistance.

Ensure to treat for encysted small redworm with a moxidectin or fenbendazole based wormer in Winter, when it is cold and frosty. Many owners forget this but this is in fact the most dangerous type of worms found in horses. When it is cold and frosty the redworms burrow into the gut wall. This then causes problems in spring when the weather warms up and they emerge on mass. Treating with a moxidectin or fenbendazole based wormers such as Equest, Equest Pramox or Panacur Equine Guard kills the worms whilst they are in the gut wall meaning they cannot emerge in spring. Here’s a link to the wormers that treat for ESRW: LINK

Had been hoping to go to the the International Eventing Forum at Hartpury today. Sadly horses being horses I didn’t make it! Haven’t been too happy with Sarnie over the weekend, she has been a bit quiet and has dropped a little bit of weight so I have brought her in. Had the vet today who has taken a range of bloods to see if there is anything much wrong or just like the rest of us she is struggling to cope with this constant wet weather. Will have results at the end of the week. Meanwhile she is enjoying some tlc and I am finding an extra two in full time quite hard work!

Managed to pick the one nice day of the week and took a trip to the lovely arena cross country facilities at Pontisppol.

It was great to jump some cross country fences again and I was really pleased with how Posy has matured. She was bold and confident throughout and the problem was occasionally her habit of setting herself and running through my hand. I did have to sharply pull her up a few times after the fence (or try to as often I wasn’t able to!).

There were a variety of triple brushes and we introduced these carefully using poles to guide her in on the first occasion, she gave me no hesitation and jumped them like everything else confidently. Really looking forward to the season just hope it stops raining so we get a season!

We jumped at Tall Trees on Sunday and it was one of those days that was good on paper but less so in reality! No videos I’m afraid as I refuse to upload them! Whilst I always say Shoestring chronicles the ups and downs there are times that even I can’t bear to show a video. Too be honest maybe it wasn’t that bad but sometimes when I fall so short of my own expectations then I struggle to cope and certainly to share.

We actually came 3rd in the 1m class and had 4 faults in the 1.05. However the canter was poor, I didn’t really get her forward enough leaving us having silly strides and there was no connection to the bridle. Posy’s jump meant the result was good the performance needed a lot of improvement.

Anyway taking advice and putting that behind us. Looking forward to tomorrow visiting Pontispool for their arena cross country.

Had a really good lesson today with Andrew Lovell. It has been 4 or 5 months since he last saw Posy and he thought she had improved hugely. It was great to get a few new exercises to work on.

We worked on developing the shoulder in, something to date Posy has struggled with. I was given a new exercise that I have not used before but was quite effective in starting the shoulder in off. We used a bit of a turn about the forehand in walk and really pushed the inside hind across towards a shoulder in position as she reached the correct position pushed her forward to trot and kept the position for a few strides. This really got her using herself.

The canter was starting to sit more and we started to focus in trot and canter on asking her to carry herself more. Andrew asked me to think of allowing the hind legs through, slowing the front end and then allowing with the hand. Almost self preservation will make the horse start to take the weight behind and carry herself. We had a couple of strides where she really did sit.

Anyway a few clips from the lesson. Really pleased with how we are progressing and great to have a few exercises to work on.