#SSTimeItRight; Are you doing what you can to reduce worms in horses?

We recently teamed up with the folks at HorseDialog to raise awareness of their #sstimeitright campaign! They've created a wonderful web page loaded with information about why you should conduct faecal egg counts, especially in the spring and summer months! Making sure our horses have little to no eggs or worms is something we take very seriously to keep our horses happy and healthy!They've got some great advice on ways to help you ensure the lowest possibility of contracting worms in your horse. Take this awesome 360 interactive video  on ways to help reduce the possibility of contracting the eggs which develop in to worms! 

Just a couple of months ago we collected poo samples from all 3 of our horses and took them in to Newmarket Equine Hospital to have them checked under a microscope for their worm egg count and they came back all clear! Wonderful news obviously, but that is due to good pasture management; Georgie and I poo pick daily or every other day and make sure to get as much of the poo from the grass as possible. We also endeavour to rotate and rest pasture also so they're not constantly eating in the same place all the time. 

So during grazing season (March to October), how often should you do faecal egg counts? Every 8 to 12 weeks apparently (Source Hallowell- Evans C and Hallowell G (2017) Vet Times, April 24)

Now that we are nearing the very end of Summer is it the last opportunity to do these checks before autumn and winter set in, and if your horse does go in to winter with worms they'll drop off condition more quickly due to them battling the worms inside them eating the nutrients from the food they consume, which they need to keep themselves warm, which will therefore eat in to their fat reserves and they'll drop off condition quickly. 

Many horse owners make sure the horses have top quality feed but don't check faecal egg counts enough from poorer pasture management and wonder why their horse (s) are dropping condition and this is likely why!

To help you with your HorseDialog also offer a wonderful app for Apple and Android devices to record your horses worming treatment, but not just that you can log feeding, medication, ridden work, any suppliments the horse has, yurn out schedule, and other exercise; you can download it from the AppStore or Google Play!

Another area to think about, espeically for yard or livery owners is new horses coming on the yard and their potential spread of parasites. 

 As the banner above informs you, new horses should be stabled for 48 hours to avoid bringing parasites that are resistant to wormers on to your premises. Make sure to muck them out thoroughly and if using matting spray it with a disinfectant until you're satisfied they're ready to be turned out in pasture. 

With that in the time to get a last faecal egg count in before the autumn if you haven't already. COntact your vet for advice on whether a visual check is sufficient or whether it needs to be under a microscope! 20% of horses can 80% of the worm burden so while in the grand scheme of things that's fairly low, but it's a lot worm eggs! (Source - Matthews JB. An update on cyathostomins: Anthelmintic resistance and worm control. Equine Vet. Edu. 2008; 20(10): 552–560.)

Your horse will thank you for keeping them healthy and free of parasites!

Riding For Macmillan

To say I wasn't a little muscle sore would be a lie.. cause I am stiff in my bum and thighs but that is to be expected after riding 20 miles for 4 hours straight right?!

Why did I ride for 4 hours you ask, well... each year Newmarket town hosts a sponsored ride in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support in which riders pay a small fee and raise sponsorship money to ride either 8, 15 or 20 miles from one end of Newmarket and back while walking in various areas that are usually only used by trainers and riding staff to exercise in training race horses. 

I've always wanted to do this ride, for years in fact and had never been able to beg, borrow or steal a horse to do it on so when I got Erik I said to Georgie it was one of my goals to do and I am so proud to have done it. Erik and I did all 20 miles, in the wonderful company of Georgie on Beanie, our long time friend Emma on her horse Mav and our other wonderful friend Hanako on Jerry. The horses were all fit and ready to go when we arrived early on Sunday morning, a bright beautiful day and having an early time we were one of the first to go!

By this point we were nearing the top of the Rowley Mile drive and Hamiliton Road and I found it very interesting to walk along the backs of the yard, as I drive down Hamilton Road every day but only see the front of the yards! We crossed over Hamilton Road along the horse walks and was really amazing to me to see Newmarket in a completely different way, as I had never walked along them before. We were soon in the centre of Newmarket and again crossing roads and up horse walks til we were at the Severals trotting rings! At this point we were about 7 to 8miles in at this point and it was awesome making our way round on the lovely springy rubber horse walks til at least we were at the bottom of Long Hill. I had been here a couple of times and always on foot, so to have another canter up the side of Warren Hill gallops sure was fun. For a big horse Erik can motor and we took along the GoPro to get some footage, which I will edit ASAP!

 Before long we were about half way round and at the top of the hills in Newmarket and my goodness the stunning views. What I'd do to live in the houses at the top and wake up to those views every day, absolutely stunning!

We bumped in to a couple of people we know so as we ambled along we nattered away and caught up while we could, before they peeled off to do the shorter 15 mile ride while we soldered on and made our way all the way out to the train tracks and along before we crossed over and were at the bottom of the Al Bahathri all weather gallops. 

This is an area I'd driven passed but had never been to before and it was awesome, we decided to have a decent speed canter up the gallops and Erik was determined to keep up with his pal B, but when G asked for more B soon eased in to gallop and was away but I am super proud of E, he cantered and a great pace for 9 furlongs, what a good egg!

Despite my water bottle saddle pack and home made saddle bag with a choccy bar in for everyone in our group, I was pleased to see the water and rest stop at the bottom of the gallops. G kindly jumped off and hosed the horses mouths with water as they weren't overly keen with drinking from a trough and we were given a nice pint of squash to refresh us! 

Now for another experience I was excited about, and that was walking down Bury Road horse walk, passed the wonderful Bedford Lodge and the other wonderful yards of Newmarkets top trainers! The traffic smiled and waved as we walked passed and we nattered away now on the home stretch! We retraced our steps where we'd come before and were soon at the top of Rowley Drive and on the final straight of the ride. Others decided to canter home, but with 19 miles under our belts on a warm/hot day we decided to trot home but E decided by this point he was keen to canter home with the rest and I had to hold on to him while he refused to trot/walk and found cantering on the spot or near on the spot much more impressive.. 

He soon tired and all of us sauntered back to the trainer for a well earned burger but not before washing the horses off first, they were very itchy indeed!

I had such a wonderful day and I am so pleased with how Erik coped and same with B, it can't be easy walking all our old haunts from when he was in training without getting excited but he was a total dude!

I raised £180 in total and Georgie just under that at £160 so we're so pleased with our efforts and thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who sponsored us!

The horses are now having a few days off to rest and recoup before a walk out later this week!

Now, what to get up to this weekend.... we shall see

Sophie x

A Lot To Learn From

I debated writing and posting this blog after my one from earlier this week where I gushed about what great progress we were making and how excited I was to compete this bank holiday weekend but that all crumbled away pretty quickly. So here is what happened..

We got to the show pretty early as when we went last year there weren't that many competitors and we were done by lunch time! We left at 8am after a super early start to muck out and plait up before we left so we arrived just before 9am when the show was due to begin and got ready pretty quickly as Frankie was due in the ring in the 5th or so class and I needed Erik to stay with them as they needed to not be distracted. It's safe to say they had a lot more entries this year (which is great, really) but it meant we had hours of waiting before I got in the ring which I don't think helped in the long run; it did help Erik to become accustomed a bit to the busy show and the loud displays blaring over the tannoy I guess but maybe I am just thinking of excuses in my head?

Any way, Erik warmed up pretty well and Georgie was there to give me some pointers and I was positive about going in to the ring for the ridden hunter class. Well that all went a bit Pete Tong (wrong) as in my nerves I did let myself down a bit and have my reins just that little bit too long and got a bit rushed in the go round which meant Erik started leaning and getting strong, which in turn tips me forward and I end up leaning forward and not sitting deep but thought I could maybe I could do a decent show and not do too bad. Well that didn't really go to plan either and it seems I didn't do a good show and we ended up coming second last. I was a little deflated as the judge said he was the epitome of a hunter but determined to do better the next time I can out, chin up and carried on.

I came out the ring and instead if letting Erik stand about I kept him walking and lightly working, I then warmed him in again and went in to the my second and final class with more determination. It seemed to pay off as Georgie said my go round this time was a bit better and Erik looked pretty good. We pulled in in any order again and I waited for my turn; I came out to do my show again but it seemed that it still wasn't good because I was pulled in last. 

 It 'had some nice parts' apparently so it wasn't all awful as you can see above

Now I'd be lying if I said I wasn't devastated by that, I've worked sooooo hard with Erik to try and improve but it seems we are a little back to square one.. He is very resistant to what I ask and still leaning on the bit and getting strong so I've decided that's it.. No more shows this season and I am going to spend my money that I would have spent on my final show (no Gransden for me this year) on lessons instead! I have got to work on and break this leaning on me business and having him work himself and carry himself instead of being lazy because he can do it, he does hold himself on the pessoa and he works beautifully at home. Honestly, at times this weekend it felt like my horse was 'Kevin' from Kevin & Perry (Harry Enfield sketch if you remember it) who just thinks "God this is so unfair, I hate you!" and just does the bear minimum of effort.

To say I wasn't disappointed would be a lie but I am very determined to get there, and I will, hopefully, one day win a red rosette with this lad. Because I deserve it, he deserves it! I walk round at these competitions and I can hear people pointing and looking at him saying how smart and gorgeous he is and them saying 'I want that one to win' and then we come last and my heart breaks a little bit!  I suppose at the moment I am the 'All The Gear, No Idea' type but I'll endeavour to do better and be a better rider! 

I've already spoken to a coach to have some lessons with and we've made a plan! Erik, I'll have you doing this if it's the last thing I do!

He is going to have a night off tonight and this week do some light hacking and hopefully this coming weekend we can have a bit of fun at the Newmarket sponsored ride. 20 miles here we come!

I shall not be defeated,

Sophie x