Poorly pony

Selfie with the hubby!

There's lots going on at the moment, and it's starting to get dark and dismal of an evening. I took the plunge and invested in a visit from Donna Blinman for Rio last week. I had a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right with him, as he's been getting more and more reactive in his spooks, and had been getting less attentive whilst playing on line. Boy was I glad I went for it!

So it turns out Rio has problems with his stomach. It could explain his spooking, and why he can't control his adrenaline and bring it back down when he does spook. It could also explain why he's been uncomfortable backing up, and brushes behind with his hind feet. It may be the reason that he's been stretching his head down to the ground when I've been mounting him to ride for the last few weeks. My poor guy was pretty sore - Donna was quite surprised we had been out riding, and spent most of his appointment working on his stomach. He's been such a trooper and barely showed me he was in pain, but I'm so glad I followed my gut instinct. 

He's now on green clay, and out of ridden work for a few weeks to let him get more comfortable again. Fingers crossed it all starts to come good again soon!