Libby again, foot better teeth this time, long one!

[Maddison's girl]

For those who dont know Libby is my youngster she is rising 4. We bought her back in the summer and sent her off to be broken and schooled for four weeks. We then got her back and my daughter and I were schooling, hacking and lunging. We then turned her away at the begining of December and decided to bring her back into work end of Jan as she seemed to be getting bored.

A few days after starting her the farrier informs us that she had seedy toe and to keep her off the roads, he took off her shoes and cut a piece of the bad hoof out. We could still ride in the school though. She then managed to get an infection in her foot so was on box rest for a few days. Anyway the foot is fine now all infection seems to have gone and there is no more warmth in her foot.

We brought her back into work (again) only to find that now when we try and put her bride on she is very very unhappy and head tosses. It seems to me that this may cause her pain and I think it is her teeth so I have booked the dentist to come out next Friday (this is the earliest he could do) This isnt a problem as she doesnt seem to be in pain the rest of the time.

Anyway to the point of my thread now what can we do with her work wise. We seem to be stopping and starting her learning because of problems. is this going to affect her. Obviously I dont want to go sticking her bridle on if it hurts her so what other work can we do with her?

 

[Marusenka]

Can you do any work with her just in a headcoller? I'm waiting for the dentist to come out and see my little one so I am just lungeing him off a headcoller and taking him for walks in hand, not able to do any ridden work though as he hasn't quite got the idea of steering and so that's impossible for him in a headcoller.

I have spent the time doing loads of groundwork with him getting him used to all sorts of scary things which should be very useful when we start ridden work again in a couple of weeks!

Failing that not doing any work with her won't cause any problems- a youngster on my yard has owners that go away a lot so she does one month of work and then one month off work and seems to be perfectly happy with this arrangement, it has not slowed her learning in any way and she is coming on beautifully. Taking time to sort out all the problems is far better in the long run and she will be much happier

Good luck with your little one