I'm still very over protective about Troy since his return to work & competition. For those who are only just reading for the first time in 2010 Castle Troy had a field injury & managed to severely damage his Impar Ligament & DDFT. Prognosis was extremely poor, however we never gave up hope & researched as much as we could.
After a few weeks of receiving the MRI results i decided that the best course of action would be to try to rehabilitate him Barefoot here at home. TBH i didn't have many options so the shoes came off. It wasn't a miracle cure but it certainly changed things from the off. Within a few weeks the lameness had changed as was no where near as severe. But it still took from September 2010 - April 2011 for him to come completely sound.
His management was strict he was turned out in a small electrified pen, but he did spend 4 months on box rest with controlled walking in hand. He continued his rest in the field pen, with the in hand walking for a further 6 months, until the day i sat on him & did the walking under saddle.
To say it has been a journey is probably the biggest understatement of the century, but he did come sound & has gone on from working Medium to now working PSG. I truely believe that taking him barefoot has been the best thing we could of done for this injury, he is moving so much better than before the injury happened he feels strong.
But all the above is why i feel the need not to over compete or train him as I'm desperate for him to stay sound & enjoy life (which he does immensely he Love's his work & was the most deprest horse Ive ever seen when he was lame).
With the above in mind i did decide we had a play & took him to Eland Lodge to do 2 Mediums, M63 & M71.
He has always been a spooky horse so i was expecting some dramatics especially at Eland as he has a history of it there. But i got nothing he was a sweet as a lamb, warmed up fantastic & then did a super test. I could of rode it a bit more boldly but i did really enjoy myself, my centre lines weren't perfect at points but again i enjoyed it.
We had a bit of a wait for M71 & Troy was getting tired he did feel like he had put a lot into the previous test so i decided to do a short w-up & go in. He was behind the leg in this test but because he had gone so fab in the first one i backed off & let him tootle round. The 2nd test was OK but far from brilliant.
On the way out back to the truck we went via the score board, only to find we had won the restricted section of M63 with 65.5%. THRILLED.
I guesses a score of 62% for M71 & wasn't far wrong as we came in 3rd with 62.6%, not a bad score considering.
We had a fab day & Troy proved how far he has come, I'm still not going to push him though but i do hope to make an Adv Med debut soon.
Now onto our lovely Spanish boy Galante, he is now back up & running since his run in with the swallows. He's just getting better & so much more powerful. One major change we have made on the recommendation of our trainer was to change him into a Micklem Bridle & a Hanging cheek snaffle. The effect is quite dramatic as he's come up even more in front & has gone light in the hand whilst feeling like he's coming through from behind much quicker & easier.
We went training with him on the 26/9 & started work on travers, Half pass & simple changes. He's such a smart boy but so sensitive when ever he comes above the contact it's always because I've overdone an aid. So he is effectively making me have to be a better rider to be able to get the best out of him.
From a rider/trainer point of view it's wonderful to have 2 very different horses to train, Troy is like an Old shoe & knows me so well but can at the same time venture behind the leg. Ive always called him my lazy, sharp boy.
Galante on the other hand is very forward & super sensitive. He makes me have to plan every aid & respond in a very forgiving way my seat is the ultimate aid for him yet to heavy & i completely ruin it.
We managed to get some vid of his training, they are poor quality as there mobile phone video's i haven't edited them apart from adding music so you can all see for yourselves my faults & his sensitivity. But on the whole we got a lot of of the training session. Remember this boy is only rising 6yo.
Hope you enjoyed reading & watching as ever there is more to come so keep checking back.
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