The only photo I took today!

Been a bit of an epic horsey day. Kim and Georgia were boxing up to Beacon this morning. I've not used my box since before lockdown so wanted to take the opportunity to go with someone, however I already had a lesson booked with Ruth who only comes our way once a month. As they were planning to go early and my lesson wasnt until 3pm I decided to do both!

We had an awesome ride. Buddy was so forward going and excited to be somewhere different.

We got back to the yard at 12 then Eva and Tobes had their riding lessons. They both did some work without stirrups to help with balance. Tobes really improved today. Jack still being a little unhelpful about going into trot which means I have to run round with them. It was bloody hot and the surface in the school makes it hard work!!

I didn't actually do much in my lesson today but had a long chat with Ruth and we've both come to the conclusion there is something going on with Buddy in his jaw/mouth/poll area that is creating this head tossing. He locks his jaw on the right hand side and until we release that he is blocked from working properly from behind. We've been working on trying to release his jaw over the past few lessons but it's like we've hit a brick wall. And I know him well enough to know something is not right somewhere. It's times like this you just wish they could talk to you.

So I think the first step is to get his teeth checked but we don't really think it's that. The other option is to look at Cranial Sacral Therapy but very few people practice this locally, although I think I've found someone further afield and there's another lady at the yard wanting something similar for her horse so maybe we can share a visit. It's hard not to feel despondent but Ruth pointed out how far we've come and that it's like peeling off the layers of an onion to get to the real issue. So we've done bit change, saddle check, chiropractor for me and him, lots of lessons and we've still got this head tossing. Ruth did a bit of massaging around his atlas joint and his poll and we got a big reaction from him so we know there is something somewhere that needs releasing.