- 24th September 2018 by Rowen Barbary
“A Change In The Right Direction”
We are not far off the end of the 2018 season already this year! Time certainly has run by fast with its fair share of ups and downs! We have to remember that horses are living beings and not machines so from time to time we may take a backward step, only to take two steps forward! And huge ones at that!
Noble Jack has sadly had to cut short his Showing season with foot issues which is a real shame as he was starting to really come into himself in every way. He has been on ReadyMash Extra ever since he arrived with me with three years ago and it has certainly helped fill this large frame of a horse! We will tick him over and see how he fares in the future as to whether we campaign him next year! I quite enjoy looking at him though in the field, a pretty field ornament at least!!
Dino aka Thenobleprankster has been busy with his education and has made very pleasing progress! We started off with a local show where he took it all in like he had been doing it all his life to come home with some winning ribbons. Since then he has contested Novice ROR classes where he has been third twice and a fifth in some big classes. He even went to a SEIB HOYS qualifier where he was pulled fifth which was great considering we only took him for education. He also went to the ROR Championships at Aintree last week where he really did me proud! I’m very excited for his future and how he will shape up! I have put him on the Muscle Builder with extremely rapid results! Stay tuned!
Valentine Jak has also had a consistent season but not without some unlucky blips along the way! As well as his County Show outings we have been contesting the HOYS qualifiers sadly just missing out on the tickets! With one qualifier left we took Jak to Aintree for a pipe opener for his Burghley journey the following week where he didn’t seem right sadly.
I had recently tested Jak for stomach ulcers which are very common in a lot of horses, especially Thoroughbreds where they can be quite excitable and many will have spent a good long while on a high energy diet. Horses cannot tell us these things and it is left to our initiative to detect a problem as ulcers can be presents for lengthy amounts of time undetected.
Jak was found to have been suffering with this and was duly treated accordingly; this also explained the stressful behaviour he was now presenting! We also changed over to Solution Mash as its low starch formula is very kind on the stomach and boy did the results show!
Not long ago Jak could get very stressful and worry about things, now he is a super focused little chap who only Sunday managed to collect his sixth consecutive HOYS ticket for the SEIB Racehorse To Riding Horse Of The Year Championship! Our fifth ticket as a partnership! He now holds the record for the most qualified horse in this series which I am extremely proud of him for, consistent as ever! What a horse!!
This will however be his last HOYS he will retire from this series to chill out, be a horse and enjoy the leisurely side of life! We are extremely honoured and excited to return to HOYS and will be giving it our best shot!! As always we would never have made it without our support from Rowen Barbary who I am indebted to and proud to represent! Their feed range is beneficial to all horses although I have always felt thoroughbreds do well on the range and I always recommend this to anyone who asks! Whether you want, calming, conditioning, digestion care, energy, low calorie, it’s all there in one bag with a super range of supplements to back it all up! Breakfast of Champions!
Roll On HOYS!!