Zano's Succes

Well, this has been a month of big ups and even bigger downs. But, I reckon we should start with the ups... Zano went to his second ever show as a competitor! It was a summer open show at one of the riding clubs I’ve joined, and the weather couldn’t have been better. Zano had been bathed and groomed until he sparkled, and I changed his browband from the plain leather to one with a bit of bling! He looked stunning.

We entered into two classes to begin with – the in hand foreign breeds (because he’s Spanish) and the ridden foreign breeds. The first class was a bit of a nightmare – Zano was hugely excited by all the other horses around him, and objected strongly to being followed at close quarters by a miniature pony!! His trot is so awesome I couldn’t keep up with him, and his head was in my way so I couldn’t even see where I was trying to run! Anyway, that kept my boyfriend, Paul, and best friend Fran, watching from the ringside, well entertained! In the end, it wasn’t that bad after all, and we managed a 5th! (Oh, hang on, there were only 5 of us in the ring... still, no-one needs to know that, do they??!)

In the ridden class I wasn’t sure what to expect. He’s never worked in a big open space on grass, trotting and cantering with lots of other horses. But he was awesome, and he really showed off. The judge described him as ‘drop dead gorgeous’, which I thought just about matched what he felt to ride, and how he looked and felt that day. The individual class wasn’t so hot though, and he got a bit attached to the horses around him (he didn’t want to leave them to begin with!). That meant we dropped down the order from 2nd to 4th, but I was still over the moon with our 4th placed rosette.

The proud pair

Just before we left, we thought we might as well enter for one last class – Handsomest Gelding. That was Zano’s idea, by the way, not mine. He must have got it right though, because we left with another rosette, 4th place out of a huge class. All in all, it was a fabulous day out and he behaved himself really, really well. I didn’t over ride him at the show, getting into the saddle just to warm up and for the ridden class. I made sure he had plenty of rest (and some grass time) between the classes, too, with his saddle off. But I did notice that just before the last class he started to shift his back legs quite a bit, and it was something I was a bit worried about. But that was okay. He was booked into the vets for the following week. He’d been slightly on-off lame for a few weeks. He’d been the same the year before, since I’d first started riding him soon after I bought him. He’d seemed better over the winter, when he’d had his shoes off, but it was back again. The lameness was hardly noticeable, and my boyfriend, Paul, couldn’t see what I was worried about, but I thought a trip to the vets would put my mind at rest. But instead, what was to happen at the vets was to have the complete opposite effect...

Zano’s first experience of jumping!

There has been lots going on recently. The BIGGEST thing is that Zano’s had his first experience of jumping! We started off loose schooling him, so that he could have a canter around the school and find his own balance over the fences. It’s much easier for a horse to do this without a rider on his back, to begin with at least. We started off just leading him over a pole on the ground, at walk and trot. We put poles up leading into the ground pole, and away from it. That’s to help Zano keep straight on the approach to the fence, and to stop him ducking out. The last thing I wanted was for Zano to learn any bad habits!

Zano closely inspecting the poles!

Next we put the fence up, and asked him to trot into it.
He was a bit unsure to begin with, as you can see in this piccie...

... but he soon got the knack and pricked his ears!

Then, after we’d loose schooled a couple of times, it was time for me to get on board. This is only a small fence, but he still looks like he’s enjoying himself. It felt like he wasn’t that bothered by the small fences, and he didn’t really put much effort in until the fences got a bit bigger. My hands are a bit high in this pic of him jumping a smaller fence, but the time before he’d clonked a pole and had nose dived a bit, so I was being a bit cautious! Anyway, it was a real thrill to get him jumping, and I think he’d make good jumping horse, being able to turn on a sixpence like he can. I’ve been looking through the fixtures and there are lots of jumping clinics and small shows coming up – oooh, so much to look forward to this summer!  

November update - Disaster strikes (again!)

Well, I’ve been very busy over the last couple of months, that’s why it’s all been a bit quiet recently on my blog. And what’s been keeping me so busy – or should I say who? It could only be one thing – yup, you’ve guessed it – Zano!

We were just getting going with our schooling and he was starting to move awesomely. He was really relaxing in his jaw and swinging through his back. His canter was coming along beautifully, too – he’s like an armchair to sit on! In fact, Zano was going so well that me and Jo, my riding instructor, planned his first outing to a dressage competition. It was in 9 weeks time, which would give us plenty of time to get him up into the trailer and taken to a few shows just to soak up the atmosphere, and be led round. And he’d finally stopped dancing away from me when I got on. Normally, even if I was going for a hack, I’d have to get on in the school so I could move the mounting block round as he moved. But, for the first time ever, he’d stood still enough for me to get on him out the front of the yard, ready for our hack. I was so proud of him and so pleased with life in general – it felt like we were finally on our way!

Zano in his lesson - his neck's huge!

But then, on that hack, disaster struck! It had been a busy ride. Zano and Chico, his best buddie, had met ponies and traps and cyclists and lots of cars. When we were three quarters of the way home we headed down our usual lane. It’s a bit of a slope, but nothing too dramatic. Another cyclist was hovering behind us and I think that’s what distracted Zano. He turned his head just a bit and, in true Zano fashion, got a bit caught up with his hooves. He slipped and before I knew what was happening he went down on his knees, then fell right over onto his side!

It all happened so slowly I almost stepped off, but as Zano got back up to his hooves, I saw at once that he was injured, seriously. His near fore knee was glistening white – he’d taken all the skin off down to the bone. The hole was about 3cm in diameter and, as he stood there, it started to spurt blood. Blood started to trickle from his other knee, too, and from his near stifle and fetlock. Standing there, looking at my beautiful, stricken horse, it felt like the end of the world.

16th July - Getting back on Zano

Well, I’ve started riding Zano again! It feels amazing to be back in the saddle, even if it’s only really to sit up there for a few minutes at a time until he gets a bit stronger and confident with me being back on top, rather than next to his head!

I did try to ride him over some straight poles – for some reason that caused Zano great excitement and I think he felt a bit confused hearing my voice coming from up somewhere on high. I think he found it quite difficult to adjust to carrying me over the poles; that’s something that will get easier for him the stronger he gets. I didn’t want to do too much riding before Kay the saddler came back to check him. He’s got so much bigger that I needed to be sure that the saddle wasn’t pinching him at all.

Also, Jo Spear the physiotherapist suggested that I get a ‘prolite’. This is a really thick pad that goes under the saddle. It can have extra padding at the front or back, and it makes sure that the horse is comfy with his saddle. Kay was amazed at Zano’s transformation. Last time she saw him he still had quite a visible spine, but now that’s all covered up as he’s put on weight. In fact, his girth has got bigger by a huge 6cms!

Kay watched me riding him in the saddle without a numnah first then decided that his prolite should have extra pads at the back. This is because Zano’s got quite high withers, so padding in the back helps to make sure the saddle stays level, rather than tips back. All I needed to do next was get a new numnah to go underneath and I chose team Zano colours – purple!