“Things They Didn’t Teach Me At Veterinary School” – Email 4

Hello ,

I’ve just been reviewing a book for the Intelligent Horsemanship magazine – the title doesn’t do it justice – I’m going to shorten it to ‘Things They Didn’t Teach Me At Vet School’… It took me back to the 1980s when the cure of any unknown lameness was ‘put him on bute and box rest for week’ (which to be fair 'can work').

One I’ve heard of, that was used in this book, was giving a colicing horse a ride in the trailer to get his guts moving. I’m not saying for one moment that the old ways were the best – but I guess they were cheaper!

I’ve been thinking recently how lucky I’ve been with horses in my life (and people).

If you didn’t know already my teenage to early twenties was my sister and I buying ponies, then horses, to turn into reliable showjumpers to sell in order to pay the keep and buy more horses – as that was the only way we could afford to stay with horses. I know, time to get out your tiny violin …

After showjumping, I rode a lot of different race horses in Britain and other countries in Europe and California and even exotic Kuala Lumpur I can’t imagine now how it generally worked out so well when I consider how little knowledge I had compared to now… when I’m still learning!

This special horse, Swing Through, I used to look after and he was my first ever ride in a race. He is winning at Devon and Exeter.

I’m so glad that Rehab Hugo has come into my life now and not in those early days. I can’t see how we’d have made it work back then. I doubt we could have found a vet to do such a good lameness work up, nerve blocks, find the right place to scan and convince me we could operate successfully. We have several webinars by Dr Jessica Kidd in our full Learning Library, so don't forget to check them out.

Also the conversation we had when I was asking Jessica about the operation is on there. When Jessica said she’d had similar surgery on her hand it helped me feel more confident that such a delicate surgery was even possible.

I guess back in the day we’d have found a field to turn him out in for a year, and his bad tooth (another story!) would eventually get so bad we’d see it needed removing.

If he’d gone to another home back then he’d have most likely been ‘sorted out’ – doesn’t bare thinking about …

This is a photo of Hugo jumping with Daisy Smith aka The Niece of How Very Horsey at the Fun Ride. Ok the jump isn’t huge but best to start small and let him regain confidence in his body.

And we found a lip reader 😂 to see what Hugo was actually saying to Pie that day…

More tips from Hugo training next week and we may do some cross country schooling this weekend. But before I go… Just a couple of things to take a look at:

Our August prize draw is live and ready for you to enter! You could win a £100 voucher for Red Horse Products – trust me, you won't want to miss this one!

A quick tip: It's a nuisance but you'll get a email after signing-up and you'll need to click the button to confirm your entry (blame GDPR, right?), this email sometimes sneaks into spam so keep a eye out.

And there's more! We've got another webinar coming up and this one features… me! I'll be doing a Q&A Webinar, so it's time to start thinking of your questions and put August 6th at 8 PM in your diary.

I know I said I would keep these emails short… but I hope you enjoyed this update!

Have fun (remember that’s why we have horses!)

Lots of Love,

Kelly x