Cath purchased Remi, a PRE/WB stallion, in July of 2019. He was rising 5 years old and would be 17hh minimum. At the time she purchased him he was very lean, still developing and very weak in the hind end. He also exhibited gut ulcer symptoms. His coat was coarse and very long, he looked potbellied and was sensitive to gut trigger points. His appetite was poor, and he was a fussy eater...what a journey she'd have!
He had only just had a rider on him approximately five times so had not really started work under saddle. I did sit on him in the round yard at the owner’s place so felt confident that he was able to be trained.
Before we could get him under saddle fully, he needed to fill out and build muscle, as well we needed to work on his weak structure which was causing him grief whenever he decided to go for gallop around the paddock.
He was prone to falling, slipping over, and sliding.
It was difficult to keep his structure sound during the first 12 months.
He was sent to my trainer for backing in September 2019. He was yarded and fed for 4 weeks at the trainers, as well as ridden daily. He soon developed more muscle which helped him a lot.
He was still not 100% though and we needed to take it more slowly with him at home.
His diet was as follows:
- Speedy Beet
- Rice Bran
- McDowells Equi-hemp
- McDowells Tendon and Bone
- McDowells Equigesta-Pre
- McDowells Perform-A-Calm
- McDowells Alleviate
- McDowells Rosehips
- Lucerne hay and pasture
When he came home, he had really started to show more of what I imagined he would look like as a mature stallion. We still had much work to do – he was so misaligned in the pelvis that his over track was constantly out of alignment. Irregularity and not much suspension in canter or trot was a problem and mild lameness in the left fore which we discovered was a concussion injury from a gallop when he must have stood a piece of timber. Radiographs revealed the tiniest blur on the coronet band which later grew out to malform the hoof - he is 100% sound now but has a misshapen hoof and small free floating calcium build up above the coronet band which could be dissolved by sonic therapy if we decided to go down this road.
It has been frustrating to say the least!
We went to our first clinic in November 2019 and whilst we probably bit off more than I could chew at Nadine O’Sullivan place in Victoria, it has set the scene for his future training in the Phillippe Karl Legerete System and set me on course to build his body in the correct way for developing the hind end, aligning his shoulder and pelvis as well as helping to correct contractions in muscle groups that were compensating for the misalignments.
Remi served our mares in March 2020, and this was very successful. All our mares are in foal and we expect foals in February, 2021.
This of course put his back out again and we worked steadily to realign him with Anna Prins, our oesteopath, and Crystal Austen (Bowen) to help address development and on-going changes in his body.
I also did a lot of in-hand work and lunge work in our round yard, which had only just been finished. I felt that this work really helped a lot as it meant that I was not pulling on his head and forcing him off balance. He was able to find his own balance. In the more confined space and I was able to use the Jose Mendez cavesson to better effect - encouraging a stretch over his topline.
Sessions would typically last 15-20 minutes with frequent changes of direction, transitions and walking.
Every time I caught him to work with him there seemed to be a never-ending array of issues. We had been in drought and when it started to rain in July 2020, we were dealing with hoof abscess, mud fever and cellulitis!
I have never wanted to stable my horses and I now understand people who do! I had yet to have my stables built and if I had of had them ready to go, he would have been stabled during this very wet period. As it were, we struggled on in the wet and did the best we could under the conditions.
To treat the Greasy Heal we used:
- McDowells Infect-a-clear
- McDowells Colloidal Silver
- McDowells Tendon and Bone
- McDowells Greasy Heel ointment
I had managed to get him right in time for our inaugural clinic at Winterwood farm with Nadine O'Sullivan - 12 months from his first clinic at her property.
