After our awesome weekend at the Bay of Plenty Dressage Champs, we had a fab lesson with Manu McLean working on some of the judges feedback. As always, Manu got some fantastic work out of Tech and I, working on our straightness, square halts (we found the 'button'!) and half circles. We also did a bit of "moving his shoulders over" work which Tech responded to really well. At one stage we were zig-zagging up the centre line of the arena quite nicely using just my indirect rein. Lucy had a great lesson on Tech too so big smiles all round. Huge thanks to Lucy and Thea for being my crew for the day :)
The following week I had our local vet out to take a biopsy of a lump that had been growing slowly on Tech's stifle, which had suddenly grown really quickly. The lab results indicated nothing serious, but due to the size of the lump and the rate it had grown over the last month, I decided to get it removed just to be safe. Unfortunately the paddock surgery (as recommended by my local vet) didn't go as planned. Tech (being the stubborn Clydie that he is!), decided he wasn't going take things lying down, and came around from the general anaesthetic before the vet had even finished clipping the area to be operated on! After some very terrifying minutes (which seemed like hours!) of watching him flip around the paddock while he tried to get his legs working again, he finally regained control of himself and stood there shaking like a leaf. I'm so glad my Mum was there with me to calm me down, and also be there for Tech when he was so bewildered. We stopped everything and I booked him into Matamata Vets the following day. (Big thanks to Becky who dropped everything to take him over there with me.) Tech settled in quickly and the surgery was booked for the Friday. After a nail-biting morning wondering how things were going, I had a phonecall to say Tech's surgery had gone well, they managed to remove the lump and he came round from the general anaesthetic very calmy and quietly which was a huge relief after the antics from the previous day! He stayed at Matamata for the weekend and Lisa and I picked him up on the Monday. Tech then lived the life of luxury at Lisa's place for two weeks, being waited on hand and foot (thank you SO much Lisa!), munching on hay in his flash outside yard during the day, and tucked up in the stable at night while his wound healed up. Thanks to the amazing care Lisa took of my precious boy, his "shark bite" healed up wonderfully and I brought him home just before Christmas. Although I think he was a bit miffed that he had to fend for himself in the paddock again, with no hay being delivered to him at his beck and call, and no comfy shavings to sleep on at night!
I want to take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to Lisa for having Tech stay with her and taking such good care of him during his recovery. Also big thanks to Thea for helping me with vet visits and stable duties/feeding while Tech was on box rest. I don't think I would have got through those two weeks without you guys so thank you so much! I also want to thank Steve at Savvy Touch for coming to the rescue and giving Tech a good Savvy Touch session to put right the damage he'd done to himself during his acrobatics around the paddock. Tech is always so relaxed after his Savvy Touch sessions, but this one he was even more so after the battering his body had taken. I also want to thank JLT Insurance for giving huge peace of mind during Tech's surgery and recovery. It was such a relief knowing that I didn't have to worry about the vet costs, and I could just concentrate on getting Tech the best treatment. Thanks heaps JLT. Tech and I are very lucky to have such an amazing team around us!
After a few more weeks rest it was time to bring him back into work. Lucy jumped on bareback and gave him a little ride around the lunge pen. He seemed happy enough so we put his saddle on and she hopped back up. No problems! I just LOVE my boy. After nearly 6 weeks off and the surgery dramas, he was quite happy to have a quiet plod around without any lunging or other prep work. That's my boy! :)
For the next week Thea rode him every day and I also had my first ride back - wow did it feel good being back in the saddle! I had a smile on my face the ENTIRE time I was riding, despite the fact it was really hard work! Mum had to almost pull me off his back after 20 mins because she knew I would be suffering for it the next day... I think I would have ridden all night if I could have! :) (Thanks Mum, and thank you Thea for bringing Tech back into work so nicely.) It felt amazing to be back on my boy and riding again, and it just cemented the fact that Tech and I are the perfect match. We can get through anything together!
Needless to say Tech has come back up to speed a lot quicker than I have - I'm nearly there but it takes a while to build up my stamina and get my body back into riding mode again after such a long break. But I'm determined to get us back to tip top condition, and I've been seeing a new physiotherapist who's made huge progress with 'activating' some of my 'inactive' muscle groups and increasing my range of movement over the last few weeks. The difference is actually quite tiny, but it's huge for me! I've also just joined a local gym that has equipment adapted for people with disabilities. I really am on a mission to get myself into shape this year so I'm not the loose wheel on this unit! I just need to be careful not to overdo it because I like to push myself to the limit, and sometimes don't realise when enough is enough oops! I saw a quote last week that I really liked and sums me up quite well:
"The most important skill in life is never giving up"
Yep, that's me pretty much! :)
We've got a busy weekend ahead - Manu McLean is back in town so we're booked in for a lesson on Saturday. I can't wait to hear what her focus is this trip, and see what else she can get out of both me and Tech. Then we've got our first show since Labour weekend - the Tauranga Dressage Summer Show here at the racecourse on Sunday. I'm a bit nervous about that one because Tech is usually pretty tense at the racecourse, so I'll need to put my big girl pants on and suck it up so I don't transfer my nerves to him! I'm excited to get us back into the arena and in front of the judges again though so I'm looking forward to it!
After that we'll be focusing on our preparation for Horse of the Year. I can't wait to get back down to Hastings and aim to improve on our scores from last year, hoping to hit the magic 70%. Let's do this... :)