Phillipa and Wiggins last wrote about the upcoming summer months and the goals ahead of them, lets see what happened....

Blog 2 – Buckle up! It’s going to be a bumpy ride…

Last time I wrote, it was the beginning of June. We had just competed at the RoR regional champs. The summer had got off to a good start and we were riding on the crest of a wave…but not for long.

After riding one morning, I turned Wiggins out and gave him his breakfast. I noticed that he couldn’t seem to get his head down to his bucket. I held the bucket up for him and he ate fine. I gave him a good check over but couldn’t see anything so I thought he might have pulled a muscle or something. Anyway, by the afternoon he was able to graze so I didn’t think much of it. A few days later, a lump appeared under his throat. After a week or so, the lump became an abscess and then it was panic stations. I had been taking his temperature, watching for discharge, listening for a cough…nothing. I took the precaution of isolating him just in case, but was pretty sure it wasn’t strangles. That was until the vet came. It’s fair to say she didn’t fill me with hope. The yard went into lockdown and Wiggins was isolated. I was beside myself. Not only to think that Wiggins might be really ill, but if anything happened to anyone else’s horse, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself. After what seemed like an eternity, the tests came back clear and the lump started to heal. No idea what it was, but that was June gone.

We had lost a whole month, but it seemed we were back on an even keel, and as a bonus I found out we had qualified for the RoR National Championships at Aintree. I was so excited to be given the opportunity to ride at the home of the Grand National! We got back out competing and at our first competition after his time off, Wiggins won both his section and his class. I was so proud of him! But again, our elation didn’t last long…

A new horse arrived at the yard at the beginning of August and caused a bit of a stir. Wiggins started pawing at the ground really aggressively. He did it so badly that I brought him in one day and he had worn the front of his shoe away and the clip had gone into his hoof. An emergency visit from the farrier and we seemed to have had a lucky escape. However, a couple of days later he went really lame. Cue more time off. After a couple of weeks, he seemed fine so I decided to have a little ride. It was quickly apparent that he wasn’t fine. I had booked him in for a gastroscopy clinic, so I asked the vet to have a look at him while he was there – he seemed sound (and he didn’t have ulcers!) so they suggested just giving him some more time off. Anyway, things didn’t improve. We missed the BD area festivals. Then we missed the RoR National Champs, so I arranged for nerve blocks and x-rays to be done. THEN! The day before the vet was due, I noticed a splint had popped on his front leg – the one he had been lame on. It was like a lightbulb moment. Sharon and I couldn’t believe we hadn’t thought of that before. So, over the last couple of weeks, he has slowly started coming back into work. Dare I say it, but we seem to be on the up again. Let’s see how long it lasts this time, especially with winter on the horizon!

Poor Phillipa and Wiggins, it has been a rough ride for sure, but on the positive side, Wiggins has returned to work in a positive way and dare we say it, so far so good!