Natalie Povey's September Blog
Blog for September 2016
September has been a challenging month as I have been unwell with a pressure sore on the bottom of my left foot which had an infection, it is something that has been ongoing for a good few years and I have to manage it on a daily basis to make sure I am able to ride as I ended up in hospital with it a couple of years ago and for nine months I was unable to weight bare, walk or ride. The agreement I have with my consultant at the hospital is to be on restricted walking and to only weight bare when doing what I love most, my horse of course, which is frustrating as I am so use to being active. This month I have spent some time none weight baring which meant I was unable to ride. During this time we kept Fulltide in work and continued her training lungeing her on her Equi-Ami a couple of times a week, which she enjoys as it gives her a break from her usual schooling although I do try to keep her work varied which is more difficult now the days are getting shorter as I run out of light when training in the evening so we are a little more confined to the school rather than the odd day hacking around the fields.
Towards the end of the month I started being able to weight bare again which meant I could carry on with Fulltide’s training so we had a couple of lessons with our coach – although I am still having to take things easy until my appointment with my consultant at the hospital at the end of October. I have been working hard on our test movements as well as our accuracy. We have also been focusing on establishing Fulltide’s rhythm in walk and trot as it can vary a little due to my unsteady balance as she is very sensitive to what I am asking her to do so she is only trying her hardest for me but we need to establish a consistent rhythm to be able to achieve the higher marks when we compete.
At the end of September Fulltide had a visit off the dentist for a routine check up as she was behaving a little out of character when ridden in a contact – she wasn’t doing anything naughty, she just didn’t feel right in herself. She was a very good girl for the dentist, however she did have an abscess in her month and it was suggested that due to her being uncomfortable to give her sometime off to let it heal.