Educating Caitlin - Part 2

Last month we introduced Katie Duxbury and her new Fell mare, Greenholme Caitlin, that she bought in December. Here Katie explains their progress in the last month…..

‘Caitlin is now happily walking round our country lanes on the long reins confidently. She has seen some traffic and so far nothing has phased her. In the school she walks, trots and canters on the double lunge lines very well and her fitness is really improving. She gets worked six days a week, I keep her sessions short – never more than about 20 minutes.  I feel that is plenty for a five-year-old as I don’t want to bore her and she is still immature.

I have had quiet sit on her and been led around the school which she took in her stride.  I will wait until her groundwork is a little more established before I ride her off the lead. 

She is becoming quite a little character as she grows in strength and we had a little issue when lungeing recently. When cantering on the long reins she would nap and pull me toward the exit gate. This sort of ‘testing the water’ is only to be expected and we quickly resolved the issue by keeping her on a smaller circle and moving the circle around the school.  I also had someone standing near the gate to encourage her past, rather than letting her run towards it. 

As our fields were very wet, we weren't turning the out in the early part of the month, so to let her have a play we turned her out three times a week in the arena with a friend and she really enjoyed it, as well as helped socialise her. I think it’s important to let young horses let off steam as it keeps them sweet and content. 

She's has had her feet trimmed and was a total star for the farrier, he was very gentle and patient with her which resulted in her being more than willing to stand like a complete professional! She has also had her second booster vaccine and health check from the vet who was pleased with her progress. 

Her weight and shape are changing constantly. I don’t like to put too much feed into the breakers as you never know what fireworks you may light, so Caitlin is on two high fibre feeds a day. These consist of a good coarse chop and some fibre nuts and micronised linseed. She gets ad lib good quality haylage too which she likes to dunk into her water bucket!!  

My aim for this month is to be riding her off the lead in the school and then to progress from long reining her around the lanes to hacking out under saddle with a friend.

Caitlin long reining

As for getting her to a show – I would like to get her back in the lorry as I think it helps if they make regular short journeys when young. If they associate travel with fun and not stress it helps so much throughout their career.  I would really like to take her to an in-hand show this month but you will remember I mentioned that she had lost her feathers on the Fell and I may wait a little longer for them to grow back… let's wait and see.   


As for her mane and tail - these were very matted and burred up they have come along really well. I keep her mane in large plaits – to protect it – and always cut off the elastic rather than pull them off to avoid breaking the hair. I undo the plaits every three days and spray it with Moisturise and Condition and then re-plait and we are really seeing - and feeling - the benefit of using this regularly.

Plaits in Caitlins Mane

I also adjust the position of the plaits to keep hair breakage to a minimum. I only comb her mane once it has been washed, conditioned and detangled. I do the same for her tail – which I run my fingers through – but never brush as that thins them too much. I have been using Mane and Tail Builder twice a week and now as it's growing tenfold! We had snow up here in Lancashire and the wind was really chilly so she started wearing a neck cover too. I wash her mane weekly to avoid a greasy build up on the neck cover. 

Moisturise and Condition

Mane and Tail Builder

She’s fully rugged now and moulting like mad so it’s all hands on deck with the curry combs to get the dead hair out. "

Katie

Brought to you in association with The Showing Journal.

For more information, visit www.theshowingjournal.co.uk

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If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us on info@supremeproducts.co.uk as we really enjoy hearing from you. We also love to see your pictures, so please visit our Facebook page and post them on our wall, making sure you tell us all about you and your horse or pony.

Our office number is not just for people wanting to buy products – if you have a question or would like some advice on how best to use our products or what would be the best product to use in certain situations, then please call us on 01377 229050 – we will be happy to help where we can!

Best wishes,

Sarah

Educating Caitlin.....

Katie Duxbury, based in Darwen in Lancashire, is a familiar face on the county show circuit and has qualified and ridden at HOYS. She fits in home producing her native ponies and coloureds around her work for BAE Systems as an aircraft engineer. Katie says of her showing, ‘I’m showing-mad and I love preparing, taking part, watching and learning from others.’

When Katie found her latest project in December – the young Fell mare Greenholme Caitlin –  she was almost untouched and Supreme Products and The Showing Journal decided to follow their progress in the form of this monthly diary…. The Showing Journal diary will focus on Caitlin’s training, whereas our diary will focus on how Katie has trained and prepared Caitlin for her showing career, detailing the products that Katie has been using.

‘I bought my new project, Caitlin, from John Potter of the Greenholme Stud in December. She is a five-year-old 13.1hh Fell pony by the fantastic stallion Greenholme Look At Me.

‘When I first saw her out on the fell at the stud she stood out a mile to me.  I think she’s an extremely good example of the breed, with a lovely action – she just had to come home with us! She had spent her life thus far running on the fell, having only been kept indoors as a weaned foal, but she has the sweetest temperament. Naturally, she was a little wary of us at first!

‘When she arrived, we let her settle in and then spent a week or two getting her used to being handled – simple things like grooming, leading and practising picking her feet up ready for the farrier. We also wormed, vaccinated and had her teeth checked.

Her mane and tail were quite dry and untended when she first arrived and understandably she was very woolly, so in the first weeks we are focusing on getting her settled and improving the condition of the coat, mane and tail and improving her overall appearance.

‘In week three, once she had settled in, we pampered her with a nice hot bath where we used High Shine Shampoo to break down the dust and dirt in the coat. We found that this gave her a really deep clean and left a smooth, shiny and conditioned coat. We also got her rugged up so we could start to bring her coat on.

One of the areas that needed attention was her mane as it was matted in places. We used a couple of different products and her mane has already shown great improvement.

We started with Detangle and Shine and just sprayed this on to the mane and tail and left it on. Where possible we ran fingers through and started to de-mat as well as remove the tangles. We did this daily over 3 or 4 days and on day 4 we were able to really loosen  some of the tangles and start brushing her mane and tail through.

Caitlin does have a few thinner patches on her mane. She has good length in her mane and luckily there are no bald or rubbed patches but we would like to see some thickening in places, so we are using Mane and Tail Builder on a daily basis. We massage it in and leave it on.

The third product used to focus on the hair is Moisturise and Condition. Caitlin has always been out on the fell and her mane was a little dry and brittle in places. Once again, this is a ‘spray and leave on’ product and so we have applied this daily to improve the overall condition. We’ve started to see and feel the beneficial effects of this product very quickly and the mane is already less brittle and flows much better, much more in tune with her breed type.

After all her pampering, Caitlin was then bitted and we started lungeing her in the school. She has taken to it all very well, with her sweet temperament showing through.

‘It’s now week four and we have just started long-reining Caitlin down the quiet lanes and so far she has taken everything in her stride! The benefits of long-reining her at this stage are to develop straightness and obedience; helping to create and keep a soft topline and develop her confidence as well as the bond between us and get her working through from behind.

I hope to have her out to some shows in-hand once she has grown her mane and feather back as she was bog-burnt from the rain and mud on the fell. Ultimately, my aim for her is to qualify her for the Picton final at the NPS Summer Champs and hopefully gain a place there!

‘I will tell you more next month when, hopefully, I’ve been able to sit on board and begin the next chapter of her career.’

For more information, visit :

www.supremeproducts.co.uk

www.theshowingjournal.co.uk

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us on info@supremeproducts.co.uk as we really enjoy hearing from you. We also love to see your pictures, so please visit our Facebook page and post them on our wall, making sure you tell us all about you and your horse or pony.

Our office number is not just for people wanting to buy products – if you have a question or would like some advice on how best to use our products or what would be the best product to use in certain situations, then please call us on 01377 229050 – we will be happy to help where we can!

Best wishes,

Sarah