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10/03/2022

Really disappointed to see Withington Horse Trials cancelled (See https://www.withington-manor.com) today although totally understand the reasoning. It was our early season aim to get a CCI2*S run there before planning the rest of the season around how those first few events have gone. Planning Cirencester then Portman initially.

However I am really starting to question what my future with BE is. This isn’t a dig at BE as I realise they are trying very hard in difficult times to make things work and recover from past mistakes, I support fully the organisation although don’t agree with all the decisions they have made. Personally though it is getting ridiculously expensive, membership for Fliss and I is £400 (taking into account we are in the premier category as we have qualification for Gatcombe and intending to run intermediate) entry fees are over £120 a class with start fee and the real game changer could be what is happening with the fuel which is only going to increase. On average I travel 3 -5 hours to events. Then just add in the general cost of living with bills at home rocketing.

It’s a hobby I still love and only having one horse running (I could only buy a broken second one on my low budget in a crazy market) I can still afford to get out and compete, but can I honestly justify it much longer? The other sad thing is many of the favourite events have gone, by that I mean the greenfield events that have the unique character. Wilton, Withington (hopefully only this year), Longleat, Nutwell Court, Little Gatcombe, Aldon and Treborough have all disappeared from the Calendar. I also would have preferred to keep the abandonment insurance particularly considering the impact this is having on some of our events.

Not sure what this year will look like BE for me now, I am lucky that Fliss can also hold her own show jumping and maybe we will just run a handful of lower key events and enjoy the showjumping. I can do the County shows and have choices most weekends within a 2 hour drive with chances of decent prize money usually on a decent surface. I do feel worried for BE as with losing entries and members, events cancelling I am not sure how things will settle down over the next few years it could look quite different in the future.

10/03/2022

**Asymmetric tails – best not to ignore them**

Crooked tail carriage (CTC), where a horse holds its tail asymmetrically, is a common, yet poorly understood condition. Recent publications have however pointed to lameness and/or pain being a key predisposing risk factor (Hibbs, Jarvis and Dyson 2021 and Dyson et al., 2018).

In a dedicated study to this condition which examined 520 lame horses and 170 non lame horses, CTC was observed to be common in lame horses (33.5%), particularly those with hindlimb lameness, compared to non-lame horses (5.3%) (Hibbs, Jarvis and Dyson 2021). Although more horses with CTC held their tail to the left, there was no association between the tail holding and the predominant lame limb (Hibbs, Jarvis and Dyson 2021).

The presence of CTC was also strongly associated with pain in the sacroiliac joint region (SIJR) and/or thoracolumbar epaxial muscle tension, but not with saddle slip, reduced thoracolumbar range of movement (ROM) or thoracolumbar epaxial muscle pain (Hibbs, Jarvis and Dyson 2021).

These findings support earlier research which also concluded that lame horses were more likely to hold their tail to one side than non-lame horses and that this condition be a good “marker” for helping to objectively identify pain (Dyson et al 2018).

References
Hibbs, K.C., Jarvis, G.E. and Dyson, S.J. (2021), Crooked tail carriage in horses: Increased prevalence in lame horses and those with thoracolumbar epaxial muscle tension or sacroiliac joint region pain. Equine Vet Educ, 33: 368-375. https://doi.org/10.1111/eve.13316

Dyson, S., Berger, J., Ellis, A.D. and Mullard, J. (2018), Development of an ethogram for a pain scoring system in ridden horses and its application to determine the presence of musculoskeletal pain. Journal of Vet Behaviour, 23: 47-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2017.10.008

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