10/10/2026
An update on Miss Grace and her becoming a new horse. Or should I say, pony.
I bought her very undernourished and full of worms in Sep 2025. She will be 6 this November. I spent a lot of time letting her put on weight and feel safe. Training was slow because she had so much food anxiety. So, I always made sure she had a full belly before training and explained how to take treats with her lips and not her teeth.
She got better but still struggled to concentrate for long. It was slow going but she had most of the basics established using clicker training.
Then in August I thought I wanted to do more with her. And we started walking out and doing more gymnastic ground work. And she showed me that this was hurting, by extra neck twirling, bracing, grumpiness and pain responses. I was suspicious and at the start of September I took her to the vets to have her neck xrayed. Bingo. There it is was, a grumpy C6 vertebrae. They treated her with prolo injections to both sides and two weeks later another lot of injections.
And the result, a very very different horse. She is so much calmer overall. The food anxiety that had mostly gone, disappeared. She is able to concentrate for much longer and is happy to play more games. She has more patience and duration is easier. The brace is gone and her body is softer. She is a new pony!!
Her behaviours overall have improved 5 fold.
I am leaning over her and we will start putting all the pieces together for riding over the next few months. Of course she still needs a back that is capable of loading so we will keep building this up. But wow, she is a changed pony!! And I hope this story helps others.
