The osteopath came today.....

......and had a look at Gandalf and Chester.

She gave them a thorough going over, which they seemed to enjoy!

Gandalf had soomething not quite right in his neck and she manipulated it you could hear a loud pop, then he sighed and licked and chewed, whatever she did obviously felt good!

I got her out to see him in the first place because he's started being reluctant to let me pick up his near hind, and she said it hurts him to lift it due to a bit of siatica. So she's done a load of work with that and I've got to give him a homeopathic thing called Traumasedyl for a month then she's coming back to do another session.

She also said he was otherwise in really good shape and was surprised when I said he was 17!

Our worries about Chester were largely unfounded, she found he had one of his neck vertebrae completely out of line, she said he must have had a serious fall when he was younger, and that's why he stretches out and down when you try to ride with a contact. He also needs to see the dentist, but we know that, we're just waiting for him to tell us when he's coming.....

She also said he had a blockage in the nerves that supply part of his gut, this is why he was susceptible to colic, she's sorted that out too. He doesn't need to see her again, just needs to do lots of free work in the round pen to get him using his muscles properly. She agreed with my thoughts that he'd probably done too much too young.