Friday 23 August 2013

App Review: Horse Side Vet Guide™ - Polished, Comprehensive & Perfectly Pitched.

The Horse Side Vet Guide™ App
I wondered how long it would take for someone to produce a really polished horse owners veterinary manual app. They have now!

The new Horse Side Vet Guide™ App (or HSVG for short) is pretty much what you'd hope it to be, an app crammed full of veterinary advice pitched perfectly for the horse owner, with detailed reference text, things to look for, related items, questions to ask your vet, treatments, etc, etc, etc, on an exhaustive range of conditions, traumas and the such like. On top of all that there's a library of short videos on everything from finding the facial artery to take your horse's pulse to bandaging lower limbs correctly. 

I'm more of 'worrier' than a 'long way from his heart' type of horse owner, and my book shelves are crammed full of veterinary books (over 100 I guess), but this app makes finding information so much easier. It is a very well thought through architecture of information which at first glance is overwhelming because of the sheer volume of data in here (1,000 or so entries), but dig into the app a little and you soon discover the simplicity of the structure.
All of the subjects contain a relatively plain English summary plus a variety of sub headings like "Supplied Needed", "Procedure", "Prognosis" and "Tips for Safety & Success". Add to this a search feature and this app just made dealing with everything from minor abrasions to colic a hell of a lot easier. (there are 17 search results for Colic)

Monday 12 August 2013

Hartpury Horse Trials 2013 - A Destination Or An Autumn Warm-Up

CIC*** 2nd Water
Hartpury College is one of our best equestrian facilities, possibly the best in the UK, and runs a great event in August with CCI*, CCI** and CIC*** supported by feed supplements company, NAF UK. Set in the rolling hills of the west Gloucestershire countryside the courses are a decent challenge, often used as a warm up for bigger autumn events, but also a destination event for many in it's own right.

Horses Are Welcomed From Cross Country By A Cool Mist Tent

Sunday 4 August 2013

BRC Eventing Championships 2013 - Run In Classic Format

The Wonderfully Colourful British Riding Club Eventing Championships At Swalcliffe Park 
With the children happily engaged in a play date, I found myself with a free day - bonus! There was little prospect of carriage driving or riding at such short notice, so decided to head out with the camera for a little more practice.

Watching The Show Jumping
I couldn't face dodging the showers at Gatcombe so had planned to go to Chilham Horse Trials in Canterbury, which is a beautiful setting.

With a late start to the day, and on the toss of a coin at a petrol station I decided to go to Swalcliffe Park, near Banbury for the SEIB British Riding Clubs National Horse Trials Championships after a tip off on twitter from course builder, Carl Fletcher. Just as well as I would probably have missed most of the cross country at Chilham had I attempted to tackle the M25 at that time of day.

Instead I wound my way through the pretty chocolate box villages of Oxfordshire between Blenheim and Banbury to eventually arrive at Swalcliffe Park, and a "grassroots festival of eventing". Rows upon rows of horsesboxes, tents, trailers and anything else you might find at Glastonbury filled a quarter mile stretch between the gateway and the dressage arenas, and I don't think I've seen so many people sat on horses in the warm up watching the show jumping.
Great Riding Skills On Display Throughout The Day