The she devil, has been just that again this week! Bolshy and temperamental in hand and during her schooling sessions. She gave me a huge battle during one schooling session where she decided to forget what walk was, along with her manners. Lots of galloping, squealing and fly bucking in my direction which did not please me at all. My improving mare had turned into a wild beast hell bent on leaving a hoof mark on my forehead! Much to her dismay I was a bit too quick for her and my stubbornness also won. I let her have her moments, continually pushing her out and away from me by voice and lunge whip. Eventually she realised she was getting nowhere and began to settle. She did some nice work over the poles to help strengthen her back end but it certainly was not my favourite schooling session. It is difficult and challenging to work with her at times but as long as I’m consistent and persist against her naughty behaviour, we seem to make progress, although at times it is slow.
Autumns a bit happier as I’ve got her back on a balancer I tried her with that we won at your horse live – Blue Chip Senior Balancer – I noticed a marked improvement with her when being on it as she moved a lot better when being schooled and did not seem as stiff, so definitely going to keep her on it.
We have another show coming up at the weekend which I am aiming to take Bob to as he seems to be improving each time. Fingers crossed the weather doesn’t get too bad here and we can get out! We have the farrier in a couple of days too, as long as the snows not too bad, and I’m looking forward to see how Aria behaves for front shoes again! Her feet have definitely improved since having the shows on last time, with no cracks or foot soreness so hopefully in a few months we can brave back shoes too (providing my farrier is safe to do so and she’s calmed her temper a bit more haha).
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Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.