A month late, I know, but after a very rocky January (explained in my previous blog) I was ready to set some goals.
It is all change around here. Although a lot of it is really positive, some of it really hasn’t been, and it has all been quite mentally taxing. I had a routine, and was achieving goals, and now I feel I am back to square one of a whole new journey which, while daunting, is starting to also feel exciting.
Daisy is now nine months old, and I had almost forgotten how tricky the early stages are; teaching 300kg how to be a nice horse is no mean feat, especially when this time around you also went for a mare! Sometimes Daisy forgets her manners and spends a lot of time on two back legs, but she always comes around, with a quiet touch and clear black and white boundaries.
Daisy has been here 10 weeks, progressing from being very unhandled so you could barely touch her to now being confident with headcollars, being tied up and standing nicely, picking out feet, grooming all over with various brushes and sprays and having rugs on and off. We even went for our first little walk off the yard. She stood quietly as traffic passed us on the driveway, walked around some quiet tracks with various terrains and lots of deep water, and we did a little section of the village, passing vehicles, bikes and walkers. She took it all in her stride and was fantastic.
Over the next few weeks, we will work on a few more walks and some loading practice, just on and off the box to start, then being closed in, and then small journeys, all just building her overall confidence. Just little steps to hopefully have her at a small in hand show for April time, to gain some outside world experience.
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.