I am not going to lie, a good part of me by November last year and after the second locking was wishing the year away, I think we were all mumbling "roll on 2021!" yet here we are, and who thought for one minute we would be in lockdown number 3, with the strictest restrictions for equestrians this time, with no permitted travel and no permitted arena hire, I have had no choice but to turn the boys way - Again! I have ridden Travis once since the last weekend in October, and annoyingly he was awesome, and I rode Ben after November lockdown, spent a whole month hacking, jumping and really getting him back in shape, just for January lockdown to hit and be forced to turn him away again. Just to add to the irritation we got completely flooded, to the point the side of the house was entirely underwater (thankfully not inside!) and the fields fit for a boat, literally! The water is now down to a sensible level, but not fully recovered, meaning no lunging and limited turnout. I have definitely had enough rope burn to last me all year and we aren't even out of January yet, there must be light at the end of the tunnel soon, or just an option to get some energy out of these poor horses!
On the plus side, it has given me the opportunity to finish matting the stables, and change them over to straw pellets from straw. With them being in so much, this product has been an absolute game changer, taking minutes to muck out with no waste or smell! With 3 horses to muck out twice a day moral was getting pretty low, and this is a product I wish I knew about 20 years ago!
The boys are still looking good, when I decide to have a peak under all the rugs (which are essential as I ridiculously clipped them in December, thinking we were over lockdowns) and with the recent frosts hardening the ground the have been able to enjoy a few days of frolicking!
I am still holding onto some plans which is to qualify for the BD Draught Champs on Travis and enter a BE late in the year on Ben. I am not holding my breath, but clutching onto old dreams meant for 2021!
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.