Since my last post, the weather has definitely turned to winter. The summer paddock is closed, the boys are in overnight, and the winter coats are well and truly out for all of us!
I have been making the most of the last few weeks, watching the nights drawing in and refusing to give up on Summer, with some lovely hacks with friends! I have also managed to rope in a good friend who wanted to get back into riding, to ride Ben weekly for me, this will be great at helping me keep both boys fit, and as I got Ben as my 'jumper' I am very naughty at skipping the groundwork, so knowing he is getting a good session every week is very much appreciated!
Travis has had an introduction to double reins (not quite double bridle just yet) and managed to not throw any toys out of the pram, so I am really excited to start training in a double bridle, and have some more lift for that heavy front end, but I am seriously less excited about Elementary! We have done another couple of Novice tests with BD and consistently scoring in the mind 60's, even with some very junior mistakes from us both, so now the aim for the rest of the year is just to go to as many as possible and gain the competition experience in Novice, while working on the harder stuff at home!
I took Ben to his first jumping competition a few weeks ago, having only ever jumped course twice with him before, and he got a 4th in both the 70cm and 80cm classes. The 70cm he cruised around, and I don't even think we noticed the jumps, for an easy clear,. He actually jumped the 80cm much better allowing the jumps more respect and making a better shape, unfortunately I allowed him a fast approach to an upright with a long run up and he defaulted back to racehorse hurdle jumping, so one unlucky pole. I am really looking forward to see what we have learnt since the last one this weekend.
As I type this I am also sat waiting for my BD results from Novice 37a today - which was a tough test, so hopefully lots to tell you next time!
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.