The horses had a lovely Christmas and have been very spoilt! They've had likits, horsebix and lots of carrots and parsnips. My secret Santa at work was great - they all know me so well, and despite none of them being horsey I received a new head collar and lead rope set for Bob which I was very pleased with! For Christmas from my family I asked for money towards another hay delivery (as the trio have been munching away like ravenous monsters), and I always like to have spare just in case the weather turns bad.
Christmas morning, the horses were treated to their brekkie with their veggies, followed by a number of treats all different flavours. Once the chores were done in came the old gal for our annual Christmas morning hack. Tacked up as usual with her normal hi viz she thought that she was ready to go....oh no...I had other ideas much to her displeasure! Out came the tinsel and the reindeer antlers, and the look I got.. wow! Despite her lack of enthusiasm, Autumn allowed me to add the tinsel and even wore the antlers for a short time showing her Christmas spirit. I decided it was safer to not have them on for the hack so they were removed but the tinsel remained.
We had a lovely hack around the village, which was very quiet aside from a few dog walkers (very different to normal) meaning we could take our time and look at all the lovely light displays in the windows and gardens making me feel Christmassy. I love spending Christmas morning with my horses as it's the perfect start to my day :)
Autumn is also still practising her dressage which she is improving at, we definitely need more work on her bending but she is getting much better at her halts and her transitions so fingers crossed we will be ready to do a class soon.
Autumn working the tinsel
On returning Autumn to her field, I had another surprise for the horses, they received an equiblock each for them to enjoy and munch as an extra treat which they all seemed very happy with!
We are back in training straight away as the shows will be starting up again soon!
Bob has been doing some more pole work and bounce training, and Aria doing more lunge work and in-hand work.
My friend bought me some dressage letter stickers for the arena so we can practice the tests too- I'm just going to have to bribe the other half to come up a few times and be a caller for me until I learn the tests (he could be there a while haha).
Aria feeling the fizz!
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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.