Hello sunshine! Hope everyone has been out enjoying time with their neddies in this unexpected lovely weather!
I could not believe how nice it was last week, I managed to exercise the horses every evening – without the need for the arena lights ..and get the field done - in the light! I don’t want to jinx it but this weather is great at the minute, and I’m so pleased my fields are beginning to dry out – Yay! Autumn’s even managed to have her close contact chaps off for a few days which I know she will have enjoyed (and she is still 100% mud fever free too which I’m ecstatic about)!
We took full advantage of the lovely weather at the weekend and I and a friend took Autumn and her mini doppelganger out for a lovely hack around the village. It was a lovely morning, very peaceful with minimal cars and was enjoyed by us all in the warm sun, makes a nice change to all the schooling in the arena!
Another positive of the weather is the rugs! No lugging heavy weights about – Bob and Autumn have had very thin lightweights on (if at all) and Aria has been rug-less which she has absolutely loved!
I made the silly mistake on Friday though of turning Bob out while I poo-picked after riding him, with no rug on. I put him in the front field, as there’s more grass in there as a treat (and because I can’t really use it in the winter due to becoming waterlogged). Well unbeknown to me there was still a wet area – but not to worry Bob certainly found it and had a lovely time rolling about in it! When I finally brought him in he was a different shade of bay and resembled a very pleased hippo! Thank goodness I wasn’t going to a show is all I can say!
On the topic of shows, I was a bit disappointed as I had planned to take the giant out to a qualifier at the weekend, but it had unfortunately been cancelled due to the Influenza outbreak. Although I was disappointed I completely understand the reasoning as there is also a large livery yard on site, and nobody wants to risk their horses, so sometimes it’s best to air on the side of caution. At the end of the day there will always be other shows to attend, so I took the time to do more training at home with him and actually fitted in a few other jobs like finally sorting my jump poles, painting a trim on the horsebox and tidying a bit in the tack room – time well spent.
In terms of the training I let him have a jumping session, I was a bit unsure how he would react as for some reason if there is more than one fence in our arena he loses the plot after the 4th or 5th jump. However, this time he showed how much he is starting to mature, we kept the jumps small to start with and then put them up, and we were jumping them multiple times in a row with no freaking out, or any naughty behaviour…what is going on?? I’m hoping he is going to continue with this behaviour for definite.
We have a jumping lesson next weekend that I am soooo looking forward to, especially now! I just need to think about what we want to achieve in the lesson so I have a bit of a plan – I know doubles are something we definitely need to practice as he doesn’t seem to slow between the fences and sometimes treats them as bounces. I’ll be keeping my eyes on the local shows to see if anymore are cancelled (one in a couple of weeks has been cancelled to) or rearranged and hopefully we can get out to one in the next few weeks – otherwise it will be me coming up with inventive schooling and jumping practice ideas!
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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.