We had our first outing int the new horsebox over the bank holiday weekend, and although I was a bit nervous (despite a test run the day before without a horse) it all went well!
A little hesitant but Autumn loaded onto it and travelled well – the horse camera was great for me to keep an eye on her. She was a little sweaty coming off but this was mainly due to the excitement of getting out (and a bit of nerves I think). I did really enjoy driving it as it was so smooth and easy to manoeuvre so made for a nice drive for us and Autumn.
We went out for our fun ride and it was absolutely amazing, the weather held and was and dry and warm. I know its called the blue bell ride but wow I have never seen so many – they carpeted the woodland and when we went onto the private estate the huge banks on the side were covered and looked lovely. We had a great time with our pals a fair few gallops slotted in, and Autumn being overly keen decided to jog trot the majority of the 8 miles – not what I thought she would be doing especially at her age! I cannot wait to get out to the next ride at the end of the month!
Bobs been improving and his last lesson was another fab one – we focused on his straightness again using the zig zag poles and also a mini spider set up using poles and jump wings. Later we incorporated 2 fences which we jumped multiple times – each time coming across the ‘spider’ in the centre to help him re-balance and get on the correct lead. I’m glad my confidence is picking up again as each time the fence went up I didn’t even blink and just popped over it with him – it really shows what having a good instructor can do for you and your horse!
We have been practising ourselves outside of the lessons and the other night even my partner was shocked, we started off a bit shaky due to Bob being tense and I said ‘we probably wouldn’t get past trot this evening’ – well that completely changed after the warm up – I asked for a fence to go up then kept asking it to be raised and we were happily and calmly popping it with no issues. It goes to show that Bob is progressing and even when he’s a bit unsettled he does listen to me much more now and we can crack on with achieving our goals without any silly behaviour.
I’ve luckily recently become a brand ambassador for Vibe Equestrian, and have a few lovely items of clothing from them, alongside a gorgeous pair of teal breeches I ordered as I loved the colour. I rode Bob in those the other night when I had my hesitant start and safe to say I was completely secure and didn’t move out of that saddle! They are extremely soft and also have two great sized pockets – one of which Bob loves as I can fill it with reward treats lol - I’m definitely going to get a few more pairs.
The horses have finally moved to one of the summer paddocks and are very happy about it, I’ve made sure I’ve only given them a small area to start with so they can get used to it, as knowing my 3 if they had the whole field they would stuff themselves until they burst!! The move also means that they can start to live out hurrah!! No more mucking out stables until the winter!! With them living out I have more time to start work on the stable yard and odd jobs I’ve needed dry weather for. One of the jobs is revamping my poles as with all our lessons in the last 8 months that have taken a pounding! My partners got on board and restarted building and designing some planks for me too which is great. We got the first couple sorted at the weekend and another two to go, lets see what the horses think of them when they are all set up – including my almost luminous yellow pole! I tend to buy a lot of the paint when we see it reduced then once painted cover the poles with gloss to protect them. I like revamping them as I tray and change the designs/colour set ups each time to keep the horses thinking, and when I attend shows I like to look at the different designs they have on their jumps for inspiration.
The horses have got their back checks coming up this week so will have a few days off after to recuperate, then the planning begins – we need to schedule some outings for Bob and also keep practice loading him! We got him in briefly twice when we practised last week – however he did make a few dents on the horse box which my partner was not impressed by as he shot out backwards when he panicked! A few more tries and I’m sure we will nail it.
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.