I’ve been busy schooling with the horses again as we had to abandon the shows I was planning on due to the high winds as it just was not worth the risk. Autumn has been doing a mixture of flat and jump work, whilst Aria has had a play with lunging and also long reining. Bob on the other hand, well he’s turned a corner again and has become better behaved. We have done flat and pole work during the week then at weekends I’ve got him back to jumping, initially it was only the little fences to start with. However, on Sunday morning I persuaded the OH to get up early with me to be my pole person so I could have a proper jump. Luckily he agreed and I have to say we had a great session with Bob. As I wasn’t the one putting the fences up I had no clue on the height which really helped me. We started off small to get him calmly jumping but each time the pole was then put up, with the final measurement being 1m - this was great considering my confidence knock from the fall at the last show. Bob also didn’t rush too much at the fences although he did have one hissy fit where he decided to go sideways instead of straight towards the fence. I then asked for the fence to be lowered so we could concentrate on his line and approach, and with a few calm attempts we then jumped it fine. I always like to finish him on a positive note so made sure he was inundated with praise. I do think it is sometimes my confidence that he can sense so I am being conscious of how I ride into the fences!
Bob was very calm after his session as I think he was a bit tired, so as I was finishing cooling him off, I challenged my partner to have a sit on him as he has always said he would then backed out! Well this time he obviously felt confident as he said yes!! Without any room for changing his mind, I got straight off, fitted the hat and took them both to the mounting block!! A couple of attempts to get aboard but he managed it, Bob looked highly unimpressed as he has been used to me as his sole rider for nearly 6 years. Although he was a bit unsure he behaved himself and after a few side steps/circles, I was able to lead Martin round on him for a few minutes. This was a major achievement for Martin as he’s not sat on my horses before so hopefully I can get him more interested now!
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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.