I hope you all had an enjoyable time over Easter and that the Easter Bunny delivered plenty of chocolate eggs. Diva was absolutely delighted to discover I had been unable to find any bunny ears for her to wear. She so does not enjoy dressing up! In the week before Easter, we enjoyed a two-day mini heatwave, and then today – exactly one week later – we have temperatures in the minus and snow flurries.
My friend Jill came over for the first time in a while and we went for a lovely walk with Diva. I cannot emphasise just how good it is for youngsters to get out and about. We encountered vans, cars, 4x4s, cyclists, walkers, dogs, tractors and diggers. The only thing that she was nervous of was a digger parked at the side of the road. She tried to dash past it but I asked her to stand and then walk up to it. She then was happy to sniff the wheels before we walked on. Funnily enough, she didn’t bat an eye at the digger actually being used in the garden opposite. I am hoping all this will stand her in good stead when she is broken to drive in the future.
I have mentioned previously that when Jackson arrived to stay with me, he and Diva had quite a fight when put in the same paddock. Neither would back down and were kicking like mad despite both being absolutely fine with other horses. Jackson has been getting turned out in the pen, as he also decided he would walk through the electric fencing. Now, however, the field next to Diva and Mabel’s is vacant, and I got permission to put Jackson in there so that he and Diva could “chat” through the fence without risk of fighting.
So far so good. The funny little creatures are staying side by side pretty much the whole time. It is so funny when I call to get them in, as they come trotting or cantering up together with just the fence between them. Hopefully I will be able to put them in the same field soon, this time without the fireworks. Watch this space.
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.