It was all change at the yard once more. With Treat having completed his horse walker regime, it was time for him to go home. As he doesn’t like travelling on his own, it was Diva’s turn to act as his companion for the journey.
Rather than have an empty stable, another horse travelled with Diva on the return trip. Florence has been with my sister since before the pandemic, and now that everything is feeling more normal, she is back to improve her fitness in readiness for her workload to be increased.
I got Diva and Florence settled in their stables and then went to get Mabel in from the field. Would Mabel recognise her daughter after an absence of two years? Well, she certainly did! I let them say hello to each other over Florence’s stable door before putting Mabel into her stable. They are opposite each other in the barn and so can readily see each other.
With the mud in parts of the field being deep and the ground slippery, I didn’t turn all three of them out together for the first few days until the ground had dried up a little. I took Mabel and Diva down first and then Florence.
Florence was perfectly mannerly as I led her down to the field, but she did feel about three hands taller than usual! Mabel and Diva were about halfway down the field when I let Florence go. She trotted down the field to meet them. Diva kept squeaking and cantering about with Florence following her. It was comical to watch.
After a few minutes and thankfully no slips, they settled down. Mabel ambled over to Florence and soon they were mutual grooming. Diva stood with her back to them, clearly unimpressed with their antics after having Mabel to herself for so long. Hopefully, Diva will soon forgive both Mabel and Florence and stop sulking, but she looks very cute when she is cross.
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.