We had a bit of the white stuff last week and more to come next week apparently. Luckily my horses aren’t too bothered, in fact the prancing princess Autumn actually LOVES the snow! Without fail when all 3 are turned out she is always the first to have a roll in the snow then a canter around. Once she’s rolled the others always follow and they all seem to have great fun which is lovely to watch (and sometimes very funny – like last year when Aria was being grumpy with Bob as and she went to drive him off (he was in another field) she ended up getting belly deep in a snow drift! The look on her face was priceless!
One annoying thing with the weather at the minute is the constant wardrobe changes – not me but the trio! Lucky for them I have a rug fetish as they have so many different ones – so every time it goes hot or cold the rugs are switched – not too much of an issue until I have to get them back on the racks that are 8-9feet in the air (Bob has 7-7ft 3 rugs!), I suppose it’s a good stretching work out though! My dogs love the snow too. One of them, who is normally scared of his own shadow was whining one morning before work to go out in the garden – I wondered why and it was because it had started to snow with big flakes and he wanted to catch all of them – very cute to watch him leaping about snapping them up but he thought he could catch them all! Picture of said mutt included.
I over did it slightly at Pilates last week, normally I’m okay and don’t feel sore but we did extra thigh work and combined with my dressage stirrups I think pushed my legs that bit too far! I would definitely recommend it though as it’s made my core so much stronger and helped me in my riding position (and grip!).
So one day instead of riding, Bob got the lunge treatment with poles and side reins to give my legs a reprieve. It’s quite good for him though as sometimes I don’t manage lunge him for a few weeks, but I do find it a beneficial work out and try to remember to do it for him! He was foot perfect and did beautiful transitions and work over the poles in a lovely rounded shape and responded brilliantly to voice commands (where has the crazy horse gone?). Not to worry the crazy horse was back a couple of days later just in time for the rider to be able to walk upright comfortably again! I had put the poles out in a fan shape this time as he’s been leaning in on the right rein a lot so need him to pick up a bit more on the corners. Well we did it a few times in trot nicely, then came the huge speeding extended trot, followed by double pole jumps!! Not what I had planned. As usual he had got a bit flustered by the new exercise as well as a pesky pigeon apparently having it in for him sitting on the fence by the stables – how dare it sit and watch him schooling! A few laps of the arena and working away from the poles got him settled to try again, and although a bit quick we did it and he started to understand what to do. I had raised two of the poles at an angle but the sod had none of it and kicked them down, unfortunately training on your own – I can only get on and off so many times, so had to leave them on the floor. Definitely something we need to work on but I felt it a useful exercise and he did lean in a bit less, we managed canter over the poles and he did eventually develop a rhythm which was positive.
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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.