With all the hot weather, I think I went a little but delirious and went for full hog! It was a totally spur of the moment decision, but I am definitely pleased, mostly because now I don't have to plait for dressage, but also because he looks all grown up! Has anyone else made spur of the moment decisions they have gone onto love - or hate?!
We finally (HORRRAHHHH!) did our first affiliated dressage of 2020 and couldn't of been happier. He was carrying himself up hill, we managed to get a little bit of medium AND there was no spooking, zilch, none, nope, zero! I must have watched the video back about 6 times, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming! We came home with a 4th in our section, and a 4th overall with our best Novice score to date! It was only the next day on my memories that the same venue popped up for dressage and the comparison pictures is a really stark reminder that despite the absolute wash out winter and spring lockdown we are still heading in the right direction, albeit a little slow!
Up, Up and Away
Ben is going from strength to strength at the moment, proving to be the most honest and straightforward chap under saddle, ( I say under saddle, because this week the vets taught me how to do fillings, for horses - Who knew that was even a real thing??) I can leave him for a week between rides and he is never hot headed or fizzy, I can take him anywhere and introduce him to anything and he just takes it all in his stride. I am really starting to feel a horse underneath me rather than a racehorse, and finally getting into rhythm with his high speed jumping and sharp transitions. We had some lovely canter work last week, finally having that nice balance rocking horse feeling, rather than feeling half a horse in front and half a horse behind me. We have also had our first go a cross country, I had no idea what to expect or how he was going to be in the company of others, but he just took it all in his stride - literally!
Talking of stride, this horse has more scope, than I have confidence to fill 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.