Since my last post, the weather has definitely turned to winter. The summer paddock is closed, the boys are in overnight, and the winter coats are well and truly out for all of us!
I have been making the most of the last few weeks, watching the nights drawing in and refusing to give up on Summer, with some lovely hacks with friends! I have also managed to rope in a good friend who wanted to get back into riding, to ride Ben weekly for me, this will be great at helping me keep both boys fit, and as I got Ben as my 'jumper' I am very naughty at skipping the groundwork, so knowing he is getting a good session every week is very much appreciated!
Travis has had an introduction to double reins (not quite double bridle just yet) and managed to not throw any toys out of the pram, so I am really excited to start training in a double bridle, and have some more lift for that heavy front end, but I am seriously less excited about Elementary! We have done another couple of Novice tests with BD and consistently scoring in the mind 60's, even with some very junior mistakes from us both, so now the aim for the rest of the year is just to go to as many as possible and gain the competition experience in Novice, while working on the harder stuff at home!
I took Ben to his first jumping competition a few weeks ago, having only ever jumped course twice with him before, and he got a 4th in both the 70cm and 80cm classes. The 70cm he cruised around, and I don't even think we noticed the jumps, for an easy clear,. He actually jumped the 80cm much better allowing the jumps more respect and making a better shape, unfortunately I allowed him a fast approach to an upright with a long run up and he defaulted back to racehorse hurdle jumping, so one unlucky pole. I am really looking forward to see what we have learnt since the last one this weekend.
As I type this I am also sat waiting for my BD results from Novice 37a today - which was a tough test, so hopefully lots to tell you next time!
I find this one of the toughest topics in the horse world, as everyone does something different. There are thousands of products on the market – all claiming they can cure everything – and nutritionists are often affiliated with a feed company, making any advice potentially biased.
I can say I’ve been able to tick something off my bucket list now: I managed to mount and ride a camel – a brilliant experience. I had great fun grooming my one, named Baxter, and I think the people running it were happy they had people that were used to dealing with big animals and weren’t afraid to get stuck in.
I thought in this first blog post I ought to tell you a little bit about my horses and me, and give you an insight into what you might see from us going forwards. Firstly, my name is Emma. I’m 29 years old and I’ve been riding for as long as I can even remember.
I am currently lightly backing my three-year-old American Quarter Horse before turning him away for the winter. In my previous post, I explained the setbacks this year, and frustratingly I had to start the process much later in the year than I’d anticipated. But things were going well, too well…