The Not-So-Secret Diary of Diva the Shetland Pony - Floof!
18/04/2024Diva (Melland Queen of Scots) usually gets her summer coat quite early compared to other horses and ponies, but this year she has been holding onto hers for a lot longer.
Less saddle time and more jobs seems to be the theme around here since the clocks went back, and annoyingly the ground has been lovely and dry for riding, for the first Winter in 3 years, but we are determined to have jobs done while the weather is still just about on our side. On the plus side I do have unaffiliated dressage booked as it will be the first time since early September we have been out, and if all goes well I will register BD and get him to some low key prelim ready to get ROR qualified next year. Keeping our feet firmly on the floor will be the best thing for both of us at the moment!
It was my birthday this month, and for my present I got my arena fencing and kick boards! It was not the birthday weekends I remember in my twenties, it was being out in the freezing cold hand driving 80m of posts, but I wouldn't have wanted anything else, and a huge shout to the other half who not only paid, but slogged his guts out all weekend!
I also got some lovely new wellies, identical to my old ones, which have lasted me 5 years, and practically built a house! The only reason they broke was because I stuck a garden fork through them and into my big toe - Who knew gardening was more dangerous than horses, retirement sounds risky!
Ben has been treated to his regular saddler and chiropractor visit, the saddler only had annoying news that my cheapy GP saddle still fits him like a glove and my nice dressage saddle no longer fits him at all, it looks like I am going to be buying myself a birthday/Christmas present!
Django went to have his first session with David Depford who runs Sovereign Quarter Horses, who is teaching me western and we had such an insightful 20 mins, to see your horse turn to butter in his hands was lovely and overwhelming. His horsemanship is incredible and I am so excited to be on this new journey- Django and I have lots of basic exercises to practice daily, which are going amazingly. I also had my normal ridden lesson too on his wonderful schoolmaster who had me half passing and doing flying canter changes. I felt like a proper cowgirl, and now Django is looking less foal and more horses I am definitely getting impatient to get on, so I think I am going to have to up my lessons just to keep me preoccupied from the fact I have at least 18 months left before Django is ready!
