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.
Hello sunshine! Hope everyone has been out enjoying time with their neddies in this unexpected lovely weather!
I could not believe how nice it was last week, I managed to exercise the horses every evening – without the need for the arena lights ..and get the field done - in the light! I don’t want to jinx it but this weather is great at the minute, and I’m so pleased my fields are beginning to dry out – Yay! Autumn’s even managed to have her close contact chaps off for a few days which I know she will have enjoyed (and she is still 100% mud fever free too which I’m ecstatic about)!
We took full advantage of the lovely weather at the weekend and I and a friend took Autumn and her mini doppelganger out for a lovely hack around the village. It was a lovely morning, very peaceful with minimal cars and was enjoyed by us all in the warm sun, makes a nice change to all the schooling in the arena!
Another positive of the weather is the rugs! No lugging heavy weights about – Bob and Autumn have had very thin lightweights on (if at all) and Aria has been rug-less which she has absolutely loved!
I made the silly mistake on Friday though of turning Bob out while I poo-picked after riding him, with no rug on. I put him in the front field, as there’s more grass in there as a treat (and because I can’t really use it in the winter due to becoming waterlogged). Well unbeknown to me there was still a wet area – but not to worry Bob certainly found it and had a lovely time rolling about in it! When I finally brought him in he was a different shade of bay and resembled a very pleased hippo! Thank goodness I wasn’t going to a show is all I can say!
On the topic of shows, I was a bit disappointed as I had planned to take the giant out to a qualifier at the weekend, but it had unfortunately been cancelled due to the Influenza outbreak. Although I was disappointed I completely understand the reasoning as there is also a large livery yard on site, and nobody wants to risk their horses, so sometimes it’s best to air on the side of caution. At the end of the day there will always be other shows to attend, so I took the time to do more training at home with him and actually fitted in a few other jobs like finally sorting my jump poles, painting a trim on the horsebox and tidying a bit in the tack room – time well spent.
In terms of the training I let him have a jumping session, I was a bit unsure how he would react as for some reason if there is more than one fence in our arena he loses the plot after the 4th or 5th jump. However, this time he showed how much he is starting to mature, we kept the jumps small to start with and then put them up, and we were jumping them multiple times in a row with no freaking out, or any naughty behaviour…what is going on?? I’m hoping he is going to continue with this behaviour for definite.
We have a jumping lesson next weekend that I am soooo looking forward to, especially now! I just need to think about what we want to achieve in the lesson so I have a bit of a plan – I know doubles are something we definitely need to practice as he doesn’t seem to slow between the fences and sometimes treats them as bounces. I’ll be keeping my eyes on the local shows to see if anymore are cancelled (one in a couple of weeks has been cancelled to) or rearranged and hopefully we can get out to one in the next few weeks – otherwise it will be me coming up with inventive schooling and jumping practice ideas!
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