It's December! Weekend Plans

Thanks so much! Really pleased with him!



Aw thank you! We got SO lucky with him, he is an absolute gem, and a lovely chap to have around too!

Glad your boy is recovering, colic is just awful. Hope you can get some rest now x

I think I will do Xmas decs today. I work in a primary school, so the kids will all ask!
 
My poor Fig has colic on Thursday. Went from being ok to thrashing and grunting in pain in an hour :(

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Thankfully the next painfully slow 12 hours passed without issue and he has bounced back! Not sure what set it off at all but he’s nearly 18yo so in my heart of hearts I know surgery isn’t a road I’d choose for him.

Happier Saturday with a Sonnar lesson. First since August! Loved it. I’m not at full fitness atm so it was really hard work but my brain is whirring with exercises and bits to improve.

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And today, a shorter than usual in lieu of Figs escapades hack. Gentle walk to keep him moving. Everyone enjoyed it.

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NM and Red glad to see yours are looking to be on the mend - it’s been a strange start to winter and it seems to have upset a few.

We haven’t been upto masses this weekend.

Got back on Pod after my time off with Covid (I got back on the older sensible ones first ?). He had ended up having nearly three weeks. But he was polite enough to let me clamber on and go.

Did manage to drag mum up to do some videoing as haven’t any recent footage of him.

So here we are looking very rusty ?


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He’s come back feeling stronger and it won’t have done him any harm. It just feels like every time we get going something else gets in the way. But still. It isn’t a race and we’ll get there.

Solo went hacking yesterday and took great delight in bouncing round the countryside putting a grin on my face. There’s something about hacking a horse you trust so well. It’s just like going out with your best mate. Just what I needed.
 
Had a clinic this weekend and had mixed feelings about it. Saturday was generally productive, but Sunday really wasn't. This horse is a bit of a mental ride. I also felt like I kept getting told to shorten my reins and they already felt so short ? but on a related note I do need to ride in the double again as I think it'd be the right tool for a few things we're doing right now...I'm just lazy about it because it's more to clean. ? horse is actually quite comfortable in it though.

Still been trying to get more expression out of his gaits, and I felt a few promising moments in there. Passage might not be as bad as I think, we'll see. Hopefully horse forgives me for the stressage this weekend. He'll have a day off tomorrow. Still feel like I have a list a mile long of stuff to work on.

My hips and arthritic SI joint were not liking the very cold weather, so took me quite a while to get loosened up and sitting right. Would say it's old people problems, but I'm not that old!
 
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We too had a successful BD day today, no pics as it was too cold for the kids out of the car and I've not bought any yet. Over 63 for novice 38 - which he's never done before and isn't a fave of mine, and over 61 for the ele which I'm super pleased with. Just 3 low (but fair) marks the rest was a really consistent 6 and 6.5 sheet which I'm really happy with at that level for him. The last bit of canter just ran out of petrol but loads to like otherwise, he seems to like the quickness of ele tests.
Glad to hear our sicknotes are mostly doing well
 
Blue's blood tests came back good enough that we're now allowed to do as much walk as we want and slowly introduce some trot. Plans to do this on Saturday were scrapped by the weather. (I'm happy to hack in torrential rain, but my hacking buddies aren't. Bah!)

Today was the yard Christmas showjumping, and Blue was a little superstar in our groundpoles and tiny-crosspoles classes. She's normally quite spooky and argumentative in that school, but she walked in with a very workmanlike air, did exactly as asked, and came away with a clear round rosette (poles - difficult not to get a clear round!) and fifth place in the crosspoles. And - gasp! - she actually JUMPED one of the crosspoles! This is a horse whose usual reaction to a pole lifted off the ground is to stop dead, carefully knock it down with her front feet, then walk over it. I think she was feeling buoyed by the Christmas spirit. You've got to love a horse whose reaction to be decked out in a pound shop's worth of Christmas tat and jingly bells, complete with bobble hat bouncing by her eye, is to behave even better than normal!

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I had my fortnightly lesson away from home yesterday. It was really good. We worked on the straightness after the canter half pass. Then today I had another lesson at home and tried to mimic what we did yesterday a bit. We also had a bit of a breakthrough moment with the counter canter and we were able to go HP, half circle counter canter and then straight and into the opposite shoulder in.

it was also my dog's birthday ?

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Had an epic hack today. Our longest yet at 13k. Just to make it spicier, we had to dodge a lot of ice. Pony and I had to think about our lines. He's a footing genius, but he was having to work at foot placement. I think he must have been tired and out of mental energy, because the last 30m home entailed walking past a field with horses galloping around in the dark, then the outdoor arena, with floodlights on, and three or four people cantering around. He had a little meltdown at the outdoor, and I jumped off because it seemed easier than spinning around. Once I was off and leading him, he followed me past it. But he did the other 13k perfectly, and a lot of it was tricky. Probably not the ideal day to try that route due to the ice, but now I'm confident that it will be a doddle if we do it in sensible conditions.
 
My clinic was awful :( I apparently forgot how to ride completely and although he warmed up very nicely as soon as we got onto jumping a course he stopped at every fence. They were only small too so i'm feeling embarrassed and ashamed of myself, just felt like I wasted my instructors time (she knows me though). I'm also worried about Buzz as although he does refuse occasionally this was more than normal. I need to work out if it's my terrible riding or if it's something up with him.
Just feels like i'm 100 steps back from where I was and that i'll never get anywhere.
The only saving grace is that I loaded him myself both on the way there and back which I was very pleased about!
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Oh chippers ? it does happen sometimes and once they have an early stop or two it really dents you then it gets hard to ride positively. I hope its just that for you.
Try and do some course hires if you can where the pressure is off and you can just play a bit
 
Good luck AE and everyone else with exciting adventures.

I will (hopefully) be nursing Rigsby through his colic. Taking longer than I would like to re-start his digestion. On an exhausting round of small feeds, walking, massage, a little turnout....

Isn’t it dreadful to deal with. Fingers crossed for a smooth bounce back! Xox
 
Glad everyone is on the mend!

I messed around giving horses advent calendars ?

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The cob in the background went to his first arena eventing clinic and was very good! He has had colic surgery and when we came back from the clinic he looked very strange and we thought he had colic again, cue panicked call to the vets! The vet said he didn't appear to have colic (although examined anyway) and it seems the sand or something really irritated his legs and he was very itchy. Now after washing he seems much better. Horses eh ?
 
So sorry you had a disappointing clinic Chippers. Hope Buzz is ok. It's been a while I believe since you got out and about so maybe he was just a bit overawed by it all. You will be flying again soon.

Hope all the colicy ponies are well on the road to recovery. Awful thing to deal with.

I put on my brave pants and hacked Lottie. She was well behaved and obedient. I did not get confident vibes off her though. She was a little behind the leg on the way out and anxious to get back on the way back. I could feel her energy levels rising and became acutely aware of how much power I was sitting on as her walk got more and more springy! But luckily she held it together with the odd jog. She did start snatching at the reins a few times on the way home which I think is tension. We went out for 45 minutes and I think she will just get better and better as she builds confidence. I don;t get the impression she has done much of this.

Lovely views though

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Also had Dolly's viewing and I am on tenter-hooks waiting for the outcome. There is another buyer next in line to view who has already said that she will pay full asking price if her son likes Dolly - and why wouldn't he - "so 'don't compromise on price!' They are travelling almost 6 hours each way to view next weekend if she does not go to the current family. And they will offer a great home. She is a PC instructor and videos of the rider look fab. (I am making everyone send videos of a competitive round before they view as I have seen too many BSJA riders with AWFUL riding!). And 2 more waiting in line for a viewing date after that. So at least I have options. But I have reasons to want her to go to this particular home and I hope I can share good Dolly news with you all soon.
 
Best of luck with dolly, she seems like a very special pony so hopefully she’ll find a lovely new home. I was asked to send riding videos before I tried Bertie. Nerve wracking and I hate how I look on video, but it all worked out! Seems like a sensible idea to me and I sent vids to a few enquiries.
 
New boy off to the treadmill Sunday he absolutely loved it ? both mine were tucked up out the horrendous wheather by 5 pm and more to come over this week ?????
 

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