blood_magik
Well-Known Member
Ah, horses... They like to keep you on your toes, don't they?
New boy Blue had been here all of 8 days when I got that dreaded 'your horse has had a bit of an accident and you might want to call the vet' phone call from the yard. The big fud had spooked at something while being brought in and gotten a back leg stuck in the gate, which he then ripped off the hinges when he panicked and tried to run away.
Of course, it had just gone five o'clock so we were into emergency call-out hours/rush hour so the vet was nearly done by the time I schlepped all the way back across town. Thankfully, it appeared that the damage was relatively minor and Blue got away with only having one staple put into a puncture wound near his fetlock along with the usual week's worth of painkillers and antibiotics.
Having only ridden him four times since he'd arrived, we ended up losing pretty much the next two weeks as the vet put him on strict box rest for five days, followed by five days walking in-hand and then the same again bringing him back into work.
This was the damage, which I suppose could have been so much worse.
So, three and a bit weeks after arriving, we finally got round to having our first jump and honestly, it felt so comfortable and - most importantly - safe.
A few days later, I ditched my comfort blanket (a placing pole) and jumped a small course, and we've been slowly building things up from there.
It's nowhere near perfect yet but I've never been one to just post the 'good' stuff so here it is...
My lower leg is appalling in the first video so I ditched my spurs for a few sessions while I worked on getting Blue more in front of my leg but I think we're starting to get there now. In my lesson this morning, he was 10x more responsive and I felt like I could just sit there around the corners instead of having to really work to keep him in canter.
Having a play at home and then a clip from my lesson this morning:
[video=youtube;WxYtdXZGvkU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxYtdXZGvkU[/video]
[video=youtube;MEiH0azQEg8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEiH0azQEg8[/video]
We're still at what I like to call the 'teething' stage. There have been a few bumps in the road, most notably Blue going down in the lorry on the way to clear rounds at another local show centre. He was fine, thankfully, and luckily didn't panic when Dad got him back up but long story short, it turns out that he doesn't fit comfortably in our lorry so we've had to buy a trailer to tide us over until our new lorry is ready (spoilt creature). Other than that, it's silly little things like getting him to stand while being mounted and walking in from the field nicely as he's a little on the big side to be messing around. But on the whole, he's super sweet and easy to deal with, and I'm super excited to see what the next six months has in store for us.
Beau has been continuing with his flatwork and has come on leaps and bounds in the last few weeks. He's equally as flexible on both reins 95% of the time and is strong enough to carry himself for the majority of the session now - a lovely improvement on me having to carry that gigantic head of his.
We've almost got shoulder in cracked and are starting to play with half pass and (when my trainer is riding) a few baby steps of piaffe. I didn't think he was even capable of extended trot so I'm super pleased with how he's doing. We still have days where he frustrates me by refusing to bend or soften but they're thankfully becoming fewer and further in between.
I treated him to the Le Mieux Peacock dressage square and some gorgeous fluffy boots in the hope that looking like a dressage diva will make us up our game. I've also invested in a dressage saddle for him and Blue to share so looking forwards to that arriving in the new few weeks.
And now for the jumping...
A few weeks back we went for a lesson with a new trainer, having tentatively popped a few fences at home, and Beau was an absolute star. I, on the other hand, felt apart when asked to jump more than two fences in a row but we got there in the end and walked away feeling really confident and pleased with what we had achieved.
The following week, we headed down to one of the local show centres for a lesson with the new trainer's partner. It was, in a word, interesting...
I couldn't see a stride to save myself warming up, and then we had an unusual-for-Beau stop at a coloured filler (okay, that one was probably more my fault than his but still...).
Once we'd jumped every fence, we started to link them until we were up to a full course. Beau's halo slipped somewhat when he ducked out of the first fence at the last minute, having already jumped it several times, but when I grew a pair and put my leg on, he decided he'd better actually jump it the next time.
Then the fences went up and we did it all again (and, in my case, again since I got 4 strides along the 5 stride distance the first time):
[video=youtube;bq0QKw30Ses]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq0QKw30Ses[/video]
Giving me the eye while T poses for the camera.
And making friends with Blue.
And finally, Lenny went off to his new last week. It was fairly painless as far as selling goes - they came and tried him (and, unfortunately for me, loved him), and came back to pick him up two days after he passed the vet.
It's going to be a big change from what he's used to but I'm sure he's going to be very happy and very spoilt in his new home. Still, part of me wishes I could have kept him as he was a lovely little horse and so much fun to ride.
If all goes well with the trailer, I'm hoping to head out to a show this weekend with the two big lads. The plan is to keep things sweet since it's been a while, so fingers crossed it all goes well and I manage to give Blue a nice, positive experience.
Thanks for reading.
New boy Blue had been here all of 8 days when I got that dreaded 'your horse has had a bit of an accident and you might want to call the vet' phone call from the yard. The big fud had spooked at something while being brought in and gotten a back leg stuck in the gate, which he then ripped off the hinges when he panicked and tried to run away.
Of course, it had just gone five o'clock so we were into emergency call-out hours/rush hour so the vet was nearly done by the time I schlepped all the way back across town. Thankfully, it appeared that the damage was relatively minor and Blue got away with only having one staple put into a puncture wound near his fetlock along with the usual week's worth of painkillers and antibiotics.
Having only ridden him four times since he'd arrived, we ended up losing pretty much the next two weeks as the vet put him on strict box rest for five days, followed by five days walking in-hand and then the same again bringing him back into work.
This was the damage, which I suppose could have been so much worse.
So, three and a bit weeks after arriving, we finally got round to having our first jump and honestly, it felt so comfortable and - most importantly - safe.
A few days later, I ditched my comfort blanket (a placing pole) and jumped a small course, and we've been slowly building things up from there. It's nowhere near perfect yet but I've never been one to just post the 'good' stuff so here it is...
My lower leg is appalling in the first video so I ditched my spurs for a few sessions while I worked on getting Blue more in front of my leg but I think we're starting to get there now. In my lesson this morning, he was 10x more responsive and I felt like I could just sit there around the corners instead of having to really work to keep him in canter.
Having a play at home and then a clip from my lesson this morning:
[video=youtube;WxYtdXZGvkU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxYtdXZGvkU[/video]
[video=youtube;MEiH0azQEg8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEiH0azQEg8[/video]
We're still at what I like to call the 'teething' stage. There have been a few bumps in the road, most notably Blue going down in the lorry on the way to clear rounds at another local show centre. He was fine, thankfully, and luckily didn't panic when Dad got him back up but long story short, it turns out that he doesn't fit comfortably in our lorry so we've had to buy a trailer to tide us over until our new lorry is ready (spoilt creature). Other than that, it's silly little things like getting him to stand while being mounted and walking in from the field nicely as he's a little on the big side to be messing around. But on the whole, he's super sweet and easy to deal with, and I'm super excited to see what the next six months has in store for us.
Beau has been continuing with his flatwork and has come on leaps and bounds in the last few weeks. He's equally as flexible on both reins 95% of the time and is strong enough to carry himself for the majority of the session now - a lovely improvement on me having to carry that gigantic head of his.
We've almost got shoulder in cracked and are starting to play with half pass and (when my trainer is riding) a few baby steps of piaffe. I didn't think he was even capable of extended trot so I'm super pleased with how he's doing. We still have days where he frustrates me by refusing to bend or soften but they're thankfully becoming fewer and further in between.
I treated him to the Le Mieux Peacock dressage square and some gorgeous fluffy boots in the hope that looking like a dressage diva will make us up our game. I've also invested in a dressage saddle for him and Blue to share so looking forwards to that arriving in the new few weeks.
And now for the jumping...
A few weeks back we went for a lesson with a new trainer, having tentatively popped a few fences at home, and Beau was an absolute star. I, on the other hand, felt apart when asked to jump more than two fences in a row but we got there in the end and walked away feeling really confident and pleased with what we had achieved.
The following week, we headed down to one of the local show centres for a lesson with the new trainer's partner. It was, in a word, interesting...
I couldn't see a stride to save myself warming up, and then we had an unusual-for-Beau stop at a coloured filler (okay, that one was probably more my fault than his but still...). Once we'd jumped every fence, we started to link them until we were up to a full course. Beau's halo slipped somewhat when he ducked out of the first fence at the last minute, having already jumped it several times, but when I grew a pair and put my leg on, he decided he'd better actually jump it the next time.
Then the fences went up and we did it all again (and, in my case, again since I got 4 strides along the 5 stride distance the first time
):[video=youtube;bq0QKw30Ses]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq0QKw30Ses[/video]
Giving me the eye while T poses for the camera.
And making friends with Blue.
And finally, Lenny went off to his new last week. It was fairly painless as far as selling goes - they came and tried him (and, unfortunately for me, loved him), and came back to pick him up two days after he passed the vet.
It's going to be a big change from what he's used to but I'm sure he's going to be very happy and very spoilt in his new home. Still, part of me wishes I could have kept him as he was a lovely little horse and so much fun to ride.
If all goes well with the trailer, I'm hoping to head out to a show this weekend with the two big lads. The plan is to keep things sweet since it's been a while, so fingers crossed it all goes well and I manage to give Blue a nice, positive experience.
Thanks for reading.
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