clipped

it was a lovely day for it - over 16 degrees and no breeze to speak of, perfect day for clipping and we reckon the boy's much happier for it.

I know, i should have taken a photo!!! sorry..

anyway, G did the clipping (she likes doing that) whilst i sorted out the rug trunk.  good jobs jobbed...

farrier today

he was pleased. he had a look at the abscess as well of course; we're to just dry wrap from now on, and keep it wrapped for 7 days and then keep it well sprayed with the blue spray stuff.

we're planning on clipping Friday as it is supposed to be warm and we're both off work....

amazing

the poultice stayed on and was totally uncompromised after turnout today (amazing as he went out full speed ahead! the night in did the foot good even if it did nothing for his frame of mind, lol)

in overnight again - after i'd found him in the dark in a wet field! had to put fleece on, he was wet and its going to chill right down tonight.  G came with me to help wrestle with poultice in the dark, but we didnt' need to as I say, and the rest of the week we can deal with it in daylight...

an abscess

near hind.

had to get the vet as we couldn't see it and in fact thought it wasn't - he said we'd not have found it, it was really high up ...

:-(

unhappy boy

at being in.

he was so unhappy he trashed the stable and broke a cupboard he has never once touched in the nearly 4 years i've had him.

ah well...

I went down this afternoon with G - she's got flu (well, starting to recover from it) but we thought the better plan was if i do the heavy work and she just take him out for some grass.

they can go out again in the morning, thank goodness.

It has been blowing a hooly today - possibly not quite as bad as the other day, but not a lot in it, but at least it was a good drying day for my towels out on the rotary airer, washed this morning, bone dry this evening.

and the clocks went back last night, so dark nights now until march; mornings will be a bit lighter until about november or so....

oh, and by the way, it was the baby's cries that did my head in a bit - felt as though it was drilling into my head. i guess that's the normal reaction when a baby cries!

distractions

of an unusual nature - a crying baby.

someone came to do some ponies which are stabled in sight of the arena; owner normally parks where you can see the car, this car was out of site and all we could tell was that there was a random crying baby out of site - i knew where it had to be but it was somewhat disconcerting and didn't want to be consoled!  mother was doing the ponies and father consoling baby.  settled for a while, and then was brought into view so at least M could see where the noise was coming from.

i was able to work him through that, and various other distractions (other horses going out for in hand walks, they're all confined to barracks for 48 hours for worming weekend, horses and ponies whinnying to each other which required a whinny reply of course, and so on..) and he kept trying to get out of it because he was having to work.

i kept him going and got some nice walk and some reaching for the contact and didn't block him (he did that for himself when distracted by whatever it was) .. and was able to stop him twisting his head to avoid the contact and got it back properly ....but eventually gave up as the noises off were going through me, if you see what i mean....i couldn't concentrate as well as i wanted.

still, normally i dont ride at all worming weekend as he isn't is normal calm self, so i was pleased i did get on.

oh but his bed... all over the place.

putting it into practice

for the first time for ages, i was able to ride the night after a lesson - the last few times either the weather has been adverse, or i was on holiday..

so i could actually feel an improvement and we were getting somewhere, i got a good walk - didn't make it to trot, someone else came in to lunge hers and i didn't quite have enough of our small arena, so just worked on the walk in the circle at the top end...the light wasn't perfect either to ensure each person's circle was within their own half so to speak....

but i was pleased.

stil here - and another lesson

i think i am improving; RI thinks my legs are now much more under control, now we need to work on my hands more

so that's what we were doing, first on the lunge again, and then not

he was moving - but as i said, it would be good to have a video set up when RI is not there (and so he can't see anyone operating it) as RI is so hi energy in herself that always helps!  but she did say at the end that i'd been doing it myself; i'm not so sure...

all i can do is just keep working on it and eventually get back to where i once was (since of course, i uased to be able to ride much better than i can at the moment...)

but we had good walk, excellent trot, i was working on half halts WITHOUT rein aids (and of course we're all taught the rein aid for that, not the seat aid!) and he was working in to the ocntact and more off the leg and seat.

i'm to work on keeping the contact light and him to work to it and lots of half halts and shoulder fore ...

hopefully we'll make more progress than i feel as though i have...

a north westerly....

bringing winter with it... well, not really yet, but it certainly feels like it, my office always has a draft (can't work out where from, but think it's the vent in the window combined with being on a corner) and i always get cold there on a windy day .... so double layered at the yard, and didn't do a huge lot. 5 minutes lunge. starting to rain now, and will rain until wednesday, apparently!  but the boy is happy with loads of grass now (for now, at any rate!)

Lovely unexpected hack

With another livery whose own plan for the day had not originally involved a ride.  Only thing that spoilt it and then not by much was the idiots driving too fast. But the boys behaved.  New field tonight so we're back to overnight turnout for couple of weeks

thursday and friday were washouts (literally).  thursday it was raining.  friday it wasn't raining when i got him in but it had clearly not been long since he had rolled, as the mud on his face and neck was that damp consistency that is impossible to get off short of a bath.... and then it started raining again!

shoe is back on

but he had to stand in thick end of 24 hours, and was very unimpressed. went off up the field at full pelt, gaynor said, so we decided to leave him out tonight.  he'll be keen to be back in tomorrow though.

more shoe trouble

the right front is currently held on with one nail!  i so he has to stay in until farrier can come fix it, either tomorrow morning or thursday for definite.  oddly, i couldn't see it until AFTER i'd hosed the base of his feet out (something we like to do to keep on top of the crap that gets in them, specially sharing with sheep!) and i didn't do that until after i tacked up

if it's not one thing its another!

yesterday and today

yesterday was going to go in the arena but someone was having a lesson, so tried to go out... only go so far, but M stopped on the back drive because he could hear the lesson (that's the only thing that makes sense...) so he got led on....

so today 40 minutes in the arena working on my position and towards getting the feel of what i should be getting... then decided rather than stop, i'd go out, if not for long, decided to try and go up the side of the drive (after persuading him that no we weren't finished!) and set off in trot, he had decided he was keen by this point - then half way up he came to a halt, couldn't work out why at all but then realised someone was coming down from ahead....

what's he about?

never mind, i got a good old session and could tell from the feel in the top of my thighs it had been good for me, LOL

first frost

was just what i needed after M's first night in. Hadn't realised, so pleased i'd put my winter boots on anyway, and hunting hte winter gloves when i got to the yard!

had a nice ride this evening; planned the arena, but someone had left some empty large white fertiliser bags scattered along the fenceline, so rode back round, collected my hit air vest from where i'd left it on the stable door, and put it on whilst riding off out the other way.

he went along the back drive without more than 2 seconds of argument, which made a pleasant change, wasn't phased at all by Dido, YO's JRT, rabbiting all around him (including chasing rabbits towards us at a rate of knots) and the only thing that stopped him was his own nosiness - two riders were coming down towards us from the field on our left, and he absolutely would not do anything but investigate them.  very odd.  so we rode back in parallel with them (i knew them, and he knew one of the horses, perhaps that was it?)

in overnight

warm enough to stay out, but there's absolutely nothing left on the field to give them enough... so he's in.  hopefully he stayed calm and carried on eating, he was hungry enough.

i did 15 minutes in hand work and that was all .. didn't really feel it fair to do a huge amount when he's not been getting really enough.