So the snow has stopped play, and the horses are pretty much confined to barracks. Dustry DOES NOT like limited turn out, and so to let him stretch his legs today for a bit, I turned him out in the arena whilst I sorted his box ready for the evening. Here is a video just to show how exciting he finds snow, he loves it so much he just has to shove his face right into it! snow facial! After letting him blow off some steam, I gave him a good grooming all over, then tucked him up for the…
After a VERY cold grid work lesson yesterday I was really not relishing the prospect of a Sunday morning 6am start in order to take D to his first ever show jumping competition, so it was with many layers of clothing, and a glove box full of ‘lorry snacks’ that D and I set off for West Wilts Equestrian Centre’s mini unaffiliated show jumping. Driving through the early morning darkness I consoled myself with a snickers and radio 4 for company as I had not managed to persuade a single soul to accompany me, I wonder why? was it the…
So I thought it was about time I did a little update on how Dustry has been getting on with his Atlanta Gumbits, his ‘secret weapon’. I started using these treats back in June 2012 (click here to read the original blog) because he had developed a habit of scrunching his bit in time with his movement! As much as this shows he has an obvious musical flair, it doesn’t bode well during a dressage test when this sort of thing will be marked down, and penalised as ‘tension’. His teeth and mouth are all in tip top order but for some…
As a habitual thoroughbred (in particular ex-racehorse) owner I am fairly used to dealing with highly strung or excitable horses (glutton for punishment!) Once they leave racing and begin life as a ‘normal horse’ I find that the majority of residue ‘racing anxiety’ ebbs away with time as each horse settles into a new routine and a less hectic lifestyle. I know that the popularity of taking on and re-schooling ex-racers has really taken off in the last few years as people have begun to realise what fantastic, and versatile competition horses then can be re-trained into, so I thought I would share some of the extra…
Today after weeks of plans getting rained off, we went for a long overdue lesson! Dustry had helpfully thrown himself into the wettest muddiest part of his field just seconds before I arrived to get him ready. With only 30 mins to spare and him looking like ‘the creature from the mud lagoon’ I resorted to hosing his legs off and brushing the worst off his head, but it definitely wasn’t our most polished turn out! For once the weather was glorious, still, bright, and not too cold. We worked on bringing his shoulders more ‘up’ in the trot so that he can load…