I have been avoiding you bloggy

Little Bill

I think I hate this time of year, I really do- in a purely horse sense of course, I quite enjoy the whole hot fire cup of hot chocolate aspect-. Blerk! Nothing gets done really. you have plenty of time to dream up grandiose plans but no way of implementing them. I find dreams quite frustrating when I can't do much about working towards them. I need to start travelling Billo out to arenas to work her on a good surface but Truckie is getting a new ramp put on at the moment so we are grounded.

Talking of Billo, I have run into a real impasse with that horse. Because now it's time to work and she doesn't think thats a good Idea. She is an odd mix of sensitive and hot but very lazy. So she hates the leg and resents it but really doesn't want to listen to it. I'm spending so much time cruising the farm laneways at the moment because the paddocks are too wet. She has been really really laid back about this, but recently has gotten quite spooky. I nearly went over her shoulder not that long ago. Thankfully, the fence pulled her up before she could finish her spin. It just feels like we aren't making much progress. I'm mostly working on straightness, outside contact and going forward so it's basic stuff, but possibly my expectations are too high. She has given me some amazing rides, so I guess a rough patch was inevitable especially as the work level escalates and she gets a bit muscle sore. The cooler weather doesn't help with the spookiness. Still I'll keep chipping away and stay consistent and I'm sure we will start progressing again.

I worry about Kate as well, even though she seems to be a content woolly winter bear. I'm worried I'm not going to be able to afford her joint injections for next season and then what do I do? What do you do with a 12yr old lame horse? I do plan to breed her at some stage but if I can't afford some injections, I can't afford a foal. Especially as I hope to be running three horses all next season. I love riding Kate because she is such a dude and it's good for me to ride something hot and sensitive and likes the deeper spot.

On a less dismal note, Rascal had her third and fourth hunts last week. We didn't jump at the third hunt because there was nothing I felt brave enough to jump, but we enjoyed some phenomenal country to ride over and some really good gallops. We did spend a lot of the time just cruising at the back because both my friend and my horses needed to chill out a little bit. Even Rascal chucked in a few bucks, while my mates horse was a bit off of his face. I have changed her bit to a waterford snaffle and she is awesome in it, because she doesn't lean on it at all or argue with it, but I do need to remember to have a smoother hand to the fences. Still I gave myself a fright after watching a horse flip himself after getting his legs caught between the wires- horse and rider were fine, but that scared me.

Hunt four was nearly a miss because the weather was really awful but after about 15mins hiding under some trees the sun came out and apart from greasy conditions, the hunting was quite good. The wind did blow the scent around a bit but we still had plenty of running. It had been so long since I jumped Rascal so I was a bit afraid, bat eventually we came across a small lowered wire and I went for it. She didn't really lock onto it and she clobbered it, but she was very clean after that. When you hit wire it really sounds worse than it is. After we had done a few, she started to run me a bit deep, so I got some nice jumps by holding her off of the fence a bit. She is so much better over the fences on a run, but if we have done some walking switches off pretty well. Gave myself another fright after she hit another taller one that I was scared of, but it was my fault because I interfered too much. Jumped some decent size lowered wires, which was very brave for me, and she was in her happy place, her ears are forward all hunt. She did get tired and once they start to run on adrenaline alone they get a bit loopy so at three hours once we got to a huge uphill fence, with Rascal acting up, I called it a day and went in. Overall though it was a very very good hunt for her. Joint hunt this Wednesday and I hope to hunt closer to the front, get her seen and then hopefully get her sold.