Spring is on its way! Hip hip hooray!
Hi again,
I hope all is good in your world and you are enjoying the slightly warmer weather and the lighter nights with your 4-legged friends, it makes such a difference, just arriving to the yard in daylight never mind leaving without having to turn your phone torch on to get across the yard to the car in pitch black – even some after work hacking has been on the cards which is a great way to end the day!
First up this month I am pleased to report that Mikey’s leg that you may remember from last month that I was having trouble with is all healed – a week of antibiotics and some hibiscrub and the swelling, heat and scabs are all healed – PHEW!
I headed out for another attempt at the BD combined training earlier this month, and whilst our dressage test wasn’t our best attempt the jumping part of the outing was really great, Mikey felt the best he has over a course, confident and forward and we even managed to get the one stride in between the double that a few months ago we might have snuck in two at – we ended up 5th despite the disappointing dressage score so a good outing.
BD Combined Training
The famous RAF Halton sponsored ride is hugely popular event in our area and this year tickets sold out in just a few hours, but we were lucky enough to get a place and we had a great time, there is a huge variety of fences and we even managed to jump a few of the scary bigger options, I am playing with bits for Mikey at the moment and didn’t have our usual jumping bit in, unusually he was super strong and there were a couple of “OMG” moments when he took off towards some of the fences just a little too fast for my comfort zone, but having worked on improving his confidence I wasn’t going to stop his new found enthusiasm – it was our first time over XC fences since the other side of the winter and some great schooling opportunities ahead of our first XC run in a few weeks time. My niece also took her new pony out and she was super – for the kid who was jumping cross poles just a few weeks ago to make her way over the plane which is probably about 90cm and pretty wide was a huge achievement.
The tiger trap fence!
Splashing through the water
We also popped to a local course hire venue to practise getting in to a rhythm jumping a course of fences, my friend Candice and niece Amy came and helped me for the session, a bit of encouragement from the ground is always really useful although they both insisted on pushing me way past my comfort zone, the fences just seemed to keep increasing in height, but the session was a great success and I felt hugely proud as we made a big scary wall look easy!
Check out the videos by clicking on the links below:
Making light work of the double
If you cant get Honeychop where you are you might be interested to know that TC Feeds and Tack Haven in Kensworth have just started to stock the full Honeychop range, the team have all had their training so know all there is to know about the different products in the range and can help you pick the best Honeychop product for your horse, why not talk to them next time you pop in?
TC Feeds and Tack Haven now stock all the Honeychop range
TC Feeds and Tack Haven based in Kensworth
April is a really busy month with lots of shows and clinics in the diary, we are going to be trying our first BD novice test, have our first XC run of the season booked in and a SJ outing planned for over the Easter break.
Whatever you have planned for your Easter Holidays I hope you get lots of Easter Eggs, and can enjoy a few days off work to spend time with your family, friends and 4-legged beasts!
Until next month
Laura and Mikey x
