Jumping head first into another month

Hello lovelies! Hope you and your ponies are all doing well. It’s another new month and another new blog! The sun HAD been shining and it was beginning to feel more and more summer like all the time…. until…the snow returned! I cannot quite believe the snowfall we had just last week, but glad it seems to have just been a few days passing over. One thing I do love is the lighter evenings; they make such a difference.

I’m glad to see some competitions running again, it’s great to see people out enjoying their horses and getting back into the swing of things. We had our first outing of the year (yay!) and went off to meet one of our friends locally for a hack, Hector was super chilled and even loaded perfectly both ways! I was thoroughly impressed. This was also my first time towing from my new car, and that went well too! Having only towed from my 2 x big trucks I was a little nervous about towing from a smaller vehicle with capacity for only one horse’s weight in the trailer but I hardly felt Hector in the back, it was really steady with plenty go about it.

We have been jumping more regularly at home now and Hector is really getting his confidence up! Maybe I’m starting to build mine up too! One thing that is improving is my balance, and I’m pleased as I was feeling really self-conscious about my position over a fence and falling off if Hector was quick to dart out the side of a fence, but the good news is that hasn’t happened, and although my position still needs work, its coming! I’m not going to rush it but its good to be able to see things are heading in the right direction. We went for a cross country lesson last weekend and Hector was brilliant! We never had any refusals or run outs, and he would have liked for me to let him go a little faster! But we both had a great time, it was a good confidence building session. Then we headed out to a local showjumping Saturday past, and had two super rounds in the 50 & 60cm. I was a bit worried as I just expected little cross poles but they were all uprights and there were planks in the course too! However – strangely, Hector didn’t care and seems to have a new found confidence when we go out to new places! Its great, but does catch me off guard still as I expect him to react like he would at home and either balloon over the jump or dart out stage left!! So I was very pleased with him for his efforts, he did great.

It’s the time of the year when the grass starts sprouting through, and we all start worrying about our good-doers. Honeychop have some fantastic articles about laminitis – you can access them here : Feeding a laminitic this spring? | Honeychop We have spilt our field in half for summer and I have a muzzle ready for Hector should he need it. His weight is looking good just now, hopefully I can stay on top of it as spring/summer roll in.

My side saddle went for a check over and slight adjustment and I can’t wait to get it back and get going again, I am really looking forward to riding side saddle more often. It is one of my goals for this year to be more dedicated to side saddle, I love it and always really enjoy it, I just need to practice more! Maybe I will plan for once a week, like I do with jumping!

Remember you can follow me and the other Honeychop girls on our socials : @missgrace77 Laura – @wannabeintheribbons Georgia – @diary_of_a_dun

Until next month!

Grace & Hector x