Now HAIL!
Oh for crying out loud what is happening to the WEATHER! Today we had driving wind and rain this morning, turning to hail by twelve o'clock. I couldn't be fagged riding indoors AGAIN, so Tia and Tetley have had the day off and I had breakfast at Tescos and lunch with Tam, Emma and Linda. Great company guys, thanks!
Tia is well after yesterday. Walking well. Got four very warm feet, but that is normal at this stage of shoeless as long as they are all the same. All it means is that the road pounding yesterday has brought a good blood supply to her feet to grow them good and strong to cope with more road work. I've found with the other four horses I've done, that banging on the road makes them create much stronger feet and I'm a big fan of roadwork. Tia is a prime example of why it's so good - from the very start she was sound on stones, but her lamina attachment was too weak to trot her on the road. With progressively more concussive work, that's changed so she now has an all-round capability.
Tetley is sound in walk. Almost sound on one diagonal trotting and lame on the other but not desperate. I put him on long lines - with a great deal of difficulty - he's never had them on before - I broke him by putting a saddle on him and sitting on it!!! But he won't let me walk behind him in his blind spot and I need to do that to see his hips. He just keeps turning circles so he can see me, and if I run to get straight behind him, we just end up in a tiny circle going faster and faster. It must look quite funny if you're watching!
So - on long lines I got him to walk on in front of me and his inside hip was dropping a little bit. I was disappointed. Then I turned him around and he did exactly the same on the other rein. So he's even-sided and that's fine. It is taking longer to get through his unsoundness this time, but it is the same pattern as the last two times, so I am reasonably happy with him. In himself he is gorgeously cute and cuddly right now! And looking fantastically mature and a "real" horse this year, now he's ten.
If the forecast is correct for a dry day tomorrow, and the course is open, Tia and I are going cross country schooling for some fun. I doubt if she needs it to compete next week, but we both need it to remind ourselves that life is not all about schoolwork!
C.
posted by cptrayes @ 8:48 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
all horse things around here for this weekend have been cancelled unless indoors. It is just too wet to get vehicles on the ground.
I think we have had enough rain for now, thank you.
Our show will be outdoors, mostly, with 5 rings going all day. The "mostly" is because I'm pretty sure Tucker's first class of the day will be in the indoor ring at the New Jersey Horse Park. (First time he'll go in there. That should be interesting....)
The weather forecast is for off and on showers...thundershowers. One boomer/crasher went through the Park last year and they did end up cancelling classes, not because of the wet but because of the lightning. Once the fog was so bad, the judges couldn't see the exercises at the far end of the arena.
We have been off and on lucky with the weather otherwise. There was a long drought, then rain and now things seem to have settled to a more normal pattern. It does make life easier. I feel sorry for you guys. Nearly every post I see from Britain is complaining about the rain. Yuck!
I trained both my youngsters on the long lines first. Steering, stopping and all those issues were total non-issues once they were under saddle. The girl who rode Toby (now the middle guy) for me when he was still green kept saying he was already trained when she got on.
If you work really close to Tetley at first and from the side as if you are just working the regular reins from the ground you can gradually slip further back and work your way behind him. He is a bright boy from the sound of it, and long lining is a great way to work him without adding the extra stress of weight on his back.
He's a bright boy all right Jean - he was long reining perfectly within two minutes from right behind him :-)
C
Hmm I seem to be the only person in the UK on a yard with not water-logged fields, a perfectly dry arena and a rideable farm ride....and guess what? My horse is on box rest! Sod's law isn't it?!!!!
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