dumdedumdedum

11 October 2018

Well I can’t tell you how nice it is to have everyone home where they belong, and especially good to be riding my girls again. The cheeky little Bomber is home looking like she made full use of the all inclusive buffet on her year out. Next door is her bestie; a pregnant Ehren (yahoo!). She has been scanned in foal to Furst Toto (Furstenball / Totilas / Londonderry) and has also had the all clear to return to work as her suspensory has healed. She won’t be doing much, and certainly nothing stressful, but some gentle work to keep her moving and help strengthen her leg properly until she tells me that she’s had enough. Saying that she came back into the school like something from a wild west movie. Serious brave pants were required and a leap of faith to actually get onboard! I have also started some groundwork with Bombie to see if I can help her trust the human world a bit more as she is generally frightened of her own shadow. Quite how successful this will be for her bravery I don’t know but I’ve tentatively suggested we might do some winter dressage in the place of Ehren who I’m guessing will be on the sofa in her dressing gown eating gerkins straight from the jar. Rodney has been such a good boy. Where to start? He’s jumped his first weeny fences, worn his first rugs, had his first shoes, and even had his first trip out on the lorry. With only four or so jump sessions at home we took him down the road to go up and down hills and pop some logs. He was an absolute star and we have seen lots of benefits back in the school already. One of the reasons that we have gathered a few horses over the years (ahem) is because I love having youngsters. They are so rewarding! The giant dufus is gathering a little fan club #dumdedumdedum Millie is back in full work and after a XC schooling session at Lodge Farm to assess how she was feeling after her enforced summer holiday she has been to Keysoe, Little Downham and Tweseldown BE90s. We are delighted with how she has performed as she looks so much more robust now at this level. Her dressage has been rather tense but she has really jumped well, especially XC which appears to be her strength. She is now off to Horseheath to finish the season. Fingers crossed Lily seems a lot happier on her feet and has been XC schooled a few times. The biggest problem we have now is her know-it-all gingerness. We are never going to tame her but even having a say is proving elusive! So good that she is feeling better though. We will see what a winter of training brings…. Clients have had a great year. I love seeing how everyone progresses and it’s always great to see the ones that put in so much effort and work being rewarded. We’ve been blessed with good BE results, BS results and fingers crossed we are hoping that Heather and Okie may have qualified for the BD Winter Nationals at Hartpury with a great result in the Festival Semi-Final at Codham Park. It’s also fantastic to see Mark’s Harvey back out after eight months in sick-bay, and Debbie and Jazz’s first outing in three years; both riders straight into the 70%. Back in the game! As always there is lots on, perhaps including an indoor dressage outing with BomBoms. Her last was three years ago. She got to X on the centre line, reared, spun and legged it back to the warm-up. I’ll let you know!