Another busy week!

New shoes!

Guinness had new shoes put on last weekend, which he was much in need of. His feet have been growing so quickly recently, and although he has flat Thoroughbred type feet, the walls are quite soft so rarely crack. After 5 weeks and 3 days I’d got a considerable amount of wear out of them and my farrier Fraser always says I get my money’s worth out my shoes as after 5 weeks they are as thin as Kit Kat wrappers!

Massage therapy

Guinness was also very spoilt to have a lovely massage from Ros last weekend. He loves his massages and it was nice to be able to take Ros out for a hack after on my old horse Donald, as a way of saying thank you for all she has done for me and Guinness.

Flatwork

He felt fabulous this week schooling (part of which was down to Ros’s magic hands) and he was really feeling more confident in the contact and it felt amazing. On Thursday we even did some lovely lateral work in trot and his mediums were supple and powerful, he really feels like a grown up horse in the arena now.

Jumping

In the week I also finally got a chance to jump the new XC fences which were recently built at the yard. They’ve made some great permanent fences from telegraph poles, tyres and big plastic tubing. Guinness didn’t look at a single fence and jumped everything first time, and never hesitated even at the skinny fences. I was chuffed.

Lesson with Sue Edwards

At 7am on Saturday morning I had a lesson with Sue and she was really pleased with how much we’ve improved the contact in the last 3 weeks since our last lesson. We worked on 3 key areas this week.

Transitions – a couple of my transitions were a little rushed or unbalanced and Sue said this was because when I go sitting, e.g. before a downwards transition from trot to walk, or upwards from trot to canter, Guinness stiffens his back and hollows so the transition is spoiled. So we worked on some sitting trot and getting the same relaxation and rhythm in sitting trot as in rising. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a lot of sitting trot and I’m sad to say I’m no where near as fit as I was when I was younger, and very quickly got a stitch!!  Once Guinness was accepting of my sitting and I was able to relax and move with him, rather than bracing against his movement, the transitions were easy.

Circles – Occasionally Guinness can drift out through the shoulder if I ask for too much bend and Sue got me to imagine a rope which marked out a 20m circle on the ground and that I was riding along it with 50% of Guinness body on either side, from his head to his tail.

Flexion – We also worked on getting the right amount of flexion on a circle and in the corners. This was fine on the right rein but on the left rein I had a bit of a mental block and kept asking for either not enough or too much. Naturally on the left rein Guinness can slightly flex to the right which means he falls onto his inside shoulder. I also have a bad habit of over using my inside leg which adds to Guinness’ confusion. Couple these 2 things with maintaining the impulsion and rhythm and remembering to not let my hands drop down and as someone who struggles to multi-task, it took me a while to get it together. However, I will practise over the next few weeks until it becomes natural. Guinness doesn’t really have any issues apart from trying to interpret all my mixed signals!!!

Sponsored Ride

On Sunday, 6 of us on the yard and my friend Vanessa were off on to do the South Oxfordshire Sponsored Ride. It was unbelievably hot for October, and we put as much water on the lorry as we could carry. I had been giving Guinness extra electrolytes for the past few days to ensure he had enough in reserve and had plenty of energy. I didn’t give him a calmer either as I didn’t really know how well he’d cope with the 12 mile ride, especially in the heat.

We set off together and Guinness having never been out hacking in a group that big, was expectedly excited. He was bouncing around and leaping and jogging at everything, and I struggled to get him to walk the first mile. Once we’d done some trotting and popped a few jumps he seemed to settle and I did my best to keep his excitement contained whilst trying to stay relaxed. We did a long trot which really helped as he settled in to a nice rhythm and I really enjoyed the rest of the ride. I took the lead for a while which gave my arms a rest as in front, Guinness wasn’t trying to pull or napping to follow the other horses and instead was striding out without any encouragement. He has such a fast walk though I had to stop a few times to let the others catch up and Guinness wasn’t overly impressed to wait.

There were some lovely jumps through the woods and then we were able to jump a couple of the bonus fences. We reached a large open trakhener which a couple of the other horses in my group had stopped at. Guinness was not inclined to canter away from the other horses and jump into another field without them and on our first attempt Guinness slowed right down so I allowed him to look at the question. Then I calmly cantered a large circle and approached the fence again, and without hesitation he popped it. I was incredibly proud as he is the baby of the group at only 5 and ended up leading the other horses over it. By the end of the ride he was still full of energy and after a row of jumps on the edge of a stubble field he even galloped up a big hill of his own accord!

It was a lovely day and there was a nice breeze to keep us cool, and we had the best part of the day as the second half of the ride, it felt like a lovely summers evening and the views were spectacular.

When we got back to the lorry Guinness was so itchy from sweat and kept trying to rub himself on anything and everything and then he broke loose when I tried to wash him down (he’s always hated being washed). So I did the best I could and he drank a bucket of water and was eager to get on the lorry and start devouring his haynet. Back at the yard he had a proper wash down, a dinner with some bran and some extra electrolytes and we ‘like iced’ his legs. The following morning he has well rested and very happy so the thorough after care obviously did the job.

Coming up…

2 weeks to go until South Bucks Riding Club Hunter Trials and after yesterday I think Guinness is more than fit enough. So over the next 2 weeks I will be continuing my flatwork training and fitting in as many hacks after work as possible before it gets too dark. I would like to clip Guinness before the Hunter trials but at the moment he hasn’t got enough hair to clip!