Hacking in the snow!
On Saturday morning there was still snow everywhere and it was all getting a bit frustrating. The boys were going out in the field everyday but I was desperate to ride. Guinness has little, fairly flat thoroughbred feet and I noticed when walking him through the snow he didn’t really suffer with snow balling up in his shoes or get ‘snow stilts’. Our yard is only a 10 metres walk down a quiet country lane to direct access into acres of woodland. The woodland was still full of thick snow and so I decided to brave it!!
I tacked Guinness up (including 2 exercise sheets and loads of florescent gear) and walked him in hand down the lane. Once in the woods, the snow was surprisingly deep and not slippery at all. I mounted at the entrance to the woods and Guinness marched on. It was so beautiful I can’t describe it. It was deadly silent apart from the crunching of hooves in the snow. Guinness was completely unfazed by hacking out on the ‘white stuff’ and didn’t put a foot wrong. When we got to the track where we usually trot, Guinness automatically started trotting. I’d been poodling along, holding the buckle of the reins, looking at all the different animal footprints in the snow so could do nothing immediately to stop him. He wasn’t slipping or unsteady at all so we carried on trotting up the track and even did a few strides of canter before walking back towards home. It was brilliant!!!!
Jumping practise
By Sunday much of the snow on the lane had started to melt. Joules (riding Big) and I hired out Waylands indoor school for an hour to do some jumping, and Martina and Dawn came along to help put up the jumps and film.
We began with canter poles and bounces and progressed onto doubles. They have some brightly coloured fillers and a water tray, all of which Guinness took in his stride. It was really fun to jump again and I think Guinness enjoyed it too. After about 40 minutes Guinness was quite tired but I was very pleased with him.
Half Term Trip
In half term week, Dave, Joshua and I had 3 nights away in Disneyland Paris (Joshua’s 8th birthday present). It was exhausting but I have some great memories to keep, most vividly, Joshua doing his first ‘loop the loop’ on the Aerosmith Rock n’ Roll rollercoaster (and then 3 more times before we came home!!) and meeting ‘Sully’ from Monsters Inc!
Chloe babysits Guinness
Whilst I was away, Chloe was in charge of looking after and exercising Guinness. On the Saturday I had booked a lesson for her with my trainer Sue Edwards. If Chloe is going to start riding Guinness more it’s important we both ask in the same ways and are working on the same principles. Chloe said she was very nervous as it was windy and rainy and she was worried Guinness might be ‘light footed’. Guinness was excellent though and Chloe thoroughly enjoyed it. She realised how tense she rides in her back and her thighs and also how to engage Guinness with her body instead of her legs. She gained a lot of confidence from her lesson and hopefully she will start riding him a little each week. She’s already said she’d like another lesson in 3 weeks when Sue next comes.
Back to work...
When I got back from Disneyland, despite being exhausted, I was eager to ride again. On the Monday evening, I couldn’t wait to finish work so I could see Guinness and he seemed pleased to see me. I gave him a thorough groom before I rode. We stuck to the basics and worked on relaxation and softness over the back. Guinness was a little hesitant to take the contact down and forward at first, but gradually he took the contact more and more and produced some lovely work by the end.
Tuesday I lunged Guinness for 25 minutes, mostly trot and canter work, with walk breaks interspersed. Despite his brief break after his hospital trip and then with the snow, even after a few laps at speed (and a few bucks) he wasn’t even breathing more heavily than normal, so this is an encouraging sign he hasn’t lost much fitness.
Wednesday I woke up several times before my alarm went off at 5.10am (I know- I’m crazy!), as I was excited to have my first ‘early morning’ hack before work of the year. It’s now light enough at 6.45am to fit a 45 minute hack round the woods. Guinness was full of beans and we trotted and cantered through the woods. I wasn’t alone as the woods was a hive of activity for the local wildlife; a fox trotted across my path, a couple of munkjack deer darted through the thicket next to me and lots of squirrels were busy darting up and down trees all over the place. We really are extremely lucky to have such a wonderful woodland with such excellent bridle paths right on our doorstep!
This weekend I’m going to go to the Hodgemoor Riding Association Dressage competition at Waylands and if this goes well the aim is to finally do our first British Dressage competition at Windmill in March – finger crossed!
No comments:
Post a Comment