Bones had a short holiday in October and since then he has been worked about 5 days a week; a mixture of schooling and hacking, including hill work and some lunging in a pessoa.
He is getting stronger and is beginning to use himself. He may actually be turning into a proper horse after all!
He was very poor when he first came to me and I have been trying to build up his strength and muscle tone this winter without the pressure of the competitions; he has really started to enjoy his work and is turning into a cheeky chap! He has done a dressage competition recently and we are now jumping him about once a week- soon to go XC schooling once the weather picks up.
I went to Cannock Chase to meet up with some fellow eventers and to do some fittening work on the tracks/hills through the woods about two weeks ago. We had 3 event horses in the first lot and one tiny pony who I have here for schooling, Rolo, followed by another three after a coffee and a chocolate biscuit!
We all had a good catch up and the horses worked really well. I think they liked the different location and they didn’t seem to notice the hills!
Joey has had a slightly longer holiday than Bones as he picked up a virus at the end of last season. However he is now on top form and loves showing us how he can stand on his hind legs when it is time to come in from the field in the evening-he doesn’t like to be kept waiting! He is such a lovely kind horse who really enjoys his work. He knows if you aren’t watching or concentrating when he is on the lunge because he just stops if you try to answer the phone! He is now clipped and is a few weeks behind Bones in his fittening work.
Rolo is a temporary new addition to the team. He is actually in for schooling and currently for sale, a fabulous little Irish sports 13.3hh pony who is game on for anything. He moves beautifully and loves his jumping and if he was 15.2-16hh he would definitely be staying, because I would love to event him this season! I took him and Bones to a dressage competition last week where, to my horror, he beat Bones with a score of 69.5 %! Bones better pull his socks up! Rolo has been great fun to have around over the winter and Kat (who helps me with the horses, so I can get to work at a reasonable time!) will be very sad to see him go.
I am looking forward to the season ahead and plan to compete at Somerford Park with Bones in the BE100 to begin the season. We will see how he gets on!
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