The last few weeks have seen the arrival of Autumn and the
change in weather. The leaves are
falling and the weather is a bit colder.
Rugs are a must for Chesney and Basil and it is dark in the morning and
the evening. Good news is that I have
starting doing some work with Basil again :)
My October Aims:
- Lunge again, lots.
- Ride if possible, this will depend when he can have a bit in his mouth again (achieved on 1st Nov).
Basil is a lot better and happier now he is working a bit
again. I feel happier again too now that
we can get back on track. The winter
weather will of course make this a bit more tricky but I hope we can use the
next few weeks to get going again so that we can continue our progress with a
vengeance in the Spring.
Tommy is totally part of the family now, he knows the
routine really well and seems to appreciate having a constant, settled and
regular life. In the evening he
recognises my car and starts to the gate when I arrive, sometimes even before
Chesney! He makes me laugh how he waits
with his head over his door for his evening apple treats. Putting his headcollar on and taking it off
are no problem at all now and as well as moving back when I ask he also moves
over easily. He is an absolute star x
This is what October looked like:
1st - Farrier visit
and Tommy had all 4 feet trimmed! The
farrier didn't use the tripod again but I was so pleased with Tommy. He was really brave and picked up all of his
feet really well. We also had our first
visit from the Blue Cross to check up on Tommy.
This was a good day for her to come because the horses were still in their
stables. Any other day and she would not
have been able to meet him! This is
because he is still a bit wary in the field and as he doesn't wear a headcollar
I can't always get close to him! I think
she was pleased with him, obviously he has put on a bit of weight but I wanted
him to settle and make friends rather than separate him to limit his
grass. She took photos of him from all
angles and measured his tummy. Although
she had not met him before to know how nervous he was I think she could see how
well he has settled in :)
3rd - First lunging session for Basil. I didn't want this to be long or too hard as
he has not been ridden since early August.
Obviously, lunging is not really the first thing you do when a horse has
been off, it is better to hack in walk. Basil,
though, needs a couple more weeks before I try a bit in his mouth and I knew
what hel would be like the first time he worked again ... and I was right. Basil was loopy, he basically galloped up and
down, not much of it was on a circle as I could not hold him. He LOVED it.
We did manage a couple of circles in walk on both reins. About 10 minutes.
4th - Lunged again.
Much better today, mostly walk with a little trot on each rein, 10 mins.
9th - vet visit to check on Basil's hole. AMAZING, new tissue is now pink, just a tiny
dip where the tooth was. Fingers crossed
that the other tooth will be fine. No
more antibiotics or painkillers, what a relief, no more syringing them into his
mouth. Can now eat normally, so they can
come in at night and he can have his normal alfalfa feed :)
17th - lunged, 10 minutes.
Same mostly walk, little trot, 10 mins.
18th - lunged, 10 minutes, again mostly walk, little trot,
10 mins.
24th - more lunging, 12 ish minutes. Bit silly today, bit of a bomb around and
buck on end of line, but stayed on lunge circle. Settled, still mostly walk.
25th - lunging again and he was again a bit silly although
better than yesterday.
30th - Clipped Basil.
Tommy watched through his grill and got used to the noise!
As we are almost starting again I have had a look back at my
aims for earlier in the year and modified them a bit.
My November aims for Basil are:
- Calmness
- Rhythm
- Suppleness
- Consistency of bend on left rein
- Halt transitions
- Walk
- Trotting
- Circles, serpentines and changes of rein.
Horse Life and Love. Please check it out and SUBSCRIBE.
You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram for updates on Chesney, Basil, Tommy and Daisy.
Until next time!
Jo
No comments:
Post a Comment