I can't believe it is December, 3 weeks until the shortest
day and 4 until Christmas! Yippee. I love Christmas, lots of days off to ride -
if the weather behaves.
November has been a good month though as Basil and I are
getting going again :) I have managed to ride a few times. Unfortunately, getting him fit when you can
only ride twice a week is tricky and that is when it isn't pouring with rain or
blowing a hurricane. However, just doing
something is good and in the New Year things should get better.
Basil has been feeling very un-photogenic this month and
absolutely won't stand still for me to take a photo. So, I have had to find some old ones!
My November aims for Basil were:
- Calmness
- Rhythm
- Suppleness
- Consistency of bend on left rein
- Halt transitions
- Walk
- Trotting
- Circles, serpentines and changes of rein.
This is what November looked like:
1st - Rode Basil!!!!!!!
In school just for 20 minutes in walk.
We had a tiny trot on each rein but mostly concentrated on some big
circles. He was so good considering this
is the first time I have ridden since 4th August. Good news that his mouth does not seem to be
bothering him at all.
6th - Teeth checking day and annual vaccinations. As usual Chesney was sedated to have his
teeth done. This is the one thing he is
really difficult for and always has been.
Having a bit of sedative means it is much less stressful for him and
takes about a quarter of the time it would if he was fully awake. Basil is fine for his teeth and we had a
check of his 'hole' too. Not much left
to see now though :) Tommy also had a
bit of sedative to make it less stressful for him. He was really good though and did not seem
worried at all. Similarly they were all
good for their vaccinations.
8th - Rode in school again.
20 minutes of mostly walk but with a little trot on each rein. Circles and a couple of 3 loop serpentines.
12th - Farrier day.
Tommy was a bit stressed today. I
am not sure what about but it did make him a bit more tricky for the
farrier. However, with a lot of patience,
from my wonderful farrier, he had all 4 feet trimmed again.
16th - Rode in school, just over 20 minutes. Really good today, felt more keen again which
is great. We did some 4 loop serpentines
as well as 3 today and had a couple of little trots on each rein.
22nd - Bit icy today but managed a little ride in the
arena. Stuck to the track as that was
level and the least icy. Basil felt keen
again today but we mostly stuck to walk as I didn't want to strain anything.
28th - Schooled for 25 minutes today. We are still not doing any serious work, I am not trying to get Basil in a contact or
anything. I am looking for forward and straight
with the correct bend on the corners and circles - nothing more. He is not very fit anymore:( I did introduce a bit of leg yield in walk to
add some variety and was so pleased that he remembered this too.
29th - Lunged absolute lunatic. Just as he was the first day I tried to lunge
him after his break, he just galloped up and down for 5 minutes. We managed to finish with a few minutes of
sensible work on each rein though.
December will
be a bit of a continuation of November, with real progress plans in place for
January 2016.
My December
aims for Basil are:
- Calmness
- Rhythm
- Suppleness
- Consistency of bend on left rein
- Halt transitions
- Walk
- Trotting
- Circles, serpentines and changes of rein.
There is one
other bit of quite exciting news (for me anyway), it is that Chesney's appetite for hay seems to be
increasing a bit :) He is eating more
again each night than he was last year.
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Until next time!
Jo
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