On Saturday I decided that it was time to ride T for the first time since his injury, which has kept him out of action for almost six months now. The trot work in hand is building up nicely and there's less evidence of the very slight unlevelness we saw after he came back from stud, so I'm feeling confident that we can continue building him up slowly. Besides, if he keeps himself sound out in the field 24/7 throwing shapes for the mares the I'm pretty sure he is doing ok. Spent about 10-15 minutes riding, looking for stretching and relaxing over the back and a few steps of SI. Well, I’m not sure there was much in the way of relaxation; plenty of energy bubbling up though contained, he did feel like an unexploded bomb with a tendency to curl up in front, but then it was his first ride in ages. Amazing to be back in the saddle again and I am looking forward to developing the relaxation levels with him as the work progresses. We've also recommenced the Rachen-Schoenich (or however you spell it) straightening work which is helping him hugely, as I found during my second ride tonight which found him much more relaxed and apt to stretch to the contact. He's enjoying being back in work and is back to his calm and mannered self with a liitle routine to intersperse the Wild Man of Kent lifestyle he's been living.
I might add at this juncture that updating one's blog with laptop held in crook of an arm while typing one-handed on account of the presence of a cat on one's lap can best be described as "sub-optimal". Isn't it Slim.
In other news, the farrier came on Friday and the girls were done in the field. Gualter stood for his second ever trim completely at liberty - at the tender age of 3.5 months old. How cool is that? Golfinho had his first look over from Robin and lifted his legs very politely (again at liberty) but hasn't had a trim yet. The next thing for them will be the vet visit to do the forms, take the DNA sample and microchip them so that they can get their passports. As for the girls, Alfama was an old hand but Xacra had the wind up her tail and was very antsy about her back feet – I suspected this might happen as she relies on me very heavily mentally and I kind of knew she doesn’t yet have that relationship with Knickers that allows her to lean on her quite so much in times of need. She oscillates a bit with her back feet and recently we had a couple of moments of concern as little Nom would come and nibble my head while I was doing a hind foot so I ended up fending him off while doing her feet and it got a bit much for her, shaking her fragile confidence and meaning that we've had to regroup a bit. We’ve taken to leaving the three of them in the corral while we do her feet in the field, which is fine until little Nom starts throwing shapes along the fence and winding everyone up :) How he fits all that personality in such a little body defeats me.
I might add at this juncture that updating one's blog with laptop held in crook of an arm while typing one-handed on account of the presence of a cat on one's lap can best be described as "sub-optimal". Isn't it Slim.
In other news, the farrier came on Friday and the girls were done in the field. Gualter stood for his second ever trim completely at liberty - at the tender age of 3.5 months old. How cool is that? Golfinho had his first look over from Robin and lifted his legs very politely (again at liberty) but hasn't had a trim yet. The next thing for them will be the vet visit to do the forms, take the DNA sample and microchip them so that they can get their passports. As for the girls, Alfama was an old hand but Xacra had the wind up her tail and was very antsy about her back feet – I suspected this might happen as she relies on me very heavily mentally and I kind of knew she doesn’t yet have that relationship with Knickers that allows her to lean on her quite so much in times of need. She oscillates a bit with her back feet and recently we had a couple of moments of concern as little Nom would come and nibble my head while I was doing a hind foot so I ended up fending him off while doing her feet and it got a bit much for her, shaking her fragile confidence and meaning that we've had to regroup a bit. We’ve taken to leaving the three of them in the corral while we do her feet in the field, which is fine until little Nom starts throwing shapes along the fence and winding everyone up :) How he fits all that personality in such a little body defeats me.
On Friday evening I had a lesson with Mandy, first time since being back from Portugal. We did a fair bit of lateral work based around the milling exercise, moving into shoulder in while keeping the collect afforded by the milling, and working that into a stretch, looking for mouthing of the bit, which we got on the left rein but not the right. We then worked on transitions within the trot, using school shapes to assist but always looking to keep the throughness. We finished off with some canter work to maintain straightness and impulsion.
On Saturday it was Noodle's turn to have a lesson on Q, so I rode him first to make sure he was settled and ready. He was a bit skittish and spooky, deciding that the floating heads of Mandy and Knickers outside the school were quite scary so we had a good canter to settle him and from then on he was fine. Noodle spent the first ten minutes off the lunge doing some basic turning work, with Q very politely ignoring little Nom who was taking an interest along the fence. What a good lad. Noodle has a lot of trust in Q as well which helps her confidence hugely and she knows she doesn’t have to worry about him. I think this is really remarkable in all sorts of ways and is a testament both to that marvellous Luso temperament and Noodle's level of comfort in working with him. Afterwards back on the lunge to work on her rising trot and I must say she has come on in leaps and bounds, so very pleased with how she did.
On Sunday we found ourselves going to look at a dog that needed a new home, against my better judgement. I know I know, but I blame Sid and Noodle. I’ve decided not to let the two of them out on their own again as this is the second time this has happened. The story was that a couple were looking for a home for their Husky x Collie (!) 5 month old puppy as their young son is highly allergic to him. Of course, I knew that if we went we’d end up coming back with him, but I made sure I agreed with the owners that we would take him on a trial basis to make sure he was ok with the cats. Anyway we brought him home and he (Frankie) was an instant hit with Dora and Willow particularly, and they have formed a happy trio in no time flat. His first introduction to cats was a pasting from Binky and Poppy, neither of whom take any prisoners, so he has been very polite – even lying on the kitchen floor while Slim and Binky took up residence in his bed :) Since then he has settled in very well and the signs appear to be promising. So now we have:
6 horses
3 dogs
5 cats
3 goats
10 chickens
That's 27 creatures.
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