I have been trying to plan out my season this year and to kick off I have entered Soap for Moreton BE90/Intro on the 7th of March so we are gearing up for that, and I can’t wait to be out competing again! He had studs holes put in today because next weekend we have a XC clinic at Boomerang with Robert Stevens. I’m really looking forward to doing some XC again and meeting up with Rob to see how his winter has been. Jack has been making slow but steady progress so last weekend I booked to take him and Soap for a lesson, but sadly when we arrived he was lame! The vet and farrier have both looked him over and came to the conclusion that the recent hard ground has made him sore, either inflaming his feet or aggrivating corns (which aren’t visible) but might be there as a side affect of the long period he spent on box rest. This was a bit of a blow because we were starting to have fun, and get somewhere. My farrier came out and as recommended fitted him with gel pads on the front, and he was instantly 100% sound and bouncing around the field! The upside to this is that I now know that he just cannot deal with hard going so will keep that in mind when faced with frosty mornings, and hard dry going. He is now wearing the horsey equivalent of Nike Airs so the next time I ride him could be very pingy!
Dustry has been ‘on standby’ just chilling out in the field since he arrived and today I brought him up the yard to have his feet trimmed. He hasn’t left the paddock since last month for the farrier to check him and he was an absolute doll. He is so chilled and grown up, other horses were coming and going, trailers were being hitched on and driven about and he didn’t bat an eyelid. Unfortunately he seems to be another mud lark keen on getting covered in the stuff, so I spent a little 1 to 1 time with him giving him a good scratch which he loved. I’m planning to have him shod and stable him again from mid March to begin working him, I’m just waiting for the evenings to get lighter so I have a few more daylight hours to do it in!