Well finally the weather has beaten us 🙁 The arena is under snow and the hill leading to and from the yard to the main road is too slippy to drive the lorry up and down atm so we are confined to barracks. I’m hoping it will be thawed by midday tomorrow as I have found a local indoor to hire and want to take Dustry for a schooling session. In the mean time I thought I would test out my new camera, and get some shots of his Lordship in the snowy wilderness that is his field atm. So here are…
Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrr! It’s baltic! but even the threat of snow and -10 temps wasn’t enough to deter me from our lesson today. It takes approx 50min to box to my instructor and the last thing I wanted to do was get stranded by the snow somewhere en route, but with my lesson being around midday and the snow not forecast to come down until later in the evening I decided it was worth the risk. This week the weather has been so cold that Thursday and Friday after work it has been too cold to ride in the arena as the surface has been frozen solid, so it was a very fresh…
…until the clocks change and the nights draw out, not that I’m counting or anything! Thought I would quickly share this snap because although it’s minus temps and I feel like I’m a nocturnal rider these days, having this little face greet you when you get to the yard makes it ALL worthwhile
I’m very excited and pleased to report that GHE has an additional sponsor for 2012, the lovely rug brand Konabo. Kate from Konabo has very generously provided me (well Dustry) with a Konabo Total PRO turnout rug. The unique feature of Konabo rugs is that they have an internal liner which you can zip in and out in order to wash. This means that you can keep the inside of the rug which is in contact with the horse’s coat clean without having to send the whole rug away to be professionally cleaned. This is a genius idea! The clever…
Yesterday after a week of mad weather ruining our schooling plans we set off for our lesson in glorious sunshine. My instructor decided to teach me how to teach Dustry a really useful exercise which will help supple him up (esp on his stiffer right rein) and improve his paces. The right way to do it (not how we are muddling along in the video!) is to ride the long side of the arena in leg yield to the outside, then when you reach the end do a turn on the forehand so you are facing in the opposite direction and then…
Today we went for our first lesson of 2012, and it felt great to be back in serious training again after the Christmas delays (with Dustry’s teeth and my instructor Amanda Brewer being away in her native home of Oz for the festive season). I haven’t been working him as ‘up and together’ as we were pre-xmas because I sort of ‘lost it’ a little due to the break in training, so it was great today to be coached back to (almost) where we were in November, and rediscover the feeling for how I should be riding/what I need to…
After Dustry’s dental work he needed a few days off for his gums to heal and any swelling to disperse. 4-5 days R&R were prescribed so he was in for an easy time over xmas. Dustry however had other plans! He is a total workaholic and if you give him more than a few days off he seems to have a talent for getting into trouble. On Dec 23rd after just 2 days off he managed to knock his whole door (including weave grill) off its hinges! He must have done this in the early evening, and then once loose…
Today I took Dustry to have his dental work, and what was suspected additional bone spurs or wolf teeth turned out to be wolf teeth! A year and a half ago Dustry had bone spurs (probably caused during his racing days by harsh use of a chifney) removed from his upper jaw (click here to read that blog entry) and every 6 months he has his teeth checked and rasped, this time the EDT detected something where the bones spurs used to be which needed further investigation. Today we drove to renowned EDT and dental expert Bob Livock to have…
I can’t stress enough how important it is to have your horse’s teeth regularly checked. As a rule I have my horses’ teeth checked and treated every 6 months (every 12 months when they are older/retired) On Dustry’s first dentist check they discovered that he had bone spurs on his upper jaw, these were removed and once the gums were healed he was brought back into work. He had another 6 month check today and sadly it seems either the initial bone spurs were holding back wolf teeth which are now trying to come down, or there were more bones…
As you know I’m a keen money saver and am always trawling the web to find the best deal, because you can save so much money if you do a little ‘savvy shopping’. One of my online faves for good horsey deals and offers is the Equine.co.uk facebook page. Atm they have a great discount code GFE50 which gives you 50% OFF Turf Legends clothing. Turf Legends (as the name might give it away!) do racing inspired clothing and replica racing colours shirts. I love these 2, Rooster Booster and Red Rum coloured shirts! These are a great gift idea for…