Felbridge & Coombelands

We had a fairly quiet week after Hickstead, an opportunity for the inside of the lorry to have a bit of a smarten up after nine months of the horses trying to destroy it.

Askeaton has come back in from the field after a nine week holiday. I gave her a quick lunge so that she could have a bit of a buck without me, and then I climbed on and we went for a short walk down the road. She was very well behaved, if rather surprised to be being made to do anything. She had her shoes back on on Tuesday, and Billy Breakdance also had a set of shoes. Ellie has also given him a beautiful clip, so he is looking very smart now. He is a big, rangy horse, and is going to need a lot of food and work to fill out his frame. Nothing is better than Saracen Horse Feeds Equi-jewel to put on condition and shine, and the results are starting to show. Also as he begins to feel more relaxed he is starting to let down in his frame a bit. He does get quite stressed in the lorry, and about all the things going on at shows, so we just need to keep going on little outings so that he begins to take it all in his stride.

I took Breakdance for a school at Hascombe and then had a very helpful lesson with Roger McCrea at the Billy Stud. Since then we have been to shows at Felbridge, Coombelands, and back to Felbridge. I think we are making steady progress. Because he is big and rangy he needs a lot more strength and energy to hold himself together than a smaller horse. He's jumped some very nice rounds for a few babyish mistakes, and he gets tired quite easily, I think mainly with the stresses of travelling, and all the new things to look at. But this Saturday at Felbridge I really felt the whole round was coming together. I'm having to adjust my riding a bit, and learn a few things myself to make his life easier, so it's very much a work in progress, but he gives me a great feel and is a lovely horse to have around, so definitely well worth the effort. Hopefully he and Arietta will complement one another as they are both big, very scopey, horses.

He has also had his first trip to the water treadmill this week. We are very lucky to have Toad Hall Farm just round the corner, and Evonne and Kat are so experienced, I felt very relaxed to have them introduce Breakdance to the treadmill. It was very valuable for me to watch him move without the impediment of a rider. I was impressed with how good he looked. Askeaton also went on the treadmill - she thoroughly enjoys it, and it is very good, low impact way of increasing her fitness.

BE Khalissy and Billy Arietta come back into work at the end of this week, so life will suddenly become much busier. They have both benefited from a lovely holiday in the mild Autumn weather.

Sadly we say goodbye to Ellie at the end of the coming week as she goes off to do something slightly different. She will be very much missed, she's been fantastic with the horses, and great company and a very good pair of eyes on the ground for me.

As always many thanks to Ellie, Mark and my fantastic sponsors, Saracen Horse Feeds, Protexin Equine, Just Equine, NDS Equine and MacWet Gloves. All excellent products that I could not do without and which go a long way to making life much easier.