New clothes

Jack has a grown up boy saddle! 

The saddler came out on Tuesday to measure him up (which can I add he was a super good boy for!) and she had this one with her that fitted both him and me perfectly so I brought it on the day. It isn't really what I was looking for unfortunately, but still looks very smart and fits so, so much better than what we were working with before so hey ho, at least he finally has a proper saddle! I rode him in it properly for the first time yesterday and I finally felt like I had a semi decent leg position on him which has been a problem I've been trying to crack for the past few years haha, he was a very good boy and jumped nicely, just had a few stops here and there which were completely my fault as my confidence has hit a complete low at the minute, I would quite happily let the horses live out in the field being content and stuffing their faces and pack riding in completely.... Oh well, we shall crack on and move on and try and keep smiling!

I cannot think of a witty or creative title as I am a very tired Bef

(I apologise for the title) 

So yesterday I took Jack out SJ schooling at an indoor school near me (with the help of my glamorous assistants Emma and Mother). It was a new venue I hadn't tried before and would definitely recommend Priory, the staff were very friendly and the stables looked nice enough for me to live in myself! I was originally going to book the outdoor but my Dad suggest to book the indoor because a) the weather and b) Jack doesn't have that much experience with indoors and gets quite tense in the one at Ashwood so it's something we need to work on. He was a super star, we had a few minor disagreements but I cannot fault him for this as he just messed a stride, completely missed his spot and being the trooper he is decided to still plow himself through, totalling the jump and actually hitting himself in the face with a pole. He's usually a very confident horse (for his age!) but understandably it gave him a bit of a fright so we had a few stops and poles but it's the first proper jumping session we've had away from home and the first proper jumping session in a good couple of months, so we were both a little rusty (me more so than him definitely!) Was very, very pleased with him though, he had a great attitude to all that he was asked to do as usual, wasn't bothered by the new poles or wings that he hadn't seen before and ended on a 90cm course which is the biggest course we've ever jumped around. Just got to keep working away at now, but we're making progress I like to think! He's also in a new bit now (A cambridge mouth pelham) which he is miles more relaxed in and has already started to settle more on the flat in just two sessions which is very nice to feel. Once again, we got on the trailer in 5 minutes both ways also, so good baby horse! 
 Hopefully next week we're going to try the new Arena Eventing XC Technique at Someford; don't worry, Sparkie will have a turn to go out and play soon, I do feel a little bit bad and maybe that I'm leaving him out sometimes but he had such a busy summer last year with only one week off so it's nice for him to have a nice chilled winter to relax for a bit. He is happy being his usual super cute self in the field for now whilst we try to make a mark on our flatwork :) 

  

Arena Eventing take two...

On Sunday we headed off to Ashwood again to play at Arena Eventing but this time I decided to bite the bullet and take both my boys. I've only ever taken them out both together (with me riding both of them) once both before so this was kind of a trial run. We had a few glitches and stressful moments but this was always going to be the way until we get into the swing of things, its just going to take some practice to get there! No placings (although I think Jack was just out of it and came 7th?) but they were both very good boys. Sparkie flew round the first half of the course and would have completely walked it if he hadn't started napping in the corner which caused him to have a couple of run outs. Once he'd been told to get on with his job and had a little smack on the shoulder he was back to flying round, so it's a shame he had his little tantrum but we can work on this in the future! 

Jack was a bit of a handful on the ground as he gets separation anxiety quite badly so was being a bit of a plonker, so hats off to my mum and Emma for dealing with him! He was a lot more settled once I was on him, although still very attached to Sparkie; when he's like that it makes me want to not take him out because he's such a pain in the arse but the only way for him to learn is to keep going I guess- the best practice is ring practice. Unfortunately due to his girth mysteriously going missing he's borrowing one at the moment which is miles to big to his saddle would not stay put which was super distracting when we got into the ring. Also my skull cap is slightly too big and kept slipping down which a) is super annoying because I can't see where I'm going and b) super painful as I have excess brain fluid at the top of the nose which is now nice and swollen, cheers skull cap! Feel like I am making a lot of excuses there, but it made it quite hard to ride him haha, kind of had to just sit still and hope for the best so considering he was pretty amazing and flew round with just one run out as his saddle had slipped to a position that he couldn't have jumped out; he jumped it no problem second time round so really he was just saving my arse by running out! He found the jumps far too easy though so maybe next time we need to try the next class up! It took us less than 10 minutes to load him either way as well, good Jack pony; just to learn to keep all four feet on the ground all the time now.