where does the time go ?

well it went like this.

Early Dec had a lesson with Rosie, which seemed to go fine at the time but a few concerns about the approach. Was all fired up to book more, as the instructor runs regular sessions in an indoor school that might have been within striking distance.

Now the thing is that so far working with Kathleen Lindley has been a life-saver but she is only here once a year. Then there is a friend of my sister who is based in London and delights in helping us when she visits. But I have been struggling to find a local instructor to help keep us going.

But muddling through based on these brief flashes of help from Kathleen and the visiting BHSI, we had slowly been getting more, for less. i.e. the "shan't, won't" moments were less often, lasted for less time, and the work in between was getting better and better. Like the little girl with the curl, when she was good she was lovely.

It has always been the situation that Rosie seems to require a stronger rider, a stronger aid, than either mum or I have been entirely comfortable with. So the "de-escalation" we were achieving was great. It was getting to the point where you needed to be firm in the first 5-10 mins, but then aids could become light as a feather and did not need backing up.

So one of the issues was that, from the start (without any assessment of the situation) I was asked to carry two long dressage whips - one each side.

I am not going into detail of every slight concern - Rosie did also do some good work. But the problems hit a few days later. I had some time off mid-week and suggested we should take the chance to ride. Rosie was a bit of a baggage for me, and a complete baggage for mum. Mum just isn't strong enough to use the level of aid Rosie was escalating to. Upshot was that both my and Rosie's names were mud and her future was being seriously considered.

The weekend after that I was away, but it was below zero here anyway. Next weekend was frozen again - and then it snowed !

And the snow stayed. I did manage to venture out around one of the unsown fields on the farm when the snow was still deep enough. (It needs to be deep so you don't hit the ice and frozen ground underneath). Rosie, by then, was quite glad to get out as they were getting somewhat bored (no grass, nothing to do - bah !). But she did think it was rather hard work. I got the feeling she would be complaining to her union if she could ;)

(Fi had lost a show (again) just before it snowed. No realistic chance of getting a farrier out. The interesting thing was that her one shod foot was the one we had most issues with snow building up).

As the snow started thawing, we gained a stream (almost a river) through the field and sheer ice everywhere else. We had stayed out of the arena so that was just snow. So last weekend I managed to do a small amount of ground work. And the horses finally got to go back out on the big field during the day (and went off at a gleefully high speed !).

This weekend was the first time I have managed to ride properly since early December. We did have rain showers both days but there was just enough gap in the mornings to give all 3 beasties some work.

Fi was great and managed walk, trot and canter with no real signs of stiffness or lameness (any more than usual !). I thought she might be stiff today but pulled out the massage pad while I was mucking out - she stood there with a blissed out look on her face. Must do it more often !).

With Rosie I decided to aim for passive approaches, redirecting the energy rather than getting into a fight. Tight turns either way, or back up if she really got stuck. Anything that meant she kept her feet moving. It seemed to work. She tried it on a bit more with mum - but mum persisted with the same approach and got some good work as well. After each session I took Rosie round the field next to us - twice round yesterday and three times today. Interval training of a sort - the much vaunted ride has moved from Feb to March but we still have some way to go to be fit for that :o

Duds got lunged yesterday and ridden today. He was offering a lot more energy than just prior to Christmas. He is shedding his coat like it is going out of fashion - but is looking well. We kept an eye on their weight when the snow stopped their day time grass. They were getting extra hay but it is not the same. So they have also been getting some flaked barley. Rosie was getting some as well, but now they have grass again we've stopped hers. The other two are still at the lower end of their "ok" weight range so will keep getting it a bit longer.