The road to Balmoral...........

I gave the boys some R & R time after Flowerhill. They'd been super and deserved to eat and sleep only.
Fred had travelled badly a few times over the last few weeks and cut himself and then re-opened the cut, so I decided to give him a bit longer off to try and let it heal up a bit. That left the focus on Cu Chulainn, and we needed to work on our flat for both the upcoming Corrib show and Balmoral.

The day before Flowerhill I'd ridden them in their Dressage to music tests and had them videoed by a friend. So I used my off time to start putting music together for it. I LOVE doing this. It's definitely my favourite thing about dressage. So the two boys have two completely different styles of music and test, hopefully to show off their strong points.

Myself and CC have been working on our flatwork whilst out hacking. He has issues with tension and relaxation, so I'm hoping that if he relaxes out hacking, he'll relax anywhere ( almost anywhere anyway). We work on our transitions, just walk and trot. Halt if he's not listening at all or focusing on the sheep in the field. I started with a bit of leg yield too, because he can do that really easily and it's good to do things they're good at to give you both confidence.

We moved on to some shoulder-in then. Trying to do it as slowly as possible, which is an exercise my hard-core instructor used to get me to do with Fred. He's getting better and better. He's started to know what I want and not just going AHHHHHHHHHHHHH when I ask him. After I shoulder-in I either give him the reins for free walk on a long rein or trot on. I'm trying to get him to use himself over his back more and strengthen up more behind.

Rusty has been joining us..........this is him after a good session

We've been doing this for the last week and a half. We don't go out for very long, the hack itself is about 2 miles, there and back. So it's not a long workout, but it's jam-packed full of hard work. He gets to eat grass as a treat on it and I take some pretty photos. He's improving every day, we are definitely getting somewhere. I just hope it's enough. I need to get other people to ride him to see how he is, so he doesn't freak out when a judge gets on him, that'll be the next thing.



I got some coconut oil in the shop the other day to rub on their mane where it's thinning. I haven't used it before, but found the tip on Pinterest. No harm in trying I figure. Cu Chulainn isn't too bad, it's not terribly obvious, but Fred is pretty bad. So watch this space!!



I made a new batch of turmeric the other day - I'm still doing badly on the sporadicness of feeding it. I left it in a pot and put it in the fridge. Or so I thought. I found it on the floor beside where I make their feed up, the following morning. I passed it off to me being a dope until I found spots of turmeric on the fridge, the floor, a numnah.............Cu Chulainn had obviously been at the fridge and sent it flying but it landed the right way up!! The divil! I'm going to have to get Dad to put some sort of lock mechanism on the fridge.

Kisses

On Thursday the boys got their new shoes. They'd had theirs on a looooonnngggg time (oops, bad mammy). But their feet are in good nick and they've stud holes in now for the grass arenas. I had never seen Cu Chulainn being shod, my farrier is great and doesn't need me to be there. Fred is an old pro at it ( he should be seeing as his show name is  Full Set Fred!!). Cu Chulainn was chill bill and just wanted attention from the farrier, giving him kisses. Not so sure that he appreciated it though 😁😁

The old pro

Cu Chulainn was starting to get a bit fed up of being the only one being ridden and to be fair, Fred was not so keen on not getting the attention. So with his new shoes on, we went over the road to practice. Time for Fred to get back in and get prepped for competitions.
I took out the partition completely and put the full bar in front to see if that would help Fred out. I was afraid that he might squash CC or even fall down in the box and have CC stand on him. But it went well. He moved about a fair bit, which was a really odd sensation to drive to (first time driving without a partition). To be fair they'd no hay in the box and we were only going a few miles down the road, so they hadn't enough time to get used to it and relax.
I wanted to practice canter transitions with CC because we'd only been doing walk and trot. There was a good bit of tension initially.......so lots of transitions. But then on the other rein he was perfect. Once the excitement was over, he really got in to it and worked well.
Fred was his usual self and delighted to be out and about. Just need to get him fit and perfect our movements a bit more. So lots of hacking for him for the next week.

Training in my new groom

Friday was more hacking for them. Fred working on the #getfit and CC on tension. Spent an age mucking them out because I'd been a lazy ass for a few days and hadn't done them properly. But I'm away for the weekend and daddio is in charge, so wanted to leave them right. They're still eager to come in for their dinner in the evenings, I think they like to chill and have a lie down as well in their own space. I can't wait till they're out full time, but at the same time I love taking them in in the evenings and having a few minutes with each of them. We have our routine down at this stage.

The King is back!!

 

Checking to see if Fred is still there

CC is unimpressed with being ridden

Rusty fell asleep like this..........he was out with Fred & CC

I got a bale of haylige off my neighbours to help them put on a bit of weight. I need to have them looking well for showing. I got some wormers as well as they were starting to look a bit rib-by. Fred is not the keenest when it comes to worming, in fact he is a complete baby. We had a big argument this time last year and he fell over in the stable and hurt himself, putting himself out of action for a few days. Cu Chulainn is grand, no head collar or anything. They're starting to look really well now after 2 weeks of the haylige. Pity it stinks so much. If you touch it at all you'd have to cut off your hand to get rid of the smell 😏


The boys behaved very well and enjoyed the sun while I was away. They got time off from their rugs and made the best use of it. They were the cause of some ooohhhing and aaahing by visitors, being admired for their quietness and beauty 😁😁

Sunday evening I got home and weather was a bit meh........I really had to ride, but convinced myself it'd be grand if I only rode Fred. Had a quick nap and a sandwich and by the time I was ready to ride the weather had improved and it was a lovely evening. Procrastination = winning! So I actually rode them both.

Below is the moment that CC realised there were cattle in the field. When we went past them he did a lovely passage, my first ever! Tried to keep it going once we past them but he was having none of it! I'll remember that when we actually properly try for it, you can do it Mr!

The exact moment he realised there were cattle in the field beside us

Trying to see the ladies

This week I plan to work on our flat for the dressage to music, maybe listening to the music while I'm riding. I think I'll jump on Sunday too, because we're doing working hunter the following week and I've yet to jump a course of 90s on CC, and haven't jumped Fred in a proper course since October. Hopefully get a friend to ride Cu Chulainn next weekend too. Get him adjusted to different riders riding him.

Some serious big baths are in order as well next weekend. The boys are filthy at the moment. I bought two bottles of ketchup as well to test out that myth/fiction myself. I plan on getting my new groom trained in on the washing and grooming scene too. The more hands the better! I'll have to do some before and after pics. The weather better be good too. Thankfully it's a long weekend, so lots to do to prepare for our long weekend and return to competition.