Hard work pays off...

Well we took a well deserved Monday off after last Sunday. The boys enjoyed some lush grass and I had some quality couch & netflix time. And finally finished the epic-ly long blog post.

From Mullingar...........How fab does he look? (Serena Finnerty Photography)

Looking a little lob sided 😁 but all ready for the rain!

Very disappointed I'd nothing for them

On Tuesday I planned to give them both a spin as we had the Midlands & Western Dressage League Final this Sunday and I also needed to get one more qualifying score for the Novice category on Fred and it was do or die ( slightly dramatic) but entries for the National Championships have to be in on the 28th. Eeekk..........
As the day went on the weather became bleaker and I talked myself out of ride, I was still tired from the weekend and in a not arsed mode.........the whole summer of competing and training and a full-time job is starting to hit me 😣
Then there was a very loud rumble crash...........not sure what that was, a truck or something. Then a while later it came again. THUNDER!! Let me tell you, thunder, when you're in a prefab is minus craic!! It shook the building!! So thunder and lightning for almost 2 hours made me feel not guilty about not riding. Our landline and modem got hit and destroyed.
All the places up North that myself and G.I.T. (groom-in-training) visited got hit and hit badly. It was such a freak occurrence, that no one could have prepared for it.

Not a fan of lightning

Wednesday I had to bring Rusty to the vet because his paw was not getting better. He got a cone of shame and the news that if it didn't get better he'd be losing a toe. Not good news. So he's on box rest, or the doggy equivalent now.
Summer is coming to an end which means it's getting darker earlier so I only had time to ride one horse. I rode CC as he needed it the most. We went for a hack with the draw reins. He was good apart from the pallet of fertiliser we passed (eventually, after a mini meltdown). We're booked in to do a group flatwork lesson with a grand prix rider on Thursday evening ( very excited).

The cone of shame

Waiting for me after I closed the gate

Thursday I rushed home after work and ate dinner, then changed and put the box on the jeep. The horses are in the field across the road so it takes that bit longer to get them. I got Fred no issue, CC was having none of it......he wouldn't come for a carrot because he didn't come close enough to even see it! I packed up Fred and pulled in beside the field. When CC saw the bag of carrots he wasn't long trotting over. So we loaded up and hit the road. I brought Fred to give him a quick bit of flatwork before my lesson, as I hadn't ridden him all week and we'd a final to prepare for!!
I tacked up Fred and did a bit of walk and trot on him. He felt a bit off so I got off him and gave him a groom, I'm hoping that he was just messing in the field and that it's nothing.
I gave CC a groom and tacked him up for our lesson. He was lovely and chilled out walking to the arena. I had the draw rein on (very loosely) while we warmed up and then gradually took more of a contact with it. He was on his best behaviour and listening. He was perfect in the group and didn't mind cantering etc. We took the draw rein off halfway through and although he wasn't working in a shape he was still well behaved. I learned that I rely wayyyy too much on the inside rein (eeek) and really need to work on that. I love having things to work and focus on. Unfortunately I didn't really get a chance over the coming days to work on that, but we will, eventually. The lesson was great and we worked on different things to other lessons, which is great. Always good to see another perspective and use other methods. Also she said that he'd be able to do canter pirouettes easily as he has a good bounce in his canter- that is very exciting! Compliment my horse and I'll love you for ever.........😊

Friday I had to test out Fred and see if he was ok. I hacked him down the lane and trotted him on the concrete and he felt fine. So we went into the field and warmed up some more in there. Then we practiced our dressage to music. We have about half of a test and the rest, well, we're going to have to wing it. I fed Fred after and got the other two boys. I fed CC and lunged Pablo while he was eating. Pablo was great, listened to all my voice commands and was great to tack up. It's been over a week since I lunged him because I couldn't catch him and was too tired to put in a lot of effort to try.  I put CC back in the field first and then brought the other two over. All of us happy going to bed for the night.

Lovely sunny evening

Getting dark earlier and earlier now

Nice sunset though

Saturday I had a nice little sleep in. I watched tv with my nieces and Rusty. Then I rode CC on a 5 mile hack to tire him out for tomorrow. In the afternoon I gave the boys a bath. Serious scrubbing needed on Fred. G.I.T. arrived to 'help' but was looking a bit worse for wear after a run in with some Guinness....so my little nieces were put to work.

Rusty was on babysitting duty

Fred loving the attention!

I don't know who's getting wetter!

We hit the road around 5. I'd organised for the boys to stay in Duffy's equestrian centre, where the show was on Sunday, as I knew we'd be there all day on Sunday and I'd rather they'd be in a stable than the horsebox. Mark the owner is lovely and had the stables ready for us. It didn't take the boys long to settle in and CC loved watching all the activity. Myself & G.I.T. stayed with my friend Aisling, who lives fairly near. So that was a bonus as got to have a catch up with her.

Didn't take Fred long to settle in!

How cute is he?

Sunday we rocked up to the yard for 8 to feed the boys and I needed to plait them. I knew they'd both have a lie down, so CC was wearing his ninja suit. And yet he still got a shit stain on his neck!! G.I.T. had been asked to take photos for the day, so he was off snapping away.
CC was up first at 10. He was lovely and chilled out in the warm up. Wahoo,the hack worked. He wasn't on the bit, but hey, as long as he's relaxed to a certain degree, that's progress. We went in and he did a nice test. I was very happy with him and he got big pats.
Next up was Fred. I had a little time before my next test. So I used that to go over my tests. Even though they were the same tests as I'd done the last day, a lot of time had passed and I'd managed to forget them! I was 90% sure I'd remember it........eekkkk. I probably should have asked someone to call it out for me, but ya know, ya can't have that at Nationals, so may as well get used to it. Fred warmed up nicely, but was still a tad lazy. I had my spurs on but they weren't working as well as they should have. We were in, ready or not. He did a nice test, but I definitely felt it could have been better.
Not to worry. We have another go in a bit.
It was ridiculously warm and humid and I was a seriously sweaty betty (lovely image I know). Also very dehydrated. I knocked back a bottle of water and had some chocolate and bananas. I looked over my other test. I had untacked Fred because it was so warm and we had almost an hour till the next test, so a good 1/2 hour to our warm up. I had some more water, another look over the test and went for round 3. This time I had my schooling whip. Well, well Fred. You can trot with energy!! Pity I didn't have the whip earlier ( don't get me wrong, I only had to use it once with a light tap behind and he was like oooookkkk).
Up the centre line we went, 3rd time that day for me. But this time with plenty of energy. He did everything I asked, but better than earlier. I was much happier with that test and I think we've got our score.
I had a good long break until the freestyle, so I caught up with G.I.T., got CC's test - he scored 61%, yay! I chilled for a bit and kinda went over my tests in my head. I helped one of the girls get her music sorted and left my music in to the office.
Before I knew it it was time to tack up again. Fred was minus impressed. I wasn't going to ride him for very long before we went in. But then the test got delayed. The judges were all gone to prize giving, so I got down off Fred and let him relax. His biggest fan arrived then; 5 year old Josh. So Fred went over to say hi and get some pats off his adoring fan. Then the judge arrived, so I got back up to warm up. I sorted the music with the ladies working the CD player and we were ready to hit the centre line again. We trotted up the centre line to 'what is love, baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me'. There was some bits that were completely winged and probably looked awful, but feck it, we did it and it didn't seem too terrible.
Then I'd to run and get CC. CC had recovered ALL of his energy having done nothing since the morning and was being highly uncooperative, to put it mildly. There were many arguments. After 4 tests in that humid weather, I was not the patient rider I can be. Our test was not pretty. At all.
I untacked him, delighted to be finished for the day. Fred did a runner on me (by walking away slowly) in the search of food and let himself in to a shed, through a teeny door, whilst still tacked. The noise from the metal stirrups hitting the metal doors made it sound a lot worse than it was, although I had visions of him getting stuck......

Waiting for our last test

It's hard not to smile on this fella

With his adoring fans

CC did not like the lobsided 'B'

Getting there...

That strut ....

Good to go again!

C-C !!

I got some water and bananas and chocolate. I needed it all. I said goodbye to Freds fans and went up to see his results. He came 2nd in his first novice test and scored over the needed % and was 1st in his second test!! But there was no rosette on the test. I really wanted his rosette because he worked hard and did everything I asked of him. So I went up to ask about one...........not realising there was a reason there was none on it. And that reason was because he came FIRST in the league!! And was novice CHAMPION!!! We got our very first sash!! If I wasn't soo tired I might have cried. But I did manage to grin from ear to ear. Wow. Amazed and delighted.
This is our first year in Dressage Ireland and it's been a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work. But to get this makes it all worthwhile. So soo soooo happy with Fred. And to be fair to CC he does try, he just lets the tension get the better of him. We will get there.
The people that I've met competing and organising and judging in the Midlands & Western region have all been lovely and it feels like a big family. I thought that only happened in riding club, so it's been a nice surprise.

Happiness is....

I don't even care that I've two asses in this pic

Stolen already!!

So yeah, we're going to NATIONALS BABY!! Preliminary & Novice..............eeek!! Qualified in two classes. We'll give it our best shot. I've entered the freestyle as well. Cos I'm crazy......there's only so many places you can actually do it and it is fun, so feck it.


P.S.  A big thank you to G.I.T. for all the pics again!!