Failing to plan is planning to fail..........

Apparently that's the mantra for all these successful business types..........

I like to plan as much as I can, that helps keep me more relaxed at shows, because I've thought about what I'm going to do when I get there, when I need to do what, if I know the venue, etc. Now that all sounds great, but it doesn't always go according to 'plan'.

For Nationals this weekend, I planned my week. I knew I wouldn't be riding Monday or Tuesday and that Wednesday I'd have a lesson, and then Thursday I'd be travelling to Cavan, so it was important to get as much done in advance so that I won't be a stressy betty on Thursday.



After our last show I was still feeling like crap. I took the week off from the boys and gave them a holiday too. I needed to be in the full of my health for a friends wedding in Poland; which was as mad craic as one could ever be.......

Pretending not to see you.....

What ya got there?

Gonna smell it

I just want grass........

As I'd taken the week before off, I had to go full throttle when I got back from Poland. Wednesday was the first day I could ride. I rode them both out hacking. With Fred I practiced lateral work and some rein back. He felt a little off and I couldn't decide if he was or not, it was only occasional. He decided he'd be a bit spooked by some cows and we used that tension to do some nice extended trot work. He really worked from behind and it felt great. He felt perfect after that. I did some rein back with CC for the first time. He really got it and did it well. He also spooked at some cows, but did passage instead which felt awesome! I could not for the life of me sit it though 😂 It's getting dark so much earlier now. By the time I got back to the main road, it was almost dark. Luckily I only have 100m of main road to go on. Darker evenings is depressing.........winter is coming

Snackage

Lovely evening.....

Darker evenings.....

Thursday morning I got up early (killer) to ride Fred to make sure he was ok for our lesson this evening. He felt much better, so we were ready to rock with hard-core instructor.

Savage morning

Checking out our shadows.....

Cows......his current nemesis

Nice view......

That evening we went for our first hard-core lesson in ages. I opened the window of the horse box and Fred had that look that said 'oh hell no'. He knew exactly where he was. He wouldn't get out of the box. He walked very unenthusiastically to the arena. But once I was up he was fine. In fact he had his game face on. He went brilliantly!! My instructor was well impressed. He's come along way since the start of the summer, never mind the start of the year. He know understands his job and is on it even in the warm up. She said he has the basics now, so we can move on to the harder stuff. Yippee!! 2018 is already looking bright ( let's get this year over with first though!). So we had some celebratory apples and went home with a gleeful grin.




Friday I needed to ride him again, but I didn't want to go somewhere with him. I called on a friend to come for a hack with me so I could kill 2 birds with one stone. I didn't want to trot him on the road in case he went a bit off again. So we went for a nice walk down the road with Rusty.  It was another fabulous evening and my friend has just passed her exams, so happy days all round.

CC hugs are the best!!

Smiles all round!

CC leading the way! Fred was on a go slow

Saturday I had a nice chilled morning, much needed after the hectic week. I went down to my neighbours to give Pena ( the connie ) a spin. He hadn't been ridden in a while, but he was a star. I was very impressed with him.
Later I brought the boys to the showgrounds to practice. I had roped in G.I.T. to video me on Fred for my freestyle so I could put music to it. And I wanted to do a few jumps on CC as I planned to jump him on Sunday. I rode CC first. He warmed up nicely There was a GAA match on next door, but luckily he's used to that and took no notice. Of course it had started raining as soon as I put them in the horsebox......I had 3 jumps set up, a cross pole and 2 spreads. He was actiing a bit of a twat on our first few cross poles, so I changed which way we turned after it to a sharper turn which meant he didn't know what was going on so he had to listen more. He was fine after that, stopped racing in to them. He jumped lovely and left them all standing.
Next up was Fred. He was in his best form. A bit lethargic. We ran through my freestyle test once and then recorded it. I have a bit of rein back in it and he was having none of that, which meant it's taken a few seconds longer on the video, which may mess up my music..... but we'll just have to deal with that.
G.I.T. got some nice photos of us at least.