Sunshine feels!!

After all our jumping, myself & Cu Chulainn are back to the flatwork again. I was really excited to get stuck in to the flatwork again. The lesson was on Wednesday, so Tuesday evening we practiced a bit on a hack, just to get rid of some of the cobwebs. We did a bit of lateral work in walk with bits of trot. He was in great form, so we didn't do too much. Always leave on a good note!
Fred had a quick spin too, just hacking to get him fighting fit again.

On Wednesday we locked and loaded and headed off. We had a great lesson with very little walk - ie. serious hard work!! We did haunches in ( which is his bum to the inside, while his front legs are on the track, making him go on 3 tracks as you look at him) on a 20m circle, spiralling in, and then we did shoulder in ( basically the opposite of haunches in) spiralling out. He loves lateral work, it gets his brain thinking and focusing. He was a bit forward in his canter and his transitions in and out of canter, but hey you can't be perfect!!


FINALLY!! Sunshine!!! And heat!! Thursday I left CC off and took Fred out for a hack. Rusty came with us. The weather was beautiful. Fred is loving being back at work, he is not a fan of being off for too long. He misses the attention!!

Sunshine time!!

Everyone loving the sunshine!!

Sunshine shadows!!

Rusty getting his exercise

On Friday we went for our jumping lesson. I brought them both over and gave Fred a quick spin first. He's in dressage mode, straight away it's head down and back rounded and 'oh look at me, I'm so pretty' 😂
CC was up next. Big improvement on last week. I think it was definitely Flowerhill that fried his brain. This week there was less arguing with him and less rushing. He popped a nice course of 90s and then we practiced a jump off course. We were doing it for accuracy rather than speed, but as soon as I went off course he was like, wait this is different and he went speedy himself!

Clio chilling in the wall

We ain't doing any work

Stopped on the way home to take in this beautiful sky

Saturday was another beautiful day. I cleaned my jeep and the horsebox for the first time this year. It's super shiny! Mucked out for hopefully the last time for awhile as the boys are out now, loving life. G.I.T. was over playing with his camera too.

He has it sooo hard

When I was cleaning the jeep Rusty jumped in and then Bluto joined him....

Hiiiiii

Hugs & kisses

Hiiiiii

Happy out

Darkness In To Light.....a wonderful fundraiser

Having the lols

Snoopy is a rescue and was so afraid of people.......safe to say he's over that now!!

In the afternoon we went over to Creagh equestrian to practice again. This time I wanted to try 1m. Obviously CC is WELL able to jump 1m, as his pilot, I have some psychological issues to over come first.......
While the course was being put up from 90 to 1m I did my usual of not looking at it.......we popped it twice. Knocked 1 in each round, but I could not fault him. I didn't hold him back like I usually do and his was way more comfortable jumping. He bloody remembered the course from Friday night! After no. 4 which was a double, you had 1 or 2 strides and then turn right, but oh no, CC was in full jumping mode, landed and turned!! Luckily I have long legs and managed to hold on with them!! So he did two super rounds and I left him at that. Why bother doing more?
While we were warming up my friend Helen and her daughter Charlie arrived from Dublin. Charlie was riding a pony for someone. Charlie won the trailblazers Prelim and Novice championship at the Winter Nationals. I like to think I got her interested in dressage 😉 I popped her up on Fred for a spin. Her first time on a horse in a long time!

National Champion on my champion

 It was lovely to see him being ridden as well. He went so beautifully, even though he's muddy and hairy. He's just a natural star bar! Charlie & Helen had some carrots for the boys too, which they were delighted about!


On Monday we had another flatwork lesson. This time CC was lovely and chilled from the get go...........making life a lot easier. Then in the middle of the lesson a farmer was feeding his cattle int he field and he tensed up again wondering why the cattle were running over. This was frustrating but at the same time good for it to happen in a lesson as then I'll get tips on what to do, because there are many distractions at competitions. Eventually he relaxed again. His canter work was much better this week. He wasn't rushing and he was really on his hindquarters and his rhythm was like a bouncing basketball. Perfect. We did the haunches in and shoulder in exercise on the circle. Then we did some 1/4 pirouettes. Then 1/2 pirouettes. But I had to keep it to 1/4 because CC kept guessing what I wanted and doing it all himself!! Nutjob, lol. We had a superb lesson and the confidence is flying with his flatwork. The only impairment we have is his tension. He has perfect paces and movements, if we can overcome the tension!! Fingers crossed.

I was away in the middle of the week for work. What is up with work getting in the way of horsey stuff??? I got back on Thursday and was too tired to ride, but Rusty had his say in that and went absolutely mental until I got changed and brought in the horses. Myself and CC went out for a hack, practicing our lateral work. He was in great form. We had pics and videos up from it on our instagram story.

On Friday we did our usual lesson. I brought them both over. Fred was up first. I forgot to put my stirrups back on my saddle. DUMBASS.  I did as much as I could without them and then put them back on. Fred was in good form, nice and supple and didn't mind the cows going out to the field after being milked. Before I got up on Fred I gave CC an essential oil I got called Balance, to see if it'd help him chill out a bit.
I put Fred away and then got CC out. We warmed up nice and chilled. Hard to know if it was the oil or not as he was so chilled the other night. The jury was still out. Then we did an exercise where we did a figure of 8 over a jump, basically changing rein each time and trying to get them to land on the correct leg. He was coming into the jump nice and relaxed, not racing, not WE'RE JUMPING!!!! Ok, this is interesting......Then we did another exercise with canter poles before a jump. He had a bit of trouble with that but just because he was trying to figure it all out. The telling sign was once we finished, he went into relax mode after. THIS is where I could really tell that the oil was working. Then we jumped the course. He was a different horse completely. Still wanted to jump but wasn't rushing and came back to me afterwards. There's was no fighting. Just a bit of steadying. He also jumped MAHOOOSIVE over them. Now this is where I should have used the oil on myself.......I wasn't bending down enough with him over the jumps. I was landing back in the saddle before he hit the ground - because he was jumping so big. We did 1,2 +3 again with me focused on really bending down over the jump. WOW!! What a feeling..........Amazing! He loved it, I loved it..........

Today we'll have a nice hack out in the sunshine, no pressure, just walk. A lovely relaxed hack. Then I'll try and learn my test for tomorrow. Get all my stuff together while he enjoys grass. Then clean him and get his mane in some order. Next stop, Crecora, Co. Limerick!!

Flying high