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

 It took awhile to fully recover from the Corrib show. The tiredness stayed with me and the cold seemed like it would never end. Eventually there was an end to the mucus........Hallelujah

I gave CC most of the week off and set about fattening him up. The boys were out on grass 24/ 7. I got Equerry conditioning mix from my local agri shop. It's non-heating, so that will suit CC. I'm going to start feeding it twice a day to him to get him to bulk up.

After week one on grass

Week Two & Equerry condition mix

Bulking up is going well!

He agrees he's looking well!

I've entered him in some Eventing Ireland combined training for Sunday. Another practice for relaxation and competition atmostphere. It's only down the road too, which is handy.



I conveniently left the horsebox near the hose when I went to work.............and Daddio scrubbed it for me 😊It had started to get green on the roof and the sides were pretty dirty from being on the road so much.



On Wednesday, a friend came over and we went for a hack. I took Fred out and we went down the road. It was a really nice evening and a lovely chilled out hack, just having the chats. Both the horses were great and we trotted nearly the whole way home. Fred loving being the main man again.

Fred & Ted's big adventure!!

Thursday we had a more hardcore hack. We worked on our suppling and trying to get him long and low in trot. That proved interesting with the bunch of bullocks that were just let out to grass.  Then there was also the evil concrete pipes that have been there EVERY single day we've gone down, but ya know, they could be monsters today...... Fred was in good form, not too fresh from the grass, more, oh god, I've eaten too much I need to lay down, which I can deal with.

Evil concrete pipes!!

A nice little canter - camera was hand held, he's well balanced!!

This is our Badminton audience 😁😁

On Friday I gave CC a quick spin to make sure he wasn't high as a kite after the week off and eating non stop, but bar a bit of scary plastic he was grand.  I was really looking forward to a jumping clinic organised with George Russell. I had the two boys booked in and was bringing another girl when I was doing one with Fred. The clinic was only 5 mins down the road - which was brilliant, no early starts or thinking about food etc. And I could have a few beers and a sleep in!



Woke up bright and early Saturday, and ready for action. I hooked up the horse box and put my tack and stuff in the jeep. Then I brought the boys in & loaded up Frederico. I went over the road and picked up my friend. The horse that she was bringing was fairly wide in girth and Fred had a meltdown when he couldn't have 2/3rds of the box.......so he did a nice job on his legs and I decided not to bring him. I was so disappointed. We are really starting to get somewhere with our jumping. But at least I hadn't travelled to far. I just abandoned him at the yard and brought my friend. When I picked him up later he travelled fine, delighted to be by himself in the box. I almost forgot Rusty! Pulled off without him!! Ooops

Heading off to collect my friend, all set

Some of the damage....

I went home and had something to eat and then brought in CC and headed off for our session.
There were 5 of us in it. It was dry, but very windy, which makes it hard to hear people. We did some exercises over poles to begin with. Then we moved on to a jump with placing poles either side. We'd to do it in trot, which can be tough with CC, but we managed. We then moved on to a related distance. I can find them a bit hard sometimes, not knowing when to hold them and when to push.
I was really happy with his behaviour, he wasn't over excited, he stood beside the others or away from them. And stood! Most importantly. He'd a few spooks at the beginning near signs that were making noise, but he forgot about them. Considering he'd been off all week, on good grass and getting fed twice a day, that was pretty impressive.
We moved on to the course then. We had one or two down and we were a bit rushed at times. George told me to relax my hands over the jump and to focus on rhythm and leg on. After everyone had jumped, he put them up higher and got us all to do them again. This time I really felt we jumped much better, I relaxed going over the jump more and kept the rhythm more flowing and consistent. I was delighted with him. George said he did well and he had a nice attitude to work. Lots of pats for CC and carrots once he was done!
I brought him home - to Fred's delight, he's such a big baby when his friend is gone. They had their evening feed and I set about chilling for the evening.

Chill bill after being a star in the clinic

Give me something hard to do mam!!

I was on at 11 for my dressage on Sunday, so I aimed to be there for 10. I was up nice and early to have breakfast and give CC a once over and plait him.
Got there in good time and had a quick walk around the jumping course before I tacked him up. Warming up in the arena he was much less tense than last week, still a bit anxious, but happier overall. His test was an improvement on last week, still room for more improvement, but I'll take it.
Daddio arrived in in time to watch us jump. We were jumping 90s, but it's always a big 90s here, 1m in other places. So it would be telling for my confidence if I'd keep my nerve or not.
Cantering around before no. 1 - which looked pretty huge- I was telling myself it's ok, he can jump this, we can do this, look at what he jumped in those pics, we've done this height before (possibly a lie)........we can do this.  George said leg on and keep the rhythm. Soften your hands over the jump. Ok. We've got this.
A GAA match was getting underway next door and Amhráin na bhFiann started just as we landed after jump 1. Unfortunately we got a bit close to number 2 and knocked it, but that was the only one. No refusals. It wasn't as pretty a round as the day before, but I'll take it. One down!! Whoop whoop. Delira.
Now to go home for the Sunday dinner with the clann and let CC off to chill in the field.

Teaching him the rules of hurling

Deciding who he's up for

Shouting for his team

My nieces have chosen a horse each, eldest is for the eldest (Fred) and youngest is for the youngest (Cu Chulainn)

Monday was a bank holiday and for me a hangover day. I'd planned so much..........but alas, Mr. Hangover had other ideas. The day was fab too. It was too hot to ride though and thankfully I'd organised with a friend to go for a hack in the evening.

Bank holidays are for chillin

We headed off after 7 and it was still lovely. I only wore a hoodie and was still lovely and warm. Rusty came with us.
My friend rode CC, good practice for him to get used to other riders. Fred was feeling lazy after the sunny day and was happy to let CC take the lead. I had to really push him forwards to catch up, and with no whip, I was using my seat.
I don't know if boys have this issue, but girls certainly do. I was wearing the wrong underwear. And I only noticed when it was too late. The words 'arse' and 'ribbons' come to mind........
We went as far as the equestrian centre up the road, had a look at the new foal and turned around and went home. On the way we met a Shetland pony in a field. The boys nearly had a shit attack. What the hell was this miniature version of them?!?! Big babies. A herd of cattle came bounding over too, one on one side of the road and a smaller one on the other. Making the road a tunnel for us.
It was a great way to end a bank holiday and a hangover day!

CC leads the way

On Tuesday we went over the road to get some proper work in. I rode Fred first and CC watched from the horsebox. We did a lot of shoulder in and then we popped the small course that was out there. He's really feeling the grass now!! #chubbychunky
I warmed up CC and then I put my friend up on him to give him a spin. She really liked him. It's weird to see him being ridden by someone else. He's really looking well now. He's filled out so much.


On Wednesday  I brought CC to the vet to get his booster vaccination. I want to make sure his passport is in order for Balmoral.  I told the vet I was happy not to have seen him in months!! Thankfully the boys have been healthy for the last while, bar Fred self-harming.


Thursday I gave CC a nice quiet hack in which we met lots of council road signs, he was not impressed. But he got over it and behaved very well on it. I brought my tack in to clean for Balmoral. I plan on cleaning them a few times over the next few days to get them sparkling, or as close to it as I can.

Still feeding turmeric

Fred looks like a super hero horse with all his silver spray