So, the pendulum has swung again. He’s been such a good boy lately that I’ve nearly forgotten when he’s like when he’s in a bad mood. But it happened yesterday. I couldn’t hack out (on tip toes the whole time, not fun) or ride in the school properly (either head in the air racing around, or so slow we’re nearly not moving). And he was fidgety when tied up, while normally he would be falling asleep while grooming.
But it might have had something to do with the shootings going on all around us. People were out shooting rabbits and pigeons, and all the horses were slightly spooked, jumping every time a shot went off. Horses are prey animals which means that they are naturally very flighty and their instinct is to run rather than stand still. This is where it often gets difficult when you’re training a horse to become what’s called ‘bombproof’. Some horses never have problems and can stand still in the middle of a war, while others will never be totally confident.
We also had a bad show last month and I’m a bit upset about coming last in all three classes we entered. I suspect it’s Shah’s way of telling me he really doesn’t want to do showing anymore. He behaved very well the whole day, in and out of trailers, standing still on the show ground, warmed up well, but just didn’t want to perform while in the show ring. With a heavy heart I might just have to give in and not do shows anymore. We’ll see how next year goes.
In the meantime I’m keeping up the natural horsemanship training and we’ve now moved on to obstacle training on the ground and we’ve started doing some jumping, which is really good fun and Shah loves it! He hates jumping with me on top so it’s nice to see him doing it freely from the ground. And it’s doing his back muscles a world of good as it helps to build up areas where he’s weak.
My main problem now is hacking out on our own. A couple of weeks ago he was ok, but we’ve now gone backwards , so it’s back to square one again. I’ve bought myself a nice little GPS (Navman X300 from eBay) so that I can start measuring how far and fast we’re going. It will also be fun to use when skiing – solving the quest of who’s fastest down the slopes!!
I’m also delighted to announce that I am now a freelancing marketing and communication manager. I’ve been planning it for a while but it’s taken a bit of time to get there. It’s great and suits my life so well at the moment, I can start work early at home and then go off to do the horse at a reasonable time rather than have to be there late. It also allows me to do some voluntary work, as well as the marketing for my husband (local driving intructor, website in production). Exciting because of the nature of the job, you never know what’s around the corner, but scary because the mortgage needs to be paid and you never know what’s around the corner!
