2023 catch up

After not blogging for I don't even know how long (though I have several things in draft!), I am trying to get back to it. I really enjoy writing about our adventures, so here I am giving it a red hot go!

January

I was riding both horses, Coolie in the bush and Henry all the usual stuff. It would have been fairly easy work. Coolie celebrated his 20th birthday with a hat and balloons and treats. 

I had a jump lesson, slowly rebuilding my confidence. I was very nervous before and durning but felt amazing after. 

February 

More summer riding, Coolie was very bouncy out hacking, Samuel went for a ride, Coolie had dental surgery

March

The boys were both very fresh, Henry did some levitating. I had a flatwork lesson, and debut at elementray at a training day. We scored 60% and I was thrilled. Coolies mouth healed well. 

I had a jump lesson with Henry, we continued to build confidence, and went to a show jumping training day and while I was wobbly in the first round, felt much more confident in my second round. 

Coolie came back into work towards the end of the month.

April

Henry and I went to adult riders and had some fun lessons, especially on the xc course. Henry proved that he likes xc lots and was a total star. i realised I wasn't nervous jumping on xc at all. 

I got braver and started putting the jumps at home up a little more. I had a jump lesson, and Henry and I went to our first jumping comp. We had two confident rounds, and i was ver pleased with us. We went xc training with our coach and Henry was a little wild. We were a bit rusty but made improvements. 

May

More adult riders, DAWA and a DAWA training day. Got told I needed to be better with the contact and ask Henry to work better. Decided to up my game after that and try really hard to be more consistent. I tacked Henry up loose in his little paddock while a bobcat was going past. He didn't care! We got new paving in the horse area.

Coolies rider started riding him. She fell in love after one ride and has been spoiling him since. She also poo picks which is great, means I have to do less!

june

More adult riders and more XC fun. Our bush entry washed away and I rode up at pony club, or off property a lot. 

Henry and I did a hickstead, jumped the only 80cm round we did all year, and did our first competitive elem test. it was super and I was so thrilled with us. 

The horses moved into agistment for 7 weeks over winter. it was cold, lots of frosts!

July

Jonna came! I had 2 fab lessons and was so pleased to catch up with him. He was really happy with the progress we had made and said we didn't need him at all. we do really!

I was stressed having the horses agisted, it added heaps to my workload as I had to drive 20 minutes just to feed up. It was a lot. 

Henry and I did lots of hacking, exploring new trails. Usually at speed. It was a lot of fun, the trails had much better footing than the ones at home. 

august

Henry and i did one last big hack/explore before the horses moved home and my stomach ulcer went away. They are never leaving again! I took Coolie and his rider to adult rider with me and henry coped with his separation anxiety really well! 

I got a wheat pillow for the boys and used it before and after I rode a lot. 

I found a way around the bush access getting washed away and we did a bit more hacking at home. Henry got registered. 

I had a nice jump at home on my own. 

September

Went to a dressage comp and placed in both our classes. henry was very tense in the first test and settled a lot by the second. our scores weren't great but we just needed more time in the arena. I had a day off work and went for a brilliant, warm sunny hack. 

we went to the ARCA Srping Challenge and spent 2 nights camping. It was a really fun trip away, Samuels first time camping. Henry did two ok tests, he was pretty nervous again but I was happy with how well he stayed on side.

 

October

Henry and I competed at a sj/xc day. i fell off the week leading up and at the comp, though we got around the second go. Decided I had really eroded Henrys confidence and that I needed to start from the beginning. 

Had a really helpful jumping lesson, and competed at the states. I had 4 rounds, did some great jump offs, placed in a class and felt my confidence return. Felt bored with the baby jumps shich i decided as exaclty what i needed and started to feel excited for the next season. 

Novemeber

Ended the comp season with a dressage comp. Didn't place but did our best 2 tests all year. I was so proud of Henry and how much he has matured this year. 

The flies came out and were horrible. Henry went lame when he had a stone bruise. he got arthramid injected into his coffin joint for the first time. 

December

Coolie had more dental surgery which has healed so well. He had 3 weeks off then i brought him back into work. i ponied him off henry and it was a success! henry and i wrapped up the year with a clinic with my coach, i felt rusty jumping but we made some more progress and got lots of homework. Henry went lame again 2 days later and i spent lots of money at the vet to end up with an abscess. I spent Christmas changing poultices, and new year with Covid.