And Lexi isn't even being ridden yet!
I will post loads of photos after I write up tomorrow about Upton Manor BE, although I'm seriously doubting I'll do more than a combined training at best as the ground = concrete. But who knows, the last two BE events I went to I was concerned about the ground and both turned out to be great.
What have we been up to? Its been baking hot and I'm seriously unadapted to coping with it.
On Saturday I schooled in the evening and Squirrel was gorgeous, and I jumped him on Sunday. He was great to begin with but it went a bit wrong. He felt a hundred times better, really taking me into the fences. However I was struggling to get a good canter when the jumps went up and struggling to put him in a good spot, having not jumped for ages. Also the treble was set up a bit short so we kept having it down, and he was getting strong and so sweaty with the weather that the reins were slipping through my fingers ect ect. He never stopped though so thats good given he had every oppertunity! I'm going to school him later to run through my test and pop him over a few fences including a treble. I won't put it too big though, just want to make sure we're on the same page.
I also took him out for a lovely hack at 5.30am yesterday when it was lovely and cool, and no flies! The horseflies have been munching on me like mad, my legs are really swollen and sore with bites, yuck.
Lexi is doing really well. She's settled in great and it feels like I've had her forever. When we turned her out on Sunday she spent about an hour trotting around, exploring every inch of a pretty small field! We've been doing lots of work with her back legs. She's good for me to touch them now and far better for pickingt them up - which is good given she has her first trim this morning.
I've also put a fly sheet on her - no bother, and yesterday I put a fly mask on her which she was just like "Sure. Cool." about, which given she's never worn one is lovely!
She's a bit worried about flyspray and kicks out when you try and spray her hind legs. Its not aggression, more fear about something she doesn't know touching her back legs. I'm sure this will get better with tonnes of desensitisation.
I also gave her a mini bath - I REALLY want to scrub her as she's filthy and her tail is orange. When I first started I wasn't sure it was going to happen as she was very worried about the water even on her front legs, but we ended up managing to hose almost her whole body. Again she was kicking out to the water on her legs, but to be fair, she was also getting plagued by flies. So I didn't shampoo or wash her tail in the end. Baby steps.
I've also put some boots on her front legs, a saddle cloth on, and a surcingale and bridle. This all isn't completly new to her but she does need proper "desensitisation". She was perfectly happy about all of this, even when I was flapping the saddle cloth a bit. This afternoon I'll pop the bridle and surcingale on again, and maybe hose off her legs whilst she's wearing a fly sheet.
Tomorrow she will literially just come in during the day then go back out with some fussing as I'm eventing and then she can think about everything I've done to her this week. She also had her first jab yesterday and she didn't even blink!
Towards the end of the week and over the weekend I'm hoping to do some traffic desensisation and perhaps start some long reining and lunging. We'll spend a couple of weeks getting her really listening and understanding me with the long reins and lunging before we think about backing her.
She's very sweet, loves cuddles and brushing, she goes all gooey and wobbles her lips when you scratch her.
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