double trouble

rode 2 horses today (feeling sore now too! so unfit!) and drove the truck too! using trucky truck this weekend to help Nick move house, so we had to go fill up with diesel... I started the drive and went all the way from the farm to the local hall (about 3km I think). the road got a bit busy after that with traffic, so I handed driving duties over to Swifty so that we wouldn't die.

when we got back it was still lovely and sunny, so we set up some jumps for Silviapples. she was so incredibly well behaved today - didn't put a foot wrong. must be wrong in my theory of her tantrums being related to how much food she's getting... it seems like she is just (slowly) growing out of them.

her flatwork was really nice right from the start of the ride. I'm so pleased with how relaxed she is. the chewing is still there but not nearly as much these days, pretty sure it's at the point now where a judge wouldn't penalise her for it.


no disunited canters today either - and her transitions are becoming a lot smoother. she's not putting her head up into the canter, but she's also not as immediate in her transition - think that is most likely a fault of mine for not preparing her well enough into the transition. she has some really good natural balance though, doesn't get on the forehand. still a little inconsistent in speed and tempo however.


warmed up over a crossbar and very quickly decided I was going to have to swap gumboots (awesome gumboots!) for proper riding boots and re-do her saddle as it'd slipped a bit. she's still getting in a bit close to fences and slows into them more than I'd like. But I also had a double set up and after a couple of goes through that she was really coming along. It was just a 1 stride (crossrail to oxer) but I think it made her take a bit more notice of the spaces she had to work with.


we still got in close a few times - but as you can see by the pictures below - once she is moving forward and keeping that forward momentum she can meet the jump quite nicelenty. she's not really using her neck, and I'm also hanging onto her mouth over the fences - hoping this will come right as she gets a bit more rythmic and consistent in her approach. she seems absolutely happy jumping though, and never gets stressed at all.


probably the best thing to see today was at the end of the ride she started to stretch down - stoked with that. After riding Silvi I had a wee ride on Missy (while Silvi looked on) which went really well too.


very successful day - and lovely to make the most of the sunshine.