I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Busy busy. And now I’m ill so I’m behind with my updates!

David was back out on Thursday. He thinks Dino is still a bit stiff but there’s nothing he can really fix. He just needs to get moving more, which is a challenge at the moment! The weather has been dreadful this week with snow preventing me from getting to the yard on Sunday and then ice preventing him coming in from the field on Tuesday…He had nearly a full week off after my first lesson with Katie. Not ideal.

But David’s verdict is get him working and he’ll see him again in February. Hopefully some correct and careful coaching with Katie will get us on the right track.

Emma was out to check his saddle again on Sunday. She thinks he’s looking really good, both in himself and also the little hollow by his right shoulder is filling out nicely. Not a drastic change in the template but he’s clearly putting on some muscle. Saddle needed some extra flocking on the right though so I wasn’t imagining that it was slipping. She also thinks he’s using himself better, although there’s not much impulsion he’s coming more from behind and not rushing on his forehand. So she also thinks we should get working.

Now I’m sick though. Need to try and ride tomorrow and Thursday and then another lesson on Saturday. Hopefully I can fully recover before Christmas….

This is what it looks like at Dino’s house today, consequently I won’t be able to get there! Happily the yard staff were able to so he’ll be rugged up in his big coat and out to play in the snow!

He still seems stiff to me, although I think it’s improving a little. David will be back out on Thursday to get a proper assessment. Emma was supposed to be out today but that’s not happening as she’s snowed in so saddle check postponed to next Sunday. Hopefully the weather will be more amenable!

Yesterday though we had our first lesson with Katie Dartnell. I was a bit anxious about finding a new instructor but I think I need some help keeping this hip working correctly and Katie is a dressage coach who is based literally 2 mins down the road. After a bit of a rocky start (she was late due to car trouble!) we had a useful session. I think her outlook is pretty compatible with mine. We have some homework for the next two weeks and we’ll take it from there… We’re starting to work on good quality progressive transitions into a bit more of a contact than we’re used to. Not a very heavy rein but into something to begin to get him to step into a transition and bring his legs under himself a bit. 100 transitions a ride! We don’t need to worry too much about pace and impulsion at the moment; she seemed sympathetic to his internalised anxiety and so we’ll try to build his confidence into a contact and ask for incremental increases in stride until we get where we want. Was looking forward to practicing today…but I’m having a snow day!

We have been doing much better with the grooming/clicker stuff. Here’s some video from yesterday. Feet much more in contact with the floor!

We thought about making friends with Maisie the little 6 month old baby next door this week!

So to try and get a bit further with the fixing of this hip issue we had Bronte from Apollo Equine Massage out on Wednesday to see if a bit of soft tissue work is any help. I can’t say Dino really enjoyed it; his left shoulder was extremely tight, as were his glutes and his hamstrings. Hard to say whether he felt any better afterwards – Thursday was SO COLD we played in the school in hand for 20 mins and then I put him in the field. He had Friday off and then I rode Saturday and Sunday. Saturday he seemed ok, Sunday he seemed more stiff. David is out again next week.

This week I shall try some freeschooling and then maybe a lunge session with the Equicore to see if that helps to free him up a bit.