It’s been a very very busy August and then I finally had a weeks holiday myself in Cornwall (Oh how I :wub: Cornwall!) but it’s back to work now until Christmas so we can knuckle down a bit more.
His jaw seems ok, he’s pain free and the lump isn’t getting any better to my eye. He’ll be back in the CT scanner in a few weeks just to check there’s no more trouble brewing but *fingers crossed* that’s all behind us now and we’re just waiting to see what rate of growth the jaw tumour settles down to ultimately. After some drastic changes of routine and one drastic change of feed to go I think we’re on top of the lami. He’s lost quite a bit of weight (about 3 inches on the tape but hard to know what that translates to in actual kg – find out when he goes back for his scan) so I’m pleased about that. Hopefully he’ll take to the new diet and we’ll be good for the winter! He’s been very unhappy about this dieting lark though, poor thing.
Things are generally going quite well riding wise I think. My lessons are starting out well with the lovely Claudia helping me to get to grips with my lack of contact and getting him moving forward. He’s much more off the leg even in a couple of lessons. We’ve been experimenting with his bit as he didn’t seem very happy but to be honest I think we need to view him as a baby in this regard and teach him how to work into a contact. Contact is next on the list of things to work on now we have some kind of ‘forward’ going on. Hopefully going to try and do some hacking out with my friend Claire again over the winter for a bit of variety and build some muscles and now he’s more comfortable in his feet we need to do some pole work and maybe a bit more jumping.
I had a jumping lesson on a riding school horse on my holidays which was very good. I went to Newton Equestrian Centre and I think they are a pretty well run little BHS school. The horse was nicely forward and off the leg, the instructor was kind and sympathetic and corrected all the things you want her too – no kicking or shouting in sight. And their ponies all live out when they’re not working which I think it nice. I enjoyed the lesson and haven’t totally forgotten how to jump but my canter is a bit rubbish. I need to work on that! I’m not sitting deeply enough or absorbing the movement properly, which I guess I knew already. More work without stirrups coming up I suppose…