I wish I could throw off the last of the bloody virus that’s been hanging on to me for over a week now.
Every joint still aches but I made it to 09.30 before I resorted to painkillers on my first day back at work, today.
This evening I schooled Tom; ironically within a couple of minutes of work all of the pain and stiffness just fell away.
The same thing happened on Friday – and on Saturday I was moving freely; Sunday less so and today (Monday) was back to being as stiff as a board.
Tom was very fresh tonight, it took me 20 minutes to knock the mud off. We schooled flatwork and for the first half-hour we were very keen and just a little inattentive.
I feel a little sorry for the chap, he must be bored with flatwork in the indoor arena under floodlights.
I have ordered a new Bit – just for jumping. It’s a three-part nathe-made French Gag; we’ll continue with the snaffle for flatwork, but I need a slight edge on speed reduction after I’ve pushed him at a fence if he’s backed off a little, and the snaffle doesn’t give me any brakes.
Hopefully the new bit will be here before Thursday’s cross-country clinic.
We have the JAS at Harpury this weekend. I’m looking forward to it, with just a hint of focussed determination.