I’ve been keeping quiet about Vin; no big reason, so here’s a 16.2hh-shaped splurge of information.
Vin seems to have settled nicely at his new home. The staff all appear to be extremely lovely and very thorough (and caring).
Unfortunately (for Vin) the impressive array of facilities means that I’m sitting on him more than I used to. But having said that he had a weekend off.
On Saturday I went up to Worcestershire on Saturday to watch Karen and her magic pony compete at Broadway Horse Trials. They zoomed round with the fastest cross-country time in their section and finished 8th againist some seriously top competition so a huuuuge ‘yay!’ for them.
And on Sunday as I arrived at the yard to school he was tucking in to his tea – having been fed early. I didn’t fancy waiting around an hour and a half so I came back home.
Strangely enough this evening (Monday) the same set of circumstances happened. He’d just been given his tea a couple of minutes before I arrived. I’m beginning to suspect some collusion. Has Vin bribed the staff to slap his grub down his gob as soon as my car turns up?
Unluckily (for Vin) I hung around for the required hour and a half this evening, then groomed, tacked up and we rode in the indoor arena. I’m loving that facility. The wind and rain was howling around the place but we were oblivious to it.
The cunning plan (equinely speaking) is to get an improvement in our flatwork over the winter – I want our dressage score down from mid-to-late 30’s and in to the mid-to-late 20’s – and then latterly concentrate on getting the bugs out of our show-jumping.
We had a flatwork training session last Wednesday evening with John, the yard manager. The big advantage is that John is on-site. It’s an even bigger advantage than normal because my lorry is out of action for a while, having a new cab floor put in.
I’ve decided not to sell the lorry. The mechanic says that a new floor will be good for about five years. There’s nothing else needing attention, it starts first time every time and it drives as though it’s much smaller than the 10-tonner that it is. But the bottom line is that until the mechanic has finished his work Vin and I are confined to barracks.
So training-wise we’re going to keep hitting up with John, about once every three weeks. And the yard has JP Sheffield (a well-renown Eventing trainer) in for day-long sessions every now and then, so I’ve booked an hour-long slot with him for the next time he’s due. Which is this Saturday! If the weather’s good I might ask JP for some jump training in the outdoor. If it’s shitty I might bottle out and pretend to be a dressage queen and ask for help with our flatwork indoors. 🙂
This evening Vin and I concentrated on our transitions with a little lateral work thrown in. He’s a good boy, he tries hard and I just love his attitude to work.
I’m going to try and give Vin the same amount and type of work tomorrow evening. Sophie’s on a late finish so Vin and I working late too just fits nicely with our timing at home. Wednesday night is in doubt though, because there’s the threat with a team night out in London, with a couple of my colleagues indicating they’re up for a beer or two.
It was nice to see Karen and Trish on Saturday, and good to catch up with the news about Vin’s former home. Threats of meeting up were made too, but given the distances involved that might be restricted to regional competition days, and not anything more routine than that.
B.