25 January
I decided to take December and January off competing. They are cold, wet, grey day kinda months and it's nice just to take a break.
We've been training hard, working on all aspects of his flat and having a little jump now and again.
Winter is hard on the body and the mind. In the cold and gloom, some days I feel like we're going great guns and could smash and elementary test and other days I feel like we can't even get a simple transition together.
Today was actually a schooling session after the saddler had been. It started well with his canter feeling really uphill again now he was happy in his saddle, it's possible I just did too much canter work desperate to work on my transitions in frame and towards the end I felt we weren't getting there.
6 years ago yesterday my little dude passed his Vetting and we bought him on the 26th Jan.
So I thought I'd blog about the positives. Look at those lovely little ears. We now hack solo for like over 7 miles. This picture is taken up near Clewer. There were days when we first together that I couldn't even brave going next door at Sue's to go up the hill and now we just go exploring for miles.
We canter out, we go new places, and these little ears are just the best to be behind. It's so easy when we're trying to keep achieving to forget how far we've come. it's also easy to forget that actually, we do everything, the cold days, the wet days, the dark days, to be sat behind the ears we love. Not for rosettes, not for going up the levels, but for the peace and quiet of being together.
Love my Freddie. These ears are the most important. I'll tell myself that next time we compete.
What will be will be this year. I'm going to have another bash at Arena XC in my old Exo - bizarrely due to the body protector changes, that (from 2008) is still 'legal' where others are not - and maybe XC - who know. I'd like to try and qualify for Hartpury again in both SJ and Dressage and I'd love to see how far we can go in the Dressage. But mostly, I just want to enjoy the ride and see where the world takes us.