Preparing for the 2019 endurance season...
Since my last blog training has progressed apace for Fantom but less so for Chiara and, with time at a premium in the winter, the poor older boys have had to take a back seat.
Another attempt at taking Wizard to a pleasure ride has failed. We were entered at a local endurance pleasure ride a couple of weeks ago and Wizard was absolutely ready to go out and have fun but alas it was not to be, the ride was cancelled. There was one last chance for him to do a pleasure ride before his downtime but he is lame and he is waiting for the farrier right now to remove his shoes and dig out a suspected abscess!
We have a new roof on the stables at last as the old one, which had been on for 10 years, had begun to leak profusely. This has transformed the whole stable block making it light and airy but with the downside of illuminating cobwebs, less than perfect beds and slightly grubby bits on the horses.
We had snow recently (yes, even in Cornwall) and our yard turned to ice which made it tricky to get the horses out of the stables. However it had to be done so, whilst I was adorning Dilmun in a variety of boots just in case we have a little slip, a big slab of snow slid off the new roof resulting in Dilmun leaping in shock right onto my foot. When I recovered and led him out of his stable of course he didn’t slip at all and seemed unaffected by the ice!
Little Chiara’s training has been held up a bit waiting for a new saddle that arrived over a week late meaning that she was simply marking time. It is now with us and training and schooling has commenced in earnest. Although Chiara has only been ridden for a week, she has done all of her conditioning and basic fitness work being led from another horse and by working on the lunge in the school so that we can progress quickly now increasing distance and pace.
Fantom’s training has been going exactly according to plan (touch wood) and is on target for a 3* 160 km at the beginning of May. He has completed several longer sessions at a good speed and done plenty of schooling and work on the pessoa in the school.
A few days ago I took Fantom to a pole work clinic designed especially for endurance horses. This was to work on his core strength and improve his rhythm and balance. He was a good boy (you never know what he’ll be like) if anything on the lazy side until he got the chance to canter over some poles. It was quite surprising how hard the horses have to work in what feels like a gentle session.
Yesterday both Fantom and Chiara got an outing to a local Endurance GB pleasure ride, just 20 km long. What a beautiful day, wall to wall sunshine and a gentle breeze. Both horses were keen and happy, although a bit fidgety tacking up, and we set off with a smile on our faces. I persuaded a friend to ride Fantom thinking that he would be well-behaved after being perfect at his last outing and, indeed, he was until we were almost back when he decided to have play time! The last cantering stretch and Fantom went – galloping and bucking and depositing poor Jan unceremoniously on the ground. No harm done and it’s good to see Fantom feeling so good.
I now have to concentrate on building up Fantom and Chiara’s fitness and keep Fantom going to lots of events so that there is no stress travelling. Next weekend both of them are off to the squad assessment in Bristol so a decent length trip of roughly 4 hours each way with nothing too exciting for them when we get there.