I originally started writing this blog before Christmas and was very exciting to tell you all about our first competition since surgery, unfortunately I was struck down with a horrible chest infection 10days before Christmas and was not well at all. Luckily Jack and his friends are still living out so our yard owner and other liveries were keeping an eye on Jack for me while I recovered. I had also been quite organised and got all the Christmas shopping done.
By the time the big day came I actually felt a lot better and was able to enjoy the day with my family and cook and nice dinner. Christmas with children really is magical and my little boy who is nearly 3 had the most wonderful time!
Everything was going well and we had just sat down to a cup of tea when my phone rang and it was one of the other liveries, I immediately knew something was wrong and answered it with trepidation. Straight away I could tell in debs voice she was upset but she first assured me Jack was ok, so what was wrong? A long story short the yard owner had found one of the horses dead in the field as he had walked the dogs just before it got dark and he wanted deb to make sure it was the horse he thought it was before telling the owner. Poor deb then went and told the owner personally, what and awful thing to have to do on Christmas day 😢
although it was already dark I felt the need to see Jack so went down armed with torches and luckily Jack came over when we called. He was fine I knew he would be, I just needed to see for myself.
The vet came the next day but an external examination didn't reveal any conclusive cause. They think twisted gut. We all feel awful as if it had happened any other day one of us is always coming and going throughout the day and someone might have found him in time to save him but being Christmas day none of us had been up since the morning. His poor owner was understandably devastated but coped far better than I would have.
So now the 3 amigos are only 2 when we move back to our summer paddocks 😢 very sad.
Having spent some of boxing day morning down the farm the plan was family time for the rest of the day but by lunchtime I was starting to feel really off my duck again, I'd finished the antibiotics Christmas eve and suspect I needed them for a bit longer. By late afternoon I was flat out on the sofa feeling terrible this continued so when the drs reopened tues I got an appointment and was given different tablets. I started to pick up on the weds but by Thursday I was feeling worse than ever, I'd not eaten since Sunday by this point and was exhausted. I felt so terrible the Dr came out to see me as I couldn't possibly drive or walk the mile to the surgery and Dan was at work. It turns out I was having a bad reaction to the medication I was on and had to stop taking it immediately. I'm still struggling now but hoping it won't be too long now til I feel better.
So jumping back to before Christmas! I was looking forward to taking Jack for our 2nd jumping lesson with our fantastic instructor before our first competition in nearly 2 years a week later. At home I always ride alone, there is never anyone there at the same time as me so while I know Jack feels so much better I don't know how it looks and, as we all know, sometimes what feels good doesn't look so and vice versa.
The lesson did not go well and I felt very frustrated and disappointed at the end, although my instructor didn't think I should feel like that. I wish she could see how well he is going at home as he really didn't show himself off well at all. Although he miss behaved and let me down he did jump very well. My instructor thinks he is just being stubborn and arrogant and I need to be much harder on him about things being done on my terms and not Jacks. She wants me to address the balance of power in our relationship, I am the one in control and he is to do as I say in everything we do. He's a dominant character and doesn't like being told what to do, you have to be a bit smart when getting him to do things especially something new/scary, if you just confront him with it he will argue back! If we remain in our comfort zone we don't have any issues but we also won't progress much either!
Following our lesson he has again behaved well at home and I have been harder and pickier about how we do things and Jack is accepting this.
So Sunday morning I got up early and felt quite optimistic about having a good day. I had chosen to do a 60cm eventer trial as I felt the size would be so within his comfort zone that if need be we could trot the course. The aim was simply to complete and I wasn't thinking about being competitive. It was a venue we've not been to before at a college and we left in plenty of time to get there walk the course and warm up but as we got closer to the destination I started to feel that something was wrong, we were in the middle of a town, we soon discovered we were going to another campus of the college and not the equine centre. Queue several profanities! We had no mobile internet reception to find the postcode and I was suddenly feeling 10 x more stressed out! Eventually we managed to find the correct postcode and we were not too far away thank heavens but it still left me with very little time. As soon as we arrived I sent the other half and our little boy off to find out where we were going while I tacked up Jack. I then had to run off and walk the course before the class started, unfortunately I was 2nd to go so we had to have a very quick warm up before it was our turn to go in. The course was a nice flowing course which I felt was easily jumpable consisting of 8 show jumps including 1 double and 8 xc style jumps. When we entered the ring I showed Jack the 2nd showjumping fence as I thought with its noughts and crosses style black white and red filler it was quite spooky, having had a look and not spooking I turned Jack away and went to canter down the arena towards the start but Jack had other ideas, as it meant cantering past the entrance he decided instead he would have a good old nap at the gate, refusing to move so I gave him a tap with the whip and he bucked and kicking instead of moving! I was Sat there thinking "I've not come all this way to get eliminated before I've even jumped a fence!" So the reins went into one hand and I smacked him until he moved his stubborn backside! It wasn't pretty, it took about 5smacks and I'm sure they could probably have eliminated me for excessive use of the whip if they had wanted to but they didn't ring the bell so I turned to fence 1 and we were off. He jumped beautifully, clearing everything with ease and not taking a second look at any of the fillers. He was even taking out strides and felt very confident. I couldn't believe it as we jumped the last and crossed the finish line double clear!! 😊💜🐴
I didn't care at this point if I did get eliminated at the start, the important thing was I had confronted one of our issues, he had done as he was told and the result was a perfect 0 score! It was a hugely important lesson for us both. I think he realised I meant business and wasn't going to accept any silly spookiness!
Unfortunately as always seems to be the way the was more drama to come as on the way home we got a puncture on the trailer on a duel carriage way with know where to stop! I had to limp with hazards on to a petrol station about a mile way but we made it somehow! Poor Jack was then unloaded in a petrol station while my other half had to change the tyre, oh and just for good measure it started to rain! I was amazed that no one came to offer help or ask why on earth I was walking my horse round a petrol station!
The tyre was changed pretty quickly and we got home safely, I suppose we were lucky it happened when it did as if we had been another couple of miles up the road we would have been on the M1 and would have had to close the motorway so it could have been worse!
So pretty much since because I became ill then Jack has had a nice long holiday in the field and I'm sure turning feral!
I hope to be well enough to bring him back into work next week but will need to start gently again. although he is out 24/7 he will have lost quite a lot of fitness.
Here's to a good 2016 for everyone
