Back into work

I had Lancelot shod on Tuesday by Pete. We only had fronts put on as for some reason Pete didn't want to put hinds on him. I don't know why that was but I will leave it for now. I am thinking of trying him in hoof boots as that would save me a fortune if I could use them. Mike is not keen though.

On Tuesday 17th after he had been shod I decided to ride him. I got Mike to lead him on a lunge rein and I rode but I didn't feel safe as Mike was kind of meandering along and not really taking any notice of what was going on with me and Lancelot and it felt like there were some huge open spaces out there and I am not sure that if he did anything daft that I could stop him. I really do need to work on my confidence!

In the end we came back after only going along the track a short way.

The next day I took him out in hand again and he was very pushy and bargy and I got quite cross with him.

On Thursday I wanted to ride him but I was just so scared of hurting myself and falling again and I had the appointment with my consultant in the evening and so I just couldn't bring myself to ride so in the end Mike said he would ride him. We went up into the sand school and Mike got on and just walked and a little bit of trot on him and Lancelot was a very good boy. His legs seem fine and although there does seem to be a bit of heat in them there is no swelling.

Today (Friday) I decided to ride him myself so I took him up in the sand school and we just walked around and did lots of walk halt transitions and also some half halts to try and stop him from leaning on the bit. His head was getting lower and lower towards the ground but I was really pleased because he was listening to my seat and was responding really quickly when I gave him the signal to halt with my seat.

It has given me a lot of confidence and I am going to ride him again tomorrow and do more of the same.

I bathed him this afternoon as I want to clip him tomorrow as well. I was planning to do an Irish clip (to the stifle) but I think I might do a low trace clip.
It depends on how he behaves when I try and clip him!