Long awaited update! Part 1

It has been a while since I put anything on the blog and quite a bit has happened since I last posted, some of it good and some not so good. 

Since I came back from holiday we haven't really done loads, I was meant to be taking paddy to Over show, but the weather was awful with persistent rain, so Gillian & I decided not to go - showing is bad enough but showing in the rain is definitely an experience to be avoided if at all possible!!

I then had a Matt Cox lesson, where paddy went really well - he is improving all the time. We are currently working on leg yield, shoulder in, medium trot and canter loops, building up to counter canter.

We then went cross country schooling the day after at ickworth which I will put into a separate post as it was an interesting experience!!  

He was great in the Matt cox lesson, but when I schooled him at home in the following week, he started bucking in canter and changing legs and going disunited, so of course I thought I had broken him!! Managed to get the lovely Mish Brooker out to see him and she found that he was a little sore along his back, so sorted that out, after which I thought he would be better.....spoke too soon!! Had another lesson with Matt and in the trot work paddy was going well, but canter was awful! He just bucked, kicked out  and kept going disunited - I was so disappointed as canter has always been one of his best paces. After this he seemed a little unlevel on his dodgy foot (he hit a jump hard at ickworth) so this meant that we were not able to go the the Rockley Rehab Reunion, which I was really looking forward to. I gave him a few days off, then hacked him and he seemed a lot better, then bought him in from the field to ride and his hock was really swollen & puffy - trotted him up and he was more stiff than hopping lame, so cue cold hosing and more time off with him mooching round the field. This also meant that we had to miss the ROR inter county challenge and a lesson with Matt. 

I finally managed to get back on him for a gentle hack at the end of September and he seemed to be sound thank goodness!

At the beginning of the week I schooled him and whilst his trot work is coming along nicely, his canter seemed to be getting worse. I am at a bit if a loss as to what's going on other than he is finding things more difficult, so I booked a lesson with Jon Bard, who teaches Gillian so that I can get some help with paddy......

Nest instalment in a new post :-)