Its Show Time!

So I took Enzo out a few weeks ago to his first ridden show. It was only to Gayton Thorpe Riding Club - a local in this area. I took him in the clear round...and have to say the first attempt was a poor one, he had a good look at everything and took a huge dislike to the water tray. (I was very surprised to see one there as was he!) After battling with the tray he continued round but I took him back in at the end to jump the clear round again!

And he jumped clear! Yay! Got his first little rosette too :)

Then I took him back in to jump the Novice horse and having jumped the water tray previously we got eliminated at it! Doh! And he then proceeded to jump it after the bell had gone!

So I am now looking at taking him to the local show at Tilney on the 8th July! Fingers crossed it goes better than the last one!!

P.S Sorry for the lack of blogs! Been rushed off my feet!!

Its Twitter Time!!

So I have been rubbish updating Enzo's blog lately - I have just been so busy with all these horses!

This is very short and sweet I am afraid but he is going very well and seems to be incredibly full of energy at the moment! I am looking at getting him ready to go training again, maybe Forest Edge in the next week or so.

But my main reason for posting if you haven't already seen is the new Twitter feed on the right hand side of this page. Yep that's right Enzo has his own Twitter account! This is done in first person as Enzo (of course) so please check out his feeds and follow him too - if I haven't updated the blog no doubt I will have Tweeted!!

Rain Rain Go Away!!

Its absolutely crazy the amount of rain we have had recently - I'm sure everyone else has been experiencing it too!

I've been working really hard with Enzo, hes getting pretty good at his walk to canter transitions but still need a lot of work especially on the downward transition! But he is a working progress of course :) He will get there!

I was looking to take him to a local show this weekend but its on grass and with the amount of rain we have had lately I don't want to risk him slipping especially as he is still unshod. So the training continues until the next one comes along! I will get some videos and pictures of my little man!

Lets get ready to rumble!!

So Enzo went training for the very first time with Philip Spivey last weekend. Philip hasn't seen him since last May and Enzo went extremely spooky of course! We did a small grid, water tray, cavaletti and a 5 strided distance. It was all very good experience for him and found a lot of things I have still got to work on (but we knew that was coming!) This is a little video of him jumping the water tray!

I've also been working hard on the homework that Anna Bostrand-Daly gave me in our last dressage lesson. We had a follow up lesson this afternoon and still have a lot more to work on! He had his silly and yet lazy head on today and I got the giggles because Anna was laughing too much at him being 'Mr Snail'.  Despite his canter still being quite poor, the trot is getting much better. So my homework this time is short sharp transitions walk to trot and back down, walk to canter and back down and lots of figures of eights!

Schooling time!

I took Enzo and new boy Henry to Forest Edge last Thursday, I was meant to take Griff too but long story!
So it took ages to get Enzo to even trot round the arena! The video below is the final course he jumped but it took a little while to get to that point. He literally stopped at everything first time and then jumped it the second time but I expected nothing less as he's so spooky even at home! He was having a heart attack at these fences bless him. Here is the video of him once he got his confidence.

Please leave comments - let me know what you think of him!

It's been a while!

Many many apologies to those who regularly read Enzo's blog! I have been so busy lately and I also managed to crack the screen on my phone and on my current phone the internet wont work so updating things isn't so easy!

So the little man has been doing amazing. Wednesday last week I had a dressage lesson with Anna Bostrand-Daly. (BD Equestrian) She loved him and he was a total star. We worked on flexions, making him more supple, riding squares instead of circles and just generally getting lots of changes of direction to get him more balanced too. Of course it was very hard work and he kept slamming the brakes on to catch his breath! Poor boy!

I also gave him a jump Monday and introduced him to his first double. He's loose jumped through grids so this shouldn't really of been a problem and it wasn't. We kept it small and if anything he was rushing through it slightly but that will come with work. I also added in some scary fillers/planks at the end, he needs to see some more things and it was VERY spooky. But with some persuasion we jumped through it every time even if it meant from a standstill :) and eventually he was flying so very pleased with him!

So last night I gave him a hair cut - he did have a trace clip that was growing out but now he has everything but his legs off. Tomorrow we are off schooling at Forest Edge. This is going to be his first ever course and will be a huge eye opener to him, I think he's going to be shocked!

All will be videoed and I'll definitely get that posted! Wish me luck!!

Back on track!!

All is back on track now! Wahey! Enzos had a couple of flat work sessions back in the school, we also tackled some trotting poles which he finds very difficult! However he is slowly getting the hang of it and now more often than not he is trotting through them properly without trying to cat leap over them all!

Yesterday I gave him a little jump for the first time in quite a while. He was cat leaping the cross poles, going so so high! It was a little OTT that's for sure! So I put a placing pole down again to give him something to think about rather than throwing himself at the fence, and it really helped. We gradually built it up to an upright and onto a small oxer before introducing the planks! He didn't even bat an eye! Firstly we had the plain white side and then we turned it round to the zig-zags. He was jumping it very relaxed, even tried to bronk after it one time think he was enjoying himself!

Very pleased with how he is progressing, looking to take him schooling in a couple of weeks, and we have a dressage lesson on Wednesday!

Dont forget to follow Enzo on Twitter: @Enzo_II

Video to come soon!!

Time to re-cap!

I have been so unbelievably busy recently I honestly haven't had a chance until now to sit down and post on my blog! What with a new horse arriving last week, taking my total number of horses to ride a day to 7, plus fitting in clipping, teaching and trying out new horses, I just haven't stopped. Luckily I have been able to continue getting Enzo exercised.

So after seeing the physio we have been continuing to do straight lines, this time gradually moving into trot and canter, and he seems to think he is a racehorse now! Normally snaffle mouth I suddenly found myself putting in a slightly stronger bit due to him getting so very excited about cantering across the fields!

We have also loose jumped him again (advised by the physio) to check how loose he is becoming behind when jumping and there is a great improvement, however he's still not back to normal so we have her visiting  again on the 9th. I'm hoping he'll be totally sorted then and I can continue getting him ready for his first show :)

So I hope tomorrow I can update you on how he is, but once we are back to real flat work and jumping I will get more pics and videos as I'm sure you miss seeing them as much as I like to reflect on them!

And the sun is shining!

Today has been so lovely!! And it was nice at the end of the day to get back on Enzo and wander the fields again. He was much more chilled this time and it was all rather relaxing in the sun. Wont be long before its time to get cracking with him again. Looking to order him a bridle for shows just got to find what I want ;) so any suggestions send this way!

Oh and to top it off his little field friend Lola had a saddle on for the first time today! And a very good girl she was too :)

Hello again!

Finally finally finally I get to write something of interest!

The weather has been horrible, of course the snow has finally gone, and I can ride my boy again! Its still not all that exciting Enzo is still only walking for a week but tonight was the first time I got on him since he had the physio.

I took him for a walk around the field as he has to do straight lines, and seeing as he has never hacked before I thought this was the most sensible option now the ground has dried up. I expected him to arch his back a lot, be a typical 4yo that's not been ridden for nearly 2 weeks but he was actually very well behaved indeed.

He marched round the field, and poor boy had a fright when we got near the ditch that surrounds the field. Two ducks flew up out of no where he span round and nearly had me off!! He made me jump too! In all fairness he was very very good so long may it continue!