Sorry....hadnt intended on such a long break!

..well actually i'd not intended on any break it just kind of happened then I think I lost my blogger mojo:))
Anyway im not even going to attempt to go through the past month or two but will do a brief summary,you'll be relieved to know.
Firstly both boys are well. Ive been off work for the summer so have had a blissful time just pottering on taking my time instead off constantly running around,had lots of fun hacks and long walks with the dogs.
Ive started riding Polo again, Vic's trimmer/farrier had a look at his feet and im pleased to say reckons im doing a cracking job and I should be riding him to get more improvement which im doing,in boots and pads. He also had a very extensive physio session he was pretty sore particularly in his deep muscles around his back and bum, which is hardly suprising as due to his feet being an issue. He's been compensating by shortening his stride which has made him sore elsewhere in his body.
He felt dramatically better 7to 10days after the physio and although im keeping the hacks short and in walk his stride length seems to be improving and quite often he doesnt want to turn for home so he must be feeling more comfortable.

Ali has been thoroughly enjoying having lots of hacks particularly in the fields and woods near our yard, he absolutely loves cantering in the fields but never feels silly or like he's going to do anything daft. We've had a couple of good gallops and although he's not the fastest he is a little powerhouse, canter feels so easy for him he just pings in and forgets how to trot at times:)
Ive not had any lessons recently and to be honest Ali really doesnt want to go in the school as he's been enjoying the outings so much but im going to try and be more consistant.
At the beginning of this week we went for a hack and it really hit home what a sensible boy he is,in the space of 5mins a tractor passed us and at least 3large wagons and he didnt even lift his head,its a joy to be able to relax so completely as you simply cant when your riding Polo.

The big news is Ali had his first show at the weekend. I was hugely nervous as I had no idea how he'd react and ive had some horrendous times with *you know who* at shows etc but the boy did me proud again and was absolutely brilliant.
First we had the large foreign breeds inhand. Vic had spoken to the judge on the phone the week before to ask if we could trot them up the traditional Spanish way which involves a few circles on the lunge in canter then coming off and basically running as fast as possible with them with them in an extended trot. The judge had said yes so we'd been practicing this way, Ali was probably run up like this when he was graded and took to it easily, but in the class we weve told to trot them up the English way. I really thought i'd struggle to get Ali to trot up like this but after an initial donkey moment he trotted up well with me running as fast as my little legs would carry me.
Anyway he got 2nd in this class out of about 7(?)which I was really chuffed about, a Friesian won it, this also qualified him for The Royal London Show in September not that i'll be going as its a bit too far away.
Just before we'd expected to go in for the inhand everyone seemed to disappear which was obviously an unannounced lunch break. Now surely the sensible way to do things would have been to have the break after all the inhand classes so everyone had time to tack their horses up and warm up for the ridden...you'd *think*.
But obviously not which meant by the time we got back to the wagon and tacked up then got back to the ring they were calling our ridden class in so no time for a warm up.
Ali totally lulled me into a false sense of security bouncing down to the ring sideways for the ridden class then obviously thought that was way too much like hard work and went into donkey mode who could barely manage to canter!
Although infairness no warm up and me trying too hard didnt help but he can do halt to canter so a bit of sustained canter on the correct leg *should* have been do-able.Vic's mare was in the same class and was behind us which resulted in him hanging back and when it came to doing our individual show piece he was quite nappy for her.I admit to riding like a totally spanner too:0
This results in me hating the majority of the ridden pictures cos he's got his nose poking most of the time and are generally horrible. I could have taken a strong contact and gotten an "outline" but I usually warm him up with flexions and transitions so didnt think it was fair to suddenly pull his head in from the front.
The one thing I do like about the ridden pics is seeing how much his walk has improved. He had quite a choppy walk and i'd not realised how much it has improved until I saw the pictures so im very happy about that!
Anyway he got 3rd in that class but there were only four of us in there:)))
The judge was very nice about him and said she liked him a lot and could see we were having lots of fun together, she also gave me a bottle of Spanish sherry for most promising youngster.


Inhand






Ridden








.
Q and Vic behind us on this one










The dogs are well,sort of, Mouse jumped into the car last week and tweaked something in her back which resulted in a few seconds of not being able to stand up. She has some painkillers and anti inflammatories and is still a little stiff and sore but seems okay,im not ruling out contacting the horse physio if it continues to be a problem as she does dogs too.
We've been to a few shows, not sure where I reported up to but Buster has had another first recently then had nothing at the last two shows although was shortlisted in one huge class where I could tell the judge liked him but just thought he was too heavy. Ted continues to be a wally he seems to be getting placed quite consistantly, its usually a lower placing where as Buster seems to get higher placing or nothing, but im not complaining.
Mouse has had another couple of placings and recently got a Best Bitch at a local Terrier and Lurcher show which was excellent:)
Ive got a Champ show on Sunday just with the boys due to Mouse's back and the fact she is due in season soon.

Soooo I think thats about it for now,I shall be back to update more frequently:))