Jack Frost has landed

Happy winter everyone!
It's not particularly freezing (yet) here at Dragonwood, and has been really wet over the past couple of weeks - a very welcome change given how dry it had been leading into winter.

The horses have all settled in really well and are now good mates. It's interesting being able to observe their herd structure this close (I can just look out the window!!) and see how complex horse social behaviour is. I thought it was very linear - ie horse A was 'dominant' over horse B who was dominant over horse C. But my little herd doesn't work that way. Rose is the boss and Tux is next and Persia yields to Tux and Rose. But when hay goes out, Persia sticks with Rose who lets her eat her hay, while Tux is excluded. Rose lets Tux eat with her too, but clearly Tux and Persia aren't friends and Rose is more tolerant of Persia who is NOT tolerant of Tux. Interesting....there's an alliance for personal gain...

Anyway, riding-wise this last few weeks have been very frustrating. Firstly, now I live out of town, I have to leave by 7:45am, which means I would have to be ON Tux by 6am. It's dark til 6:30am so that could be a bit pointless. Which leaves just the weekends, as I get home in the dark too. And I'm finding that Tux is not the kind of horse that is fine to leave for a few days. If I were to do that I think it would be a very slow and frustrating road to daylight savings!

Luckily, right over the road lives a world class French showjumper called Martial, who is staying with my friends Gay and Larry for a few months. He's agreed to ride Tux for a me a couple of times during the week until he heads back to France in 6 weeks. Totally saves my bacon!!

That brings us to the second part of the frustration. Tux is the tensest, most conflict behaviour-riddled, anxious and reactive horses I've ever ridden. Today, as my arse hit the saddle after mounting he launched into a most impressive display of rearing and bucking. Bizarrely, it doesn't feel like I'm ever in danger of coming off, but you do have that feeling of just holding on and waiting for the scary ride to end. No control, just a very tense and large animal beneath you having a meltdown.

Other than doing lots of ground work establishing 'park', 'forward' and 'back', repeating mounting over and over (I get on at least twice each ride) and putting him through exercise and exercise for the next few months, I don't know what else I can do. I've decided, after a particularly crappy episode today, that I will just keep blogging about his behaviour so I can recognise progress as it happens. It will take a lot of time and work to get him relaxed, responsive and obedient. That's the fun part, right??

I've been very lucky with the saddle situation having Julia Mclean from WOW onside. She's been out three times to fit Tux with both my existing dressage saddle, and a demo jumping saddle that we've tried a few different blocks and panels on. It's a vaguely annoying process, saddle fitting, for all involved, but SO worth it. I'm very lucky to have both the financial means to afford WOW saddles (at this point anyway!) and the support of Julia who is really the most amazingly generous fitter. Need a longer girth? Sure, have this one (it's new and she just swaps it for my old one). Need a jump saddle while you wait for yours to be constructed? Sure, have this one. Think the saddle is unbalanced even though the last fitting was only two weeks ago? Sure, let me squeeze you in between my interstate trips. Nothing is too much trouble. I couldn't recommend her more. :) 

On another positive note, Tux's feet are a lot less sensitive now, despite the wet conditions, and this is really encouraging. I think he'll end up with high performance feet in a couple of months at this rate. :)

Rose is starting to look pregnant now and it's actually starting to get exciting as we enter the 8th month. Her elbow injury is possibly resolving itself - I'm keeping a hopeful eye on it and haven't noticed that weird double action as she walks downhill for a week now. Fingers and toes crossed. Woohoo!

Til next time, safe and happy riding!