Ups and downs

After two events were abandoned due to bad weather the season got off to a slow start which was a bit annoying as Frank was superfit and keen to burn off some energy. Had some exciting hacks! With pontispool and Mount Ballan ticked off the list i was really looking forward to Treborough. Frank was shod 5 days before Trebs so everything was ready. Only it wasn’t. Frank was as lame as a cat after shoeing on both front feet. Farrier coolly explained that he’d put the shoes on a bit tight. What?! So, no treborough for us… or Chepstow…. or Bicton. I was so disappointed. It took about five weeks for Frank to come sound. He has a different farrier now.While Frank was off work we had a heatwave and the ground baked… and cracked and became like bedrock. Still, off we went to Dauntsey. Optimistic as ever i thought the 90 course looked easy and i was looking forward to competing. Frank was stabled at Beanie Sturgess’s lovely yard…all I had to do was learn the dressage test. Franks 5 weeks off had not really helped. Comments from the judge included exciting transitions… as Frank bronced going into canter. We demolished the SJ course as Frank decided it would be fun to go round as fast as possible. By the time we got to go XC his brains were fried – just as i heard the comentator say how Frank loved to go XC Frank slammed on the brakes at the first fence. The shame. We had more refusals then the big E at fence 8. Bugga. The walk of shame was executed sideways and backwards and when we got back to the start Frank looked like he’d been to a foam party. Too many oats in the bucket…To cheer myself up i bought socks and t shirts from Kicking AssWe had never been eliminated before. It took a bit of getting used to. Frank just had too much energy and his time off had not been managed very well. I was continually anxious about his feet and didnt want to push him too hard because of the hard ground for fear it might make his splint worse…Frank has oats now after he has worked hard rather than in anticipation of being worked hard. This suits him very well.