Don't Ya Just Love The Mud?

So Winter has arrived which means rain, mud, cold, mud, soggy toes if your boots spring a leak, mud, clipped coats, mud, constant worry about rugging, mud, short days and mud!!!

I went for my first "muddy skid" through the paddock over the weekend...again watched by many who were more than happy to have a laugh at my expense...they'll keep ;)

I've decided I'm mud phobic - I loathe the stuff, every single thing about it!! But of course I can't get away from it, no matter how hard I try. My boots are actually out on the front step and I'm sure they weigh 3 kilos more than they did before they were caked with the sticky stuff, surely lugging those things around on the end of my legs will mean I end up with a killer pair of calves at the end of Winter... Won't I??

There are actually some things I do enjoy about Winter, and on top of that list is being ouitside in the morning, just before the sun begins to rise, especially if there is a misty rain falling.  I stand out at the stable with my cup of tea, and just listen to Jack chomping away on his breakfast. Every now and again he also stops to listen to the pre-dawn noises, but not often...the boy does love his breakfast.

Jack is back in a paddock on his own, so away from Moo and Munchie and he is loving being the King of his own paddock again. Remember the Daffy Duck cartoon where he was in Aladdins cave and he was surrounded by all the jewels saying "mine, mine...all mine"?  Well that's Jack right now...everything in the paddock belongs to him!! He is in on his own because he is another mud-phobic soul...the poor boy would just stand in the one non-muddy spot in the paddock all day and look miserable. 3 horses in one paddock means a fair bit of mud is made and pretty quickly too, so to make him a little happier, he was moved. That probably sounds quite silly, but I really did feel he was unhappy. He is also a bigger horse, and a lot of the time not so sure of where his own body is...there were many, many skid marks made by him and he hasn't even been blowing off steam by running around.  Jack is certainly a lot happier now...which means a happy, harmonious life for all!!

The other 2 are literally like pigs in mud!!!! It is just horrible! Munchie certainly isn't as bad as Moo, she is filthy, and that won't change until Spring.

Dear Jack has been going amazingly well...I say "amazingly" because it seems that every time I get on him he improves in so many ways!
Last lesson, for example, we had a wonderful canter happen. I will admit it was a little bit of an accident, but I was glad to go with it. Mind you, that wonderful canter came after probably 40 minutes of asking him to listen, but we got there in the end.

I'm so thankful I have a wonderful instructor who has an uncanny ability to read not only the horse, but also the rider. There have been many times over the past year or so that I might not have had my mind on the job, but with a gentleness that is almost imperceptible, she is able to get my mind working on the task at hand. I will admit I do have an issue with concentrating, and she gets that now...thank goodness!!
The one single thing that I absolutely adore about my lesson on a Thursday afternoon, is the amount of confidence I have in myself, and my abilities when I leave that arena. There are some days I think I can do anything, and it certainly isn't because my instructor has told me what I want to hear...she actually makes me do it, so that I can see for myself what I am capable of. Sometimes I'm hesitant, sometimes I say to myself "NO WAY!!!", but do it anyway, and then I'm actually doing it.

I would consider my instructor not only to be a great riding instructor, but also a personal trainer and psychotherapist...and all that is rolled into one awesome, knowledgeable package! So I think I'm pretty lucky to have an instructor who will guide me, train me and put up with me  lol