Paddy Muir

Fit to Run

Spring is well and truly here! We are well under way with our Spring campaign having started early at Iselam where Stan and I had a good run and his show jumping seemed very much improved. He is training beautifully at home over fences and his technique has improved beyond recognition. However, over the advanced show jumping course at Great Witchingham last week he reverted back to rolling poles to my dismay.

Nevertheless, I feel I can’t give up on him as his dressage and cross country are so good and on hindsight I feel we both probably backed off the strong canter in the ring which does make him jump flat. I am off to Chris Bartle’s for a lesson this week to get back into that forward way of going that we seem to have lost. Belton Advanced is our next outing so I will report on that later!!

Stan does however look amazing – he is so incredibly trim and fit. I have stuck to keeping him on Hi-Fi (with a handful of Hi-Fi Balancer) and soaked oats with a little Alfa-Beet twice a day plus he gets a big scoop of Fibremix Extra at lunch time which he loves. He has haylage adlib and has never looked so well. The only additive he gets is the Dengie vitamin and mineral supplement and Surelyte. He always carried too much weight in the past but now he doesn’t have that problem – perhaps Dengie could create a diet for me!!!

Our other project at the moment is a Pony Race. This is an increasingly popular activity and quite a few Point to Points hold a couple of pony races. It is all very organised – ponies must have full passports, riders registered with a Pony Club and the Pony Racing Authority and must qualify by Hunting or attending rallies. The race is over 9 furlongs and 10 ponies are allowed in the race. Our resident fat pony ‘Hope’ - who has an ongoing weight problem and lives to eat has been ear marked for the Pony Race at the Bedale point to point on Easter Saturday. She will be ridden by my boyfriends daughter, Lucy aged 12, who is very excited and has been committed to getting Hope fit and her ambition is to one day see one of the ponys’ ribs!!! I believe that will only happen under X-ray but with the help of a strict Hi-Fi Lite diet and some Fibremix Easy twice a day, restricted haylage and masses of hill work the fat has melted away revealing a rather smart little pony. ‘Hope’ is led from Stan up the hills when Lucy is at school, and when we get a chance we go to the gallops and do some work at controlling and pacing the pony in gallop. (But apparently there isn’t too much controlling or pacing going on in these races as you can imagine!!!)

I will report in a few weeks on the outcome of our competitions.

Paddy

2 April 2009