Nearly there!

Well, it's now almost all organised. I have my rubber mats, shavings are being delivered tomorrow, as is my hay, and I will be buying feed myself tomorrow. The manager of my present yard is going to drive Echo to the new place on Sunday lunchtime, and I think I nearly have everything I need!

I toyed with the idea of various different types of bedding; the guy that delivers everything to the yard gave me the choice of ordinary shavings (which are MUCH more expensive than I was expecting) or these other two types. One was 'Aubiose' and the other 'Aquamax.' I know nothing about these, so I looked them up on the Internet. They do look interesting, but Echo is quite a dirty horse, and the idea of deep littering the bed until the weekend does not really appeal. So, for the moment, shavings it is. When I worked for David, we only ever used shavings, so I am used to mucking them out. Hopefully my rubber mats should reduce the depth of bed I have to give her; I guess I will just get to know these things as I go along.

I rode her today and she was fantastic. We are having some niggles with the left rein, but I can tell that she is now straighter, because she gets the correct canter lead almost all of the time now. In fact, her canter transitions were beautiful today. We did one horrendous one, but that was entirely due to me riding like an idiot; she came obediently back to trot and then cantered perfectly next time. I am finding that I can slow her trot right down, then ask for the transition. This is showing her that the canter shouldn't come out of a rushed trot, and really seems to be working.

We are going for a hack tomorrow morning, which may well be our last hack at the present yard, then I may try to ride her on Sunday morning before we move. I think this would be good for her psychologically. I do think that she should be alright to load (touch wood!!) but if I have ridden her then she should be more amenable. When we arrive at the new yard, my plan is to let her have a look around, then turn her out for a couple of hours, so that she can get to know the others. When I bring her in, I will leave her to settle in her stable for a bit, then may take her to have a wander round the school in hand.

I am so sad to leave our present yard, but I am quite excited about the move - it's a new chapter in our lives and will be a good experience for both of us. I like the idea of doing everything myself. I haven't had my own horse on DIY livery since I was 14, so it should be exciting. Fingers crossed for us - we'll need it!