Imperial Coffee Nov Update

November has the wet mud theme. 

31st Oct I allowed an hour to get the ninja worked before we headed off to the show with Alfie. I spent the whole hour brushing, so no time to exercise. 

It may be mild weather but with a full time job and lack of daylight the lightweight rug has come out of the wardrobe. It means I can exercise him rather than spend all my free time cleaning him 

This was his clean side. 

A little apprehensive for today (1st Nov) after a week with no work but need not have worried. He wasn't particular confident on the slippery grass but gave me some trot work when I asked for it. A few sticky moments where he needed time to think but we got through them. Another big step forward for the orange ninja and my confidence.

Hopefully this is the start of positive new beginnings. After two weeks off, and onto the fresh grass today (Nov 14th) we girthed up without a twinge. Fields super muddy so we only did some walk / halt transitions but big steps in the right direction.

We normally have to do the girth up super slowly but today went straight onto third hole. Which also means fingers crossed some of that belly is one the move as well.
Weigh Tape tomorrow to check we are within our targets....... 

Weigh Tape... Oppps well no weight gain but no loss either. Still that is positive

18th Nov we found the brave pants, or was it just stupidity, who knows but we survived. Took the ninja down to Blewbury for some skl hire in the rain and high cold winds.
Tractor unloading hay.. not an issue.
Car driver reasonably fast through a puddle up close to back of trailer... not an issue.
Flapping plastic on a stack of shavings a little bit of an issue with the path narrowed by a van parked, but we got through with a few snorts and tail lifting.
Noises from the stables extremely scarey!!!!

Not the ideal weather to take the Ninja out of his comfort zone but needed to be done at some point so heck why not today.
A bit disappointing we didn't get any trot work, but we were on hyper alert, so to get onboard and walk round with him finally listening to me and not what was going on elsewhere was a good note to finish on. 

Nov 20th Decided we needed another trip out before we compete in the Intro at the weekend.

Not the run through hoped for before Sunday. But there was lots going on and we didnt have a complete melt down, that's a positive. 

Got on almost straight away after a few lunge circles to stretch out whilst girth being done up. Did get into trot so that's a positive, stayed on that's a positive. 

Doubling supl dose for the next few days as not sure if he was just upset with new routine or uncomfortable as we had some gulping of air again when asked to trot. 

Traveled nice and quietly to and from venue so that's another positive

22nd Nov well we did it we went and competed in the intro class. One moment in the warm up I was glad to be on the end of a lunge line and not on board but it came to nothing in the end. Mounted in the arena so his first trot of the day was down the CL so a bit sticky. I cant blame him for the irregular contact as I didn't get my confidence till second half of the test when all of a sudden we both found our confidence and forward button so much so the attempt to halt at the end was shocking. 

Decided to let him watch the others in the warm up afterwards but actually ended up walking around with another horse cantering around him.
All in All very happy and now looking at the next date we can venture out together

And we got to show off our CHN Magazine Saddle Cloth which reminded us we can do this. He even won one of the CHN Style Ridden Qualifiers a few years ago.

Global Herbs Ltd have kindly let us take part in a Brewers Yeast Trial. This is one of their new products and we are quite excited to do a field test for them. 

We have entered another local Intro class for the 20th Dec. Lets see if the Brewers Yeast is the magic potion we have been hoping to find.

27th Nov.. yes that day when we all hoped to find bargains but not sure we have enough in the account to keep pressing yes.... I lasted till about 10.30pm and then gave in and pressed buy. So on its way is a brand spanking new Back on Track Rug for the Ninja... God I hope it's worth it... lots of £££££ just gone out my account. 

Throughout November the Ginger Ninja has still kept up his cheeky side. 

At the beginning of the month I planted some lovely young herb cuttings to fill the hedge gaps. Whilst mucking out a few days later I noticed odd earth clumps dotted about. Then I realized I was looking at the left over root system with no cutting tops left... He only went and ate all of them. 

So I got some bigger Lavender cuttings as they are supposed to deter them from pulling the whole plant up... Well my lovely stripped and prepared cuttings I left by the tack room door didn't even make it past the field gate. 

uhmmmm culprit in the act !!!!! 

The Ninja Sarcoids are now famous 

I finally got to shout about the sarcoid product we had on trial from Feedmark. This was a great trial with great results. 

We have some blemishes still by his eye and a small shriveled section on his chest to get gone but overall super happy with the results and the reset of his immune system. 

Just waiting for the Feedmark days of Christmas offer so we can buy some more. 

Here is our full sarcoid story 

Sarcoids: The ugly bits The gory bits and The finally getting better bits