So despite a wet, cold start, we've actually had a pretty great winter here in Tauranga, with lots of sunny, dry days that have been a pleasure to ride in. The paddocks haven't been anywhere near as wet as they usually are in winter, and I haven't felt like quite such a "marshmallow man" as I often do when riding over winter as I haven't had to stack on so many thick layers to keep me warm!
We were sad to say goodbye to Cara and her family in July when they moved down South. I just want to say thank you so much for all your help, training and support before you left - you were determined to leave us with enough knowledge and methods to push both Tech and I to the next level and you certainly achieved that! Look forward to seeing you again when you're next up here in February!
Tech has continued to respond really well to the new McLean techniques we're using and I'm able to ride for up to 20 minutes a session now because I don't have to work so hard to keep Tech going. Result! This will be a huge help at competitions because I'll actually be able to have a quick warm up instead of getting on, doing one lap of the warm up arena to get myself moving and then going straight into my test (because I could only manage a 10 minute ride). Yay!
Unfortunately we couldn't make it to the first winter practice day in July, and the August one was cancelled because of the wet weather forecast (which didn't eventuate which was quite frustrating - it was a beautiful day!). So we've taken ourselves on a few outings to have lessons at Anna's and also to the local RDA indoor arena to train with another Tauranga-based para rider, Aimee and her new horse Geordie, to keep Tech in the swing of riding away from home. It's been great to ride with Aimee and have another para rider locally - welcome to the para family guys!
We had a bit of upheaval in July when I was given one month notice from the owner of our grazing because they wanted to build in the paddocks. It was a pretty worrying time trying to find grazing in the middle of winter when nobody has any spare grass! I resorted to driving around the area, knocking on doors and tying notes to paddock gates to try and find us a new home. Thankfully the weekend before we had to be out (after a 2-week extension on our notice period!) I found somewhere and we moved in the following weekend. The new grazing is great. We're sharing with 3 other owners/horses (who are lovely!) so Tech has horsey company again after being the only animal on the property for the last 2 years. Although him and one of the other geldings got into a bit of mischief when paddocked next to each other the second week, playing/fighting over the fence and tearing down the tape separating them. They also gave each other a few "lovebites" so those two monkeys aren't allowed to be paddocked next to each other again! We've got a sand round-pen area, and a big flat paddock (ok kind of flat - my balance and abs will be getting a bit of a work out!) to ride in, as well as Becky and Sarita being able to ride Tech out over the farm nextdoor which is great chillout time for him. It's also in a much busier area with lots more going on (cars, cows, tractors, school kids etc) so hopefully all of that activity will help to desensitise Tech to that kind of activity when we're out and about.
Things ramp up again for us at the beginning of September when we have the next dressage practice day and also a lesson with Manu McLean when she's back in NZ. Really looking forward to that and seeing what other improvements we can make this time!