After all the fun of Austria I've returned home and am getting stuck into preparations for the TREC competition that we're running at the weekend. Last minute meetings and lists of paperwork to prepare has meant that poor Wiz has lost his usual spot at the top of my priority list! I'm supposed to be fittening him for hunting but really this week I'm just keeping him ticking over.
Last night I squeezed in a quick schooling session. Due to the ever increasing amount of fluff Wiz soon heats up which then tires him out quickly. He started off working really well, I was only concentrating on very basic things such as transitions and circles and he was moving off the leg nicely and holding a good outline. As time ticked on and Wiz got tired he was finding his usual collected canter hard work and he broke to trot – naughty boy!
In TREC, a break from canter to trot is extremely costly so I always communicate this clearly to him with a flick of the whip; however, tonight I forgot that instead of my usual short crop I was carrying a full length schooling whip so the force of the "flick" was slightly more than intended. Wiz expressed his displeasure by bucking, something he has never done with me before! At the time we were travelling across the short side of the school so with the bucking Wiz quickly found himself at the wooden fence. I had been sitting the bucks without a problem but when Wiz did a sudden 90 degree turn I fell onto the top rail of the fence and landed on my back in the school. Schooling sessions really aren't supposed to be that exciting!
I finished the schooling session as usual and then after I'd washed Wiz off I also gave my arm a very tentative rinse under the hose, which although slightly sore wasn't anywhere near as painful as when I disinfected it later at home, I'd forgotten how much that stuff can sting! Thankfully I don't think I've broken anything (apart from my watch and my pride!) but I have a few scrapes where my watch broke and a nasty friction burn that runs half the length of the underside of my arm. Cycling to work this morning was an interesting experience; the burn hurts when I go over bumps so I cycled most of the way one-handed, which is fine until I hop up and down kerbs trying desperately to keep my front wheel straight to prevent another fall!