Tuesday 30 July 2013

blackcurrant jam

instead of riding...

Partner picked a lot of our blackcurrant crop last night, and the only thing to do with it is make jam... so that's what i did. first time i've tried to make jam so hope it tastes ok!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200740469848679&set=a.1453291766854.61776.1070074986&type=1&theater

Monday 29 July 2013

in hand...

it occurred to me it's ages since i've done any in hand work, and last time he was messing about, so that was the plan for tonight...

only did 5 minutes, but he was happy to move on, was reaching for the contact, and we finished up with flexions which he was also much better at than last time - the stretch down he's particularly "got", which is good...

Sunday 28 July 2013

a slow idea....

should have written this yesterday but hey...

so i thought we must go in the arena but decided not to do anything but be calm....

that resolve was tested when he stopped along the first long side!

but i thought, no, we can't carry on as we have been, it's no good to be getting too worked up and i want him to move because he wants to move and will move, not because i've whacked him again...

so the plan was, just sit, keep him pointing in the one direction, no turns, and praise any steps forward - whilst giving leg aids and tapping with long whip every now and again...

it was starting to work ....

after 3/4 of a circuit the mares came over to investigate but he listened to me and moved on, but i was aware of something over the fence behind us, where the YO has their raspberry bed.....

YO and his wife were putting bird's netting over their raspberry bed, which is at the top of the arena

spooking at big rolls of birds netting was not going to be conducive to achieving the desired result; i specifically did NOT want, for this exercise, to be doing cirles etc

soo that was a nice plan gone slightly west....

Friday 26 July 2013

another ride out...

wasn't the plan..... but the arena wasn't working!  someone said did i want to go out with them, so that was the final encouragement M needed to upin himself from the spot upon which he was doing turns on the forehand (in default of him agreeing to go forward...)

so went round the 20 acre and back along the drive...

it was HOT....

it was hotter then than it had been all day.... typical - and of course no breeze until after we'd done and i was taking him back to the field!

Thursday 25 July 2013

confidence improving again

took me three goes to get on, though...

first time, he went too far forward altogether, i was a shade slow in getting him to stop.

second time, the angle was bad but i thought i'd try it .. wrong move, i ended up hanging on to the saddle whilst he walked on (calmly, LOL)

third time lucky

then went out...

i decided just along the drive and see how we did.

first test - to show he was trying me out = " no i won't go under the willow onto the drive, i want to go the other way back to my field"

no, i said.

ensured he stood facing the way i wanted him to go, and in due course (not very long, minutes or so) tapped him hard and off he went...

i set off to trot up the small incline - and at that piont realised i had forgotten to do my hat up, oops! nice forward trot, though.

then walk the flat and down the bank to the ford, and turn round, trot back up the bank and most of the flat and then walk the rest of the way back

in course of which, i sat 3 spooks.

one small one as we set off along the drive, some animal in the bushes on the left

a larger one as the gamekeeper started his quad bike up off to our right..

and a larger one again as the animal in the bushes did some more active rustling on the way back... we'd both, clearly, forgotten it was there....

then along into the arena, and having stopped, ensured he would walk on again.

then off

(have to say, i much prefer getting off in the arena, it's a much softer landing on the slightly still not right left foot!)

Wednesday 24 July 2013

monday tuesday wednesday

i did ride on monday - frankly, i wished i'd just put the hit air on and gone out...

as it was, he was testing me, but this time failed as i didn't get off until I deemed the time right, which was after 1/2 hour of him standing, doing turns, moving, standing, doing turns (i am asking for hte turns to get movement!) and eventually, sad to say, hitting him.... dammit.  but he needs to stop just randomly stopping when he wants...

tuesday - felt like a hot bath! leaving the office

today, is G's day - i've mown the lawn, and should be very surprised if G has done anything as it still feels like a hot bath!  i need a cool one....

Saturday 20 July 2013

Tolting

is a pace of Icelandic horses.

Today, I rode an Icelandic horse out on a hack ...

a friend lives near Aberystwyth and i went to visit and we went out for a ride...it was high up, just nice - about 19C with a steady breeze, so not too many flies (although a horse fly got me, and we had to occasionally get them off the horses) - up round an old lead works

excellent

the tolt was instead of trot, as the particular horse i was on doesn't trot

VERY smooth, i could get used to that!

and the saddle was very comfortable as well, a St Merryn, which i'd heard good things about and they were all justified (it has memory foam in the seat, and the stirrup bars are in a good place - heather moffett had a hand in its design, i believe....)

anyway, that did a lot of good for my overall confidence, as you can imagine

oh, and we were followed by some fillies loose on the hill, couple of gorgeous palominos and a nice grey...

Friday 12 July 2013

a week off

effective teatime tonight.

it was 30 degrees in the carpark as i left work, went to mothers and back - so 1 1/2 hours? maybe? - not much cooler at the yard.  i didn't even bring him in, just took the fly repellent with me, FAAAR too hot and no breeze to speak of.....

Thursday 11 July 2013

improvements!

i didn't go out - hot again ,fly repellent not that effective against the horse flies (gaynor reckons we have more of them this year as the grass has been allowed to get a lot longer than in past years, certainly in the past just been normal flies...) so in the arena...

and he was VERY good...

again, straight into trot, i know, should do walk warm up but frankly it's not as if his muscles will need much warming in this heat!

pretty good with the walk/trot transitions - i didn't ask for more than a couple of strides of walk at a time as i wanted to ensure we kept forward, which we did all bar one moment when he did stop, but didn't take me a lot to get him going again (one turn on the forehand.....)

did about 20 minutes and then called it good and went and hosed him off!


Tuesday 9 July 2013

half hack, half walk

and the lesson to me is, when it's hot

1.  stay in the arena (no flies)
2.  keep away from the long grass

and

3.  get some better fly repellant

also, he doesn't like soft going

went out for a hack with my stable neighbour jackie on her pony

different horse from yesterday in terms of walking on etc....

but M was surrouned by flies, where tilly wasn't... tilly was sprayed with home made fly repellent and M was sprayed with bought fly repellent

so we went along the back drive, over the ford annd up to the road (in trot); left onto the road, where the flies abated a little, then turned into blackdene with a view to riding back long the side of hte hedge (we'd just been on the road on the other side of it) and down the side of that field and along back to the ford

no one had been riding that for a while and the grass etc was up to our (riders) feet, even on M who is a hand and more taller than Tilly....

between that and the flies it was all getting too much for him, and when we got to the place of soft going (it's a bog in winter) he started bucking... not hugely, but it would have been in due course...

safest option was dismount and lead, he was NOT a happy bunny and i should have known better (Gaynor has said that he's finding the long grass difficult - the flies on top were all too much)

TBH i shouldn't be surprised if the long grass was tickling his bits...

so had to walk back, being barged regularly ....

and oh my hip.... i know i'm not good for long walks anymore because of it, this was only about 3/4 mile or thereabouts, haven't measured it, but i do know about it!

when we got back, Tilly's rider sprayed M with her home made concoction - and the cloud of flies vanished like magic....

will be getting some of that, i think...


Sunday 7 July 2013

58 years

that's me, today.

had a lovely day, much assisted by the weather (shame we can never do as well for Partner's birthday!)

lovely pressie (part Xmas in advance as well, see facebook)

lovely dinner

G's day for M, but doubt they'll have done anything more than I did yesterday, cold hosing!

Saturday 6 July 2013

we're having a heatwave....

and welcome though it is in many ways - it was, IMHO, too hot to ride....even the   wind was hot!

so I gave M a bath, and rather think he enjoyed the cold hosing.....he'll have felt a lot better for it....

Wednesday 3 July 2013

what a stubborn beast he can be...

but i didn't have to drag him over the stony yard to the stable, so that's a positive...

tacked up, into arena (no one to go out with..) and started off in trot as on saturday....

but not to such good effect this time, as he then planted as i started a turn.....

gggggrrrrrhhhh

he then made like he needed a wee - was certaihnly standing as if he wanted to .... but didn't... despite me getting off....

took him to the stable and stood him in...

brought him out again and got back on..

a bit more of the same!  ggggrrrrhhhhh


eventually, after a load of turns on the forehand, he took a lead from a friend on her horse (she was cooling hers down!) and we got walk/trot and i kept the trot until i wanted to stop (which, TBF, wasn't after too long, but i wanted to be sure i got the halt when i wanted!)

and it was G's big 40 today, I gather she's had a good one....

Tuesday 2 July 2013

shoes on.

he was cold shod, which i have never really liked, but Dean reckoned he'd never have been hot shod in training and who knew what he'd think of that!  as it was, he was his usual difficult self with the backs, but we got it done eventually. He was fed up as well... farrier was late, there's a surprise! and we all got soaked.... if farrier had been on time, we wouldn't have!

Monday 1 July 2013

we have electricity!

yay.

the culprit was the dishwasher, which shorted the RCCB, which then broke. so we need a new dishwasher.

M didn't get worked yesterday as G's children were poorly, and did about 10 minutes in hand tonight as I was tired (woke up at silly o'clock! making ciabatta rolls at 05.30 for something to do (and also because i didn't do it yesterday!)