Sponsored ride for Children in Need 2011

During winter months I dont really do very much so there will be a slow down of stories but on Saturday 19th November 2011 our yard did a sponsored ride - in fancy dress - to raise money for Children in Need.  I am not sure yet of the final total we raised but we had a lot of fun and it was a lovely sunny day.   Everyone dressed up in whatever they wanted to and Lewis was our traffic leader - dressed as Zorro and stopped and slowed down any oncoming traffic.  We had a few people on foot to also help and marshall and a couple of doggies joined us too :)   Billy the shetland did a small lap with Liam and headed back to the yard.  We all had fun and the kids were really well behaved and we had great fun shouting 'car coming' and passing it back up the line!  We had a half way pit stop and Tracy very kindly brought us a drink, biscuits and sausage rolls and I got off for a bit but I have to say I did 'feel' it on Sunday after being in the saddle for nearly 3 hours even with a fluffy on my saddle :)

Anyway I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking :

Zorro - our leader

Jordan on Dainty and me on Sadie

Paula on Blue, Zoey on Rosie, Jill on Remy, Rachael on Billy

Zorro in the shadows, Dainty, Sadie, Jess on Solo

And for something competely different ....

to the usual horsey story ...

Our yard is quite close to a small airfield and we have often ridden past with the planes taking off or landing.   To be honest I do try and take note and keep clear if I can see one taking off but landing is always quite difficult as they drop down over some trees.   I have joked once or twice about what would happen if one crashed.   Well on Saturday one did!  Thank goodness we were no where near the crash site.  I think an error occurred on take off and he hit the hedges and then landed in the field on the other side of the road to which we normally ride along!  

I have heard today that this pilot has crashed before (poor chap) and is unhurt.  Unfortunately the plane is a write off!

Sadie & Willow go showing

The last showing competition of this year to be held by the 'In the Spotlight' and I decided to dress Sadie up and get her out just to finish off the year with some nice pics of her.  Jordan took Willow (Tracy's youngster) from our yard for the in hand classes and very kindly plaited my girl for me.  When I asked him why I was getting this special treatment the answer was I couldnt look like a slob next to him and Willow !   He has spent all week preening and prepping her.  She was a little star and just took it all in her stride.  She got a first and a third - well done Jord and Willow.



I did a ridden showing class and as most of you know Sadie either decides to play or not - there is no halfway with her.   Unfortunately a rather large chestnut came cantering past us in the ring and that was it - TURBO button on!  I think the audience outside watching the in hand classes could hear the teeth grinding and huffing and puffing.  Then the neck got tense and her tongue kept coming out lol.  To add to it all we were first to do our individual test so she didnt have time to cool off a bit and then judge said she would give the test which was straight into canter and a gallop up the long side.   Well we went  - we tried and we came home lol.  Got loads of pics - when this year started we wondered if we would get anything done this year and then she was really ill and luckily Muls stepped in and I have done loads on him so just wanted one outing with my girl :) x



Just arrived - surveying the competitors

 



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Words with the judge











Making our way over to the indoor arena



Showing on a Sunday

Sunday 2nd October we tootled off to Milton Equestrian for 'In the Spotlight' Showing Comptetition.  The organisation was not too hot and some of the classes really big so after getting there for 10:30 and my class supposedly at 12 - we eventually hit the ring at three!

First up Ridden Gelding - I think this was part of the problem there were soo many classes and at first the ring was split in two and then it all become one and they alternated between in hand and ridden classes. 

Anyway .... Lining up for the judge to have a close up inspection of us : 

You then have to do a little ridden test which was ok - he was a bit onward bound again but did a nice test - apart from us almost running judge over in the change of rein (oops) : 

and then you come back to the judge and halt and salute : 

 

We came fourth in the class.  Then we had to wait and wait and wait - so lots of posing and piccies took : 

 

Then it was the Blue Chip Veteran class and we had to do it all again.  We came third and got 2 rosettes - one for the class and one from Blue Chip as well as a £10 feed voucher and a cap :) 

Posing with the frillys : 

 

and then I had the idea of a photo of both of them on one side lol - Muls was NOT impressed : 

Anyway Muls is now going to have a little holiday over winter with a bit of hacking and lots of good food and rest time.

Sunny September ?

Who would have thought we were thinking of Winter last week.  This week the temps have soared and the horses are moulting like crazy.   In fact I am thinking of clipping them!   Mulligan is going showing on Sunday to the do the Ridden Horse and Veteran Class and I am pleased to say that he is back to his old self.  On Tuesday I went to fetch him in and he came GALLOPING accross the field like a 3 year old skidding on brakes and then towed me up to the yard which was far more energy than I had.

I think perhaps I had just messed up his sleep pattern last week and now he is permanently in at nights and seems very content.   Sadie is due to come in on the weekend and hopefully Dainty will be ok out with the other girls a bit longer.   Its great being able to phase them in like this and set up my routine gradually :)

There is another showing competition later in October which I may take Sadie along to as well as Muls to get her out and about again - she seems to be back to her old self be it a good thing or a bad thing!   Then there is a bit of  a break until Feb so they will just keep quietly ticking over until then.   I think I might get into this showing malarky but will let you know again on Sunday evening.  Its very finicky but I am trying to learn what it is all about. 

TRC - Combined Training

Well we nearly didnt go as firstly Muls has seemed a bit flat and I am full of cold and feeling achey and miserable and then to top it all we arrived there and it started to rain.  By the time we did our dressage test we were quite wet and by the time we got to jump it was pouring and with a combination of neither of us feeling on the mark and the fact we dont have studs I retired after the first three jumps.

Mulls is now in every night to get some routine going and every afternoon has been at the gate waiting.  I cant quite put my finger on what is wrong but I know him and he felt a bit flat so gave him a few days off and then waited to see what he would be like at the show.  He warmed up nicely if a little lazy but nothing unusual here as school work is not his 'thing'.  Enter at A and he perked up and did a lovely test.  It was Prelim 7 which is a nice flowing test and for once I remembered the whole test with the exception of where to halt DOH!  So I sort of stopped between X and G just to be on the safe side lol and of course comment was not quite at G.

Overall comments were ' Lovely horse, very polite but needs to develop softness over the back.  Quietly ridden.'  He is not 100% supple but at his age he still does very well.  We got 65.5% which I was very happy with and put us in top half of a class of 13.

Came out of arena and it was quite dark and wet and I kept thinking lets just go home but I didnt want to feel like I was quitting so we changed tack and did a couple of warm up jumps.  First warm up jump was a cross pole and I am not sure what Mulligan saw but he jumped nearly 4 foot over it.  Second practice jump was an upright and he knocked it.  So we did both a couple more times and in we went.  My number by now had washed off us and I had to go present myself to the ground judge in the car.  It is a lady I know and her husband is course builder and I said to her - look I dont have my brave pants on so just going to do a few - 'Noooo she says you will be fine!' lol. 

Anyway looking like drowned rats we set off :

Jump one - nice and straight forward :

Now jump number 2 was my 'demon' jump.  Five years ago Sadie and I had a spectacular demolition type stop at this jump and at least to day it was smaller and not a parallel - just an upright so we sailed over that

You will have to take my word for it that we sailed over as it was raining so hard Lewis was taking cover under the burger van awning and trying to photograph at same time lol.  Jump three was a parallel at the top of the field and it was getting a bit slippy

We didnt finish the rest of the course - was just too wet and slippy and its not worth asking the old boy to put his back out jumping in that weather.  We had a nice day and we rugged him up and got him on trailer and of course it stopped raining!  He seemed really tired so he is tucked up in stable with a nice haynet.  Going up later to check on him and feed the girls.

Autumn Arrives

I have not meant to abandon my blog but things have been a bit weird at work with threatened redundancies and shortened hours but have managed to keep the horses ticking over.  I decided against going to the cross country day at Hallamshire due to the weather but went to watch some friends who ended up doing their rounds in pouring rain! 

Yesterday we fetched our straw so the two straw beds are now ready for winter having already prepared Sadie's shavings bed a few weeks back.  Have heard that its going to be another bad winter!  Horses are still out 24/7 with the exception of Muls who has the odd night in as there are a few others on the yard that are now coming in at night. Rugs are now medium weight at night and I think before long winter will be upon us.

I have a few days off and am entered to do the combined training this weekend so thought I had better run through the dressage test this morning.  It was great to be a lady of leisure and wonder around the yard without having to look at my watch once!  I did a silly thing in that I learnt half the test thinking I would just get that right and then because its a fairly simple test - I stupidly assumed I knew the rest and of course it was wrong!  So I am now trying to get the right bits done in my head.   Tomorrow we are going to do some jumping practice - my jumping round will be 75cm and want to see if I can go a bit steadier than our working hunter round!  To explain for my non-horsey family and friends - this combined training means I do a dressage test and get scored on that and then do a round of showjumping and the final result is the two added together.

Anyway off to go take Sadie and Dainty out for a hack.  

Horseman's Sunday - TRC

Well it was a nice if a bit windy day.  Horses were bathed, plaited and prepped yesterday so off we set to do some showing.  Kept him in last night so he would stay clean, not destroy the plaits which were a work of art due to a mohican thing he has going on with his mane at the moment (all my fault I am afraid to say) and so he could have a good night sleep as when I went to get him in yesterday - he was flat out in the field!  Well you can imagine my panic and after rushing over to him he raised his head and just looked at me as if to say - oh go away - I am so tired.  So I thought he would like a good kip before we set off today.  In hindsight he might have been easier a bit tired lol!

First up - little Sooty - in hand 'Best Turnout and Condition'.  Sooty is a 2 year old gypsy cob colt who belongs to a family at our yard.  Their lad is dying to get out and show him so today we took him to see what he would be like.  He was brilliant - judge even commented on how well behaved he was for a colt.  I cannot get him to trot for me though and just kept laughing.  He trots fine for his owners so obviously just a case of not really know him.  We came third out of six - actually our yard did 1st, 2nd and 3rd in that class - whoop whoop :)

Next up it was Best Riding Horse over 14.2hh.  First mistake - leather reins, second mistake class is held in arena full of jumps! (They had the course prepared for the Pony Working Hunter Class)  He was a bit eyes on stalks and then in the individual show he locked onto a jump and tanked off - luckily I managed to circle away and regain some control but he was feeling very feisty and the reins just kept slipping through my fingers.  There were 6 in the class and we came 3rd so not too shabby but he really is a good riding horse so next time might try a double or a pelham for a bit more control.  Judge said he looked good for his age.  Special thanks to Tracy from our yard for doing my tail plait :)

Quick tack change, boots on his legs and back up to arena for Novice Working Hunter 70cm.  Well it all went a bit pear shaped - he thought it was fantastic that he was now allowed to jump the jumps he wanted to jump earlier and so it was all a bit hairy.   When I jumped him at home on Wednesday we did some decent big jumps and he listened beautifully so thought (very unwisely) to leave him in the snaffle.   Then to make matters worse jump one was a cross pole ...... and we were off ...

Jump 1



Jump 2



Jump 3



Jump 4



Jump 5



Jump 6

I could barely keep up with him lol and then we came to the double - I knew we were going too fast and sat and tried to take a pull but we had so much forward momentum he flew over the first and buried himself in the second.  He had no option but to stop at it.    Today was my first working hunter and I was told a good working hunter horse covered the ground well and you would expect the jumps to probably be on a long stride.  Granted I was the biggest horse in the class but the striding just seemed stupid!  Perhaps I should have ridden it as a bounce!



The Double - 7a and 7b





7a



7 b

Jumped perfectly next time round.   Judge's comment was well he certainly enjoys his jumping but you must try and just let the jump come to you dont go so fast!! Well yeah that is usually my intention lol - could you not see the daylight between my legs and the horse.  So no matter what he goes like in future at home during the week - we are going up in strength for the bitting for ANY jumping.  




Getting my lecture from the judge about needing to do more gridwork lol



The others that went from the yard also got prizes and everyone had a good day out.   Glad to be back home but my ankle is killing me - somehow when he stopped my foot did a rotational thing and was a bit sore.  Sat down now at home typing this and its killing me!  Only I could manage a injury on the horse without falling off!  At least Mulls is good though - he has had some tea - is all rugged up and back out in the paddock.

Bank Holiday Weekend and its Raining !!

We should all be ducks!  We wanted the rain, we needed the rain and oh dear here it is!  Been raining non-stop since early hours of this morning.   Luckily I put raincoats on all the horses but I am afraid they are probably wet through by now so cant wait to go up to them and make them nice and cosy. 

Busy weekend planned.  Going to fetch some shavings tomorrow to get the beds ready for winter (I know probably too soon to mention the W word) and then got saddle fitter coming tomorrow evening to check the saddles out and its Horseman's Sunday at Tickhill Riding Club on Sunday so all being well we are tootling off to that to try the Ridden Horse and Working Hunter - if the day doesnt drag on too long will go in the Veteran Class too.   Monday will be a chillaxing day for a change.

Wentworth Pony Club - Sunday 21 August 2011

Today we went to an open day on the cross country course of Wentworth Pony Club.  You paid a fee and did your own thing which was just as well as dont think we are fit enough for a full cross country course yet!  Great fun - both Muls and I loved it.  Some of the jumps were a bit dilapidated and the ground was still quite hard but it was a glorious sunny day and there were still lots we could jump :

This was our warm up jump and on the main field of the club so easy for Lewis to get some good shots.

Some were a bit overgrown lol!

Water was actually quite boggy and deep but still fun.

Beautiful Boy!

Tyre jump

Paddy cooling his legs off too :)