Stuck like glue!

We have had a smattering of snow over the course of this last week, but whilst the snowfall has looked impressive at times, it's not lasted long! This was on Thursday afternoon - I was lucky enough to be granted a late request for a half day's holiday at work. I took Rio out around the village with one of the girls whose 4 year old TB can be a bit of a crazy boy, and Rio was a bit fresh. I intended on changing his numnah back to his woolly white one, but ran short on time with the weather threatening. His new one has been rubbing a bit at the back of the saddle, so I had temporarily padded it out with the half pad which seemed to fit much better too. I think he may be changing shape again a little. It could have been the numnah that caused him to do a speedy stomp around the village, or maybe he just knew the snow was coming! 

I finally got around to putting my photos in my frame! Such a gorgeous boy, and now I get to admire him all of the time. 

Today we went out in the trailer with Sarah and Franks, and Rio got to try out his big boy pants and take the lead! We had an interesting start, to the point that I thought his saddle must really be causing him aggravation. Whenever I asked anything of him, and again in between, he was skipping around being a bit silly. We gave him the benefit of the doubt, and took the boys up the canter hill for a leg stretching trot and it seemed to do the trick. Franks was being super good, so Rio and I took the lead, to give him something to think about, and test his brave pants!

He did have a couple of moments, as you can see in the video haha. It was a fab ride. We still have plenty to work on, but it was just great. Sadly the SD card was full before we finished our hack, so we didn't get footage of the uphill gallop at the end of our ride. My seat has improved so much, as has my confidence and trust in Rio. Not long ago, if he had taken off up the hill at the rate he did, I would have been genuinely scared, and pulling him up. Not only that, but he ducked abruptly to the right once we hit the track at the top - straight into a low hanging branch. I've no clue how I stayed on, as I had to duck down over his left shoulder to avoid getting smacked in the face, and of course that's the way my balance was thrown by him jumping across to the right. A quick glance at the floor reminded me that's not where I wanted to be, so I looked straight ahead and we carried on!

This month is looking to be an expensive one on Rio's part! Just as well I'm accustomed to being poor on his behalf hey. I'm running desperately short on hay, and have somehow got to try and make it last until Saturday. I've managed to make up a haynet from some of the fresher stuff around his bale for the morning, and I'm just going to have to hope the rest is enough... (I do have a backup offer from Sarah should this fail! I can't let my poor baby go hungry in this horrible cold weather)

Burgh-ill-ey-ant weekend

I ACHE! Burghley is amazing. Long, and hilly, and amazing. I got some pretty cool shots of the riders, but just had such a wonderful day, thanks to my mum who got us tickets to go. 

Didn't catch Jock at a jump but had to get a shot as they galloped past!

The crossing looked absolutely terrifying.

The picnic table. Gina Ruck and Rehy Too came down just after I took this photo, and unfortunately fell. I was so glad we had moved on, as if I'd been stood here when it happened I'd have probably vowed never to ride XC ever! As it was, we were walking up winners row towards the Rolex combination, and just saw the perfect take-off. She was OK, despite being knocked out on landing; the tanoy announcement came shortly after to say she was sitting up in the medical tent. 

It turned out to be a lovely day after a very foggy start!

This morning in Felixstowe wasn't much clearer for my niece's birthday breakfast at the beach hut. I was a little gutted my camera battery was dead from yesterday, as it made for nice photos. 

My beautiful boy after a wander around the village this afternoon. We were going to go out on our own again (go us!) however Millie and Miss B came out for a walk in hand with us. Rio was very good, and we had a little trot. Aside from a spook on the way back onto the field where a man was walking out of the scary covered corner. I managed to sit it as I clocked him way before Rio - I almost thought he was going to walk through just fine but it wasn't to be! A couple of strides of canter, I let him trot a few strides then brought him back, and he walked nicely the rest of the way.

Rio has been plaited up again and looks very cute. Even after being plaited up for just a day last week his mane has been sitting over correctly, so fingers crossed this won't take long!

Ride/ play safe x

Autumn is on it's way

I can't believe it's starting to get dark before 8pm already. We saddled up for a short hack out up the track this evening at 7pm and it was already drawing in. We went out for a wander with Rach and the boys were very brave. We got to the top of the track to find that the bee keepers were harvesting honey from the hives. Not only did they have to make it past a strange car parked on the edge of the field, and a strange smell of the equipment, but the bee keepers were in full uniform, masks and all. There was much persuasion involved, and I was glad I hadn't braved it alone today, but we made it past and didn't end up in the ditch! 

More hot poulticing on the squidgy jaw, and there's not much more coming out. Rio was very brave this evening with that, we went in with much hotter water. He wasn't very impressed last night when I washed his mane and tail! The tail wasn't so much of an issue, but my gosh, do not wash his MANE! He was even less impressed when I plaited it up,.. Impressively they were still in place when I got to the yard this morning, but they didn't all quite make it to this evening. I couldn't quite muster the determination to plait it again this evening by the time we were done, so it will have to be done again tomorrow so it trains over. 

Sarah and Franks are away in the New Forest for 4 days now, so I'm either gonna have to find a different hacking buddy or brave it alone again over the weekend! I'm off to Burghley Horse Trials on Saturday with my mum as part of my birthday present in my new posh boots also from my mum for my birthday! On Sunday we have birthday celebrations for my niece, and then we will be working on the indoor school. It's been dug out today as it was super deep, so we are going to wash the walls down, paint it up, rake it out, and top it up where needed. It will be great to bring everyone together to do it, and also to know we have somewhere to ride over Winter when the evenings have drawn right in! 

Ride / play safe x

Totally-awesome Tuesday

Perfect hack with the boy this evening. We took a friend out for her first hack with her share pony somewhere other than the yard, and she loved it! 

Had to get a photo with the "Bridleway" sign as we don't have any near our yard...

This hill is awesome. You can't appreciate it with all the ferns at the moment but it's just awesome. It's not huge, but it's pretty steep, and the power from behind you can feel when you canter up it. Just (you guessed it!) AWESOME! If you watch it through, you'll see us take out a fern on a sharp bend, and right at the end, I just missed the shot that would have been great to get - Franks leapt up from standstill and Sarah's matrix style somehow meant she stayed on. We honestly thought she was a goner! Sadly you can just see Franks' legs come out and me saying OH MY GOD!

Lovely canter after Franks' little episode - have to laugh at my little wobble when I've turned around. Was so great to have my camera on my wrist and be able to get photos and videos. Will definitely do it again until I have the joy of a head cam or Go Pro!

My third attempt at a running plait - I think I'm getting the hang of these things! This was taken two thirds of the way into our ride, and still all in!

Having a munch back home before we went back down to the field. We had a little discussion at both ends about getting into the trailer, but all in all was not too bad. 

Ride / play safe x

Adventures begin!

The boys being very helpful this morning and walking (half way) to us to be caught.

We had such a fantastic day, a perfect hack on the perfect day. We usually hack for around 45 minutes on a simple loop close to the yard. Today was a bit more of an epic trek for us. I made a second attempt on a running braid to try and keep Rio cool. It was more successful than yesterday, but I still need to get it tighter as it did start coming out on our ride.

I couldn't have been prouder of him. He didn't spook, shy, bolt or play up at all. He got a little antsy when there was one in front of him and one to the side with one behind but soon settled down, and only walked a bit faster. That is about the extent of badness. 

We hacked for just under 90 minutes over to another yard we know, where the boys were untacked and had a little break and some haylage. Rio went into the end stable to begin with where he couldn't see anyone and did have a little panic, but I moved him down a couple of stables so he could see everyone else, and he was actually very well behaved. He moved back when asked, and let me tack him back up without fuss. I was very proud. 

This was on the way home, Rio lead the ride for a few minutes trot down some of the more winding road, and did a great job. We are working on getting his confidence up being out front for longer lengths of time. He is a brave boy, but seems to tire of being the leader for longer than a few minutes, and will slow down to allow someone else to take over. We had plenty of canters over the course of the ride, and over the last field we had a couple of vastly improved ones! On the way out, he dropped out into a trot, then picked it back up again a few metres later. Our penultimate canter was a little bit of a fight to get him to hold onto it, but we managed it, he was more keen trying get back towards the others because we had fanned out a little. Our last canter, I felt him ease into it, and just had to squeeze him on every few strides instead of every stride. It felt glorious. 

We played in the water jump too! Unfortunately no photos this time, but Rio went in without hesitating behind Sarah and Franks, and had a little wander around. He just didn't seem fussed at all. We walked out, around, and back in again, and there was just nothing that worried him despite the four of us being in there and Nemo & Franks splashing around!

Just on one small bad note, he was a little cheeky when trying to load him to come home. Luckily Wendy was on hand to Parelli Drive him and he walked himself on perfectly after just a couple of minutes. There are no limits to what that lady can teach a horse!

Ride / play safe x

Exploring with Rio

We've had a great weekend for exploring and pushing the boundaries. Rio is becoming much more trusting in me, which is helping no end and giving me a confidence boost at the same time. After a beautiful sunny day yesterday, even with the wind up a bit again this morning, I was still keen to ride and didn't have any second thoughts about going out! 

Yesterday we went on a hill ride across the road from our yard, it was a pleasant ride, straight up and straight back down again, across a few fields and down a track before turning around and heading homeward. It was good for both of us, as I'd never been as far as the track before, and it's a different environment for Rio to experience. We had a wonderful canter up the hill, and I've set my first goal of the summer. By the end of the season, I would like Rio to be fit enough to canter from the start of the fields to the end, it's 3 fields long, and I would say about half a mile, but it is uphill for half of that! I think he will do it. He's turning out to be an absolute gem. 

Today, we went out for an explore to the yard around the corner from us - I want to take Rio there to do some schooling once the days are longer and the weather nicer. To get to it, we have to go over a big bridge over the river, then under a train bridge, so I wanted him to have done the route so he's not too excitable when I intend on a schooling session! I wanted to do it on a Sunday so there weren't many trains, and we still saw 3 in the hour or so we were out! Luckily for us, none came over the bridges when we were underneath. 

When we got to the other yard, there were only a couple of people, so we bade our farewells and continued our exploration. We took the boys up the lane round the corner and under another train bridge on to a local piece of parish land. There are a LOT of cobs that are kept on this bit of land, not all of which are tethered. As we learned today. We went for a wander around hoping to have a canter down the long side on the way out. In reality, the boys became leaders of a mini herd as we tried to shoo several horses (including a few foals) away from us. There were two foals leading behind us, who were absolutely adorable, but we had to lose them before we could head back out of the field as it's not actually gated to stop them wandering. I guess they just know! I will have to go up and get some pics on foot some time so you can see, but the last thing I was thinking at the time was to try and get my phone out haha. We nearly had a few pets coming home with us.

On the way out of the field, I even managed to get Rio to wade through XC style water - I knew he didn't mind water really when I got this photo yesterday morning after he had walked right through it. No excuses now little man! He didn't even bat an eyelid. 

I borrowed a friend's flexi stirrups today to try out, as my knee and ankle yesterday were completely locked up when we got back to the yard. I've been eyeing up John Whitaker Air stirrups but no way can I justify the money any time soon! These certainly made a difference, my knee was much better, now I just need to work on my foot position in the stirrup to try and make my ankle more comfortable. What stirrups do you use, and why?

And, finally, just because he can - here's Rio playing with a stick:

What a cutie.

Ride safe x

Quiet contemplation

There are some moments that you just really know that it's worth it. The long hours in the office, the freezing winds, the poo picking in the rain. I had one of these moments this morning, for no particular reason at all, just that I was down in the field doing my morning duties, and realised I was just happy to be there. Even better is that the last two mornings, daybreak has come as I'm finishing up - spring must be just around the corner! I'm so happy we are past the shortest day, and can now look forward to the next few months. 

We've had more rain and the river has invaded the field again a little. The boys have their own paddling pool! 

I'm helping a friend out at the moment feeding her pony and when I went up with her hay after work this evening, popped up to the boys' field to say hello. They were milling around the gate area so I made up for being naughty and not picking out Rio's feet this morning. He was such a good boy, it must be a bit daunting for a walking, talking lightbulb to approach! We had lots of cuddles and head rubs after, I just love this boy so much already. 

I'm hoping to go and see my cousin and her horse tomorrow to take some photos - fingers crossed the weather holds out, although the forecast doesn't look promising. I had great fun photographing them on XC schooling over a year ago, and am hoping to be able to get more involved in photography with horses too. What do you think of my last attempts?

Well, I'm hoping for a hack out tomorrow after the hay delivery. I'm going to be working with Rio in the company of another pony for a little longer to give him some more time to get more comfortable whilst up at the top of the yard. Once he's more settled (and hopefully the weather will be too...) then I will start working him on his own a bit more. Will let you know how it goes!

Ride safe x