Elf On A Shelf
...
Harvest time is always an interesting one! The majority of our horses are great in traffic but even the best of them can be tested when faced with combines and big tractors and trailers full of grain! We are lucky in that the farmers generally try to either keep to the other side of the field whilst we are out or wait until the afternoon to do the bits near us. It is inevitable that we will meet at some point. But we shall get to that later on.
This morning started off with fog as thick as pea soup. You couldn't see 10m ahead of you which made going up and down the gallops interesting! At yard 1 we are generally doing different things so you can meet horses going up or down the gallops all the time. First lot was Pony! He still hasn't calmed down yet ... prick. So off we trotted, leapt, plunged, bronced, shot sideways and took a ridiculously keen hold cantering. We had mostly survived without too much drama until we turned off the gallop to head back to the barn when the youngsters went streaming up the logs right behind us! Well that sent us leaping, plunging and cantering sideways in! One day he will settle and be the nice horse I know he can be! He is just such a happy chappy who loves his work!
Next was wee Macattack. He is the one who buries you if he doesnt like you lol! We tootled off round the fields as a warm up to schooling. Compared to Pony Mac was a wee saint with only a few broncs when going down hill. Mac runs tomorrow so I handed him over to one of the jockeys for his last schooling session. No point in me clinging on screaming with my eyes closed if I didn't have to! Mac is actually an awesome jumper and his jockey came back in with a big broad smile on his face! And no wonder - this is him going up over one of the tyre fences. The hurdles he jumps better.
Mac School
Over at the other yard Sky was my first lot. Now Sky has had a hobday so he can no longer neigh and he hasn't squealed at the bottom of the gallops since he has had it done. Until today! We were going up the front of the string and me being me went in on the buckle end of the reins and as we got onto the gallop turned to look back to check that everyone was in the gate. Yeah that didn't happen! Sky Squealed, leapt and shot off like a bullet out of a gun taking full advantage of the fact I didn't have a hold of my reins nor was I paying him any attention! Wee toad! But I couldn't stop grinning - He squealed! It's been so so long since I have heard that cheeky wee squeal! So I forgave him for towing my arms out every step of the way! Then we met the combine... Sky is awesome in traffic. He treats it like a game. The more traffic and the bigger the traffic the more he pretends to be angry at it. The combine today was his funniest reaction yet! He normally shakes his head, squiggles his front feet and swishes his tail. Today Sky decided that a combine was worthy of a squeal, a teeth grind, a head shake, foot squiggle and bronc! He is such a dude! There was a bit of carnage behind me. Most horses just throw their heads up, slow up and side step. A couple spun but all returned safely.
Next up was Happy Harry. He is THEE most annoying horse on the planet! He jogs EVERYWHERE! I HATE joggers! Especially one as uncomfortable as him! But he does work well but that doesn't make up for the stitch all the way home...
My final lot was Midnight. My other big hunter/secret weapon. It was on him that we started to meet the long line (well 3!) tractors and trailers. Bless him he is only 5yo, very green and hasn't seen much of life but he strode on past the tractors giving a lead to everyone else and hiding one that is 3yrs older than him whilst they passed it. On the gallops he is a dude. A little unco-ordinated until he gets going but he eats up the gallop. And then he broncs through the dip. Every. Single. Time. He is forgiven though because he is a baby and that is as far as he takes it. This is Midnight -
We also had Henrietta Knight in the yard today. She is writing a new book and is visiting loads of yards to get different ways of training horses. I managed to annoy Scu slightly. The conversation started off being about racehorses. Then I mentioned that I had a horse she used to train many years ago - Jeff. She remembered him but not fondly lol! In her words - the big chestnut French thing, covered in sarcoids with a high head carraige and a chronic bleeder. He no longer has sarcoids, whilst she had him he had them lasered off and they have never returned. He also no longer has a high head carraige unless you let him. The conversation then veered off on a tangent when I mentioned that I had shetlands that Jeff tormented. So that started off a whole new train of thought of old school bloodlines and breeders (her mum used to breed shetlands then connies, She herself carried on with the connies) how there is a prevelance for lighter built performance ponies over the true to type, old fashioned stocky pit ponies. And then of course it moved onto how natives have changed beyond recognition for the lighter performance types with daisy cutting movement. It was at this point that Scu intervened. He clearly hadn't done his homework about her life in the Native pony world!
So it's been an eventful and informative day and tomorrow I get to go racing for the first time since May! None of 'mine' have ran since May and I am looking forward to the day off the yard. If you are wondering where Bucket Heed has gone he is off games for a month. He has had a wind op so hopefully by the time he is back in work Pony will have settled down. I can only deal with one rodeo show at a time!
This morning started off with fog as thick as pea soup. You couldn't see 10m ahead of you which made going up and down the gallops interesting! At yard 1 we are generally doing different things so you can meet horses going up or down the gallops all the time. First lot was Pony! He still hasn't calmed down yet ... prick. So off we trotted, leapt, plunged, bronced, shot sideways and took a ridiculously keen hold cantering. We had mostly survived without too much drama until we turned off the gallop to head back to the barn when the youngsters went streaming up the logs right behind us! Well that sent us leaping, plunging and cantering sideways in! One day he will settle and be the nice horse I know he can be! He is just such a happy chappy who loves his work!
Next was wee Macattack. He is the one who buries you if he doesnt like you lol! We tootled off round the fields as a warm up to schooling. Compared to Pony Mac was a wee saint with only a few broncs when going down hill. Mac runs tomorrow so I handed him over to one of the jockeys for his last schooling session. No point in me clinging on screaming with my eyes closed if I didn't have to! Mac is actually an awesome jumper and his jockey came back in with a big broad smile on his face! And no wonder - this is him going up over one of the tyre fences. The hurdles he jumps better.
Mac School
Over at the other yard Sky was my first lot. Now Sky has had a hobday so he can no longer neigh and he hasn't squealed at the bottom of the gallops since he has had it done. Until today! We were going up the front of the string and me being me went in on the buckle end of the reins and as we got onto the gallop turned to look back to check that everyone was in the gate. Yeah that didn't happen! Sky Squealed, leapt and shot off like a bullet out of a gun taking full advantage of the fact I didn't have a hold of my reins nor was I paying him any attention! Wee toad! But I couldn't stop grinning - He squealed! It's been so so long since I have heard that cheeky wee squeal! So I forgave him for towing my arms out every step of the way! Then we met the combine... Sky is awesome in traffic. He treats it like a game. The more traffic and the bigger the traffic the more he pretends to be angry at it. The combine today was his funniest reaction yet! He normally shakes his head, squiggles his front feet and swishes his tail. Today Sky decided that a combine was worthy of a squeal, a teeth grind, a head shake, foot squiggle and bronc! He is such a dude! There was a bit of carnage behind me. Most horses just throw their heads up, slow up and side step. A couple spun but all returned safely.
Next up was Happy Harry. He is THEE most annoying horse on the planet! He jogs EVERYWHERE! I HATE joggers! Especially one as uncomfortable as him! But he does work well but that doesn't make up for the stitch all the way home...
My final lot was Midnight. My other big hunter/secret weapon. It was on him that we started to meet the long line (well 3!) tractors and trailers. Bless him he is only 5yo, very green and hasn't seen much of life but he strode on past the tractors giving a lead to everyone else and hiding one that is 3yrs older than him whilst they passed it. On the gallops he is a dude. A little unco-ordinated until he gets going but he eats up the gallop. And then he broncs through the dip. Every. Single. Time. He is forgiven though because he is a baby and that is as far as he takes it. This is Midnight -
We also had Henrietta Knight in the yard today. She is writing a new book and is visiting loads of yards to get different ways of training horses. I managed to annoy Scu slightly. The conversation started off being about racehorses. Then I mentioned that I had a horse she used to train many years ago - Jeff. She remembered him but not fondly lol! In her words - the big chestnut French thing, covered in sarcoids with a high head carraige and a chronic bleeder. He no longer has sarcoids, whilst she had him he had them lasered off and they have never returned. He also no longer has a high head carraige unless you let him. The conversation then veered off on a tangent when I mentioned that I had shetlands that Jeff tormented. So that started off a whole new train of thought of old school bloodlines and breeders (her mum used to breed shetlands then connies, She herself carried on with the connies) how there is a prevelance for lighter built performance ponies over the true to type, old fashioned stocky pit ponies. And then of course it moved onto how natives have changed beyond recognition for the lighter performance types with daisy cutting movement. It was at this point that Scu intervened. He clearly hadn't done his homework about her life in the Native pony world!
So it's been an eventful and informative day and tomorrow I get to go racing for the first time since May! None of 'mine' have ran since May and I am looking forward to the day off the yard. If you are wondering where Bucket Heed has gone he is off games for a month. He has had a wind op so hopefully by the time he is back in work Pony will have settled down. I can only deal with one rodeo show at a time!
