milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
Been a busy few weeks chez Millie!
Most exciting news was buying a lorry - after 23 years of horse ownership, I've finally got some independence. It's just a little old Renault, but it's literally going to change my horsey life. I'm so so pleased. It sat on the drive for 3 weeks waiting to have a barrier fitted to prevent anyone climbing over the breast bar - it was an agonising wait but so worth it. Millie inspects her taxi:
She's finished her in-hand walking and I'm back on board again. Only hacking for the forseeable future, but when we get to 45 mins walk and 15 mins trot then we will have a final (!) vet check and should be back in the school before Christmas. A bit of deja vu, as that's exactly the same as last year, but best not to think about that!
good to see this view again
While Millie has been on sick leave, Kira has been out and about quite a bit. 2 weeks ago she did a super job at Allens Hill, with a respectable 68% in the prelim and a super 71% in the Novice (despite me learning the wrong year's version of the test, the new one having a completely different floorplan! Thankfully a kind person read the correct one for me
)
Today was the inaugural lorry trip, and also the first time Kira was entered for 2 Novices. After the last outing, I thought I had better man up and start entering the qualifier tests. So duly entered Hartpury, hoping we'd be in the nice big outdoor, as she's definitely an outdoor kinda horse :lol: Only been indoors once and she just wanted to get out straight away!
Loaded up in the dark, slightly stressed but generally a good egg. I didn't hear a peep out of her on the journey so think she's happy with the box. I was slightly dismayed to find we were in fact in the big indoor for the tests but decided it would be a baptism of fire & we'd just have to make the best of it.
Warm up arena was a bit intimidating - it's quite dark and she was initially a bit scared of the mirrors, but after stopping for a nervous poo she was off, swinging along quite sweetly. Then we were sent down to the collecting ring for the big indoor, and that upset her a bit - she finds changing to different arenas a bit challenging, but she got on with it and just went a bit green in the test. Forgot how to counter canter, that kind of thing, so a couple of 4s were received. But a good effort for 65%.
Long wait until the next test which was N38. Much more confident this time, and super consistent, just tired legs sapping the medium trots away and losing a bit of self carriage. 69% so collected half of the points we need from qualifiers. Nearly there
encouraging comment
having a post-test graze
I loaded her up by myself with no fuss (first time I've been able to do it on my own) and another good journey home. I'm made up! It really feels like she's growing into herself, and now I'm getting moments where I get a bit of welsh cob presence in her work. She's looking at things with inquisitiveness rather than abject terror. Hurrah! Super pony.
No pics of ridden stuff as I was on my tod
Plan is to get her out & about for little journeys every week now I've got transport - different hacking places, lesson etc, just so the loading and going to different places becomes totally routine and hopefully she will come to enjoy her outings more and more. First lesson on tuesday, and then a stay away at Beacons area festival in 3 weeks - I suspect that will be even more of an educational time
Most exciting news was buying a lorry - after 23 years of horse ownership, I've finally got some independence. It's just a little old Renault, but it's literally going to change my horsey life. I'm so so pleased. It sat on the drive for 3 weeks waiting to have a barrier fitted to prevent anyone climbing over the breast bar - it was an agonising wait but so worth it. Millie inspects her taxi:
She's finished her in-hand walking and I'm back on board again. Only hacking for the forseeable future, but when we get to 45 mins walk and 15 mins trot then we will have a final (!) vet check and should be back in the school before Christmas. A bit of deja vu, as that's exactly the same as last year, but best not to think about that!
good to see this view again
While Millie has been on sick leave, Kira has been out and about quite a bit. 2 weeks ago she did a super job at Allens Hill, with a respectable 68% in the prelim and a super 71% in the Novice (despite me learning the wrong year's version of the test, the new one having a completely different floorplan! Thankfully a kind person read the correct one for me
)Today was the inaugural lorry trip, and also the first time Kira was entered for 2 Novices. After the last outing, I thought I had better man up and start entering the qualifier tests. So duly entered Hartpury, hoping we'd be in the nice big outdoor, as she's definitely an outdoor kinda horse :lol: Only been indoors once and she just wanted to get out straight away!
Loaded up in the dark, slightly stressed but generally a good egg. I didn't hear a peep out of her on the journey so think she's happy with the box. I was slightly dismayed to find we were in fact in the big indoor for the tests but decided it would be a baptism of fire & we'd just have to make the best of it.
Warm up arena was a bit intimidating - it's quite dark and she was initially a bit scared of the mirrors, but after stopping for a nervous poo she was off, swinging along quite sweetly. Then we were sent down to the collecting ring for the big indoor, and that upset her a bit - she finds changing to different arenas a bit challenging, but she got on with it and just went a bit green in the test. Forgot how to counter canter, that kind of thing, so a couple of 4s were received
. But a good effort for 65%.Long wait until the next test which was N38. Much more confident this time, and super consistent, just tired legs sapping the medium trots away and losing a bit of self carriage. 69% so collected half of the points we need from qualifiers. Nearly there
encouraging comment
having a post-test graze
I loaded her up by myself with no fuss (first time I've been able to do it on my own) and another good journey home. I'm made up! It really feels like she's growing into herself, and now I'm getting moments where I get a bit of welsh cob presence in her work. She's looking at things with inquisitiveness rather than abject terror. Hurrah! Super pony.
No pics of ridden stuff as I was on my tod
Plan is to get her out & about for little journeys every week now I've got transport - different hacking places, lesson etc, just so the loading and going to different places becomes totally routine and hopefully she will come to enjoy her outings more and more. First lesson on tuesday, and then a stay away at Beacons area festival in 3 weeks - I suspect that will be even more of an educational time
