Mid july weekend plans

[Sprat]

I went to my lesson, luckily only a short journey and Bean is plenty fit so coped well with lots of walk breaks. It was a super lesson actually, though I resembled a tomato afterwards, the mare was grand. I clipped her on Thursday as she does feel the heat and I think that was the right thing to do.

Thankfully, the clinic tomorrow has been rearranged to early morning due to the heat so I’m comfortable with taking her. The clinic is being run by a friend who I know will be 100% ok with taking lots of walk breaks and I can get her washed down / pop her in the stable for a snooze before heading back home so panic averted.

 

[DabDab]

Arts and I braved the heat and weekend traffic today to go for a jump lesson at a new venue with lots of funky fillers to play with. Was concerned about the heat but she actually travelled fine. She was then flipping fantastic in the lesson - the canter is so so much better and more adjustable these days and she's just pinging round. Lot of love for my little mare and her can-do fabulousness atm .
Took the long route home to avoid the worst of the traffic, which was actually quite a pleasant drive despite the heat.

Tomorrow I'm in the xc control at an UA ODE. Will be a hot busy day but I do quite enjoy it. Hopefully will get up early to hack Pebbles out before I go.

Have fun everyone

 

[racebuddy]

Mine went the treadmill today to keep fit but loves it even more because of rhe cold water just laughed all the way through, the flies were awful so think going to try him out at night for a couple of nights amd in in
Through the day as just so hot , should be at hunter trials next week but if doesnt cool down wont be worth it xx

 

[DabDab]

Well, had plans to do a trail course as something different and cool (even chose this over a competition)...but it was canceled. Again. The first time the person had some personal circumstances, and this time people (including them) are flooded out. We've had terrible flooding here. At least 45 dead and more missing. Villages destroyed. Just so much water. It's unreal. Just looking down in the valley and seeing a village under water.

There has been a nice outreach within the communities though offering accommodations for both humans and animals. That's the only positive thing here, seeing people really coming together and offering support.

So, I'm actually having a shite time mentally, but others have it worse ...and it's pouring, again! Should let up this weekend. I really hope it does. Horses haven't been on the fields in a week and won't be for awhile now, ruins their summer and what little turnout they get. Stables are ruined, schools (indoors) are just destroyed, it's so sad. It'll take a while to come back from this. So I'll be helping where I can, and where horse is, it is manageable so I'll exercise him in whatever way possible.

I really envy some of you positive people on this thread ? that's just not me. Sorry for the bummer post, but it's life. Still wondering how on earth this is a relaxing or even enjoyable hobby ?

Hopefully you all have a good weekend!

Looks awful on the news, thoughts with all of you there xx

Hopefully once the water subsides and things dry out a bit everything will seem a bit brighter. Winter is tough enough with horses without having the same weather issues in summer as well ?

 

[SEL]

One thelwell microcob is a bit put out at 2 very early hacks in a row. She asked to turn left this morning so we went that way - I think its a bit dull but turns out it's also quite shady. Clever hot pony. Also a hill so a good workout for using her bottom.

The non sweating Appy actually felt a little bit tacky to touch so I live in hope her body will remember what it is supposed to do in heatwaves. 27 degrees at 11 so I've left them in the shade and come home to collapse

 

[southerncomfort]

Had a really lovely weekend!

Yesterday I had a lesson on my newly backed youngster ( we live on a hill so had a nice breeze). Not only has he learned to stay on the track without wobbling and drifting, but we can now do circles (pretty ropey circles...but circles nonetheless!) AND we had our first little trot!

Then he had a bath in readiness for a show this morning where he came 3rd in a decent M&M class. It did slightly blow his brains, and he took some tactful handling to keep a lid on it, so we didn't show as well as we could have. But it was a lovely first show for him and we had some really good feedback from the judge.

All in all I could not be more proud of him. Absolutely love him to bits.

Planning on just hacking him for a bit now and getting a physio out to just check that he's coping OK with everything.

 

[j1ffy]

I had a good second lesson on Chilli on Friday - working on encouraging his neck down then his nose out. We were both sweating buckets but he recovered quickly and was happy to work in the heat, which is handy to know.

I did a sponsored walk yesterday with my Mum, so no horse time!

This morning I gave Nikicb a hand (well, mostly water tbh!) at dressage. I’ll let her report but it was brilliant to see the progress that she and Maddie are making. Then back to the yard for a sunny hack around the farm, thankfully in lots of shade for most of it. Some sweaty gardening and now planning to do very little for the rest of the day.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

B Fuzzy has me in her v bad owner books..... we went to the RC show late morning (really just to support in 1 class).... parked in the shade, got on 10 mins before our class, warmed up nicely, went in the ring and oh dear, apparently all the horseflies in the world were out to get her (despite liberal coverage of repellent). Moosed about, I managed to cover much of it up but was probably the worst ride I've had in public in the last year ?. Hey ho, win some lose some. Scraped a 2nd place frilly and scarpered home!

 

[nikicb]

I was thankful for an early start as Maddie and I headed out this morning. It was very warm, even at 8.30, but we were lucky to have the lovely @j1ffy with us to hold water bottle and pony, video our tests and give us lots of encouragement. My main aim for today was to ride Maddie positively, instead of wobbling about on top and vaguely steering. My secondary aim was to see if we could get some points for Regionals - it did seem somewhat ironic that we were trying to get Winter season points on the hottest day of the year so far!

The first test went pretty well - I thought at first she might look at some trailers that were parked near the arena, but remembered to keep my leg on and she was fine. The second test was in the spookier arena, and she was a bit tense about trotting up the long side, but I put my game face on and tried to give her the confidence she needed. We did trot early on one of the canters which was a bit expensive, but otherwise she kept with me and although I had to really ride her most of the way round, I was pleased with how it went.

Very happy to get 69.62% for the first test and 68.00% for the second (including a 4.0 for the early break, but also an 8.0 for one of the upward canter transitions). So that means we are half qualified for Winter Regionals already, which is great as we are only 18 days into the 6 month season.

Not to be outdone by his stable mate, Cam placed first in the online in-hand dressage class we did recently, and I finally got around to hosing his poo face off to get a picture of him with his rosette. What is it about greys?!

And the outtake picture of Cam - what do you think you are doing human??

 

[Roxylola]

Woo, lots of good weekend news.
We had a midweek camp Tuesday to Thursday which Charlie loved. He came home shattered but went round smallwood for a school today and he was bonkers - no brakes he was just so up for it and fabulous. He'd have gone round again and again, he was so game and good today I think he'd have gone til he dropped if I let him. Needless to say I did not and insisted on quite a few walks between fences as it was hot even at 10.30 when we were there
Camp pics here (I think)
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159291091478493&id=709868492&sfnsn=scwspmo

 

[smiggy]

Baby pony was a star. good as gold in the warm up, even when others left and she was on her own. Didn’t do too much as very hot, wandered down to arena and watched the comings and going’s at the burger van while waiting our turn. It’s quite a scarey arena as stables up one end, windows along the side and a viewing gallery on other side, plan was get in, trot round to have a gawp at everything, then poodle through the test. Got in, third of the way down first long side and bell goes, never ever had bell go so quick ! So abandoned gawping plan and straight up and into arena. She was amazing, flicked her toes, head down and got on with it, complete show off. Even the halt at the end, we practice that at home and she is distracted by the smallest things, looking around, chomping bit etc. In arena , perfect square halt and dead still, with eye on photographer ? went home buzzing with how well behaved she had been to take out, then found we won class by over 3% super star ponio.

 

[Chippers1]

We went out to a local show, not a long drive luckily but it was very hot in my tweed!! Buzz coped fine with the heat and was only sweaty under his girth, there was a bit of a breeze at times which helped. We only went and won the WH as well got a fancy sash. He felt great again, really forward and pingy. It just seems to be coming together for us at the moment!
The last time I went to this particular riding club it was the first time I ever took him to a show and we had 3 refusals so he's definitely redeemed himself!

 

[Roxylola]

Some pics from yesterday, did our first ski jump and didn't land in a heap. He was so on form I sort of regret not going round a second time and tackling the harder stuff but I'd be taking advantage of his enthusiasm to do that so he got a swill off and a big munch on their scrummy grass instead.
We'd forgotten a sponge and only had a huge bucket so I whipped his saddle cloth off the saddle and washed him down with that ?

 

[Michen]

He looks brill R!

 

[Widgeon]

I love his ears, he looks so forward and interested in the whole thing

 

[Roxylola]

Thanks guys he had a ball. There was at least one fence he considered a stop at but realised he was going to fast at one point ?
I'm a bit slow and steady really, I like to really get them understanding the question and confident by taking my time but he was pretty clear he knew what he was about yesterday

 

[YorkshireLady]

What a scorcher yesterday. Jonty clinic was a great success and we are hoping to get him back before we lose light! I have a wonderful tan now...

 

[MrsCentaur]

@Roxylola your flying cob..! I love him. What a little superstar.

@smiggy Baby pony sounds as though she's doing really well, and I love that photo. Congratulations on your win!

@nikicb what a great weekend! You must be delighted, huge congratulations!

We had a lovely weekend. I'm back in the office Monday - Friday as of today with a four-hour daily commute, so I need to cram a lot in to two days of freedom - not just pony stuff but the raising of five small children as well! I won't bore you with tales of sea swims and tucking sandy little toes up in bed for music and stories, but amongst all of that I managed to squeeze in a lesson where the whooshy armchair slowed down and listened to me rather than bombing anxiously around the school with his head in the air, which has been his usual response to being asked to do anything that he's not quite sure about - particularly in a group lesson. We've really been working on building a relationship and on prioritising listening and responding rather than doing anything particularly novel or exciting and it's really beginning to pay off. The breakthrough moment, for me, came in an exercise where we were supposed to collect and slow the trot right down on the short sides of the school and then extend and speed the trot on the longer sides. Merry's understanding of inside leg, thus far, has been 'speed up' but he suddenly just got it and we were practically trotting on the spot followed by a glorious, whooshy trot that was probably as fast as his canter. My instructor said "I can't believe how much you've improved" and I very nearly cried! Then we took our first proper hack offsite - ALONE, might I add - and he was a saint. It was a magnificent end to 17 months of WFH freedom and I'm already plotting how I can squeeze pony time in at antisocial hours without disturbing the yard owners who live on site.

 

[Michen]

Nothing horsey for me this weekend, spent it in the river!

Vet check for Bog on Weds post hock arthiritis treatment. I'm bricking it tbh, if he's not sound I have no where left to go really. Would probably at that point put a block in to check it's definitely the hocks and not an adhesion in his injury having torn. He's in full work, feels great, so hopefully that'll be reflected in the trot up...

All being well he's entered for Waverton this weekend but I'm not even bothering to think about going yet!

 

[Caol Ila]

Hoping Highland will be installed at my yard. Still waiting on strangles test. The same vet practice did the test on Hermosa when I bought her, and they apparently lost it in the post and had to go back to the breeder’s yard and do it again. Didn’t charge me for that, but still…

 

[WelshHoarder]

Was meant to be a quiet one last weekend, then small human ended up with two lessons - Friday night as last weekend’s was postponed, then another one early yesterday to beat the heat! He’s suddenly decided that no stirrups work is brilliant fun - instructor and I are both happy for him to crack on so he spent a lot of time yesterday with them completely off, including dressage test run-throughs and then a course of mini jumps (raised poles, but who am I to knock his enthusiasm!). Baby Welshie got a bath afterwards, in a desperate attempt to start getting her socks white again before they go showing next weekend - she thanked us by immediately rolling in the dustiest part of the field and then losing her fly mask in the thistles ?

This week will be spent in further attempts at sock cleaning, frantically working out what in earth to do about her haystack of a mane, and desperately tracking down various items of “proper” showing kit that haven’t been used since last autumn…

 

[blood_magik]

Blue and I survived our first BD camp.

First up was our test riding session with Harry Payne. He’s judged Raz a few times and is a pretty tough judge so I was really looking forwards to it.

Blue warmed up well, but things fell apart a little during the test run-through and it felt a little messy and rushed. Unfortunately we only had enough time to do it once, which was a bit annoying. I think I could have done with at least another 15-20 minutes to have gotten the most out of the session.

Next up we had our video feedback. We had a few silly mistakes that cost us a mark here and half a mark there, so quite easy fixes really. I was still happy that we’d managed an okay (in my book) score of 61.63% considering it was our first attempt at an elementary, it was bloody boiling and we got a 3 for one of the counter canters ?

Still, there was a few 7s in there and Harry was very complimentary of Blue, which was nice to hear. ?

Finally, we had our first lesson with Charlie Hutton. He had us slow everything down and then we did some suppling work, moving the shoulders, ribs and quarters. Then onto the counter canter. Turns out I was majorly over-riding and once I left Blue alone we managed to get CC both ways without him flinging in random changes. ??

Day 2…
First up was our second lesson with Charlie. More suppling work and then counter canter - once we made sure I could get it both ways (and it wasn’t a fluke ?) we moved onto having a look at some baby half pass moving from the centre line to the track.

We finished off with a few steps of canter HP to the 1/4 line, then a bit of cc before asking for trot. And we managed it ! ?

Our final lesson was with Diana Zadja and focussed on the rider more than the horse. Most of it was spent in sitting trot, which I haven’t done a lot of with Blue, but it was surprisingly okay - definitely easier than on Raz ?

Overall, I enjoyed the lessons. The heat, not so much ? We were supposed to go to a show today but I ended up withdrawing as its sweltering outside and poor Blue is knackered. Poor boy didn’t even get up to eat his breakfast this morning.
View attachment 76195

can’t wait for the cooler weather to kick back in this weekend ?