skychick
Well-Known Member
Its been a little while since i have been on here properly...what with work, horse, gym, trying to move house, family functions etc etc!!
So...you may remember my Paddy saga's back in the summer of last year.
Well after putting him out on loan with my confidence shattered, i got my new horse on loan. She belonged to a friend who evented her until she did a hind leg tendon about 4 yrs ago. Then she put her in foal twice.
I was offered her to bring back into work and see how we got on. She is the sort of mare people wish for. Perfect manners and not a nasty bone in her body.
Anyways....this was august and i took her on on permanant loan in september.
Things went well, and she came back into work brilliantly. We hacked to start then after about 3 months we started bringin her in the school and doing some flatwork, a little at a time. All went very well and we make a great team.
Then the snow came and that put pay to all of our fun, as it did everyones.
So she had to be kept in 24/7 as the little monkey decided that she didnt like snow and decided to charge up and down the fence and causing no end of injuries to herself. We had to start back in work steadily after the ice and snow had gone.
In the middle of January i think i got the january blues due to working all hours and the lack of daylight in the mornings when i rode, and whenever i went in the school i lost my confidence for no reason at all. Hacking was fine, i dont care how joggy/spooky she was out but for some reason i feared the school. She picked up on this a bit and combined with being in alot (we have to be a bit carefull of her turnout as she is a bit of a loon in the field even when out 24/7 so she cant go out if its too boggy or frozen with deep ruts due to her tendon) she took advantage a little and decided to use any excuse to whizz off across the school and my confidence hit rock bottom.
This went on for a couple of weeks and my lessons were spent hurtling across the school, me nearly in tears, feeling sick with nerves before a lesson and wondering if i should give up riding altogether! I cant believe it looking back how badly i lost my confidence and for no reason at all. But my instructor who is as patient as a saint, got her assistant (my horses owner!) to ride her for a bit for me. She would do 20 minutes then i would get on and have my lesson and we have built up from there. Things were still a bit shakey from time to time.
Well, a couple of weeks ago i had a major talking to myself and told myself to man up and stop being so pathetic, my mare is not the sort that is going to do anything nasty. She doesnt buck, rear, or do anything. So i had no reason to be feeling like this. She was just fresh because she was sensing that she could be cheeky. (she is 16 years old so is not stupid!!)
So.....i was due to have another lesson....and it went brilliantly.
I rode my mare like i hadnt ridden her before, and she realised that she couldnt get away with being cheeky any longer!
Since then things have got better and better and better. I am enjoying my lessons again and the mare is too. We have been doing lots of suppling excercises for me and her and i am really learning to ride her.
Last week, her owner popped her over some small cross poles. She hadnt jumped for about 4 years (we had been doing pole work for the previous few lessons in prep for jumping her again) and she jumped like she had been jumping every week for years, really calmly. So i hopped on and popped her over a couple in trot and finished with some in canter.
My next lesson consisted of putting some fences together and doing a little course in trot. Followed by a nice canter up a long field to finish and to get her out in an open space.
This morning i had another lesson. My best lesson yet! We popped a little course (4 jumps ;-) ) in canter and it was amazing. She is a tiny bit rusty and i am getting used to riding a 16.2hh instead of a 14.2hh! so its not necessarily pretty to watch! but we seem to be getting on very well together. Jumping was her best phase when she was eventing, her little ears prick forwards and her eyes light up and she really enjoys herself. I do too....flatwork i find hard...but jumping i really enjoy and i think we are going to have alot of fun this summer.
So all in all we are having lots of fun progressing our jumping, working well on the flat and enjoying lovely whizzes up fields when the ground isnt too boggy!
Sorry for such a long and pointless post, after lots of horsey heartache over the last 15 months its such a relief that things are really starting to go well again.
Thanks for reading!
So...you may remember my Paddy saga's back in the summer of last year.
Well after putting him out on loan with my confidence shattered, i got my new horse on loan. She belonged to a friend who evented her until she did a hind leg tendon about 4 yrs ago. Then she put her in foal twice.
I was offered her to bring back into work and see how we got on. She is the sort of mare people wish for. Perfect manners and not a nasty bone in her body.
Anyways....this was august and i took her on on permanant loan in september.
Things went well, and she came back into work brilliantly. We hacked to start then after about 3 months we started bringin her in the school and doing some flatwork, a little at a time. All went very well and we make a great team.
Then the snow came and that put pay to all of our fun, as it did everyones.
So she had to be kept in 24/7 as the little monkey decided that she didnt like snow and decided to charge up and down the fence and causing no end of injuries to herself. We had to start back in work steadily after the ice and snow had gone.
In the middle of January i think i got the january blues due to working all hours and the lack of daylight in the mornings when i rode, and whenever i went in the school i lost my confidence for no reason at all. Hacking was fine, i dont care how joggy/spooky she was out but for some reason i feared the school. She picked up on this a bit and combined with being in alot (we have to be a bit carefull of her turnout as she is a bit of a loon in the field even when out 24/7 so she cant go out if its too boggy or frozen with deep ruts due to her tendon) she took advantage a little and decided to use any excuse to whizz off across the school and my confidence hit rock bottom.
This went on for a couple of weeks and my lessons were spent hurtling across the school, me nearly in tears, feeling sick with nerves before a lesson and wondering if i should give up riding altogether! I cant believe it looking back how badly i lost my confidence and for no reason at all. But my instructor who is as patient as a saint, got her assistant (my horses owner!) to ride her for a bit for me. She would do 20 minutes then i would get on and have my lesson and we have built up from there. Things were still a bit shakey from time to time.
Well, a couple of weeks ago i had a major talking to myself and told myself to man up and stop being so pathetic, my mare is not the sort that is going to do anything nasty. She doesnt buck, rear, or do anything. So i had no reason to be feeling like this. She was just fresh because she was sensing that she could be cheeky. (she is 16 years old so is not stupid!!)
So.....i was due to have another lesson....and it went brilliantly.
I rode my mare like i hadnt ridden her before, and she realised that she couldnt get away with being cheeky any longer!
Since then things have got better and better and better. I am enjoying my lessons again and the mare is too. We have been doing lots of suppling excercises for me and her and i am really learning to ride her.
Last week, her owner popped her over some small cross poles. She hadnt jumped for about 4 years (we had been doing pole work for the previous few lessons in prep for jumping her again) and she jumped like she had been jumping every week for years, really calmly. So i hopped on and popped her over a couple in trot and finished with some in canter.
My next lesson consisted of putting some fences together and doing a little course in trot. Followed by a nice canter up a long field to finish and to get her out in an open space.
This morning i had another lesson. My best lesson yet! We popped a little course (4 jumps ;-) ) in canter and it was amazing. She is a tiny bit rusty and i am getting used to riding a 16.2hh instead of a 14.2hh! so its not necessarily pretty to watch! but we seem to be getting on very well together. Jumping was her best phase when she was eventing, her little ears prick forwards and her eyes light up and she really enjoys herself. I do too....flatwork i find hard...but jumping i really enjoy and i think we are going to have alot of fun this summer.
So all in all we are having lots of fun progressing our jumping, working well on the flat and enjoying lovely whizzes up fields when the ground isnt too boggy!
Sorry for such a long and pointless post, after lots of horsey heartache over the last 15 months its such a relief that things are really starting to go well again.
Thanks for reading!
