Summer Solstice weekend plans

SEL

SEL

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I'm waiting for my Dad to tell me on Sunday that the nights will now start drawing in...

Farrier today. Fortunately a bit of cloud cover because it's steamy. Managed 2 short hacks this morning before it got hot and probably caught enough speeding drivers on my headcam to cover Thames Valley police budget for a month.

I'm hoping it's cooler on Sunday because we have a clinic. It's the place I regularly fall off and with a instructor I haven't met - so no idea how that's going to go 🙄
 
Today was definitely cooler here, cloud cover until about 3.30pm, it was lovely!

I had my 3rd ride in total on my pony today and he is now walking up and down the track to the arena and fields. Halt established and left and right need some more practice.

Eventing tomorrow- I hope it is cooler like it was today!
We have fans in the horsebox and he is fit enough, ground report is reasonable considering the lack of rain and we're jumping lower heights.

Otherwise, pottering in the garden and packing as we're off on holiday next week- been together over 6 years and this will be our first abroad holiday together.

Have fun all!
 
SEL said:
I'm waiting for my Dad to tell me on Sunday that the nights will now start drawing in...

Farrier today. Fortunately a bit of cloud cover because it's steamy. Managed 2 short hacks this morning before it got hot and probably caught enough speeding drivers on my headcam to cover Thames Valley police budget for a month.

I'm hoping it's cooler on Sunday because we have a clinic. It's the place I regularly fall off and with a instructor I haven't met - so no idea how that's going to go 🙄
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I clicked on the thread thinking surely not but read your post and shouted no out load. We've had a great Spring/Summer but I really don't like the idea of this being the start of the end 😬
 
We are off for some BS tomorrow, it’s going to be warm but with a breeze, cloud cover (and maybe some rain according to the met office?!) I’m happy he’s plenty fit enough and Horsebox has plenty of ventilation. Nervous as possibly stepping up a height if first round goes well 😬

Friend and I took the horses down to the river yesterday evening and had a little bareback swim. It was amazing and made me feel like a kid again 😍 (even if I wasn’t wearing a neck strap and nearly went sliding off when he realised he launched off the bottom when it got a bit deep 🤣)


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Tonight we had a nice hack after 8pm as it was much cooler then he got hosed off and popped in the track with a halleys blox.

Tomorrow I’ll probably ride early morning then he can get hosed off and popped out until lunchtime. I’ll bring him in again same as today and leave him in. we have lovely old foot thick stone wall byre stables and they are lovely and cool. He can go out again about 8pm after a hose off.

Sunday we have an arena hire so he will have some flatwork done then pop some jumps in prep for our jumping completion the following Sunday 😁
 
Had a lesson on the field Thursday night was interesting to find out straightness issues on the right rein almost entirely disappear with the absence of a track and a fence 😅 right shoulder in was much better but I don't think I ride it at all well on the right my seat aids feel blocked. We were then entertained by a slew of traffic which is very rare including an open top bus reversing and a van which drove into a ditch and blocked us in the field for 20 mins. All because there were 2 roads shut.

Far to hot to ride last night going to try for an early school today and an early hack tomorrow. My hacking pals are back on board 😅
 
Cloball said:
Had a lesson on the field Thursday night was interesting to find out straightness issues on the right rein almost entirely disappear with the absence of a track and a fence 😅 right shoulder in was much better but I don't think I ride it at all well on the right my seat aids feel blocked. We were then entertained by a slew of traffic which is very rare including an open top bus reversing and a van which drove into a ditch and blocked us in the field for 20 mins. All because there were 2 roads shut.

Far to hot to ride last night going to try for an early school today and an early hack tomorrow. My hacking pals are back on board 😅
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It’s really good riding in the field, isn’t it if you can. That does however sound challenging.
 
Been away for nearly 2 weeks. Got home at almost 11am, after being up almost 24 hours! Now washing and will go fetch the dogs once I've had a coffee.

Fab holiday, swimming and snorkelling, but I tried diving and I have a dodgy back at the best of times. Carrying the tank has done my back again! Happily, they had a fab massage spa and I had a massage 5 days running. A bit sore now though, after coming home via a speedboat, 2 long plane rides in cramped seats and a 2 hour car journey. Currently can't pick stuff up o0ff the floor, so horses will be a back seat for a week or so, I think.

Worth it though, I swam with 3 types of shark, a stingray, turtles, many different glorious fish and my boyfriend. Of course, he is good at everything and came away as an International diver LOL.

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The horses stayed at home this time, and seemed to not miss us at all. Just about to go pick the doggos up. They have both been clipped and photos/videos while we were away show them happy and content in their home boarding set-up.
 
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Nice and cloudy today which took the sting out of the heat.

Short story, pony was a star and did a 29 dressage, followed by a double clear.

Unfortunately WAY too fast, he really eats the ground effortlessly and I never have to set up for fences so don't waste any time.
Even with hand cantering the last 4 fences, he was 30 seconds under optimum time and would have easily been a minute too fast if I hadn't tried to pull up 🙈

No more eventing now until autumn and actually I think we'll be back out team chasing as he felt super.
After a year of sh1t farriers and another year getting his feet sorted, I finally have my horse back 😍
 
We jumped our first Discovery and we didn’t die! In fact we were DC in both classes (BN and Disco) and would have been 4th and 2nd if we hadn’t been on a ticket! Plus a compliment from someone watching about how nice he was and what a nice ride I’d given him 😍

Going to have to put my big girl pants on and buy a 6mo BS membership for over the winter I think!

Can confirm that at 1m he still makes the jumps look about 30% smaller than they actually were

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iknowmyvalue said:
We jumped our first Discovery and we didn’t die! In fact we were DC in both classes (BN and Disco) and would have been 4th and 2nd if we hadn’t been on a ticket! Plus a compliment from someone watching about how nice he was and what a nice ride I’d given him 😍

Going to have to put my big girl pants on and buy a 6mo BS membership for over the winter I think!

Can confirm that at 1m he still makes the jumps look about 30% smaller than they actually were

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I think he’s lovely and you look well suited.
 
I'm jealous of those of you that have had rain. I even watered the garden & put the washing out yesterday to encourage a downpour - about 6 drops.

Fortunately cooler today because yesterday evening was grim. Jumping clinic was OK-ish. Clinic fine & I didn't fall off but I'm not sute why we've started refusing fillers. If it was all jumps I'd worry about pain but it's not. So it's probably me and probably because I did come off too many times in a short time period. So now I need to work out how to deal with that.
 
Bought my own saddle so they assumed I could ride and I got given a mare they apparently dont usually give to guests 😂 who is a total firecracker, American version of Boggle. They had me race the next fastest horses and she left them for dust, I’m not sure I’ve actually ever been so fast on a horse in my life!


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Michen said:
Yes thank goodness because everyone has a very sore bottom, mine is a trail saddle so it has a comfy squishy seat.
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I spent some time working on a QH stud and found 1 of 20+ saddles that didn't cripple me and was comfortable, and I made mine while I was there. The others were rock solid torture.

I've often wondered about this, because while I find some English saddles are more comfortable than others due to saddle & rider shape etc., I can generally ride in anything English. However in the uncomfortable western saddles at this stud, apart from leaving me bruised, I really struggled to ride in and not bounce around like a novice having their 1st trot.

Do western saddle seat shapes vary a lot? When you were buying yours was fit for you a key part?
 
Amber and I had a great time at camp and finished up with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd at the show yesterday all with good scores. She was awesome for the ranch trail we managed the best run we ever have, really soft and relaxed throughout. I'm over the moon with her, we're still a work in progress, but we are making progress. However, she needs a new saddle which is going to be expensive!

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I spent the weekend fencing off my new field for when my boys move to their new yard in two weeks time. Unfortunately ran out of tape so got a small section left to finish off, but overall it's looking great! There's a ton of grass at the new yard, so I've given the boys a smaller fenced off section and will slowly move it as and when is needed. I'd rather that they had a slightly too small area of grass, rather than a ton and I end up with health problems. They still have enough room to canter around and get out of each other's way but not too much that it is a laminitis risk. I also moved some things I'm not using/ don't need over to the new yard, so I've been a busy bee.

No riding due to the above, but in the heat we had, I wouldn't ride anyway :)
 
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