spookypony
Well-Known Member
Long time no see, peeps! I've been in hiding for some months. The Spooky Pony has been off this entire season with a shredded check ligament: just as we were almost ready to kick off the season with a big ride, after having missed most of last year due to illness, he went just slightly lame...and then made it worse during a stormy night. I'm allowed to hop back on now---if I can catch him---but we don't know yet if he will return to competition at all, and at what level.
Having received a *******ing for not taking the Ballerina Mare out yet (despite my having decided previously that I didn't particularly want to do Endurance with her, since I am by inclination more of a dressage person), I entered her for the last Grampian ride of the season, a 21k Pleasure Ride at Balmoral, with the parking and vetting being on the Queen's lawn---literally. I was quite freaked out about the whole operation: 1. I had to borrow a 4x4, mine having given up the ghost, 2. she hasn't traveled since February, so I was apprehensive about loading under time pressure, although she is usually very good, and 3. it being her first time, I was not sure how she would behave.
I spent Saturday flapping around getting things ready. The mare had a bath, which displeased her greatly, and despite being rugged, she managed to clart herself in mud again within about 30 seconds of being put back out in the field. Then I drove to my friend's house about an hour away, and we swapped cars. Sunday began at 5:15 am (WHY can't they schedule the start a bit later, given it's just a Pleasure Ride, and in a quite remote part of the branch?). Shortly after 6, I was on the yard, where I retrieved the mare from the wrong field (again), gave the other two their breakfast, and shoved her straight onto the trailer. Once she finished her own breakfast (bribe for loading immediately), I drove to my ride buddy's place to pick up her and her mare, shortly after 7 (we had been asked to share trailers, if possible. Something to do with Prince Charles and police cars, possibly?).
We got to Balmoral nice and early, sorted our paperwork, unloaded our mares and all our stuff and...the Ballerina Mare was pretty much impeccably behaved, relaxed, finishing her breakfast and eating her hay (and the other mare's hay) very nicely! She is experienced at showing, so the idea of hanging around at a busy venue waiting at a trailer is not a foreign concept, but it's been a wee while! She was calm, and stood still for the heart rate (42 bpm), and did a reasonably competent trot-up.
The start was a very chilled-out experience, compared to the Spooky Pony. He went through a very long phase where I had to mount just as the count-down was reaching 5 seconds, or else spend the entire wait at the start spinning backwards in circles and trying to sit on the starter's table. He's gotten better of late, but I'm still apprehensive about the start. On Sunday, we managed to amble across the parking area, amble to the starter, and just wait calmly until it was time to go. No fuss! However, like hunting, I'm told it's the second or third time, when they clock onto what is happening, that the good-behaviour-honeymoon-period is over, so we shall see!
The ride itself was gorgeous: a lollipop-shaped route, which took us through the pony stud and then up a very long climb in the forest, before looping down again beside Victoria Falls and retracing the route. The pony stud was very exciting: one particular paddock contained a pony that took a particular shine to the Ballerina Mare, and was turning himself inside out as we came past. We are still not entirely sure if this was a stallion or a gelding, but the Ballerina Mare appeared to think he was quite sexy, too, and I was very glad of the other mare in front of us, so that there was a barrier to contain her airs above the ground (she is 1/2 Lipizzaner, after all, and felt the need to demonstrate this). We kept quite a steady tempo after that, but put in a long wait at the second check point: we saw that there was a cluster of many horses bunched up just ahead, and we were not interested in trying to pass all of them at once. No racing needed! So we let the two riders whom we had passed earlier pass us again, and waited until the huge cluster of horses was out of sight. I was a bit concerned about my little mare's fitness, since we've not done a huge amount, but although the big long climb tired her, she recovered well, and still had petrol in the tank at the end.
As we cooled off, I was trying to take a HR, but couldn't find a pulse. Since her tugging on the haynet suggested that she was not, in fact, clinically dead, I assumed that this was not a bad sign. We got in the long line (all those horses bunched up in front of us were there, too). The vet couldn't find her pulse either, initially, but eventually determined that it was a chilled-out 39 bpm. Not bad for her first outing!
On the way home, we stopped for a quick snack in Aboyne, and then I dropped off my friend and her mare, and took the Ballerina Mare home. There, I decided to let them all through into the next paddock a week early, since she had been indicating (by virtue of appearing in the wrong field) for two days already that it was time to move to more grass. And then I had to drive another hour to exchange cars again! So I finally made it home around 9pm, which is a bit absurd for a 2h Pleasure Ride, and cracked open a small bottle of bubbly!
Some pix (I'm the one with the blue jacket):
Look, it's the Queen's house!
A bit tired, having a wee nap:
Having received a *******ing for not taking the Ballerina Mare out yet (despite my having decided previously that I didn't particularly want to do Endurance with her, since I am by inclination more of a dressage person), I entered her for the last Grampian ride of the season, a 21k Pleasure Ride at Balmoral, with the parking and vetting being on the Queen's lawn---literally. I was quite freaked out about the whole operation: 1. I had to borrow a 4x4, mine having given up the ghost, 2. she hasn't traveled since February, so I was apprehensive about loading under time pressure, although she is usually very good, and 3. it being her first time, I was not sure how she would behave.
I spent Saturday flapping around getting things ready. The mare had a bath, which displeased her greatly, and despite being rugged, she managed to clart herself in mud again within about 30 seconds of being put back out in the field. Then I drove to my friend's house about an hour away, and we swapped cars. Sunday began at 5:15 am (WHY can't they schedule the start a bit later, given it's just a Pleasure Ride, and in a quite remote part of the branch?). Shortly after 6, I was on the yard, where I retrieved the mare from the wrong field (again), gave the other two their breakfast, and shoved her straight onto the trailer. Once she finished her own breakfast (bribe for loading immediately), I drove to my ride buddy's place to pick up her and her mare, shortly after 7 (we had been asked to share trailers, if possible. Something to do with Prince Charles and police cars, possibly?).
We got to Balmoral nice and early, sorted our paperwork, unloaded our mares and all our stuff and...the Ballerina Mare was pretty much impeccably behaved, relaxed, finishing her breakfast and eating her hay (and the other mare's hay) very nicely! She is experienced at showing, so the idea of hanging around at a busy venue waiting at a trailer is not a foreign concept, but it's been a wee while! She was calm, and stood still for the heart rate (42 bpm), and did a reasonably competent trot-up.
The start was a very chilled-out experience, compared to the Spooky Pony. He went through a very long phase where I had to mount just as the count-down was reaching 5 seconds, or else spend the entire wait at the start spinning backwards in circles and trying to sit on the starter's table. He's gotten better of late, but I'm still apprehensive about the start. On Sunday, we managed to amble across the parking area, amble to the starter, and just wait calmly until it was time to go. No fuss! However, like hunting, I'm told it's the second or third time, when they clock onto what is happening, that the good-behaviour-honeymoon-period is over, so we shall see!
The ride itself was gorgeous: a lollipop-shaped route, which took us through the pony stud and then up a very long climb in the forest, before looping down again beside Victoria Falls and retracing the route. The pony stud was very exciting: one particular paddock contained a pony that took a particular shine to the Ballerina Mare, and was turning himself inside out as we came past. We are still not entirely sure if this was a stallion or a gelding, but the Ballerina Mare appeared to think he was quite sexy, too, and I was very glad of the other mare in front of us, so that there was a barrier to contain her airs above the ground (she is 1/2 Lipizzaner, after all, and felt the need to demonstrate this). We kept quite a steady tempo after that, but put in a long wait at the second check point: we saw that there was a cluster of many horses bunched up just ahead, and we were not interested in trying to pass all of them at once. No racing needed! So we let the two riders whom we had passed earlier pass us again, and waited until the huge cluster of horses was out of sight. I was a bit concerned about my little mare's fitness, since we've not done a huge amount, but although the big long climb tired her, she recovered well, and still had petrol in the tank at the end.
As we cooled off, I was trying to take a HR, but couldn't find a pulse. Since her tugging on the haynet suggested that she was not, in fact, clinically dead, I assumed that this was not a bad sign. We got in the long line (all those horses bunched up in front of us were there, too). The vet couldn't find her pulse either, initially, but eventually determined that it was a chilled-out 39 bpm. Not bad for her first outing!
On the way home, we stopped for a quick snack in Aboyne, and then I dropped off my friend and her mare, and took the Ballerina Mare home. There, I decided to let them all through into the next paddock a week early, since she had been indicating (by virtue of appearing in the wrong field) for two days already that it was time to move to more grass. And then I had to drive another hour to exchange cars again! So I finally made it home around 9pm, which is a bit absurd for a 2h Pleasure Ride, and cracked open a small bottle of bubbly!
Some pix (I'm the one with the blue jacket):
Look, it's the Queen's house!
A bit tired, having a wee nap:
x 
