Weekday Plans - w/c 17th Nov

Boot sales are suspended for winter as well here 🤣

I do after lament over the nice indoor schools and full liveries that are all at least an hour away from me so I still probably won't rise any more 😅
We've got 2 hacks planned this week as I have one WFH day and one day of annual leave for my sanity today's hack was an adventure we only made it half the way round before an impassable tree down. We also had 2 big laden lorries with flashing lights only one of which was horse friendly the other seemed to think we could melt 4 horses into a hedge and got the hump despite the fact he'd purposely sped past 3 decent passing places after he'd seen us. Then 2 chihuahuas and a doodle came charging out at us and proceeded to bark and jump at us whilst I shoo'd them away ... But it was okay said the owner as they are used to horses 🤨

D was an absolute superstar and didn't flinch once total pro even gave a chihuahua a curious sniff once it had been scooped from under her feet.

I don't want to jinx our ride tomorrow.

Hopefully a sunny hacking picture to remind myself that there is some upsides to this cold spell. Pony thought he had his own halo 😇 🤣

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Another upside is pony isn't a sweaty mess any more 😅 Screenshot_20251120-150742-344.pngScreenshot_20251120-150703-863.pngScreenshot_20251120-150635-727.png
 
Well done to everyone cracking on in this weather. No facilities at home but Wednesday is my day off so I was underwhelmed by snow yesterday. Got the hooligan over to my friends arena - which is about a 25m circle ish shape - for some jumping. Wind blew 2 jumps over and we spent so much time spooking I think we rode on a 15m circle. But hey, jumped stuff, didn't buck, I didn't die, he got some exercise. My standards are low this week!!
 
Amber ended up having Wednesday and Thursday off due to the weather but back at it this morning with a fab schooling session. Arena was frost on the top but a good walk warm up and it was then fine for faster stuff.
 
Arena was frozen this morning so had an in-hand classical lesson instead of a ridden one.

I've dabbled with this in-hand stuff in the past and always struggled a bit with it feeling over complicated and found it quite dull but this was the first time doing in-hand with my instructor. Pony was unsure at first (shows how long it's been since even attempting it last 🙈) but grew in confidence & I actually really enjoyed it & can see how it could be really helpful so I'm going to try and commit to a session a week over winter (although I might well regret saying that ...🤣)

5 out of 5 weekdays done 💪
 
I still haven't ridden since I got back from holiday 🙈 To be fair I don't usually ride on Tuesdays & Thursdays due to working late, lunged on Monday and we went to the water treadmill on Wednesday. Planned to hack this morning but the roads were too icy and I was fed up after dealing with the retired ones hauling water up the field from home as the pipes are frozen solid, couldn't feel my fingers etc. and had to rush home to drop car off for it's MOT. Our school generally holds up pretty well so I'm hoping to get a ride in after work later and it looks to be thawing out tomorrow so I can hack over the weekend 🤞

We have a jump lesson on Monday and horse will be a raving lunatic if I don't get on with it soon :oops:
 
Arena was frozen this morning so had an in-hand classical lesson instead of a ridden one.

I've dabbled with this in-hand stuff in the past and always struggled a bit with it feeling over complicated and found it quite dull but this was the first time doing in-hand with my instructor. Pony was unsure at first (shows how long it's been since even attempting it last 🙈) but grew in confidence & I actually really enjoyed it & can see how it could be really helpful so I'm going to try and commit to a session a week over winter (although I might well regret saying that ...🤣)

5 out of 5 weekdays done 💪
Excellent plan diversion! In hand exercises SO useful to have in your toolbox. I also find it quite brain boggling tbh, I don't have the muscle memory like for ridden cues so I have to think more about what I'm asking. But so worth doing!

Have heard ONE cough since Tuesday evening so hopefully Plague Pony on the mend (again) 🎉. Didn't do anything last night, probably should have, but it was all a bit chaotic on the yard with it being so icy. Should be up to 5C and staying there so if the arena is okay will also do some in hand stuff tonight! Thanking my lucky stars I decided to try her outside full time as others have been kept stabled most of the last 2 days and if I had dosed her with £100 of cartrophen to then stand still for 72 hours I think I would have cried.
 
sacked off our plan to lunge last night, and so far haven’t ridden today either🤣 i’m hoping the arena will be soft enough tonight to have a quick test of our new bit, dressage tomorrow and then last nights lunge will be rearranged for sunday after work!

side note, ordered the bradoon rings for lily’s new bit as the one i tried looked lovely, well this one the rings look teeny tiny so fingers crossed it doesn’t look ridiculous🤣
 
sacked off our plan to lunge last night, and so far haven’t ridden today either🤣 i’m hoping the arena will be soft enough tonight to have a quick test of our new bit, dressage tomorrow and then last nights lunge will be rearranged for sunday after work!

side note, ordered the bradoon rings for lily’s new bit as the one i tried looked lovely, well this one the rings look teeny tiny so fingers crossed it doesn’t look ridiculous🤣

My horse has a teeny tiny mouth and only takes a 5" bit - which unfortunately puts us in what most manufacturers consider 'pony sizes' - you get used to the tiny rings and it looks normal eventually 😄
 
My horse has a teeny tiny mouth and only takes a 5" bit - which unfortunately puts us in what most manufacturers consider 'pony sizes' - you get used to the tiny rings and it looks normal eventually 😄
i’m thinking the one we tried might have been the proper loose ring but pony size cheeks, looking on the website that’s 5mm difference so i’m hoping it looks okay😂
 
I finally made it back in the saddle post holiday last night 😁

Arena was a bit firm so we didn’t do much but focussed on lateral work in walk and I felt better for making an effort! Plan was to hack today but I ran out of daylight so we did a quick but productive flatwork session. K was bordering on lazy, he desperately needs a clip, but as he’s normally pretty sharp and strong I’m quite enjoying the quieter life for now :oops:

Feeling quite accomplished as I cracked on with some jobs down at the retired ones after feeling like I was just surviving the deep freeze all week. Field fully poo picked, hay feeders shifted over to the new grazing I moved them on to last week and all water tubs scrubbed out and refilled 💪 and had a bit of a tidy up and swept up everywhere. Finally getting out of my post holiday blues and winter sulk!
 
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