Weekday Plans - w/c 24th Nov

sheep

sheep

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A new week!

Plans are quite light for us this week, although they may change slightly.
We are out on Wednesday night, and they are getting F&T Thursday so that’ll give them Friday off too.

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How are things looking for everyone else?

Tonight we will repeat our simple pole work exercise from last week - 6 walk poles, rather than 4, and use them to improve transitions into and out of walk, basically. I found it really useful last week as it was easy to scale to suit both boys.
 
God these threads really highlight how the weeks are flying in 😂 27 days till solstice!

Any plans still tentative here. Need the cough to stay away! There is a recently floated option to chuck her out in a winter field and let her have a few weeks off entirely, so giving that a ponder.
 
Sending healing & get well.soon vibes to all the poorly ponies 💓

Pony is having a well deserved day off as he didn't get one last week and has done just over 20k in fairly whizzy hacking this weekend. Although, this dissapointingly this didn't mean a small lie in for me as had an early morning barefoot trimmer appointment 🤣

I'm hoping our week looks like below:

Monday: Day off
Tuesday: Hacking
Wednesday: Lesson
Thursday: Hacking
Friday: Hacking or intervals
Saturday: Hacking
Sunday: Trec
 
smolmaus said:
God these threads really highlight how the weeks are flying in 😂 27 days till solstice!

Any plans still tentative here. Need the cough to stay away! There is a recently floated option to chuck her out in a winter field and let her have a few weeks off entirely, so giving that a ponder.
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Not far away from officially being through the longest day 🙌
Tempting offer, especially if she still has that cough. Decent grass etc?

Alibear said:
Ambers a bit under the weather so a few days off whilst I wait for the vets to come back to me and the ventipulmin does its thing.
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Fingers crossed for speedy recovery ❤️‍🩹

Lovely, bright day here but unfortunately mine are all in because NI Electricity are in working on power lines in our fields. Wrecking my winter grazing too, probably 😭 great job they pay us for access.


(£70 a year, in case you wondered)
 
sheep said:
Not far away from officially being through the longest day 🙌
Tempting offer, especially if she still has that cough. Decent grass etc?
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Rested grass. Nicer than I'd like given her current obesity. I can muzzle I guess.

Time off good for cough, bad for waistline. Opinion divided on whether field or large hardstanding + regular work would be better for the stifle. No energy in my brain for decisions!!!!
sheep said:
(£70 a year, in case you wondered)
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It should be this per day plus damages. I've seen what they can do to a wet field! Praying for ur grass 🙏
 
smolmaus said:
Rested grass. Nicer than I'd like given her current obesity. I can muzzle I guess.

Time off good for cough, bad for waistline. Opinion divided on whether field or large hardstanding + regular work would be better for the stifle. No energy in my brain for decisions!!!!

It should be this per day plus damages. I've seen what they can do to a wet field! Praying for ur grass 🙏
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Ahhh yes, decisions are never straightforward are they?!
If the ground is really good, then the field might be a good option - but if it’s likely to deteriorate, with stifle problems perhaps the hardstanding might be the best compromise, if she has enough space to shimmy about, chat with her pals etc etc. We are using our hardstanding quite a bit currently, mainly cos Queen Bee had abscess issue etc.
Hopefully NIE won’t wreck the place too much, it is quite a dry field (we are on rocky ground) but still… I’ve been resting it since July 😭
 
sheep said:
Hopefully NIE won’t wreck the place too much, it is quite a dry field (we are on rocky ground) but still… I’ve been resting it since July 😭
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Brutal 😭😭

Tbh ground quality is not great if it's wet, it gets slippy on the hill or at the bottom it's sucking mud. There is a reason there is still so much grass in this field 😂 Talked myself out of it I think, ty sheep for facilitating! Sorry Sadie, back to snatching grass from the verges on the weekends 💔
 
So the AB's were horrific for a few days, but seem to have worked and my butt cheek is much improved, not 100% back to normal but I was warned haematomas can take months to do down! Had a busy weekend footballing wise with youngest son and daughter and also socially which was nice but managed to get both boys out Saturday when teen daughter rode Standie and I walked coblet and then I walked them both yesterday. Picked up the pace yesterday and included some spells of trotting, funnily enough retired coblet was pulling me along like a train and standie was dawdling alongside! Hope he finds more forwardness for our planned endurance in the spring?

Plan for the week is:

Monday - day off
Tuesday - day off
Wednesday - Ride standie and lead coblet
Thursday - Walk them both in hand briskly, with more trotting (must remember to wear trainers!)
Friday - day off
Saturday - Ride standie and lead coblet
Sunday - Short Lesson on Standie (W, T and Polework)

Not nearly enough, after I read yesterday it takes 48 hours of exercise to get a horse fit but hey ho its all I can manage at the moment. Finish school in 2 weeks and have a month off so looking forward to that and also need to sort coblet out with another field mate so I can Standie out solo for his development and so we can go further and faster and meet up with some hacking mates locally.
 
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very unorganised this week with no plan, but lily is at the water treadmill on thursday, and diva is getting rescoped tomorrow so everyone’s fingers crossed please!!

got the tack out this morning for a hack and it promptly started raining, so i thought “not today” and put it back - and obviously as soon as i’d locked it away the rain stopped! will try again later😂 managed to get the pooch out though, and my car passed its MOT with no advisories so it’s looking up🤣

photo because he’s just too cute bless him
 

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Whoops, last night was a fail. Didn’t ride at all 😂 horses had to stay in all day due to power provider doing engineering work on some lines running across our fields, so instead opted to give them the evening out. Plus, OH had went and got a few round bales so we had to rejig a few things to fit them into the barn! All good now though and very pleased with my new hay 😂
 
Experimental ride last night as the yard was quiet and after being persuaded to trot there was a lot of lung-clearing. I know canter would get them opened up more but that was a "go f yourself" and I wasn't for pushing that hard. She was much better after tho, so I think I did the right thing persevering 😭had a play with leg yield and trot shoulder in as she loves to go sideways and that cheered her up a little bit, I think.

Plan for the rest of the week is more of the same, gentle 20-30 mins every day. If my lesson is cancelled again this week I'm going to lose it 😂
 
We went for a lesson last night - plan was to jump but after filling in my trainer on my slightly tragic dressage test a couple of weeks ago, we did some problem solving on the flat instead! K was so beautifully soft and supple by the end of the session I really felt like I was riding a different horse so I felt pretty motivated afterwards and glad I dragged myself over there for my lesson (in the freezing rain and having suffered a broken boiler all weekend I was NOT feeling very enthused 😁 )

We are mostly working on lightness and suppleness in the trot at the moment with the plan that this will then transition into the canter and if we can get him relaxed in his jaw, it will stop the tanking. So my self-appointed homework for the week is to practice what we worked on last night in the trot, I will probably throw some polework in too to make it more interesting 🤓

Tonight is a day-off as K worked hard last night and it's also a 40 min journey each way to trainer so the travelling takes it out of him.

Tomorrow - Water Treadmill
Thursday - Lunge in equibands
Friday - Will be hack if I managed to grab an hour of daylight around work, or we will school & practice our homework

Weekend I had hoped to get out and about somewhere to a farm ride but nobody is free to join me, so will probably be a combination of hacking to warm-up followed by another short flatwork session, and a longer hack on Sunday. I may give him a little jump if the weather isn't awful!
 
Impromptu lesson rearranged for tonight. I swear that pony loves instructor so much, she lit up when she saw her 😭 food rewards never come from anybody but me, but Sadie demanded kisses from her anyway. Extremely cute.

Nailed down how to teach square halts, got some opinions on work, management, expectations going forward. My stress is halved, life is good again. 💕
 
a very poor effort from me so far this week, lily has done nothing and will end up having a very quiet week because i’m working, but honestly i’ve just needed it! diva scoped today and does still have ulcers, insurance runs out tomorrow so i’ve got the prescription and have to go to the chemist to ask for 600 abortion tablets!😂 i did not know that’s what misoprostol was used for in people🤣 on the plus side she was a very good girl, so much so that the vet asked if i’d given her any sedalin for the journey🙈
 
Two good lads last night, although it was very chilly, arena starting to freeze!
Did our pole work instead, OH had Charmer so they stuck to walk, Ace and I did a fair bit of walk, trot walk trot etc, plus lots of circles, leg yield etc to encourage him to soften to the inside bend on the right rein. A nice session albeit v chilly. V snug in my fleecy hat liner 🥶
 
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wednesday BD for us today! Isaac had 2x overall wins in the medium tests at Kelsall today. Yes we turned up scruffy because I had a million other things to do today, but plaits don't win prizes - hahaha! We even came home with prize money for the first class because there were enough starters. That completes his 2x area festival qualifications for these winters, and we can start to think about maybe progressing to some advanced medium tests when we get to the new qualifying period in Jan :o

dressage really still isn't my 'thing', but I've learned so much procucing this horse up the levels and how to train and ride the more advanced lateral work etc. - he enjoys the work and is very willing. Today after the test he wandered out of the arena at about 1 mile an hour and then was in absolutely zero hurry to leave the warm up and go home - he's quite happy doing this as a thing. Much happier than trying to event him, despite the fact that that's what he's bred for (and what i enjoy, haha)
 
A bit of a cancellations type of week. Tuesdays lesson ridden cancelled and Wednesdays driving clinic ditto. Used the time for arena hire instead, making good progress with his ridden work now, though contact wise very much happier in his driven bit so that’s a work in progress as really keen to get the same quality work out of a snaffle.IMG_1780.jpeg
 
I can't believe it's Thursday already! Our week's not going too badly but not exactly to plan ...

A 4.5km hack on Tuesday before work.

Wednesday's lesson didn't go ahead for other reason but as everywhere was frozen solid, I used the time for a 35 minute in-hand & polework session. First time solo since our lesson & so pleased with how hard he tried ❤️ And that I made myself do it 🤣

This morning I had planned to hack but it was a 45 minute continous training session in the school instead - so that was still a useful fitness session.

Hacking in equibands tomorrow if I remember to swap out our saddle pads at silly o clock in the morning 🤣
 
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I've thought it was Thursday since Tuesday!

Some "I'm exhausted" low brain power groundwork last night for us. We were sticky with the shoulders also! But if I can't be bothered, nor can she so, oh well. And then Sadie had a little solo rodeo time, getting in her dynamic stretches bucking at the moon 🙃Sudden warm spell has all the mares in season AGAIN in NOVEMBER. No coughing after tho! 🎉

Will ride in the school tonight and tomorrow. Will try for think-y things over exercise, so lateral stuff, walk poles, some stretchy trot.
 
Amber was much brighter yesterday when in for the farrier, so I headed to the yard early thinking I'd have to hack, but the school was free, so we managed a good 45 mins session, mainly in walk and jog and worked through some initial spookiness quite nicely and even had a little canter without any coughing. Took lots of breaks standing in the spooky corner which is the best remedy for it.
So, winter homework continues, I booked the arena again tomorrow as there's road works on locally, so the morning traffic really isn't great for hacking in.
 
Wind was absolutely brutal tonight. Rode for 5-10 mins, pony was getting more wound up instead of relaxing so swapped to groundwork for another 5-10 mins and then let her loose to run off some tension which she did with incredible gusto. So much for gentle thinking work! 🙃 Try again tomorrow!
 
smolmaus said:
Wind was absolutely brutal tonight. Rode for 5-10 mins, pony was getting more wound up instead of relaxing so swapped to groundwork for another 5-10 mins and then let her loose to run off some tension which she did with incredible gusto. So much for gentle thinking work! 🙃 Try again tomorrow!
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It was pretty blustery up here this evening too tbf, we are out Ballynahinch direction. I was quite taken aback by it when we got home from gym!
 
We ended up having quite a late night last night - ironic, as we actually stayed in as we were tired 🤣 - and I really struggled to get out of bed this morning.

We did still squeeze in a 3.5 km hack but didn't faff about with Equibands today. We did make the most of it though by doing most of it in trot with some short canters.
 
sheep said:
It was pretty blustery up here this evening too tbf, we are out Ballynahinch direction. I was quite taken aback by it when we got home from gym!
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Ballynahinch also, like a flipping wind tunnel and looking like it might be the same tonight! 😭

Trying hard to remember that last November was worse than this, she was like a coiled spring and couldn't go within 6 ft of the scary corner without having a meltdown. So progress is still there, it's just hiding this week!
 
Another good pre work session this morning, timed it slightly wrong so a lot happening as we got to the arena so some a mild dragon impersonations and only safe to be at the gate to start with. Didn't fight and just worked on staying in her comfort zone and waiting for relaxation and by the end of the session we were happy in w/t/c all the way round the arena and could stand and relax in the "spooky" corners. Not a single cough either so calling it a win. I need to work on accuracy and not over doing the bend, but we've got all winter to work on it.
 
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Missed last nights session as there was an accident on the motorway which meant I didn't get back from work until gone 8pm so by the time I'd fed and sorted the retired ones, K got missed out. So will do 10 mins on the lunge in the equicore and then a schooling session tonight.

I've made it my winter project to really knuckle down with our core strengthening work which always takes a backseat in summer in favour of going out for a nice gallop 😁 plus the equicore bands cost me a fortune so I'm determined to dust them off and start using them again!
 
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