Weekend plans, 2nd weekend in January

[KEK]

Hacking report...... in lieu of any comp or training outings.... ?

Brr, chilly start as ice on car, car then reading -1 on the way to yard. Water tanks with ice on, tho yard tap working (hurrah!)
Chores done, I quickly tacked up, donned my usual bright orange hi vis gear, winter gloves, hat etc, glancing down at my very disreputable thermal baggy breeches finished off with very elderly Grasmeres. No clashing today tho as put on orange saddle pad.... *thinks to self, will posh orange saddle pad cancel out grubby baggy breeches *

Potter down yard to my fixed mounting block and lever myself on, B stands still for me to get on and get both feet in plus check girth. So much better than the 2 seconds I used to have before she went crabbing off.

Ooh the choices, do I turn left or right out of the yard gate on the un made lane? B Fuzzy decides we need to go right, so off we trundle. 100 yards and we can then turn left on a decent common track, but B decided we carry on up lane and merrily strides out. A bit further ahead, we pass a couple of houses, round a corner, then she wants to take a fork off to the left. Aha! Now I understand, she thinks we should be riding with C – our sometimes hacking chum - on her orange horse. Deflecting B from going up that long drive, I push on into trot along the lane, with B stomping her feet down in annoyance of having her plan thwarted.

We slow down to wave at the roofers on scaffolding on our left, then promptly sidestepped towards them as a fat pigeon flew off the fencing to our right, going almost up Bs nose!
Onwards...... settled into a good steady trot, past a couple more houses on the right , past the bridleway turn on our left, then on and past the dairy farm who were just finishing milking.
I’m v glad that our unmade lanes are pretty good for traction much of the time. We both decide to turn onto the common at the same time, so making a nice bend to the right we carried on trotting.
Ooh, sand track seems free of dog walkers, so I relax a millimetre on the reins and badoom, we are into a nice balanced canter, yay! 10 strides later, B slows to try and trot, I try to push on the canter, B wins. Aha! She had seen a dog walker to the right that I’d missed, good B! Exchanging morning greetings we passed safely and then resumed canter to the end of the track.

A couple more longish trots, another short canter and we hit the woods. We’ve had some good games there in recent days as a few fallen trees down (yes, I check both sides before popping them). Today we found another tree to add to our list, yippee! Carefully getting a balanced canter on the right lead as I requested, we pop the huge monstrous 65cm trunk and continue through the woods to the next 4 fallen trees and branches. Nothing is huge but I find they are so good for schooling an over keen Fuzzy as I will do lots of turns, up the pace but also decrease the pace on landing too. She is never sure if we are to bowl on, turn, or even halt. Approaching at a walk with maybe 2 or 3 strides of trot is also added in. Makes for an animal who needs to listen to rider very responsive.

Coming out of the woods to a wide common track we come back to a walk, march through the car park and then stroll the last half mile back. Quick brush off, outdoor anorak popped on B and off she goes into the fields.
No cold toes for me, hurrah! Only out for 50mins but well over 60% of that was trot (or a bit of canter), picking our way on the most suitable tracks.
Am very fortunate to have my little bit of hacking, especially at present- even if it does fill rapidly with runners, walkers, cyclists and dogs!
Back into car to come home and the temp is reading a steady zero degrees all the way home.

Your hacks sound fab!

 

[FourLeafClover]

Lesson went ahead ?? Despite -1 temps and a bit of snow. Fleeced exercise sheet and two coats, jobs a good’un.
I was pleased to get the feedback that not only have we not gone backwards, we have apparently consolidated what we were working on before and are ready to have new things thrown at us. Today was mostly about straightness and keeping him even in both hands (very difficult on one rein) and thinking about keeping the pelvis straight and facing direction of travel, and managing the runaway outside shoulder in canter. The canter in general is so much stronger, there are moments where it feels amazing. Love a lesson night!

 

[TheMule]

I'm hoping to get our strangles test result back so my horse can come to stay at work for a bit as then I have a lovely big indoor arena and full set of jumps to enjoy during lockdown- she is fit, going really well and we're really making progress in training at the moment so it's not a great time to drop back and only ride her sporadically which is the reality of January for me normally.
This was our last training session before lockdown

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I'm really actually missing having a lesson, you can tell....

Saturday hacking report, as dictated by B Fuzzy....

Woo hoo! Morning! Yes! Breakfast please....
Ok, had breakfast, this little hay net isn't going to last long mum. Bother, she's bringing tack out of the car, must have a quick poo in my clean stable before she gets outside.
[Now tacked up] I have no idea why she wears all those thick rugs etc, it’s not that cold, is it?
Sigh, off to mounting block, brace brace brace, right the old dear is on, let’s go! Bum, she needs to tighten my girth, best stand as for some reason she gets v cross if I don't. Right, sorted lets GO!
Want to turn left, bother, she wants to go right. Ok, up the lane we go. Ooh, we are near D boys track, yes, here he comes, yoo hoo hacking chum! ? Haven't seen you since last weekend, been having to put my saint hat on all week to keep the old lady happy.
Watch out, yesterday a feathered thing tried to wipe me out along here yesterday..... ah, not here today. D boy, watch out, fence panel at odd angle, might have troll under it. Yay! You jumped at it, great fun! ? Bother, trotting..... best do as asked and work a bit, but do they ever stop talking?
Great, off the lane, onto common, can we canter? Bother, more trotting ?
Yay, my favourite track, let’s canter, please, nicely.... whoop, I’m leaping, D boy, watch meeee! Damn, canter on the bridle, so boring, ooh nice we are now cantering upsides each other, c'mon D boy, my collected canter is faster than yours.....?
Bother, dog walkers, slow to a boring walk and pass them, humans still talking lots, you would think they haven’t seen anyone for a long time. Nice leafy track, more canter please? I wonder if I lean a bit if we can go faster? Bother, that’s a no then.
Hurrah! The woods! I like it here, can we jump? Please, look I’m hand cantering nicely, what? You want to walk? Why? Stupid tree roots, course I can trot over them, silly D boy cant tho as he goes splat ha ha ??
C'mon surely we can trot now? Hurrah, jumpies, boing boing, nope, not stopping, bog off old dear, I’m having a great time showing D boy how to do it. Bother, dog walkers again, best rearrange myself back to quiet pleasant hack.
Drat, she's picked the muddy track, are we going to walk or run it? Pants, walking... I want to canter it. Double drat, now I have to do the sideways malarky as penance, apparently I’m an eejit of the highest order ??
Check out car park for any stray humans to say morning to, pootle slowly in case a boot lid slamming makes old D boy jump - as that’s a great game for waking our humans up a bit ha ha. Eventually allowed to stretch at a good walk for the last bit back to my yard.
Yay, I had a great time, more tomorrow? ?

 

[Michen]

Poor Bear had his holiday cut short, he got 3 and a bit weeks off instead of 4. He was looking a bit too fresh to leave much longer and a long rein hack today showed a very fresh, squeaky, full of it pony!

He has levelled out nicely though and is no longer very bum high so it’s done him good.

 

[racebuddy]

I'm hoping to get our strangles test result back so my horse can come to stay at work for a bit as then I have a lovely big indoor arena and full set of jumps to enjoy during lockdown- she is fit, going really well and we're really making progress in training at the moment so it's not a great time to drop back hand only ride her sporadically which is the reality of January for me normally.
This was our last training session before lockdown

hope ur horses test comes back ok xxx

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Slightly wild ride in the indoor today. Limited turn-out plus limited riding plus lots of noise outside the indoor which echoed all round the metal walls and roof = seat-belt time! Didn't think Toby had it in him . Or Dolly, for that matter. They are both so sensible you sometimes forget they are young.

So he's out now whether he likes it or not. He piaffed all the way to the field, had a brief prance and snort then stood at the gate looking mournful as it to say 'but it's cold mum.' Tough!

 

[racebuddy]

Early am ride xxx gorgeous sunshine xxx cold though xxx

 

[Wishfilly]

Hoping to get a ride in later today if all the ice has melted! Both the tracks and the school were frozen solid this morning with lots of iced over puddles, so I decided it wasn't a good idea.

Now it's not raining, I have lots of motivation to ride, but the ground has other ideas!

 

[ITPersonnage]

Poor Bear

There's nothing "poor" about that horse

 

[Wishfilly]

Went in the school- mostly did walk work as the surface wasn't great and did a short loop of the tracks which is a bit less muddy, so overall not a total loss. Meant to be slightly warmer tomorrow, so if the roads are ok, might manage a slightly longer hack!

 

[TheHairyOne]

Wasnt a bad day today weather wise and the jumps were up in the school and had my sister to grab some pics so had a play. I am actually starting to enjoy it again (rather than feeling a bit ill at the prospect and doing it anyway) and its showing in our confidence levels.



Would be lovely to be able to test this anywhere but home but least its good at home.

Hacking tomorrow probably as long as the hideous fog thats come down goes.

 

[Roxylola]

We managed a little hack. Stuck him on the walker for a bit this morning as it was very foggy and I thought riding would be off the cards but the sun came out so we had a mostly walk round the little housing estate up the road. Good to be on board after a week without my car and mostly uneventful

 

[Michen]

There's nothing "poor" about that horse

Hehe- certainly not a poor doer!

 

[LEC]

I was severely hampered today as drop gates have gone in on all the bridle ways. Great you might think but if you have a thicko neurotic 17.2hh, then not so great. I decided I was not going to have that discussion today in the mud which surrounds it and chose discretion and an alternative direction. Horse no 2 has slightly more brains, though the paddle boarder coming down the river past it blew the chance its brain might function and sent the heart rate through the roof. We managed to just about hold it together and then the drop gate took some figuring out. Success with horse no 2. Though the final drop gate has been put in too high so we ended up jumping it (the one that defeated the thicko 17.2hh)

Finally thickos sister, who unfortunately has far too many brains did manage her first solo hack since trying to nap her way into a ditch and very successfully wrecking her knees 3 months ago. Drop gates were avoided with horse no 3 which was wise as successfully freaked herself out standing on some narrow blue pipe which was crossing the bridle path. All she had to do was lift her tootsies over a tiny bit of pipe and she completely failed. I won the discussion luckily and we managed to get over it.

Here is thicko in action a few weeks ago and actually going quite well.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Skylla did her first proper attempt at a change yesterday ?. She’s a long way off test ready ones, but now she’s confident at counter canter I thought I’d best install the button ?. She finds it very exciting lol.

I think upping the difficulty in her work now she’s a bit stronger is going to do her the world of good . If the snow has melted she can have a jump today as a reward lol.

Bernster, Bridgerton is fabulous ?

 

[Accidental Eventer]

We went hacking today in the cooler weather, it was so nice to enjoy being outside and not feel like we were in an oven.

also spent a lot of time hosing and icing a leg, always fun but it seems to be fine with lots of tlc and rest. Horses love to keep you on your toes.

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

Went for a hack and had a mini lesson when we got back. I'm glad I tried but tbh the joy is being completely stolen by nerves since I fell off a couple of weeks ago (I was only bruised!) and so decided to just stick either hacking for now. Feel a bit poo about it as I would love to do various pole exercises and dressage-y things - I hate giving up but its just not fun at the moment. I've been offered to have a lesson on another horse but not sure how much that will help, its not share horse's fault I'm riding like crap.

 

[Wishfilly]

Went for a hack and had a mini lesson when we got back. I'm glad I tried but tbh the joy is being completely stolen by nerves since I fell off a couple of weeks ago (I was only bruised!) and so decided to just stick either hacking for now. Feel a bit poo about it as I would love to do various pole exercises and dressage-y things - I hate giving up but its just not fun at the moment. I've been offered to have a lesson on another horse but not sure how much that will help, its not share horse's fault I'm riding like crap.

I'm sure you're not riding like crap!

I would try riding the other horse- it may help, it may not but it's all good experience!

 

[Wishfilly]

As we're doing hacking reports

Our tracks were getting increasingly boggy/flooded before Christmas, so we haven't really hacked for a little while. A week of frosts had dried them out a bit so I decided to go out for a hack with Blue today. He was very on his toes, which I took as a good thing- he felt a bit flat in the school yesterday. Trotted up the one decent bit of hardcore, dodged the puddles, behaved sensibly whilst seeing the mare he fancied being caught in, all good!

Then took a slightly different route to the normal loop round the yard that we do, and ended up with mini ponies twatting about on one side and a bird flying out of the hedge on the other. This was apparently too much to cope with, so we got a proper spook, spin, try to tank back to the yard move.

Luckily, I was able to stay with him, and get him back under control before he really got going. I sent him back the way I wanted him to go, and then we practised walking up and down the track sensibly a few times.

The light was going a bit by this point, so I decided discretion was the better part of valour and took the short route back to the yard. On the way back, we met some fellow liveries walking their dog, and his field neighbour going up to the school, and he passed both perfectly. We then did another tiny loop around the fields and deliberately rode past the barn entrance before I got off, so all was forgiven.

He is a bit spooky in general, nothing nasty, just a bit scared of life- I'm not sure how much he has really experienced before I got him. His last home was a private yard, and I think his home before that was too. He's got a lot better in the school recently- to the point where he 100% ignored a car alarm going off yesterday! He is good with traffic, but anything that suddenly changes does make him jump. So, I think the plan will be to hack as much as possible as the evenings get lighter and hopefully hacking will become boring too!

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

I'm sure you're not riding like crap!

I would try riding the other horse- it may help, it may not but it's all good experience!

I'm thinking about it, not sure I can face potentially embarrassing myself on someone else's horse (not that people aren't being supportive because they are). I had a couple of RS lessons before lockdown and had a wobble in both. Interestingly more so on the horse I've ridden lots of times than the one it was my third ride on and is quite a bit taller.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I'm thinking about it, not sure I can face potentially embarrassing myself on someone else's horse (not that people aren't being supportive because they are). I had a couple of RS lessons before lockdown and had a wobble in both. Interestingly more so on the horse I've ridden lots of times than the one it was my third ride on and is quite a bit taller.

I'd advise just crack on with hacking this month on share horse.
Practice things from your lessons such as transitions, turns (when turning on and off tracks), leg yielding etc on wider tracks. Aim to canter from one tree to another then trot 6 paces and then canter again to another point. That last exercise is just as hard as cantering 'at A' and trotting 'at E' etc.
Be firm with yourself, adjust exercises to ring the changes and be firm when setting targets x

 

[Wishfilly]

I'm thinking about it, not sure I can face potentially embarrassing myself on someone else's horse (not that people aren't being supportive because they are). I had a couple of RS lessons before lockdown and had a wobble in both. Interestingly more so on the horse I've ridden lots of times than the one it was my third ride on and is quite a bit taller.

Fair enough.

If you're having a real wobble, there is a lot to be said for keeping things well within your comfort zone! Whatever you feel comfortable with is the way forward!

 

[Laafet]

Weekend nearly over, and I did get to have my lesson - yay! Got loads to work on and everything looks to be going well at the moment. My trainer is very keen on Stormy, we have a long way to go but she is showing that she is able and willing. I definitely have my schooling mojo back!

In line with everyone else we also went hacking. Today we went out in the afternoon as it was just too cold this morning, yesterday it was -5 when I went to the yard in the morning! My mum rode Nickel as lead horse (she's not ridden much at all since she was a child and when we had the lovely Murphy but she's brave and gives it a go). We planned to go for a hack that was a mixture of tracks and roads as the tracks are hard enough to not be too taxing. This was Stormy's first ever time on a grass track since racing. And we survived. She actually was very good. Mum was flapping and Nickel was being cheeky and a bit idle which he knows he can get away with her. Stormy did get excited as she set foot on the grass, I could feel her heart bounding, but she soon settled once she realised Nickel was just going to stroll along. He is a bit naughty on grass but going away from home he's ok.
When we got to the first road bit, it became apparent that Nickel was not right. He's just had shoes put back on after trying to go barefoot which is another story - basically he has Connie HWSS so we knew it would be tough - anyway he literally looked intermittently lame on every leg, sound on the soft. This is not like him so we turned for home as soon as we could without turning round and going back on the grass which would have led to trouble.
We got him home and he was still his happy cheery self so having taken a video of him for the vet/farrier to see tomorrow, I popped him to bed with some bute (he's on it under veterinary supervision anyway).
So overall I am over the moon with how Stormy has got on, every challenge she approaches with interest and tries hard to get it right. As for Nickel, he has some very long term issues that some forum member maybe aware of. He will see the vet and farrier next week and fingers crossed all he needs is a bit of rest. He's 18 now and had a very hard life, I just wish for him to have this summer enjoying himself out hacking with Mum and Stormy but am prepared that this may not be the case.
On a more positive note - I have just uploaded my latest offering for my Blog

https://adventuresinblackandwhite.co.uk/2021/01/10/stormy-update-two-weeks-on/

 

[TheSpottyCobby]

A very quiet weekend for us, after spending the past week gently mooching about after a bruised foot. Pony was shod with his first ever full set of shoes yesterday, whilst I love barefoot, unfortunately it just isn't to be for us anymore. He stood brilliantly to be done, I was so pleased with him. We'll now spend this week getting used to our new footwear (and I will be taking out shares in overreach boots!)

 

[j1ffy]

Just to be different...we didn't hack at all at the weekend!

On Saturday my trainer came over to give us a lesson. I hadn't schooled all week due to going straight back into a full-on week at work so Danny just had two plods around the village and one lunge session. Evidently his brain needs a bit more input as he was a complete knob to begin with ? To be fair it was cold and foggy (you could only just see one end of the arena from the other) but there was no need to spook at the Bertie Bassett fence EVERY time we went past, and definitely no need to try to tank off with me when the trainer first walked up the school. However there were no sharp spins or broncs, which were his old go-tos, so it was just excess energy rather than his old tension / anxiety.

Other than the knobishness, he did some really good work. We've been working on getting his neck down and increasing responsiveness through transitions-in-the-pace, and moving onto more complex lateral work. His collected paces are improving and the level of engagement has come on hugely in the last six weeks or so. He finds half-pass quite difficult but gives it a good go!

On Sunday I decided to take him back in the school and consolidate the good work (minus spooks), so did a quick lunge then hopped on for just 20 minutes or so. He felt fab, much softer and more focused albeit a tad tired.

Lesson learned that he needs to be kept mentally busier through the week, so I'll make sure I make it over to the yard for a couple of evening schooling sessions this week.

 

[nikkimariet]

Not much from me! Rooni has thrown a mega splint so needs some time off work and Fig is only doing light work (which he is enjoying v much!).

It was nice at first to have a little more time and freedom but I can confirm I’m thoroughly bored now!