Weekend plans :D

Buzz was clipped on Saturday which he was not happy about to start but settled down soon enough :) he's very stroppy!
Struggled loading again :( he went on eventually but it was a bit of a battle of wills, he just gets very bargy and wants to go the other way! Not sure what to do really. He travels perfectly but just won't go on!! He was very good for clear round jumping, jumped very nicely and no stops or poles so I was very pleased and the woman running it said she'd be happy to give me lessons and come to the BE80 I am aiming for in May so that was good. And she helped me load to get him back ha ha. I think the loading may be getting worse...
 
Chippers sorry to hear about the loading. If you’ve tried a few things yourself, have you had someone out to help or give some guidance? That’s what I did when I had a tricky loader. Def helped give me tips on how to approach it.

Finnegan had a tiny moment of being difficult and I got someone out straight away. Turns out he just needed some time to check out the space without pressure, have a sniff around, step on and off a bit, load and walk off. Been brilliant ever since. Previous to that, horse was tricker and it took me a few sessions and ground work to help him.
 
Chippers sorry to hear about the loading. If you’ve tried a few things yourself, have you had someone out to help or give some guidance? That’s what I did when I had a tricky loader. Def helped give me tips on how to approach it.

Finnegan had a tiny moment of being difficult and I got someone out straight away. Turns out he just needed some time to check out the space without pressure, have a sniff around, step on and off a bit, load and walk off. Been brilliant ever since. Previous to that, horse was tricker and it took me a few sessions and ground work to help him.

I think this will be the next step. He walks up to the ramp then will either plant or barge to the side. I thought I had cracked it with a long whip but he's got wise to that now!
 
I would definitely get help Chippers, it's horrible having a difficult loader and people who do it all the time can make all the difference.
Rain stopped play a bit on Saturday, my set up makes it very difficult to do much when the weather is really bad unless I put them on the lorry and go somewhere or lead them to the yard which is about a 45 minute round trip!
Our regional AGM was good, CPR training to start and then a round up of the year and what we need to improve on. The flu outbreak hit our early social ride pretty hard so hopefully next year will be better.
Sunday I finally managed to ride. Mindy is proving age is but a number and towed me up the gallops hitting over 41k an hour! I can't wait until she is a little bit fitter we might even get jumping again although I am very precious about her!
 
The hunt met at my yard on Saturday, so horses were in and I couldn't ride until 4ish. I took loan horse Danny in the school and he felt fab, far more relaxed and taking to contact forward. I think he's now learning how to move his bum to the left independently of his shoulders, so we finally got a few decent steps of baby half-pass in that direction!

On Sunday I had planned a long-ish hack with a friend, but Danny had other plans. Having missed a day in the field on Sunday he refused to come near me! Friend and I did a good impression of French and Saunders but gave up after 20 minutes. That'll teach me to be nice and give him a couple of hours out before an 11am hack - he can stay in and go on the walker next time!! I took my 2yo along in-hand for his first 'hack' around the village instead. He was bold as brass but very well-mannered, determined to lead friend on Pocholo for most of the way! He just needed P to go first past some motorbikes who very kindly stopped and turned their engines off. I can't wait for him to be old enough to ride :D

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Think I might look into getting some help. Can anyone recommend anyone who covers Nottinghamshire? Or I have found Carrie Adams or Kelly Brotherhood, has anyone used them?
 
Think I might look into getting some help. Can anyone recommend anyone who covers Nottinghamshire? Or I have found Carrie Adams or Kelly Brotherhood, has anyone used them?

Matt at Horse Help UK travels all over. It took him a couple of hours to take my friend's horse from refusing to go anywhere near the lorry to calmly walking himself on, and the behaviour's stuck for at least three years no.
 
That sounds good @Pippity I will look into him. Buzz isn't terrible, he pretty much always goes on eventually, it took 10 mins to get him on with just me however i'd rather he didn't plant at the ramp then barge me out the way when he decides he doesn't want to go any further!
 
That all sounds exciting! Which hat and clippers did you go for?

Just reporting back after first clip tonight.
Clipping in the dark is never fun so I expect to find some tufts when I see him in daylight but they were great to use, loved the variable speed so I could turn it down to do his face and up to whizz over his tummy, and having no hair blowing around was wonderful. I haven't got vibration white finger, I haven't got hair stuck behind my eyeballs and my ears aren't ringing! Hallelujah.
 
Just had a boring-ish schooling weekend, dressage comp is next weekend... eep! Only prelim, so will just be going through the motions this week. I did venture down to the indoor school for the first time in months. Wish I hadn't, the surface is still horrendously boggy with potholes everywhere. Doesn't help poor L keep her balance.

Unfortunately we've got severe fire weather warnings here, and catastrophic warnings further North. Hopefully nothing starts here this week, it won't be controllable due to the tinder dry conditions and forecast winds. Fingers crossed all goes well :/
 
Unfortunately we've got severe fire weather warnings here, and catastrophic warnings further North. Hopefully nothing starts here this week, it won't be controllable due to the tinder dry conditions and forecast winds. Fingers crossed all goes well :/

I can't imagine what that must be like. Hope you are all safe.

in happy news, I passed my theory and hazard perception so I'm now booked in for training and test next month. Gulp!
 
Boggle is strutting his stuff at sparsholt unaff on sat if you are around 😀 (not me riding.. obviously.. I’m taking him hunting the next day ;)

I had a quick peak at your times and saw you were in the afternoon whereas I was there at 10 - thought of you when it started tipping down!

Lovely Pic and brilliantly well done Niki. Fantastic achievement.
nikicb - lovely picture, congrats!

Thank you both!!

We had a fab clinic on Friday - we haven't seen Sara-Jane for a few months and she was really pleased with our progress. The mechanical horse session was really useful - I did a write up on our FB page so have copied the link below - would definitely recommend to work out whether wonkiness is down to you or your horse! And we had a rather on our toes session yesterday at a test riding session with Sue McMahon (Cassie came off regumate a week ago and I think the effect is coming through), but it was really worthwhile and we picked apart and tweaked our music test so hopefully we will improve our marks next season. :) x

 
I can't imagine what that must be like. Hope you are all safe.

Having been through a firestorm, would rather not do that again! Nothing started near us, but they've lost a lot of houses and stock further North, very horsey country as well :( Hopefully they can get them under control this week because next week doesn't look good :S
 
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