weekend plans

[milliepops]

aren't horses fun?!
dull day yesterday waiting for boiler man to come, so today's sunshine was welcome and off I went to do poo picking at the nursery. they start having some zoomies, fun to watch even if I was ruing the divots I would have to tramp down later on.... and then... 2yo gallops straight through the boundary fence and plops into the bramble filled ditch behind, taking the wire with him

Not the morning i had planned fortunately no lasting harm done, he'll be a bit bruised for a while but got off lightly, and he was very VERY sensible to stand quietly and not fight what he was tangled in while I wrapped my jumper round his neck, phoned OH and got him to come and assist Top marks to Hera for staying put on the correct side of the fence too! Some emergency fence repairs done and and skin wounds dealt with... and now it's raining.

I love horses, I love horses, I love horses

(no idea what possessed him to go through the fence, i have it on video, he didn't even hesitate just ploughed straight through. Fortunately OH has been around enough horses to know they just do weird things sometimes so there wasn't too much drama. new posts, new rails, and hi vis white electric tape zapping away, added for a bit of mental boundary reinforcement!)

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Bloody hell MP, glad you were there to extricate him immediately!

 

[milliepops]

Bloody hell MP, glad you were there to extricate him immediately!

a lot of things went our way tbh! i was in the middle of the field when it happened, he didn't panic, hera didn't panic and OH was only up the road having breakfast so could come immediately. Initially i thought he had properly hurt himself but he was just objecting to having half a tree under his tail one of those highly unnecessary events but we were very fortunate that it was all something & nothing.

 

[nikkimariet]

Keysoe high profile this weekend for Rooni!

He’s been such a good egg I am so incredibly pleased with him! Not a single silly moment at his first overnight show.




69% 66% 64% and 66%. Sunday’s tests were a bit mean I felt even though we had some expensive mistakes.

Just thrilled with his attitude. Not once did he say no! Even with both our eyelashes frozen he kept going.

A year ago we were wobbling round prelims

 

[ycbm]

aren't horses fun?!
dull day yesterday waiting for boiler man to come, so today's sunshine was welcome and off I went to do poo picking at the nursery. they start having some zoomies, fun to watch even if I was ruing the divots I would have to tramp down later on.... and then... 2yo gallops straight through the boundary fence and plops into the bramble filled ditch behind, taking the wire with him

Not the morning i had planned fortunately no lasting harm done, he'll be a bit bruised for a while but got off lightly, and he was very VERY sensible to stand quietly and not fight what he was tangled in while I wrapped my jumper round his neck, phoned OH and got him to come and assist Top marks to Hera for staying put on the correct side of the fence too! Some emergency fence repairs done and and skin wounds dealt with... and now it's raining.

I love horses, I love horses, I love horses

(no idea what possessed him to go through the fence, i have it on video, he didn't even hesitate just ploughed straight through. Fortunately OH has been around enough horses to know they just do weird things sometimes so there wasn't too much drama. new posts, new rails, and hi vis white electric tape zapping away, added for a bit of mental boundary reinforcement!)

???

 

[oldie48]

Sharer took Rose out today to do a couple of elementary tests. It was pouring with rain and the warm up was pretty busy with some pretty high powered horses in it. she looked tiny! Got nearly 70% in E42 and won the class but came out a bit flat for the qualifier E53, needed 3 more points from the Q and just scraped them. So in two outings she's qualified for the Regionals at Elem and S is going out twice more to try to qualify her for area festival at medium. I have to admit that she was extremely well behaved, no napping but she showed a little bit of tension and just went behind the leg a bit. Good day at the office though!

 

[daffy44]

Blimey MP that was lucky! Thank goodness you were there and it ended well as possible, all the gold stars for little Hera! I really hope Kira is ok xx

 

[oldie48]

Fingers crossed for K, MP. x

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Blimey MP that sounds very scary. I must have missed a post about Kira. Really hope she is ok.

Nikkimariet and Oldie, brilliant!!

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

Keysoe high profile this weekend for Rooni!

He’s been such a good egg I am so incredibly pleased with him! Not a single silly moment at his first overnight show.

View attachment 60566
View attachment 60565

69% 66% 64% and 66%. Sunday’s tests were a bit mean I felt even though we had some expensive mistakes.

Just thrilled with his attitude. Not once did he say no! Even with both our eyelashes frozen he kept going.

A year ago we were wobbling round prelims

Fabulous pics! Sounds like a good outing and nice to look back at where you've both come from in terms of progress made.

MP that sounds so stressful, I'm glad no major injuries sustained - lucky you were there at the time. Hopefully a lesson learned for 2yo!

OH joined me for a hack with share horse today. We came across a LOT of cycling Santas - there must have been some event on. Share horse found this quite interesting but was very well behaved. He was also good when a dog ran at us, thankfully it did recall to its owner before reaching us. I just turned S round to face it and hoped for the best! OH was able to step in as well. S is very good with dogs but still, not ideal them running up behind you at speed with their owner having a 'Fenton' moment

Also had a stable handling/tacking up lesson from my instructor as yesterday I really did get quite fed up with S swinging round while tied up and barging when he wasn't tied. It's tricky as I have spoken to owner before but I think he can be like it with her too, and it was helpful to get another perspective from my instructor.

 

[nikkimariet]

aren't horses fun?!
dull day yesterday waiting for boiler man to come, so today's sunshine was welcome and off I went to do poo picking at the nursery. they start having some zoomies, fun to watch even if I was ruing the divots I would have to tramp down later on.... and then... 2yo gallops straight through the boundary fence and plops into the bramble filled ditch behind, taking the wire with him

Not the morning i had planned fortunately no lasting harm done, he'll be a bit bruised for a while but got off lightly, and he was very VERY sensible to stand quietly and not fight what he was tangled in while I wrapped my jumper round his neck, phoned OH and got him to come and assist Top marks to Hera for staying put on the correct side of the fence too! Some emergency fence repairs done and and skin wounds dealt with... and now it's raining.

I love horses, I love horses, I love horses

(no idea what possessed him to go through the fence, i have it on video, he didn't even hesitate just ploughed straight through. Fortunately OH has been around enough horses to know they just do weird things sometimes so there wasn't too much drama. new posts, new rails, and hi vis white electric tape zapping away, added for a bit of mental boundary reinforcement!)

Omg!!!!! Glad all ok!

 

[j1ffy]

MP - naughty 2yo giving you palpitations! I hope Kira is ok, I had seen the comment in your first post and thought you meant one of the older ponies with known issues ?. Which would also be bad of course but...

NMT - Rooni looks amazing! Well done to everyone else out and about, the Somerford posse all look fab and SPD it sounds like you’ve had a successful weekend with the share horse ?

We had a great weekend too, although I wasn’t sure how it would pan out when I got to the yard on Friday! There was a shoot at the yard (first one this year, and there were none last year) and Danny was in a state. Rather than try to wrestle him there I chucked him on the lorry still muddy. He travelled well, but was still wired when he came off the box. He’s had the odd occasion, never with me, of exploding when placed under pressure when wired so I was very nervous - was it my turn to go to A&E?! But thankfully he took a big breath once in the arena, I walked him round once then hopped on and he was great for our lesson. My naughty hands need work but the trainer loved Danny and also thought I’d improved since she last saw me (probably two years ago with Indio!).

Danny settled well in his overnight stable and I had a lovely evening with my OH, though annoyingly woke up at 3am and could barely sleep after that.

Despite my dopiness the competition went brilliantly! Danny settled well in the busy warm up and knuckled down in the outdoor for N23. I stupidly started both medium trots from the wrong marker ? but we still managed 70.4%. Test two was N30 indoors and I had a complete brain fart on entry and had an error of course - what a muppet! But again Danny was fab, if running low on fuel by then, and we came away with 71.9%. So pleased!!

Today I got Chilli in for a cuddle, then went for a leisurely 90 min hack on Danny. Perfect horsey weekend!!





And Chilli in the fog:

 

[nikkimariet]

MP - naughty 2yo giving you palpitations! I hope Kira is ok, I had seen the comment in your first post and thought you meant one of the older ponies with known issues ?. Which would also be bad of course but...

NMT - Rooni looks amazing! Well done to everyone else out and about, the Somerford posse all look fab and SPD it sounds like you’ve had a successful weekend with the share horse ?

We had a great weekend too, although I wasn’t sure how it would pan out when I got to the yard on Friday! There was a shoot at the yard (first one this year, and there were none last year) and Danny was in a state. Rather than try to wrestle him there I chucked him on the lorry still muddy. He travelled well, but was still wired when he came off the box. He’s had the odd occasion, never with me, of exploding when placed under pressure when wired so I was very nervous - was it my turn to go to A&E?! But thankfully he took a big breath once in the arena, I walked him round once then hopped on and he was great for our lesson. My naughty hands need work but the trainer loved Danny and also thought I’d improved since she last saw me (probably two years ago with Indio!).

Danny settled well in his overnight stable and I had a lovely evening with my OH, though annoyingly woke up at 3am and could barely sleep after that.

Despite my dopiness the competition went brilliantly! Danny settled well in the busy warm up and knuckled down in the outdoor for N23. I stupidly started both medium trots from the wrong marker ? but we still managed 70.4%. Test two was N30 indoors and I had a complete brain fart on entry and had an error of course - what a muppet! But again Danny was fab, if running low on fuel by then, and we came away with 71.9%. So pleased!!

Today I got Chilli in for a cuddle, then went for a leisurely 90 min hack on Danny. Perfect horsey weekend!!

View attachment 60600

View attachment 60601

And Chilli in the fog:
View attachment 60602

Love that canter pic!!!

 

[racebuddy]

Yes somerford was amazing lots of technical fences , and lots to learn , my main aim to conquief my fear of the big skinnies ??

you should definitely go ???

 

[racebuddy]

Temp is perfect and she’s as greedy as usual, if she was off her food it would’ve been a vet job tonight as that’s a major sign that’s something’s wrong (cob - lives for her stomach!). It’s really bothering me as she’s in a closed herd and no one has been off the yard, apart from hacking, for months and no one else has a cough so not likely to be a virus :/.

How os she today ? Xxx

 

[Chippers1]

Oh god MP, lucky he wasn't too hurt! We also had an incident yesterday. Coming back from a hack and spied two cats having a fight, said to my friend that we should come back and split them up just as one of them shot off which spooked Buzz and as we were on the tarmac road he lost his back end, i flew off (and landed on my feet somehow!) but he couldn't get his footing and was scrabbling around practically on his hocks trying to get purchase whilst I was trying to keep him upright from the front end (no self preservation there!)
He got up fine in the end but it felt like he was trying for hours! I don't think he's done any damage, no cuts or swelling but i'm going to give him a few days off as I think he'll be pretty stiff today - i am! I have a whacking great bruise on my shin, not sure what caused it, possibly a flailing hoof and I think i've put my nervous hacking friends off for life poor Buzzy.
In other news his eye is healed, box is still broken though...

 

[milliepops]

Ouch, Chippers! when they start scrabbing on a slippery surface it seems to take forever for them to find their feet, it's horrible!

Fortunately my patient seems none the worse this morning, flipping horses, there's always something going on

 

[j1ffy]

Love that canter pic!!!

Thank you! His canter has really come on over the summer (being SJ bred it should be good!) and he's far more balanced and responsive, so I was really pleased with that photo

 

[j1ffy]

Oh god MP, lucky he wasn't too hurt! We also had an incident yesterday. Coming back from a hack and spied two cats having a fight, said to my friend that we should come back and split them up just as one of them shot off which spooked Buzz and as we were on the tarmac road he lost his back end, i flew off (and landed on my feet somehow!) but he couldn't get his footing and was scrabbling around practically on his hocks trying to get purchase whilst I was trying to keep him upright from the front end (no self preservation there!)
He got up fine in the end but it felt like he was trying for hours! I don't think he's done any damage, no cuts or swelling but i'm going to give him a few days off as I think he'll be pretty stiff today - i am! I have a whacking great bruise on my shin, not sure what caused it, possibly a flailing hoof and I think i've put my nervous hacking friends off for life poor Buzzy.
In other news his eye is healed, box is still broken though...

Eek, that's scary - I hope Buzz is none the worse this week. Please be careful landing on your feet - a friend of mine did that on tarmac and ended up with a broken back! The concussion went straight up her legs into her spine Probably a freak accident but frightening all the same.

 

[Roxylola]

Dressage yesterday was basically successful, it did one test, 64.3 which I'm pretty happy with. He needs to learn to sit and use himself better which I'd agree with entirely with. He was obedient and willing for the most part, got a bit tight in walk to trot but I think he was anticipating the canter that comes after. And 8s for both centre lines

 

[Chippers1]

Eek, that's scary - I hope Buzz is none the worse this week. Please be careful landing on your feet - a friend of mine did that on tarmac and ended up with a broken back! The concussion went straight up her legs into her spine Probably a freak accident but frightening all the same.

Oh god that is scary! I didn't intend to really, i was on one minute and on the floor the next! luckily with being 14hh it's not too far to go but it is definitely worth trying to be careful on tarmac.

 

[Roxylola]

All the best to anyone who's had sicknotes, injuries, and/or incidents this weekend. Sounds like there has been a lot more excitement than was really necessary

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Well it seems to have been an eventful weekend overall .

After being horribly ill last Sunday (stupid flare up from stupid work stress and eating irresponsible things), not riding all week due to flare up and working ridiculous hours, it seemed a good plan to continue to with the booked in showjumping this Sunday...

Skylla was very sure she didn't require me to be at fighting fitness, in fact I'm not really sure she noticed I was there

. She has discovered showjumping warmups are not like other warmups, whizzy kids on ponies are not her cup of tea

...

70cm first and it was almost controlled if a little jolly, clear round though, and there’s nothing like a horse taking you at the fences to give you confidence

. Next the 80, jumped a warmup fence, nearly lost control, decided that would suffice

. She was so excited but I do feel I should have more say in matters

. One down at the last as Skylla thought bouncing around with her head in the air was a great choice of approaches

. Might need to rethink the bitting situation or don the brave pants and go up a height

.

Not action shots I'm afraid so just an old headshot of the sassy wee grey thing for you.

 

[DirectorFury]

Oh my goodness MP, so lucky you were there when it happened! Though obviously not lucky that it happened.

How os she today ? Xxx

Thanks for thinking of her! YO kept an eye on her overnight and there was no coughing, she coughed once coming in yesterday just after we passed through the sheep/cow bottom barn (weird layout but we pass through a walkway between them) which is also where she was tied to clip on Saturday. I spent 2 hours watching her in the field and no coughing there either! Working theory is that it's related to the straw or the sheep, it only started after the sheep came in, but the vet is coming on Weds anyway just to check .

 

[Bernster]

Super plaits, and that sounds like a fun outing! Maybe a bit more fun for Skylla haha.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Super plaits, and that sounds like a fun outing! Maybe a bit more fun for Skylla haha.

Plaits were from our dressage outing, trying the technique of pushing the plait through itself and then plaiting into the next one, works quite well if their manes are long enough!

Skylla has the MOST fun lol, more funny was the organiser saying I needed to let the handbrake off to be higher up the placings, thought I'd gone quite fast enough thank you very much .

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Yikes Chippers! Hope Buzz is ok
Some lovely pics everyone.

I am very happy with Toby's dressage lesson. In fact I am ecstatic! It has taken forever to find a trainer I feel like I could make some real progres with and in the end have gone with Katie's SJ trainer who is an event rider but just great. She has done wonders for Katie & Dolly. And she really likes Toby which helps. Anyway, I finally feel as though have a trainer who:

a) Shares an ethos of sorting out the rider to improve the horse: very interested in biomechanics. Has trained with Andy TestT chappie, very fair on horses etc
b) Explains things well. And actually won't carry on if you don't get something. She realised I had no idea what a 'forward hand' meant. I thought it meant give the rein. So she spent all week figuring out how to try and explain it to me and this week came armed with a bungy-thingy to show me what she meant off the horse.
c) Gets on the horse to work things out and get a feel for what's happening
d) Tries different things if one approach is not working
e) Expects a lot of her students and gives a lot back. Eg gives home-work, and then rings between lessons for updates
f) Really seems to believe in me and Toby.

Hurrah!

Anyway Toby went better than he has ever gone today. For a couple of weeks I have felt like I have been fumbling for a key that has remained constantly out of reach. Changing one thing at a time, but feeling like I was late, awkward, not co-ordinated, not smooth, had rogue limbs. Then today it all just clicked into place and we had connection which felt effortless. It is a long way off where we can be but it is so, so much better.

Oh and in yesterday's Dolly lesson she just pinged 120cm like it was a twig on the floor! So I am very happy

Even feel like I can brave some video but be kind. We are just learning.....

 

[Roxylola]

Looking good there AP(E), that sounds really positive. Dolly is just a superstar

 

[Sail_away]

Settled Paddy in at Liphook yesterday afternoon. He's usually fantastic away from home but he was a little freaked out by the different sights and smells. I left him gobbling down his dinner and am now just waiting for them to call to let us know how he is. No results til tomorrow but they’ll call to let us know it’s gone okay (or not!). Can’t see him until Wednesday when we take him home so would be nice to have some news.

 

[SEL]

Settled Paddy in at Liphook yesterday afternoon. He's usually fantastic away from home but he was a little freaked out by the different sights and smells. I left him gobbling down his dinner and am now just waiting for them to call to let us know how he is. No results til tomorrow but they’ll call to let us know it’s gone okay (or not!). Can’t see him until Wednesday when we take him home so would be nice to have some news.

I'm sure he'll be fine. I couldn't see the microcob when she was in for her wind op for 5 days due to covid and they phoned me every day to say how she was getting on, as well as the surgeon's call after the op. Hope it goes well - I was half thinking of lining myself up for some sedative at one point.