dollymix
Well-Known Member
I know it’s not exciting compared to what you lot get up to competing, but wanted to share a particular awesome weekend and ‘I love my pony’ moment!
In February, I relocated from Lancashire to Cheshire and moved my mare onto a yard which has reasonable facilities (indoor, outdoor and small farm ride) but no hacking. It was a very big yard and I wasn’t very happy there for a few reasons, so I started looking for somewhere new. At the beginning of June I moved Luna to a new yard – no school, but fantastic grazing (the most beautiful post and rail paddocks you have ever seen), immaculate yard, and fabulous hacking on quiet lanes and lots of hills.
Well, it has certainly agreed with Luna, as we don’t do lots of school work due to spavins – the hills have done her the world of good and she has transformed from a podgy pony to a muscled up monster! Haha
It’s amazing what just 5 short weeks can do!
It’s also a lovely yard as it’s small and very social, so they all go off to shows etc together and I was invited along to go XC schooling this weekend at Smallwood.
It’s been a good year since Luna and I did any jumping (other than the occasional cross pole if someone had left a fence out in the school) and well over two years since we went XC schooling but off we went and we had a fab time!
I’m not the bravest in the world and Luna was very green and spooky, but we popped some baby jumps and had a lovely splashy time in the water. More importantly, we felt super fit and left everyone else for dead when we had a final gallop home!
Quick question for you serious and able riders! For one that's spooky and green (despite being a 10 yr old - not much done for various reasons), how do you approach XC schooling? I stick to small stuff well within her range but if allowed she does want to stop, sniff and snort at jumps first time over!) would you take a lead? She is also green in that she's keen but wants to "run" at fences. For small stuff, do you think it would give more confidence to make her trot into fences?
Here’s some photos from the day – hope you enjoy…
A local livery/competition centre runs mini-eventing evenings, where you go round a course of show jumps and then straight out onto the cross country field over working hunter style fences. Might be tempted to give that a go at their next one in August!
We also went on a really lovely hack on Saturday – out for 2 hours on bridlepaths around Tegg’s Nose Country Park and through Macclesfield Forest. Seriously love my new yard and my super-duper pony!
Edited to say - not sure why photos have appeared as links instead of the images themselves? I can usually post photos fine!
In February, I relocated from Lancashire to Cheshire and moved my mare onto a yard which has reasonable facilities (indoor, outdoor and small farm ride) but no hacking. It was a very big yard and I wasn’t very happy there for a few reasons, so I started looking for somewhere new. At the beginning of June I moved Luna to a new yard – no school, but fantastic grazing (the most beautiful post and rail paddocks you have ever seen), immaculate yard, and fabulous hacking on quiet lanes and lots of hills.
Well, it has certainly agreed with Luna, as we don’t do lots of school work due to spavins – the hills have done her the world of good and she has transformed from a podgy pony to a muscled up monster! Haha
It’s amazing what just 5 short weeks can do!
It’s also a lovely yard as it’s small and very social, so they all go off to shows etc together and I was invited along to go XC schooling this weekend at Smallwood.
It’s been a good year since Luna and I did any jumping (other than the occasional cross pole if someone had left a fence out in the school) and well over two years since we went XC schooling but off we went and we had a fab time!
I’m not the bravest in the world and Luna was very green and spooky, but we popped some baby jumps and had a lovely splashy time in the water. More importantly, we felt super fit and left everyone else for dead when we had a final gallop home!
Quick question for you serious and able riders! For one that's spooky and green (despite being a 10 yr old - not much done for various reasons), how do you approach XC schooling? I stick to small stuff well within her range but if allowed she does want to stop, sniff and snort at jumps first time over!) would you take a lead? She is also green in that she's keen but wants to "run" at fences. For small stuff, do you think it would give more confidence to make her trot into fences?
Here’s some photos from the day – hope you enjoy…
A local livery/competition centre runs mini-eventing evenings, where you go round a course of show jumps and then straight out onto the cross country field over working hunter style fences. Might be tempted to give that a go at their next one in August!
We also went on a really lovely hack on Saturday – out for 2 hours on bridlepaths around Tegg’s Nose Country Park and through Macclesfield Forest. Seriously love my new yard and my super-duper pony!
Edited to say - not sure why photos have appeared as links instead of the images themselves? I can usually post photos fine!
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