Haven't posted on here for a while, been snowed under with college work. Since last post, Blue was sold to a woman who wanted him for a hack, but then was kept on his own and got quite angsty without other horses for company and so came back (minus a lot of condition). He came back at the beginning of last week, and since then has done brilliantly and is looking significantly less ribby than he was. A really lovely lady came to see him last night, decided she liked him and is taking him home tomorrow. I'm a little sad to see him go, but very glad that he's gone to a good home!
I did a dressage competition on him on sunday, he went beautifully. We did two tests, and won both classes, with 72% in one! It's the best I've ever done in dressage so I'm so glad he came back so I could have a few more rides on him :) (I'll try and get some pics up soon!)
I just hope now he does well in his good home, and carries on as well as he's done while he's been here :)
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Schooling last weekend =)
Blue and Fly schooling last weekend. I don't know how, but miraculously fly has decided to work in an outline recently, almost overnight. After 3 years of trying, suddenly he's let on that he knew what to do all along. I will never understand horses sometimes....
And a few of Blue to finish, he's being viewed for sale now, I'm really going to miss this horse (and no, I don't know what's up with my position in the last photo!)
And a few of Blue to finish, he's being viewed for sale now, I'm really going to miss this horse (and no, I don't know what's up with my position in the last photo!)
Friday 4 December 2009
ooo...Scary tiger...
My latest scheme to prepare fly for anything he might come across at a show, giant tigers! =)
He was very unconvinced about it to start with, and gave it a very wide berth when we first saw it, but very bravely took on the tiger after that!
Saturday 28 November 2009
Back on Track
Finally, we're getting back to where we were =)
I took fly to a clinic a couple of weekends back with the riding club. He was brilliant, he did everything we asked, we jumped all the spreads first time (even the ones with scary fillers) and even did some of them with a bit of style as well! He's been doing really well at home, jumping spreads without hesitation and flying over everything else. He's also somehow learnt to go in an outline consistently, which he's never been able (or felt neccessary) to before; which I think is mostly down to a girl who works at the yard who's really worked with him and brought his dressage on.
With this in mind, I decided to take him to a show, and go right back to the basics. We entered a 2'3" class (we'd been jumping about 3'-3'6 at home). He went brilliantly, we jumped everything clear (a little fast though, he thinks small jumps are pointless and there to be galloped at!), really relaxed and just enjoyed it for once! We got eliminated though, not through any fault of fly's, I jumped the wrong course! But he doesn't know that, so we still achieved what we meant to; to build our comnfidence back up and enjoy it. After the class I schooled him in the warm up for the next class for a while, and he was great there as well. I was more relaxed than usual as I knew I wasn't competing, which meant that he relaxed as well and listened to me. I made a point of jumping the spread in there quite a few times, as we always have problems in the warm up, and he did it perfectly. We're just going to build it up slowly from here, we're going to a show next weekend and do a 2'6" and possibly a 2'9" as well.
I've finally got back on Blue again, I haven't had a lot of time for him recently (and I'll admit, I've been pretty scared of him since I fell). We've just been working on his flatwork, for some reason he acts like a totally different horse with me than with my instructor or the the girl I mentioned earlier, he just won't go forward for them. It's funny how horses are like that sometimes, I will never understand this one lol. I've been working on getting him settled and relaxed as quickly as possible in a session; he has a tendency to tense up and ride around with his head in the air for the first 10 minutes, before relaxing into an outline, but he's getting better. I'm aiming to get back jumping him soon (again, a combination of not having much time, and being a bit scared of him), just starting over poles and tiny jumps. We're definately making progress, and he's so sweet in his box, I still just have to go over and cuddle him as soon as I get to the yard! He's so affectionate, and reaches round to try and groom me back whenever I'm brushing him down. I really will miss this horse when he goes (but probably have a lot more carrots in my bag!)
I took fly to a clinic a couple of weekends back with the riding club. He was brilliant, he did everything we asked, we jumped all the spreads first time (even the ones with scary fillers) and even did some of them with a bit of style as well! He's been doing really well at home, jumping spreads without hesitation and flying over everything else. He's also somehow learnt to go in an outline consistently, which he's never been able (or felt neccessary) to before; which I think is mostly down to a girl who works at the yard who's really worked with him and brought his dressage on.
With this in mind, I decided to take him to a show, and go right back to the basics. We entered a 2'3" class (we'd been jumping about 3'-3'6 at home). He went brilliantly, we jumped everything clear (a little fast though, he thinks small jumps are pointless and there to be galloped at!), really relaxed and just enjoyed it for once! We got eliminated though, not through any fault of fly's, I jumped the wrong course! But he doesn't know that, so we still achieved what we meant to; to build our comnfidence back up and enjoy it. After the class I schooled him in the warm up for the next class for a while, and he was great there as well. I was more relaxed than usual as I knew I wasn't competing, which meant that he relaxed as well and listened to me. I made a point of jumping the spread in there quite a few times, as we always have problems in the warm up, and he did it perfectly. We're just going to build it up slowly from here, we're going to a show next weekend and do a 2'6" and possibly a 2'9" as well.
I've finally got back on Blue again, I haven't had a lot of time for him recently (and I'll admit, I've been pretty scared of him since I fell). We've just been working on his flatwork, for some reason he acts like a totally different horse with me than with my instructor or the the girl I mentioned earlier, he just won't go forward for them. It's funny how horses are like that sometimes, I will never understand this one lol. I've been working on getting him settled and relaxed as quickly as possible in a session; he has a tendency to tense up and ride around with his head in the air for the first 10 minutes, before relaxing into an outline, but he's getting better. I'm aiming to get back jumping him soon (again, a combination of not having much time, and being a bit scared of him), just starting over poles and tiny jumps. We're definately making progress, and he's so sweet in his box, I still just have to go over and cuddle him as soon as I get to the yard! He's so affectionate, and reaches round to try and groom me back whenever I'm brushing him down. I really will miss this horse when he goes (but probably have a lot more carrots in my bag!)
Monday 5 October 2009
madness, but brilliance
I thought it was about time I posted about my instructor. She's by far the best I've ever had, and I owe everything to her. She's been an inspiration to me since day one, when my old instructor walked out, claiming that my Dad's new horse was unrideable and he should sell it. She owned the yard that we were on at the time, and got straight on to the horse, and spent the next year doing all she could to make something of him. Since then she's been amazing. She's helped me so much with my riding, and has taught me to fall off, laugh and get back on again (something which should never be underestimated!). She's so laid back, never panics or shouts if I get it wrong, just laughs and makes sure I know how to do it right next time.
Onto the madness =) After seeing my fear of spreads come into play, she started working on it with me in our next lesson. Last week, after we'd just about cracked jumping little oxers, she put up a double in the school. By the end of the lesson, she had it up to about 3' (with the second element as a spread) and had me jumping down it with hands on my head, out to the side, holding my whip out in front of me like a tap dancing cane and even doing the YMCA at one point (much to the amusement of my friend watching me). And even more amazing, by the end I was laughing so hard going over the fences (which I thought were terrifying at the beginning) laughing so hard that I could only just keep my position straight! Genius!
I've found that instructors like her are like gold dust, and she has that rare gift of being able to push me to improve, but also to enjoy it at the same time =)
Onto the madness =) After seeing my fear of spreads come into play, she started working on it with me in our next lesson. Last week, after we'd just about cracked jumping little oxers, she put up a double in the school. By the end of the lesson, she had it up to about 3' (with the second element as a spread) and had me jumping down it with hands on my head, out to the side, holding my whip out in front of me like a tap dancing cane and even doing the YMCA at one point (much to the amusement of my friend watching me). And even more amazing, by the end I was laughing so hard going over the fences (which I thought were terrifying at the beginning) laughing so hard that I could only just keep my position straight! Genius!
I've found that instructors like her are like gold dust, and she has that rare gift of being able to push me to improve, but also to enjoy it at the same time =)
Monday 28 September 2009
updates...
Just got round to transferring all my old posts from my non horsey blog, so they're all a bit outdated now, so here are some updates for you =)
My arms better now, back to riding normally again. Took blue through some (very) simple gridwork a few weeks back to give him time to get his little racehorse brain around it, and we succesfully went down a very small triple without panicing, knocking down poles or getting our legs in a muddle. I'm working on his leg yield at the moment which is coming on great, our flatwork's really begginning to come together, and I'm almost starting to enjoy dressage! I haven't been able to ride him much recently, too much college work but I'm going to have to do more over the weekend as he's only got a few weeks before he's up for sale.
Me and flyball are working on our issues with spreads (or rather, I am, fly's just going along with it) and I think (hope!) that we're getting there! I put up a double with the second part as a spread and we went down it a few times. I found myself concentrating so hard on my position (I knew my dad was taking photos so I wanted them to look good!) that I relaxed totally over the spread and felt great! I'm so proud of us both!
My arms better now, back to riding normally again. Took blue through some (very) simple gridwork a few weeks back to give him time to get his little racehorse brain around it, and we succesfully went down a very small triple without panicing, knocking down poles or getting our legs in a muddle. I'm working on his leg yield at the moment which is coming on great, our flatwork's really begginning to come together, and I'm almost starting to enjoy dressage! I haven't been able to ride him much recently, too much college work but I'm going to have to do more over the weekend as he's only got a few weeks before he's up for sale.
Me and flyball are working on our issues with spreads (or rather, I am, fly's just going along with it) and I think (hope!) that we're getting there! I put up a double with the second part as a spread and we went down it a few times. I found myself concentrating so hard on my position (I knew my dad was taking photos so I wanted them to look good!) that I relaxed totally over the spread and felt great! I'm so proud of us both!
slight hiccup
Well, in any sport I guess you have to take the highs and lows (in this case, in very quick succesion, one minute I was very high above the ground, and then crashing down onto it the next lol). This particular low landed me firstly on the floor, and then in A+E (or 'emergency department' as I'm told it's now called).
I was riding blue in the school yesterday, doing some work over jumps to improve his technique. He was going really well, but panicked as the grid got slightly more difficult, so leapt huge over the second jump and then stopped dead and bucked (again huge lol). Needless to say, I fell (from about 6/7 feet in the air, considering that we went up before falling down). Landed heavily (thinking 'this is going to hurt!' as I fell), rolled across the ground (under blue's feet at one point), and managed to get up and straight back on remarkably unscathed.
I put the jumps down a little and tried again, thinking that he wouldn't do the same thing twice as he knew what to do over the jumps now. But no, something had short cicuited in his little racehorse brain and he did exactly the same again, just bigger. This time I wasn't so lucky and crashed down to the ground with my arm outstretched. Got back on yet again to make sure that he did something right before we finished, and then got off and went to hospital.
I've managed to strain ligaments, tendons, nerves, muscles and god knows what else in my left elbow, and strain my right wrist. Not allowed to ride for a while, which sucks, but I'm sure I can find a way to get back on a horse soon.
I was riding blue in the school yesterday, doing some work over jumps to improve his technique. He was going really well, but panicked as the grid got slightly more difficult, so leapt huge over the second jump and then stopped dead and bucked (again huge lol). Needless to say, I fell (from about 6/7 feet in the air, considering that we went up before falling down). Landed heavily (thinking 'this is going to hurt!' as I fell), rolled across the ground (under blue's feet at one point), and managed to get up and straight back on remarkably unscathed.
I put the jumps down a little and tried again, thinking that he wouldn't do the same thing twice as he knew what to do over the jumps now. But no, something had short cicuited in his little racehorse brain and he did exactly the same again, just bigger. This time I wasn't so lucky and crashed down to the ground with my arm outstretched. Got back on yet again to make sure that he did something right before we finished, and then got off and went to hospital.
I've managed to strain ligaments, tendons, nerves, muscles and god knows what else in my left elbow, and strain my right wrist. Not allowed to ride for a while, which sucks, but I'm sure I can find a way to get back on a horse soon.
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