Thurs 1st
Early afternoon Mark and I go down to the horses to shampoo their tails as Stormy’s was pretty yukki. Also did Bella’s mane and her undercarriage so all nice and clean now 😉
Bella’s new leather headcollar arrived and this afternoon I put D rings on the noseband to make her new bitless bridle. I ride Bella in her new headcollar bridle this afternoon before giving them their dinner 😉
Headcollar looks good on Bella and Stormy 😉
New bridle fixed with it’s new D rings and ready to ride 😉 🙂
Fri 2nd
Up early and give breakfast, poo pick track and then ride Stormy then Bella 😉 🙂 Love having our morning rides, really working out well, the day is cooler and the horses fresher 😉
Bella talking to the calves in the next field 😉
First ride with Stormy today
He did very well, nice slow walk around, bit of trot and a long canter to end with 😉
Bella was happy to do a lot of trotting today, she chose the gait today like yesterday. Nice bit of walk but great trotting with very few stops at the cones today and a lovely long canter from the lower bit of hillock to a cone with a wee jump to finish on 🙂
I LOVE that her mane is parting more down the centre now…to me that says her spine from ears to tail is becoming more flexible and she is more symmetrical 😉
Ended with both horses having a bit of a graze on the pasture before going back on their track 😉
Sat 3rd
Out quickly after breakfast today so nice and early again. Bella did 2 wonderful RtR’s again, one in each direction and included walk, a lot of trot and some great longer canters with also 3 jumps, down and up the dip/hill twice, a sidepass over a drainage tube and some really lovely small fig 8’s using very little rein 😉 She is so much fitter now and doesn’t sweat, which helps in not attracting so many horse flies, and we managed to do it so much quicker today so had a nice bit of grazing after I dismounted before going back to Storm on the track 😉
After 5pm it started to drizzle and it is now raining which is fab as it’s been SO HOT here. I know the horses will be loving the cooler temperatures. No pics though as just got on with the exercise today.
Tues 6th
Had rain last two days but today although the grass is wet the weather is pretty mild SO rode both Bella & Stormy this morning nice and early 😉
Weds 7th
At last…a day that is cooler and with a slight breeze that meant Mark, I and the horses can get out for a happy hack down the track to the village 😉 It was a really lovely hack out, the horses nibbling on herbage along the way (knapweed, cow parsley, ash tree leaves, raspberry leaves and much more)…another great bonus to bitless bridle riding 😉
Hacked all the way into the village and back today…SO pleased with both horses, they did it so well, despite being plagued with horseflies! Really enjoyable hack out with the horses and Mark 🙂
Fri 16th
It’s been so dripingly hot here at the moment and with plagues of horseflies (clegs) which are really nasty biters. Both Bella and I get bitten a lot so nothing has been going on with training at the moment, we just have to wait for cooler, breezy weather. BUT yesterday afternoon Bella’s new big horse Flyrug from Ruggles arrived and today she has her first day of calm without having to swish, bite and stamp to get the darned things off her. It’s also kept her cooler so hopefully she will be more rested and feeling more comfortable 😉
Bella comfortable in new flyrug…..off to her ‘boudoir’ for her mornings rest after breakfast
Another really hot day so best to stay in the shelter, no flies were biting her so she’s much calmer. Dear Stormy and Bella slept for quite a while in the shelter together. They are out in the cool weather grazing all night so this is their sleep time 😉
Bella & Stormy….such beautiful horses, love them to bits 😉
First day of ragworting today, not much around the track or hill sections. Will check out the main field tomorrow and then check each week until September. This one bag is so much less than when we first started ragworting 11yrs ago…we’ve managed to get on top of the huge amount that used to be in this field..our hard work is paying off 😉
Sun 18th
Well we actually had a bit of cooler weather SO Bella and I had a wee play…think she enjoyed it as much as I did…yeehaa 😉
Sidepass over drum then trot over it
Lovely connected trot weave
Very nice trot over the tarp….
….then a nice canter over tarp 😉
Lovely connection today
2 feet on small pedestal…first time EVER a horse has even tried this 🙂 She’s SO clever 😉
4 feet on big ped from a distance
Trot through the narrow bunting lane twice then a lovely canter through it twice too 🙂 🙂
4 feet in water tray and then familiarisation of me going under her belly 🙂 🙂
Jump…then….BIG JUMP 🙂 🙂
2 feet in hulahoop and then one foot on wooden block with me 😉 She learns so quickly if I give the right cues and time to think 🙂
Tues 20th
Too hot to do anything again but we went down and cleaned/refilled the water butts by the shelter and the trough on the track. I then put the old water into the water tray obstacle and we had a small impromptu play with S&B 🙂
Bella with her flyrug on and only a neck rope, she just takes a drink to start with…..
….and then just walk on and gets all 4 feet cool in the water.
Stormy, at liberty, looks…..
…tests and then walks straight on too…must be lovely to have cool feet in such hot weather 😉
Thurs 22nd
It was lovely and cool this morning and I took the horses some nice herbage to munch on after their breakfast. Was thinking of having a wee ride on one or both of them after poo picking the track BUT they both went and laid down for a rest so decided I could not disturb them if they were tired…they’ve been up most nights moving about and grazing so resting in the morning is what they need….I will ride another day 😉
Herbage laid out then in my basket ready to take to the horses
< Cleavers & Meadowsweet >
< Cow Parsley & Knapweed >
< Rosebay Willowherb
< Lovely to see them out on the track this morning.
Stormy enjoys his herbage >
After breakfast the horses take a nap together
Then after a roll Bella decides to go back into the shelter, she prefers it there…where the flies can’t get to her 😉
Fri 23rd
Well….today…we had a BREEZE and it was so much COOLER…..YEEHAAA, am hoping this lasts as it was so pleasant.
Lovely to see the horses moseying around the track rather than hiding from the sun in their shelter.
They were calm, happy to be out and after their dinner they followed me down to the ‘play area’ for some fun and treats 😉
Just played about with a small tarp as it was so nice being with them and not being bitten by horseflies myself today 🙂
Sat 24th
So nice and COOL this morning when feeding the horses their breakfast. I poo picked the track and then took the opportunity to ride Ms Bella. It has been 17 days since last riding her but she didn’t put a foot wrong going around the long grass paddock. She did lovely transitions with walk, trot and canter, did a lovely large fig 8 in trot around the found pens and a calm, happy jump into canter to finish with 😉
Such a fabulous girl, she is my shining light, my heart and my soul. She makes me smile and brings huge amounts of joy into my life <3 <3 <3
Tues 27th
A little bit cooler this afternoon so a little fun with umbrella play 😉 LOL
Thurs 29th
Nice cool morning with a light breeze, no flies and horses grazing on the track so a great opportunity to ride early today and I did, both of them 😉 🙂
Lovely ride first with Bella….walk then trot around the field with Stormy keeping us company when we rode by the track fence 😉
Great focus and good energy with a lovely jump and canter to finish on.
I just rode Stormy slowly mostly in walk with a wee bit of trot interspersed 😉
He enjoyed being out in the big field with a few grabs of grass as a treat.
It was just lovely to ride them both today, would love to get back to riding them a bit each day and then moving onto more fun agility stuff too 🙂
Sat 31st
Not being able to ride or play with the horses every day is hard for me as I get a bit of ‘cabin fever’ sitting around in the house. I just LOVE being out and about walking the dog or being with the horses so every now and then I just have to plonk my bottom on a horse and mosey about to get my horse-fix 😉
Today was one of those days, the clegs (horseflies) are bad still and it was warm enough for Bella to want to eat her dinner then stay inside the shelter waiting for the cool of the night SO I asked Stormy if he would mind me sitting on him and just ride around the track a bit. He did a great job of taking care of me as I just jumped up on his back and had his rope halter/rope on him. He helped me find my smile again and he got more treats for his reward 🙂 <3
- Shelley – HorseSavvy