Bella & Stormy – June 2025

Mon 2nd

We’ve had days of on/off drizzle, heavy rain and winds again so the horses have had some time off 😉 Today though, we have mild temps, wee breeze and dry weather SO I went and fed them this morning and cleaned the field. I then tacked them both up and took them out of the field. I walked them a quarter of the way back to the house (up the big hill and to the first gateway) where then I mounted Stormy and lead Bella all the way home.

Every opportunity to snatch at some delicious grazing, there are some fab cow parsley plants about at the moment.

Riding Stormy and leading Bella…both did a fab job sticking together and keeping the same gait.

Stormy loves a wee canter at this hillock in front of the house….managed to keep Bella up with him in trot 😉

I put them into the home paddock for an hours rest/grazing where they did actually rest for quite a bit of it. Then Mark and I tacked them back up and we rode them back to the big field together 😉

Love ride, not too long as we were both tired from some home decorating and doing odd jobs this time of year but just great to get out together for a wee ride on the big monsters 😉

Bella had a bit of trot energy once back in the big field so we did some nice trot circles 😉 Nice end to a nice rie 😉

Weds 4th

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BOY STORMY…today is his 22nd Birthday so here’s some pics of him from baby to now to celebrate his wonderful life so far 😉

What an amazing 21yrs together (we got him at 11 months old), he’s been such a joy to learn from him and train him into the happy, athletic, cheeky boy he is today. He thoroughly enjoys human company, especially his dad, Mark, for whom he has a big soft spot. He enjoys using his brain and agility is a sport he has fun doing with us. He also enjoys getting out on a hack, not so much for the journey, but for the cheeky snatches at greenery he can get along the way. He’s taught me so much over the 21yrs of owning him (we got him at 11 months old) for which I’m eternally grateful as I take all my knowledge out to students all over Scotland 😉

Fri 6th

I’m swooshing off to Aberdeenshire for a long weekend teaching horsemanship so today is the last day for a wee ride for a few days 😉

While it’s sunny and not raining (expecting it later on,) I have a wee short exercise session with Bella.

We start off by doing a super good groom to get the dirt and dust off her coat and tidy her mane, tail and feathers. Then I tack up and we walk around the field (using S2M w/h/bk) checking on the agility equipment, making sure it’s all in place, standing upright and not damaged.

She then sidles up to the mounting barrel and I get on 😉

We had a really lovely 20 min ride working in halt, backup, walk, trot & canter.

We also use some forehand turns and hindquarter turns through a weave and going around, through or over the agility obstacles.

Now I’m ready and relaxed to go out teaching…..see you next week 😉

Sun 15th

Today I moved ALL the agility obstacles off the big field and into the ‘agility arena’ area. It took quite a while but it will now be easier to work online or at liberty with S&B (ie. not so much walking for me 🙂 ) lol

I’ve set up a bunting corner, a jump, a drainage tube for sidepass, tyre stacks for a narrow gap, a tarp, 4 trot poles, the arch, the curtain, jump wings for a weave and fig 8’s with tall flags by 4 of them. I also have a single pole for changes of gait and 2 parallel poles for a straight backup.

After this I wanted to ride Storm and/or Bella but didn’t have huge amounts of time. Decided to work both of them together, which was inspired, as it not only gave them both some exercise physically it also helped us practise our riding/leading skills.

Firstly I saddled and rode Stormy while leading Bella and then I put the saddle on her (shorter girth) and rode her while leading Storm. At the end I let Stormy go so he could graze a bit while Bella and I did some canter work 😉 Very happy, but tired, bunny today.

Riding Stormy while leading Bella

Bella did excellently staying by Storm’s side and I made sure she lead from both sides.

She snuck a drink from the barrel where rainwater collected last night.

Then I rode Bella while leading Stormy 😉 🙂 Both sessions had some really nice forward walk and medium trotting around the cones in a weave….very happy bunny today 😉

Stormy did very well being led from Bella and she is getting much better at it too 😉

At the end I let Stormy off to grab some grazing in the big area which is cut off now it’s Summer, he really really enjoyed it.

I tied Storm’s reins onto the front of Bella’s saddle to get her used to carrying things which bump about on her shoulder or rump.

Bella and I had fun with some jumps and canter straight lines and also canter weaves 😉

We ended on a great note and I then just hung out with her while she snatched some grazing too before putting them back on the track (less grazing so they don’t get fat or laminitis).

Wed 18th

Today S&B had a scheduled therapy session with lovely friend Emily. They both LOVE these sessions and we bring them up to the house to make it easier for Emily to get to them. The ride up was really lovely and both S&B had a spring in their steps.

It was hard for Bella to stand still for her session as the midges made an annoying appearance but Emily managed to give her a good session.

Stormy was as calm as ever, the midges not making him move at all (I think midges like the ladies more anyway, our blood must be sweeter. lol)

After their session I walked them both back to their big field for their dinner and juicy apples 😉

Sat 21st

Been busy out teaching lessons recently but really nice to get a bit of agility done today with both S&B now that the course is up and ready to go.

I started with a good agility ride on Bella (pics taken from not so good video where battery gave up on me after 6 mins ;( ) oops. BUT we did all the obstacles, some trot and a nice wee canter too.