Sat 2nd
It’s not very often when out teaching that I get the opportunity to sit/ride a students horse (often because I wouldn’t want to or they’re too small for me) BUT this is Hamish, a 17.2hh Clydesdale, about 10yrs old and he is such a good horse that when his owner said….can you ride him to help me (as he wasn’t moving forward) I jumped at the chance 😉
I just LOVE my job, it’s just the BEST <3
Sun 3rd
Just an impromptu play and bareback ride on S&B today….thoroughly enjoyable 😉
Curiosity and no fear…all at liberty
My fav pic of the day <3
A wee bareback ride on Bella….much more confident bareback on her now
And then a wee bareback ride on big Stormy <3
Sat 9th
Today I went out to ride Bella while Mark was trimming Stormy’s hooves (and to poo pick the field to save him doing it after all the hard work of trimming).
Bella did me proud as we hadn’t done a lot of warming up but she cantered through a narrow gap with the flag flapping like crazy. This is only the 3rd time she’s cantered with the flag and she cantered lightly and was calm and controlled 🙂
Sun 10th
Went to weight tape S&B (have a tape measure that goes around their girth area which averages their weight…we do it regularly to check on weight gain/loss) and decided to do a bit of bareback riding with them both 😉
Firstly I rode Stormy with some ‘passenger lesson’. He chooses where he wants to go, I can only sit and accept that and remind him to keep in gait if he happens to change it.
We work firstly in walk and then in trot…you can see on his ‘map’ that he went all over the place. It’s a hard lesson as most horses are used to being ‘directed’ all the time so this is a challenge and a gift to a horse to allow them to mindfully choose a direction and we sit to it.
Then it was Bella’s turn. I’ve not done a lot of bareback riding on her as my balance isn’t what it used to be and her back moves a lot.
But today I realised how good she really is as when I asked her to trot, if my balance was off, she would go back to walk again. She wasn’t being naughty or changing gait to go slower, she was helping me 😉 What a star she is, a real momma of a horse who takes care of her charge 😉
Wed 20th
Groomed and ready to ride. Standing perfectly a my barrel mounting block for me to get on easily 😉
Moseying about in walk, it was just lovely to be back in the saddle. She did a few agility obstacles such as the flags, curtain and rope circling
A nice graze after riding this morning….then taking S&B back to the track from the roundpens with just neck ropes 😉
S&B love each other and are a very bonded pair 😉
Mon 25th
Well, we’re nearly into September already. The year has been good so far with S&B but the weather has been a problem. A problem I hear you say?? we’ve had lovely weather? Yes, the weather has been nice, we’ve all tanned, we’ve all had lovely times in the sunshine BUT it has brought our 3rd yr of no rain which has meant the horses (and almost our house, which too is fed from a burn/stream) have no running water. We have 8 water containers (the sort you can carry) and we fill these up by dunking them in the main River Ericht that flows about half a mile from our house at a ‘culvert’, it allows us to step into the river and fill the containers. We’ve been doing this around 3 times a week and if no rain comes soon we will be getting more containers so we can bring some into the house for washing up and flushing the toilet. So far I’ve not been able to do a clothes wash as it takes up too much water to do that which is a shame as the weather is fab for drying stuff at the moment. The joys and worries of living off a mains water supply. Luckily our solar panels have been doing their job well and we’ve had free electricity all summer 🙂 🙂
Because of the work load the water is taking up and the weather being so hot I’ve not been able to ride S&B as it’s just too hot for us all unless I get up really REALLY early and I love my kip I’m afraid. I’ve also tweaked a muscle in my right lower back so that’s put me out of action a bit. I’m resting up as I’ve a couple of lessons away in Huntly this weekend so hoping I can manage the drive up and back for that 😉
Here’s to a rainy, pain free September folks. See you soon, much love from both S&B, enjoying their lazy grazy Summer 🙂 <3
- Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk