Fri 3rd
Well September seemed to have passed by SO quickly and we’re now into Autumn and some rainy, windy weather. Today, though, is just before Stormy Amy and the weather is calm and nice (although very rainy last night), so a nice opportunity to snatch a ride on Bella. Last time I rode, about 10 days ago, she seemed a bit ‘off’, a bit lame, so I made the decision to leave her for this time as think she may have bruised a hoof when I rode her to and back from the house 2 weeks ago. Always good to rest a horse if unknown lameness happens, it often goes after this time but if it hadn’t I would have called our vet out.
SO, today we just had a bit of a plod, started with a loose rein and testing our connection with turns in the weave and then the serpentine and also did the walk/turn/back out through the corner tyre obstacle. We then picked up the rope with a tyre tied to it. I use this as a pulling exercise, I grab the loop at the end of the rope and ask Bella to walk around dragging it behind her, turning under the rope to change directions and to back up. It was a lot of fun and she did really well. Stormy, who was ca
sually grazing along the fence line saw the tyre bobbing in the long grass and put his head up and trotted with the high head of a horse that was, not spooked so much, but made alert with something they didn’t expect 😉 lol.
Sun 5th
Just a lovely ride on Stormy today….lengthening his walk stride and enjoying some agility obstacles 😉
Thurs 9th
What an absolutely beautiful day for a wee hack out
Mark/Stormy and Me/Bella rode out for just over an hour this afternoon and it was just bliss 😉
Gorgeous weather, fabulous company and horses were just superstars 😉
We both had some trot when the track was good and we even had a couple of canters too.
Enjoying the beautiful Autumnal scenery 😉
Wed 15th
Chilly morning turned into a very hot afternoon SO opportunity to go and play with S&B with Mark 😉
Ground tying <> Back over pole <> Weave
Jump <> S2M Trot <> Curtain
Sidepass <> Trot poles <> Bunting lane at liberty
Trot bunting lane at liberty <> Trot tarp at liberty <> Storm and Mark liberty ground tie
Back over pole <> Weave <> Tarp then bunting lane
Walk over poles <> FIg 8’s <> Fig 8’s
Sidepass <> Walk poles <> Bunting lane
Tarp <> my new bunting is a long line of fabulous Buddist Prayer flags 😉 <> Curtain
THEN I RODE BELLA with my BAREBACK PAD 🙂 (pad makes it better for my balance as it’s non slip)
Weave <> Tarp <> Bunting lane
First time trotting over poles bareback 🙂 <> Halt in box <> Sidepass by bunting
Sidepass <> Curtain <> Fig 8’s
Sidepass 😉 🙂
Thurs 23rd
Mark bringing Storm and Bella to the area we groom and saddle up.
Bella did a great job standing on the pedestal, first 2 feet, then all 4.
We put a couple of big rubber mats down in the shelter so that when it’s totally pishing with rain we can feed them in the shelter and if they drop some they can pick it up without getting a mouthful of dusty mud 😉
Bella did a good job of familiarising her feet to the mat 😉
A chilly day BUT a good riding day SO Mark/Stormy and Bella/Me did a ride we’ve only done once, maybe twice before.
The horses were a bit on their toes as the local fence man was down in the field below doing a bit of work.
This is the 2nd field away from our field and we were going to go on ahead through the next field but the farmer had moved his cattle into that field so we turned back a bit and went up the hill where I was waiting 😉 🙂
Going up the hill we do a bit of trot and a couple of wee canters too.
Bella did a good job of following Stormy up the hill…every now and then she stopped to have a good look around her 😉
Top of the hill and the double gates are recognised as the ones we pass on the way from the field to the our home so they relaxed and knew they were on the way back to their field 😉 🙂
Love a nice round route to ride 😉 Think we’d have to do it a few times more to get it more relaxed and known. We can’t often do that as during the year they often have cattle in these fields or during Autumn/Winter there can be shooting on the estate so riding here was a challenge and special today 🙂
- Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk