hsadmin

Sat 4th

 

 

It’s been a couple of weeks since riding a horsey so today I managed to get in a wee mosey ride on Bella….

that is, before it started drizzling (the sort of wetness that you don’t really realise is wet until you get home and you feel everything is saturated! LOL).

It was so nice to get bum to saddle again 😉

 

 

 

 

The weather has been dry recently, so dry that our house stream that brings us water is dry ;( We’re taking 8 x 5lt containers to the main river near the estate entrance and filling them up for our washing up and toilet water….if it continues we’ll have to go to the local swimming baths for showers and local laundry services for clothes washing.

It struck me as funny yesterday that in Winter we have all the water we need to do the washing but no sun to dry it with (it takes a while to dry stuff in the house in the lounge while the wood burning stove is going full time) and then in Summer we have all the sun to dry clothing with but not the water to wash it with!!! LOL LOL LOL. Hey ho, ’tis the way of things here, we live with the rhythm of nature.

 

 

 

I also spent some time putting the agility back up in the closed off area so that when we want to play it’s all set up 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 8th

 

 

 

And today….it was Stormy’s time for a wee wander about the big field 😉 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not doing a lot (as usual) as the weather goes from too hot to stand to drizzle all day ;(

 

 

 

 

We’re praying for rain up here as our house water well has run dry already this year ;( 🙁

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk

 

 

I’M OFFICIALLY RETIRED 🙂 Yeehaa….onwards and upwards. 

I’m going to miss teaching, meeting good friends and new students a LOT, but not the mental and physical acts of organising everything, of driving for hours or the stress of making sure everyone and their horses are happy, relaxed and ok to receive information. Email and video lessons will still be available but I can do those from anywhere 😉 🙂

 

These 4 are what my time will be on nowadays…..

Bella, Mark, Stormy and sweet wee Bodie Beau <3

Updates on what S&B get up to will still be ongoing 😉

 

 

 

 

Wed 3rd

 

 

Bella wanted to play this morning so we had a bit of liberty fun with a pole 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great stradle of the pole

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then while still stradling the pole she cleverly walked backwards, keeping her feet over the pole 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stormy then wanted to join in so I asked him to put a foot on some smaller pedestals 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bella did the medium one too 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then Bella uppped the stakes by going onto the large tyre pedestal,

2 feet then all 4.

 

 

 

 

 

Not to be outdone, Stormy put all 4 feet on straight away and then stepped forward with his front feet and left back feet on the pedestal 🙂 🙂 LOL

 

 

 

After their fun they groomed each other <3

 

 

 

Thurs 4th

HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY BIG STORMY

We’ve come a long way Mark, you and I and we’ve loved every minute

Love you to the moon and back <3

< Stormy as a foal with his momma

Stormy’s dad >

 

 

Just off the Gillie’s transport, he came up from Utoxiter, 2 days of travel with a rest in Kelso

He was SO tired and SO weak but HUGE at just 11 months old

 

 

 

 

He slept a lot (still does) and with good food, a safe home and a ton of love he started to blossom into the beautiful, kind soul that he is <3

Here, after 2 weeks quarantine in our garden, he’s meeting Holly the herd leader. She looked after him as a baby to about 4yrs old, he adored her and they were pretty inseperable.

 

 

 

Finding his feet more and growing. He grew until he was 8yrs old, now standing at 18.2hh tall.

 

Making friends, Frodo loved Stormy, they were youngsters together in our back garden 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

More recent pics…he’s one hell of a dude…so kind, loving, cheeky, opinionated and our big baby 🙂 <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 6th

Had best friend Kat come up from the Borders for the weekend and Saturday meant horsey play time 😉 🙂 😉

She is not only a very good friend but also a student of mine but a student of the horse and an instructor herself so I trust her with S&B and that she knows the cues etc that I use with them. Storm and Bella have met her before so that helped too and we had a fun day together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After playing online and at liberty around the agility course we then rode around the course together 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday I took Kat to see ‘the Witches Stone’ down the road on an estate we used to live on. It is a Scots pine coming out of a 7m x 7m boulder. The tree has not grown much over the years and is said to be over 60yrs old and the stone is approx 7m by 7m big 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New jods on here 😉

 

Sun 14th

Today Mark and I played on the agility course with S&B. It was lovely to have Mark play with Stormy and they were both in good form too. Here’s some pics of them playing at liberty together…at one point RUNNING together….go Mark 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AND THEN BELLA AND I HAD A TURN, firstly online but then when we were connected we did quite a bit at liberty. This is a really lovely way of knowing our connection is getting stronger as a few years ago, even last year, she would just trot off and do her own thing BUT now she stays with me no matter where I go or what I ask 😉 I love working at liberty with horses, it’s a really freeing and flowy experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely new jods here…very comfortable and a splash of colour (Dark blue/Red and others on day before Black/Lilac) 🙂

 

 

 

And then I rode Bella for a bit, she was much happier in trot today and had a nice wee canter too 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 17th

Farrier up to trim S&B tomorrow SO….back to home paddocks today AND a nice ride for me 😉 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AND…..

 

We had to take them back to the big field at dinner time as the midges were biting a LOT. Poor Bella was stamping at her belly where they were biting her, very fidgity and restless and poor Stormy was quite sweaty from running around ;( 🙁

Hey ho, I got to ride to the house and back so always a bonus….they were quite calm going home as going northward there was a nice breeze and they knew they’d be back in their shelter soon so were happy to go back 😉 poor beasties <3

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 19th

Not horsey BUT very exciting….was sitting in my armchair watching tv this evening and just infront of the facing window this big beauty walked along our garden wall….I managed to grab my camera and take a couple of shots of it before it sauntered off….what a privilege to see this pine marten in the early evening daylight up here 😉 Buzzing 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 20th

Been a while since riding Bella again due to a lot of drizzle and full on rain recently but today I did S&B’s b’fast duties and grabbed the chance to ride Bella while the sun was actually shining (for a while) 😉

 

 

Started with a groom then tacked up. Then we did some online exercises to warm up (she seems to do better after this attention to detail for her) 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

She ground tied beautifully while I took the pic

 

 

 

 

 

And then we had a short, but very sweet, ride around the large field area (which they’re off until Autumn) and so pleased she wasn’t snatching at the long grass 😉 She’s such a good girlie, she did get some grass as a treat for being so good 😉

 

 

 

 

Sun 21st 

<3 HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE <3

Had a really lovely bareback plod on Big Stormy this morning. It was such a lovely day, warm with a nice breeze, so no flies. We just did some Point 2 Points and everytime we got to our destination he had a snatch of grass or a herb treat 😉 I love this big boy, he’s such a kool dude 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 27th

Like everyone else in the UK we’ve been having some very hot days, sometimes there’s been a lovely breeze but the air in our ‘glen’ is very ‘close’ and everyone and everything is trying to just do nothing so as not to get sweaty. Little Beau is hardly wanting any walks and S&B are sleeping a lot during the daytime. SO, nothing has been going on with S&B as it’s too much to ask them to take me for a ride. Today, luckily it’s overcast and we had a small lighning storm yesterday BUT the air is still very close, tight and ‘muggy’ SO…..lets hope the rain that’s forecast will clear the air a bit for us all 😉

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk

 

 

Sat 2nd

With the farrier coming on Monday and Mark and I busy tomorrow (Sun) we thought it best to bring S&B back to the house ready for him today 😉 I decided to just bring them back after going down and feeding them their b’fast and cleaning the field. After the other day’s ride to some grazing Stormy was quite happy to let me ride him up the hill leading Bella today…and YES we grazed in the same place before venturing further towards home 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon 4th

 

Farrier day today to trim S&B. I had them ready for his arrival with a good groom, plaited and tied up their tails and also put ‘socks’ on them (they’re knee bandages for humans) and they keep their ‘feathers’ up off the hoof making it easier for the farrier to trim their hooves and see what they’re doing 😉

They look tied up here but I don’t tie my horses, they’ve learned to ‘ground tie’ and their ropes are just draped over the fence line 😉

 

 

Tue 5th

Day for going back to their big field for S&B…the day is dry and mild with some sunshine and a breeze that keeps any flies away…perfect 😉

 

I rode Bella back this time, leading Stormy behind 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back to the field I took Storms headcollar off and we rode back to the shelter area where there is a mounting block for me to dismount and take Bella’s tack off 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 8th

Today I spent some time putting in some new fenceposts on the track fence and now S&B are off the big grass (where the roundpens are) and are on the track but have the main hill still open, for now…that usually gets shut off in June 😉

 

 

 

After I shut the main grass off Bella came over to have a wee liberty play. She doesn’t forget much this girlie of mine <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 9th

 

Bella had a lovely, trotty, ride this morning 😉 I took her onto the big grass bit that they’re not grazing at the moment 😉

 

 

 

We did a LOT of trotting today and it felt lovely 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 13th

We’ve had on/off sunshine/cold, drizzle, heavy HEAVY rain and hail over the last few days so when I get an opportunity to ride the big boy I take it 😉 🙂 🙂

 

Not a big ride but he went happily up the big hill for me today and had some fun riding over the tarp and the poles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He’s nearly finished his Winter moulting (thank goodness) and is looking a bit sleeker today 😉

 

 

 

 

Sat 16th

 

S&B enjoying their breakfast in nice weather 😉

While I clean the field I let them out onto the ‘off limits’ grass….

 

 

…this allows both S&B a change but also when I start to ride Bella it means there’s a no pulling for grass policy as she’s already full 😉

While I ride Bella dear Stormy puts himself back on the track and into the shelter (it was getting warmer as we went on and it was time to have a wee snooze) 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Short but very enjoyable ride on Ms B 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon 25th

 

So today I didn’t have a lot of time to actually ride around so after S&B had grazed on the restricted long grass a bit I decided to just jump on them one at a time to ride them bareback back to the enclosed track 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stormy being a good boy lining up with the mounting block for me to get on 😉 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next week I think is going to be hot, hot, hot SO I may not be riding much at all but am going to try to set up an agility course in the corner of the big restricted field so that on the off chance we can do some agility games together 😉

 

Thurs 28th

 

 

Today I brought S&B back to the house again, doing it regularly at around every 3 weeks now.

Rode Stormy while leading Bella 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Stopped for a wee bit of grazing along the way.

 

 

 

 

Stormy was a fab leader today, allowing me to concentrate on Bella who was behind us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely ride and nice and the weather was nice and cool too.

We’ll ride them back to the big field tomorrow as expecting rain over the weekend and they may need the shelter.

 

 

Fri 29th

 

 

Mark fed S&B whilst I walked Bodie Beau 😉 Here Bella has bogged off to graze while Stormy stayed with Mark and waited for me to return home.
I think Stormy was waiting for a treat…did he get one??? Of course he did 😉 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

And then this afternoon S&B returned home to their big field 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy