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<3 WOW, it’s DECEMBER already….

Tues 11th November

Just a quick update 😉

Mark has had his knee replacement done on 6th Oct so he’s still in hospital until tomorrow. I’m doing the chores at home (walk Beau twice a day, feed horses twice a day, poo pick field, bring wood in for fire, clean fire and making fire daily etc) and will probably be doing most of this for the rest of the year until Mark is walking better and happy to jump on the quad bike to do horses but he needs time to mend and get back his fitness.  Being that Winter is coming it’s been chilly, rainy, damp and foggy there is little time to think about riding (or even grooming as horses wet) and also dear Bella has been off-ish (a bit lame on her front right foot) so no riding going on at the moment. When it’s nice I may have the chance to ride Stormy but am having to not ride Bella to try to give her time to heal from whatever is making her lame. I cannot find any heat in her legs or anything that suggests ill health so it could be a hoor abscess which hopefully will come out sooner or later…just waiting to see what to do and when to bring a vet in (if no sign of where lameness comes from the vet will just prescribe a pain killer (she could run about and not feel the pain which could make things worse) and box rest (which we can’t do)…so a waste of a vet coming out fee until we can see something that needs mending ;( She could have just sprained a muscle, slipped in the mud while prancing about or got a bruised foot from a stone when walking on the track to the house the other day ;( It’s a waiting game with as much field rest for Ms Bella.

 

Sat 15th

The rain has stopped and it’s become very cold here BUT today the sun shone for a wee bit SO a great excuse to have a wee sit on Stormy 😉

 

We’ve not done anything for a couple of weeks now so we just took it slowly and we went straight to P2Ps (Point 2 Points).

This game gives us a great purpose and teaches focus, focus, focus.

We started going to a cone, then the rope post, then a gateway, a mounting block and repeated.

I made sure we changed the stopping point regularly and the only habit was to go straight and stop.

Stormy likes variety so keeping the game the same but changing the destination keeps him happy and gets his brain focussing on the purpose 😉

 

 

 

Sun 16th

Last night was -4* and was bitterly cold, the distant mountains had a bit of snow on the top and that chill factor was being brought down to the fields by the breeze. The horses were okay BUT there was quite a frost SO I took a small bale of hay down with their breakfast this morning (they have speedi-beet and chaff in their meals, this time of year it’s warm too). I gave them half the bale and stored the other half for later on. It was really just to give them something dry in their bellies before going to graze. Once they’d eaten their hay the sun had de-frosted the grass in the field and they happily went to munching as normal.

 

Eating their breakfast in the morning’s sunrise.

 

 

 

 

Happily munching hay in their shelter this morning 😉 🙂 : )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 3pm…

 

 

I took Mark, healing from his knee replacement operation, to see the horses at evening feed time (3pm).

He’s missed them a lot and they him too, he wanted to make sure they knew he was still around, just healing 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 18th

SNOW….

 

Tactical rugging: If I rugged them now, they can dry out and then they’ll be ready and dry for tonight’s -7* temp without rugs 😉

 

 

 

Tues 25th

Even though it’s been cold, rainy, drizzly and I don’t have a lot of time to do anything (also Bella is still limping a bit) I try to do something with S&B in the morning or evening at feed time. Just trying to keep our connection and keeping their brains working 😉

They often want to play so this morning we just did some ‘foot/feet’ on something. First it was Storm then Bella with one foot on the medium pedestal (tyre). Then Storm put his foot on the very small tyre (from a wheelbarrow) and then Bella did a great job standing on the big pedestal with all 4 feet 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THEN in the afternoon I took Mark down to see S&B again, he wants them to know he’s still about, just healing and they love seeing him and re-connecting with him.

I also took the opportunity of a nice bareback ride on Stormy where we did some brain thinking agility which was great 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 30th

Today we have blue skies again (we’ve been having a ton of rain and wind) and got Mark out to see S&B again…he misses them so much, and they him <3

Bella seems sound today too SO took the opportunity to ride Stormy and lead Bella, readying them for coming home for the farrier on the 11th Dec.

1. Leading Bella from Stormy…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. A FIRST for me and Stormy….Cantering the weave. Stormy sometimes gets fab idea’s and I know to run with it if I can. He obviously got bored trotting the weave and decided it would be fun to try cantering it 🙂 We’ve taught him to walk/trot close to the cones so cantering with counter-canter was a breeze really, I just had to direct him and sit tight 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Big trot around the round pens 😉

 

 

 

 

 

4. Rope circles 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed every second of it 😉

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk

 

 

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