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 😉
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 😉
Happy April everyone 😉 🙂 What a gorgeous day today has brought (not so sure weekend is not going back to Winter but hey ho, enjoy the day while it’s here) 🙂
Today I rode Bella and then Stormy (didn’t want Storm to feel left out) 🙂
Bella….
We started off with our regular walk Ride the Rail, she went calmly up and down hills in walk doing this 😉
She was a bit faster in walk today and so after this we trotted over all the poles put haphazardly around the main field, like a jump course without the jumps.
Mounted with Stormy waiting for his treat too 😉 lol
After our ride Bella waits for her groom and treat 😉
Stormy…
We started with walking over all the poles in the field, asking Stormy to pick his feet up properly and take note of where his feet actually are 😉
Then we went around some of the rails like Bella and up the hill a bit. He used to worry when going away from Bella for a while but we knew where she was so all was ok.
After going down a small hillock he decided it was time for a canter up the other side which was lovely 😉
He then trotted to the mounting block for me to get off (polite boy that he is) 🙂
Along rails, up hills, Bella watching us all the time.
Couple of contented ponies <3
Tues 7th
Anyone for a hack out? Great day, great weather, great company 😉
Wed 8th
Today started strangely…Stormy took a wee spook at 5 walkers along the track outside the paddock fence while Mark was saddling him. I’m not sure why he did it, he’s not been worried by people before ;(
But we saddled up and went on our way. Unfortunately the same walkers were sat on the ground and the stone wall just before their field gateway, whilst also the famer was dashing about the next field on his quad bike….Stormy, and Bella a bit, were not amused at all. Both Mark and I got off and I asked the walkers if they’d get up off the track and let us pass, which they did BUT Stormy just wasn’t happy with them at all??? weird.
Maybe they had bad vibes, maybe they smelt funny to him…who knows?? Just before their field there was a dog walker and a big labradoodle, he barked a bit but we said hello, good boy etc and the walker was good to have him on a lead and backed off….eventually we managed to get them to their field and all went back to normal 🙂
So, even for us, things don’t always go smoothly, you never know what a horse see’s, or smells, or perceives a situation 😉 Just have to deal with the horse that turns up that day 😉
Fri 10th
A lovely day for some connection work with Mark/Stormy and Me/Bella. It was all at liberty today and as the area is a nice smaller size than previous years S&B stayed with us brilliantly 😉
Really enjoy liberty agility, it really does show the connection between us and allows for conversations of what we all did together 😉
Tue 14th
Upped riding today on Storm and Bella 😉 They both did walk, trot and a bit of canter 😉
Stormy 1st: He went up and down some hills with his lovely big canter up the 2nd one.
Bella 2nd: She upped her game with walk and lots of trot today with a gorgeous canter to finish.
Really enjoyed both rides with a nice breeze in our hair blowing all the cobwebs away 😉
Fri 17th
Today we got back the results of the Horse Agility BARTA course competition that I entered with S&B and I could not be prouder of them both.
Stormy = joint 2nd with 99% score
Bella = joint 4th with 96% score
How fab are these two big beauties 😉
Here are both their entries….
STORMY:
BELLA:
Sun 19th
I’ve had a pretty bad cold for the last 4 days. Mark has been doing everything and I’ve had to stay in bed and let it take it’s course. Yesterday I was ok to walk Beau the dog in the evening and today I felt up to seeing S&B in the afternoon for some light grooming. I decided to ride Stormy to the grooming spot so I wouldn’t have to walk it myself! Lol 😉 He’s such a good boy and Bella followed nicely 😉
I’m also thinking seriously about retiring from training horses/people. It’s not a decision taken lightly but the insurance I have to take out to work is not cheap (considering I only work 6 months of the year and on average the last couple of years only around 20hrs of work a year with fewer students able to afford any training at all). I’m also not as fit as I used to be with my right shoulder in pain for the last 7 months (I think a rotary cuff injury) and the driving to/from lessons is so hard. I often do a 2hr lesson with a min of 3 hrs driving (there and back), I’m really not making a living at it but I love teaching and helping horses. Maybe taking this year off will help me decide!
I’m not giving up S&B, they are my, and Mark’s world, BUT taking this year off to think about doing other things that Mark and I enjoy will be interesting. We’ve always loved travelling and photography and are considering getting a small motorhome to travel about in (we’ll find a good friend to look after S&B for the few days at a time we travel). I think it will be a good opportunity to enjoy the beautiful countryside of Scotland, some island hopping and some fun seaside times together with Beau 😉
Tues 21st
My cold is slowly receding now but I’m still not on top form (and I’ve given my germs to dear Mark now too SO It’s been my turn to do all the animal chores after he did it all when I was so bad last week) ;(
SO it’s been a week since I’ve ridden Bella and the weather was dry and not too windy so I took the opportunity to have a trot around on her 😉
We did 27mins 51 secs today with a distance of 2.4km.
Average speed was 5.1km/h with 13m 51s of walk and 6m 54s of trot 😉
That’s 10 mins more than last time we rode’..I do love a bit of progress
Wed 22nd
Just a bit of liberty flag play whilst ponies were scoffing their breakfast 🙂
Fri 24th
Managed to ride both Bella and Stormy this morning 😉 The sun was shining and they were both fabulous.
Bella did 2.4km with 12m 16s of walk, 4m 38s of trot and circled both round pens in 28s of canter 🙂 🙂 🙂
Stormy did some nice fast walk and trot up and down some hills 😉
Wed 29th
Today is glorious sunshine with a lovely hint of a breeze….perfect for a ride 🙂
I had already groomed S&B at breakfast time and before I cleaned the field I thought it would be nice to have a ride or two. Bella came up to me so I chose her to ride first and quickly tacked up.
I mounted up and we started off with some walk exercises but behind us, down the glen we could hear the local farmer moving some cattle.
This is quite a noisy affair as they shout a LOT at the cattle to keep them moving and it sounded like they were moving the cows in our direction SO….I continued a bit with Bella but noticed quickly that she was ‘stiff’ on her right turns. This means she wasn’t arcing her neck into the right bend like normal and that shows me her focus wasn’t on me or the ride but on the noise behind her. I decided to jump off. Jumping off isn’t detrimental, in fact it can be very useful with some horses in some situations as it helps them to refocus on the leader on the ground.
For Bella this is exactly what she needed…she softened her neck and we walked together towards the noise down the glen. When I could see the gateway of the lower field, where I thought maybe the cattle were going to come from, we stood together and I gently stroked her neck, tickled her chin and cuddled her muzzle. She was totally focused on ‘us’ and although the noise continued for 15mins we didn’t worry about any of it. When the noise seemed to be getting further away and not towards us we walked a bit more to connect and soon found ourselves back at the mounting block. By this time the noise had stopped, the farmer had his cattle where he wanted them…and we could continue our peaceful ride in the field 🙂
And we had a really nice ride, soft around the round pens in a fig 8 doing a fast walk, medium trot and controlled canter 😉
We also did some nice leg yields, walk weave with a really nice bend in her neck to the left and right and ended on a fab trot weave 😉
As I hadn’t finished cleaning the field I left Stormy’s ride for another day as I wanted to get back home, have my breakfast and then trim wee doggie Beau as his coat is way too long for this warm weather 😉
Thurs 30th
Sunshine again today so I went and fed S&B, groomed them and cleaned the field. After this I went and caught Stormy and saddled him up then haltered Bella….going for a wee ride together 😉
I managed to ride Stormy up the field hill, leading Bella was fab and just followed nicely. I had to dismount to open the top field gate and then I walked them to the 2nd gate on the track where there is some nice new grass.
They grazed for about 10 mins and then I sidled Storm to the gateway and mounted up again.
The purpose wasn’t for them to over graze BUT to find fun in ‘getting there’ with me on a wee hack out 😉
The sun was nice and warm and they both seemed to enjoy their small jaunt out of the field, they’ll be coming back to the house on Saturday as the farrier is due on Monday morning 😉
Back in the field and ready to take Storm’s tack off.
Finally I trimmed both S&B’s jaw hair, it often gets caught up in their bridles when riding and must pull a bit so trimming it off makes sense.
I make sure to not take any of their actual whiskers off (around their muzzles) as these are very much needed to let them know where the ground is, grass, feed bowls etc…very much like a dog or cat 😉 In some countries it is illegal to cut the whiskers and I think that is good as some people just trim away at all their horses hair to make them as smooth as possible but it’s not good for the horse at all.
