HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE
Thu 2nd
Today is very windy and around -4* but as it’s dry and bits of blue sky I decide to go out and keep my horses riding connection going until we can do more when better weather comes.
Note my fleece cover for my riding hat, warm and with a fab neck piece that keeps my neck and ears warm, great investment bought last year.
First I rode Stormy. He did some great patterns and decided to do some trot too which was lovely.
It was darn cold but it was great being with S&B this afternoon 😉
Bella was a bit ‘antsy’ to start with while saddling up as the snow clouds came overhead with a bit of a flurry coming down but I’m glad I didn’t stop as it stopped quickly and while we worked on some very consistent patterns going into some variety she settled down to the job quickly and it was a nice ride.
I created today’s patterns as I have 8 cones put out in the field, 4 down one side then a big gap and 4 more to make up a rectangle
Sat 4th
Breakfast in the big field, bringing them home today so might as well do it after breakfast
We have a weather warning for rain/snow over Sun/Mon so better be here at home.
I kept their rugs on as it was very cold and they will need them on the journey but also they will be nicely warm when they reach their destination rather than take them off and they and rugs get cold then put them back on ;(
They walked beautifully in tandem…when Bella was younger she used to follow, now Stormy is older it’s him that follows 😉
Went through Highland cow field no bother, both S&B and the cows are used to us moving about over the years as think they are the same cows that are put in this field every winter 😉
I hung onto their rugs as it helped me to keep up with them while walking up the hillock.
S&B back at the home paddocks.
It was a lovely walk with these big two beautiful beasties <3
Mon 13th
(maybe even get to have a play and ride soon too) 🙂 
Thu 16th
Wow…it’s been 2 weeks since riding.
Sunshine and a wee bit of warmth finds me outside with Ms Bella 😉
Start off with some play to make sure she’s connected, calm and happy to be ridden.
Then onto some nice riding.
Starting in walk first we do some straight lines and then curves, making sure we have both.
She was on good form with some nice walk and trot Point 2 Points (P2P’s)
And offered some really nice trot P2P’s too 🙂
In these 4 pics you can see she was exercising well, using her hindquarters for power which in turn pushes her back up to support me which then also brings her neck up and her head in….we call this natural collection.
When she does this she is working very efficiently, muscles supporting her as an athlete and shows she is fit and healthy. I’m hoping this she has figured out this is a good way to be ridden so will do it more and more as we work on fitness this year 😉
She’s just gorgeous, inside and out 😉
Fri 17th
Today Mark trimmed Bella’s hooves in the morning so I went down at the same time to do the poo picking of the field and to take advantage of a nice day and give Stormy some exercise.
He did really well and it was lovely to reconnect with him riding.
Sat 18th
Gave Mark a lie in this morning so walked Beau first thing and fed him his breakfast and then went and fed S&B their breakfast, quick groom and then cleaned the field 😉
Was lovely being with them while the sun rose in the sky.
Mon 20th
While down in the field giving S&B breakfast and while poo picking the field dear Bella followed me around the field a lot so I jumped on her bareback and had a short, but lovely, ride 😉
Wed 22nd
A lovely walk ride on Bella this afternoon
The ‘clover leaf’ pattern shown on the map was done as diagonal fig 8’s
Just lovely to connect with her during the Winter 😉
Sun 26th
Sunrise this morning with S&B after the big storm (no damage here thank goodness).
They followed me about the field while I poo picked and cleared the water troughs of ice.
They were both in good spirits and trotted with me on the quad bike up the hill.
Thu 30th
Nearly the end of January, still a couple of months of ‘winter’ to go but so far managing to get out now and then to do a nice walk-ride with Bella or Stormy. It keeps them ticking over and stretching gently over the cold months, same for me too 🙂 Today it was another walk-ride with Bella.
Lovely sunshine really does make a big difference to being outside at the moment as although it was chilly it didn’t seem so bad this morning.
The map pic shows we did some nice ‘dressage’ patterns on the left top of pic in my ‘arena’ and on the right side we did some fig 8 type patterns over poles with the poles as a square in the centre and a pole at each diagonal away from the square centre 😉
- Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk
He did walk, trot and a wee cheeky canter, circles, fig 8’s around tyres and sidepass L&R over a short tyre stack 🙂 : )
