Blog

Thu 1st

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Started the lovely cool day off with some play with Bella going under the curtain, halt under it, backing out of it and then drawing to me in trot 😉

It’s been a while since doing the curtain and she was perfect. We then had a short but effective ride working on getting my body dynamics right so that she could get her body dynamics right 😉

 

 

 

Then in the afternoon Mark rode Stormy and lead Bella back home. Bella has a physio treatment tomorrow afternoon so it’s easier to have them handy at home when Emily comes to see her 😉

< Bella cantering to Storm’s big trot 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 2nd

Today Bella had a fabulous physio from Emily. She has been coming once a year at around this time of year for a while now and it really helps Bella get her body back into ‘shape’ and ready to start training again. Emily thinks she either goes a bit ‘squint’ from the rest time over winter or it could be because of all the spring/summer grass coming in. Whatever the reason the physio Emily gives her really works well. Bella, and Stormy, will go back to the big field a few hours after the workout and Bella will have a few days off 😉

 

Mark with the babies 😉

Bella really enjoyed pruning the beech hedges around the paddocks.

 

 

 

 

 

Bella really enjoyed her physio, sleepy eyes, licking of lips and yawning. She pushed into the workout, relaxed

and hopefully feeling ready to start training again soon 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Walked S&B home to their big field in the afternoon

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 6th

 

 

Booming across the glen with a bird/deer scarer and estate gamekeeper and friend

shooting goodness knows what….very unpredictable and annoying to be honest.

 

 

 

I decide not to ride Bella as I didn’t want to upset her or have an accident.

Instead Bella and I go around playing with the obstacles while Mark and Stormy ride them 😉

 

 

 

 

Storm and Mark had a great time, did the obstacles very well and found fun with the

rope circle where they had to keep the rope off the floor doing circles…..they had to use

forward, leg yields and good rope skills when changing direction 😉

 

 

 

When they did ridden familiarisation with the flag Bella and I walked behind and then next to them to help her get used to the flag being above her and with the noise too 😉

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile Bella’s new fun thing is to put her face into flags 😉 She gets treat trained with new things so this is a huge and fun thing for her to do…even from a distance AND getting used to the noise and movement of flags all the time, at least in the face (hopefully get her used to this in the saddle area next and then on her bum 😉 )

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 7th

No pics today but that’s because I was really just concentrating on working with Bella….straight lines and curves as always. It’s the basic that always need working on and once they’re there it all becomes better. She did some lovely fluid fast walk, balanced trot and one really nice canter 😉 There was two ‘booms’ of the deer scarer while we rode but luckily we’ve both started to get used to it, although it’s unpredictable, the noise itself isn’t so scary now.

 

Fri 9th

 

A day to do some trimming. Ms Bella is needing her hooves trimmed around every 2-3 weeks at this time of year…I try to do it as often as possible as then I have less work to do and it keeps her more balanced.

 

 

 

 

Sat 10th

This morning I managed to have a lovely lesson with Bella before it started to get too hot to move.

 

Just found, and started using, this fab Equilab app. It really shows where we rode, how far, how long, how many steps, transitions etc etc. I love a bit of statistic-ation and it will help me know how we’re progressing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bella did do a skip and a hop of canter but she’s a clever girl and didn’t continue as the ground is just too hard at the moment and it could really affect her feet and legs SO we kept to mostly walk but it was a good walk. The field fig 8’s are quite large and while we did 4 of them we utilized a few of the field agility obstacles along the way 😉 it was a lot of fun 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the ride I put her fly mask on to help her with the problem of large and pesky wee flies. It also helps to reduce UV to her face and I hope it helps her. I lead her off the quad bike in walk to the water trough, she is getting SO good at this now 😉 Stormy followed at liberty and they both had a long drink of fresh stream water.

 

 

I left them both near the trough enjoying some grazing together 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 11th

 

Finished trimming Bella’s hooves today, I usually do the fronts one day and then the backs the next day…..just can’t do all 4 in one day any longer, my back needs a break.

I then got Bella ready for a short bareback ride….this helps get my back into shape after being under her trimming

 

 

 

 

The ride was smooth and sweet. Lovely walk and a bit of trot. Didn’t actually do much or go far, but it’s just my little treat after trimming her feet 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stormy followed us around for a bit too which was really lovely. I love my life and these two beauties so much <3

 

 

 

 

 

Tue 13th

 

SO, today I got up at 6am to get the horses breakfast and to get in a ride before it gets too hot to even think! It was a lovely start to the day, cool and with a hint of a nice breeze.

Bella did really well. We did a different pattern in the field today and from the Equilab stats we did fewer transitions with less time BUT did more trot, more mileage and more strides…fab 😉

 

Bella ready to rock and roll around 7am this morning 😉

 

 

 

 

Fab ride, straighter, focused and cool. Also no treats until near the mounting block to get on or off…makes her even sweeter on the mounting block now 😉

 

I left S&B standing having a snooze together <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 15th

 

SO…up at 5.50am this morning and out to feed S&B their breakfast.

THEN I get Bella ready to ride. Groom, fly spray and tack up.

 

Decided to ride in my ‘arena’ today. It’s a largish area which I can work ‘dressage’ exercises in, open on one side that goes up the hill (you can see this on the Equilab map, the bit like a long tail is the hill we went up)

 

 

 

This was this hill bit, she did a bit of canter going up but decided it was too much like hard work (or hard ground) but we got a great view at the top and she got a reward of the long grass she adores 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also did a bit of flag work. Not done this for a while so we started with familiarisation at standstill with it all wrapped up. Then I worked on this whilst at walk and then I unfolded it, held the free corner at the handle and worked on that with her at walk and then 6 strides of trot. She remembered to touch the flag often and got a treat for it each time, she stops to do this so it’s installing a stop and touch flag for later on when we work on it flapping about 😉

Finished on a good note and was very happy with the restart of this work.

 

 

 

 

Final cool down work with me stirrup-less to lengthen my legs and relax and also did this with some passenger lesson for Bella. This is where we stay in walk and I have no ‘control’ over where she goes, I just sit and enjoy her moving about. With horses that are over trained they often just go in circles to the left but because Bella isn’t micro-managed she’s happy to wander about to the left and right and far and wide 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 18th

 

 

LOVE this riding app I’m using (Equilab), the stats are great and when I clicked on the map it came up with a closer look of the actual field….the small black box near the centre bottom is the horses field shelter which shows the size of field I work in 😉

Today we have again more mileage and more time. I’m putting a timer on my phone to tell me when we’ve done 30 mins which is helping me to relax into it and not wear or check a watch 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely and cool this time of morning and it was a joy to ride, think Bella really appreciated it too.

Still working on flags, firstly with the big ones used as a weave and also for her to ‘touch it’ with her nose for a treat …really going well with that 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Bella used to sidling up to where I get and place the hold-able flag 😉 She straight away put her nose on it when I lifted it up 😉

 

 

We rode around the round pens, in walk, with me holding the flag firstly at her shoulder (the end bits in my hand to make flapping minimum for now), the I put it over my shoulder and rode with hit there……on both sides 😉 Really REALLY happy with the flag riding progress today, all going according to plan.

 

 

 

I then rode Stormy so that he didn’t feel left out, also to keep him fit and happy. I used the P2P (Point 2 Point) exercise and used the long seeding grass as the points to go to around the field so that his motivation was the reward of a wee graze 😉 It worked really well and he started striding out well in walk and then had a small trot. The ground is really so hard I’m not doing too much fast work with either S or B at the moment.

Had some flappy flag fun with him too which was enjoyable.

 

 

 

Tues 20th

 

 

Early start again today, grey skies and rain yesterday BUT it looks like it may get ‘clammy’ here later so early ride is best.

Started with familiarisation of the flag, firstly at the nose, but then backing up and sidling towards it with the mid section and rear end 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Bella tacked up and ready to rock and roll.

 

 

 

Field riding exercises again today. 3km ridden with 1.7km of walk and 1.1km of trot.

The ground is still so hard, even after a bit of rain yesterday. I hope we get more rain soon so that the ground softens a bit

and Bella finds it easier to start doing her big trot and canter work again 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 22nd

 

Another 5.30am start to the day, lovely and cool with a nice slight breeze.

We did more mileage, longer time and a bit more canter (she decided to do some, I’m not asking at moment due to hard ground)

We started off with straight lines (trot) and small-ish circles (walk) and after doing some nice transitions I decide to try out the ‘rope circle’ gadget. It’s a rope attached to an upright post which we hold onto and circle around. It helps us work on precision with circles and we often use leg yields to get us back out onto the circle the rope length gives us.

I then decided to go out into the next field for a change of scene and for some fun.

 

 

 

First pic shows us heading towards the next field gate 😉 Yeehaa…

Into the next field and I take advantage of the long grass by using it in P2P’s (going to a nice spot and allowing 2-3 mouthfuls of grass then continuing). It works really well and motivates her to get to the next spot 😉 This field also has some nice gentle hills so plenty of workout opportunities.

I think Bella really enjoyed the change of scene as she gave me a lovely long striding canter back up to the gate towards the end. She finds cantering up a hill easier than walking it 😉

 

 

 

 

Grass for a reward at the end and a good groom with some water on the dandy brush to get the girth strap and neck sweat off her. She then went into the shelter for a rest out of the sun which was starting to get a bit warm…Storm joined her in there <3

 

 

Sat 24th

 

Today was Storm’s ride out day. I’m trying to ride him at least once a week to keep him warmed up for Mark to ride when it gets cooler in the afternoons.

He did well but wanted to start off near Bella and the field so I just asked him to circle, fig 8 or serpentine back and forward, towards then away from his comfort zone. After a while he wanted to go further to see what the grass was like so that motivated him nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was quite disconcerting to be higher than the deer fencing with Storm…weird.

Some reward grazing afterwards too, which he always loves <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bella, today, did ground work. I didn’t fancy riding as there are a lot of cleggs (horseflies) biting both her and me, they seem to be attracted to us…but also because we have the TABANUS BOVINUS back. This is the largest horsefly in the world and is annoying, noisy and takes blood to reproduce SO Bella is not keen on it coming close 🙁

SO, after some nice walk, trot and canter ground work we did some nice familiarisation with a flyswatter. She got a treat for touching it (treat/clicker training +R techniques) and I went from asking her to touch it to asking her to allow me to firstly touch her with it, her touching it and treat to then me tapping her with it, her touching it and treat so she got to associate me tapping her with it to having a treat. Building up from this I managed to actually swat a few horseflies on her with the swatter without her panicking or reacting to it. I know that she associates me swatting horseflies with my hand with something good and she often pushes herself towards me where a horsefly is biting so that I can swat it for her, I think the swatter will become the same after a while 😉

 

 

Bella touching the swatter even at liberty after our online session. She totally gets that touching this gets her a treat 😉

 

Pic of TABANUS BOVINUS…nasty big thing and drives us all crazy at this time of year ;( 🙁 🙁

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 27th

 

Grey skies, cool breeze and not a fly in sight…YEEHAA…time for a BAREBACK RIDE on Bella this morning.

No Equilab pics of stats today as my phone was almost out of charge (oops) but we did some nice walk and trot work.

 

 

Straight lines in trot with small circles in walk along the arena fence line. It was lovely to really connect with my seat to her back and get together more with our bends/curves and circling. She did really well and got some lovely long grass, thistle and nettle treats along the way.

I think we worked for about 25 mins and managed to stop before it started to rain 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Storm and Bella have a nice groom as I leave for home 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 28th

Bella ready to ride. For a change I used a thicker pad but I prefer our normal set up….was good to try 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Some fab trot fig 8’s and then some nice w/t and canter serpentine bits 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 29th

 

Today Mark did the horses breakfast and poo picking and then had a nice active ride on Stormy. Hopefully soon the weather will be cooler in the afternoon and we’ll be riding together again 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went to see B&S this afternoon for some horsey hugs and to trim Bella’s feet. It’s been nearly 3 weeks since last done so nothing on height of hoof needing done so much but her toes grow long so a lot of ‘backing up’ done 😉

We had some sun, heat and some rain too but luckily Bella and I were in the shelter keeping away from the flies while trimming.

 

 

Fri 30th….last day of June 😉

 

Today we did two part of our morning ride, this was because I got off when the farmer brought a huge bleeting herd of sheep into the field next to us. I thought he was bringing cattle which can often canter and buck into the field when pushed by the farmer, dogs and quad bike BUT it was only sheep….rather be safe than sorry and if it happens again I know Bella will be fine with it and I’ll stay on 😉

 

SO….the stats say we did a good amount of time, nearly 30 mins, did 2.6km and incorporated more canter. I trimmed her hooves yesterday, backed the long toes back and took a bit of length off the hooves and she was much more balanced and steady today so she offered canter and I took it 😉

 

 

 

I LOVE that Bella not only sidles up to the mounting block and stands still for me to get on BUT she also does it for me to dismount too 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great ride with some good forward walk, energetic trot and smooth canter. The weather was lovely for riding too, cool, grey skies and worthy of a good jacket.

 

 

 

 

 

This was the point when I got off, took Bella back to Stormy on the field ‘track’ and they both wanted to get onto the pedestal for a treat….it took their minds off the noisy farmer and connected them back to me. S&B looking at the sheep while they ran about bleating…I went back to riding once they’d settled down 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy – See you in July 😉

 

 

Weds 3rd

Well, I’ve been away for a weekend teaching up in Aberdeenshire and managed to walk to the horses last night on dog walk to see my 2 beauties. They heard me and came cantering up the big field hill to see me and get some hugs. Think they missed me as much as I missed them. I was teaching horses that hadn’t had much, if anything, done with them, and it always makes my heart sing when I come back to these two well trained, happy equines that understand that we love them and can work with them without them getting spooked. Well trained horses are a joy to be with and they have joy too.

This morning I went and fed them their breakfast, groomed them and then cleaned the field. This afternoon I wanted to reconnect to them with some play and maybe a ride. SO, firstly Bella comes up for some interaction….fab. I groom her, halter her and we had a really lovely play session. It felt like I’d played with her yesterday rather than 2 weeks ago (rain called of play for a bit before I went away).

Here’s our play session:

 

I then went over to see whether Stormy was up for a wee ride and he said ‘yes’ SO I tacked him up and had a nice, soft, light ride on him with some walk, backup, trot and sidepass over cones 😉

 

Adore this big old boy, he has a heart of gold 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 4th

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just let her do what she wanted in the area, only asked a few times for draw to
stay connected.

 

 

 

 

 

Sidepassed the whole length of this, really light and easy.

Fab draw through the poles too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 5th

Well, we noticed a few tents going up in a field over the river and opposite our horses field. Then today there were 15 small tents with one huge one! We thought maybe something to do with some coronation celebrations but found out it’s a local wedding. There is going to be noisy music and people and not sure how long it’ll be going on for either SO decided to bring the horses home for some peace. Also worried with a wedding there could be those awful candle lanterns going up in the sky ;( SO just to be on the safe side, being with us at home means I’ll sleep easier. The local coronation celebrations I believe are going on from today until Monday so we can keep out of all that malarky too.

Mark did a great job riding Stormy and leading Bella back home 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 6th

You don’t have to go out for long, you don’t have to do a lot but it’s ALWAYS fab when you do something with your best friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon 8th

After the weekend revelry (coronation and local wedding near horses field) Storm & Bella go back to their big field now it’s nice and peaceful again there 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did the first bit of walking, about 3/4 of the way. We were going to ride them back but it’d been
raining a lot so the horses are wet so walking them seemed easier and best today 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark walked the last bit. S&B were just perfect and happy to be back in their big field
where Storm’s first chore was to roll and get all muddy 😉 lol

 

 

 

 

 

Weds 10th

 

Bought Stormy a beautiful halter like Bella’s one I won from Dee’s Designs. Bella’s is Orange with brown and Stormy’s is Red with black…gorgeous halters and hope to ride in them sometimes too 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Bella is so clever, all 4 feet on the pedestal and I’m sure she knows it makes her taller than big Stormy 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She remembered all of them nicely which was fab…lots of trotting, backups and sidepass

 

 

 

 

This morning both Storm & Bella had a kip, they both ended up laying down quite close to each other and flat out <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a lovely day 😉

 

 

 

 

Fri 26th

 

Lovely early ride with Bella this morning 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 28th

Today was nice and warm with a slight breeze 😉 First ride was on Stormy for a change. He was up and willing to pull the tyre with me in walk and trot, it was a lot of fun to do. He was a little short stepping so didn’t do too much just stretched his legs and had some fun 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bella and I did bits of what we needed (stretching and flexibility to the right) but she wasn’t ‘feeling’ 100%, was a bit stiff going to the right and couldn’t pick up canter on the right ;( SO…again just stretched her legs and took what she could give me. A couple of days off hopefully will have her back to her usual exuberant self

 

 

 

 

 

Mon 29th

Did some lovely online play today with Bella and some of the field agility obstacles. Today was a FIRST for Bella…a really lovely, mindful backup through the archway without going through it forwards first…what a clever girl she is, growing in confidence and ability all the time 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tue 30th

This morning’s nice gentle exercise with Ms Bella.

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy

 

 

 

Sun 2nd

Finally put all 14 Trec obstacles together so that Bella and I can practise it…before we film it. I am not going to practise too much, I know the obstacles we need to try to get better so will be working on those individually.

What is Trec and why am I putting up a course? Well, Trec is a horse sport that started in France, as the Trec UK website states: ‘TREC is a sport intended to test the skills of a horse and rider in planning and executing a long distance ride in unfamiliar country. It originated in France as a way of testing and improving the skills of trail ride leaders, and was introduced into the UK in the early 1990s.’

It has three parts to it with the competition. Firstly a cross country section (learning to orienteer with map and compass) very similar to hacking out, then an obstacle section and then the paces section. The obstacle section is very similar to what I do and train with Horse Agility (although agility has more imagination with the tasks done with each obstacle and can change and rearrange them as much as wanted) and the paces will be fun to learn as we have to do a Fast Walk then a Slow Canter 😉

AND…why am I doing it? Well, after training a good horsemanship foundation on my horses I do things like this to test our connection and to see where we are with training…it puts ‘a purpose to the principles’ of horsemanship and everything I do 😉 I will be able to see the things that are in place and also the things we can work on to get better SO it’s a test and a test is not a win or fail, it’s a place where we can just see where we are and know where to progress 😉

So, here is my course…..mostly the obstacles but I’ve also included the paces.

The 14 obstacles are as follows:

1. Immobility: horse stands still in the pole square while I walk around one way then the other
2. Mounting: ask horse to sidle to mounting block, mount then dismount and ask horse to sidle up to the mounting block on other side
3. Gate: open, walk through then close without taking hand off rope gate…repeat back the other way
4. Rein back: into parallel poles to the end then backup to the start of poles then walk on
5. ‘S’ bend: walk around poles in S shape without touching poles
6. Bridge: between bunting lanes and over wooden ‘bridge’
7. Water: walk through water or simulation such as a tarp with or without water in it
8. Bending: trot through a weave
9. Low branches: simulation using upright poles with crossbars
10. Jump: trot or canter into and out
11. Fig 8: trot pattern using one hand only
12. Uphill then downhill: any gait
13. Fast walk: fastest without going into trot
14. Slow canter: slowest without going into trot

 

Tues 4th

Managed to get out with the horses and Mark today. Started doing some obstacle practise with Bella and the Trec stuff and she was so good. I think she (and Stormy w/Mark) really enjoy the challenges we give them and also they enjoy the time we spend together. Here’s some pics of us working on line through the obstacles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I LOVE the way Bella ducked her head when I ducked mine through the low branch simulation (archways), really helped me know that she can do this. I was going to do that obstacle in trot but know generally it’s done in walk or canter as those two gaits are smoother and not bumpy.

It was Mark and Stormy’s turn to have some fun afterwards, they did it at liberty and Stormy showed he knew exactly what he was doing 😉 such a big clever boy 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly Bella and I did our first ridden practise session with it all. All went pretty well. The obstacles I knew would be new or not fixed in our general training need a bit more practise but for today I was very pleased with her bravery and try throughout 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obstacles needing more practise are: gate, arches, slow canter, up hill and one handed fig 8’s.

I’m looking forward to getting out to do a bit more and progressing to where it all flows together more 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 7th

Today Bella and I tried the Trec out properly. Mark video’d it all for us, warts and all. You can see she is needs more work on the gateway but when I forgot to open the end of the arena up and had to do the gateway again it went quite well. We also need to work on the slow canter…we’re just doing more canter work so this is a fun challenge for us both. What I was SO happy with was the fab first round of obstacles, nice smooth under the low branches (archways), the fig 8 one handed, the jump and the fab canter uphill 🙂

We will continue practising this course, between other things to make sure we get plenty of cross training and fun 😉 Here’s the video from today….

 

 

Sun 9th

Just had a bit of fun riding around the field on Bella with Mark and Stormy 😉

 

Me and Bella…..really love this big girl, she tries her heart out and makes me feel so safe

We started with just going around the round pens in trot….consistent, rhythmic, balanced trot

 

 

 

 

Then we went to try out our 2023 challenge…this is to canter around the round pens in a fig 8 pattern. This means we’ll do one full circle on the left lead and one on the right lead AND hopefully with a SLC in the middle. A SLC is a ‘simple lead change’ and is when we get to the centre of the fig 8 we come down from canter to a trot for a couple of strides and then back up into canter with the different canter lead 😉

 

 

 

TODAY….we managed almost full circles around the round pens in canter. This is a fabulous FIRST for us today and she was relaxed, balanced, willing and on the correct canter leads….So impressed and SO glad we’ve taken our time finding relaxation in canter before trying this 😉

It might not seem a big deal to many but this is a BIG DEAL for us…to have us both relaxed and for me to be ‘feeling’ the reins and not holding or pulling her into the circle was fab. So light, polite and such happy canters 😉

 

 

We then went on to test our one handed trotting fig 8’s around the tyre piles too 😉 Slowly getting ready for another try at Trec.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark and Stormy took it all in their stride, did some lovely cantering up a hill and then trotting fig 8’s too 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 11th

Had to do a ‘saliva’ test with Stormy today (part of our regular worming test program) and he needed to stop eating/drinking for half an hour SO I groomed him and then rode him bareback for a bit. Just a lovely plod but asking for a nice, even, big stride out 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stormy is always such a good boy and it was a lovely ride.

Bella came over thinking I had a treat for her but no treats, just some fussing and lotsa Love <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best pic of B&S together <3

 

 

 

 

 

Then after a nice groom I rode Bella. We did a lovely workout of consistent trotting around the field helping to get both our energy, core strength and fitness better. She did very well keeping in gait for me and it was a lovely dry sunny day so glad I rode them both as I think we have a day of rain tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 15th

Chilly day but nice for riding

 

Decided to try a nice wee hack out…Stormy wasn’t feeling like he wanted to do it

 

 

 

 

but we got out of the field and a bit down the track which was enough for Storm

 

 

Bella did a good job of leading a lot of the way back, such a brave girl she is

 

 

Mark and Storm took it nice and slowly

 

Bella and I did the same, nice and slow, calm with a lovely soft walk

 

 

 

Back in the field we enjoyed stretching the walk out a bit more and then watching the lambs and ewes in the field below for a bit

 

Really nice to just be out and about with the horses in dry weather 😉

 

 

 

Tue 18th

Decided to bring Storm & Bella back to the home paddocks just for a change of scenery for them and to have them at the back door for a few days. Love doing this, it gives us a wee hack out and then lots of hugs and treats because they’re so close for a few days 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They both did so well being so close to the Highland cows and their calves 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 19th

Spent an hour or so trimming Bella’s feet while Mark did Stormy’s feet 😉

 

Fri 21st

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just LOVE that Bella is good at sidling to anything I ask for me to remount after having to open/close a gate.

I used a gate, then this big stone and finally one of the field jump wings 😉 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 22nd