Sunny Sundays

I took the opportunity today to ride with Natalie. We did the same as last time - quick school then headed up to the back. This time we walked around the racetrack with a small trot near the end, then headed over to the dam for a play.

Natalie rode the two of them through the dam. I took some video. First up is Gracie - note how cranky she is about the water splashing her in the face on her second go around.



Be warned, I swear at Gracie in the beginning of this video. She was rubbing her head on me.


Allie rolled in the mud AGAIN with me! I thought I had her, we were walking forward but nuh. She has finally discovered the joy of rolling in the mud and I couldn't stop her. And I spent an hour and a half cleaning my saddle before the ride too. Witch.

It was an awesome ride. The weather was stunning and warm, the ponies were happy (if a touch spooky) and we had fun.

Can't ask for more than that on a Sunday.

Concentrating on her tootsies.

She's looking FIIIINE

These are video stills, obviously.

Zoomy pony

Gracie

Just a couple of shots of Gracie's first ride back in months and months.

She was a little tense (she only moved to the new agistment a week previously!) but she was so good she even got to have a canter on the racetrack up the back.

Good girl!

Mini Adventures

Not much to report on, except that we have taken the girls on a few mini adventures. One worked out well, the other not so much, and one was a vet visit.

Colo River
We took the horses up to Colo River for a ride, like we did years ago with our first ponies. We have been talking about doing this for so long, and we were quite excited about getting the horses back up there.

Matchy matchy uniforms for my trimming business. They are PRETTY AWESOME.

It is an hour and a half drive, up and down steep hills. It chews up quite a bit of petrol BUT the last part of the drive is very pretty.

Once we got there we tacked up, rode down to the (shallow) river and promptly got stuck in quicksand. Twice. :(

The horses were so scared and the ride was ruined. Years ago we had galloped up and down that river! But that was during a drought and we are not in drought anymore. The recent rains must have moved the sand about and created sink holes.

We found a part of the river that was safe and just hung out there for a while until the horses weren't scared of sinking anymore. It was a crap day, I was afraid that Allie had hurt herself and we had no reception so I thought Andrew would have worried about us. What a waste of a potentially good day. At least we know now.

Allie was not happy. She kept resting that hind leg and had trouble turning that way. I thought she had damaged her tendon but she pulled up fine and was not lame out of the water. She was just sooking.

Gracie had fun though.

Vet Clinic
We took them on Thursday to the vet clinic for Allie to have a vet exam for insurance and for them both to get their first Hendra vaccine shot. Nothing special to note except that while Gracie was NOT having it when the vet tried to take her temperature (he gave up after she kicked at him), Allie actually LOVED having her temp taken, grooming me while he had the thermometer up there. Even the vet said "Um, yeah. That's not normal". Sigh. She is a weirdo.

Allie passed the exam and we took them home. They are going back again in the beginning of December for the booster shot. Once that is done no more worrying about Hendra! For my foreign readers, all you need to know is that Hendra is a terrifying fruit bat-bourne disease that while not common, kills horses, people and dogs, in a long, drawn out, neuro destroying way. I have been terrified of them dying from it for a long time and was the first owner to have her horse vaccinated. I have copped a bit of criticism on Facebook for making that decision but it is the right one for me and for my horses.

Suburban Ride
Today we took the girls to my home town, parked at Mum's, then went for a road ride/school in the park.

Here is a video of Nat riding Allie.Please excuse/ignore my screeching.

After this video we rode to another park and I got some lovely canter work from Allie. No video of that I'm afraid, just trust me that it was much nicer than this work. They were very well behaved, it was a really nice ride.

That is about it really!

Schooling pics and videos

Natalie schooled both horses today (I'm out for a few days due to my kicked leg) and I got some photos and videos of both horses.

Lots of me talking in the videos - please don't mind me :p. My commentary in the video kind of shows what is going on anyway, so you may as well listen to it.

Let me know how you think Nat did! I think she is an excellent rider with a good feel and a lovely seat.

Video:

Video:

Lesson Videos

Had another lesson with Ann today. Gracie and Nat came to have a lesson after mine too. While we were getting ready a horse galloped in his yard and spooked our mares - who then proceeded to pull back, break the twine they were tied to (Gracie has NEVER done that before!) then they pranced off to disturb the lesson before us and ran all over the property causing havoc. Allie even ducked under a temporary one strand fence! Brat

Allie was amazing there as per usual. We worked on proper flexion (she tends to tip her nose to the right to avoid that rein) and transitions within the trot.

It was pretty fun, the exercise we were doing - big trot, then little trot (almost walking) then immediately bog trot again, over and over. She did so well!

Then, out of the blue, Ann said "alright, now canter, don't even think about it" and suddenly she gave me the most beautiful right lead canter depart. I laughed out loud it was just perfect and easy and I can't wait to do that again.

Left canter was pretty funny - the video below shows how hard Allie tries to get it right but she just doesn't have the balance there to canter while being through anf forward into the bridle. IT's geting there though.

Seriously though - watch this video, it's pretty funny.

Photo spam of pretty well behaved ponies:

Pretty mareface!

Ann talked Nat through the whole 'lowering the neck' and 'reaching down' and 'taking control' thing. I think it is some sort of initiation into dressage? :P

Next lesson in a month's time. We certainly have some homework to do!

Bits and Pieces.

I have just spent my Sunday morning doing horse chores. I cleaned both my and Natalie's saddles and bridles, trimmed both the horses and cleaned the float out.

I was going to ride but I never get time to do any of that stuff so I decided to give Allie a day off. I wondered - when do you guys clean your tack? How often do you clean it?

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Yesterday Nat and I took the girls back up to Mulgoa for another trail ride. It was awesome. We had the girls charging up hills and having extended trotting sessions, with about 3 big gallops in there too. I finally was able to get Allie to understand what galloping actually is - I honestly think she just didn't realise she could make her legs go that quick!

Both the girls were super sound on the rocky, hilly, sandy terrain. When I say rocky, I mean quite rocky! No boots, just a bit of extra wall (they were both due for a trim). Love it when my barefoot ponies kick arse like that.

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On my lunch break Thursday I drove to the saddlery and bought this book:

I took Allie to the indoor that night and we played around with a few of the warm up exercises. She particularly enjoyed this one:

The book says to do this one for 10 solid minutes in sitting trot! I did it for 5 minutes half sitting half rising. I concentrated on precise shapes and flexion. It was super fun.

The book is pretty good - just a bunch of different exercises for different things (warming up, looseness, lateral work etc etc). I'm excited to incorporate our favorite exercises into our regular schooling routine. I really want to get my head around shoulder-in. Any tips?

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Funny story - Natalie took Gracie on a road ride around our home suburb with her friend on another pony. Apparently there was a little girl with her father watching the horses go past. Nat said "want to have a pat?" and the little girl said to her dad "I want to pat the dirty horse!" while pointing at Gracie. I loled when Nat told me - Gracie is quite a grub - she always rolls and ends up with mud chunks on her forehead.

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My trimming is picking up - I have picked up so many clients recently that I am trimming most of the day every Saturday and almost every Sunday too. I can't wait for daylight savings so I can trim after work to free up my weekends a bit. I am loving it though. I am getting quicker and quicker every trim. I can easily trim 5 horses one after the other without a break. I have my website up and running, have a new logo and am waiting for my cards to be printed. I am booked in to start my diploma of podiotherapy next year -I start my first block in February. This really is turning into a career for me. I can't wait until I can do it more then just part time. :)

A recent trim.

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Oh - best of all - it is spring next week. :)

Catch Up!

Next week Allie is getting a full body clip. She is SO HAIRY right now and she is uncomfortable when being ridden (even in 2 deg Celsius [35F]) and she does not dry off quickly. She is itchy with old dry sweat no matter how much warm water from a bucket I wash her down with. Poor horse.

Our riding-in-the-morning-before-work regime has been interrupted by the weather. Australia is famous for our droughts but you wouldn't know it from the last few years. It has been very wet. The footing is crap and my horse is not confident in the wet. So I have only ridden once in the last week.

HOWEVER we have a hold of a tow vehicle (towing capacity is only one horse at a time and no prolonged hills sadly) but I should be able to get her to the indoor once a week after work and still ride in the mornings 3 days a week plus ride on a Saturday.

My sitting trot needs work.

Allie is already muscling up - her top line is improving (not that it was crap before) especially over her loins. Her shoulders look good! We are concentrating on going correctly, long and low, with transitions being smooth. With a little low jumping or trot poles thrown in for variety. The canter needs some work, but it is getting there (at least she canters when asked now!).

Nice and uphill here!

Oops.. getting strung out... Plus I look like a lump.

The plan is to try and keep her in consistent work (as best I can with no arena and bad weather) which means ride when I can. We are hoping to compete at the end of July (another dressage test) where Natalie will be joining us with Gracie for their first competition (!! they have been doing really well, see the photos!) and then another in August. In between, more lessons with Ann and indoor arena schooling sessions.

No laughing at me jumping in my dressage saddle!

Ok, maybe you can laugh a little bit...

That is where we are at essentially! We still haven't moved yet, they still have the house for sale but not much interest (They want $100,090,000 for it!!) and we are still in limbo.

Oh, the kittens you ask? Well - they are really well! I have one last girl to adopt out. Andrew and I are keeping two of them now - Herman and Fluff. They are so big now! (And Funder, they haven't yet DESTROYED a curtain but they sure have tried!).

Fluff!! (My husband named her and he won't let me change it!)

Herman! He is really big now...