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!

I need a Real Plan

So I bought this four year old mare to event in the future. This
month, on the 25th, she turns 5 and in November, I would have had her
for a whole year.

I need a Real Plan, not just this wishy washy vague idea of where I
want to end up. I know that this year has been all about confidence
building, getting them out and about a little, getting to know Allie
but now that winter is finally over I need a game plan.

We have tried our best to get them out on the float, and I think we
have done well considering we don't own a float or a tow vehicle.
Allie and I have had only one dressage lesson and are way overdue for
another. At home, it is very hard to school as we don't have an arena,
just a lumpy round spot of grassy area that is relatively clear of
trees.

This summer, I would ideally like to:

- have monthly dressage lessons with Ann. I need Allie solid in walk,
trot, canter, transitions from gait to gait and preferably starting to
transition within the gaits too.
- go out to at least 1 dressage day and do the easiest peasiest test out there.
- school at home at lease twice during the week, then one road ride per
week after work and one ride somewhere (lesson, visit friend, bigger
road ride) on a Saturday.
- I want her ready to send off to be introduced to jumping in winter.
I have no idea who I would send her to but I am not confident at all
teaching her how to jump when previously I have only been the
passenger with her eyes closed throwing the reins at the horses face
to avoid bopping them in the mouth over fences. Then, while she is
being trained, I will have some jump lessons on a schoolmaster.

What do you think? What else should a 5 year old future event horse be
doing over her 5yo summer to get her on track? What should I be doing
as a rider to develop myself further? Please, leave a comment an give
me some pointers, I need it!! :) I must add that I don't intend on eventing properly until she is 6 and my goals are to event at preliminary (in Australia, jumping to 0.95 or 3.11 feet). If we absolutely love eventing and Allie is a superstar, we might move up to pre novice (1.05 or 3.44 feet). But I doubt it.

So proud!

Yesterday we loaded the girls up for the second day in a row and took
them over to ride with some old friends at the agistment property we
kept our first ponies at years and years ago. We then all went out on
a road ride around the suburb I grew up in. I was feeling very
nostalgic!!
I was so.very.proud of them! Allie was rock solid all day - not one
hissy fit or tantrum or anything! She was even carrying the saddle
bags for the first time and after a little lunge with a couple of
leaps she didn't worry about them flapping on her flanks for the rest
of the ride. They had cars, dogs, lawn mowers, kids on bikes, idiot
drivers in cars beeping and yelling things at us, skateboards, soccer
and footy training and a score of other distractions and potential
mind blowing things to think about and process and Allie just took her
ques from the other older horses and like I said, she was rock solid.
I felt like I had a much older more experienced horse under me. :D
Gracie and Nat had a harder day. Grace was very good for Grace, but
the first bike blew her mind - I think we were all too worried about
how she would react to so much stimulation when we should have just
let her deal with it by herself. Poor Nat was tense too. Gracie was
much better when she was way way out infront but when she was behind
or had to stand still she just lost patience, head shaking, stamping,
tail swishing, spinning around, pushing into and ignoring her handler
(when Nat led her and when we stopped for a rest next to a busy
shopping centre and skate park) and generally being a brat. BUT when
she was being good (which was most of the time) she was very very
good. Nat said at first she didn't feel like there was much horse
under her, and she was tense for quite a while at first. Gracie is
just too smart and her little mind ticks over very quickly and as a
rider you need to keep her mind on the job otherwise she has to think
about everything else going on and it blows her mind. I am super proud
of Nat though for sticking it out. It was a hard ride on her but they
did get some really nice, relaxed stuff out of it (like in the video
below). I do have to mention though that if any other horse but Allie
got in her (enormous totally unreasonably sized 20m circle) personal
space bubble then Gracie would make faces, and twice she leapt in the
air and kicked out at one poor adorable pony (Allie tried making a
face at him too, she followed Gracie's lead, it was kind of cute).
But all up, a satisfactory day. And I never though we would be able to
ride Gracie on the streets past motor bikes and trucks on main roads,
through parks and reserves with kids playing soccer or footy, over
pedestrian crossings and through tiny park fences, crossing main
roads and dealing with dogs, and and and she really is a super mare
for keeping her head for most of the day. She is a difficult horse but
I am so proud of them both.
Here is the the video and a couple of pics:

Ready to head off.

Wondering where we are going today!

We are off!

About half way through the ride, next to a main road.

 

The video (link - couldn't get it to embed)

She is looking at the kids playing footy in the park. This is her thoroughbred pose.

Belle, Glitter (the poor pony Gracie hated), Eddie and Chelsea outside the shopping centre waiting for Maccas cookies.

Back from the ride before we loaded up to go home.

They were so tired they didn't even fight about being tied to the same tree.

Two pooped ponies!

Wake up, time to go!