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

Hippo

Allie loves the water, as do most ponies.


She likes to eat the water grass and put her face half under the water to blow bubbles. She's weird.

In ths one, she clobbers herself in the face, like the clever dumbblood she is.

This is about as exciting as it gets! I'm just happy to be on her again.

Le Sigh...

Is it possible to wish summer back? You northern hemisphere-ites are just hogging it now.

Saddle Fit, Lesson, Happy Ponies.

We had Tony Flynn come do a saddle fitting for both Allie and Gracie yesterday. I bought my saddle from him over a year ago, but I could tell that my saddle wasn't balanced for me (it was fine for Allie). Sure enough, it was tilting me forward and needed a heap of flocking up front. It felt great in my lesson!

Gracie's dressage saddle is no good. It doesn't have a changable gullet so it is now for sale for about $50 if anyone wants it? Natalie's other saddle, a wintec all purpose, DOES have a changeable gullet so he fitted that to her and she went so.much.better. under saddle with it - Nat said it was her best ride on her - ever. He put an extra wide gullet in it! No wonder the poor mare didn't have much forward or want to lift her back before.

We got some photos and video:

Nat was trying to get up off her back here I think - looks like it worked!

Watch this one, it has a lol moment!

Happy pony and rider after the cool down walk up the street.

Our neighbor's cute dog who came for a walk too. LOVE those ears!

I also got a lesson with Ann before Nat rode Gracie - pics and vid of this too! We concentrated on her being 'through' to help with our walk-trot transitions (which are normally 'leaping' - Ann said "we will fix that today!" and so we did!) and then have a little go with the same principles at the trot-canter transition.

Finally - a nice trot-canter transition. Just what I was looking for!

 

I was so satisfied with the lesson - Ann said that with a horse at this stage normally they look for nice moments - Allie rather has bad moments among the nice, if that makes sense? She also said once Allie has the balance and strength, her trot is going to be amazing. I'm so excited. :D

So motivated and excited for my test now!!

Oh Daylight Savings, NEVER LEAVE ME

I LOVE LOVE LOVE daylight savings. Ah sunlight, it has been such a long time!

We have done some time in the saddle this past week! Saturday we had an awesome schooling session, and then Monday my friend Casey came and took Allie and I up to Sun Valley reserve in Springwood for a ride.

Allie was a mole to get on the float. Honestly, she has been pretty good about floating but she had been in a mare mood the previous few days (just squirting urine while tied up and being a bit grumpy) but it took us an hour and a half to get her loaded up. She either would rush straight back out after walking in or she refused to walk in at all. She is so tall that she even started putting her head on the roof of the float instead of walking in!! She did end up hitting her head a few times but she didn't seem to care! I was so unimpressed with her. She did end up putting a small split in her poll but it's nothing to worry about. The poor delicate flower has been picky with her feed and not finishing it again since the whole float debacle. She even put up a fight going home, and took about 25 minutes to load. Casey said she was being a bit of a warmblood - not getting into a tizzy about the situation, but just being stubborn. >:(

The actual ride itself was awesome. It is mostly sandy or slightly rocky trail that winds through lovely bush with an awesome hill at the end that we had a big canter up! Allie did very well, was a little nappy but not too bad and she got along really well with Casey's horse Harry (a fit endurance arab who was very patient to be honest about babysitting Allie!). I did get off her to walk back down the hill after the big canter as it was pretty steep and she kept stopping because she was a bit worried about her balance. She was a little looky, mainly at holes or drops (I think she believes that I am going to bury her in any big hole in the ground we go near, she must have fallen in one as a foal!) but overall was very good under saddle. We were out for about 2 hours on the ride I think? She seemed a little pooped but as soon as she got her wind back she was happy to trot on again.


Then another schooling session on Tuesday where I mainly rode Gracie and Nat rode Allie because Gracie was in a mood. I was actually thinking twice about getting on her, she was so agitated from god-knows what, with a swishy tail, pawing the ground, snorting and twitching. She can be a bit of a little dragon to be honest, but once I was on she was happy to settle into the job. So I got to see Allie go over the trot poles and she looks so nice. She pauses almost like she is doing passage, most noticeably in her hocks. I must say, she is one nice horse to look at. Sorry to gush! Gracie did really well over the poles and is really starting to get it, she tries really hard and I love that about her. I'll have to move them soon to another spot, they will get bored with them there soon!

THEN today we did the Chain-o-Ponds loop around the block, walk trot and canter in about 50 minutes. Allie seemed to have gotten bit by the speedy-bug (probably caught from Harry!) and realised that cantering up hills is fun after all! She really enjoyed herself. Gracie was an absolute angel, was the absolute opposite of the mini-dragon that she had been the day before. Sweet, relaxed, happy to be tacked up. Stood still at the tie up, not once pawing the ground. I can't keep up with that horse's moods! I think she might be in season right now, we have noticed that she gets all sweet and easy when she is in season. Go figure.

Sorry, no pictures. My phone was too full and wouldn't let me take any but I promise now that I have deleted a bunch of songs I didn't want and have made room, I will take pictures next time.

That is us all up to date now I think.

*edited to add: Nat wanted me to add the below photo of Gracie after our ride. She was a bit pooped, she kept yawning. Cutie.

It's been raining here again.

Reading Sprinklerbandit’s posts about her wondermare Izzy and Karen’s posts about her lovely gelding Hampton and Kate’s awesome jumping photos of Lucy have gotten me inspired. I want to ride, I want this summer to be amazing and fun and I want to get out there on this horse that has such potential.

To be honest, with the tiny bit of shitty schooling we have done over the winter, she has really improved despite all that and looking back I can see what we have accomplished. But I still feel like we are behind. And I know a big part of a horse learning self balance is being confident to move out. At home, we just can’t get that. We have lumpy grassy areas we can do circles in under the flood light but even on the weekend there is not much of a flat area to ride in. I have felt tiny little glimpses of balance but then the poor mare looses confidence and comes back. If we had a float and a car to tow it we could float over to the local indoor once or twice a week. But we don’t, so there is no use dreaming for now. :P



At least daylight savings starts this weekend! I’m pretty excited about having a couple of hours of sunlight to ride in of an afternoon. And seeing as I am so sick of riding in our pseudo-arena at home I am expecting to go on a lot of road rides throughout summer.



Those mares need some serious work now that they are both 5.



In other news, Chakra is still going strong. No sign of the cancer hurting her just yet, so I am hopeful for another month or so with her. She is happy and healthy right now, so that is enough for me.



Sorry I haven’t really blogged in ages. There is just nothing to report!

Sunshine makes me happy.

I was sitting in my car on my lunch break today and this is what I saw out of my sunroof.

Yes, that is sunshine and fluffy clouds and blue sky. I know, right?


:)





Tomorrow I have a set up trim and boot fitting in the morning, and then I’m off to window shop (and maybe spend a leeeeetle bit of money) at a saddlery warehouse sale, then I do believe I shall get on my horse for the first time since we rode out around the block 2 weeks ago.



Sunday is a little sad – I’m off to a vet appointment to talk about a lump my dog has on her liver that doesn’t look good. Pray for my little Chakra, will you?



Cutest (and best behaved) staffy in the history of the entire world.