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. :)

Allie Trim

I trimmed Allie today - if you are interested, pop on over to my hoof blog to check out the pictures and the write up.

Sneak peek of pretty feet!

Nothing to report... Again.

Rain, rain and more rain has been the agenda of the week. We rode on Monday after work in the dark and it was nice to be back on my horse agin after the finger injury. Allie has been very fussy in the mouth, so I think a dentist visit is due.

This Friday I am taking both girls to another hoof clinic. I'm trimming Gracie there but I want her to just behave so I am bringing Allie along to keep her sane. I know, that's cheating, but the whole point of the day is for me to trim, and to be safe doing so. So ner.

In all this rain we have been stabling them at night if it storms and my horse will just NOT eat her dinner. She eats all her hay, and now that their feed buckets are wall mounted she doesn't poo in it anymore but she just doesn't eat it. She is too busy hanging her head over the stable door looking into the black nothingness that is my backyard. She will eat it in the morning once she is turned out no problems. :<

Chakra is good. We told the vet that we won't be treating the cancer and just keeping a close eye on her. Right now, she is healthy and happy. I'm ok too. I feel at peace with my decision and I know that it is the right one for us. Keep sending happy puppy thoughts our way though please!

Like I said, not much to report.

Horse, this isn't helping...

I trimmed Allie's fronts on Sunday. She was acting very weird. It's only the second time I have trimmed her, as she trimmed herself on the road when they got out and I haven't had to touch them. Funny how the road trimmed them with better balance than I had!

The first time I trimmed her she was generally well behaved until the motorbikes next door (!!) started up (again) when I got to her last hoof, then she just didn't want to stand still with one hoof caught in case she needed to make a quick get away from those monsters... This was about a week after I first got her home. She was very bad about picking up her feet, which I quickly decided had to change! She is a trimmer's horse now!


So back to Sunday.  She had about a half centimeter of wall growth so it was time for the rasp to come out. I started with her wounded leg (pics of healing wound to be posted soon, it's looking really good today!) and she was good... for about .3 seconds. Then she decided it was a good time to practice airs above the ground! She was leaping forward as if I was a lion and I had her leg in my mouth. So I persisted, and she persisted, until I decided maybe her bandage was cutting into the back of her knee with it bent? So I took it off, hoping for a better reaction... Nope. Same idiotic leaping forward and arguing about the fact I had her leg between my knees (and even when I was just holding it in my hands!).


So we had words, and she copped it (verbally, I don't think she has been growled at much before) and by the time I got to her other front hoof, she would stop struggling if I just said "AH!". It was more of a training exercise than a trim to be honest, but that is the beauty of trimming your own horses. If you need to, you can put the rasp down and try again another day, without having to pay another $50 for a separate trim! So that was Miss A.


Gracie was trimmed one day last week, can't remember when. She was, surprisingly, an angel! She just stood tied up, and she was being so good that I thought I would reward her (and prolong the good behavior) by giving her a hay net while I trimmed. Angel... couldn't have asked her to be better behaved. She has struggled in the past with how I hold her hind leg to sight the heels (holding it by the crook of the hock and looking down the back of the canon bone from above). She normally hates this and slams her hoof on the ground before I can get a proper look. But the other day, she totally ignored me. I trimmed her sitting on my little milk crate for heaven's sake! That is normally reserved for much older, calmer, safer horses. Naw, our little girl is growing up! I think she behaved because:
a. She has been trying to suck up to me ever since she kicked me and I chased her away the other day, and b. She has been wanting some work again! I think she is totally b.o.r.e.d. being a pasture pet at the moment.

Well, that is all about to change because tomorrow is a public holiday (Australia Day) and I intend on starting them both back on the lunge. I think the regime will go like this:


4 days in one week, 25-35 minute walk on lunge, Gracie with 10 minutes trot, Allie 5 minutes trot. Allie to wear chambon and depending on her sensibility, maybe a couple mils of ace. Gracie can go crazy for all I care, she is clever and knows where her feet are at any given time. Allie is a bit dumb and may well trip over her own galumph feet in her excitement at doing something other than eat.


Week two will consist of 5 more minutes trot each, then we should be sensible and ready enough for saddles and riding again by week 3. Hopefully the saddler will have found me a saddle by then, otherwise it is bareback for me!


How fun.