A Horse of My Own (well, for the winter anyway).

I have been wondering what to do in terms of riding, when the trekking centre shuts for the winter.  I had toyed with the idea of lessons or maybe trying another trekking centre which doesn't close for the winter but wasn't entirely sure about either.  One of my friends who works at the trekking centre had arranged to borrow a horse for the winter and after a few conversations, we decided it might be fun if someone else had a horse down in Cardiff with her.  I was unsure whether I could committ to looking after a horse as my employment situation is a bit up in the air at the moment and I will have to look for a new job soon.  However, my friend kindly offered that if I borrowed a horse too, she would feed it and let it out for me in the week each morning and bring him in the evenings.  With two small children, mornings are always a nightmare and there would be no way I could make the hour round trip to the stable and back before the school run each day so this seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.  The owner of the trekking centre very kindly agreed to loan me a horse and we agreed on Black Sam who I have ridden in the past and has a lovely temperament and is suitable for the kids to ride too.  He is very forgiving of a new rider.  He is the ultimate bombproof pony and not the most forward going horse so I feel confident that he will not take off with me when I don't want him to.

My first ride in the schooling ring with Black Sam

Black Sam arrived on Monday night and I have been really excited. Perfect timing as I have twelve days off work, starting last Wednesday, so lots of opportunities to go horse riding.   He seems to be settling in well and I have finally learnt how to tack up and I am learning a bit more about feeding and grooming.  I had a frustrating day yesterday, as he would not trot for me and was being very slow.  He is still finding his feet in his new surroundings and he isn't used to riding in a schooling ring or riding out on his own without following another horse, so it is a learning curve for us both.  I think he is also testing me a little, as well.  I am hoping that having my own horse to ride as often as I like will mean that I learn a lot about riding this winter as there is no substitute for time in the saddle so I have been told. 

The new stables seems really nice.  The people are lovely and very helpful.  There is a schooling ring to practice in, fields for grazing and a few that I can ride in as well.  We are also very close to some lovely countryside and forestry trails.  It is not quite as stunning as riding in the Brecon Beacons perhaps, but certainly lovely and much better than having to ride on the road with traffic all the time.

I had another ride today and he was great, much more responsive and we had a canter in the field.  I managed to canter without holding onto the mane which is my normal technique.  I think, even a few hours over the last few days, riding round the school without stirrups has paid off as I feel much more balanced.  I am still struggling to remember everything as I have a tendency to concentrate on one thing and forget other important things like keeping my position.  Yesterday, I was kicking a lot to get him to trot, abd I found my feet slipping back and myself falling forward, a bit too often when he finally did trot.  Today, everything seemed to come together and despite a fair bit of rain, we had a lovely day and I got to do lots of horse riding.  Looking forward to a hot bath now tonight as my muscles are feeling it, riding him in the schooling ring seems to be much harder than trekking on my muscles, possibly because I am actually starting to ride him rather than just sit on him.

Look forward to following my progress through the blog.

Facebook - Latest Status Update

Feeling very bored last night, I was trawling through facebook's status shuffle for an amusing witty status update .  I lack the wit and originality to come up with own every day and it is one way to pass the time late at night when I should be in bed but am still glued to facebook.  Anyway, I decided to check out the animal category in search of a status update relating to horses and I found this post which suited my mood perfectly!

A guy says to God,  "God why did you create the horse?" and God replies "It was an apology to the girls for creating you guys!"

Has anyone else got any amusing one liners on a horse theme?  I would love to hear them so please put add them to the comments.

Riding over the Winter

Been a bit fed up this weekend that with no childcare, I didn't get to go riding this weekend as my ex had to work all weekend.  Just a shame when the weather was so lovely for horse riding to miss out because it is not going to get any better now as winter approaches.

That said I had a lovely weekend with the kids.  We went shopping for Halloween costumes, checked out a new riding stables and went swimming, which was fun.  It seems ages since we have spent a whole weekend together as they normally spend half the weekend with their dad and actually it was really nice to spend some proper time with them now they are both in full time school.

The trekking centre where I ride is closing for the winter soon.  Up in the mountains, I think the winter is harsher than down here in the city, and the ground gets very hard too.  Anyway, that means no more trekking during the winter so I need to decide how I am going to continue my riding over the winter.  I was thinking about starting riding lessons but have been slightly resistant to this as it is so expensive compared to trekking and feels less fun than getting out in the mountains and the forestry.

Anyway,  I have a plan which will hopefully come to fruition soon.  I am too supersticious to talk about things that might happen, in case it jinxes things but keep watching for further updates.

A Nice Little Lead Rein Ride for the kids

I was feeling very frustrated this weekend that due to the social diary of my eldest son and his requirement for me to play taxi, I wouldn't be able to leave them with their dad for the weekend whilst I went pony trekking.  So decided that whilst the oldest was away at Beaver Scout camp, I would take my youngest son along with his godmother and her daughter up to Trevelog Trekking instead.  Obviously, the next best thing to going trekking myself.

Black Sam in the stable, ready to go out for a ride.

We had a lovely morning despite my friend being rather nervous about horses, she soon relaxed.  After arriving at the farm, the kids spent a little bit of time fussing around the dogs before we got hats on them.  We borrowed Black Sam, one of my favourite bombproof ponies at the trekking centre who has a lovely gentle nature and is perfect for the kids.

We headed out of the farm and down the lane for about ten minutes before we realised the little sheepdog puppy from the farm had followed us.  He was very cute but we hadnt noticed him until he shot in front of us under the gate into a field of sheep to practice his herding skills.  Not a good idea if the sheep don't belong to you, as a farmer finding a strange dog chasing his sheep may well shoot it.  As I was leading the horse, I said to my friend "Quick, you better get over the gate and catch him."  The kids and I had much merriment watching her chase the little puppy round the field with us shouting "You need to run faster than that".  Having finally caught up with him, my friend carried the puppy out of the field and we took a quick detour back to the farm.  Unfortunately, the puppy had tired himself out and insisted on being carried back.



Ellie riding Black Sam with me and Laurence leading him.



Despite being in the middle of October,with not particularly good weather yesterday, we had a lovely warm sunny day which was fantastic.  The kids,had two good ten minute stints each before I decided to have a little ride on the way back (just in case, the horse spooked with one of the kids on his back as we passed the goat shed on the way back - well that was my excuse anyway.)    Both kids had a wonderful time and were keen to come back another day.  My son looked so cute, he is so small his feet didnt even reach the stirrups so he had them slipped into the leathers feet resting on the stirrups. His friend enjoyed trying to put into practice what she had learnt in the pony party she went to a few weeks ago.  All in all, a lovely morning for them and I think both kids are converts to pony trekking, even if they need to wait a few years to be old enough for a proper trek.

Although only a short ride, had a little trot and Sam was very biddable.  Whilst it was just a fifteen minute ride along the road, it was really nice as it was the first time I had ridden a horse on my own, totally unsupervised.  And it did stop be feeling fed up for not having been horseriding this week.

Back at the farm, Black Sam hadn't actually broken into a sweat.  He is used to much harder work.  However, we thought he deserved a little brush down after his efforts and the kids had great fun grooming him.  After a quick look at the foal and a pet of the goats, we headed off to grab some lunch at the burger van in the valley which does delicious burgers produced from a local farm which don't even deserve the same name as the food McDonalds serve.  Finally, time to go and fetch my oldest son, who wasn't bothered to have missed out because he is not so keen on horses.

Christmas Gifts for Horse Lovers



Horse Decoration £35 Buy Now


Are you always stuck for something to buy your friends or loved ones at Christmas. Well, if any of them are horse lovers, I have put together a few suggestions.  There are all sorts of horse related presents that would be guaranteed to please.  What about a magazine subscription for a horse related magazine or an horse riding experience day, riding clothes are always a practical present or a book about horses.  Here's a few more ideas.



Horse Shoe/Head Bracelet Buy Now 

 





Funnel Neck Water Repellant Gilet and Jersy Top - Buy Now

   


Mint Horse Pendant £60 Buy Now





Horse Sculpture, Assorted poses £47 Buy Now

  
 





Womens Printed Welly £35 Buy Now

   

Black Horse Screen Wipe £8 Buy Now





A Stable Life Series 2 £19.95 Buy Now

  





Making the most of the weather whilst it lasts.

After the bucketfuls of rain on Friday, I was not feeling overly optimistic about pony trekking all day Saturday.  I envisaged getting very wet and cold up in the mountains for four hours.  I am delighted to say the weather lifted and we had a lovely day, where it only rained during lunchtime when we were in the pub.

I was quite excited about the trek as I was riding Prince, who I have only rode once before and is something of a step up from the beginners horses that I normally ride.  Definitely required a bit more concentration, than some of the other mounts and I can't say my handling of him was expert in any sense of the word. 

We set out with a group of about twelve of us and I took my preferred position near the back of the trek.  May be not the best logic, but I always feel there are less horses behind to tread on you if you fall off during the canter.  Once again, we were heading for the Queens Head pub, Cmvoy for the usual pub lunch so set off down the bridle path before joining the road for a short while before hitting the forestry path.  As a tractor approached, they shouted a warning to me to rein in because Prince didn't like tractors.  I could feel him tensing up and was hoping we wouldnt end up in the middle of the road but fortunately he only moved a couple of feet up the grass verge.

We trotted along the forestry and managed a short canter at one point before starting to descend for the road down the hill for lunch.  Once again I had my hands full as Prince took a dislike to some motorbikes behind us although to be fair they were being driven very considerately and got off and walked the bikes past the horses.  We dismounted then and walked the ten minutes to the pub as the road is very steep and slippery so not ideal for riding down.

After lunch, we returned along the forestry hoping for a few canters.  I was a little tense about the canters having not cantered on Prince before and the others at the back found it very amusing that they see my position change and my body tense everytime they announced the next canter.  Unfortunately for me, the horse in front was not very keen to canter and preferred to keep to a trot whilst the others cantered off ahead.  To say Prince didnt like it was an understatement.  After holding him back for a while as we are not allowed to get out of line, Prince had had enough and decided he was going to overtake whether I liked it or not.  My ensuing yells of Oh Shit! Oh Shit! Oh Shit at an increasing volume prompted much laughter from the trail guides at the back and a quick glance from the guide at the front who saw I was just managing to pull back in line after overtaking about three horses.  Thats the only problems with being a regular and mates with all the guides is that it is going to take me a while to live that down and I will probably never convince them I didn't think I was going to fall off.  I was just worried how far we would go before he stopped!  Having used all my strength to pull back and bring him out of the canter, I was pretty sure that in the end it was still his decision not mine to slow down.  That said it certainly added a bit of excitement to the day's horseriding.

Back at the farm, we untacked and sorted the horses out and I decided to stay for the evening and go to the pub.  The only problem was that with over an hours drive home, there was no alcohol for me.  That said lovely evening was had by all and one of the guys drove back up the valley in front of me to the main road.  This was very reassuring seeing as there are seven miles of windy single track road with no lights and no mobile reception so if you broke down on your own it would not be fun, especially at nearly 1 o'clock in the morning.

Toys for kids who love horses.

Le Toy Van Jilly the Horse Rider - Buy Now

Christmas is coming (less than 90 days left) and what do you buy for the little girl who loves horses. Do you need some gift ideas for your pony mad little girl? There are a multitude of horse toys on the market from the old classics like the rocking horse and the hobby horse to the toys of my youth like My Little Pony and Barbie's horse to the more modern brands.  Horses toys can be traditional wooden toys or brightly coloured plastic toys.  There is something for everyone. Prices start from a pound or two for a pack of plastic animals including a few horses to a couple of hundred pounds or quite possibly a good deal more for a hand made hand painted rocking horse which wouldn't have looked out of place in a large Victorian nursery.   You can even buy all the accessories for your toy horses like a stable, carriage etc. And not to forgot the soft toys; why get a teddy bear when you can get a cuddly horse instead. If they are growing out of toys, what about a book about horses. Anyway to make life easier, heres a few suggestions for you.

Playmobile Carriage £19.00 Buy Now

Barbie Tawny Horse and Doll £29.99 Buy Now

Pony In my Pocket - Pony Stable Buy Now £10

Breyer Black Beauty with Book £27.53 Buy Now

Autograph Wooden Rocking Horse £75.00 Buy Now 

Jellycat Small piper Horse £12.77 Buy now