My Own Horse - on loan anyway.

Not posted for an awful long time, but felt my good news merited a blog post.  Finally got my own horse - on loan for the moment anyway. He is a six year old skewbald gelding who I have been riding on and off for about eighteen months and had my eye on for a long time.  He is very sweet although a little green in some respects he is pretty good for a six year old.

 I've had him a week and there have been a few ups and downs.  He is definitely going to take a little while to settle as he has only ever lived at one farm although I have only moved him down the road so we will be hacking out in the same places around the beach and the sand dunes.  Hoping this doesn't mean he is going to start napping to "go home" to the old farm but so far so good - no napping anyway.

  First ride out was a little eventful.  Having gone perfectly for most of the ride, despite it not only being his first ride from his new home but his first ride after two months of turnout, he was on his best behaviour and didn't put a foot wrong until ... the other girls decided to jump some logs. I turned him away as I decided not to; I've not really got much experience jumping.  Unfortunately, didn't realise exactly what they were doing only to turn him at the wrong moment just as they took off.  He bolted after them, I fell on his neck, he jumped in the air and then galloped off and I was left lying on the floor.  As if that wasn't bad enough, he gallops off passing his owner out on a trek with loads of customers and half the liveries from that yard too and I had to walk past them all on foot and wait for my friend to retrieve him from the other side of the river where he was rolling tack and all in his old field.

He has also got a little pushy in the stable trying to get out and refused to come in from the field after his second turnout and got quite aggressive.  After an hour and a half trying to catch him in a very muddy field, he ended up being left out all night (he didn't mind that as it is what he used to but what he didn't realise is all the other horses come in at night on the new yard and there is no hay in the field unlike his old farm).  I was a little worried what he would be like to catch in the morning but he was as quiet as a lamb so hopefully he has learned his lesson.

Second ride out last week was a little nerve wracking but I thought we going to take it quietly until my friends decided to gallop through the dunes and I had no choice but to follow.  Didn't feel like it at the time but probably did help my confidence and today I felt brave enough to risk my first solo ride.  Didn't go far just down the road and was only out for about 10 minutes in total but felt like quite an achievement doing it completely on our own.  Feeling very proud of us both but think I need to enlist a friend on foot or in a car next time if I go a bit further just til I get more confident.

Off on our own

Whilst the guided treks are always great fun, I love that when I go with one particular friend, the owner lets us go off on our own with the horses.  It's nice that he thinks I am a good enough rider to trust me to borrow the horse and not the ploddy one either.

Well we were very lucky with the weather last week and it was relatively warm and sunny although there were a few flakes of snow driving home.

We made the most of our freedom by stopping at the pub of the village green for a drink.  The horses enjoyed munching on the grass which I think is much lusher than the grass in their field although not sure it was intended as grazing but no-one told us off so guess it was okay.

Don't think horses like cider much although I have been told some of them like beer.

Anyway if that was not enough, as we were leaving we heard the tinkle of the ice-cream van and as we made our way back to the beach there it was sitting waiting for us.  Couldn't resist a 99 icecream with a flake on horseback and we didnt even need to dismount - the counter was the perfect height for service on horseback.

Then it was back to the beach for a canter and even managed to jump a few small logs.

Another lovely Beach Ride

Ogmore Castle Stepping Stones - The horses don't bother using these so if you have a little pony you might get wet feet before you even get to the beach.

I decided it was time to have another beach ride as I haven't been for a few weeks and with winter looming, it seemed sensible to make the best of the weather.  Whilst it seemed a bit fresh, it was a lovely sunny morning when I arrived so didn't need too many layers because it can be quite cold on the beach at times.

As we approached the beach, I noticed the tide was in.  Normally, the canters are not quite so good when the tide is in as there is less beach and the sand tends to be wetter and stickier which is not ideal for the horses to canter on although we normally still get a canter, tends to be a slower more paced ride rather than a full out gallop.  However as we came over the brow of the sand dune onto the beach, it was clear there would be no cantering on the beach that morning.  There was no beach to speak of, only a narrow stretch of shingle left - definitely not suitable for cantering.  (I later heard that a few days earlier it had been the highest tide of the year).

The beach, however, was a spectacular sight.  Huge waves breaking not far out and although the beach is normally deserted except for horses and the odd dog walker, today the sea was alive with surfers making the most of the huge waves.  I'm not sure the horses were quite as impressed with the waves and was half expecting one of them to spook and take off but although they were not overly impressed, none of them did anything silly.

We made up for the lack of canters on the beach with a few fast canters through the windy paths in the dunes which are equally good fun and I decided to ride again in the afternoon when the tide was out so I could have another go at the beach.



The Merthyr Mawr Sand Dunes - the largest sand dune system in Europe and the location for scenes from the film Laurence of Arabia.
 

When we arrived back at lunchtime, after a quick pastie to eat and a hastily drunk coffee, it was time to remount.  This time on a new pony, belonging to one of the little girls who helps out there.  She was only 14 hands but very fast and fun to ride.
This time, we were able to have a nice gallop across the beach.  And there was only one horse there that was faster than my little pony.  The advantage of being near the front is you don't get covered in sand kicked up the horses in front or to the side of you which can be a bit of a pain.

The other advantage of the pony I was riding is that she is used to jumping and inspired me to try a few small logs as I have not done any jumping to speak of and certainly not in lessons. I've only jumped a few times, more often than not unintentionally.  However, due to the high tide, a couple of our favourite little logs to jump had either disappeared or moved and were no longer in the right place to jump them, but there were still a few in the sand dunes which we had a go at. 

Anyway, all in all, it was a lovely day - fabulous weather, a great ride and good company and as I was feeling indulgent and am not working at the moment I decided to go again mid week.

Progess at last - albeit slow

Had another riding lesson today.  Was not looking forward to my horse as everyone said she was really lazy but was pleasantly surprised in the end and she seemed positively forward compared to the last two. 

The sitting trot without stirrups wasn't too hot because she was a bit bouncy but the canters went much better today.  I felt more confident because the horse was a lot more active in trot and acheiving the first canter without a problem meant I stopped worrying about whether the horse would go into canter and was able to focus on my position and managed to keep my heels down much more although still managed to let my feet slip through the stirrups a bit too far instead of keeping the balls on my feet in the stirrups but progress.

I figured the main reason I don't have these problems hacking out is because when I am cantering across an open beach, I tend to canter in a light forward seat rather than sitting to the canter but am feeling more hopeful that I will finally get there after today. 

Looking forward to Thursday when I am going to visit my friend and her horse which she has promised to let me ride although have to see what he is like before I try and canter as she has told me he likes to put in a few exhuberant little bucks before he canters and not sure how I will cope with that.

Canter Transitions :(

Had my fourth riding lesson at the new riding school today and it is not going well.  Having not been brilliant before the summer, I feel like I have lost a lot of ground after a few months off over the school holidays.

I just can't seem to get the canter transitions right.  I get really tense anticipating that the horse won't canter when I ask him to and then he keeps proving me right.  My instructor tells me I am gripping too much with my knees and that my heels are not staying down and my legs are going too far forward.  The more I think about it the more wrong it seems to go.  Last week, she said it looked liked I'd never cantered before and I wasn't safe to do so.

I'm sure when I am out hacking I am much more relaxed in canter but then it is so different.  I never have to do a canter transition as the horses are always raring to go on the beach and its just a case of giving them a slight squeeze and loosing the reins a little and they go from standing or walking straight to canter and then into gallop depending on the conditions.  It probably also helps that I tend to canter in light seat out on the beach instead of sitting to the canter like we have to in the lessons.   Even when I am leading the ride which tends to be more difficult, the horses there are still so easy to get into canter and a winding tree lined path at a fast canter doesn't phase me but a 20 metre circle in the school has me panicking.

I am must be one of the few people who seems to get more nervous in the school than out in a wide open space although ironically the worse falls I've had have been in the school.  Oh well, I will have to perservere or I will never progress to jumping lessons which I am quite keen to do as already done a few involuntary and unanticpated jumps when I have been out hacking.

Exam Results

My computer has been down for a while so haven't been able to post but thought I would update you on my exam results.  The riding was a bit of a nightmare.  The first horse I got was a lucky choice for me as I was used to riding him - a nice cob called patches who isn't quite as sluggish as some of the other cobs.  I thought it started off well and the sitting trot seemed okay although I messed up the first canter as he didn't respond to my aids the first time I asked for canter but thought okay I can still pass as long as I get it right on the next horse.  Unfortunately despite the fact all my lessons have been at the exam centre, I haven't really been given the chance to ride many of the thoroughbreds.  However, my instructor assured me it was highly unlikely I would get them in the exam as they are all quite big and I am only 5"2 but as luck would have it they gave me a 16"3 thoroughbred next the biggest horse in the exam.  Couldn't seem to get a ryhthum in trot and then he started shying so they stopped the exercise briefly and the caller was instructing me to hold the reins looser - oops.  Then I panicked a bit and didn't hear the instructions to cut from the back of the ride across the school to the front and left it too late and had to cut diagonally.

Think I knew I had failed for sure when the examiner decided to switch half of the exam onto a third horse before the canter and light seat trotting and cantering over poles.  Sure enough I failed the riding although was chuffed to pass the three horse care modules.

Examiners comments were "Although showing awareness of the fundamental requirements of this section, as yet she does not have sufficient balance, security or co-ordination for the required standard.  Work is required to develop these key areas in order that she can more easily follow the natural movement of the horse, maintain a more elastic rein contact and give aids with greater clarity,  She also needs to develop more awareness when mounting, dismounting and adjusting tack whilst mounted [ I thought my mounting and dismounting was fine but who am I to argue the other comments were probably fair generally and especially so as I didn't perform my best in the exam],

Taking the kids riding

With the bank holiday weekend, it was a lovely opportunity to spend some time with my kids and I decided a few days up at the farm and a chance to get them on horseback was a fantastic idea.  Given the rain the idea of camping went by the by and we managed to blag a bed inside for the night because we are wimps lol.  Saturday it tipped it down with rain so the kids ended up playing on the trampoline in the rain and watching tv a lot of the day.  We arrived just in time for me to help get all the trekkers on their horses - a hen party who for some reason thought pony trekking would be a great idea despite the fact half of them were petrified of horses. Then to muck out the stables before the horses got back.  We dropped the idea of taking the kids riding on Saturday because we thought they would get put off by the heavy rain.  The BBQ in the evening because a grill and indoor party instead but we still had lots of fun.

Sunday, the weather was dry if not sunny so after the morning trek came back we took the kids out on a little ride.  My eight year old was in the middle without a lead rein with their little friend on her pony at the front and my tiny 6 year old on a horse of nearly 15 hands at the back.  We had to put a lot of twists in the leathers so his feet could get in the stirrups but he was happy enough despite his small stature and the horses rather larger stature.   I think the kids enjoyed and they did a little trotting as well.  Mummy didn't get a ride but decided that I need some practice on the lead rein after my eldest sons horse turned to go up a track and I decided to let go of the little one to catch the other horse and ended up with both horses trotting in front of me.  There were a few little squeals  from the kids when I made the mistake of running after them which I instantly realised had been a bad idea when the horses started trotting.  As soon as I started walking I quickly caught up with the two horses who had stopped not far up the lane to munch on the grass at the side of the road.  I was very impressed with the natural balance the boys showed and their lack of fear.  They were less phased by the horses than the 25 year olds on the hen party the day before despite being on the same horses.  Ride over at just the right time (two minutes after the kids started asking are we nearly home yet I'm tired) it was time for a quick cuppa tea before heading home.