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.

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.