the local library

came up trumps with a copy of Hilda Nelson's "Francois Baucher, the Man and his Method"

cost me £5 as they'd got it in from the British Library, but still...

part read it at Trudi's but didn't finish it, so looking forward to doing so....given that I've read the Racinet, it seems to me I ought to read this as well....

i also asked them for the Charles Harris Notebooks, but don't hold out much hope of those at all....

anyway, it's blowing a gale (good drying weather if nothing else) and when i've finished my cup of tea I shall go down, see molly, and make a start on attaching things to the stable wall (the hay bar, for starters, LOL)

still lame....

not that i tried her in the arena at all .. but when i turned her out again she had to trot away as another of the mares had a go (this was a mare that hadn't been in the herd last year) and she was not sound.

i still think it's the front, but can't find anything in the feet or leg, so it's looking like shoulder...

pants.

still lame...

i brought her in and straight into the arena to see what the trot looked like... stopper her sharpish! she's still not sound.

i still think it's more likely to be bruising somewhere... but have decided that if she's not right by tuesday next week (that is, it'll have been a week) i'll have to get the vet


bummer.

rained....

virtually all day .. didn't finally dry up at all until a couple of hours after i'd fed molly and turned her out again.

supposed to be dry tomorrow, so i'll see how she is in trot then... couldn't really tell anything today...

proper lame...

it's either an incipient abcess, or she's pulled something during the settling in period ... either way, lame .. not noticeable in walk, but VERY clear when i went to lunge her, it not being raining! no heat to be felt anywhere. She wasn't feely when i picked her feet out - indeed, ability to pick her feet out without grief is great, compared to what she used to be like! so i don't think it's a bruised sole, might have noticed that at that point.

got someone to watch her trotting up, and conclusion is it's left fore. so we'll have to give that a few days to see what pans out.

apart from that .. she's all chilled out back in her old box. didn't move bar once, a long way from the bouncing round the box she did at blackdene!

you never know, i may even be able to do some flexions without it all going very pear shaped very quickly!

friends again...

Molly and Scarlet have reminded each other that they ARE friends, so that's really good

what's better ... for the first time since i can't remember when... Molly started to walk towards the gate when she saw me, without me waving a feed dish at her. AND later when i went back round and was talking to one of the fishermen, she saw/heard me and came right over the field to the gate....

So, i reckon, friends again..

anyway, it was raining, quite hard, so i only brought her in, fed and turned out again.

then took some time to start filling my cupboard again ...partly as i'd assumed partner wouldn't be home for a while, and partly because the bees (nesting under the concrete floor.....EEEK) were not about! i know they won't sting voluntarily but that doesn't mean it's not scary having a few flying about at chest height!

gloucester lodge show

not with molly, of course! Nicola with AliG, Vic with Quenza (Luso) - both in the "foreign breeds" class, in hand and ridden; donna & jack, part bred arab in hand and ridden, and another lady I know from various legal courses over the years, with her arab in hand and ridden...

All got rosettes.

Quenza in particular was a superstar - ony backed 4 months ago (by vic), first time out, didn't put a single foot wrong; AliG (PRE) of course is still young and he didn't put a foot wrong either. Jack is only 5 as well - they were all much better behaved than some others!

and it didn't start raining until we were nearly home, thank goodness.

Molly? well i tWAS raining time i got to the yard. She's still in one piece, thank goodness, butnot yet allowed into the herd. But i did catch her first time of asking, gave her a good groom and her feed.

will, probably, do some groundwork/lunging tomorrow... the scabby fly bites are healing up, but want to be sure they're gone before i put saddle back on!

my bad....

i didn't post yesterday.... forgot! haven't actually forgot before.

But i dind't have anything to say, as all i'd done was lift the rubber mats and take down the hay bar...

Today we moved back to Harbour house. I had planned to ride down, but when i got her in i found the flies had been at her back and there were scabs under where the saddle would go, either side of her spine. so they got treated and i walked her down in hand.

the herd is the same one she left last June...but they haven't yet recognised her. but at least when I went back later she hadn't been kicked in the hock!

She was moving wonderfully well, i didn't have the camcorder of course, hadn't even thought about it, but i should have done...

Then spent the rest of the day packing stuff ... and moving everyting up to where it could be easily loaded on to the trailer.

that itself took no time at all, neither did getting it off the other end .. but a lot of sorting out to be done.

i put the mats down, and put everything in the tack room tidily and came away as it was 8pm by then...

and if i hadn't needed a shower when i started, i certainly needed one when i finished, it was warm work!

off to gloucester lodge @ blyth tomorrow to watch/help Nicola & Vic in the luso class and I gather some other friends will be there as well, so will be a long day!

bruised foot

mine, that is.

i'd groomed, picked feet out and went to apply the Effol hoof stuff ... was bent over doing the near fore, first foot, when she went to move and put said foot right on my right foot... full on .. she sharp took it off though and stood like a rock whilst i did the rest. haven't actually looked at it yet, but i'm expecting it turning a lovely colour. but i can still move my toes, so no fractures it seems.

I'll be so pleased when she gets into the stable at HH and settles down, we never had any of this grief there...

it was seriously windy when i arrived and no way i was going to ride in it - specially when i saw the big grey cloud being blown in .. so thought i'd do some flexions, or try to, since she pretended she was more settled and she's been so good about the ridden work lately ...

mistake.

she won't stand still ..

so i stopped that idea, and decided to try some click/treat to get her to stand where i put her.

that didn't work either. despite only getting clicked/treated when she stood still, that didn't prevent her walking forward to look over the door when she wanted and a struggle to get her to move back again.

so i gave up, rather than fall out with her altogether. fed and put her out - it was still raining, having started before i'd started trying the flexions.

hot, muggy and very windy

all at the same time, and really i thought it was too hot to ride (which it was) so decided on some rope circling/ground work stuff .. got to the arena, and everything was blowing around, includin the arena surface! so glad i'd decided not to ride - it might hav eblown the flies away, but we still wouldn't have got a lot done!

definite fly bothering

tnoight i put fly repellent everywhere... including sponging it round her face..but it doesn't work, and it got hotter, and we got hotter, the more we did.

trot is stil good and improving.

trot to walk is coming along nicely, especially if i remember to stay upright, LOL

a serpentine, haven't been able to do one of those for months

didn't ask for canter (she wanted to, and one could argue i shoudl have gone for it, but i want canter when i want canter not when she wants canter!)

walk? that's when the flies bother, of course

so we did some, then some more trot, and finished with trying to start rein back again..

one half step back, praise walk on, then another...

but the flies were all round her head so since we'd done 20 minutes i thought that was enough.

walk? what's that?

Lovely trot. excellent canter (BOTH directions this time). but walk? didn't want to. she's VERY forward, LOL

The initial trot/canter were showing ourselves off to Gaynor (and i hadn't asked for the canter right, well, didn't know I had, if you see what i mean)

after that some more trot and i decided i ought to go back to walk and do walk/trot transitions...

But we were struggling with this....she wants to moooove.....

and then the flies were really bothering her face...

anyway, did about 20 minutes i suppose!

will try again tomorrow, hopefully with more success..

more howling gales...

varying between warm and chilly ...

did a small amount of in hand work - i'm really not totally sold on this, largely because of my body twist, but left rein molly goes round on the bit very nicely - right rein a nightmare for both of us because i'm then on my non dominant side!

but at least we did something.

i left my purple schooling stick on the fixed mounting block - someone's put it away ... that's what i get for leaving sticks about the place. it'll turn up!

windy windy....

after yesterday's long day, didnt' get up until 9! and the winds... pah. at least they were warm winds didn't need a coat even when it was raining.

anyway, thought i'd arranged to hack out at 3. ..... that didn't happen.

molly didn't get her tea yesterday (apparently she wouldn't be caught) and therefore hadn't had her devil's claw and cortiflex.... so she got double devil's claw today. umph.

so today.

now, bear in mind that the arena, on teh opposite side of the road from the yard, has a large grove of trees down it's left hand side as you go in, between it and the yard. so in the yard, it seemed quite calm.

go into the arena, however, and the howling gale was howling, making the tree that overhangs the arena substantially creak and groan (there are branches rubbing against each other, and one came down t'other week when no one was in there thank goodness)

so after getting on, i got off again ... i hate a wind, makes me ratty, which winds molly up, so no point.

so i decided to do some mounting practice at the fixed mounting block ....between showers.

we have one place wher eyou can stand under cover so under there, during a shower, i did about 5 minutes or so of click/treat when she stood still with me at her girth.

it didn't translate, however, to standing still at the fixed block.

at the finish, she was getting sick and refusing to even move forward to be alongside the mounting block ..

when she did she'd stand still. that was fine, got clicked/treated for it; then she'd move on. pah.

so, after about an hour and wanting to finish on a good note, i went back to the arena (which is where my portable moutning block is) - of course the wind had totally dropped! - to be sure i did get on again before finishing for the day. left he gate open.

did get back on after 5 minutes - and rode back to the yard (the arena gate is impossible to open from on horseback)

so that was that.

trudi - i got the potato dish to work! used a different receptacle, and a higher heat (possibly too high, the top burnt, but hey) very tasty too!

a long sad day...

you will recall my post about my cousin Yvonne, who died on the 3rd August.


Today, a large number of people gathered on a lovely hill (in a marquee, in her arena) for her funeral, which was excellently done, a non-religious ceremony and very good. most of us cried a bit, and laughed a bit, and felt our mortality I think...the celebrant was excellent, and the 3 people who spoke did so very movingly

meanwhile, back at the yard - arab mare Susie was PTS today, after a long life (i seem to recall being told, much longer than the vet had thought about 10 or more years ago....) - i forget how old she was, but it was her time. so hugs for HER owner.

lesson report...

is someone giving Molly speed? whizz....

I wasn't as relaxed as usual .. or was more tense than usual? it ended up a bit of a rush... there were three of us to have separate lessons, me, brooker& her ma vicki - and we were chatting away not paying attention and assuming RI would be late .. when RI turned up on time, Oops. Brooke went first, i rushed off and caught molly and only had time to give her 20 minutes massage rather than the usual 1/2 hour!

she didn't much want to walk, we had some attempts at passage and piaffe LOL

trot was good left rein, not so good right rein (I haven't been doing as much right rein, and, as i said, i'd felt tense - shown greatly by the fact that i had to take my stirrups up one and still felt my knees rising, when tuesday that hadn't been an issue at all)

anyway, cantered again, left lead only but did it first time of asking, despite my not setting it up very well today...

we think Molly now needs time to wrap her own head round the fact that whatever it is isn't hurting any more ... and for me to get her more willing to slow down.

but RI agreed she looked like a different horse, said it's the first time she's really seen Molly using her back muscles

so i'll probably have another lesson in 3 weeks or so....

and I'm moving Molly back down to Harbour House (which I left last June, you'll recall, original yard on this estate) - no hills (they've served their purpose in making us SEE the lameness issue!), she's back in the box she came out of which she'll settle in, as she isn't in this one, she knows the other mares there already, and she WILL learn to hack out and back up to blackdene for lessons in the larger arena. Plus, now she's working better and better balanced, we'll be able to get better work in the small arena at harbour house. the move will happen at the end of the month.

did nothing

well, i did a fair amount of work, but didn't do anything with molly save feed her ... was supposed to be going to see a client, so had to feed and go ... she was half way through eating when i got a text cancelling the meeting.

I COULD have gone back some hours later, but decided not to....

whoo hooo

canter in teh arena today

HUGE grin on my face.

Her trot is improving all the time - so much that walk is difficult, but frankly, who cares!

anyway, Brooke was in the arena with her new pony, her mother and another lady and they were telling her the aids to canter .....so by the time i'd heard them several times ithought, sod it, let's go for it.

first attempt was wrong lead, i hadn't set it up

second attempt - YESSSSSSS lovely transition.

so round a circle (well, frankly, only 3/4 of one!) pulled her up and called that the good point to stop.

YAY

forgot to say.. the lesson has had to be rearranged again...

rain cancelled lesson

so that will hopefully take place tomorrow, subject to weather... it rained most of the day, the horses were wet, and if we'd got them in to dry it rained again anyway.

here's what i harvested yesterday afternoon:

enough garlic to feed the street:

and a winter's supply (I hope) of onions

and i think my sweetcorn is about ready...

yesterday and today

First, the more bad news for today - Horace's owner has another horse, Alan. alan came in this morning and needed the vet urgently, he'd been scratching his right eye and had caught the bottom lid, which was open ... she didn't need this! I don't know yet what vet said, will ask tomorrow, but certainly Alan will be in his stable for a while, I expect, whilst it heals.

anyway, Molly yesterday.

I nearly didn't ride - got there and headed into the field to get her, but was stopped and told she'd only been out 15 minutes - they had had to get all the horses in, whilst the man came to take Horace away, and had only just finished turning out. I still hadn't sorted out putting notice of my numbers up so no one had mine or i would have gone down if called.

And of course they were right at the bottom of the hill.

So i decided to thoroughly skip the stable out, moved the bed over, lfted a mat tthat had acquired too much bed underneath it etc, and then they came up the top so i went and got her in.

Gave her her massage, and decided to do some ridden work in the arena - given that i'd lunged yesterday. Mind, by that time I was VERY hot - hot day, and the wooden stables become pretty hot inside!

Planned on 30 minutes but after 20 M had had enough .. but we had done a LOT of trot again, I was very pleased with it, so it was a good session.

Today. Arrange to hack out with Sarah. plan was to find a hill for a canter. We knew which hill, getting there was an issue, as M was backing off the first (shut) gate we came to so badly i had to get off and lead through, and was then a bit stuck ... so walked down the route we'd planned to GAynor's, she came out with some small ladders and held molly whilst I got back on.

Then we had to go through another gate to get into a meadow where you then go under the road bridge to get through to canter up the hil the other side.

Beadsley (Sarah's horse) wasn't having any of that, he was in the lead; then two horses cam along the track beside where we were and molly decided she wanted to be with them (or perhaps thought she shoudl be, don't know....) real pain! but at least i stayed on this time, sarah came back and then (don't you know) molly led beadsely through quite happily

and I cantered a long canter up the hill! first time since I broke my foot back in June 2006! so that shoudl help a lot on the canter in teh arena stakes.

and then to keep me happier, Molly was quite happy to open the gate at the top of that hill back to the road (and blotted her copybook again, as we were going through it she really set her jaw and flung her head about .. but at least we stayed on the verge!)

then back along to the yard on the road, job done. will do more of that now!

Lost a packet of polos though - we were both parched, sarah and i, after the canter but i had polos in my pocket - got one for me, handed tube to sarah who handed it back - and then i thought i'd put it back in my pocket, and then realised i'd dropped it.

then came home for a VERY late breakfast (about 12.30, LOL)

When i got back to the yard after i'd hosed Molly off, standing talking and realised my phone was doing loads of things it shouldn't - playing music, on the internet, doh. switched it off. When i got back home, it wouldn't switch back on again! (I didn't say at the time, but whilst I was in France i'd dropped it down the loo, it had recovered from that, but i think it has given up). So have had to move the sim back into the phone i'd originally lost and then refound (at least I refound it) and resynchronise .. but of course, realised I hadn't synced the phone since it's replacement. So i shall have to replace a few numbers, unless the other phone recovers! doh.

But anyway, pleased with today!

RIP Horace

A Sweet old gentleman of 28, retired police horse, who died in the field today .. owner devastated, of course! despite his age this was not expected....

sorry the pic isn't great, all I have...

not a good week all round, really ...

on a happier note...

I lunged. had intended to ride, but found i'd left the re-charged battery for massager at home...

Anyway, i was very pleased with the lunging efforts as well.

Particularly canter - I was better with teh aid, and Molly was prepared to keep going for 2 circles in canter, both ways, which we haven't managed before. I've never been sure if that was me or her or both, but really i think it must have been something to do with whatever the "no bute" is now sorting out...

RIP Katie

A lovely pony a friend has had on loan for years; a victim of laminitis despite all the best management and TLC

full 1/2 hour...

this timer is a really good idea!

i set it after i'd got on (again, an exercise achieved with no difficulty, the more impressive as i was carrying my schooling whip which i haven't for a good long while!) - really useful tool! if i clip the phone (in case) to the back waist, it doesn't seem to move where if i clip it at the side, it does....gets pushed off.

anyway, essentially more of what i did last night, with added leg yield to see if i can crack that (sort of)

The trot is still good. i did more trot/walk transitions tonight as well as trotting round circles and the full outside track, was very pleased.

i felt more as though she was carrying me, which i haven't felt for a good while, so pleased with that, and she was a bit more accepting of contact as well.

overall, good session.

finished with an asked for turn on the forehand, as opposed to a turn on the forehand done as an evasion!

lesson on Monday - RI was there giving someone else a lesson, and the plan is to have them on the same day and follow each other... save i'll probably only have one every other week, i expect...

mixed day ... RIP Yvonne

You'll gather the day started with the bad news.

My cousin Yvonne died (at 62!) of a very aggressive ovarian cancer ... her brother's a bit shell shocked, we're all stunned, and I imagine her husband's past himself ... The last few years we'd met at funeral's of aged uncles ... Yvonne is the first of "our" generation and it certainly makes you think of your own mortality much more than one might have done otherwise.

The good bit? Molly .... I was able to get on first time with no trouble at all. I set the timer on my mobile for 1/2 hour (not having a watch at the moment, it's the only way!) and first off worked on a nice walk, directionality (diagonals, serpentines, circles); then tried trot.

Well.

somethings working.

round the outside track, 20 metre circle, outside track, 20 metre circle, and that again, then change rein, same again right rein (once, as it's worse rein) and change rein again and back to walk.

Didn't worry about too much contact/outline, i was so pleased to get a forward active trot with no grief at all. AND i didn't lose her shoulders.

YAY.

so a good note to end the day on. I didn't do the full 1/2 hour - after 20 minutes, the flies were really bothering us (probably because we'd been working hard and it was hot!) so i did a little more walk, and called it a day at 25 minutes.

I do like that timer idea, though, why i hadn't thought of it before i don't know....

longlined with a bit...

realised it's been a good while since i've longlined, and an even longer time since i'd longlined with a bit, been doing it bitless more recently (since we moved to blackdene).

So tonight that was the plan, and the bitless being out on loan, bitted she was.

and went relatively well!

I found i have to work a bit harder to get her going, and to get her moving forward and thus keeping her head up and jaw unset ... some of it wasn't so good, but a lot of it was a lot better than we've done bitted in the past, and i was particularly pleased that I didn't feel as though I was being dragged, particularly to the right (whcih mean the jaw wasn't set...)

well that was better...

did some groundwork first, then got on and that was good...it's a bit diffiuclt to use the reins with a 12foot line in your hand as well, though, so i had to get off and get on again using a lead rein... the catch on the 12 foot line is impossible to undo onehanded!

then we did some trot as well, only on the long sides but it was fairly regular and she didn't try and tranter, so i was pleased with that!

something starting to work on that front, then, hopefully the devil's claw kicking in...

but i've smashed my watch, no idea how - the glass is broke, in one place (like a hole)and there are bits of glass inside preventing the hands going round. Hopefully i'll be able to get it mended, although partner thinks i might as well just get a new one! anyway, the result is guessing how long i'm out there with her... but it felt about 3/4 hour. I'm leaving the mobile phone on a fence post to avoid losing it.

good and bad again...

But i shouldn't have ridden.

The good.

she caught easily, and was relatively chilled in the stable. and i got all 4 feet picked out, which hasn't always been the easiest thing in the world with her...

she lunged ok - i had saddle on but not the roller/side reins.

the bad.

the flies were awful in the arena for some reason (not a problem in the yard at all).

an expected issue with mounting (unsurprised about that given i haven't ridden for weeks!)

she set her jaw after a couple of times round the arena and woudln't unset it, and was windmilling her neck

so got back off and lunged again, then got back on to try again, to the same effect

I think i shouldn't have ridden, should have done more ground work, and i need to let the devil's claw etc have a couple more days to kick in to effect before riding again. and back to the combi when i do, i think.

lunging and medicine...

time to start to do somethign again .. i've just looked back to see when i last rode, and it was nearly a month ago!

Anyway, I knew it was a while since I'd been on her, and the last time was dire, so thought that starting off with some lunge work would be a good idea.

I think i said yesterday the mares are now in the field next to molly's stable... anyway, whatever the reason, no problem at all getting her in (mind, it is uphill to the gate, not down!)

and she was much more settled largely, i expect, because she knew her friends were just "there" rather than miles away....hopefully this will help settle her in the stable prior to the winter, since i've missed my chance of a box in the enclosed yard for a while!

as I say, lunged....i was very impressed with her lunging. didn't do too much, but what she did do was good, i let the side reins out 2 holes and she was wrokin through from behind into the bit and had a lovely outline. and no trouble getting canter first time of asking both reins, which was also pleasing. only a half circle each way in canter, but it was the getting it i was after

I'd bought the cortaflex and some devil's claw so put that in her feed.. the recommendation on both is that you give a larger loading dose at the start, but i think i should not have given quite so much devils claw, the brand i bought had an additive in that smelt lovely, but not sure Molly was TOO impressed with it! ended up feeding her the bits left with my hand :-)

Hopefully these will have the desired effect.

farrier arrived...

hurray! said, normal trim, and did just that.

so I will start working molly again tomorrow, weather permitting.

need to go to shop for glucosamine and think i might get some devil's claw as well.

Molly is in season - horrid! had to do leg washing yesterday whilst waiting for tooth person to arrive, and probably will need to again tomorrow.

the mares went in new field - right outside her stable! - today, and will be there for 2 months apparently, then back to the other one we've just left. not sure it wouldn't have been better to leave them where they were for the next 2 months and then put them in the front next to stable field for the winter, but we'll see.

one thing is for certain, I shall have to keep a VERY close eye on the legs for the mud fever/whatever it is... she was showing signs of that again yesterday as well. that would be a nightmare, as she won't want to stay in this stable 24/7, that IS for sure.

This week hasn't gone as planned, what with farrier having to cancel on Wednesday, as i didn't want to do anything until he'd seen her as well. and of course all these appointments were afternoon jobs so taking time out of the working day, so not quite caught up from being away. but almost! all the post is done anyway

hopefully, back to routine after today.

and nearly moved her again! my friend is renting house on the estate, and there are 2 stables next to it that were, until last weekend, occupied .. but the occupiers have gone and she was offered them, much more convenient for her. she thought of me second, and i would have taken molly down there... nice flat paddock, no mud (considering the wear flooded it 2 weeks ago, it's bone dry now!), just the 2 of us, and friend woudl do morning turnout/evening fetch in given it's right next to her house. but the person she first thought of decided to take her up on that opportunity...

for me the only disadvantages to it would have been no arena with lights,,and no 24/7 turnout due to small size of field but the field is VERY flat, and 1 minutes walk to an arena anyway, and could have lived without 24/7 turnout if i didn't have to go twice a day.

in the meantime, i'm waiting for a box to come free in the inner courtyard of the yard i'm on .. something happened whilst i'm away that makes it look as though i might have missed my chance for a while, which is somewhat annoying! just before my hols a horse was sold off the yard and a box came free but still facing the field, YM offered me it but i said i'd wait until yard came free .. i shoudl have taken that, and then done swop that i didn't know would be available to get the box i wanted, as that is what someone else has done. drat.

teeth and tunnels

today molly had her teeth done, and was much better about it than she ever has been before. Dentist said her teeth generally were vastly improved and we can move to a 9 month cycle (it's been 6 monthly since i got her).

Farrier is coming tomorrow...

and tunnels? partner had arranged for us to go visit the victoria tunnel in Newcastle, it was an underground wagon way for the old pit at spital tongues (which closed in the 1860's) and was then used as an air raid shelter in WW2. Very interesting...

RAIN

the effects of the downpours whilst i was away are still to be seen .. one of the other yards onthe estate has a HUGE pond in one of the horse's fields....

Regular readers may recall that before I went on holiday i made an appointment with the farrier for today; unfortunately, he had to cancel due to one of those vagaries of life that sometimes afflict all of us (blimey, yes i did swallow a dictionary!) so we will have to rearrange. depressingly, he didn't have my number! he does now! and then it started teeming down again, as forecast.

Teeth tomorrow, hopefully it'll be drier....

and molly had been in a few times whilst i was away, once when they were all in during teh downpour, and seemingly a few other times when someone had to bring her in rather than leave her alone in the field. Three barrowloads removed... and of course she was not happy to be in!

weather on all fronts..

there's another weather warning at home....

the holiday blog

is where it's at for the next 10 days...

http://www.clairesholidayblog.blogspot.com/

ringbone

is the differential diagnosis of choice.

interestingly, the farrier turned up to do another horse whilst i was waiting, so i was telling him, and he thought that, on the grounds that molly doesn't have the feet she would have for navicular syndrome....

so, booked him for the day after i come back from holiday, as Molly will be about due.

I'm to get cortaflex (that's easy).

the real question is whether this can be managed barefoot, or whether i'll have to shoe in front.. and if so with what?

anyway, she got a good lunging whilst we were working it out!

it's interesting

what one finds one has learnt after years of reading/observing...

today i was helping someone with pole work and jumping, and noticed stuff about seat/hands that i would never have noticed a few years ago!

Molly? i took the Max pressure halter out with me and a longer lead rope than usual, put it on and pulled... she came. but she is not right. we are thinking navicular syndrome or something of that nature, which should be managable (Queenie had the same)

and in terms of this becoming apparent after living on a hill when she didn't used to live on a hill.. this makes some sense, for regular readers, of the "standing at the top of the hill planted" refusing to go down to the 20 acre...

and this may account for some schooling issues as well.

in the meantime, i dug out the fly sheet i had bought for queenie years ago. i must have shrunk it in the wash, as it fit molly a treat. the other mares didn't recognise her! they all had to do sniff polite checking that itwas in fact a mare they knew!

someone did a rain dance....

but there are various culprits - i was in the process of putting saddle on, two were outi nthe field catching their horses...who knows. but at least i didn't leave any washing on the line. and it's still tipping down now an hour after i left!

anyway - catching and bringing in was a fraction easier today ... the first stage was uphill, and after a minute's pulling, she came ...

she stopped when we got to the down hill bit.. whether that was because it was down hill, or because one of the other mares came trotting over to her, i don't know.

i did try to take some video of her walking down hill, but not wonderfully successfully .. one bit i thought i'd taken, i hadn't, and the next bit there's a lot of her head in the way!

i was starting to think about Queenie; she developed spurs on both front navicular bones.... but, her last few years she was sound barefoot in the field. alternatively, she's trying really hard to train me not to fetch her in, and failing....

edited to add: friend's OH, horse vet, says lame bilaterally in front.

in hand walk..

after a wash off with hibiscrub solution for it's antiseptic/cleansing properties on the scabs.

and after a bit of struggle to get her in again. They were a lot nearer the gate. i took ordinary headcollar and schooling whip and bumbag with treats (happily the other 2 don't bother investigating those, molly would prevent them) .. caught ok, but again, no desire to move....movement was achieved by facing her, and tapping with the schooling whip (just touching) in/behind the shoulder....and me walking backwards!

i do think theres something about her action down hill... looked again on the way back out to the field, which is down a steeper hill but not on grass ...not quite right... will get someone else to watch, i think! or perhaps try and video it...

and the scabs...i wonder, actually, if she might be allergic to the fly repellent? i'd forgotten that i think it was one day last week instead of spraying, as the spray doesn't spray very well, i'd put it on a sponge and put it on that way?

so walked out in hand up to the next yard, stopped for a chat and back round...

poles and jumpies

but before that, the ongoing saga of getting her in from the field.

today, there were only 2 mares out, mine & steve's; we went down together... Steve was back up at the yard (a hike up a hill!) and nearly tacked up by the time i got molly there.

I'd not expected her to plant when she could see that Tia was being led off and she knew she was the only horse left in the field, but plant she did. ggrrrhh

BUT, i do wonder if in fact it is the going down hill? whichever field we are in , one goes downhill to the gate in the valley, then up the other side to the yard. going out to the field, she moves on, but then of course she's going somewhere she wants to go..i dunno, but it's getting very tedious.

I might take up tash's idea and take my pressure halter and 12foot line out and work her in the field....dunno.

anyway, after she was in, and had her massage, still a shade scabby down the side where the saddle flaps woudl be, i decieded lunge and poles

2 poles on the ground one side of the arena, 2 poles on polepods on the other side.

she did both very nicely.

i then set up a very small jump which she jumped nicely from the right but not quite so nicely from the left...

then we called it a day.

it was VERY hot in the arena, no breeze - because it was blocked by the copse, soon as you left the arena and came to cross the road, lovely breeze blowing up to cool us down.

and finally, completely OT, the water lily in our pond has flowered:

30 minutes

to get her from the top of the field to the bottom ... a 1 minute walk, probably? i stand at the end of the lead rope .. eventually she moves to me.. and so on, for half the distance .. then she consented to walk on properly and follow me. duh.

the rash. could it be buttercups? scabbing, anyway, in places! so didn't ride as she's not wholly happy about the areas being touched. in fact, by the time i'd wasted 1/2 hour talking to lisa as well, then gave her her massage (another 1/2 hour!) i decided not to do anything with her as it was getting on by then.. turned her out, came back and realised baaad mummy had forgotten to do her tea!

she's clearly short of something, though, as she used both licks (one horselyx, one himalayan salt lick) neither of which she's touched for a while, so that'a s good sign in one way (that is, that she knows she needs whatever it is and helped herself!).

oh, and if it's buttercups ... there are sheep on the estate, but whether the estate would put them on the horse fields to get rid of the buttercups i don't know..

big green ball....

Anyway, Molly had had a brain change, or had made up with me whatevert it was, or something...I had no trouble at all catching her, and she came straight down to the gate. that's the first time she hasn't protested one way or another since we moved to Blackdene in, when was it, April?

So that was a good start.

And she was very calm, for a change, in the stable.

She has what i think is rain scald - unsurprising given all the rain! - and it has com eup under where the saddle flaps and my legs would go ... so it was probably brewing on Tuesday and i should not have ridden then...

anyway, lady on the yard has a big green ball and i asked if i could borrow it, for something different to do. (that's her website, BTB, some good stuff)

took it to the arena and left it in the middle, went back for Molly .. time i got back to the arena there was a friesian being ridden round the arena and the ball was outside by the gate... molly not impressed by that, and i not impressed either .. we have no booking system, the people had come down from the other yard where they have an indoor arena... no comment!

so had to take her back over for a while (at which point i realised i'd locked myself out of my tackroom!)

anyway, eventually was able to go back over, the ball had been put back in the arena but only just inside, so a spook as we went in was in order.

after that, i was able to persuade her to touch it, and then i let her off to see what she would do .. wander round the other end, was the answer.

i moved it innto the middle and she wasn't bothered; led her up to it and she was fine, let her go off again and moved it, she trotted...

led her up to it, and round it, with her nearer it than me .. fine...

move it? opps.

so led her back and click/treated until she'd touched it, and had her touch it a few times, then stopped for the day.

happily, other person who shares my tack room came with key to let me in!

i shall keep an eye on the rain scald .. not had that before .. a few have it ... if it's not rain scald, it's something about the field that they're in ...

headache...

caused by brining the boot lid of the car down on it... doh. that was outside new client's house at 5 pm.... glasses endedup on floor, amazed they're not broken, and i expect i'll have a lovely bruise in the morning.

partners gone to teh sage gateshead to see Ry Cooder and others (including someone from Buena Vista Social Club) and had it not been for the head i might have gone up to see if i could get myself a ticket...they were like hen's teeth and she'd got one but we couldn't get 2 so that would have ben on spec anyway...but given the head i thought that probably wasn't such a good plan!

did go down to see molly ... took bumbag with treats (she wasn't going to let her friend have them!), caught her no problem and took 1/2 hour to get her down to the gate, using click/treat ...

2 things... whatever she's developing an allergy to (it's probably rain scald, given all the rain we've had) seems to be now over the saddle area - under where the flaps would be ...so i probably definintely shouldn't have ridden last night..

and i'm not totally happy that she is ok moving DOWN hill .... will have to try and watch her when i'm not trying to catch her... it may just be not wanting to be in!

anyway, hopefully that excercise will have helped in terms of getting her in tomorrow..i need her to go back to being caught and brought in easily. and i'd rather do it hte nice way first!

the alternative is take the pressure halter and 12foot line out and work her in the field (there is a flat bit at the top)

1 hour later....

molly condescended to move her feet and come in .. that was after the 10 minutes it took to actually catch her! but then she planted herself. i did manage to not lose my temper, but am not totally sure how ... you can imagine I was NOT impressed.

so why, after that, i thought riding was a good idea, i'm not sure. particularly as, after her massage and when i was trying to put the saddle on, walking round the box was deemed a good idea... (that was because she knew someone was about to come up the hill....)

so you won't be surprised to learn that when i did get into the arena and got on she had a strop head on ... not for any good reason i could immediately discern

at one point we were sure she was lame on the near hind (tash was giving someone else a lesson ) ... i left molly being held by spectator and went back for my lunge line .. but she lunged perfectly sound.

Tash got on for 5, i got back on but it wasn't going to happen .. by that stage the lesson was at canter poles, so i was pleased that we stayed in walk, really ....

i knew i wasn't relaxed and really shouldn't have ridden.

i think ATM we're winding each other up a bit...

tomorrow won't do anything as i've an evening meeting so probably won't have time

wet and warm.....

that was molly

the thunderstorm started (centred over my village, felt like my house but not quite!) early afternoon, and it was coming down in sheets again .... still raining when i went out about 5.30, if not as hard...and was not going to stop!

i went down to the field (in my walking boots, the only things that are safe!) to see her, and she was very wet, but very warm, and at first not totaly overjoyed to see me, but did then decide to stand still so i could check her over ...

was still raining when i eventually came home after 7....

hopefully it'll improve for tomorrow! but the forecast says not....

things to do with one's horse

whilst wearing a skirt... because it was SOOOOO hot i really didn't want my legs enclosed in jodphurs! so we did groundwork, which i thought was about right for the circumstances....apart from me being overheated, molly was really unhappy to be brought in (maggie one of the other mares had been in last night for a show today, so molly only wanted to stay out with her and Lady) and it took 2 of us to get her.. at least they didn't tank off down the other end of the field, which is huge and hilly of course.

so bounced about her stable whilst i brushed her off, whilst listening to see if she could hear maggie & lady (not)

so just did a bit of ropecircling stuff, getting her paying attention to me and so on...that was good, fed and turned out and they all cantered to each other! happily another mare goes out tuesday.

as i left, the wind got up .. could see big black cloud over home 4 miles away .. it was, torrential rain, soaed getting from car to house so much that i had to change.... rivers running down the road!

it's stopped now, of course

and that should help it all be a shade cooler...

lunged ... and poles

it was so hot i didn't really want to ride...but i wanted to do something, so tacked up for lunging/longlining....

decided to lunge, and got a couple of poles out. it's a good long while since i've worked her over trotting poles, and in the past she's raced them, avoided them, anything but go over them nicely

today was a different story. she didn't protest about them at all, went over them at a steady trot as requested, didn't try and curve in away from them and generally was a good girl. that was on both reins. and she was lifting her back legs up nicely through them as well.

and this was with side reins on, as well as without

excellent piece of work!

she'd already been in for a couple of hours or so when i got there (roll on there being more mares!) and had spread her bed about with the result that the last place i wanted her to be was in the stable, the ammonia smell was horrid and there's no breeze in there (there was a breeze blowing gently up the valley, but not in her stable window, went past the front!).

so sorted it out afterwards and need to put some more down i think....

part of this is the way she's using the stable, as she stands with her head out the door, then has a walk round, then stands a bit, then walks round.... she didn't use to do this at previous yard, or not quite so much!

so more bedding on top and perhaps i might re-organise the stable ... thinking about moving the haybar to the back and have the bed at the front, perhaps. the idea of the haybar at the front under the (unglazed) window was that she could look out without having to move ...

ah well, have a couple or 3 months to decide before we're into winter again!

edited to add: the above was typed on the laptop out in the garden whilst waiting for the barbecue to get really hot.....

now guess what happened?

you're right .. i ended up barbecuing under an umbrella as it started raining! happily i'd seen the cloud coming and rescued the laptop, but had just put the food on ...

and partner insisted we eat under the tree, which, tbf, does provide some good shelter and it had in fact stopped by then....

more rain...

which i wasn't expecting today, but it started torrentially at about 1, stopped for about an hour mid afternoon then started again...

in the meantime, therefore, some pictures and video (the video of the lunge lesson is still proving problematic...am working on it but am having to try and change format to be able to post it..)

They were all take on the mobile phone camera

the first pic and the video show how relaxed she is for her massage .. she loves this!

the rest on various days.

i think she looks rather well in this one - i'd just turned her out again and she's looking for her friends

the other chestnut here is not yet 3! as you can tell, going to be massive!

and this was this afternoon; they've been moved into this field for the weekend whilst the geldings get moved into the field the mares were in (the mares then go where the geldings have been..). one of the estate workers can just be seen in the background...he'd been set the task of chopping down all the thistles and digging up any ragwort found.

this is just below molly's stable door so if they stay there all weekend she might be a shade more chilled than usual ... although, perhaps not. more likely to be more keen to see where her friends are

apparently at least one mare is returning this weekend, so hopefully we'll have increased numbers in the field by next week, which will make life easier (i hope!)

interrupted (again...)

2nd post with this title.

can't remember what it was last time, would have to go look. this time, it was partner ringing up because she couldn't find something on the computer, in the middle of walk/trot/walk transitions to get Molly balanced and with me, the plan being for changes of rein as well.

guess what.

we lost the plot after that....

she didnt' want to stand still whilst i took the call .. fair enough, it meant the flies settled .. and did a really nice relaxed forward walk round the arena whilst i was talking .. think it was about 3 times round EEK ... but couldn't get it back after that.

lesson? don't answer the phone. but i like to have it with me in case of need, of course!

but i think i was not losing the reins as much as i have been

thunder and rain

thunder started runbling around 2 or so ... wasn't surprised that it started raining just as i was getting ready to leave the house....had already decided not to do anything due to humidity/heat, the rain merely reinforced that view.

might, by close of business today, have video of that lunge lesson i had a few months ago ...i've been given the camcorder to sort it myself!

hot and humid

you can taste the humidity.

did think about groundwork... apart form anything else, my numnah is still drying on the line having been washed! ... but neither of us could be bothered and the flies were a nightmare.

have decided not to take up the suggestion of the market harborough... looks a shade too much like a draw rein, even though it isn't quite, and am not quite sure how it would help me, which was the point of the suggestion...

i could go back to continentals (currently taking up space on the back of the kitchen door!) but i do like the libby's ones i'm using at the moment, especialy as they have clips and i change bridles a fair bit (one bridle ordinary bit, one bridle myler combi, and the bitless!)

they have the advantage that if they do slip you can easily see how far they've slipped and where you should be!

lesson from BHSI

unfortunately without any pics or video - was expecting regular RI to come and watch but she had to work LOL

shortened stirrups one more hole (i'd already taken them up one) and that did help me a lot.

after that i really need to work on keeping my reins firmly between thumb and finger! She suggested I try a market harborough... and turns out a friend has one! My preference would be reinbows, which i've recently come across, but theyonly fit those really thick horrid rubber reins ATM so no good. we need a tool to help me!

not really anything too different from what we've been trying anyway, in essence, and molly did work better than she has recently (assisted by my being better balanced i suspect) but still really having to push her through the tranter/skipping malarkey!

One thing I wasn't sure of what she was saying - using the outside rein to keep her to the outside... but think that may have been another way of saying inside leg into holding outside hand.

and wanting me to use my hands to slow the trot, rather than slowing my rise! But i rather think that was because the trot was such that slowing my rise was difficult on occasion!

instructor used to run dressage comps and trains for BHS exams and so on, and thought Molly looks very pretty & good when working nicely!

good lesson .. and both molly and i got hosed off afterwards (I hosed my head!)

edited to add - forgot to tell yo the most exciting bit! a branch brok off from a tree in the copse next to the arena... happily we weren't right next to it, but clearly that could have been really hairy. she bounced a bit.. but neither of us could see it, so fine! she was a bit dubious about going down that side but eventually settled...

another ride...

after 1/2 hour trooping round the field trying to catch her! she and the other adult mare have a competition going to see who can be closest to the nearly 3 year old baby - who's an ID cross bigger than either of them by about a hand, ATM! so it got a bit dodgy, and a bit tedious. and the sun had got out so the flies were killing...

hope some of the other mares come back from stud soon, i think this could be a bit dodgy!

then, had to wash her bum... the light wasn't good enough yesterday anywhere to see anything, but in the sunshine today it was clear she'd had a major season...euch.

then out for a ride with other owner on her large wide pony .. her saddle slipped, she had to get off at harbour house (well, before we got there) to sort it out, i had to get off as molly had a one on as alan (the pony) wasn't following her...so had to have a hand to get back on .. then back. found a new way i hadn't know about to avoid the ford.....but needs all cutting down, very high grass (above our toes!)

and a barbecue tonight ... sun had gone in by the time we'd eaten!

guess what i found?

that's right, the phone i lost last friday... doh. I have a tyre in the stable into which goes Molly's feed dish... it had fallen into that, inside the rim, and clearly i therefore didn't hear it fall .. and it was the last place i thought to look. I found it because i actually picked the tyre up to muck out the stable...

Anyway, lunged Molly. She's becoming a nightmare to get the bit into her mouth...managed it eventually, but it was a bit of a struggle...due the tooth person end of july, appointment already made, but she gets checked every 6 so i can't see how anything too bad can have gone wrong in that time..

anyway, once we got that in, she worked very nicely, I was pleased with her. Tried some canter, but that's not so clever .. surface a bit too deep in places.

can see her muscles working in the right places!

and she'd been in since 10.30 - i got a text at 1 asking if i wanted her turned out again! i said not, since i would then have struggled to get her back in again, but hadn't known she wasin ... chap with the other 2 mares obviously came down early today! i could have gone down then as well had i known...ah well.

molly the leader!!!

only once, through the ford on the way back, but i was still pretty impressed!

friend now keeping her horse on my yard came up to ride out, and as I was unexpectedly free I went ....when she first texted me i thought i wouldn't be free but i was ... and it was raining! but molly had already been brought in before it started (the owner of the other 2 mares having brought both his in!) so was dry ... so off we went, me being visible for miles around in my bright yellow riding mac!

along the road, down the back drive, through the ford, through a couple of gates (tash had to wrestle with those!) through harbour house, down the hill, round the 20 acre, back through the ford up the track and back along the road to the arena for 10 minutes....

friend's horse came out of training about 2 months ago .... good as gold, save he'd never met water before... so 5 minutes thinking about that one and he went through first.. on the way back, i managed to get molly past him, she gave half a thought to not going through but did and gave him a lead (he was stil a bit dubious!).

the yellow mac came into it's own when we were nearly back, big wagon behind us that was half thinking about passing us on a blind bend where we knew he couldn't but he didn't.... and we were turning right .. so I put my hand out to show him that he couldn't and that we were turning, and he slowed right up and hung back till we had turned!

edited to add: i needed wipers on my glasses though... it were a bit damp!

diagonals

what is is, on right rein Molly wants me to be on the wrong diagonal....that doesn't help

got on first time, which pleased me as we've been a bit dubious about mounting since the saddle slipping incident!

walk was nice.

trot left was ok, got direction i wanted as well and some nice circles..

right rein ...tranter ... boot on ....very iffy ... as soon as i put myself on the correct diagonal she dislikes that...mmmm to work on.

the other good thing .. first time for a good while she didn't argue about me picking her back feet up!

more trot...

we can't accuse molly of not being forward anymore, she's certainly that...

but what we've found is, we have to let her trot on at her pace with no contact at all to speak of and then let her slow herself down.

trying to keep a contact for her to work into results in the impossible to sit to tranter sort of thing (canter in front, trot behind, nightmare..)

and jean you were right, we are co-operating in putting me on one side....but which sides depends on which way we are going!

anyway it was a good lesson, and molly worked so hard i had to hose her off....that doesn't happen often!

i still have a bit of a thing in my head about canter though...

not quite so good...

but at least not as muggy as yesterday, just nicely hot with a nice breeze where needed!

went over to the arena and someone had just finished setting jumps up ... so i got on (decided to get some assistance since it was there to be had!) and walk/trot round the jumps. couldn't get down outside track, circles either end with a diagonal one way and a dog leg the other way down the length. she was setting her jaw and i couldn't get her to soften...but at least she was happy to be forward again!

friend turned up about 2 hours later than she said she would .. she'd forgot her hat! so was read a lecture on the subject. since she had got on, i said we'll just walk up to the riding school and back, which was good for her confidence as well as last time she was on that particular horse she was off again ...

and i lent her richard hinrichs book & video on inhand work, as she hadn't known what i meant by that...

!!!! TROT !!!!!

first time since when? about a month before I left Leamside?

Granted it wasn't the best trot on this earth, but considering teh grief we've been having getting it at all!

I reckon all this massage must have something to do with it ...

but anyway, i was quite pleased with her!

not quite so pleased with me .. when i took the saddle off, it was clear from the sweat pattern that i'm weighting the left seatbone too much (or the right one not enough, whichever way you want to look at it!) so will have RI look at that - probably wednesday it'll be now. Saw her tonight .. what a chapter of disasters, hope i don't lose any more phones (although as i said to someone tonight, it did mean i couldn't be rung up and nagged as to when i was coming home!)

the trouble with having no mobile....

is that if RI did text me i didn't, of course, get it; and didn't have her number as it is on the missing phone, which i hadn't synchronised with PC recently....and ALSO i'd misremembered which venue she was competing at today, so no wonder i couldn't find her either! doh.

so molly got turned out again not long after 5, having been in since just after 12, well hacked off, and hopefully RI and I can touch base soon...

it didn't rain, either...

flaming june....

it rained, of course... from when i got to the yard about 2.15 till now and it still is....pah. soaked through, of course.

happily got molly in just before it got really heavy ... and she was in for about 3 hours... stood her in a different box round in the enclosed yard, which apparently might come free September (there's some confusion); will contact YM and check it out, as i think she'll settle better .. she seemed to this afternoon .. could see all happening in the yard and didn't have the distraction of a field to look at

got massaged, and i tried some flexions again but she wasn't having it...

turned her and her friend out in a downpour and i'll have to get them both in tomorrow as the 3rd mare is in tonight and will be at a show tomorrow...

and no sign of the phone. of course, what i'd forgotten when ringing virgin mobile this morning and them suspending it, was that suspending it meant that it couldn't be found by ringing it up... doh. no sign of it, and i even dug out the area of the muck heap where i'd dumped my barrowload yesterday... and it won't be in the middle of the field as the horses were at the gate yesterday, so i looked round there and no sign.. and it wasn't on the track down to the field... so that's that. it either got dropped outside the post office and i shall check that on monday in case someone handed it in (certainly wasn't on the road outside the PO!) or it landed in the river! i've a feeling it's history and may as well be replaced...of course, i didn't have it insured, so not sure how that works on the contract!

lost my phone....

half way through seeing to miss molly .. probably after her massage... i realised i didn't have my mobile phone (cell phone for american readers...)i felt sure i'd brought it out with me ... but hoped not. anyway, jsut got home and rung myself and it is neither in the car nor the house. drat. so need to borrow someone else's (find partner's work mobile, if nothing else!) and take it out to the yard and ring myself there...

and molly?

whilst the massage was doing its thing, i spent 10 minutes trying to persuader her that the stable is a good place to pay attention to me. not that successfully, i have to say .. the attractions of looking outside are more vital... never mind, it's too late to swop boxes now, i think...

after that tacked up for longlining with the bitless, so did 5 minutes rope circling and such first, and she was paying full attention to me and even went backwards with very little pressure (just a twirl of the leather bit on the end of the rope).

longlining was good, she wasn't wholly keen on going right in trot, but happy to in walk so we played with transitions, and also serpentining in walk up and down the arena, interspersed with trot circles..

she does work nicely on the longlines in the bitless. i think the reason it don't work bitted is that she's not that confident about the bit and sets against it more, which she's pretty much stopped doing ridden (hope that's not famous last words!)

early bird....

woke up and thought it was 7.30 ... only just realised i misread watch (through not having glasses on ) and it's only 5.30 ... but not tired and have a very bad back....i'm going to regret this tonight, i think!

ggrrrhhh ... at the weather!

plan was, ride molly, then come home and get the laundry in off the line and mow the lawn, which is starting to look like a hayfield (should have been dry enough by then).

Got Molly in and did her 1/2 hour massage, tacked up, led over to the arena... big black cloud starting chucking rain at us time i got her back to the stable it was pretty wet....

so turned her out (did think about trying to do some clicker/in hand in the stable, but she still isn't paying attention to me in there)

time i got home, through a major rainstorm..... sun has come out. pah. washing is soaked again and lawn too wet to mow.

and i've realised that a major distraction when she's in the stable is that she can hear people going down the hill calling for their horses so she's looking to see who/what is coming in!

perhaps this was the wrong stable to pick.... ah well, too late now.

it rained...

from about 945 until about 6.15 pm .... solidly and largely torrentially ... so by the time i got to the yard i had my shopping in the boot. plan, to muck out from her time in yesterday, feed her at the field gate and go home again.

most of the way through mucking out it managed to stop rainig, but since i had a soaking wet horse i carried on with the plan..

and of course it dried up more as i came home and hasn't rained since!

jean, you're right, it was that horse... but it's lame again tonight in another leg, and is going back whence it came.... it also, apparently, reared up, and was so terrified being without molly, molly had to be taken round to it's stable to say hello...?

so molly back in the original field with the other mares, and youngster being picked up tonight to go away ...

the forecast is for dry tomorrow, i do hope so as i washed all my breeches when i came home and want them on the line in the morning to be dry for tomorrow night!

time off

from anything is never good.

i reminded myself why i'd stopped doing flexions....molly won't stand still, won't stand square, and (in this stable) insists on looking out of the window....

at previous yard she wasn't quite so insistent on that but clearly wasn't quite square which was why she moved forward into me.

until she settles more and is happy in her current stable, i won't be able to do any flexions at all in there... pointless doing them in teh arena, too much space

then when i went to the arena to get on ... had to go back to teh stable for the pressure halter and a rope! she did in due course agree to stand still whilst i got on. she wasn't ansty about it, or stressed, just insisted on moving off!

after that we got nice walk in both directions and circles and round someone lunging her new horse

tonight she's out in another huge field with a new mare (well, mare that was here, hurt itself and has been elsewhere getting better and is now out with molly separate from the other 2 mares...) hope they're ok.

thunder then cue rain...

so no work done at all with molly ... didn't even bring her in, as there were only 2 out and i would have had to bring both of them and in any event she'd have had to stand for a good while to get dry before i could have put the massage pad on ... and it's still raining now 1 1/2 hours later.

i could hear it coming and knew what it was going to do, but couldn't go out as i had people to ring...and had to be in for the bread being ready as well! ah well! hopefully it'll be better tomorrow night

well that was good

a reprise of the work we did with Jenny last July, Emma was trained by Jenny. Steph and I were just spectating (i was videoing, and really thought afterwards I should have been right next to each one separately, rather than trying to get the whole scene and zooming in ...) but eventually i'll have something to send them all.

the downwards flexion and the lateral ...

and then some ridden work in the afternoon...which was interesting...

one lovely 3 year old shire did really well in teh morning, was the star of the show (had only just had a bit in , usually ridden bitless!) but poor lad was knackered by the afternoon!

and a gorgeous black 6 year old, absolutely to die for...struck a pose that was EXACTLY like one of those sketches from Fillis!

and we were really lucky with the weather.. one thunderstorm passed over whilst we were having lunch and then stood over edinburgh south of us for the rest of the afternoon but left us dry

course, had to drive through it coming south, it was horrible! and out the other side.. coming down to newcastle there was ahuge cloud over there and durham, but it cleared away ahead of me.

i'm afraid i spent some more money as well. new ariat bromonts that fit, at an astoundingly low price (very surprised, that vendor usually prices a shade over the odds!)

so must sell the ones that don't fit!

in scotland

at stephanie's today, going to a flexions clinic tomorrow... because partner's away for the week i thought i'll have the weekend! pics tomorrow probably when i get home! went down as i set off to make sure molly still had 4 legs etc, and hopefully will get back before dark to see her tomorrow night....

20 minutes

although i did wonder after the 3rd attempt to get on whether it was going to happen .. which it did after the 4th. i think we were both a bit dubious after monday's events!

still mostly nice and soft, i slightly went into trying too hard mode which is something to be avoided....and pushed her through her attempt to stop after 10!

had remembered my mp3 player so listened to hank marvin and the shadows, and niether of us were distracted by the bouncing lambs!

and of course she was more than happy with her massage... the machine does an automatic 30 minutes and then switches itself off.

bramham

was good, apart from getting there a bit earlier than we needed. had been told that friends class was 0830, and we didn't get there until about 0915... it turned out the class was in fact at 1030! um....

anyway, apart from one shower, we had a good weather day (we'd all gone with an assortment of foot and outerwear) and i came home with

1. a new pair of ariat springboks in black, at a reduced "show special" price.

2. an oster grooming kit at a VERY good price! (to be posted, should arrive Tuesday, they're paying the postage!). i've wanted one of those for a long time but the usual price is just a bit pricey to justify ....this price was good.

3. an equilibrium massage pad AND magnet therapy pad, all for the price of the massage pad....i didn't go looking for the magnet therapy pad, but since they were offering it in and it retails @ £90, that was a bit of of a no brainer... it's likely to hit ebay...

but without the person i gave a lift down to who is staying at friends for the weekend and will be back monday..

so whilst the bank account has taken a hit, it's all in a good cause and the back man did insist i massage molly every day ....i'll charge the battery tomorrow after partner has set off for her week away, LOL...

10 minutes

but it was a good 10 minutes - no grief on mounting, no setting of the jaw, lots of softness and, so far as i could feel, back legs coming through, direction as i requested after a couple of false starts (pheasant hiding in long grass, horse's tail swishing behind a tree, that's all you could see, and a very odd looking van through the trees!) ... generally very pleased with that, particularly as I was totally starving not having had lunch....normally starving makes me feel queasy!

so i was quite pleased with both of us (and yes, i put the shorter girth on!)

that was after Molly's feet had been attended to by the farrier.

coooold

well, i don't suppose it was really, but I felt really cold (had the heating on this morning) and when i got to the yard it was cold and windy and molly was desperate to be out (had been in for about 3 hours by then...) and i really couldn't feel up to anything ... so i fed her and turned her out, so she was happy! and it's rained a couple of times since i came home again so i don't feel so bad about not doing anything...think i'm having a bit of a blue phase ATM, actually! partner worries about me spending so much time at home on my own, and possibly is right... rejuvenation on thursday, off to bramham horse trials for the day.

not as thin as i thought...

Molly, that is .... or it was because she'd been in for a while already when i got there, but i think she's jsut not put on as much as i thought..

now why do i say that?

i'd done the girth up as much as possible.... the saddle slipped as i got on, i tried to put my other foot back on the moutning block and didn't quite get it right, so iwent backwards, my left foot came out of the stirrup (thank goodness) and molly went bucking round the arena with the saddle on her side as I fell on my back

shorter girth, I think!

got someone to come and help me get back on, as I wanted to get on again sooner rather than later and ensure she hadn't been adversely affected by that.

She was good

phooey.

I've never had that happen before! and so pleased i got the left foot out of the stirrup!

and it makes me wish i'd hung on until the shop had had the slightly taller mounting block in stock ...

better .... in parts

Friend on the yard texted me about going out for a hack, so off we went.... partner working on PC on work work!

Bit of a trying time getting on, and when I did, everything had moved underneath me so the first half of the hack was pretty uncomfortable! shims crook underneath, saddle therefore not square, therefore me not right... got off at harbour house to put it all right, but couldn't get back on again at ordinary mounting block! so led her back to our arena (i do like a walk, not! it was about 15 minutes i think) and got back on from my mounting block no bother at all. and everything felt much more comfortable! Friend's horse had been being a prat as well, turned out she was in season ... sorted ther out and we were both riding different horses! so left the arena and walked up to the next yard again and back round to finish.

so all in all, quite pleased, and next time if stuff slips we put it right again BEFORE going anywhere!

I think i hadn't tightened the girth enough, really...

back on board....

and she was very good.

i did have someone hold her ... since we're not allowed to trot yet and she still has some bruising, i didn't think rope circling was a good idea if she wasn't going to stand!

so she didn't argue the bit once

bear in mind between the arena and the road is a thick copse that you can't see through but can hear everything going past.

we could hear car doors being slammed (car at house next to yard), cyclists shouting to each other as they cycled along, traffic, and she could see the geldings belonging to next yard up moving about.

didnt' get herself distracted by the noises off (although the horses moving about did at first, until she worked out what they were...) and was particularly impressed by the non reaction to voices suddenly being heard out of seemingly nowhere!

only did about 15 minutes, which i thought was about enough

and was pleased it had finally stopped raining! about lunchtime....but we had to put the heating on!

rain rain go away

well it had by 5, when i went down to see molly .. but teemed down from about 0600 until then!

happily, i didn't have to wrestle with the hill in the mud ... they were up by the other drive, so i took the feed dish round in the car and fed her there!

She'd already been in at lunchtime, as it turned out - the owner of the other 2 mares got them all in as he wanted his in to dry out and rug them... had i put a rug on molly, she would have severely overheated (as it was, she was really really warm and toasty! despite the rain).

an i am told that at 0700 or thereabouts this morning she was to be seen standing next to the water trough .. with a young deer! I said, where was the camera LOL

bruising....

as to be expected, nice big bruise on her left quarters near the top....and back man had to watch her as she wasnt' impressed being touched! but settled....got some massagey therapy (electro stimulation sort of thing...)

give her another 2 days, then i can start riding again in walk only, and massage by hand to help reduce the swelling .. and then as she improves see how trot goes...

and given i can't do the exercises he gave me last time, i should, he says, by a massager.... equilibrium one ....

bargain....

curry's was selling printer ink for my printer ... at 97p! that's what the sign said, so i asked the chap on the till to check the price ... 97p! so i had the last 2, and wold have had more had there been more... guess someone made a mistake somewhere in the back office! but if tha't what their system said...

and Molly? when i get her in tomorrow for the back man coming, i shall have to take the pressure halter i think! and finally got hold of the farrier... he hadnt realised the text message i'd sent him was from me.....he does another horse of the same name, and was puzzled me talking about trimming ... so that's next wednesday.

totally o/t

and shamelessly stolen from a post on EE (no doubt taken from elsewhere, LOL):

Julie Andrews Turns 69,


To commemorate her birthday , actress/vocalist, Julie Andrews made a special appearance at Manhattan 's Radio City Music Hall for the benefit of the AARP. One of the musical numbers she performed was 'My Favorite Things' from the legendary movie 'Sound Of Music'. Here are the lyrics she used:



(Sing It!) - If you sing it, its especially funny!!! :D

Botox and nose drops and needles for knitting,
Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,
Bundles of magazines tied up in string,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cadillacs and cataracts, hearing aids and glasses,
Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,
Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the pipes leak, When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.

Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions,
No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,
Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Back pain, confused brains and no need for sinnin',
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin',
And we won't mention our short shrunken frames,
When we remember our favorite things.

When the joints ache, When the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then I remember the great life I've had,
And then I don't feel so bad.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>
(Ms. Andrews received a standing ovation from the crowd
that lasted over four minutes and repeated encores. :D

Thursday

is the day the back man can come....

hopefully i hear from the farrier soon .. spent all last week trying to get through to him but something was going awry with the texting, finally went on Saturday!

I did think about trying to learn to trim her myself, but my back wouldn't hack it... so i shan't!

happily, we're back to 3 mares, new filly (rising 3 year old ID cross, more ID than anything!) turned out this morning!