Clipping, hacking & fun rides!

As it is now Autumn (not winter contrary to popular belief apparently) it's now time for the ponies to get naked so the last few weeks have consisted of a lot of clipping. My mum clipped Sunny & Jack because... well they weren't making life easy for us let's say and it was a very long process, but they are at least now both clipped! Safe enough to say Jack shall not be getting clipped again me thinks, haha! I clipped Sparkie myself and he was really good for me, even let me do his legs and face! Don't think I did that bad a job for my first time either :) All clipping done for now! Last Saturday me and Emma both schooled Jack and he was a good boy, but his canter work seems to have gone down hill a little bit at the minute and I'm really not happy at all with the way I ride him right now, so I'm taking a step back and doing some more groundwork-lunging, long reining and some hacking etc- and getting some lessons before I can do any more damage. Then on Thursday we took Sundance for a hack- he was also very good, he's so much fun to hack! He has a new bit in now and he seems to go well in it :)

Then this Sunday I took Sparkie to a fun ride! I've only ever been on one fun ride before and it was a lot different to this one, where you were only allowed to walk and trot...not the case on Sunday! I've never done anything like it before and neither has Sparkie, so obviously he was super excited and quite strong... he certainly can shift when he wants to! He absolutely loved it and we spent most of time in a flat out gallop- he just wanted to race all the other horses! We jumped a few of the fences they had as well, including some proper hunter type fences where you jumped from one field to the next-they were his favourite! He was white with sweat when we came back...mmmmm, tack cleaning time for me now. Also, as we'd gone through some water one of his boots had slipped without me noticing and rubbed his foot slightly :( poor Sparkie! He wasn't lame with it though, just a bit sore and it clearly wasn't bothering him the way he was racing around... well deserved week off for him now :)
Beth, Sparkie, Jack & Carling :) xx

This or That Tag...

Here we go...seeing as I have like 2 followers lol, if anyone wants to do this go ahead, I'm not planning to tag anyone!

Appaloosa or Coloured: Appaloosa, I find some coloureds really ugly and some beautiful but I love all Appys!
Palomino or Buckskin: Palomino, although I like both..I love unique coloured horses
Bay or Chestnut: Bay, who even likes chestnuts omg seriously
Star or Stripe: Star
 Mare or Gelding: Gelding, purely because I've only ever had one mare
Quarter Horses or Arabians: Arab, so pretty!
Fjord or Haflinger: aaah tough again, but probably Fjord, I find them both cute but much too cobby and table top like for me
Clydesdale or Percheron: meh, Clydesdale
Thoroughbred or Warmblood: Thoroughbreds hands down, I'm such a thoroughbred person! I grew up around TBs, and if I ever got another horses I'd probably look at an OTTB
Connemara or Welsh D: Connemara, I like some Welsh Ds but I just don't find they suit me personally, to much pony for too little person
Cross Country or Hunting:  Cross country as I've never been hunting!
Working Hunter or Show Jumping: Show Jumping as I've never done Working Hunter
Dressage or Cross Country: Cross Country
Local or Affiliated Shows: local, wish I could say affiliated but I'm not good enough lol
One Day or Weekend Shows: Weekend shows are so fun, I love it!
Pessoa or Bates: Pessoa
Flash or Grackle: grackle
Polo Wraps or Boots: depends what I'm doing, on a general basis boots because they're not as piddly to put on Wraps or Travel Boots: neither...Am I a bad person?
Square Pads or Numnah: Square pads
Standing or Running Martingale: Running, don't really understand standing martingales
Caldene or Dublin: Caldene (like I can afford it lol)
Traditional or Technical Fabric Jackets: like both
Field Boots or Dress Boots: what is the difference!? lol
Black Jacket or Navy Jacket: meh, I have a navy jacket, I love tweed jackets though or royal blue jackets
Spurs or no Spurs: either or, not fussed, sometimes I wear spurs, sometimes I don't, I find them really useful for Sparkie sometimes as he's quite whip shy, but then my leg position is pretty shite so I probs shouldn't even wear spurs but... #abuse
Crop or no Crop: generally no crop, but if I'm hacking I will always take a crop
Charles Owen or GPA: oooooh...I love GPAs but I doubt they'd suit me so Charles Owen

I really need a new laptop

Blogging is very difficult for me at the moment hence the lack of blogs :( my laptop has well and truelly packed in on me, which obvious and the blogger website makes it freeze and crash... I do have my phone, but autocorrect makes that a very slow process...aah fun! I do have a new laptop on order so hopefully once that's here I'll be able to write more often! The ponies have had a quiet few weeks just hacking and long reining...they've both had quite a busy summer, so it's been nice for them to have a chill before the winter season starts up :) I've also been ill for the past few weeks which hasn't made riding very fun, but on Monday I managed to drag myself up the yard somehow and exercise both of the gingers...first was Jacks turn. First off he learnt to walk over the tarpaulin. Obviously he was quite hesitant to begin with and kept threatening to rear haha, good job I just find him amusing! With a bit of persuasion and a lot of treats he did get the hang of it though, I was happy with him especially as it was very windy! I then loose jumped him, because he's worked super hard lately and been schooling really nice and he absolutely loves loose jumping so it was a nice reward for him. Apart from sizing up the fence and trotting into everything (little monkeys not scared of the lunge whip!), he was brilliant, still amazed how much his jumping technique has improved. I put the jump up a little and he definitely shocked me... He trotted into it as laid back as always and then a stride out he suddenly pinged it from nowhere- his front feet were up by his ears haha, honestly wish I'd got a picture, it was hilarious! He ended up jumping 2ft6 which is such a big deal for Jack the non jumping horse...I do hope he doesn't jump all bigger fences like that, I am not feeling spending my life clinging around his neck haha. I also rode Sparkie after he was a very good boy and worked nicely :)

Scope Blog 4- Completing my Summer Aim!

On the Wednesday, we went up to Eland Lodge (Me & Sparkie, Emma & Sundance). You might remember (I'm writing this as if people actually read my blog, el oh el) that we had planned to go up to Eland before but it got rained off :( It was my one aim for the summer to take Sparkie up there so I was really determined to go and it was such a good day! Sunny was, well, a 5yo, I think Emma did so well with him, I would have been on the floor so many times! He really enjoyed himself though and his jumping has come on so much, it's clear he has so much potential, he just needs to settle down :) Sparkie was probably the best he's ever been xc schooling, he jumped some fences I never thought he'd go over! He got really quite upset over a few steps up and down with a ditch underneath, but I'm really ok with that because he's never seen anything like that before and he was honestly really confused and probably felt a little bit overfaced, and he jumped down and up them eventually.. some of the fences he jumped were actually on the BE100 course, which is pretty amazing when you consider he's only 13.3hh, he's such a fantastic little pony, I'm so lucky to have him! I think the thing I was most proud of him was that he didn't try to take off with me or bolt like he usually does xc (he got a bit nappy and tried to pee off with me about the ditches, but that was from actualy fear, not just "bye, we're off for a gallop now and I will deposit you in a hedge on the way) and I felt in control of him at all times... seriously considering doing a few hunter trials with him next year!

Scope Blog 3- Even Sparkie does schooling sometimes

So on the third day, we quickly went up to scope in the morning to make a few purchases (Emma brought some boots) and I brought some red polo wraps for Sparkie... and, obviously, our most important purchases of the day were our personalised saddle cloths! It took us AGES to find a red saddle cloth in Sparkie's size, which may have been somewhat due to the fact that all the sizes were in German! After some lunch we went up to my yard, and, too Sparkie's horror, we schooled (it would have been rude not to with new polo wraps, come on Sparkie!). Sparkie probably only gets schooled like once a month, he mainly just hacks and jumps once a week, sometimes twice a week because, well, he feels it is not necessary for him, thankyou very much. He looked super duper cute in his polos, his legs are so tiny they just kept going round and round, haha! Emma rode Sparkie and I rode Jack and they both schooled very well... I was very proud of the fact that Sparkie did actually put some effort in and try his hardest, haha, bless him. He's actually really good at all the schooling exercises, such as figures of eights, serpentines etc, he just feels working correctly is beneath him and trot work is pointless and you must go everywhere in either walk or canter or gallop. Jack was really good too, *touch wood* he hasn't been nappy or rushed in his trot work at all recently, good boy Jack! I decided to try and have a go at walk to canter with him as a bit of fun, not expecting him to really get it, but he completely suprised me and picked it up so quickly! Not the most perfect transitions, but for a first attempt he was pretty darn good, he's such a quick learner. Before we cooled down, we took them both for a gallop... or at least Sparkie went for a gallop, Jack went for a slightly more extended canter than usual with the odd gallop stride here and there, haha, oh Jack!

Scope Blog 2- lots of hacking!

Monday of scope week was a very busy day- we managed to exercise 5 horses! First of was a group hack at Emma's with Sunny, Trevor and Lysie. Now Trevor lives with Sunny and he hasn't been ridden for quite a while and so you would expect him to be a bit naughty right!? Not Trevor! I would say he's a cute little horse, but well, he's a bit of a tank, not little.. he's kind of square, I was very surprised my legs managed to get round him tbh, bless him. We had such a fun hack, all the horses were so well behaved, I think they enjoyed their hack as much as we did, especially Sundance who was rather amazed at the fact he had not one, but two friends to hack with. Had so much fun riding Trevor, he's awesome! When we got back, me and Emma both had a sit on Lysie, which was pretty funny, she's adorable (and apperantely the correct size of pony for me, awks)

We then went up to my yard and went on yet another hack! Emma took Carling, which was nice for him, as he doesn't get to go out very often (it was only his third time being ridden since we moved, haha) and I took Jack. They were both so good, I was so pleased with how Jack behaved, his hacking has come on loads, his confidence is slowly growing and I think Carling is a really good influence on him, as he just takes everything in his stride.

 

Emma had not got paid yet that day, so we only did a bit of window shopping and made a note of a few things we'd like (I brought Jack a breatplate so he now looks like a proper growed up horse, eep!) and then we watched the indoor jumping for a bit. A very busy, very productive day! (We also managed to get all the poo picking done...think we deserve an award tbh!)