the never ending hack

So last Wednesday Sunny & Dusty went on the longest hack of all time! Like legit, the longest hack Jack has ever done in his life lol. From our yard we can hack up to this huuuuuge woodland area with loads of bridle paths and logs and water and ditches and fun stuff to play in, you just have to hack along the road for a little bit, but luckily the majority of the drivers are quite sensible as people hack down there quite often. Well. I think it was definitely one of those where I didn't know whether the tears (which did NOT actually happen just fyi. At least not in the open. Just in my head. Many times.) where of joy or tears of terror. Probably an equal mix of both. When we first set off, I kept making Dusty slow down and walk a bit behind Sunny and then stop and wait and so I thought, hey, maybe we're getting somewhere with this stopping thing, this could turn out to be a fabulous hack. Yep. Never speak to soon. In all fairness, he has only hacked along the road a handful of times, and he was a star with all the scary things that went past; lorries, trains, horses running round etc- not a problem! Sunny was so good to lead him past them all without a care in the world :) The only problem we did have was standing still. Appaz when you are asked to stand still this is code for 'please be a major dickweed' and you then have to promptly throw yourself around, whether that be vertically on two feet or down on the floor, whatever takes your fancy at that exact moment. When we got to the woods, there was a little ditch on the common area which we jumped over. Sunny loves ditches and jumped it first time no problem (despite his saddle hanging halfway off haha... always check your girth ;) ) but Dusty was a little hesitant. Completely my fault because ditches freak me out so, so much.. I think because Sparkie has always hated them and they look freaking huge on a 13.3hh pony I've just got it into my head that they are super scary, so I was not helping him at all, poor baby, giving very mixed signals! Silly Beth. He did jump it after a bit or persuasion though and once he'd jumped it once he popped over it fine from a trot and a canter, kinda just like "Mum, plz stop being silly, I got this." We went into the woods for a little bit, when he was fab for all the walking parts but a complete arse for all the standing still parts, lol, but hey, I never lost my confidence enough that I had to get off him and I never felt out of control of him, so until that moment comes I'm happy to just deal with him. Really hoping this is just a phase as I'd rather he didn't go every where on two legs! Going to start introducing a command for when he goes up, as I started trying this on that hack and he seemed to be grasping the difference between 'up' and 'stand', so maybe that will work.. I'm sure we'll crack it soon :) Despite being a bit of a tit most of the way, he hacked back lovely and then we had an amazing gallop through the fields on the way home.. didn't know he had it in him to go so fast haha! Both boys were so well mannered, galloping along side each other and then coming straight back when asked and not being fizzy and jogging afterwards- they both went straight back to walking on the buckle end home! So, all was forgiven :)

first XC jump right!? ;)

Pony snuggles and hacking the little ones.

I have two days to write about here! Yesterday we went up to the yard and just spent a good hour and a bit snuggling the ponies and just having a bit of fun with them which is always nice. I don't feel like many people actually take the time to just go and play ponies, more people should because it's super fun! At one point I managed to get onto Dusty off of Sparkie... pretty sure you shouldn't be able to do that to a 4 yo in an open field. Then Sunny, Dusty and Sparkie were following each other while the field whilst we were just chilling bareback..again, something that probably shouldn't happen, but hey, that's Team Ginger in a nut shell. We also managed to catch Ron- breakthrough!

 

Then today we took Sparkie & Ron for a little hack which was so much fun! We took Sparkie for a gallop in one of the fields along the bridle path and he was amazing, he's like shit of a shovel haha, crazy little ginger! His brakes were so good though, he was never silly or strong which is a first for him, well done Sparks. At one point when Emma was galloping she lost her stirrups. She was also able to wave to me. Feel this proves the brakes point. He's such a fun little pony, I love him so much :) Twins turn to hack tomorrow!

look at his mane! his MANE

 

2013 goals!?

So I was just taking a browse through my 2013 blogs (I wrote 54. How? What? When? and I thought I was crap at this blogging stuff!) and in one of the January ones I found a post I'd made about my goals for 2013. Firstly... EXCUSE ME!? I honestly have no memory of writing these and ever thinking this was a good idea, lol, I was pretty sure my only goal was to have fun but appaz not! So I didn't really spend 2013 working on these goals as I didn't remember they existed haha, but lets see if I did them anyway... here goes!
* to teach at least one of my horses to be ridden tackless. 
I made a good attempt on this! I can ride Sparkie tackless in a small fenced of area in walk, trot and canter. Maybe one day I will teach Jack to do this as he's more sensible haha, but I definitely did quite a bit of tackless shenanigans with Sparkie moo.
* to ride on the beach
Unfortunately not, however this will DEFINITELY be achieved this year!
* to go XC
Nailed that shit. Three times. High five to me.
* to get Sparkie's confidence back up...sigh
Oh. Kind of nailed that as well. Hello 2010 Sparkie, you have been missed, welcome to 2014.
* to go to a show again
I went to 7 shows. Goal= achieved. 7 shows ending up with three 1sts, a 3rd and a 4th. Well played 2013.
* to take Jack to a show!
Well I definitely did this. I like the fact that the success of said show was not mentioned in the goal, just the actual going to the show, so I still managed. Even if my horse lay down and reared up a lot. Yep.
* to take Jack on a hack (it rhymes, how fancy)
Clearly I should of took A level English. Achieved quite a few times!
* hunter trials/ODE/hunting (I will probably die doing one of these)
Not achieved. However probably wisely as I correctly stated, I most likely would die. Oh Sparkie.

So that's 6 out of 8 goals- that I didn't even know I had! Yay for secret goals and big yays for 2013!

New Pony! ( + hacking adventures)

We got a new pony! I'm a bit late blogging about this, but on Saturday me and Emma went to collect our new pony Ron Weasley from the RSPCA :) He's a rising 2 year old, currently standing at 11.2hh, obviously ginger and a Welsh Section B. He's a lovely little pony, can already see so much potential in him- he moves better than all three of the others put together which is embarrassing for them haha, better get practicing your moves guys ;) Going to be such a little cracker when he's older!

With the field being boggy and wet at the minute, we're just hacking ever which is super for getting all the boys fit and teaching them important life lessons. Yesterday it was the twins (Sunny & Dusty) turn to go hacking. They were both fab to tack up and then hacked lovely along what was a new route for both of them, taking it in turn to lead and walking down lots of hills (which is a huge challenge if you're 4 or 5 just FYI.) Dusty did have one moment where I let Sunny go in front and then kept making him stand still and wait by himself; he really struggles standing still and gets very impatient and just generally throws himself about all the over the place whether that by up in the air or on the floor, so it's something I really need to work on. He was still very naughty and stroppy, but until he gets to the point where he scares me I'm willing to put up with him; he's definitely getting better each time I hack him out so hopefully we'll crack it one day :) Had a lovely canter with them both side by side, so happy that he comes back to me so well in a mahoosive field! Oh, and did I mention, all of this happened in onesies? Why not eh.

Then today it was the turn of the littler two; riding Sparkie and Ron in hand obviously! They were also both really fab, it was a really lovely hack, which is a sentence I never imagined coming out of my mouth lol, as I've always swore I hated hacking! Hopefully lots more days like today to come!

 

 

2014; Bring it on.

Am I allowed to call 2014 awesome 2 days in? Yesterday was my Dad's birthday so we went for a meal with all the family which was nice. Then today the first ride of 2014 happened. First Sparkie & Jack had their feetsies done, Jack was a bit fidgety but probably the bets he's been yet, he'll get there. Sparkie was also a bit fidgety because he's.. he's an arse. He will not get there. But he's cute, so there. After that me and Emma took Sunny & Jack for a hack.. I'm not sure if I'm more proud of the horses or us!!?? They definitely tested us and had a few moments but we just rode through it and dealt with everything no problems... puddles (Jack led Sunny through a puddle... WHAT!?), tractors, plastic flapping, horses running at them from both sides (Sunny was super brave and led Jack past them even though this usually upsets him!), sheep running alongside them, they both stood perfectly to be mounted from the ground (how did I get on jack from the ground? I can't even get his bloody saddle on nowadays) just aaaah so many scary things and they were honestly so, so brilliant! They had a canter in a huuuuuge field side by side and didn't fizz up or get excited..in fact they did the opposite, they both just wished to be walking instead, how old do they think they are!? Super, super baby ponies. Well played 2014, keep up the good work.