So much shannanigans

Got a few days to blog about here so please bare with and be prepared for a lengthy read.

                                              Saturday;
On Saturday I quickly popped up the yard for a few hours to give Jack a school. He was good to walk in and tack up and groom. The ground was even dry enough for polos, so I polo wrapped him up which he was really good for, especially considering as it was really windy and they were blowing about everywhere. The last person to ride him had been Lottie so my stirrups were at her length. I decided to leave them there because they didn't feel overly long for me and I always put my stirrups up too short anyway. I think it actually made a difference because I feel my heel was a lot better and I rode him a lot better than last time I schooled him. He went really nicely :)

 

 

Sunday;

Sunday was such a good day! First we went up to Aston with Maddie to pay Topper a visit. I haven't seen him since he's been clipped and he looks so freaking cute. He doesn't even have a beard!! First we all rode him in the rubber school and he was really good and then we took him into the sand school to jump. I love jumping Topper purely because I find him so funny. He's never jumped a water tray before and I took him over it, which he found pretty scary, he was certainly not touching that one. I jumped him 2ft9, which is the reason I find him so funny... most jumps he just trots past like 'hmm, no thanks' but anything above 2ft6 he flys no problem first time! Oh Topps, you crazy cob.

 

Then it was up to our yard so Maddie could meet Ron! He was surprisingly quite fussy to her (for him) and happy to make friends. I had a little play schooling Sunny, who was such a good boy! I was so proud of him! Now I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to schooling, so fair play to him for putting up with me. We just worked on doing lots of walk, trot, walk, trot transitions and then trying to bend a little on the left rein. We also did loads of canter transitions. The first few goes I had to give him a little tap, but he soon got the idea and was going as soon as I put my outside leg on, even on his bad rein! His canter is so much more balanced nowadays, it's getting there slowly! He was such a fab boy, well done Mr Sundance :)

 

Then Sunday night I went down to Manchester to see Jake Bugg (Again, I know) which was amazing. Clearly the reason I am single is because I am hopelessly waiting for him to fall in love with me so we can run away together and sing songs and live happily ever after. Yep.

 

Monday;

Monday I was at work experience all day (on 5 hours sleep. Ew.) But, it now stays dark until 6 (WUT!? HELLO SPRING!) so we went up the yard after and had a play bareback in the sun :) First was Sparkie & Sunny's turn, they were both super cute and jumped lovely, finishing on about 2ft3 (much to Sparkie's disgust. Higher next time Sir Pone, I'm sorry.) We had so much fun and it was genuinely the best I've ever seen Sunny jump! Now one of my goals for this year was to gallop bareback, however I had planned to do this in the summer. I was umming and aahing whether to give it a go or not, so I thought I'd just go the end of the field and canter up and push him into a gallop if I felt confident. Well, Sparkie was not feeling cantering up the field and took it upon his own accord to see I completed my goal. Not sure if happy or terrified. But we did it! I also gave Jack a quick jump bareback. He's jump better before, he kept running out, but watching the videos back I feel it was because he was jumping over the pole in front of the jump (it's a pole mate, not a jump) which was putting his striding off for the next fence, silly hoss. He wasn't awful though and actually jumped really nicely over the fences he did do. Think I'll be sticking up some V poles next time, just so he doesn't get into a habit of running out. I tried to take him for a gallop after, but he did the worlds most slow gallop, it was pretty much slow motion lol. Oh Jack. Maybe I just stick to galloping him bareback instead of Sparkie.

 

 



My life is awesome.

Because it just is.
Yesterday was such a fun, lovely day! We had another horsey day with Lottie and I completed one of my 2014 goals!!!! EEH! (We shall get to that later.) Well when we got there, it was so nice and sunny (In February!?) that I decided to take Jack's rug off for a bit which he enjoyed :) Ron was also enjoying the sunny weather and decided to lie down to chill out for a bit, which was super duper adorable. Everyone had a little snuggle with him and he genuinely could not After snuggles, we went off for a huge ginger hack with Sparkie, Sunny & Lysie. They were all fantastic! Sparkie was his usual speed demon self, he's just fabulous. Him & Sunny had a few races which Sparkie thoroughly enjoyed as he won very easily every time (He does not like to lose. Nuh uh.) I was kindly allowed to have a gallop on Lysie which was so much fun; please can I have her? She is an appropriate size for me after all. Lottie had a gallop on Sunny too and he looked after her really well, they looked really good together!  Everyone had a go on every pony and all behaved and everyone had fun. Best hack ever?

Looking ok on an 11.2hh. Cool.

Sparkie, don't think you needed to try so hard.

I love him so, so much.

Then after a short lunch break (McDonalds ftw! Did not eat two chicken nuggets share boxes...yeh, we did), it was time to jump Jack! He was soooo good, just for everything, grooming, tacking up, just everything. He warmed up really nicely and then just jumped everything super casually first time, no big deal. I'd set one jump up with a plank underneath and a pole on top which was 2ft6, the biggest he's ever jumped and he just jumped this as a warm up jump, no problemo! So I decided to stick it up to 2ft9. One of my goals for this year was to jump Jack up to 2ft9 and we did! His new record! He find it so easy and after he'd cantered it and jumped it a few times he decided to be super cocky and just trot over all the fences. It wasn't like he was being naughty or lazy, it was just like he was saying 'please, that's only 2ft9, I do not need to canter over that, I could walk it if I wished'. He genuinely thinks he is the best showjumper to ever exist. Interested to see how high he can go one day! After Lottie & Emma had a play on him, I took his saddle off and had a play bareback, which was pretty hilarious as he decided he would just take me over random jumps of his own accord. At one point he actually full on jumped out of a WALK. What!? Honestly never known a horse who loves jumping so much!

2ft9? Ok, can do.

Why is he a Thoroughbred these days!?

Was that really needed?

 

Then today it was the turn of Sparkie & Sunny to jump! Emma decided to try Sunny in the bitless bridle. For his first time bitless he was pretty good, but he obviously prefers his bit better so we'll stick to that for the moment. He did some lovely canter transitions today, even on his bad rein. He got the wrong leg a couple of times, but changed himself over beautifully when he did. His canter is so much more balanced, he looked so good to watch! Sparkie was absolutely incredible, he felt so good. His striding was a tad crazy in places, I genuinely do not understand how he manages to clear the fences from two strides out but he never fails to amaze me. Clearly I was feeling very brave today because I just kept putting the jump up and up until it was 1m and he still flew it! He could definitely have gone higher, can't wait to see what he's like when the grounds better! I do love my adorable little moo pony.

mmm toast

toast plz

Yep.

 

 

 

Productive weekend!

Well I've been rather busy this weekend! Yesterday the weather was a bit damp and gross, but I was determined to get things done none the less. All four horses came in for a full works; head to toe groom, feet picked out, mane and tails sprayed and brushed out (If you had seen the state of their muddy tails, you would understand how impressive this is. Also feet. Their feathers were disgusting!) They were all very good boys, they all had their moments (apart from Sparkie who was just his adorable self as per) but nothing I couldn't deal with and they all redeemed themselves very quickly! I only managed to pick out on of Ron's hooves as he's a bit funny about that at the minute, but with a bit of perseverance and stern words he let me run my hands down all his legs; well done Ron!

This rug is 6ft3. Help.

Appaz we can take our self in nowadays.

 

Then today the weather was so so nice! I felt like it was summer all of a sudden! First was Sparkie's turn, I brought him in, groomed him, tacked him up and then it was time for a hack. Had a lovely little stroll out with him, only a short hack about half an hour long, we were just having a chill, mostly walking and the odd trot here and there. He was fab, on the buckle end the whole way, was so nice to just spend some time having a peaceful, sunny, laid back ride with my favourite little pony :) Then Jack's turn for a little schooling session. I was in a bit of a rush to get finished, so I just gave him a quick groom. I picked up his first foot and saw that his feet were really clean, so I was just going to leave them... well I went to get the dandy brush and turned around to see Jack standing there waving his back foot in the air and looking at me as if I'd gone mad. He was all like 'excuse me, you missed my other feet!?'. So I then had to pick up all his feet in the correct order, even though they were all fine, just to keep him happy (He legit picked them all up one by one of his own accord. Clearly he knows the score.) He was then the BEST he's ever been to be sprayed, he stood so still and didn't fidget one bit! He stood nicely to let me mount him from the ground so I could ride him down the lane to the other gate of the field rather than taking him through all the mud. On the way down, we did lots of practicing of walk, stop, walk, stop and he was so polite and responsive! Got him into the field and then realised I had a bit of an issue..without being on the concrete I wasn't tall enough to mount from the ground. Yep. Cool. Used one of the jumping blocks as a mounting block and he stood lovely again and didn't move off until I'd done my stirrups and girth and told him he could. He hasn't schooled since December last year, so he was a little bit rusty and wobbly in places. His canter transitions were a little bit out of practice the first few attempts, but by the second time asking he went straight off my leg onto the correct leg, and did some lovely canter work, including a few 20 metre circles and even 10 metre circles... so hopefully it won't take much work to get them back up to scratch! He was rushing a little bit here and there, but nothing stupid and when I sat up and held him together properly and tried a bit harder he went really nicely and was starting to use himself nicely. Not bad for his first schooling session of the year! Even if he'd schooled awfully, I was super impressed with how well mannered and sensible he was being on the ground :)

Jack. That is not how you wear rugs.

 

We did some jumping!

Jumping, jumping, jumping! Had a few sunny days and some decent ground, so we decided to give our new jumps a spin. Also, after wanting one for a good year, I finally went out and brought a Micklem bridle so it was time to test that out as well! It fit Jack perfectly and he seemed comfortable in it :) Friday, it was the twins turn to do jumping. They were both so well behaved and jumped lovely! I was so, so pleased with Dusty for jumping all the fillers and planks first time... he's never seen anything like that before, what a fab baby pony he is!

Then today it was the turn of Sparkie & Sunny (Sunny only popped a few just so he could try the micklem out too. He seemed so much more settled in it!) Sparkie was really good, also jumped everything first time... I realise he is not a baby haha, but he gets very upset about new jumps sometimes. He was very good :) Him & Sunny did some synchronised jumping which was kind of freaking adorable..they were so good at matching each other!