those days when it's too hot to move...

I was meant to write this last week but well...it escaped my mind, oops! So last Thursday it was BOILING, but me & Emma managed to sneak a ride in when it was cooler. In the morning, we took Sunny down the road for a little jumping session. He hasn't jumped for quite a while, but he was a really good boy! We set up a few small jumps, his favourite was the plank..he wasn't bothered by any  of them at all and you could tell he was really enjoying himself! I had a little jump on him too which was fun...I don't usually jump many ponies other than Sparkie so it's always nice to have  a bit of change and he was awesome! I love Sunny :) Then later on in the evening we went and jumped Sparks...he was a little crazy and bouncy, but I can't be cross with him because he's just funny and it's nice that he's so happy! He jumped everything we put in front of him without even giving it a look...he's super confident at the moment, so happy with him, hope he carries on like this :)

adventuring...

Yesterday was a very exciting day..Jack went on his first proper outing! I have taken him to two shows before, but I guess these don't really count because one of them I hacked too and the other he had a trailer accident...so it was his first proper outing involving the trailer :) I've not personally travelled him since his accident, so it was a really big thing for me...thankyou to my Dad and Emma for not letting me have a breakdown ;) He was a super boy! Wasn't stressed or naughty at all, he was really chilled and took everything in his stride and we had a really lovely hack :)

No excuse for not going places now Jackaline!

getting lost & swapping bits...

The weather is so, so warm at the moment! It's making riding rather difficult as it's the kind of weather where just standing still in the heat takes it out of you, haha! Enjoyable for tans, not quite as enjoyable for working in a kitchen ;) on Wednesday, when it was a bit cooler, I actually managed to ride...first me & Emma went hacking with Sunny. We went a different route than usual, so we didn't really know where we were going, but hey that's the fun of hacking! Had a bit of a hairy moment with some troublesome horses who thought they'd join in our hack, but we worked through it and I didn't spontaneously combust or burst into tears, so s'all good ;) Then we went up to my yard and rode Jack.. I decided to do a bit of swapping with the bits( a bit of swapping, good one eh) because I wanted to put Sparks back in the hanging cheek and decided to give Jack a try in the wilkie just to see if he liked it...he went really well and seemed to settle really nicely with it, so it seems we'll be keeping it-the swap paid off! We both had a little jump on him finish off. He most definitely doesn't have the most natural jump, but he tries really hard and clearly enjoys himself and that's all that matters :) We won't really get started with jumping until next year anyway, so we're just sticking to a few little ones now and again just to introduce the idea!

a little sunny outing..

It was rather warm this weekend! As I had the day off work, me and my Dad took Sparkie up to a small local xc course.. it's more designed for hunter trials than xc really, but it's a nice quiet little course and it was very fun! Obviously didn't do too much as it was stupidly warm, as in you'd break into a sweat just standing still haha, so we left some of the bigger jumps. Still, Sparkie was really, really good, he seems to enjoy xc! Jumped everything I pointed him at without even a look which suprised me as he's usually not an overally confident pony, including some jumps that to me were rather scary..obviously not to Sparkie! Super pleased that he jumped the corner, the tyres and the coffin jump, as he's always struggled to jump wider jumps so usually backs off but he's got a lot better recently..he even pulled me towards the wider part of the corner haha! He usually hates the coffin fence, but he jumped it fine both ways..good pony! Hopefully taking him to a slighter bigger course with a wider range of jumps soon :)

a super duper weekend!

As the title suggests, this weekend was brilliant! (I'm also going to class Monday as the weekend, because hey, why not..) On Saturday I spent the day with Emma. We started off at my yard, the initial plan being to go for a nice hack...well. It was all going pretty well and then another horse appeared and a few stupid drivers and we basically decided that the hacking idea was not going to work out, haha, ah well! We went back to the field and a had a little play in there instead and they were both very good :) Jack had his first ever canter with someone other than me which made me really proud, it's so nice to see him going well for someone else! I'm not going to let many people on him for a while as I don't want to mess him around and it's so easy for hard work to be undone, so just his Aunty Emma for now, but it's still nice to see him being a good boy.
 We then went up to Emma's and took Sundance for a hack..he was amazing! Such a good boy, not phased by very, very scary tractors, open fields, nosey dogs, nosey horses...I think I was more scared of the tractors than him, haha. He's brilliant :)

 

We then went the cinema to watch Despicable Me 2 which was amazing...definately worth a watch guys!

Monday was another brilliant day.. I had to go into sixth form for an hour but then I had the rest of the day of so I decided to walk up the yard and ride both ponies. First it was Sparkie's turn.. he was feeling very fresh and spooky and couldn't possibly go near the muck heap without running backwards/spinning round/having a breakdown, but that's ok, it really doesn't bother me anymore, I just find him funny! He's such a baby still sometimes, silly boy..other than his silly moments he was fab though, he jumped everything I put in front of him, which if I'm honest, suprised me because I'd gone out the way to make the jumps scary..there was a corner jump, a tyre jump and then a skinny which I made by putting two of the sloping blocks together..nope, none of it bothered him, he popped over everything no trouble, just thought it was approriate to take off miles away...typical Sparkie!

Then it was Jack's turn! He schooled lovely, a little bit nappy and still things to work on, but I cannot fault him for his age at the moment, touch wood! He's really starting to slow down and think about what he's doing more, he works really hard :) His canter is definately what I'm most impressed with, his transitions are on point as soon as he's asked and he rarely strikes off on the wrong canter lead (apart from Saturday where he was having a bit of a moment I think, haha!) and he just feels so much more together, yay! Gave him a little jump, which was made very difficult by the fact that Sparkie wanted to follow us or just stand in front of the jump...he got called a few choice words. He's not a natural jumper at all, but he trys so, so hard, I've never known such a genuine little horse, he just wants to please! Hopefully with time he'll get better, but he was very good netherless and jumped about 2ft with the tyres underneath which he didn't even look at.. fab little baby! Obviously won't be doing much jumping with him this year, but it's just makes a nice change for him and he really enjoys it..brakes definately become a bit dodgy haha ;)

Beth, Sparkie, Jack & Carling! xxxx