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