2014

So I guess 2014 has been pretty cool. As cheesy as it sounds, I would probably go as far as to say it's been the best year of my life. 2013 was an awesome year and I didn't think it could be topped but 2014 has by far exceeded any expectations I could have. Yes, there have been some not so great moments but for once in my life I can easily say that these have been far outweighed by the amazing moments. 
 So where to even start!? 2014 was the year we gained two more ponies to our ever expanding collection of ginger horses; Ron & John. We picked Ron up from the RSPCA in January for the grand price of £100 as a scruffy, very shy 1yo and Lottie got John in May and I think it's fair enough to say that both of them are like different horses from the day they arrived! Ron has definitely had his moments, including a rather spectacular fight with the farrier and given me my first kick in over 10 years of owning horses (who would have thought it would have been by an 11hh worm of a pony with a bad attitude problem!?) but with a bit of attitude readjustment and lots of love and tlc he's now a very friendly, well behaved little guy; just last month he had his first vaccinations with us and behaved like a true gentleman and was also perfect for the farrier, go Ron! For such a little pony he has a huge character and is such a funny little guy, he is very much loved by them all and I am super excited to have another baby pony to work with again eeeh! 

Arriving home! 

Crazy baby! 

Sleepy baby

Hacking with the big boys

Johnathon!

neowwwwm

Ron meets his first cross pole...

bareback with John 

because life is funny 

dayum John

Ron with his fave person ever 

                      As for my two main boys, Sparks and Jack, well I couldn't have asked for more from them. 2014 feels like the year I finally sorted my riding confidence out and had a bit more faith in both in my own ability which I think you can see reflected in the way I ride and the horses way of going. I did have a minor confidence slip with Jack back in June but we just took a step back for a while to find our feet again and we were flying again before long, in fact I feel like he's been going even better since! Sparkie has been an absolute trooper all year round; there has been only one ride where I got off him and wasn't 100% happy with the way he went that I can remember this year and even that looking back now doesn't seem worth making a fuss over. He has been pretty much unbeatable at local level sj this year and finished off the year as 2ft6 overall champion, something I never, ever imagined happening again. Competing has been a very up and down thing for us  over the last couple of years and he went through a patch where we both just hated if and he showed no interest in wanting to jump at all which was not nice to see so to for him to have his mojo back is an incredible feeling and puts the biggest smile on my face. He absolutely loves his job again to the point where his face lights up and his ears go forward at the sight of the trailer. We braved it and had our second ever try at a hunter trial which was a very big deal for me as the last time we tried I had a bad fall which really shook me up so I was incredibly proud of both of us for getting round. We also did the pairs with Emma and Sunny which was super fun and I was super proud of Sunny for behaving so well at his first ever hunter trials. I decided to bite the bullet and take on one of my biggest life goals which is probably one of the highlights of my year; to do an ODE. Yes, we got eliminated sj and I got a bit nervous at times and we didn't have the most flawless dressage test, but the fact that we went and had a go and came out the other side with a big grin after a brilliant, confidence giving xc round makes me so, so happy. At our second ODE, we finished 6th with a double clear and a dressage of 34 (from the pony who bends like a piece of cardboard I will take this and run with it!!) Out XC schooling I started to introduce him to more technical fences which he took to like a duck to water, whatever I threw at him, he did, including overcoming his fear of ditches. He jumped up to 1m10 under saddle and 1m25 loose schooling, hacked like a saint, started to try and understand schooling (although we still have a very long way to go!) and was just in general the most awesome little pony ever. He is my most favourite thing.          

giving me one of the absolute best rides ever around Somerford! 

On his way to winning! 

flying xc! 

doing his most favourite thing; water! 

trying our hand at hunter trials! 

beastie pony 

first ODE!

jumping 1m25!

bitless jumping session

snapping his knees up over 1m10!

sometimes we try dressage

flying home!

rode him tackless and he was perfecto! 

jumping 1m5, onesie style 

one of the best moments of 2014! <3

        Jack; wow. I say a lot that I can't believe the horse he is now is the horse I brought 3 years ago, but then I feel like he's not even the horse he was 6 months ago- watching videos back from the start of 2014 it is absolutely crazy how much he has come on, it's genuinely unreal. Yes, he can be a very difficult horse to work with sometimes especially on the ground as he is certainly a handful and he is still has a very, very long way to go but to ride I cannot fault him. I have never met a horse with such a cracking attitude to his work, he throws his whole heart over a fence and he is willing to try for you no matter what. He went to four shows and a training event, where he had a few genuine baby poles but took to the ring like a pro, cantering around horses confidently on his first ever attempt and came home with a 1st, 2nd, two 3rds and a 5th! He learnt that water is not actually as scary as he first thought, going from having a rearing fit at the thought of dipping his toes in a puddle to jumping in and out of water confidently. He also learnt to tackle ditches, banks, steps and other complicated xc fences, schooling round a BE90 course (popping some of the fences from a trot because he's an absolute loony) and 1m20 single fences xc which I never, ever thought I would jump on any horse ever, well Jack made them feel scaringly easy and didn't really see the big fuss! He loose jumped up to 1m30 (again scaringly easy, we have yet to really find him a suitable challenge!) and I did a chase me Charlie with him up to 1m20. He learnt flying changes although these along with the rest of his schooling still need some fine tuning, but I'm sure we'll get there with time. I know I say this a lot, but I am really very excited to see what he has to offer over the next couple of years, I'd like to think that we are going to stick two  fingers up to all the people who thought he was no good and was only suitable as a happy hacker but we will see. He is a frustrating soul, but his heart is the right place and I always end up forgiving him because I wouldn't be without him even when when he does try to punch me in the face.       

first time XC

baby pony learnt where his feet go!

first time jumping 1m10!

finding 1m30 short work!

second time xc!

first time meeting water with a significant lack of success...

just before he decided to kindly place me on the floor...cheers Jack

coming back from a confidence knock with a bang!

learning that water is actually okay!

we got this now! 

first time meeting proper fences with fillers and water trays... 0 cares given

first play at 'eventing'

flying home for 3rd!

possibly one of my favourite pictures ever 

shasdja'KVF <3 

second ever jumping show!

learning that we can wear rosettes and not have  a paddy

in a moment of madness... 

see we can do water now!

first play at Arena Eventing

  
  For personal reasons I can't say I'm particularly looking forward to 2015 as I know it's going to involve a lot of changing and big decisions, but horse wise I can't wait to get cracking again and see what it brings! I don't really have any set goals for this yet, but if it goes half as well as this year I will be more than happy! By this time next year I'd like to have taken sparkie out eventing a bit more with one of my biggest aims to attempt to survive a BE80, improve both of their flatwork which is always a work in progress, try to work on Jacks loading (wish me luck!!!) and just to continue having fun and working away to bring home the rosettes!!!