New additions to Team Ginger and super duper ponies!

Sorry I haven't blogged in so long but not much has been a'happening the last month up until the last few weeks when I have been super busy, so I know have loads to write about! Firstly I'd like to say I now have two new additions to add to the Team Ginger collection- my new baby bunnies, Tris and Prim (any book fangirls out there, this one's for you ;-) ). So now onto last week...
 So many things happened! On Tuesday I had a little play with Sparkie bareback and he was fab as usual and then I jumped Jack- every time I jump him I still cannot get over the improvement in him, he is honestly like a different horse, he is such a good boy! We finished off around just under 2ft6(not that heights matter AT all) I just wanted to challenge him a bit as he now finds smaller jumps easy. He had a bit of a moment when I backed off as I wasn't completely sure of myself, but once he'd popped it once he flew it no problem and was taking me into it full of confidence and really enjoying himself :) I also went to see the amazing Mr Jake Bugg that night, who just for the record was AMAZING! Seeing him again in February and also seeing the support act The Family Rain again in a couple of weeks- any music fans, I seriously suggest you check them both out :) I also went to see Bastille on Sunday who were also pretty awesome (everyone needs a Dan Smith in their life, he's just too much adorable)

Then on Monday it was time for a ginger day! First it was Sunny's turn- well didn't he just try his absolute hardest! He's been doing a lot of pessoa work lately and it's so clear that it's made a difference- he feels so much more powerful and is pushing from behind and bringing his back up so much more. He even had to deal with cows being herded down the road, which is very exciting, but he was such a good boy- well done Sunny :)

 

 

 

 

Then it was up to my yard (after a Mcdonalds stop duh) to ride my ponies. They were also both really good boys, Sparkie jumped brilliantly- at one point I sat back and didn't push him enough into a face, and being his usual dishonest self he did put a dirty stop in, but he came back round and jumped it brilliantly which is such a big thing for him as this time last year I would probably have had to just take him and give up and after that, I think it really shows how much his confidence has come on this year. I think he's finally (thank god, it's about bloody time Sparks!!) growing up! Jack was also a good boy, he is so, so much better at the ground at the minute, definitely think he's starting to mature just hope he keeps up. Now his ground manners are pretty much sorted, I just need to get his schooling up to scratch, but we're definitely starting to fit all the pieces together I think :) However, I will be getting him a grackle bridle as he is getting a bit of a menace for crossing his jaw and evading the bit (his teeth etc are fine promise, he'd just rather not hold his own weight up if there's a chance you could haha!)

 

 

Beth, Sparkie, Jack & Carling :) xxx

 

 

grown up ponies, jumping and ginger hacks!

well don't I have a lot to write about!? Firstly I'll talk about Wednesday when me and Emma jumped Sparkie. He was such a fab little boy, as per, gahh he's the best! He hadn't jumped in a while but he was really good, not strong or silly :)

 I'm not sure if I mentioned this last time, but Jack is on a sort of bootcamp at the minute which we shall address as 'learning that we are 4 not 1 and sometimes you have to grow up and be a big boy and realise life is not all that hard' basically. This mainly consists of hacking and lunging in my 'home made' pessoa to try and make him all muscly and balanced and just generally not represent an overgrown hairy giraffe foal. He's such a quick learner, which I've always known, but he's really proved himself the last week- this is how we schooled after three lunging sessions:

I lunged him for 5 minutes on each rein before this and then I decided to just bite the bullet and get on him. This was quite a big deal because I have lost a ton of confidence with him recently and wasn't overly keen to ride him, I will happily admit we've had a few tears over the past few weeks! I'm so glad I did though, because he went really lovely for me, he tried SO hard! He obviously didn't school like the whole session, but as soon as I sorted my riding out and concentrated harder on my position, he responded so well and worked lovely- so proud of him! Just got to keep working at it now, but definitely feeling a lot more positive(until the next confidence crisis haha)

Then on Sunday, we were meant to be taking Sparkie out jumping but I got the dates wrong (I'm blonde ok) so instead I took him up to Emma's for a hack! It was all very fun, we had a lovely hack and all the ponies were well behaved, Sparkie was so calm and even lead past a tractor...clever moo moo!

 

 

 

Home made pessoa

As I am, as always, behind, I have two days to write about! So firstly, I was off all day Monday so after going car shopping for my Dad, I went up the yard and took Sparkie on a nice long hack (about two hours!) To get to any of the decent hacking near me, you have a few main roads to go down which sucks, but hey ho... Sparkie was a very good boy and wasn't bothered by the huge lorries that were zooming past on a 60mph road, I was very impressed with him :) We got to the first bridle path and had a little canter down there but then halfway along we found it was blocked off- very annoying! People have been going into the woods and fields instead of sticking to the path which is probably why it's been done. So that put an end to that idea, so we turned around and went back and went to a bridle path a bit further up. He was a little bit nappy, but the cars were flying around the bends and he was perfect with them so all is forgiven. We got to the other bridle path (after yet another main road!), and it looked like that had been blocked off too as loads of railings had been put up- I almost cried! Luckily I spotted there was a little gate right down the other end of the field, so I just had to go back on myself to get there. It was worth it in the end as there were loads of huge fields that I could just let him go in and he loved it so much- he's such a speed demon, made me feel a little bit sick at some points haha!
 He hacked all the way back great, until we were hacking along the main road and a huge, very loud truck came past us... he turned and bolted flat out down the main road. It was honestly one of the worst experiences of my life, not the best when you're scared of hacking in the first place! He came back to me though and he could easily have killed me so I just gave him a massive hug, had a little cry and then led him the rest of the way home. Scary!
 Later that day I went up to play long reining with Emma & Sunny. Sunny was a very good boy and tried so hard, he looked lovely!
 And now onto today! I ordered a roller on Monday (I think!?) and it arrived today, so today was lunging time for Jack in between the storms. He wasn't sure what to make of the roller to start with but after giving it a good sniff he really surprised me and just let me put it on, which was very grown up of him. I then put the bungee on him as well, just on the last hole and off we went. He lunged the best he has in ages. The last few times I've lunged him he's been a bit naughty, bucking and rearing and refusing to go out from me. Today I decided I wasn't having that, so I took a lunge whip in preparation... all it took was a look at the lunge whip and he was like "Oh, I see, I be good boy if whip is here, you no need whip me". He worked really well, I think his walk is pretty much there now, he tracks up really well and works in a nice shape, although his trot and canter still need some work. It was really interesting to see him working from the ground, it was obvious that on his bad rein he didn't want to bend to the inside, so I tried just shortening the bungee on that one side to really over exaggerate the inside contact and it seemed to help him, so we'll carry on working with that :) I was thinking of getting a pessoa type training aid even though he already works quite well from behind, but I wasn't sure how he'd react and then when I was un tacking him I suddenly had a thought... I got an old pair of reins and attached these to either side of his roller and put this behind his bum.. it made him a little bit upset, but it did the job, haha! Home made pessoa for the win!
Beth, Sparkie, Jack & Carling xxx

Escapee ponies

My mum's horse Carling, who I sometimes write about on here, came in with an abscess early last week and as he's been on box rest him and Barney have moved over to my field. Well yesterday he was looking a bit better and was feeling restless so I let him out into the smaller paddock for a bit of grass and Barney only went and escaped...that's shetlands for you! Jack thought this was the most exciting thing to happen to him ever and his brain pretty much fell out the side of his head, as demonstrated in the following pictures...

Then this morning me and my Dad took Jack for a hack. He was a good boy, a little spooky now and then, but he hasn't hacked for a while and it's still only about his 5th hack so I can't complain :) For some reason I've lost a lot of confidence with him lately, so it was nice to just chill out and have a quiet ride for a change. Really feel like he could be doing better of else where right now, so taking things back to basics and having a few lessons to sort myself out!
Beth, Sparkie, Jack & Carling xxx

 

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

This or That Tag...

Here we go...seeing as I have like 2 followers lol, if anyone wants to do this go ahead, I'm not planning to tag anyone!

Appaloosa or Coloured: Appaloosa, I find some coloureds really ugly and some beautiful but I love all Appys!
Palomino or Buckskin: Palomino, although I like both..I love unique coloured horses
Bay or Chestnut: Bay, who even likes chestnuts omg seriously
Star or Stripe: Star
 Mare or Gelding: Gelding, purely because I've only ever had one mare
Quarter Horses or Arabians: Arab, so pretty!
Fjord or Haflinger: aaah tough again, but probably Fjord, I find them both cute but much too cobby and table top like for me
Clydesdale or Percheron: meh, Clydesdale
Thoroughbred or Warmblood: Thoroughbreds hands down, I'm such a thoroughbred person! I grew up around TBs, and if I ever got another horses I'd probably look at an OTTB
Connemara or Welsh D: Connemara, I like some Welsh Ds but I just don't find they suit me personally, to much pony for too little person
Cross Country or Hunting:  Cross country as I've never been hunting!
Working Hunter or Show Jumping: Show Jumping as I've never done Working Hunter
Dressage or Cross Country: Cross Country
Local or Affiliated Shows: local, wish I could say affiliated but I'm not good enough lol
One Day or Weekend Shows: Weekend shows are so fun, I love it!
Pessoa or Bates: Pessoa
Flash or Grackle: grackle
Polo Wraps or Boots: depends what I'm doing, on a general basis boots because they're not as piddly to put on Wraps or Travel Boots: neither...Am I a bad person?
Square Pads or Numnah: Square pads
Standing or Running Martingale: Running, don't really understand standing martingales
Caldene or Dublin: Caldene (like I can afford it lol)
Traditional or Technical Fabric Jackets: like both
Field Boots or Dress Boots: what is the difference!? lol
Black Jacket or Navy Jacket: meh, I have a navy jacket, I love tweed jackets though or royal blue jackets
Spurs or no Spurs: either or, not fussed, sometimes I wear spurs, sometimes I don't, I find them really useful for Sparkie sometimes as he's quite whip shy, but then my leg position is pretty shite so I probs shouldn't even wear spurs but... #abuse
Crop or no Crop: generally no crop, but if I'm hacking I will always take a crop
Charles Owen or GPA: oooooh...I love GPAs but I doubt they'd suit me so Charles Owen

I really need a new laptop

Blogging is very difficult for me at the moment hence the lack of blogs :( my laptop has well and truelly packed in on me, which obvious and the blogger website makes it freeze and crash... I do have my phone, but autocorrect makes that a very slow process...aah fun! I do have a new laptop on order so hopefully once that's here I'll be able to write more often! The ponies have had a quiet few weeks just hacking and long reining...they've both had quite a busy summer, so it's been nice for them to have a chill before the winter season starts up :) I've also been ill for the past few weeks which hasn't made riding very fun, but on Monday I managed to drag myself up the yard somehow and exercise both of the gingers...first was Jacks turn. First off he learnt to walk over the tarpaulin. Obviously he was quite hesitant to begin with and kept threatening to rear haha, good job I just find him amusing! With a bit of persuasion and a lot of treats he did get the hang of it though, I was happy with him especially as it was very windy! I then loose jumped him, because he's worked super hard lately and been schooling really nice and he absolutely loves loose jumping so it was a nice reward for him. Apart from sizing up the fence and trotting into everything (little monkeys not scared of the lunge whip!), he was brilliant, still amazed how much his jumping technique has improved. I put the jump up a little and he definitely shocked me... He trotted into it as laid back as always and then a stride out he suddenly pinged it from nowhere- his front feet were up by his ears haha, honestly wish I'd got a picture, it was hilarious! He ended up jumping 2ft6 which is such a big deal for Jack the non jumping horse...I do hope he doesn't jump all bigger fences like that, I am not feeling spending my life clinging around his neck haha. I also rode Sparkie after he was a very good boy and worked nicely :)