Outings and birthdays and lots of fun things

This blog is a little over due sorry! I apologise if it's a bit lengthy, I have quite a few things to catch you up on... Firstly, Ronald went to his first ever show last Sunday, sqeeeee how exciting!! Sparks went along too as a little mascot and to be a good influence. He was a very good boy, a few baby tantrums here and there but nothing I wouldn't have expected from a 2yo and Emma handled him really well in the ring, so it wasn't anything that we couldn't deal with. He looked super cute and seemed to enjoy his first little outing; many more to come hopefully, well done Won! With a bit of time and work and a lot of elbow grease he has the potential to bring home lots of pretty rossetes (he came 4th out of 4 because his socks were a bit of an off white oops; dem farm life problems.)   

Had a little horsy day with Lottie and Hannah which was super nice as it's been far too long since I saw Hannah and Vics, I missed them guys lots. Jumped Sparkie who was super duper for everyone; think we're starting to really crack skinnies now so here's to hoping we can try and persuade him to jump them xc! Practiced our jump off turns which he aced; He was just generally a super star! Felt so good to be riding Vics again, he's such a fab pony bless him and so reliable, my riding left a lot to be desired as he's quite unfit at the moment and so a bit lazy and I'm used to having to hold a horse back not push them off but he jumped fab and was flying, love him! He's going to be going so awesome when he builds his fitness back up!

 Lottie had a birthday, (congratulations on being alive for so long) so I went up and took some pretty photos of her and John which John thoroughly enjoyed; he is a very willing and easy subject! I haven't taken proper photos in so long and I forgot how much I love it! 

Yesterday was a jumping day for Sunny & Jack. Both were good boys, Jack was very excited to be jumping as I haven't jumped him at home for a couple of months and so we had a couple of bunny hops and rears but he jumped great anyway! He's dropped a lot of weight recently which has been worrying me a lot but hopefully he's starting to put condition back on now and will be back out and about soon enough! 

A little blog for the best pony in the world

So I shall warn you already; this blog is probably going to be a bit cringe worthy and cheesy and a little bit all over the place but it really is very rare that I take a step back and appreciate the little things in life. The first point of this post is that the outdoor season has officially gotten under way! Jack went to Stafford Show on Sunday and was an absolute delight and a pleasure to be around all day. I intended to do the 2ft6 but the classes were running really late and I was on quite a hectic time schedule so dropped him down into the 2ft3 so unfortunately we are yet to really challenge him. He jumped two clears and then just had a couple of lazy poles in the jump off for 6th which is a shame as he would have won his class otherwise! He felt so so much better and flowed so nicely round the course, no pointless flying changes or going disunited! I don't feel like I'm exaggerating by saying he gets better every time out; onwards and upwards I hope, can't really fault his effort at the moment :)

Then Monday was my birthday, happy birthday to me! Me and Lottie took the S Team (Sparkie & Star) to Someford for the farm ride and they literally had the best time, I swear they had more fun than we did they bloody loved it! Sparkie literally flew everything I pointed him at and I just had the best day. Afterwards me and my mum were just talking about what he was like when we first got him and it really got me thinking. Whenever I have a bad day with Jack, or I think about how he's not quite where I want him to be or perhaps he won't load or is an idiot for the vet I need to take a look at Sparkie and remember that he is living proof that hard work pays off. He is honestly the most wonderful pony to work with and be around every day and yes, I know he is my pony and so I am bias and will say that but in my eyes he is perfect, he tries so hard for me and no matter how shit a day I've had, a hug from sparkie or a good bareback gallop makes me feel miles better. It seems crazy to think about what he used to be like, it doesn't even seem like the same pony. Back when I had to pin him against the wall to tack him up, he used to rear and strike out when you bridled him and mounted him, he had to be led in a bridle because he used to plow people over or bronc and rear at the end of the lead rope, he refused point blank to load (the longest being two hours!), he used to bite people and charge at them in the field, bolt as soon as you asked him for canter, try to jump out of show rings to the point where I had to retire him one time because he was a danger to everyone at the show... in no way at all was he suitable for a 12yo and I spent many a time in tears wondering how the hell I was ever going to be able to control this wild pony I'd brought. I never, ever in a million years could have imagined he'd be the way he is now, I mean the fact that we've done two ODE's together last year is absolutely mind blowing to me. He is just a complete and utter star and I am so, so lucky to have him, however it has taken so much hard work to get him there so I guess in a way, I am kind of proud of myself for a change for sticking with him. I'm very sorry for how wordy this is and how cheesy it is but I had to write it down somewhere and I guess I wanted to say this as a little reminder to anyone who maybe isn't having the best patch with their horse at the minute; it is so, so worth the hard work! 

A week of firsts

So after getting our first rosette of the year Wednesday, today it was time for the first xc of the year! Sparkie was bloody awesome, as per usual, I don't really know how to expand on that really. He is so, so good, I love my Princess Sparkie very much. Super duper horses this week, big pats all round!!! (Oh, we jumped the broken bridge which I have wanted to do for ages and ages, yay!) 

Everybody stand back and watch out; we are back ;-) 

First rossete of the year!

What a fab (but super duper long) day yesterday was! Started off the day by going up to see the cow ponies with Maddie and rode Topper. He was a super good boy considering he hasn't been ridden for 3/4 months, he did some lovely work especially in trot and had a little canter up the hill (with a bit of gentle persuasion bless him). We then went on a super speedy trip to robinsons to get a new wheelbarrow as topper kind of sat in the other one and bent it in half Woops. 

Then it was off on a super speedy mission to get to rodbaston on time to compete jack! Basically, my mum finished work at 5 giving us an hour to get up the yard in rush hour traffic, load my knob is a horse who usually has a bit of a paddy over going on the trailer, tack him up, warm up and learn the course. This to me seemed like an impossible mission however someone we managed to get everything in the car, fetch the trailer and have jack loaded in just 15 minutes.... How!!?? He loaded first time which he has NEVER done in the 4 years I've owned him, what a clever baby!! Honestly if he'd been naughty for the rest of the day I wouldn't have minded after that!! We managed to get there just as it started so I quickly walk, trot, cantered both reins, popped a jump and then we were in, so throwing him in at the deep end just a tad bless him. He took it all in his stride though no problem and was super chilled about it at all. I took him in the 1ft6-1ft9 class to start with, which in hindsight was probably a ridiculous idea and a little bit of a waste of money but my confidence has been on an absolute low recently so it was time to go back to baby steps for a night. He sailed round with just 4 faults as he ran over the top off a fence because why bother jumping over a 1ft6 jump that's practically a pole mother god. Then took him in the 2ft3-2ft6 which was still stupidly small for him but he did a nice double clear in 38 seconds despite putting zero effort in at the fences and came 2nd! I was SO surprised to come 2nd, I hadn't gone there with the intention of actually placing and was kind of expecting it to all end in tears so I was sooooo pleased with him! He then loaded first time going back as well even in the dark and travelled perfectly despite never travelling in the dark before, very good little horse! I promise mummy will stop being silly and actually jump some decent fences next time jack so maybe you can put some effort in!! 

It's been a very strange few months but maybe, just maybe, we could be getting our mojo back. 

Crazy ginger pony; back in business!

Today was a very good day (look at me being all positive, high five me, I rock)! All the ponies, apart from Ronaldo obviously, were worked which is always a sign of a successful day. Sunny was a bit quiet and really didn't seem himself on the lunge although he did learn that he can go over poles and they will not kill him despite what he seems to believe. He then promptly proceeded to show us that actually he did feel fine and dandy after all by making a swift exit into the garden at high speed. Oddly enough he perked up significantly after this little adventure... aaah Sundance. 
  Jack did some schooling over a poles exercise in which I set up a makeshift arena with the help of some poles to work on both straight lines and bending. I warmed him up with the draw reins just as a slight helping hand and he went really nice and then took them off for the rest of the session. Walk and canter he is coming on nicely and is where I'd expect him to be, his trot, as always is most definitely a work in progress still, however there was definitely a slight improvement today, even if it was only the tiniest bit of a difference. I was able to ride him on a loose rein in trot and he did quite a bit of stretching and relaxing through his neck which is a massive deal for him! Still a long, long way to go and I guess for anyone who doesn't know him it doesn't make sense that this would be a big deal, but hey ho, it's a positive small step in the right direction. I just need to learn to ride through my seat and legs rather than hanging onto my reins which I hate that I do on him as I don't seem to do it on any other horse, but at least I know what I need to work on, so we can take the positives from today and move forward from this! He also got a new bridle today, eeeh how exciting! A massive thank you to Emma for lending me the money so he didn't miss out on his shiny new, (v, v tiny, pony size) bridle (yes, that's correct my 15.1hh now owns two pony bridles. Kind of embarrassing really). It was a massive bargain, £60 off the original price and it has quite clearly never been used, it doesn't even look like it's been tried on for size, oh Jack you are a jammy bugger! 

he's a handsome fella 

more of this please!! 

Then to finish off with a had a jump on Sparkie pony who had been waiting, not necessarily patiently, all day to have his turn and had helped me set up poles and jumps for everyone else but him, so when was it going to be his turn please and thank you!!!??? The last time I jumped him at home properly was in December, so it has been a while and I didn't realise just how much we both missed it. He was bloody awesome (he always is). However I am clearly very out of practice at sitting to his crazy strides (notice how I specifically placed ground poles closer to the jump? Yeh Sparkie didn't either). Is he the best thing since sliced bread because I very well think he could be... 

I apologise profusely pony

bloody nutter

we can jump skinnies we can!! little pro!!