Month: September 2021

Pony Holidays

/ ponydreamer / 2 Comments

This isn’t really a blog post today as I have actually been without the ponies for a week now. I have been woking flat out all week, doing 13 – 14 hour days – plus a couple of hours driving – and just haven’t had time to ride. In fact, I have abandoned the ponies to the care of my instructor. It is very strange not to have them to look after but it was definitely the best decision for me – I am utterly exhausted and the time taken to care for the ponies – and especially ride them – would have been too much for me.

The ponies have been having a great time with the children though – they have taken part in a gymkhana and a one day event and by all accounts are enjoying their time away. Somebody even managed to put 26 plaits into Galahad’s mane which I find hugely impressive. They won’t want to come home – although they do have back checks due tomorrow which may put a damper on things!

Competing Again

/ ponydreamer / 2 Comments

Galahad and I recently took part in another virtual event with Exiefest. We did the utility pony class again and this time had the chance to do a working hunter class as well.

The utility pony class is essentially an obstacle course – a bit like doing trec. We can do that very well but this was not one of our better days. Nothing went especially wrong but Galahad was a bit tense the whole time and we were just not as fluid as usual. I found it particularly hard to put the watering can back down in the right place – it would have been easier just to carry it around with us! In the end we came fifth out of six in that class. My sister had a much better day with Cookster – she came third.

For the working hunter class I decided to push ourselves a bit and do the 65cm plus class. I knew Galahad was more than capable and would probably actually jump better at a higher height. He doesn’t really see the point of tiny fences!

Of course, he flew around the course and made it feel tiny. It felt wonderful and I was so proud of him. We came second in that class – although there was only one other competitor so that’s not quite as good as it sounds!

I had such a great time filming the classes and am very much looking forward to the next one.

Having Fun

/ ponydreamer / Leave a comment

Sometimes it is good to get back to basics and just have a little fun with the ponies. For my sister and I today that meant building some obstacles and playing some gymkhana style games – things like rearranging my dressage letter cones on the top of some jump wings. I had intended to spell the word cake but as I couldn’t find the A I ended up just alphabetising them.

We also did some bending, threw socks in a bucket, walked over a tarpaulin and navigated our way through a maze of poles.

I spent quite some time working on neck reining with Galahad too. It isn’t something we practise often but he isn’t bad at it – at least at walk. Our ability to do it properly decreases as we speed up. Trot is okay but canter definitely needs some work. Having said that, I also played with riding without reins and even at canter that went pretty well – although my steering was somewhat limited. The brakes weren’t bad though.

I had a very fun afternoon and it has reminded me how much I enjoyed playing with the ponies when we first started riding them. I really should do it more often.

Changing Seasons

/ ponydreamer / Leave a comment

Autumn is definitely creeping up on us. I have actually had to turn the tack room light on in the evening a couple of times – it has been a while since that was necessary! I would have liked to turn the stable light on too but the swallows have a second brood in the nest built against the light so that is not currently possible.

The ponies’ winter coats are starting to come through too. They aren’t very fluffy yet but the effect of even that small extra amount of hair is already showing itself. We had a pretty hot day yesterday and Galahad got surprisingly sweaty very quickly as we went over a few jumps. So much so that I cut our schooling session a little shorter than I had planned. We need to go a little bit gently until Galahad is clipped. At least while this warm weather lasts.

Not that we didn’t still have a good ride – and this evening Galahad and I went out for a post work hack which was delightful. In fact, I love autumn – there is something about the crispness of the air in the mornings and evenings which is wonderful. Plus, we will start lighting the woodburner in the evenings – something which always makes me happy, even if it does encourage me to spend more time inside.

I actually spent a fair bit of yesterday indoors anyway though – it was wonderful to be able to watch the five star eventing from Bicton which made for a very exciting couple of days. I have missed having the big events to watch, although I very much enjoyed what I could see of the Paralympcs over the past couple of weeks. Sadly most of the dressage happened whilst I was at work but I watched what I could and I loved it. Now I’m very much looking forward to the next one!