Author: ponydreamer

Escape!

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Two days ago, when I was calling the ponies in for their dinner, a gate got left open.  It only led into another enclosed paddock so it wasn’t an issue and besides, they wanted their dinner.  They wouldn’t be going away from the stables.

It turns out that fresh grass – greener than the stuff in their current field – is much more interesting than hay or even hard feed.  Both ponies went straight out of the gate and were soon munching away happily.  Sadly the excitement was a bit much for them so they also had to run around a bit.  The thing is, there’s a reason they haven’t been allowed in before to eat all that lovely juicy grass.

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It is on a pretty steep slope which is lovely in the summer but all the rain we have been having lately has made it just a tad slippery.   The ponies are both fine – they are not exactly delicate creatures – but the ground got surprisingly cut up in five minutes.  All gates will be kept firmly shut in future!

Stormy Weather

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I seem to be writing a lot about the weather recently but it has been pretty dramatic.  On Monday we were hit by Storm Imagen with the wind gusting at 45 miles an hour and causing a power cut.  I was obviously at work for most of the day and missed a lot of the excitement.   The power stayed on there with just a few flickers of the lights.  It was very windy around town though, especially when I walked along the river to and from my car.  I had hoped that the wind might dry the fields out a bit but we are still having very heavy showers which are undoing any effect it might have.

Driving wasn’t as bad as I had thought it might be, although a tree in the village had completely snapped in half.  I got home to find that there was still no power so I had to see to the ponies by torchlight.  Galahad has improved immensely when dealing with torches.  He always used to absolutely hate them, which I assumed was because he couldn’t see what was behind them.  It’s a pretty sensible stance to take really.   However,  he does seem to be getting used to them.  He is still wary of them but I can at least catch him when I am holding a torch now and even check him over when he is loose.  It makes things so much simpler!

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The ponies’ colds are still improving.  They are not better yet but they are definitely getting there.  The other day though Galahad sneezed all over my sister’s freshly washed hair.  She was not impressed!

Yet More Rain…

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It has certainly been raining this weekend!  We went out on Saturday morning and when we got back the stream had risen higher than it has for years.  We have a field gate over the stream which we had to fight to open as bits of wood were being swept into it.  We were a bit concerned they would damage the gate!

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I took advantage of the the time when I should have been at the dressage to clean the ponies’ trough and our rainwater tank which is something I have been meaning to do for a while.  I got filthy cleaning the tank and rather wet.  Now I just need to wait for it to refill – which shouldn’t take too long at the moment!

When we got out for our ride we found that the end of the lane had flooded again.  This time however Galahad walked straight through it – I was so pleased with him!  By the time we got back it was already starting to go down and the stream was a bit lower again too.  It is still flowing pretty fast though.

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The good news is that the ponies’ colds definitely seem to be getting better – they got less puffed when we were out and they are coughing less too.  Hopefully they will be over it soon.

Coughs and Colds

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Both of the ponies have developed a cough and runny nose.  It is not really surprising given the weather and they are actually fine but it can’t be very nice for them.  I want to tuck them up in bed with a lemsip!  They however are behaving entirely as normal and getting absolutely covered in mud.

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Our rides have now been reduced to a gentle poddle along the lanes.  I think a bit of exercise is a good thing but we can’t do too much.  I am rather enjoying myself!  I have withdrawn from the dressage at the weekend though.  For one thing, nobody would appreciate me taking a coughing pony to spread his germs!  He is also obviously even less fit than he was and it just wouldn’t be fair to him.  It is a shame but there will be plenty of other things we can do in the future.  Hopefully by then there will be more light, I’ll be able to ride a bit more and Galahad will be rather fitter!

Dressage in a Puddle

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I don’t think I have ever seen the fields so wet.  Every so often we get a rain free day or two and things start to dry out a bit.  I get very optimistic about it and then it starts raining again.  At the moment my schooling field  looks like this.

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It makes schooling a bit difficult.  We have another dressage competition soon and this time I am doing two tests I have never ridden before.   Given that I forgot part of the test I was riding for the first time at the last show I am not too confident about this one!  Obviously trot and canter are out of the question but I have managed to ride through the test at walk which hopefully will be enough.  Galahad doesn’t really like being ridden on slippery ground but once we get started he has been settling fairly well.

I am still only managing to ride a couple of times week but it is definitely getting lighter in the mornings and it shouldn’t be long before I have time to ride before work.  In fact, I am hoping to get a couple of sessions in before our competition just to get Galahad’s fitness up a bit.  Fingers crossed!

Here be Monsters

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As we started up the hill the other day I could see three sheep in the road at the top.  I wasn’t worried – after all, Galahad lives next to a field of sheep.  In reality he was a bit reluctant to head towards them but yielded to persuasion.  When we got a bit closer they jumped into the hedge which I thought would put an end to it.  I was wrong.

Galahad immediately stopped dead and refused to move.  He couldn’t possibly go any further because there were monsters in the hedge.  It took a lot of work to persuade him to carry on and even then he kept stopping – at least until we were almost level with the sheep when we shot past at top speed.

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From then on we had a lovely ride until, coming back down, we met the sheep again followed closely by our neighbours’ car.  We had a bit of impatient twirling which was worse than it should have been because I managed to completely entangle my reins, whip and hands in Galahad’s mane.  We trampled on the neighbours’ grass a bit but luckily didn’t seem to do any damage.  I’m not quite sure how.

Once the car was past it was my turn to follow the sheep.  I didn’t dare trot because we were heading towards a main road and I didn’t want to panic them onto it.  I thought at one point I would be able to overtake them but they shot forward again and I was just debating when to telephone someone to block their access to the road when they jumped back into the hedge.  This time we had no trouble getting past and we very much enjoyed the last few minutes of our ride.

It was certainly an exciting time.  Evidently being accustomed to something doesn’t make it any less scary!

A Saddle Fitting

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Galahad has needed a new saddle for a while now.  My original saddle no longer fitted him after a year of riding had bulked him out a bit so for the past eight months I have been riding in a borrowed saddle which wasn’t ideal.  The main reason for my delay in buying a new one was that I really love leather saddles but it has become obvious that we really need an adjustable one.  A leather adjustable seemed out of my price range but I was a bit reluctant to commit to a synthetic.

However, I finally visited our local saddler just after new year to book a fitting – I did really need the saddle after all.  The saddle he recommended comes in leather or synthetic and although the leather was a bit more than I had been hoping to pay it was less than I had imagined it might be and I knew I would regret it if I didn’t take it.

We had our fitting this week and although Galahad rolled his eyes at the saddler he behaved very well.  He only shied once (whipping right round when I was riding) and was even happy to have the saddle prodded and adjusted when I was on board.

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Test riding the saddle

I have ridden in it twice now and I love it already.  It is wonderful to be back in a leather saddle again.  It is beautiful, very comfortable and it creaks!  Such a lovely sound.

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Winter Wonderland

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For the past few weeks I seem to have been spending a lot of my riding time grooming  instead.  This is the state in which I normally find Galahad these days.

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The ground is just so wet everywhere – we can’t escape the mud!

This morning however it was a different story entirely.  We had a proper hard frost – definitely the coldest it has been this winter – and everything was transformed.  The mud was no longer an issue as I could just walk along on top of it which was lovely.  It was a simply beautiful morning.

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I realise that the cold brings problems of its own but I am always very appreciative of this weather.  It isn’t wet for one thing!  Again – everything looks so lovely it is hard not to feel uplifted.

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Plus, hopefully the ponies won’t get so muddy!

Finding Inner Peace

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Whenever I ride out from here I have to go up a hill.  Which means that at some point we have to walk back down again.  I have discovered that riding at a walk is incredibly soothing.  Providing you aren’t workigng hard at schooling obviously.  Grooming can help in a similar way – it is a good stress relief and the pony benefits too.

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No matter how stressed I am feeling – or how late I know I am going to be because I decided to squeeze in a ride – walking down the hill completely calms me.  It starts to seem almost meditative and I am sure it must be beneficial.  I feel so much better afterwards and I would recommend it to anyone!

Working Hard

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Way back before Christmas when the ponies were away I managed to squeeze in another lesson.  Actually two more – I split my lesson in two and did half on each pony.

This time it was daylight so Galahad was concentrating a bit more and worked really well.  We still have issues with him escaping through his right shoulder but I think it is improving.  My riding and ability to deal with any wobbliness is certainly getting better!  My instructor made the interesting point that Galahad’s trot work is so much freer and looks a lot nicer after he has done some cantering.  Even if it is just halfway round the ring it really makes a difference.   I would have liked to take advantage of this and have a bit of a canter before my walk-trot dressage test but the waterlogged warm up ring made it impossible.  Still, it is good to know for the future.

We also had a jump over what was quite a twisty course my instructor had built.  She was impressed with how Galahad had improved since the summer.  He is now much better able to hold the canter round corners between jumps and the whole course was much more fluid than before.  The jumps were slightly bigger too – this was more of a 2’3″ – 2’6″ course and in the summer we were jumping 2′ – 2’3″.  We even had a pretty decent spread as the last fence – which we probably jumped better than anything else!

in fact, our only trouble was caused by me.  I know that if I look down he is more likely to run out but it can be quite hard for me to act on that.  Something to work on.

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The shorter lesson actually worked out pretty well as Galahad was starting to get tired.  A clip will definitely be in order once I can start working him a bit more consistently.