Field

Sedate Excursions

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Although we have had a fair bit of rain recently it is still possible to canter in my neighbour’s fields without risking slipping over.  On Sunday my sister and I went for a lovely lazy hack and took full advantage of the not too slippy fields.

Some of the electricity poles have recently been replaced so the gateways were hideously churned up but the fields themselves were fine so we had a great time.

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Both ponies behaved very well – Galahad was possibly the most sedate I have ever known him to be in the field.  Hopefully the lesson is getting through and we will have no more taking off!

It did start to rain while we were out but it was that very fine rain which is practically just mist.  Very atmospheric and nice and refreshing!

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Getting to Grips with Gates

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All this wonderful weather we have been having for the past couple of weeks has meant that the fields are drying out nicely.  That is good in itself but it also means that I am able to school again – hurrah!

The very first thing I wanted to work on was our gate opening. We have another trec competition coming up next week and I really want to have improved before that.  Plus, if I work on it then the chances are it won’t come up in the course!

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I wanted to take things slowly so we started by just walking past the gate.  Working on a circle so Galahad’s head was slightly turned away from it definitely helped.  That wasn’t a problem so we moved onto stopping and standing still but still not trying to actually touch the gate.  That took a bit more work as Galahad wanted to swing away from the gate so he was facing it and could see if it tried to attack him!

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From there we progressed to lifting the rope and putting it back again and before long we could open the gate and walk through it – from both directions of course.

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We still can’t close it again but we made huge strides in just one session and I am thrilled with that.

Back to Square One

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Cookster always used to be incredibly nappy when I rode him out alone.  I have been working hard on sorting that and he has come a long way – it has been while since he has tried to turn for home and if I have needed to mount whilst out on a hack he has recently been very good about standing still.  All our arguments about that seemed a thing of the past.

After the incident with the alpacas last week though, he has regressed.  If he thinks we are going anywhere near their field he will try to go home instead.   Mounting whilst out has become problematical again as well.  I feel like I have undone months of hard work just by stopping to take a picture.  We will get back to where we were but it is disheartening.

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On the bright side, Galahad is now once again the easier ride of the two and we have had some lovely hacks this week.  In between the showers of pouring rain the weather has been rather nice and refreshing.

The ponies were wormed this week and so are now in a new field with more grass than they had.  It is very exciting!

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Chilly Riding

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It is pretty cold here at the moment but there are signs that spring is on the way.

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The snowdrops have been out for a couple of weeks but now we are starting to see some primroses and even some brave daffodils.

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Galahad and I had a lovely hack today.   It was very cold but a beautiful day and I took Galahad into my neighbour’s field for the first time this year.  Partly I wanted to see what sort of state the ground was in – some of it was fine, other bits were still very squelchy.  I  also wanted to show Galahad that we don’t always have to canter in the field.  When we started riding in there he learned very quickly that it is a place where we canter and he can be inclined to take off sometimes.

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We kept strictly to walk and went round the whole field.  Galahad behaved much better than I expected – he did walk a lot faster once we had turned the corner back towards home but he didn’t try to take off once.  I was incredibly pleased with him and I think it was definitely worth doing.  I really need to remember not to canter every time we go through the field!

Job Satisfaction

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I am terrible at procrastination.  I seem to have a constant list of small jobs which need doing but something more important comes up and after all they can always be done tomorrow.  Last weekend though I had a free day and made the most of it to get some yard chores done.

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My jumps have been lying in the field for the last few weeks – unusable because the ground is so slippery.  I have been wanting to get them put away – obviously I don’t want them to rot!

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Sorry the picture is so blurry – it doesn’t look it but it was getting dark!

As is almost always the case it turned out to be a much smaller job than I had anticipated and didn’t take long at all.  They are still outside but they are not sitting in the wet any more which is the main thing.  Hopefully I will get around to painting them this winter.

 

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I also managed to get the yard properly cleaned and swept.  I keep it pretty clean anyway but the ponies are always tracking in mud which needs scraping off every so often.  Again,something I have been putting off for a while!

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Lastly I filled the water trough.  Obviously, it always has water in it but if I am in a hurry – and I usually am – I just make sure that there is enough in it to last the day.  It takes quite a long time to fill the whole thing but it does mean it won’t need doing again for a few days.

It is incredible satisfying to get the yard chores done.  Having the afternoon to do them all made me feel like a proper equestrian!

Schooling with an audience

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I thought that the downpour a couple of weeks ago had put paid to any schooling for the rest of the winter.  The fields were certainly very soggy afterwards.  Since then though we have had two dry, frosty weeks which have done wonders for the ground.

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The going is almost perfect now.  Perhaps a little on the soft side but it is lovely to ride on and we had a good schooling session.  Galahad behaved very well and was actually working quite nicely.

The puppy normally comes out with me when I do the ponies and she is now old enough for me to leave her to potter about whilst I school.  I tie her up with a long line outside the field and keep half an eye on her.  It is wonderful to be able to do so.

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Tale of a Tail

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Galahad’s tail is usually pretty pathetic.  He has a gorgeous, thick mane and forelock but his tail – despite being long – is also normally very thin and weedy.

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Funnily enough, I don’t go around photographing his tail. This was the best illustration I could find.

It does improve slowly over time and then disappears again, so much so that people actually ask what I have done to it.  The answer is nothing but I think this could be said to be the culprit.

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Galahad spends a lot of time in fields enclosed by hedges and he likes to eat things from the hedge.  Clearly this means his tail has to be punished!

Ponies by Torchlight

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You may have noticed that winter is almost upon us.  It is pretty cold and the days have suddenly got a lot shorter.  I am having to check the ponies in the dark most evenings now.

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Obviously this was not taken quite in the dark, alough it was pretty dim.  I tried taking a photograph by torchlight and funnily enough it didn’t work!

Galahad is so much better with the torch now.  He used to refuse to come anywhere near it but now I can walk right up to him with the torch shining.  He is quite happy for me to talk to him as well.  He is getting so brave!

Schooling Catch Up

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For one reason or another our schooling has been a bit lax of late.  I have always had a reasonable excuse for not schooling (the builders are here/it’s too windy for Galahad to concentrate on me/the field is too wet…) but I have definitely been feeling a little guilty about it.

Yesterday was pretty windy, the builders were still around (although they had stopped for lunch) and it was raining but I decided enough was enough and Galahad and I marched purposefully into the field.  I was actually pretty impressed with him.  He could have had a bit of a better bend and we had a couple of moments when he tried to nap towards home but in general he did what I asked.  His turns on the forehand even felt amazing, possibly better than ever.  Of course, they may have looked terrible!

We did have one major spook (my entire weight went into one stirrup and it actually felt like we stretched the leather a bit), apparently at nothing.

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I realise there are several potentially scary things in my neighbour’s field but as they have probably been there as long as the pony they seem like a poor excuse.

Overall though, Galahad tried pretty hard and I was pleased with him.

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New Jumps

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It has taken me a while but I finally managed to get our logs moved to a suitable place for jumping.  It was lovely to be able to jump them at last and I did so at the first opportunity.

Galahad was not at all sure about the logs when we first entered the field and didn’t really want to go anywhere near them.  When we did get close he had a very good look at them and from then on we had no problem.  When we got to jumping though he ran out twice.

I  then gave myself a stern talking to.  Galahad has been round a proper cross country course and although we did have a couple of run outs we got round most of it with no trouble.  The only thing stopping him was me and my nerves so I told myself to look up and ride positively.  It worked!

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The next time I rode was with my sister who suggested trying some pairs jumping.  The ponies had never done it before but they took to it really well.

They jumped very nicely together and Cookster was more forward going than usual.     It took a bit more practise to jump our tyres – round a corner – after the logs.  Cookster kept drifting right, pushing us both around instead of over the fence.  We got there in the end though and we had so much fun!

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Not every fence is a dressing fence!