Hacking

Autumnal Riding

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We have been  having some glorious weather over the past few day.  There is still an autumnal chill in the air but it has been beautifully sunny.  The crisp air is gorgeous to ride in and everything seems so peaceful.

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We have managed to enjoy several hacks and have reacquainted ourselves with the sheep who have moved back in to the field up the lane.  They appear to be fascinated by us!

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We had a shorter hack the other day and had a play over the jumps when we got back.  This time I took care to do some circling and transitions first just to make sure Galahad was listening to me and the jumping was in a much better rhythm as a result.  He was also jumping the new tyre jump without a second thought so I will be filling in the gap a bit next time.  I am going to need more tyres soon!

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Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

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Hasn’t it got cold suddenly!  A few days ago I was riding in a t-shirt, then September started and someone realised it should be autumn so turned the temperature down.  Now I need my coat.  Until I start grooming/mucking out/riding and it doesn’t seem cold at all!

It is gorgeous when I go out to the ponies in the mornings.  The valley is full of mist but the sky is usually blue above and everything is beautiful.

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It certainly makes the early mornings less painful!

September also means that the hedges up the hill have been cut so I don’t have to get wet riding.20150903_193316

If it has been raining the grass in the middle gets slippery and Galahad does not enjoy it on that slope (who can blame him?).  He walked carefully to the side which meant that all the wet bracken could reach out and get me.  It got me nearly as wet as the rain itself would have done.

The blackberries are ripening now and there is something very nostalgic about picking them as I ride.  When I was little one of my favourite things was eating blackberries on hacks.DSCN3495

Autumn is definitely here but I am loving it!

Light Thickens

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I really need to get a move on in the evenings.  I mentioned that a week or two ago but it has suddenly got more urgent.  Term has just restarted which means that a) I have less evenings free when I can ride and b) If I am free my sister isn’t so I have two ponies to deal with.  I don’t get home until just after seven and if I let myself get distracted – as I did last night – it can be eight o’clock before I am in the saddle.  It doesn’t help when I bring Galahad in from the field looking like this.

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Horses always know when you are in a hurry!

I had to cut the riding a bit short but both ponies had a good session.  They were listening from the start which was most welcome given the time constraints.  It was pretty dark by the time we finished, although not as dark as the picture suggests – I only had my phone on me and it couldn’t cope with the bright sky and darker landscape.

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Today I did much better and was onto the second pony before eight.  The good news is that it is still light enough to hack out both of them.  In general I prefer to school one and hack the other which is better from a light point of view too – less light is needed for schooling than hacking!  Today though I had two lovely evening hacks which ended my day perfectly.

What a difference a day makes!

What a difference a day makes!

Galloping Galahad!

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It was finally dry enough for me to be able to get some schooling in over the weekend.  Galahad can still take a while to start listening properly but once he is listening he does try hard.  We even did a little jumping which excited him very much.  It is definitely his favourite thing to do.  I would love to take him cross country jumping so now he is happy jumping tyres laid flat I have started introducing upright ones as well.20150830_160415

We are just jumping the pole in the middle at the moment.  It took him by surprise the first time he saw it and he slid to a stop but after that he popped over it happily.  I will fill in the gap soon so we are actually jumping the tyres themselves.

I also schooled my sister’s pony on Saturday.  He is completely different to ride and is a pony of extremes.  It is either a struggle to get him moving forward or he is nice and forward but with dodgy brakes and steering. Saturday was a dodgy brakes day!  We still had quite a good session though and jumped a few jumps.  He is really good for my riding as he forces me to use my legs not my hands and I always feel I have learnt something when I finish riding him.

Yesterday Galahad and I rode out with my sister and we braved the hay bales in the field up the hill.  They are apparently safe enough to ride past now, although they still have to be closely watched.  We had a couple of proper gallops again but this time Galahad went where I was intending and stopped when I wanted.  He is clearly a lot fitter than he was a few months ago as he can now canter the whole way up hills where he couldn’t before.  It is something that seems to have happened all of a sudden without me noticing!  It’s rather gratifying – we must be doing something right!

It is still raining…

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So far this week it has rained.  A lot.  There is no chance of schooling or anything else in the field at the moment – it is far too slippery.  We are doing a lot of hacking.  Which is lovely, plus it has to be hillwork here so Galahad should be keeping nice and fit at least.

We are also getting the opportunity to perfect our puddle splashing technique.  Galahad has never been overly fond of puddles and will normally bend every which way to avoid them.  It is funny though – he will happily walk through a stream.  Most of the time.

'Are you sure this is safe?'

‘Are you sure this is safe?’

The nights are definitely drawing in.  My summertime routine of coming home, having a cup of tea and a chat, wandering out to ride the pony(ies) and still having plenty of light afterwards is not really feasible any more.  On the bright side the stable looks ever so cosy with the light on.DSCN3523

Also, having to rush the riding a little bit has meant I have finally strung up Galahad’s rosettes.  Such a proud moment!DSCN3500

Speedy Pony!

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This has been a fun week for Galahad.  We don’t have any shows lined up in the near future so we have been having a bit of a play.  We had a go at some gymkhana games which can be tricky as things like flags are often scary.  Just how scary varies day to day.  We haven’t played games for a few months now so Galahad needed building up to the real scary stuff.  I got a very bad grip on a pair of socks and dropped them.  They hit one of his forelegs and he took off across the field.  Still a lot of work to be done!

Jumping is something Galahad really does like though.  He is always keen to jump and touch wood seems to run out a lot less now.  He has been such a good teacher for me.  Looking down has always been a bit of a weakness of mine but I found that if I looked down at the jump he almost always ran out.  That gave me an incredible incentive to look up!

Yes that pole is going flying. It was the only jump he knocked down but the best photograph by far!

Yes that pole is going flying. It was the only jump he knocked down but the best photograph by far!

Our hacks have been pretty wet, over the weekend especially.  It turns out that my waterproof trousers are now not so much waterproof and more just trousers!  In one of our dry spells we went up to have a canter in the exciting galloping field only to find that it had sprouted scary round things. 20150820_181927

After a careful look we decided perhaps they were safe. 20150820_191404

I didn’t ride him round them though as he felt pretty wound up and I was by myself so thought I’d be sensible.  The next field hadn’t been cut so we had a nice canter round that.  At least, that was the plan.  He started the first canter with his head well down which always unnerves me as I remember his bucking very well!  The next canter started better but I could feel him wanting to go and as we got round the corner he took off and properly galloped up the hill.  I don’t think we’ve ever been so fast!  I almost left it at that but decided to try the last canter.   Before we had even got down the hill Galahad was ready and he galloped across it then round in a nice curve.  That was enough and we went home.  Without someone to watch me it seemed a bad idea to have an argument with him when he was so wound up.

All in all it has been an exciting few days.  This evening is much calmer – I rode before work so am now catching up on the European showjumping.  I will miss having the Europeans to watch every day!

Fairytale Riding

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On Saturday my sister and I went for an early morning ride.  The valley was still full of mist but as we climbed the hill it got thinner and thinner and it was obvious that we would be in sunshine before long.  There were loads of cobwebs looking absolutely beautiful.20150808_080002

This is me breaking all the rules to take my photograph!

This is me breaking all the rules to take my photograph!

Once we were above the mist the sun was actually rather hot and the view over the valley was spectacular.

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We had a lovely gallop over the fields.  Galahad was rather keen and inclined to cut corners so there was a fair bit of circling on my part.  He wasn’t actually out of control, just enjoying himself very much!

By the time we made our way back down the mist was more or less gone but there was just enough left for these magical rays.

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Galahad has added a new trick to his repertoire.  Apparently fly masks are worn over one ear this year.20150811_194137

You wouldn’t think it was only a couple of months old would you?  He does like to destroy it!

Galahad’s First Boots!

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This has been a very exciting week for me.  As Galahad is an Exmoor he needs very little stuff – no rugs or anything.  This is a shame because I love buying horsey things.  However, since we have started going to a couple of shows it seems like an excellent excuse to do some shopping!  Hence – Galahad’s first boots.

Sorry the video is rather short, my camera ran out of battery.  He was surprisingly unfazed by them.  I also bought him a tail bandage.  Unfortunately I needed it at rather short notice for our show last week and the only colour left was bright pink:DSCN3445

In the end it didn’t come in time and I did consider returning it in favour of a blue or green one but as I would have to pay the return postage which would be more than the cost of the thing itself it didn’t seem worth it.  Galahad is going to be one snazzy pony!

In other news, we are able to gallop on our neighbour’s fields again, hurrah!  We have a lovely wide path to play with, although Galahad still thinks that sometimes it is fun to swerve into the long stuff.  My boots get filled up with grass seeds!20150803_135954

Beautiful Fields!

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My schooling field is looking very pretty at the moment.  Just look at all the clover!20150720_210123

In all that sea of white there is a little patch of pink making me very happy.20150720_210311

Galahad is schooling very nicely at the moment.  He usually takes a while to settle before he starts really listening properly but this week he has been good right from the start.  Hopefully that is something which will continue.

Today though we went out for a hack.  When we got to the top of the hill we made a very exciting discovery:DSCN3412

Our neighbour’s fields are being cut for hay!  Hopefully it will mean that a) the flies will be less bothersome and b) we will soon be able to go in the fields for a gallop!  Both ponies saw the open gate and thought it looked very inviting.  They took some persuading that going into the field right now would not be an acceptable thing to do!

Lazy Days

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Things have been a bit quiet pony wise this week.  My riding time was severely limited but we did manage a couple of nice lazy hacks.

We have been having a bit of a play with liberty training which I love doing.  We are not very advanced – things like bowing are difficult for Galahad as they require a lot of trust.  We have fun playing though.DSCN3406

I moonlight selling vintage books at the odd book fair.  I spent today at a fair and was very excited to pick up a couple of new pony books which I am so looking forward to reading!  I read a LOT and obviously I love horses so I am always looking for more pony books, especially vintage ones.DSCN3411