Welcome to my blog about horsey life in the North East - the good bits, bad bits, endless coffees and plenty of mud!

Thursday 27 September 2012

Blurgh



Woody Allen once said: "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."
 
The observant among you will notice that my last blog post was optimistically named 'Goals, Goals, Goals'
 
And then all was quiet, until now, when I have finally found a minute to update the story.
 
About two days after I wrote that blog post, Cady had some great physio done by Emily Bewsey, who you may remember treated Harvey.
 
I cannot recommend her enough. Cady was an impatient stampy-footed sod all the way through but Emily was undeterred.
 
And then two days after that Cady got kicked to kingdom come all around her back legs and two chunks bitten out of her tail. Obviously there was some catastrophic fall out in the field and let's face it, we all know who will have started it.
 
She's since been in her own field for a week, wearing a very thick rug to keep the rain and wind out, while growing fluffy and feral.
 
Tonight I'm going to attempt to get her out of the field while she no doubt demonstrates the manners of a wild mustang.
 
I have visions of her landing on top of me and my legs sticking out like the Wicked Witch of the East's...

Wish me luck, ha ha ! 

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Goals, goals, goals!



Do you ever get caught in this thought process as a horse owner?
 
"I'll be really happy when my horse can jump a grid well."
"I'll be really happy when we can hack out on our own."
"I'll enjoy owning this horse when he/she loads easily."
 
I do. I feel impatient when I think about where Cady is in her education. If I dwell on it long enough and hard enough I can really spoil things by thinking about where we should be and what we should be doing.
 
Impatience is good for pushing you forward, but it can also take the shine off the present day by making you feel dissatisfied.
 
I feel like we're improving,  it just doesn't seem it when I think about what my friends do with their horses. Progress doesn't seem to come quickly for us, but I wonder if everyone feels like that?
 
Rather than get het up about it I've decided to lay out some goals to work towards.





Short term:
 
1. Practice loading and travelling Cady short distances
2. Lots of cantering while out hacking (our rockiest pace)
3. Ride three times a week over the winter
 
Long term:
 
1. Go on a pleasure ride
2. Do some cross country schooling
3. Go on a riding holiday with Cady
 
AND - Most important goal of all - practice being grateful for every day I have a healthy horse I can go and spend time with.
 
Now all I have to do is get my head down and work hard, while chanting: "Rome wasn't built in a day...Rome wasn't built in a day!"
 
* I'm getting organised this year so Cady is having an MOT. On Friday Joanne Forster came to adjust her saddle and we've got some physio and massage booked in.
 
This way I still have a bit of time to re- save up some money for Christmas presents!