Quote time

Love this ....


"My treasures do not clink together or glitter; They gleam in the sun and neigh in the night." 

-Arabian Proverb 

Photo by Andy Martin

Moving day and dressage tests

Phew!!! What a busy few days it's been! We got Cady moved on Friday, which sounds a lot more straightforward than it was. She was not keen to load and kicked the box throughout the whole trip so I was relieved when she came down the ramp in one piece, albeit so sweated up that her arrival was in a cloud of Satanic-style steam...

I shoved a wormer down her neck and then it was house arrest for 24 hours which she was thrilled about. The more she box walked and stamped her feet the more my blood pressure rose. Cady is a total attention vampire and I'm sure she was twice as bad whenever I was there as witness.

The next day I was due to help Emma go to her first competition with her gorgeous Highland, Tia. So it was an early start to get Cady and Harvey mucked out and fed with just enough time to give Cad one of those Naf Magic calmer syringes. I hadn't tried them before but it worked a treat and I'm glad I've got a couple left in my grooming kit.


Tia, unlike Cady, travelled like a dream and was a treat all day - not a bit of bother. They rode a really lovely test and the nicest thing for me was seeing Emma grinning all the way round. 

It was a really fun, horsey day and lovely to call in on Cady and Harvey for their evening checks. Having them on the same yard is so much better and I love the layout of the place and the  people.

The next day, finally, it was time for them to go out and let out steam. Which they did in style, galloping up and down like happy lunatics while I breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of sorting out their stables without them breathing down my neck!

In the evening I rode, and despite Cady's 'eyes on stalks' appearance, she was really good and seemed to enjoy herself. Jo Forster is coming to give us a lesson soon so it's all looking rosy. Suddenly I'm feeling a lot better about the madness of owning two horses.

Dentist's chair for Harvey

The last fortnight at the yard has yielded some unforgettably beautiful mornings. 

Thick frosts and fiery sunrises have made me feel glad, for the millionth time, to have the privilege of being a horse owner.

I've also seen two owls already this week, which somehow feels like a good omen.

I've tried to capture the feel of it using my rinky dinky waterproof camera but the results don't do it justice.

Harvey is blooming. He's got a friend in the field, a black pony called Jack, and when Jack is speeding around Harvey literally seems to bounce from the sheer excitement of it all which is funny and heart-melting.

My dentist, Kev Hallett, came to see him on Monday and Harvey loved it.

Kev has dislocated his shoulder so he had another dentist with him called Toby who had a good look in his mouth.

His teeth aren't too bad but need some work which we'll carry out next month, but it seems Harvey is no seven-year-old.

Early teens according to Kev and Toby so we need to organise a few birthday celebrations to get him all caught up!

Harvey really liked Kev and Toby as they made a proper fuss of him and let him frisk them for treats.

It is a pleasure to have professionals on the yard who clearly love horses as much as the owners do. I know Kev keeps his own and he said he thought Harvey would make a lovely dressage horse with work which was lovely to hear.

They stayed and had a good chat and a cup of coffee (kindly provided by my friend Emma, who also joined us. Why does coffee taste so much nicer out of a flask?) and didn't even charge me for call out. Overall it was a very positive, horsey evening.  

http://www.equinedentist4u.co.uk/70143/info.php?p=1&pno=0

First 1,000 hits!

Thank you so much everyone who has had a little look at this blog. I started it in October and have just felt the thrill of my first 1,000 hits - the ideal way to brighten up my Monday morning!

I hope you enjoy what you see here - any feedback or comments would be really lovely. For this year my chief aim is to upgrade my camera so I can illustrate the words a little better.

P.s. The horses had a great weekend - beautiful weather, schooling for Cady and a little walk/exploration with Harvey boy. Perfect.

Cady meet Jo, Jo meet Cady

Here's my friend Jo enjoying her first ride on Cady Monster!

Jo rode her beautifully while I sat on the mounting block bursting with pride at the pair of them.

There was outline going on, hindleg engagement, the whole shebang :) 


Now I am chipping away at Jo to see if she'll impart her knowledge on the Cadster on a regular basis.


If I succeed then look out summer show season, we're coming!!

A belated happy New Year!

Well I meant to post plenty up over the holidays and then, of course, life got in the way.

 

It was the best Christmas I've had for a long time and a big part of that was waking up on Christmas morning to go and see Cady and Harvey. They are both doing really well. Harvey is settled in his new home and Cady will be joining him shortly so fingers crossed she's ok with that - she's not one who likes change much so I'll take a bit of time off work to settle her in.

Out of the rain storm and enjoying a haynet

 Her new saddle is proving to be worth every penny though I haven't ridden as much as I'd like to. I did some light work with her last night and she was an angel which gave me a massive boost and I'm sure cured me of a horrible cold!

 

To go with her new saddle, my friend Emma bought her this beautiful cloth, embroidered with her show name.

A great Christmas gift from Emma

 

Hopefully we'll be showing it off soon though I definitely need some lessons before we start our dressage career again. At the moment my head is totally confused about outline as everything I read seems to say something different! If anyone would like to offer me a sound definition and how to achieve it I'd be most grateful.  

Until I know exactly what I'm meant to be asking for I'm going to keep it simple and get on with leg yielding, transitions and plenty of walk and trot to ease her new saddle in.

Wishing you all the best for 2012.