"Just do the best you can"

I really enjoyed this article by Sarah Warne for Eurodressage, particularly the quote below. Lots to think about!
Letting go of ego

"A major part of riding and particularly dressage is learning to accept the everyday, learning to deal with pain, setback, physical hurdles, distractions, excuses, your own pride, and just do the best you can, every time you get on the horse."

Photographic evidence

There have been so few photos on this blog lately that I'm sure some of you must be getting suspicious.

Just to prove I haven't sold them to Findus, here are some pics from the weekend to reassure you.

They're both doing really well. I rode Cad on Friday and she was lovely and Rodney is solid gold as usual. We got caught in a blizzard and he didn't make any fuss at all though it must have been pretty uncomfortable - I know my face was painful from the howling wind/snow storm.

I've had a little think over the weekend and decided that Cady should not retire just yet. She's a canny lass really, we're just going to take the scenic route with her education!

Hope you're all well and keeping warm in the wintry weather - happy horse riding x

Hmmm...

Cady is in danger of being retired, the problem is, she's only rising eight.

She hasn't done anything wrong, I'm just really enjoying Rodney and I've kind of lost the will to battle with her when I can just have a lovely hack or a really nice schooling session on Roddders.

My boyfriend thinks she'll go mad without something to do which is a fair point. It's something I need to weigh up carefully. On the plus side I'm really lucky to have a choice and it's a great problem to have.

I think if I could get her to enjoy her job rather than being terrified all the time it would make all the difference for both of us.

Suggestions welcome - anyone ever found a way to make a super alert horse relax and enjoy a hack about? Answers on a postcard to alison.goulding@yahoo.com

I suspect the answer, as always, will turn up close to home. I'm sure if I had some lessons and perservered it would improve, as it has in the past. Ok, different question then: Anyone ever found a way to get a horse owner to enjoy her super alert horse? You know the email address!

Happy riding everyone x

Getting started

My first attempts at getting the horses started for 2013 have begun! They think this is ridiculous and have told me they are quite happy just playing with their friends in the field, stuffing their faces into the round bale and hoovering up coarse mix and carrots.

For Rodney this is straight-forward. We went hacking in a mini gale last week and he seemed to enjoy the change of scenery. We've also done a bit of lunging. Over the winter I've been handling his ears, head and mane a lot as he's a bit head shy and I think there's some progress here. My aim for this year for Rodney is to do lots of hacking about, have  a few lessons and have lots of fun. I bought him to enjoy him and I'm really excited to get to know him in the saddle.

For Cady, getting started means back to basics: Lots of groundwork, including long lining, and some big walks around the farm so she can have a fit at the spooky bits and learn to get over it before I have to get on!  She's had a few emotional meltdowns when the task in hand feels too difficult for her but they've abated quite quickly. My priority for her is to get her thinking instead of running off adrenalin so my aim each time is to finish the session when she's relaxed and calm. We'll see how that works in reality!

They've held their weight well over the winter which I'm really pleased about and I've been much happier with them on grass livery. This time last year I was thin and tired from all the poo shovelling but now I'm ready to go.

I hope you're all having fun with your horses too :)