1st & 2nd of June…
Saturday the horses had a really chilled day as the weather’s been a bit wild with us. If it’s not raining then it’s windy so they had a bit of turn out in the field. After mucking out and sorting the yard for the morning I decided to make up the horse cake I had bought the horses birthdays as it’s Maisies on the 6th and Dino’s had already past. It was super easy to make and smelt gorgeous!
Sunday morning I was off to work at 6.30am to feed round everyone there. Surprisingly I felt super awake even though I felt like I really needed a lie in all week. After work I fed my lot and went home to pack the horsebox for s show!!I decided to take Maisie showjumping to see what she’d do. I knew she’d have some stops but just wanted to get her round a good course and away from home. We headed off to Greenlands around 10.30 am to jump the 65cm. First time competing in the outdoor arena for both of us there but it rode brilliantly. Maisie was such a star in the warm up arena working in beautifully and jumping the practice jumps with loads of confidence.
Our round wasn’t quite so smooth but I still feel it went better than expected. She refused jumps one to six jumping them all on the second attempt. Then jumped seven to ten first time really well. It was like something just clicked with her cause she didn’t look at any of the last three at all. She jumped every jump with easy and didn’t feel like she wasn’t confident, I think she just likes being a cheeky monkey 🙈
6th of June…
Today is Maisie’s birthday and bless her she is having the dentist the same day along with the rest of the gang. It’s also Millie’s unofficial birthday as it’s easy to ever as it’s the same day as Maisies. We don’t know much about Millie as she was born before it was law for horses to have horses so she got hers when the law came in but we’ve always made Millie’s birthday the week of Appleby Horse Fair because her old owner had connections to the fair and she’s our little gypsy Queen.
The dentist went smoothly for all although Maisie decided she’d show her strength by pulling us round the stable a couple of times😅 Otherwise they were all very well behaved and except for Dino who has another visit in six months that’s it over for another year. They’ve all had today off and will stay quiet for the next few days before starting up work at the weekend to put some practice in for a possible show on Sunday with the Riding Club.
7th, 8th & 9th of June…
Friday night I met up with a good friend of mine for meal. We’ve been such good friends from when we were at the same riding school and would sometimes see each other at the odd show until we met up again at college. It’s so good when you can have a friend like that when no matter the gap between the past time you seem each other feels like yesterday.
Saturday I took the day off work so I could go to Appleby Horse Fair. It’s an event we never miss no matter the weather, and boy was it wet😂 Despite the on and off rain all day and the muddy market I had such a fun day! I may have spent for too much money than I need to on myself but it is one of the only places I’ll buy clothes, bags and shoes for myself that aren’t for on the yard.
Sunday I ended up no going to the riding club show due to a clean pony deciding to run through a muddy puddle just before loading 😩 Instead I rode both later in the day at home. Despite mischief this morning Maisie worked really nicely. She was really in front of the leg and active in her paces. She also done an amazing flying change!! Which I got really excited about.Dino was also a super star! We have managed to get his trot contained so he’s not going around in medium trot all the time 😂 This has helped him soften more so I’ve now learnt that when he comes above the bit he needs to go slower and he more or less instantly drops his head again and I can feel his hind legs under him again. Having this trot before a canter transition has also really helped his canter to improve.
11th of June…
Maisie had her jumping lesson for this month and it’s been out best so far! She warmed up so beautifully and started jumping really well over the bounces. When the third bounce was added she decided she’d start her antics so we had a few stops trying to get her over. When we moved onto jumping parts of the course she didn’t stop until we came to add the one stride double in. Once she jumped it she rode through it so easy. The second time through the course the jumps went a bit higher, I’d say roughly they were somewhere between 70-85cm. She jumped all of them fantastic especially the oxer which looked huge! She really took on all the jumps and felt like she was taking me to them and had no stops! She even managed to land on the left lead which she normally struggles with which was another pleasing part of the lesson.
After she stopped at the bounces my instructor decided to try a long schooling whip to see if it would make a difference and it really helped. I was able to keep her on the aids cause if she dropped behind my leg I was able to give her a little tap behind my leg so she reacted better. This made her a little quick round the course but I think not having any stops was a huge improvement.Our homework to work on before our next lesson is canter on the right rein. Her right canter isn’t as good as the left as she tends to get on the forehand slightly and rush/flatten in her stride. So we are going to work on a circle and ask for collection in canter and hold for a few strides. Once she has collected and held I’ll then get her to work in working canter again focusing on pushing her forward with my hips. The working canter acts as a reward after doing the collected work.
14th of June…
Finally managed to get Dino ridden again, we’ve had awful weather with wind and rain since Wednesday. Dino warned up in work so nicely he was working quite long and low for him which is a bit improvement. He then popped into trot and you could tell he hadn’t been ridden since Tuesday as he was so quick before deciding to have a canter and not wanting to stop😂 He too a little while to settle but once he did his trot was much more controlled and in more of a rythem. His canter was a little unsettled so I done short canters and lots of trot canter and canter trot transitions as this tends to settle him and stops him from running. He finished off on a long rein in trot and I practiced getting him to turn from just my legs and seat which he responded to brilliantly.
15th of June…
Today is Basil’s birthday so I’ve made him a cake this afternoon to celebrate. I think he’s either 14 or 15 years old, I can’t remember without checking his passport.
16th of June…
This morning we are off to Greenlands again for some showjumping with Dino! Today is Dino’s first show since December (which is the last time he jumped) so I’m so excited to get back in the ring with him and see what he can do today.
I can’t believe how amazing my little horse is!! He hasn’t jumped since December and he warms up super over the practice fences he then gets in the ring and jumps a double clear to win!!🎉🏆 It was his first time on the outdoor arena at Greenlands so new jumps to face, he was a little green in places which was expected as he was in a new environment. It’s just brilliant how he can ignore everything going on even when he is alittle unsure. His jump off was incredible though not as green and he flew! He done some super turns where he could and opened up on the long stretches between some of the fences. He only jumped the 65cm today but there is some jumping next week which hopefully we can get to and try the 75cm for the first time😁I’ve had so much fun today with me amazing little horse. Everyone says they have the best horse but Dino really is💖
23rd of June…
Myself and Dino are all set to go Showjumping today to work on getting a smoother round in the 65cn and try our first 75cm class!😬 I’m feeling quite confident from how last week’s outing went so hoping for a similar outcome.🤞🏼
Well today’s show just didn’t go to plan at all😞 To start with Dino somehow managed to get his bridle off in the car park moments before I was going to get on, yes a minor blip which was quickly resolved before we had a wild Dino running around😂 Brilde back on and me in the saddle we made our way to the warm up where he was a bit of a wild monster running around in trot looking at everything and making it really hard for me to get his attention to work nicely. I decided to give him a canter as this will normally help settle him. There was a little bit of improvement but not much so I gave him a break as there was a few classes to go before ours. Moving onto jumping him in the warm up he was feeling a bit more relaxed but still looking everywhere he shouldn’t have been. He didn’t jump the warm up jumps too badly though. First class we started with half an attempt to nap as we past the gate on the way to the first jump so he was a bit quick after that. He jumped not to bad although he really didn’t feel focused on me or the job in hand. We turned to fence seven we he jumped not too badly and then it was a related distance on a dog leg to fence eight which is where that lack of attention really kicked in. I’m not entirely sure myself what happened but all I can remember is seeing a jump wing in my face and then swiftly almost landing on top of that jump wing and hitting the deck 🤦🏽♀️ My first fall off Dino in all the time of owning him and it would be at a show😂I believe he was so fixed on something in the warm up (the jump was in the direction of the warm up and the gate) he didn’t understand my aids to turn until it was too late. So we had to wait for the jump to be rebuilt and then carried on to finish the round and finally over fence ten I felt he had started to pay a bit more attention to me. Our 75cm class wasn’t much better other than there was no encounters with jump wings or arena surfaces. Dino felt much better as he was waiting for the signals from me to go this round rather than rushing around. Fence one he jumped well even though he had the pole down then fence two he stopped because there was fillers (which he hasn’t jumped before). It was around of going and then stopping because of the fillers but he jumped everything with ease. I think the round before knocked his confidence a bit which was why he was really unsure at the fillers. We’re now going to go on as many lessons as we can to try get his confidence back and get him thinking more.
27th of June…
Tonight I put on my brave pants and have entered me and Maisie to do our first dressage test! Theres only been a few times I’ve done dressage test in a competition like environment which were at pony club camp (where we had no choice and I still to this day have no idea how I got on) and at college which was just something we’d do at the end of the terms for fun. Otherwise I’ve never competitively ridden a dressage test but it’s something I’ve been doing for a while now.
Jumping Dinosaurs 