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Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

Original poster

hapless hacking and Actual Riding log

365 replies

Mitchy1nge · 14/02/2013 09:29

is the riding log full now? Haven't seen it for ages.

Anyway we (well, me and the horse) are back in very light work at last, 2013 can finally begin!

What are your goals?

OP posts:
Original poster
Mitchy1nge · 14/02/2013 09:37

(I don't have any beyond galloping up our hill when horse is fitter and hill less squelchy)

OP posts:
50BalesOfHay · 14/02/2013 09:39

My goals are to get Nell back into work after her chemo ends in two weeks time and get mine over the mud and ride her regularly. This year is going to be tough so I just want to ride as much as I can, and find a nice sharer

Original poster
Mitchy1nge · 14/02/2013 09:57

what is happening this year? Sorry if you already said, or can't say, either way hope you get plenty of time riding Nell. Is she doing ok?

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Original poster
Mitchy1nge · 14/02/2013 09:58

I mean riding yours not Nell, or do you ride Nell sometimes?

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50BalesOfHay · 14/02/2013 10:07

Not sure I can say on here, can I pm you? Nell is doing fantastically well, they're about 85% confident of a complete cure. Will have cost us about £4,500 though.

Original poster
Mitchy1nge · 14/02/2013 10:13

Yes of course!

well done Nell, but ouch, am never grumbling about the price of vetwrap and danilon etc again!

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50BalesOfHay · 14/02/2013 10:23

I do ride Nell sometimes. She's lovely, she has such a fantastic, purposeful walk, you could enjoy it all day.

Mirage · 14/02/2013 13:48

I'm glad Nell is doing well,50BalesOfHay I wondered how it was going.£4.5K is a lot of money,but many people would blow the same amount on a holiday and have nothing to show for it.You will have your DH's beloved Nell.Smile

We've ridden every day this week but Sunday,when the weather was just too bad.Yesterday I hired a school just outside the village for the girls to have a lesson.We ended up riding in a blizzard,so only did half an hour as it was too cold and we were struggling to see.Our lovely instructor texted me when we got home to see if the girls were ok and wondered if we'd pushed their love of riding too far,but I reassured her that they were fine.I'm a harsh mother!

The sun was actually shining today,so we hacked to a friends farm a couple of miles away.I think we passed every sort of vehicle imaginable and Brandy was very very good.He has stopped shuffling forward or jumping when traffic comes up behind him and even gave dpony a lead past a digger.Although he was driven in the past,he has never been hacked on the road,so DD2 is the first person to actually ride him in traffic.If we see something scarey coming,we sing or do our times tables,because you can't be nervous if you are doing that.

Mirage · 16/02/2013 18:23

The other thread has hit 1000 messages,so can't post on there.I hope you have a lovely ride today 50BalesOfHay.

Brandy had a fit of the sillies today.He was fine until he saw a tractor,which he has previously never bothered about,then spooked and tried to spin,after that he got himself all worked up at cyclists,sheep,a BMW and Dpony trotting up behind him.Luckily DD2 sits tight no matter how much he acts the goat,and was actually laughing at his shenanigans.Ah well,two steps forward,one step back,good job they love each other.Grin

frostyfingers · 17/02/2013 17:28

This had better be the Riding Log part 2....... Led dhorse out for some grazing today as the field is too muddy for him to go out in - he munched happily for about 40 mins then suddenly decided he'd had enough and towed me back to the stables!

Back on board tomorrow and I'm thinking about a short day's hunting on Wednesday......depending on how brave I'm feeling!

Mirage · 17/02/2013 19:15

Good Luck for Wednesday frosty.

It has been a gorgeous day here,so we went into our fast drying out schooling field and did a bit of jumping and some games and groundwork.Unfortuantely a bike came flying around the corner towards us on the way,then another one shot by us and poor Brandy was petrified. I think I;ll have to put both ponies in a field next to the road for a while,and take my bike into it and ride about.A packet of extra strong mints might help,he is very food motivated.Smile

TheLoneRanger · 17/02/2013 19:26

I'd like to join in, please...I love reading about everybody's horses. I need to get back in the saddle, and today I just booked my first private lesson in about a year, so I can get going again. Did not admit to having put on weight Blush. I haven't got a horse (except in my dreams) but as a family we all have lessons on and off, and like to ride on hols. My goal is to start to catch up with dh in riding ability!

Smile
50BalesOfHay · 17/02/2013 20:43

I've ridden twice this weekend and now ache like mad. Having planned to just walk my mare was a bit naughty so I made her trot a lot (because if you've got the energy to be naughty you've got the energy to trot up a hill!)

I'm considering spurs until my legs are a bit stronger, but purist GD threatens to disown me if I do! I think not being able to ride for the next 6 months or so is making her very picky about my riding!

Nell is well into her final chemo, but is kicking the shit out of her stable every time the horse next door is fed. He's fed whenever his owner turns up, so can't synchronise, and she can't go out while she's got the line in so we've got to manage it, but she's going out full time again when it's out. Can't wait to turn hr out, grumpy old cow that she is.

Original poster
Mitchy1nge · 17/02/2013 21:21

am joining the achey club, some of these muscles must never usually get any use?

we are still, theoretically, walking and trotting but I thought we could risk a very little controlled canter on the way home - along a very narrow verge on the edge of the road (it's not a real road, sort of stony dirt track) but I forgot about the horses in the field next to us. It all got a bit too exciting when they joined in and we changed up a gear Hmm

OP posts:
50BalesOfHay · 18/02/2013 09:20

Good to see that some things never change, Mitchy Grin. Sounds like Brandy is working out well, Mirage, if the sillies aren't bothering you and dd it's a good sign that he's the right pony. Welcome, Loan Ranger, let us know how the lesson goes.

frostyfingers · 18/02/2013 10:46

Dhorse is also terrified of bikes - sneaky things with people in funny clothes on! I've tried going out taking the boys on their bikes and he's fine with them circling round him, it's just when they appear out of nowhere he has a fit. I'm not sure how you desensitise Brandy, but hopefully his fear is just because they are unfamiliar and a bit of biking/hacking will help. Beautiful day today, just ridden dhorse for an hour and he's been an absolute arse - tanking up the road in a fast trot pulling like a train and having a strop and swishing his tail when I try and slow him down. Seriously unsure about hunting on Wednesday!

N0tinmylife · 18/02/2013 15:53

Glad to hear everyone one is getting out and about to enjoy the improved weather. Really glad to hear Nell is doing so well now!

My goal is to find a sane loan horse. After the last one threw me off for the 5th time I decided my nerve couldn't take any more, so I am now back to square one. In the mean time I have a couple of lovely horses to ride so I don't forget how, although now its half term it is tricky to find the time, between looking after DS, and work.

chocolatecakeystuff · 18/02/2013 16:34

Took the big girl out today finally!!!
She was a wee bit fresh as expected so we spent most of the time jogging sideways & doing mini excitment bucks, whilst giggling myself silly.

Considering she's been cooped up in a stable for 5 weeks & not ridden since before the first bit of snow she was pretty good. No spooking, just very exicited. Looked like that cat that got the cream when we got home.

Same again tomorrow hehe

Mirage · 18/02/2013 19:28

We had a lovely afternoon.I had a phone call from Brandy's owner,to say that she thought that I am doing a fantastic job with him,that I am obviously spending a lot of time,thought and effort into helping him settle in and learn to be an all round good child's pony.She said that she loves and appreciate my daily updates on his progress and couldn't be happier with us having him.Blush I nearly cried,I'm not an expert,I'm not even very experienced,which I admitted when we tried him.I explained that I'm flying by the seat of my pants,and writing down our daily doings helped me focus on what we've achieved,and helped me see ways to sort out the little things that aren't quite right,but she thinks we are doing a great job with him.

The girls had a great lesson,dpony seems a lot happier and more forward going in the new school,our instructor didn't need the lunge whip at all.DD1 jumped far higher today than she ever has before,and DD1 got Brandy cantering and jumping nicely too.He didn't put a foot wrong,and if he knocked a pole at the first attempt,learnt from it and cleared it the next time.We even met 2 cyclists on the way home and he didn't react-probably to knackered.Grin

Mirage · 19/02/2013 21:20

Grrrh! Dpony has worked out that the electric fence tape wasn't on and has broken through it 3 times in 2 days.There is nothing on the other side but a barbed wire fence [the reason I taped it off],but she is so bloody minded that she has to wreck it.I put it back last thing last night,went down before work to find it down & her looking very pleased with herself.Put it back up,went back 5 hours later to find she had dragged it right across the field,scattering poles as she went.Tonight,with some help from my dad,we wired it up to the mains,that should stop the destructive old bugger.She was watching us very intently and I think she knows it is live now,I know that she tests any new fence with her whiskers before she ploughs through it,or listens for the tick,bloody old,seen it all before ponies!

mrslaughan · 19/02/2013 21:40

Can I join?
Had a lesson on my share today.
I didn't ride all last week as I was sick as a dog. Instructor rode her first for me, I learn so much watching her, and it reminds me what I need to focus on.
Then I jumped on and she went amazingly, really tuned in, tested me a couple of time, by trying to duck in, but she didn't get away with that.
I am aiming at doing a basic dressage competition (walk trot) over summer.
Working in my corners as we both tend to drop in, so need to focus on balancing both of us.
Then we went for a warm down walk around one of the tracks, DS came(on foot) - an bless him, he just can't not do the dashing around, which is where Dmare is worth her weight in gold , she just double checks that it is the little idiot ( she does have a certain level of disdain for his behaviour) but doesn't change pace, miss a beat.
It's a hack tomorrow and back in the school on Thursday.

Only thing is she was wet with sweat when we finished. Wish her owner would let her be clipped, really think she would be more comfortable.

mrslaughan · 19/02/2013 21:44

Oh and instructor said I rode the best she has ever seen me ride ever. Grin
So that was just lovely.

willyoulistentome · 20/02/2013 13:06

I'll join too although I only get to ride my lovely horse once a week nowadays due to FT work, 2 kids and a grumpy DH. Thankfully the girls at the yard ride her for me in the week without charging fill livery so she stays ticking over.

I only go on quick hacks as we have no school and I am usually very aware of the time and DH grousing if I am too long. Also my old mare goes lame at the drop of a hat, so a sharer is not an option.

Lovely weather on Sunday, went for a nice hilly hack. My horse CAN be a bit joggy in the last few years, but she walked nicely on Sunday. The long hill we came dow on the way home is a bridlepath, but the branches are pretty low, and I struggle as I have to duck down, but then horsey tends to trot and it was slipperly downhill. I always feel a bit stif the next day now, and since I ride so infrequently, and I have put on weight and lost my 'core' since kids, my once super secure 'seat' has gone. Once a week, just isn;t enough, but it's all I can do.

mrslaughan · 20/02/2013 17:03

Another great lesson today. we worked on corners, Riding Dmare around them, actively using her hind legs to step under and around....she has a habit of just slowing slighting a pace from the corner and then using her front end to drag herself around.

I was working on my shoulders - I collapse my right shoulder , giving my right rein away, but fix my left elbow. So working on relaxing left elbow, and carrying right shoulder level with left - who would have thought it is so hard to sit straight - but when I do, wow - our trot was just wonderful.

All a work in progress as my natural way of going is crooked, so have to work really hard to stay straight! But at least I "felt" it today.

Weather was a bit of a shock here today - bloody icy wind, which was a shock after my glorious warm ride yesterday, that gave a real hint of spring.

frostyfingers · 20/02/2013 18:20

Survived my first day's hunting for 5 weeks - Dhorse was beside himself with excitement and not very patient, but luckily we were quite busy and it was all quite open so he didn't really have a chance to misbehave properly.

I am suitably worn out and sore, hoping to go Sat but the forecast isn't promising - typical!

My old pony used to wander through the electric tape at the drop of a hat and then say that it was absolutely impossible to be led back over it or past it 10 seconds later - we too used a mains one for a while so now he doesn't dare risk it, although we're on car battery atm. As long as it's ticking he stays away, even if there's hardly any power in it!