thread on which to report positive things

[MiffyWhinge]

firstly the sun came out, hooray

secondly and even more welcome Joey didn't put a foot wrong today (once he started concentrating and stopped having a good look at everything around him). He managed to shoulder in, leg yield and, with a placer pole, put in a single stride of canter before a jump and do a double with a placer pole in between - he was a star, am ashamed of all the grumpy thoughts I've been having about him until recently. Clever, beautiful boy

please share yours!

[Pixel]

Ours are looking a bit leaner too (not thin, no ribs!) but as long as they don't lose too much weight I think it is actually a good thing, much safer when the spring grass starts coming through which it will very soon. It is nature's way for them to be like this after all, not much laminitis in the wild as far as I'm aware.

[oldernowiser]

Is blue chip good and not prone to making the little darlings excitable? Pony is losing a bit of weight, but stuffed full (as much as we dare)of hard feed

[MiffyWhinge]

ah, thought you went a lot - I could easily come to you/somewhere near you if easier?

am out of blue chip so could be the time to pick up some of your stuff and make the change

[Alicetheinvisible]

I haven't been there yet, but let me know when you are next there and i will come up

[MiffyWhinge]

oh yes please!

will you be coming to Topthorn any time soon? could be a good place to meet - I will try not to be on a horse though, so as not to be any sort of danger to society

[Alicetheinvisible]

Mitchy - Sounds like fun!
I have got a bagful of stuff which may be of use to you, numnahs, girths, sweat rug, summer sheet, and a full length waterproof coat that would fit a skinny teenager (sadly i am neither anymore) Also a 5'9" lightweight NZ hardly been used but has been ripped, which would need to be mended to be used, but if you want any of it, it is yours

[MiffyWhinge]

(STILL not putting foot wrong I mean)

[MiffyWhinge]

Joey not putting a foot wrong, despite still being such a babyish infant he is never quite sure where to put his feet, he jumped a 2'9" straight (with youngest daughter on board, she doesn't like straights ) and was absolutely perfect - is hard not to laugh when watching him though, he does the absolute minimum necessary to get over the jumps, just sort of plops over.

CF the brown one, who galloped round the course, bucking his rider off and charging right at the instructor who would of course be the yard owner on this occasion

it is not really his fault he finds jumping so exciting, it is nice in some ways that he is able to express himself?

however snaffle is being hung up to air for a while, back to a gag and a little decorum

[Alicetheinvisible]

Positive things.....

My horses have settled into new yard, i love, love my new bedding (smells of opal fruits, not piss) and the people are lovely.
There are are 2 teenage girls there that ride lots so there will be people to ride out with once i have had the baby, and it is sunny today!

[CMOTdibbler]

Hurrah ! It is sunny today, and school owner was busily engaged in digging out the arena and putting drainage pipes in ready to put down all weather surface, and dug out the paths to gravel them all. Horse had a big spook at the roll of drainage pipe though

I graduated to catching horse and tacking up (under supervision) which was nice - feel like I am reaching the 7 year olds competency level

[Pixel]

Oops sorry, last bit was to Dibbler really. Getting mixed up in my old age!

[Pixel]

Pandora, love the picture . Am guessing your garden is a bit bigger than ours though, and our landlord won't even let us have a dog so not much point in asking to keep ponies!

What a shame about Paddy. By coincidence we lost a pony from our field yesterday too, she was 28. Her owner bred her and still has her daughter and grand-daughter so it was a very sad day. The others look worried today as they have never been away from her. They are well-bred apparently (this is the one that died) and the lady is thinking of putting the other two in foal, which would be lovely for us having dear little foals about the place!

Had to put the last bit in to disguise the fact that we are putting sad stuff in the happy thread .

[CMOTdibbler]

You are an enabler Pandora .

Yes, DS will def get his pony when we move. I sort of plan to do a part loan for at least me from the summer (the riding school do a bargain with no other commitment and unlimited riding time) if I am safe to be let out on my own from then.

Would love to have a miniature in the garden, and could take it for lots of walks, plus have large field in front of the house (aforementioned community land) to ride on. But don't tempt me !

Pandora - your dad sounds like mine. Except my dad turned his eye to dairy goats at the end of the garden.

Sad news yesterday - Paddy the horse who has lived out near my parents for the last 20 years has died. He was 29, and a real local figure

[pandora69]

PS, honestly - those were converted pre-fab garages my dad got for free from the free ads paper. He had to dismantle them and reassmeble them himself, which he did with his builder mate. The one on the far end is a tin shed (couldn't find another prefab garage, but had some wood and tin sheeting lying around!) By this time we turned them out on a stretch of river bank we rented from the water board for £4 a month - bargain! We were only allowed to turn out there though from April to October, because there was risk of flooding in the winter. In the winter they went on the 1/2 acre behind the village petrol station. Not a great turnout paddock, but £50 for the whole winter, and they got to stretch their legs. We got our bedding for free from local sawmills - not dust extracted, but free! Even 2 of the ponies were free. But we had to work hard for everything. It instilled a 'work hard and you can get there' ethic in our family that we still have today.

[pandora69]

CMOT, we kept our first pony in our garden . It was fine. We converted the garage into a little stable and feedstore, and rented a small paddock about 1/4 of a mile away. He didn't need much turnout as he was prone to laminitis, but we rode him every day. 5 years later and we had 3 ponies and a horse living in our garden, in an extended garage-type arrangment. We rented 3 tiny paddocks, and used to ride them every evening - in the winter when it was dark we used to ride on Orchard Park (the council estate in Hull on that Channel 4 program) as the grass verges were wide and the had good street lights - floodlit hacking!

Ponies ina garden!

[MiffyWhinge]

this all sounds very exciting too THEN can your little boy have his shetland?

am going to ask about renting that field first as have been warned (and also remembered) about severe drainage problems, it will cost about a million £££ to enclose it in a dog proof way though

[CMOTdibbler]

Well, for land that can't be enclosed, and no possibility of planning permission, our community group have just paid 5k for 4.5 acres. DH says I can't tether a horse on the green though, which I think is a spoilsport attitude.

DS wants to know why his riding instructor can have a miniature shetland in her garden (he can't go anywhere else as he just walks under fences, and even the yearling ponies beat him up), but he can't. Unable to find a rational explanation for this.

My positive thing of the day. As part of 5 year plan moving towards house with land and a horse, I have started a course to take my BHS horse owners certificate.

[MiffyWhinge]

am not sure if it's equestrian or agricultural or amenity or what - agricultural land goes up and down in value a lot doesn't it, but there will never ever be even a remote chance of planning permission so that should keep it fairly cheap?

(haha, have not actually got any actual money yet but mortgage is nearly paid off so I suppose I could start again with another one?)

your plans sound exciting! quarantine sounds a bit harsh, even if you did go to shows you'd hardly let him share drinking things with a load of randoms (like my friend did and then brought some horrible liver problem back to her yard ) but probably sensible

ooh, almost feel like ordering a pizza to celebrate all these potential developments

[Pixel]

I'm considering (subject to finances as per usual) taking dhorse to our field owner's 'posh' yard for a few weeks in the summer, before school hols start. They have direct access to beautiful downland rides, floodlit school, jumping paddock, cross-country course etc. I would need to be able to pay the extra rent and also to have plenty of lessons to make it all worthwhile( instructor would be teaching dhorse to jump). I enquired yesterday whether it would be doable (ie would there be anywhere to put him, I'm not going to bung him in with all the others and have him lamed the first day!) and the owner started going on about quarantine before we can use the facilities. Fair enough of course but we have been at our field for 8 years this year and he knows we don't go to shows or anything. Managed to haggle him down to 1 week . So we will see. It would be nice to do the old rides again and maybe it would make me a bit braver.

[Pixel]

Ha! bumpy field is more like a lake atm .

Ooh, 3 acres all of your own, I would definitely be tempted. I don't think you can go far wrong buying land, it will always be worth something surely? Unless of course it is on an old mine and vanishes over night. Or a plague pit...

[MiffyWhinge]

the field I wanted to buy but thought had been sold had not, and is coming on the market again (owner pulled out last time)

is for work initially but at around 3 acres am thinking would be good to always have somewhere to plonk Barney and Joey

[MiffyWhinge]

that's fantastic news pixel, am so glad you won't have to school in a bumpy field anymore!

[Pixel]

At last I can join this thread! Beautiful sunshine today, found two snowdrops in my garden that miraculously haven't been taken by squirrels. Rode dhorse and he was an angel and I managed to not be a quivering bag of nerves (only walked but still pleased). And our field owner has promised that when he has finished with lambing he will come over and level off our paddock and put some bark down to make us a school! I'm so excited (and if he doesn't do it I will nag him to within an inch of his life).

[MiffyWhinge]

IT IS MARCH AT LAST

[macadoodledoo]

1. My horse is settling in on new yard happily (day 9) and I have found another owner to share mornings/evenings with so that he's not in the field on his own while he settles in (ploughed through electric fence & tried to jump hedge to express his 'disappointment' at being left on his own last week!).
   
   
2. Rest of the horses on the yard will be shifting to 24hr turnout soon so things can get back to normal - happy days!
   
   
3. Picking up new puppy on Saturday - yippee!