It was so much fun seeing everybody all dressed up and pretty.

Everybody did so well. I reckon that Jay and his Skye gave us all the biggest surprise, superstars in the making and only their first show. We should all have to step it up to keep up with these two

Mici and I had a good show, much to my surprise. We did much better than before and he was a tiny bit more in control than before. All the hard work we have been putting in on the ground has really payed off. We didn’t do too great in Prelim 1, but to my major surprise, we placed 3rd in Prelim 2. Makes me proud. And more than that, I was so pleased that in this second test, we cantred on his bad rein, a full circle and up the long side, without a change, more than anything else, this was te biggest acheivement of the day for me. I was beaming after that.

Jumping was a bit hectic, but only one buck and most importantly, I didn’t fall off He didn’t have a clear round, but he still did great in the 50cm’s, and no bucking. Once again, big acheivement. Also no refusals, I was so happy.

He even had his moment in the spotlight with doing the pole on the ground on his neck strap, although he did refuse and dumped his rider, luckily no injuries and they finished strong, with some help from a halter. With that I think Mici impressed everybody there. He does like showing off.

All and all, we had a great show. Congratulations to everybody. Even though you may not have placed or anything like that, I am sure every single one of us had our own personal victories, even if it is to just stay on and not falling off

So, enough of my blabber, time to start training towards our next big goal or acheivement.

Happy riding

Thank you Pam for another fantastic show.  We had quite a few “showmen” there .  Jay was great on Desert Skye – was really great to watch Skye going over the jumps.  Patrick provided light entertainment as usual .  When you see Patrick just go up to him and chat.  He welcomes conversation.

It was my first time on Discreet.  I have been half baiting her for a month and a half.  We just clicked  – as they say – and that is difficult to explain.  In the beginning it was a bit of getting used to THE BIG HORSE .  Thank you Pam.  There is always a lot of stories that goes around about a horse, from all avenues, and I’ve learned that it is important to focus on positive outcomes for you and for the horse.  Natalie (Discreet’s mommy:-)) warmed her up and advised that she might be a tad bit fresh .  Well, fresh is good – she moved along nicely in the dressage and transitions were instant.  Just have to get the roundness/frame right, but that will come in no time.  Discreet is a distinguished lady – she won Prelim1 and 2nd in Prelim 2.  I was very happy for the two of us.  She is teaching me in a totally different way than Bootsie (my other favourite mare at GAS).  So, it seems that my history with the mares continues – Alley, Boots, Discreet…..:-).  The jumping was fine as well.  I opted for only the 50′s as it was my first time with Discreet and I just needed to see what she does - here again, you need to focus on the positive outcome for you and the horse, take advise, but in the end the round you are on your horse will be totally different than someone else riding the same horse. 

So, I had a few wobblies, not her doing, Discreet did everything I asked (the Pro she is), but the last 4 jumps were great and she was steady, rythmic and listened when I asked her to wait – that was all I wanted to know, and was very happy with the outcome.  She loved standing around afterwards with all the people around, eating away etc.  We had friends there from Walkerville and they had their horsebox open - Discreet was sniffing and the next moment had her two feet on the box – I thought she was going to walk in and investigate it – totally chilled .  It was great – as she might have a boxing think after the last episode (for those of you that saw her at Patrick’s clinic )!.  And here she was, just about to go in by herself.  It was quite funny.  You also learn alot just by standing around your horse.  Discreet was good company yesterday and we had a wonderful day together.    Thank you for everyone participating, because that is what makes the show a success.  It was great watching everyone!

Wow – the show was AWESOME!!!

As we were walking up to the warm up arena Flag saw Patrick Kaye’s horse box and made a U-turn! Luckily Bea was there to help me out.. once inside he was fine. Had a bit of a look around, but didn’t do anything stupid!

The dressage tests went very well – only one buck! He was nicely on the bit most of the time but so lazy I thought my legs were going to fall off!!! We didn’t get a rosette but I feel that we did better than in our last prelim 1 & 2 tests so I’m happy Need to work on our circles and transitions…

The jumping went surprisingly well!!! – I was expecting big leaps from him but he just trotted over the little 40cm very calmly. Got penalties because of refusals but after I saw how calmly he did the course I felt much more confident for the 50s…

50s Were absolutely amasing! He jumped BIG as usual, but didn’t refuse once!!! Unfortunately he knocked the second jump so we ended up with 3 faults… nothing to brag about, but considering it was his first 50cm course at a show I’m extremely happy!

AND even more importantly WE DID IT!!! Nerves & all!!!

Photos to follow soon!!!

As we are all gearing up and getting excited for the show on Sunday. I thought to just put a few funny and weird things about the horses. This is just a fun thing and I would love to hear everybodies comments on what their horses do as this just adds to the mystique around these smart and astonishing createrures we take on as companions and best friends.

As most of you know, I have become like a foster mother to Mici or Dynamic. Over the past few months we have been working together I have gotten to know this big teddy bear better and better.

By spending time with him I have discovered many things about him and myself and the bond we have come to share in the few months we have been working together.

Mici is a big fan of his grass. You can tae his food and water away, just as long as he has his teff net filled with grass he is the happiest horse alive. Thus whenever you come by the yard and he his in his stable, chances are that he has his head stuck in the corner with a mouth full off grass.

He knows his name and my voice very well, so once I arive, I just call him and the head will pop up for a few seconds, grass haning out the mouth and then he carries on eating. This is all good, until we need to tack up. Once the bit is in the mouth, no more grass is allowed. Intially, this was a bit of a struggle, but he has gotten more use to it now, although he still sometimes get that naughty boy look in his I and tries for a bite when he thinks that I am not looking and when I catch him out he seems very upset with himself that he got caught.

Now that we have gotten used to leaving the grass alone once the reins are over the neck, his latest trick has started. Even before I can get the bit in, we have to drink water and not just a sip of water, no, no. We drink as if it’s the last water we will ever get. So I have to stand there patiently and wait for him to finish before I can fully start tacking up. This water drinking session takes so long that I can make 3 plaits at the bottom of his main, so my hands don’t get caught in at and even do his forelock, which ticlkles his face. Once he finally decides he is done, we can carry on the tacking up. Since this started what usually took me 10 minutes to do has now been extended to a 20 minute excersise.

After riding, we sometimes go for a walk on the halter to cool down. As most of the other horses at the yard love their roll in the sand arena, I decided to take him for a treat one day and let him have a roll, but he blankly refused to roll. This is the day I descovered that he would much rather happily follow me around, without a lead rein, than have a roll in the sand. Since then when it is quiet at the yard, we go out and have some fun without the lead rein on his halter. We can walk trot and canter like that and even do little jumps, but all on condition that I do it as well. If i try to cheat and just go past the up right, he will follow me very deligently. This excersise is fun, but also tiring for me. He only goes as fast as I go, so if I go to slow while he is cantering, he will slow down to a trot as he never likes being too far away from me. When I am running, he canters behind me and almost nudges me in the back with his head, just to let me know he is there.

I know we all have fun stories about the weird and wonderful things our horses do and I cannot wait to read some of your stories.

See everyone at the show on Sunday.

HAppy Riding

Today Pam and I decided to do myself and Jay’s lesson together as they fed Flag late (or actually normal time instead of 30 minutes earlier) which made my lesson start late, and Jay in a very un-Jayly fashion, was tacked up 15 minutes early! So off we went with Tristan in the center taking photos.

This week we’ve been working on transitions and getting them to TROT over the smaller jumps and not JUMP and start cantering – which both Flag and Skye did really well! Although we did have a little jump every now and again… We are all entering the show on the 12th of February, so we’re super excited and preparing our little brats for that.

After the lesson I took over and took some pictures of Tristan, Susan, Kelly, Angelique and whoever else may have walked past – oh and of course Scampy, Bibi and some chickens. There’s a hen with 3 little chicks that’s probably about 3/4 days old, who’ve kind of moved into Flag’s stable – see the pictures of the little one peeking out from underneath mommy’s wing, too cute!!!

I know I’ve said it before but it is absolutely amazing how far all the horses have come!!! Look at Skye now and the Skye that Jay bought a couple of months ago – no way you would have been able to canter him in a circle, jump little jumps or even get close to him with a crop in your hand! He doesn’t have that terrified look in his eyes anymore and obviously loves his dad to bits! Well done Jay, Skye could not have asked for a better human!

Flag and Lily still amazes us every day – dressage ponies deluxe! Let’s hope they keep that frame for the next show and the ADD doesn’t kick in when the time comes for them to do the prelim tests!

We finished off with a very informative theory lesson about basic course building – which will definitely come in handy the next time Pam instructs us to go build a course for the group lesson! At least now we know what to look out for and what to consider when building a basic course.