So Tuesday was one of those days, that I could not WAIT to get to the stables, my day was rough and all I had on my mind, was my horse.
I got to the yard later than normal (Mike helped a kid who got knocked off his bike, by a Telkom Bakkie (hit and Run) and only got to me at about 16:30. But I am glad the kid is okay and the dad came and fetched him – PROUD of Mike). Anyways I got on Lily immediately and started to warm up.

She was FORWARD (not bad, just the way I want her), so the warmup was fun and really relaxing. Pam came into the arena and then the drill work started lol! Worked on Lily’s frame again and she softened into the contact really quickly *happiness*! I had my dressage pony back which was awesome! We then tried it in the canter as well, which was quite hectic… I really battle to help her come down (I know I am doing something wrong). I either drop her with my outside rein or my hands are doing something funny… not all that sure to be honest :/

Pam then worked on doing some transition work, so it was Canter a 20m circle, at C back to a trot and do a 10m circle, at C canter again and do a 20m circle and repeat ingredients The left rein went well! The right rein she was a bit lazy (which is odd for her), but we got it nicely. After this we did 3 loop serpentines in the canter, trying to get her to not change leg. The 1st attempt she changed (I think I asked her), the 2nd attempt though she did well! We then had to do counter canter all the way down the long side and then change rein, trot at x and pick up the canter and follow the same pattern again. It was hectic, but fun!

We ended a very successfull lesson there! I was most pleased with miss Filly
Thanks Pam for your patience!

Okay Okay, before I go onto the happenings of today, I’d like to wish everyone a happy 2013, seeing as this is my first blog of the year
It’s been a very interesting year thus far for all of us I’m sure with regards to our riding… So lets kick things off with a BANG!
Anyways enough woffling on now, let’s get to business

So today was one of those early days! I woke up at 5am and listened to the radio, where they were going on about WHY on earth people are awake at this time… What first came to my mind was, why do they have radio at a time like that? reason for that question popping up in my head, was cause of the things they said, were not ‘good’ enough reasons to be awake at that time… Mine was apparently one of those! My dear friend Insomnia… Anyhow enough of that. So yeah I was up and awake and just waited things out till I had to go to the stables.

Got there nice and early and relaxed a bit. Watched Janice have a lunge lesson on Micki and then watched Stacey’s Lesson (Practise session for the show). WOW but Queenie and Stacey are doing PHENOMINALLY, it is SUCH a pleasure to watch them The two of them have grown from strength to strength. I think they are going to be the team to look out for in the dressage at the show!

Next up was Lily and I. I headed down to the paddock and madam was waiting at the gate So we headed up and got tacked up. I decided to put her show boots on, so she could get use to them again… Naturally she could not walk with her back boots on, and almost face planted next to me *cant look*. We then got going into the arena. Now Lily is normally a lazy bag when it comes to doing flat work and I have to beg and plead for her to move forward, but today, that was NOT the case… Madam was working VERY forward, which was SUCH a nice change. I felt like I could concentrate more on ME than on her, and it worked so much better.

So we warmed up and then Pam entered so we could practise our dressage! Whoopy! Now before I go on about how it went… I want to just tell you all, I have been REALLY bad with practising tests and proper flatwork in the last 2 months (parlty cause Lily was unsound for 3 weeks). But anyhow, we have been getting back into it this week

So in we went and the first test went OKAY, she was forward and accurate, but rather resistant, but she had some good moments! Then came the second test, where finally she relaxed (Or is that me?) and the test went phenominally! She was slightly resistant, but not nearly as bad as the 1st one. Once again accurate and we got the extended trot right! *celebrates*… So yeah I hope we can get a test like this on Sunday at the show, but obviously we’ll aim to better it! Always aim for the stars! I had a blast!

Thanks Pam for my Super Lesson!

Then came Susan and Tammy’s lessons, these also went really well! The girls are also riding very well!

After all this, we waited for the rest of the Liveries to arrive. The meeting went well, not going to waffle on about it I also decided to put Lily on a new supplement apart from the other new one they are going on, called Mare Mix. This is purely cause of her lack of tollerance to pain when she is going into season… So I want to give her a better chance and help her out a bit, rather than her having to suffer each time… So lets pray it works… Here is a pic!

After all this we had a really nice braai, to end a very good and successful day! Thanks to everyone!

Since the show, we have really been taking things very easy. I’ve been working to get her back to doing Flat work and nice dressage, but it seems to jumping bug has bitten my girl and the dressage has gone out the window (much to my disgust at the time). I’ve pretty much been busy trying to get her to work down and in a more consistent frame, and however it is going VERY slowly (She learns slowly in general), we are making some progress.

We had a really awesome theory last Wednesday, where Pam went through the canter aids with us. I think it really made a number of us get some click moments with regards to it, as we have all been struggling getting our horses to canter when we want them to.
So we have been practicing this and MAN oh man the difference is chalk and cheese! A lot better off the leg and we getting the canter a LOT more consistently now. Every now and then I get the “I don’t wanna” from Lily, but they are now few and far between.

We also had a really fun group lesson on Sunday, a variety of excercises, where we got to see where our horses strengths etc. lie. Flag once again demonstrated he is the Dressage Pony and went like an absolute dream (Anel must be thrilled), Skye well, he was being Skye (FULL of Energy and play) but ended really nicely!… and Lily proved she is the jumper in the group, by doing the gymnastic exercises we had setup perfectly. We really could not complain how our lot went We then watched the two youngsters (Queenie and Becky) go and they also had a really good lesson

Tuesday lesson was absolutely awesome! I started with Long and low work which went really well. Lily had two silly moments at the black bags at the top of the arena, but they were’nt as bad as some of the ones I’ve had in the past. We then went on and she warmed up quite nicely (tho she took FULL advantage of the fact that I forgot my dressage schooling whip at her stable). Skye decided to join the prelesson and luckily Lily did nothing, except for looking at him like “What you doing acting like that?”. He took a while to catch, and I had to chase him away from Lily a few times as well, as she wanted to play or who knows what else lol

Pam then arrived and the lesson started! The lesson went brilliantly! Lily was in school pony mode and though we didn’t ask her to work in a frame a lot, her work was really good. She was nice and active, forward, covering ground and working nicely off my leg. We did our first Canter, change rein, one step of trot and canter again. Lily did that absolutely brilliantly! I was really chuffed with her She also showed a lot less discomfort, but I still felt bad. Really hope the Saddle fitter makes it today (Wednesday).

Have a good horsey week everyone (if it doesn’t rain away) lol

So over the weekend I took the plunge and got back into riding! (Horse riding is NOT for sissies!)

Saturday Lily was awesome and just did everything I asked, no questions asked!

Sunday group lesson she was stunning and a poster child of note, except for the lack of brakes

Monday Madam had the day off (Lucky fish )

Tuesday I was meant to have a lesson, but due to unforseen circumstances we had to move it out to Wednesday Not that I mind, as I had a FUN and GOOD ride on Lily! She had a little Silly moment, which I felt was coming! Dogs started to Bark, Lily pricks her ears, They start to run and Lily starts to shake out of excitement, then running and barking high pitch occurs and Lily decides we’re back at the track Had to laugh! She’s loads of fun!

Wednesday Lesson day! I Learned a lot, we figured Lily needs about 15-20 minutes to warm up, then I have a horse with an incredibly strong engine from behind once she is warm! Admittedly it intimidated me on the day! I need to now get used to the forwardness she has! But MAN oh MAN she feels amazing when she moves with impulsion, suppleness and with Cadence! *drools*
We then had Theory after the session, which was fantastic and a BIG eye opener for me!

Thursday (Today) was lesson day too! I decided to ride without gloves so I can actually work on some of my issues.
My Issues:

1. My Left hand is busy the whole time and causing some nasty issues (VERY bad habit I picked up cause it’s her BAD rein).
2. My lower leg more back
3. My feet in the stirrup, I need to move my foot through more and not ride on my toes!

So we worked on the above whilst Lily was warming up and I think we accomplished something! My hands were a LOT better, I was nog naggy with my leg, we shortened my stirrups a hole as it was a bit too long which killed two birds with one stone!

We did some nice lateral work, but some key things I need to work on!

• Shoulder ins
• Loop through X – Focus on bends and just using legs (Ie Leg yield the loops)

We had Lily working SO nicely at the end, everything was flowing SO nicely! *HAPPY DANCE*

Now we have some prep to do, as I have entered a show jumping show on the 5th of August at North Rand Training Centre in Randjes! Hope to see some of you there for support, or perhaps to come ride as well

I know I have been terrible at Blogging, but oh well, life happens! But here we go, another Insert

I’m not sure where to begin, however I think perhaps at the last show is a good starting point!

So the Winter Training show was a great success, a lot of fun was had and we had some stiff competition from outside riders!
We entered the Prelim Dressage Classes as well as the 50′s & 60′s jumping! I hadn’t jumped a 60′s track since Montana, so was quite nervous!

Lily really put her best hoof forward at the show, I could REALLY not complain about how it went! We ended up scoring 60% in both of our Dressage Classes! Though we didn’t get placed, I was exctastic about our result and very proud of Lily! I had some really super compliments and comments from the judges and some outside riders! *beams* – I came out the class with the biggest smile on my face My Hubby Mike also took videos of both of my classes Photo’s below:

The jumping also went well, Lily stopped at a few fences and did them at a standstil, but got confident as the class progressed. We unfortunately did not have any clear rounds (step back in 50′s and pole down in 60′s), but it was awesome nonetheless

After a successful show, we did a lot of work getting her forward and more balanced, and I did a lot of work to get her confident, which has paid off in LEAPS and bounds! She is jumping up banks (still need to work on going down all sides of the bank) and she is taking me into fences
She is working really nicely on the Flat, we are now doing Shoulder in’s, outs and flexion exercises now and it’s going really well! am LOVING t all!

Then came the Accident… *sigh*… A really freaky one at that too (and painful I might add). I was taking Lily’s Blanket off on Sunday morning (the 14th) and whilst doing so, I felt a really had impact to the side of my Face… All I recall happening after that was ending up outside the stable and seeing lots of Blood, then I recall Kat telling me to NOT talk and then my next recollection was when I was in Hospital.
I think all the shock wore off later on, when the Surgeon came to see me and showed me what had happened! Lily had bitten me in the face (One cut a bit below my eye and the other on my cheek and on the side of my mouth. The skin had been ripped off near my mouth and it all looked really bad! The surgeon told me, she could only stitch the one near my eye and then also perform the scrubbing/cleaning of my other wound. So Sunday evening after 8pm, I went into theatre to have that done. I came out very sore :/ My Hubby, Anel and David came to visit me as well, was so nice to have visitors Thanksa Guys!
Monday afternoon around 5pm I went in for my final op with the Plastic Surgeon, he was quite shocked when he saw the wound in person, but he had a plan! I came out of theatre once again in LOADS of pain :/ Just after I ‘woke up’, Michael and my Best Friend Amanda arrived! I was probably very groggy, so I hope I wasn’t an ass lol…

Tuesday I was Finally discharged and Pam came to get me! We went straight to the stables, which was probably the best thing for me at the time!
The grooms brought Lily up for me, and I was glad to see her! Though I was crapping myself approaching her, I sucked it up and went to say hello She stuck her head in my lap and let me just rub her all over, I could see she was really sorry! How can I not forgive that??? I took her for a nice walk around and she was really happy to spend the time with me

Wednesday we had theory, but I went to the yard a bit earlier, so I could do some ground work with Lily, it went really well, and I saw what she could really do! Very proud moment!

Thursday and Friday I was very sore and was man down :/

Saturday it was D day! I had to get on and ride! Lily was SUPER and I had a really fun ride! Hee Haa!

Sunday was the group lesson and that was a BALL of fun! Lily once again was a star and was leaping out of her skin with excitement! I was really pleased and chuffed with her

Thanks to everyone who sent me messages and all the calls, I really appreciate it! Specially Amanda,Anel, Angelique, David,Michael, Pam and Johan (in no specific order)!

Some other randon funnies and info etc.:

• In hospital they asked me if Horses had teeth! Had to cackle about that!
• Horse bites are very dangerous if they penetrate the skin (loads of bacteria!)
• They asked me where we had horses in Johannesburg! (Seriously?????????)
• There was a guy who was bitten by a Crocodile (How bizarre!)
• I was the Hospitals first horse bite case lol
• When your body is in shock, you won’t feel other pain (for example Tetanus shots) *giggles* – and I had 2 shots!

How I feel about the Whole ordeal now:

• I feel very lucky! She missed my eye, my nose and didn’t penetrate my cheek!
• I am going to have minimal scarring, the surgeons did a fantastic job!
• I have forgiven Lily completely!
• I am now very caucious and make sure I am at all times aware of what she is doing!
• I love my horse!
• I feel blessed with so many good friends!
• I know she did not intentially do it, it was more a reaction than an intention! Herbivore’s and animals in general, don’t just decide they are going to bite to hurt you, as they just act in defense or react to something they don’t like or is irritating them. I was just at the wrong place, at the wrong time!

I’ll upload some photos once I get a chance to upload them

Thanks for reading