Hack around the village

Finally, nearly after two weeks of being cooped within the boundaries of the yard and indoor school, we managed to get out for a gentle walk hack. We went out with our stable neighbours Sharon and Lenny. Lenny had a 'hot hoof' and Sharon was concerned, so we decided to keep it gentle. No trotting, but walked around the whole village. 

The Sun was out and even though it was rather windy, both horses behaved themselves impeccably. Only at one spot, where we know two bearded collies (I think that's what they are) live, they always jump up to their garden fence and bark at the passing horses. They're a bit annoying as they don't start barking when they see the horses in the distance, but just when we get to them, so, if the horse hasn't managed to clock the dog before, it comes as a surprise. I'd prefer they'd bark from a distance! 

When we got to where the dogs were and the barking began, I was pleased even though Rainbow did the classic "I'm scared-stop-hop" – I can't describe it, like freezing still by doing a little jump and glaring at the source of the terror – she listened to my onward commands. I kept just talking to her and she clearly listened to my alternating Praise & Calm sentences: 'That's it, move on, good girl... That's it, onwards, good girl..." I think the gentleman on the pavement found it quite amusing. 

I have a busy working week ahead, so I need to plan R's week meticulously to fit it all in. Will ride her tomorrow but then give Tuesday off, me thinks... The problem with turning out at the moment is that the fields, now that the snow has melted, are full of water. The ground water table is so high it's seeping through and up. When I inspected our paddock, small pools of water had formed to every single hoof pressing (and there are a lot of them!)... Slightly depressing.

Here's to really, really hoping that we'll have a lovely and DRY summer 2013. These last 12 months have been pretty testing.

Equine Nutrition

Today we have dressage lesson again. I haven't been in the saddle for a couple of days, as let Rainbow to be used on a lesson on Tuesday. She's often used on the evening lesson on Tuesdays, as it's 'better riders' lesson and there's a lady who quite likes Rainbow, so I let her to be used on that lesson. This means that I get a day off and she gets moved a good hour. 

Yesterday I asked Annika to jump Rainbow, as I haven't jumped her for a long while. Suffering from lack of confidence on that front at the moment, but will do some pole work and low jumping soon. I think a private lesson with Annika is in order. I am sensing that Rainbow is a bit bored with flatwork at the moment. However, I decided it's good for us to take a step back in the sense that we can work on the very basics, such as routes and straightness before we do other stuff. So that's why the dressage lesson this afternoon.

Also the wintry weather has meant that we haven't been out hacking at all, because of ice. The horses here don't have stud shoes, so even walking across the car park, to our own paddock, has to be performed with calmness and precision to avoid slippages. But the snow is melting and temperatures are on the up now, so hopefully we can take a little walk around the village by next week.


But to actually match my post title, I want to share this with you. I have signed up to free online course, run by University of Edinburgh, on Equine Nutrition, starts on 28th Jan. Might be of interest to my fellow horsey people! Have a look.

Coursera - Equine Nutrition

The day snow came...

The effect of a bit of white stuff on this little island is magnificent. Everything grinds to a halt and people are very unsure as to how to function normally. Traffic, mainly, suffers the most, as cars are not equipped with winter tyres, so moving becomes treacherous.

My car doesn't have winter tyres either, but luckily we have another car, a 4x4 which has winter tyres, so I could make the journey to the yard almost as normal today. Cars without winter tyres were struggling up the slightest gradient. At one point I actually overtook three vehicles – Ka,  Fiesta and Sainsbury's van – in one go and uphill! At full 30mph! Made my day.

We are meant to go to Paris for a day tomorrow. Here's to hoping trains run...


Horses, however, seemed quite bemused by the white stuff. 

Stables this morning

Rodney is unsure

My new wheelbarrow!

Rainbow and Zara were quite bemused by snow. They rolled around in it (good, cleans the rug at the same time!)

Kysymyshaaste

Apologies to those who don't read Finnish, but I was sent a question challenge by a co-blogger, so I am just doing this one in Finnish. You may be able to use Google Translate to get the gist. I am too lazy to re-write this in English. In the future, I will stick to English!

Kerro 11 faktaa itsestäsi

Vastaa haastajan 11 kysymykseen

Keksi 11 uutta kysymystä

Haasta 11 bloggaajaa, joilla on alle 200 lukijaa

Kerro bloggaajille että olet haastanut heidät

1 Olen suomalainen ja muutin Englantiin vuonna 2002.

2 Olen melkein 30-vuotias, mika kauhistuttaa minua, silla virallisesti minun pitaisi olla kypsa

aikuinen, ainakin ikavuosien puolesta.

3 Olen ainoa lapsi. Toivottavasti se ei maarita minua kauheasti, mutta puolisoni ja ihmiset, jotka

todella tuntevat minut saattavat olla eri mielta. Mielestani en ole itsepainen tai aina halua tahtoani

lapi… :)

4 Koulutodistusten mukaan puhun kuutta kielta. Todellisuudessa olen sujuva vain kahdella.

5 Minulla on synnynainen sydanvika ja minulla on ollut sydamentahdistin vuodesta 1998 asti

(patterit vaihdettiin viimeksi vuonna 2006). Sydanvika ei hairitse elamaa, mutta lentokentilla en

mene metallinpaljastimen lapi, vaan minut kopeloidaan kasin. Se on yleensa aika virkistavaa!

Laakarien mukaan en myoskaan saa pelata amerikkalaista jalkapalloa tai itsepuolustuslajeja, ettei

tule iskuja tahdistimeen. En ole kysynyt, etta saako pudota hevosen selasta…

6 Tykkaan viinista seka portviinista, seka G&T:sta… Seka Margarita-cocktaileista, erityisesti niista

joita join Los Angelesissa… En tosin juo paljoa… Oikeasti! Tykkaan myos laskettemisesta, ruoan

laitosta, TV:sta ja elokuvista. Kuuntelen myos musiikkia, seka teen kasitoita silloin talloin. Olen siis

aika tylsa perustyyppi.

7 Pidan Britannian kuninkaallisista. Olin Katen ja Williamin haissa heiluttamassa The Mallilla,

kun koko perhe ajoi ohitse molempiin suuntiin. Todistin myos parvekesuudelman. Olen kaynyt

Buckingham Palacessa ja nahnyt Katen haapuvun aivan lahelta.

8 Minulla on nelja kanaa, jotka on nimetty minun ja puolisoni isoaitien mukaan: Aili, Kerttu, Elsie

ja Muriel.

9 Minulla on myos kaksi kissaa – Kay ja Percy.

10 Puolisoni ja mina harrastamme vanhoja autoja (paaosin 20- ja 30-lukulaisia).

11 Pidan Englantia toisena kotimaanani ja yritan olla kyynelehtimatta, kun lentokone laskeutuu

Heathrowlle. Itkin myos koko Lontoon Olympialaisten lapi... Samoin, jos kuulen God Save the

Queen kansallislaulun tai Jerusalem virren. 

1     1. Mikä ärsyttää tällähetkellä eniten hevosharrastuksessa?

Rahanpuute, tai se etta sen takia minun tarvitsee katsoa etta mita ostan ja mita en – ja rukoilla, ettei heppa sairastu/telo itseaan pahasti. Samoin taytyy vahan miettia montako yksityistuntia  viikossa sita itselleen kustantaa. Ja vaikka hevosharrastus on kivaa, niin se etten luultavasti paase laskettelemaan tana vuonna on myos vahan masentavaa – eli rahanpuute!

2. Milloin koit viimeksi ahaa-elämyksen, ja mikä se oli? (liittyen hevosharrastukseen)

Koen niita melkein viikottain, kun hyva opettaja auttaa jonkun asian suhteen. Viimeksi ehka kun kouluratsastusope auttoi minua saamaan Rainbown menemaan mutkittelematta suoraan.

3. Jos sinulla olisi mahdollisuus valita ihan mikä tahansa kuljetuskalusto (auto + traileri, tai ihan hevoskuorma-auto jne) niin millaisen auton/yhdistelmän valitsisit ja miksi? 

Taman! Varikin on silmaa hiveleva… http://www.greatcompetitions.co.uk/equi-trek/ – osallistun kilpailuun joka vuosi, mutta viela ei ole tarpannyt…

4. Missä näet itsesi vuonna 2026?

Taytyi ihan laskeskella, etta kuin vanha olen vuonna 2026. Olen 43 silloin… Toivottavasti minulla on perhe ja sellainen tyotilanne etta voin mukavasti harrastaa enemman kuin tyoskennella ;)

5. Mikä on hevosesi paras ja huonoin piirre/ominaisuus? miksi? 

Minun hevoseni on aika mukava, todella lempea sielu ja erittain pitkamielinen. Tosin tammana han valilla osoittaa, etta mina en ole kaikista vakuuttavin ‘leader’, joten minun taytyy osata olla valmiina osoittamaan hanelle, etta han on erittain vaarassa.

6. Lempi varusteesi, hevosen varuste tai hoitotarvike/tuote, miksi? 

Mina tykkaan ehka eniten Cabotswood country bootseistani. Ne ovat kuin kengat (eli eivat lompsu, kuten kumisaappaat) mutta ovat taysin vedenpitavat. Hoidan niita (erittain harvoin tosin) satularasvalla ja oljylla, ja taas menevat kuukausitolkulla kaikissa saissa. Olen myos rakastunut uuteen kottikarryyni, jonka sain joululahjaksi puolisoltani.

7. Jos kilpailet, mikä motivoi kehittymään ja kilpailemaan (ratsun tai ravurin kanssa)?

Kilpailen vahasen ja epavirallisissa tallin omissa kilpailuissa. Itsensa ylittaminen ja yhteistyon hiominen motivoivat. Ehka me joskus uskaltaudutaan tallin omien kilpailujen ulkopuolelle.

8. Jos voisit muuttaa jonkun asian, ihan minkä vain, mitä muuttaisit nykyisestä ja miksi? 

En osaa sanoa. Asiat ovat aika mallillaan noin yleisesti.

9. Jos saisit valita maan, lajin ja hevosen, missä olisit valmentautumassa tai kilpailemassa, mitä lajia ja millä hevosella? Miksi? 

Asun Englannissa, joten taalla pysyisin, silla on hyvat mahkut harrastaa ja kehittya. Ehka kouluratsastusta tai hyppaamista, omalla hepalla.

10. Jos joutuisit vaihtamaan hevostasi jonkun ystäväsi/tutun kanssa, kenen tai millaiseen hevoseen vaihtaisit ja miksi? Ei ole pakko nimiä kertoa! :) 

Talla hetkella eivat muiden pollet viehata. Tykkaan omastani ja meidan omista jutuista.

11. Mainitse yksi asia, tapahtuma, ihan mikä vain, mitä odotat kaikista eniten vuodelta 2013, ja miksi juuri sitä?

En viitsi tanne laittaa ja pilata kaikkia mahdollisuuksia. Sen verran taikauskoinen.

Minulla ei ole ketaan kelle lahettaa tama kysymyshaaste, joten anna anteeksi Johanna, mutta toivottavasti tykkasitte lukea!

Time to focus – Plan for 2013

I am not particularly ambitious horsewoman or sportsperson. I don't ride because I am aiming to compete in lots of levels of various disciplines. I ride because I love being around horses and I love my own little skewbald ray of sunshine. That's all. Perhaps that makes me a little boring and, I have noticed, that my posts here tend to scrape a bit of surface of 'training' but I am writing more about general life with my horse. I hope that interests some of you, but a hardcore training blog this ain't. 

However, that doesn't mean I don't have some targets that I would like to achieve with Rainbow and things that I strive towards. I thought I would list a few, also to help me put things in order 'on paper', so I can look back later this year and see if any of them have become a reality.

What we have done so far...

We spent from August until end of last year attending fortnightly private lessons with Claire and then also attended group lessons, mainly for their social aspect. I find that as I have developed in my riding – a little! – the group lessons are becoming less useful for me, because we tend to do simplistic exercises like trotting around the school, doing circles and raising canter. However, I am not a master of them! In fact, pure circles are our bugbear! Simply struggling with them. 

We have also done occasional pole work and jumped little jumps. I have taken R to group lessons so that, as a young horse, she gets exposed to many situations and I get to ride her for an hour without having to do all the thinking in terms of what exercises we should do. I also find that I am not yet quite good enough to always know if I am riding well or how to fix something without the help of a pair of eyes on the ground, i.e. an instructor. Without instructor, our riding sessions are more often than not a little haphazard and not quite trying hard enough. I am not quite structured enough in myself to produce planned and smooth 'training' sessions on our own. I think I lack vision. Or perhaps I am comparing myself too much to other people – on blogs and otherwise – who seem to be training their horses in a particular way and know every time what they are doing with them from the moment they jump on.

Plan for 2013

This year Rainbow is 6, so still a young horse. I haven't yet taken her anywhere outside the yard and never tried to box her, so I think that will be one of the plans for this year. On the basis of her exuberant performance, to my detriment, in the show-jumping field in last September, I am aware that she could get excitable if I take her somewhere in public. Before I know how she is going to behave, I am not sure I want to sit on her. Don't fancy doing some fun impromptu rodeo display... But an outing would be good, so I am thinking of showing her in hand! I am not too fussed about rankings in such competitions, but the experience of going somewhere would be good. However, quite often, when I have taken her out on a hack around the village, people have stopped to sigh and comment on how beautiful my horse is (really!). So she may possess some of that je ne sais quoi, which could bring some success in the ring... One can dream!  

I am not so into show-jumping at the moment, so I will ask Annika to compete with Rainbow and keep her jumping going. I don't mind little cross-poles, etc. but realistically I am not up for competing...yet. I much prefer concentrating on schooling Rainbow and developing my technique. 

I have started attending private lessons with a new lady (to us) who has performed miracles on many in our yard. Her speciality is dressage. Last week on our first lesson, she actually got us going in a straight line for the first time. Sounds simple, and I am sure we manage it sometimes, but R does like to wiggle about and bend her neck in places where she shouldn't. Anyway, I felt good and capable again after the lesson, so will be reporting on how we get on. She's also good at correcting my riding, especially as I said I am a little bored of instructors telling me "kick", or "give more leg" when I feel that I have given my all and can't squeeze anymore – and I don't like the way I have to 'kick' Rainbow and, as a result, I can see my riding becoming really ugly. I don't mean visually, but towards Rainbow. Through frustration. I become an ugly rider and my horse less and less responsive. I want to learn effective ways of waking R up and asking for things from her. My new instructor said that overall I need to become more black and white with her, so when I ask something it happens now, not in a while. I know... I know... 

But she also said that obviously must be taken into account that she is a mare, which means she has more of her own ideas and things take more negotiation sometimes. Great – two stubborn mares against each other ;)

I recently heard a great quote, which has tickled me: Tell a gelding, ask a mare, discuss it with a stallion. 

Will also try to give a bit more 'technical' reportages to satisfy those who may prefer to read on more rigorous 'training' (I still can't bring myself to write the word 'training' without quotes, as I am not sure we're quite there yet.)

And last but not least, I am looking forward to lovely hacks around the country and perhaps we can muster a few safe but satisfying canters too. 

The day when Mummy cut my fringe too short...!

Bit of this and that

I have had quiet couple of weeks on the work front, so I have had more than plenty of time to spend with my horse. I am still not really allowed to do heavy mucking out, but I have to, so I am trying to do it as sensibly and calmly as possible. The job has been made easier by a new wheelbarrow, which I got for a Christmas present from Tim (he's a clever boy; doesn't lavish me with jewellery but buys me something useful!). Will post a picture of it soon! I know how you all are gagging to see it. ;)

Carting about

Last Saturday I was taken for a drive by a chap from our yard who drives his horse. It was fun and I was given the reins for a bit too, so that was a first for me! I am now seriously considering training Rainbow for driving too. It might be a good thing to do, a bit of variety for both of us, and as I have someone at the yard who'd be willing to break her in and teach me too, it might be too good a chance to let go by.

Here a little taster from our drive:

Beau (I hope I've spelled her name correctly!) is a lovely mare, well behaved and ever so fit; we literally trotted around most of the way. And I have just checked, using an online tool, how long our loop was and it tells me it's around 6.5 miles. And, at the end, on the home straight, we let her go as fast as she wanted – and we went like the clappers. Some people on the pavement stopped to look as don't think they were sure if we were just having fun or a bit out of control...!

Beau's owner is a seasoned horseman who has been with horses most of his life, owning and racing them. In fact, having spent the hour carting about with him and his horse, I felt quite confident as a result and took Rainbow for a hack around the village – on our own! (A rare occurrence) Assimilating myself with Beau's owner's way of dealing with his horse, e.g. keeping a vocal contact with the horse – obviously more important in driving than riding, as don't have body aids so much – which pretty much stops any silliness. If the horse as much as looked at anything, he would just say 'Get on!' and the horse would. I did the same with Rainbow and not a single silly glance, spook or hesitation. It was Such. A. Nice. Hack. 

Other events this week

Rainbow got shod this week. She has fairly slow growing hooves, so she only really needs doing every 8 weeks (suits me!). However, due to the holidays and her farrier being off sick last week, it ended up being 9 weeks since the last shoeing, so I was getting a little desperate/worried.

I've decided to try Rainbow shoeless for a while. The reasons are three-fold: a) Cost – new set every 8 weeks costs £65.00. I am already forgoing a ski holiday this year for this horse... So any savings I can make I will... b) Due to the ground being quite soft in the winter and realistically Rainbow doesn't do hard work – a bit of schooling and happy hacking – she doesn't really need to be shod all the time. c) She has really good feet.

So all I can do is see how it goes and go from there. It may be I will shoe her for the summer if the ground is hard and we want to do lots of stuff... Anyway, when I bought her, she only had front shoes as she doesn't really need a full set. I only got a bit scared in August when, after a hack, noticed some little dents in her back hooves as a result of walking in rocky terrain. It actually wasn't anything to worry about and they quickly 'filed' themselves off when I put R in the field for a couple of days.

The long and short of it is: we have taken back shoes off and left fronts on for now. If she's coping well, then, next time, will remove front shoes too. This was the farrier's recommendation, take them off in two goes, not at once, and to avoid any chance of infections in the hooves, etc. Not exactly sure about the rhetoric, but doing this way as know she's fine on front hooves shod and hinds without. I have 8 weeks to plan the next move.

First time I was at the yard when R got shod – she behaved impeccably.

I know this is a horsey blog but I couldn't resist adding these two snaps of our girls, which I took in our garden this afternoon. Finally managed to capture them all in one shot!

In this one, Aili the chicken, has wandered into the picture of Percy the cat.

Happy New Year

Rainbow spent a peaceful Christmas in the field with friends. She also spent a peaceful New Year in the field. Lucky horse. 

I managed to get in some riding too and it's been rather nice to have lots of time to potter around in the yard. Although sometimes I am quite horrified how I can spend around 4 hours a day there and not even notice the time passing... 

But, we have learnt something new over the past few weeks, too: turning on the forehand! She turns well to the right (by which I mean her face facing left and the backside moving to the right). She learnt it almost instantly. First she struggled a bit with turning to the left (facing right and backside moving leftwards), but after a bit of more explicit persuasion, and not letting her back or walk, she began to grasp that quickly, too. As a result, I have learnt that my horse is a very quick learner and eager to please: When I praised her after a success – and let her walk on as a reward – then, a moment later, when I asked her to halt again and do the harder left-turn, pressing with my right leg, she began to turn into my leg, offering me the easier right turn. Bless, eager to please but not quite right. Today we did a bit more forehand turn and again, and eager to please, this time she began turning even when I only asked her to halt squarely. So, in the end we had to 're-practise' simple halting with her for a few times at the end of the session, to stop her offering me forehand turns every time!

---

The only niggly thing has been my back pain, which has been bothering me quite a few weeks now and thus made riding a bit unpleasant. I am also having to work quite hard with Rainbow to keep her mind on the task, to stop any silly 'spookiness'. She's been a lot better, though, but I am having to ride her with purpose to keep her that way. 

I went to see an osteopath this morning. I have muscle pains and aches here and there, which I can mainly identify having been caused by mucking out and perhaps riding, too. Although, riding is the lesser evil – as long as I don't fall off! My osteopath has suggested that I'd lay off mucking out for a couple of weeks to give my back a break... I need to find out how costly it will be to keep R on 'full livery' for a bit. I did muck her out today and definitely could feel the muscles hurting the osteopath had manipulated this morning, so I think it might be sensible to have a little break. I will still ride and groom R but not do the heavy wheelbarrowing... Will see.