Isn't she lovely?

I've been a bit busy lately to write in detail about horsey stuff. Sorry about that. All is well and Rainbow has been great to ride this week... Well, she has had a few 'banana-moments' which is pushing shoulder first and going sideways when I want her to turn... Hmmm. Mary Mare!! Just one corrective lesson was required today and I managed to fix a few problems that had crept in the last few months.

So, until I conjure up more topics to write about, I will leave you with this pic, as I think she looks so lovely in it. My darling horse. :)

How do you stop from falling off every time the bum comes up?!

My horse is a funny one; no vices, easy to handle and ride, except when we try to canter on a hack, the bum comes up. And, unfortunately, I don't stay on. I stay on for the little ones, if I am prepared. Last time I actually even managed to keep the leg on and push her forwards which stopped her from bucking more and to start cantering.

But the big ones... On Sunday I hit my face on R's neck and promptly slid off. She luckily stopped and I didn't fall badly, still holding the reins (as one of my big fears is to lose her when out, so I hang onto reins if I possibly can). The answer is, I am told, is to keep doing regular canters with her on hacks, so it loses its novelty, and also possibly to let her lead. Her bucking is merely exuberance. ...But what when the leading horse just starts cantering when I'm still trot-mode, and R clocks the cantering before me? The bum comes up.

I tried telling Rainbow that if Mummy falls off the fun stops, so she better make sure Mummy stays on, so we can have fun... I don't think she was listening. She was too concerned with staring at some dogs in the distance. 

Adding insult to injury, back at the yard on Sunday, another horse bit me in the eye! I was sorting out friend's horse's feeds and standing – not too close, or so I thought –  in between two stables. Piglet doesn't like Harvey, so she presumably tried to reach Harvey from her box but got me instead. WALLOP! Like being punched in the face. Came completely from left-field... Drew blood, a cut under my eye, and puffy too. Burst into tears. It had tipped me over the edge. Fooking horses.

On Monday morning, I went to the doctor's to show my eye to him. He looked rather concerned and puzzled; I was his first ever horse-bite patient. He had to take a guide book out to work out which antibiotics to prescribe... His fingers ran through the lines in the book... dog bites... cat bites... rodent bites... insect bites... hmmm....

Sometimes, just sometimes, I despair.

An A* frog

According to our hoof man Tim this is an A* frog. 

I'll take that! Tim wants to use Rainbow as a frog model sometime in the future, once the weather is a bit drier and we can take nice pics. This pic was taken today straight after he trimmed R's hooves.

Another busy week

I am sitting at home typing this as I am trying to get over a cold. Of course last week's busy schedule finally got the better of me and sent me straight to bed. Just about three days ago I had been boasting at the yard about not getting ill anymore and that I only get ill maybe once a year, but since dealing with mucking out and horses, i.e. exercise, outdoors and a healthy dose of muck/bacteria, I have become a lot more resistant to little sniffles. So, of course, I finally contracted what my partner had been carrying around for the past week, sniffling along as he went, and had to wave a white flag. 

I started new job last week, which I mentioned in my previous post, and that was a bit of a shock to the system. I had to go to the yard after work – in the dark! I have had it good for so long, being pretty much able to pick my times when I go to see Rainbow, so when I had to do what actually most people probably have to do – which is to see their horse after work – I felt slightly depressed. I am not as energetic after working a whole day in the office, whereas if I do horse stuff first, in the morning, it sets me up for the day and gives me energy. The wet weather didn't help either – it's quite challenging having to do everything in torch light and get very wet at the same time. It's also time-consuming, as I have to tie Rainbow up by her stable while I muck out, so she has to have 'raincoat' on while she stands waiting for me to finish mucking out. But what was nice about riding in the evening was that it made me feel energised again afterwards and I didn't feel as zombified when I got home than I might have done if I'd just come home and slumped in front of the TV.

I rode Rainbow on Saturday alone around the village, as I didn't have any friends to go out with. All went well despite the cold, blustery wind. I am lucky that my horse doesn't seem too bothered. I was probably more nervous, especially when the wind picked up behind us and was almost pushing us along. Rainbow was walking with pace, though not hurried, and the wind on my back brought an old Finnish rock song, Tahroja Paperilla, into my head. The lyrics which went: "... Voi tuuli kylmästi kutittaa selkää, Se eteenpäin työntää, älä siis pelkää..." (I won't translate the lyrics here other than roughly: 'when cold wind tickles your back, it pushes you forward, don't be afraid'). Rainbow's hooves were hitting the tarmac like a metronome and I sang in the saddle, as we pushed along in the blustery wind!

By Sunday, yesterday, I was feeling rather ill but had promised to go out with Anna – and Saturday's walk around the village wasn't really sufficient – so dragged myself to the yard and we went around our usual longer route around 'Churn'. Rainbow and Piglet were both well-behaved, except Rainbow caused a little kerfuffle in the middle of the main road when she spooked at a muntjac that was scampering in the bushes on the other side of the road. First I didn't know why R was suddenly so scared and head up, but luckily she didn't bolt off. We did a little circle in the middle of the road – cars were waiting on both sides of the road – but luckily Anna's Piglet wasn't worried, so they lead us on and Rainbow soon calmed down. 

Happy hackers