Nothing to report

Apologies for the silence but I have nothing major to report. Life is rolling on as usual and all is well with Rainbow too... She's looking a healthy and a happy horse, so I am happy too. She's a bit slim, but not thin – actually looking quite toned – and has a good appetite. I still feed her hay and sometimes haylage, with a nuts and chaff combo dinner, garnished with NAF Pink Powder and a splash of Flaxoil. Sometimes with carrots added in. She always polishes her dinners off with enthusiasm :)

Although had a little funny episode a couple of weeks back (the first 'season' of the season, perhaps?!) when Miss was a little excitable. It was only one day of funny business, stepping about and neighing, so rode her a very short time to spare myself from anything too exciting. 

We are still doing flatwork lessons and I also accompanied a friend on another instructor's lesson on Monday where we did pole-work. My friend's horse is recovering from various problems he's had, so they are not allowed to jump. So my friend asked me if I wanted to share a lesson. I think R enjoyed it – got her grey matter going as she had to look where to put her feet! In trot she didn't look at the poles too much but as soon as we tried one in canter (cantering in a fairly tight circle, which is not easy for us yet), she instantly had to hop over the pole. Quite funny really, as long as I know to anticipate it. 

I also noticed she looked at the poles more, especially in canter, if I was being a bit wishy washy in my approach. Because as soon as I knuckled down a bit more and steered R in a 'harder' way – with more purpose – she seemed to believe me and just went where I wanted her to go. No looking down at the poles or being hesitant. So, again, a valuable lesson on being a leader. 

Tomorrow we have dressage lesson and Friday I am practising lunging. I have found a lady at the yard who is good at lunging and willing to teach me. I have never lunged a horse before owning Rainbow, so it's almost a skill like riding that one has to learn. You may wonder what the problem is, but Rainbow is not the easiest of 'lungees' – she tends to take the mick if you don't know what you're doing, so I have decided not to do it on my own until I am confident I can do it, because I don't want to give upper hand to Rainbow too easily.

Here some latest rug fashions. The cold weather persists (the coldest March for 50 years here in the UK) I decided to buy my horse a new stable rug, which looks a lot like a duvet! But at least she's toasty.

This rug was kindly donated by Johanna when I visited her in December. It fits Rainbow perfectly and is an ideal under-fleece, too, when combined with the 'duvet' above.

Happiness is just a hoofbeat away!

Enjoy and happy happiness day, by the way!

Happiness is just a hoofbeat away

Back from hols

Had a good couple of weeks off in the French Alps. We got back last night and I have been a bit knackered all day after the over 800 mile drive from Bourg St Maurice to Oxfordshire. But I wasn't allowed to feel too tired for too long, as I had to pick up the cats from cattery and count my chickens in the garden and go clean up / ride Rainbow... :)

Horse riding has definitely benefitted me on the skiing front too; being a lot fitter and having 'trim' leg muscles helped me tackle even trickier terrain and moguls better this time. I also didn't feel such 'thunder thighs' after a few days of skiing, when my leg muscles suddenly decide to expand, but actually my legs just took all the skiing in their stride and I could still fit in my jeans on the way home –Yay! Thank goodness for our equine friends who keep us fit!

Will be getting back in to horsey stuff in the coming weeks and will keep you posted. Here a few pics from the day before I went away, as Rainbow was having her shoes done and it was such a warm day, I had to take a few snaps. Felt like the first day of spring. It went downhill from there, as, this Sunday, most of Oxfordshire received a freakish dump of snow! I saw some pictures on Facebook. However, it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. No sign of it by the time we got home.

All cleaned and polished before Mummy went away

Girl's got to treat herself to a pair of new shoes occasionally...

I know it's a horsey blog but here a picture of me on top of a glacier  in Tignes – one of the resorts we skied in. (The peaks in the background are distant mountains... Not sure the depth aspect in this photo is quite right, but hope it makes sense.)

While I was whizzing down the mountains, Rainbow was kept relatively busy. I received a lovely update from Annika, a text which read: 

Hi mummy. Just had a lovely hack. Was really brave last Friday and jumped big jumps with Annika. Hope you are having a great holiday. See you soon. Love, Rainbow.

Accompanied by a photo:

Awww.... x x

Winter holidays looming

We did our usual Thursday dressage lesson. This time in the morning, as I had other things to do in the afternoon and one lady has stopped attending in the morning, due to being pregnant, so her slot was given to us. I prefer riding in the morning and I think Rainbow does too. We're OK in the evening/afternoon but somehow it's just more productive for both of us in the first half of the day...

Anyway, we practised the same moves as before: formation, routes and transition. Nothing too exciting but hard enough for us. Rainbow has started to learn that when we have our Thursday lesson there's no point trying to get away with not working, as I am not letting her get away with anything. But I hope the good feeling of a job well done and praise also transmit to her in the instant, during and after finishing the lesson, because she gets a lot of praise – and always a Polo mint from our instructor too – a nice touch!

Thursday's lesson wasn't remarkable but I did get her to trot in formation without trying too hard. My instructor is brilliant: she instantly sees if I am struggling with something, and helps to take a step back, asking me to make a little adjustment, e.g. turning hand or giving rein in one hand, more/less leg, transferring weight, etc. and suddenly things start to gel! Amazing. She is worth her weight in gold.

I haven't schooled Rainbow own our own for a while. I have been riding her on lessons mainly, except hacking out of course. Also the busy indoor school hasn't always been inviting. I like to have space around me, not have other riders whizzing past us left, right and centre! Plus I have suffered from slight loss of confidence, so I have been thinking it's better to ride under instruction so I can concentrate on the riding and not feel quite so alone with trying to do something 'interesting' with Rainbow. And I appreciate the instant feedback of an instructed lesson. 

I decided to school Rainbow on my own yesterday and the school was practically empty, so it was a bliss for a while. I decided to warm her up well and we walked around a fair amount, until trotting and doing circles, and then cantering on the track and in circles. We were working well for about 15 minutes and took advantage of the whole school until it became busier. As soon as I felt that Rainbow was warmed up and we were finally trotting in a 'flying' manner, working fully, she must have also sensed this elation and decided to have a 'look' (= mini-spook evasion) at one of the fences in the corner of the school. We'd been past that corner about 20 times by then, so it was nothing new. I was annoyed with her because it was a pure excuse. I slowed us down to walk and walked around the newly scary corner, constantly asking for forward movement and formation, if she forgot. She looked a little but didn't evade. I repeated this again and then picked up trot again, past the scary corner. Again, constantly asking for things, simultaneously staying as relaxed as I could, but poised to take action if she decided to continue taking the p***. And surely enough, the corner was no longer scary. But she has to try! She did a similar thing on our Thursday lesson too, this time about some poles on the ground. Well, she didn't get away with it – I took her around in walk and then in trot, asking for things so she didn't have a choice except to go past. 

This coming week is a bit bitty on the horsey front, as I am off on holiday. Rainbow is getting a little break too but I have arranged some work for her during this time as I don't want to return to a wild horse ;)

Here a couple of pictures of us from yesterday. Some of them a bit shaken but you'll get the gist.

I need to start working on lengthening my stirrup leathers! 

Happy Friday!

Haynets are for wimps. True winners eat straight from the barrow.

Picture challenge - Summer Pics

My fellow blogger, Johanna, challenged me to post some summer pictures on my blog. I guess it's the winter that just keeps plodding on that makes us want to look back to the summer days. 

The challenge doesn't have any particular rules, can have as many pics as I like. The only rule is that each picture should have a one-word caption. 

I only bought Rainbow in July 2012, so I don't have that many summery pictures yet... And having flicked through what I have, all I can say that boy what a wet summer we had here in the UK! 

I've put the pictures in a loose chronological order, starting with the very first picture of us together. Hope they make sense :)

Together

Vetting

Mine

Lush

Wet

Mates

"The A-Team" ;)

"The A-Team Vol.2"

Now, the rules didn't mention videos.... Here's one of the first videos of Rainbow from last summer. I love the way she comes really close to the camera and clearly is only after treats. I know my place... :)