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.