The way to heaven is on horseback

Today I have done absolutely nothing, I slept in this morning not getting up til lunch time because I was feeling rough, (my nephew had a stomach bug when I went over to stop last week and I think I've got some of that) and when I did get up I spent time doing last week's work on my Equine Nutrition course and tomorrow I will start this weeks, unfortunately this is the last week but then March 25th I'll be starting a photography course! My mum had to take my Brother to have some blood tests as they want to keep an eye on his white blood cells (I think) and she tried to take him to our local blood test clinic in the morning but they changed their starting times, so she was taking him to our main hospital in the afternoon and as my Dad was at work and my Uncle was away today I said that I would stay in and look after Nan. She slept the majority of the time other than when her phone rang and then she woke up. Just before my mum got in she asked me to make her a boiled egg...

I have got a friend that needs help, she wants to find her Percheron (I hope I spelt that right) a new forever home. He has a bit of a fear problem and would need some help but if your interested or no anyone that is interested please go over to her blog :) Click Hear to go over to Equine Journey's blog Until Next Time A Girl With A Dream 

This is only a quick post about my chaps as I just don't really feel like writing a long in depth post. Make : Loveson Size : Large  (I have big calfs)  Type : Half Chaps  I do really like them I have tried them on today and they fit really well, they are just a little bit stiff but I am sure that, that will change during the riding that is to come. I've shown them my nan and she seems to like them. The fur does make a difference and make them feel a little bit warmer. I really can't wait to try and ride in them. I chose the chocolate brown ones as the ones that were supposed to be 'black' weren't black. So here's some pictures :)  Until Next Time  A Girl With A Dream

On Sunday in the Early hours of the morning my nan took another fall, while she was trying to go to the toilet, (she has an en suite so it wasn't a long way for her to walk but she went all dizzy and then fell), and as she has a small compact bathroom she hit her head on the side of the bath. Today we had the Doctor out to see her and he was worried with the fact that her blood pressure drops so low when she stands up and when following the doctors finger when looking to the right her eye was jerking side ways but not to the left. So he said he wanted her to go in to a Day case unit and have a whole load of tests including a brain scan, blood tests and chest x-rays. He wrote a cover note/letter and my Uncle took my nan to the doctors. While she was there she had an ECG, blood tests and chest x-rays but no brain scan which was the most important one that she needed. They then told her that her blood pressure was fine but it was her heart that they were worried about. She never had ...

Today was my last riding lesson of the holidays before I go back to school and then will only be riding on Saturdays again but I will be trying to get up on occasional Mondays to help Elaine out. I started off by grooming Gatsby and surprisingly he wasn't that muddy again, is this a sign that spring is around the corner? But just as I was getting used to that idea it started to snow, turning Gatsby's back from black to white, it soon stopped with only occasional flakes of snow. Because he was so clean I decided that I was going to attempt to plait his tail, that didn't last for long and really didn't work so in the end I gave in and just tacked him up, one day I will be able to plait his tail just not today!  I started off by giving Gatsby a good ten minutes on a long rein allowing him to stretch and warm his muscles up before gradually picking up the contact and bringing him into a nice outline with a forward going walk, although I think that it could still do wit...

Today was my own a pony day with Gatsby at West Hallam Riding Centre, I had such a good day and a real laugh with all the people that were there. There was four of us on the own a pony day and Fiona was there but Elaine wasn't there. We started off by mucking the horses out I did Gatsby and Soly's Stable and took all the mess out and then in both of them we were putting them in a new bail of Sawdust (can't think what it is actually called), We did this quite quickly and again I put 10ibs of Haylage in his stable and did a 14ibs haynet of Haylage that was ready for him for tonight and will go in his stable later, Fiona, Jamie-Leigh and I then swept the yard as the other two girls that were there were a lot younger and quite small. We had a break and had something to drink and then went onto fetching the horses in Jaimie-Leigh and Fiona bought in Fussy and Hazel, then I bought in Rosie and Fiona bought in Corrie (I think), while we were doing this Jaimie-Leigh and the girls ...

While I was up at the stables yesterday, I decided that I would ask my riding teacher her opinion of the car verse horse situation. She agreed with my dad for a few different reasons and here they are:  If I don't have a car how can I get to my horse, I would constantly be relying on other people to take me there (as there isn't a bus root from mine to West Hallam), so if Mum OR Dad couldn't take me then I wouldn't be able to get up! :(  I'm going to University this September and am going to be doing a foundation year and then a three year photography course, so whilst I would have ALL summer, time would be come pretty tight after this and the horse wouldn't get the attention that they truly deserve, and that's not fair at all on the horse.  At the moment in time my stomach is in a good place, it's not hurting as much, I'm not on as many tablets and it's making it so that I am really able to concentrate on working hard, BUT I can't guara...

So this afternoon I went back up to ride Gatsby, I spent half an hour grooming him because before he decided to play he had a lovely rolling session in the field, so while I was doing this Fiona was lunging Romeo and Susan was lunging Fussy, so I had the whole yard to myself, then when they came back up I went down to ride Gatsby and Fiona held my stirrup while I got on because with him being so big I didn't want to get on him on my own because the mounting steps aren't that tall, so it can be quite a jump to get on him. The minute I got on him you could tell it was going to be interesting because he didn't want to stand still I had to do my stirrups while working round and attempt to do the girth while walking but that was pushing it too far so I told Gatsby to stand still and stop being a bugger while I did his girth up it took me three attempts but then he did eventually stand still, naughty pony. I did some warm up work but he was getting faster and being naughty so mo...

Today there will be two posts for all my lovely followers to read the first one is based on this morning and the second one will be based around the riding that I do in the afternoon and boy is that horse going to have to work hard! This morning I was up at the yard for 8:30 we started working sweeping the yard and then we were mucking out stables we did Fiona's four horses including her competition horse to start with and then I moved on to doing Rascals, Solomans and Gatsbys stables, and I'm sure Gatsby knew I was coming so thought he would be a pain and make his stable a million times worse than normal. I also learnt how to weight haylage when putting it in Gatsby's stable which I loved learning how to do it as never have I had to do it before. Then we had a really nice warm cup of tea to warm us up as were just a little bit chilly. Then it was time to bring in the horses and they were crazy today, the first horses that we were bringing in were Soloman and Romeo wel...

Today has been another long but fun day, it was today that I was going to be going out with some friends that I've known since I did my first work experience over 3 years ago and S was horse mad and just starting her lessons at parkside. Today we decided to make a day out of it and just have a laugh and have fun and the majority was a real giggle, so I'll get the bad bit out of the way first. We were driving a long the motorway and D was driving and there was a lorry on one side of us and on the other an AA van, and D had to slam his breaks on because this van started to swerve towards us and if D hadn't slimmed his breaks on the van would have drove into the side of us, but in the process their dog Tammy (who sits on the back seat) was slammed into the front passengers seat, the poor little pup. Other than that we had a good day we had a drive around the countryside and then went to this really nice fish and chip restaurant that I love and I love their chicken nuggets and...

Today was my day to go up to the stables and help out and I loved it. It's going to sound so weird but I really don't dislike mucking out stables, I started on Gatsby and probably spent the longest in his stable or maybe Solomans because they are both so messy, you'd think they would know that the hay that they have put in their stables is for them to eat not to take out of the hay net and then put it in the floor and play around with it. I really wonder where horses get these ideas from, maybe it's to imitate how they eat in the wild I really don't know but I would love to know. When we'd finished doing the stables (I did four of them) we then we swept the yard, so that it looked nice and neat and tidy for when the people riding came at 2pm. We then bought in the horses, Gatsby was so funny when we started getting ready to bring the horses in, he walked down towards the gate and he was getting all excited that he was coming in but because of the way that the h...

I hate them, this all started yesterday when my dad said that the money that I had got could buy me a decent mini as I love mini's and really want one, my instant reaction was NO that money is meant for my horse riding and for me to be able to buy my own horse! My mum then said to my dad that he should have known that, that was the reaction that he was going to get from me. However I then started to really think about the idea, a mini would allow me to go different places to do with riding and not have to rely on mum or dad or fit around my brothers schedule, it would then mean that when I did have my own horse I would be able to get to it. So I started to look around on the internet at used mini's as there is no way that I would be able to afford a brand new one, and I saw a few that were a reasonable price and that I liked the look of but then came the problem the Mini one is mainly a 1.6Litre Engine, which would be over £1000 in insurance, so I started to look for a Mini On...

You might think that this is a bit of a weird title post but by the end of this post it will become clear what it means. But before we move on to the riding part of my post, I'll do the everyday part.  To start with my mum had to take my dad to the doctors as he has been having a stiff neck and back and finding it really uncomfortable to move, they've referred him on to a physiotherapist. This afternoon I accompanied my mum on a business appointment. Early in the week she made three special hand made wedding cards for a family and the wedding invitations needed to be sent abroad so she only had two hours from the start til the end of the project.  They said that they would ring her back and sort out doing the rest of the cards. Today we went back to the same family and sorted out what we were doing for the bulk majority of wedding cards and then what we were doing for the other 10 Special cards for the same wedding. Now on to the riding, today I think that my riding w...

Hey guys today has been a long day and for some reason at this moment in time I keep going in to really deep sleeps during the night, but then when I wake up in the morning and all I want to do is carry on sleeping however the good thing about me going into a deep sleep is that I don't have nightmares or any dreams at all. Which is good as it means that I am not waking up several times in the night.  Today has been fairly uneventful and I am too tired to write in detail about what happened so here is an overview. To start the day off we went and did the food shopping, then I washed my hair, which just seems to be getting brighter and brighter. It was then time for sixth form and I had to write down what Evie was having for her meals at the sixth form ball because she has decided that she is going to the ball after all. I had double English and then this evening I just went to a youth group, Evie said that she was going to give me a lift back and at 9:00 she decided that she wa...

Hey guys,   Happy Valentines day, I hope that you all had a good day. I've been trying to think of a really interesting horse post that is something different to my everyday horse posts, I wanted it to be something unique but so far I haven't been able to decide what so if there is anything that you would like to see that is different to the normal things that I blog about then please let me know!  Today hasn't been the best of days, my mum had got a hospital appointment so I said that I would go with her because I had a lesson and then I had a free, so instead of going into Art and then coming home I didn't go in to sixth form until later in the day and went to the hospital with my Mum instead. To start with when we tried to park the car we found that both of the car parks were full, so we had to wait for 15 minutes for someone to leave the car park so that we could park the car. We were then waiting for her to see the consultant, and it was a nightmare, we wa...

Recently I've been talking to this girl on facebook that I've met a couple of times through Riding we'll call her A. She is such a sweet girl and lovely to chat to and we had got to know each other like I said through riding. When I went on facebook tonight it said that A had tagged me in a photograph, I was really confused because I hadn't seen her and thought she hadn't got any pictures of me but when I looked at it, it made sense. She had tagged me in a photograph she'd taken and wanted my opinion of her work. I felt so Privileged and honored that someone was looking to me for advice on their work. I told her what I thought and then she asked if I knew of any Editing software, my first thought was Photoshop but that was too expensive for her! So I did some looking and found a serif software that she could download for free and use to edit her photographs, she's currently downloading it and is asking me questions about what GCSE's I did and what could...

It seems to be that I am getting some good luck at the moment. As you all know I did an 'own a pony day' with Gatsby just after Christmas, then last Saturday I found out they were doing the pony club events but that there was also another 'own a pony day' over half term. Since Saturday I have been debating whether I wanted to do it or not, or more to the point, whether I could find a sensible reason for spending more money that I need to be saving up for my own horse! I eventually decided to ask my Nan if she will pay for part of the 'own a pony day' while I paid for the other part, this meant that I would pay the £10 deposit this Saturday to secure me a place, my Nan would then pay for the other £25 making it so that I could do the own a pony day! This means that my half term will be full of horse activities.  The first Saturday I have my grooming time and lesson with Gatsby, the plan is to build up working on my Canter work, so that slowly but surely I ha...

Today I decided that seeing as my day had been fairly boring and definitely not that horse related that I was going to do an Equine Wish list. But before I do that I will tell you what I did do today. When I woke up me and my mum went swimming, so that the evenings would be free for anything that my brother wanted to do. I then watched some of the programs that I like on telly this included, Jeremy Kyle, and two different 'Real Housewives series' and in one of them, their daughter got a pony for her 4th Birthday present. I don't half wish that was me! I then did this weeks bit on the Equine nutrition course, I wrote loads of notes, then left it a while to give it time to sink in before I did the assessment and then I did that too.  Now on to the Equine Wish List :)  NUMBER ONE: A HORSE!  Yep, the top of the list is my very own horse and one day that dream will come true, and I hope that all my lovely followers will be with me and able to see my journey to m...

With show season beginning in spring are you looking for a photographer that can take pictures of you, so that you know you will have memories of your show with your horse that will last forever? Well Rosamber photography wants to help you, you name it and we can do it. Something that could help you is comparison photographs, these are taken by Amber and you can have them based on the start of a s how day and then the end, or even the start of show season and then the end of show season, you can then look at them together and see now only how you have improved but also how your riding has changed during the season. If you have any questions about the work that we do then contact Amber, to do this please head over to the 'Contact Us' Page and fill in the form, we can then get back to you as soon as possible. For more information head over to our website - www.rosamberphotography.co.uk Check out our facebook page -http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rosamber-Photo...

First of all I wanted to take the time to say hello to all the new followers and thank you for stopping by my blog, I hope that you like it and enjoy what I have to put.  Today I have spent the day doing art work, I was focusing on finding an artist that works with bright colours as this is the question for my exam paper, I eventually found an abstract artist, that uses a wide variety of different colours. It was something that I really enjoyed and had fun doing. I liked looking at the way that he worked and the paintings that he did. It was fun and an artist that I will remember.  I haven't really done much else, because my art took a  long time to do and I wanted to make sure that it was the best I could do so that I can pick up as many marks as possible, it also means that I can have tomorrow off and that I do not have to do any art in the morning. I have also spent some time reading a book, the book is about the Salem Witches and the murders, it's kind of grue...

these are video's to show how I am building up my canter work whether it's only a step or two it's better than what i was doing which was shocking but also gatsby is having to be retaught because he doesn't know what people expect of him when cantering. So it's partly my fault and partly his but we will get there in the end! I would also like to say that the last video is not my best work as i tend to really struggle on the right rein as I am sure that you can tell but for those of you that have been following my blog a long time you will know the reasons behind this but you will also know that my canter work used to be wild and out of control. Now the few bits of canter work that I do get is calm and under control. If you have any questions about this let me know :) While some parts look awful they aren't as bad as they look we were just struggling to get balanced!  Until Next Time  A Girl With A Dream 

Today was a lesson riding Gatsby, I was soo excited there's something about this horse that just makes me want to ride to my best ability. I groomed him and brushed him until he was all soft and shiny which wasn't easy because he's legs are not clipped so they tend to get covered in mud. Then it was time to get on Gatsby and I had got a lesson to myself as Jaimie-leigh wasn't there. We decided that I was going to work even harder on my canter work and get Gatsby and me really working.  The lesson started off really well, with Gatsby walking on a loose rein really stretching out, and Fiona asked me if it was okay with both me and my mum if she could use pictures of me and Gatsby riding for her business cards and posters, of course we said yes and it was funny because Gatsby started nodding his head as if he was saying yes too. We then started picking up a contact and he started working in a really nice outline, you could see his muscles working and he felt soo good!...