A genuine love for no stirrup work & Meet the newest member

Yesterday I had a really good ride on Gatsby. The weather has become really hot these past few days making it hotter than anything that Gatbsy or I am used to, so while I wanted to do something productive I also didn't want to over heat either one of us. Fiona said from the beginning that we wouldn't do canter work or jumping, out of the three horses (Rascal, Gatsby and Rosie) Gatsby is the worst colour for attracting heat and also the one who attracted flies the most.

When I got there, I spent some time grooming him and giving him so love, he was so shiny! It was like looking in a mirror, I then tacked him up making sure to put his ear covers on, this was the hardest thing for me as he doesn't like having his ears touched but he is getting so much better at it! I then also made sure to put some fly repellant on him with the hope that it would help to keep the flies at bay, unfortunately they still kept attacking him.

When we got on we spent some time walking around getting him to stretch long and low, as Alice was in the lesson yesterday we all had to get used to moving with three in the school instead of two of us. He was warming up well but you could tell that he was suffering with the flies. We moved on to trot making sure to do short burst of trot work and walking in-between. I decided that I would like to do some work without stirrups as it's something that I am really enjoying doing. The minute I took my saddle away I could feel that his saddle was tipping me one way, so I had to work on keeping my core muscles nice and strong and not letting him tip me, which was easier to do when I got him trotting. The amazing thing for me was the minute that I went in to trot without stirrups I got some lovely outline work. He was curved and looked so nice! He felt amazing and it made sitting his trot easier and also made me feel more comfortable allowing me to push for a more active trot with him. We then walked around to cool him down for a bit.

I can't believe how easy it is these days for me to get him in an outline. I remember first trying to get an outline out of him and it was something that I'd never done before I struggled with it so much. These days I find it so much easier to do and once I get him in it he stays in it, it takes just small tweaks of the rein to get him to stay in an outline and this is something that I never thought I was going to be able to do. My riding is really progressing with plenty of help from Fiona and Gatsby. I like how Gatsby and I are kind of progressing together slowly, we are both learning and trying new things that wouldn't be possible for me without West Hallam Riding Centre!

Meet the newest member at West Hallam Riding Centre! This is Sam. He arrived last week and has a really sweet nature to him, he seems over so gentle and genuine and I can't wait to see how he progresses in the future.This isn't the best photo as he was obsessed with eating, so I will try and get a better photograph

Gatsby before my lesson, the photo is a bit blurred but I love it none the less, you can see how shiny he was before I got on him and also the fact that he was about ready to fall asleep! This heat is just to much.

Until Next Time

A Girl With A Dream

CON ARTIST - NICKI WILLIAMS - BEWARE

Okay so this post has taken me a while to post for several reasons but the main one being just how angry this woman has made me. For those of you that have been following my blog for a long while you will know that back around October of 2016, I was introduced to a woman called Nicki Williams, she was a friend of a friend that was supposed to be opening a centre for rehoming and rescuing animals, but also for horses working with soldiers that has PTSD. We hit it off straight away and came what I thought to be good friends. However warning bells should have probably rang sooner. By January or February of last year the horses that I had agreed to look after (that she had got on loan) Bella and Arthur, she was being threatened that she would have them taken off her by the control of horses act, because she hadn't been paying the rent for the field. Although Nicki reassured me that she had done, she even showed my 'payments' that had been made to Angie. I ended up getti...

Just as you think things are getting better they prove not to be.

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 ...

an intense few days.

The past few days have been INTENSE to say the least. Both days have been filled with horsey madness and while I am aching now I feel good for managing to accomplish everything that I have done. There will be some video's soon but I honestly just haven't got around to uploading them and editing them so as soon as I do that I'll let you know and you can all see. Yesterday I went up to do Magic, after all the ponies nearly escaped from the field I eventually managed to convince him to come and do some work. He had a really nice groom and fuss, which he LOVED. Then I put his bridle with his new reins on, and his lunge cavesson (not sure if I have spelt that right), we lunged nicely for both ways doing walk, trot and canter. Then out of no where going to the right he exploded. I couldn't see anything that had happened so assumed he was just having one of his moments and that he would be fine and calm down, but that I might need to free school him first. So I did what I...

The way to heaven is on horseback

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