The way to heaven is on horseback

Another eventful day has been had today but it ended in wicked horse time at the stables! What more could a girl ask for right?  Mondays means its a full day at uni followed by rushing to the stables and then chilling out. This afternoon I had my lesson on Gatsby where we worked on cantering and oh my god it was amazing. The transitions were not always the best but we are working on that, we cantered a lot, managing to go from one point to the next point without breaking from the canter. We did lots of circles and long side combinations and it felt so good! After the canter work that we did on saturday I was really really expecting my canter to be shocking today but I just managed to get on with it put saturday behind me and do what I do best, enjoy my time with a wonderful horse. We are also now getting to the point where I can work Gatsby in to an outline in-between the moments of canter that we are getting.  Then it was time for Pony Club, we started off the evenin...

Well guys, I don't think that this post is going to be very long from me as I am still not quite 100%  back to normal. I've been on antibiotics all week for my throat but that is not getting any better and my ear is now starting to get painful as to. So I think on a day off I need to get back to the doctors.  Saturday I had my weekly lesson on Gatsby and to say it was eventful was an understatement. It started off really well, Gatsby was warming up nicely, he was providing me with a good stretch before I even asked him to pick up the contact in both walk and trot. He was a little bit lazy off the leg but other than that he was being very well behaved.  When I started asking him to pick up the contact he was willing to do it, we needed to get more hind end engagement but it was still really really good. He was soft and forward, we did a small amount of canter because it was important for Gatsby and I not to over do it with the canter work before we tried riding th...

I've had a good few days. Monday I had my night out with the uni girls, it was a good night and we had a proper giggle, yes it was a knackering night and I felt shattered the next morning but it was so fun and I enjoyed it for a change. I also had pony club monday night and it went really well. We worked on grooming horses properly and how to look after a horse in cold weather and snow as we have had snow again. The uni girls :D Tuesday (yesterday) I went to uni in the morning and then spent the day in bed, other than going to the doctors where it was confirmed I do have tonsillitis, I basically slept for twenty four hours.  Wednesday (today), I went to work this morning, I've really been struggling with my throat but decided to ignore that and just get on with it and enjoy myself. I mucked out four stables and helped to fill hay nets, I was there for two hours and it was so cold! Gatsby was glad to be bought in by the end of the morning, he's not enjoying the sn...

well this is just a quick post from me! I've not done anything interesting today but I am back at uni tomorrow, and then after I have finished at uni, I am off to the stables for pony club. Mondays are going to be really hectic days from me but I'm going to try and do lots more posts that include pictures of all the silly things i get up to. I might not post tomorrow night though as the girls from university and I are having a girly night out. So that's going to be really really cool. Well that is as long as I am feeling better, I'm not sure but I have a feeling I've got tonsillitis coming back AGAIN! For those of you that have been following my blog for a while you will know that I have had this on and off quite a lot recently, so I'm now keeping a record of it so I can show my doctors and then maybe they'll get rid of the stupid things.  Anyway it's getting late so i'm going to head to bed, I just thought I'd give you a quick update on...

Today I rode Gatsby, it was amazing! I have now managed to remember my dressage test well the 2nd one (the hardest one) and started my walk warm up by practicing it. I walked through the whole test before moving on to doing sections of the test in trot. I warmed up for about five minutes on each rein in walk and then roughly four minutes in trot, before picking up. At this point I did not want to ask for the canter because I know that canter work it what wares me out and this made a whole difference to the test. I managed to ride it through a lot more positively. The only bit of canter work that I did in the warm up was half a 20m circle twist. I then moved on to riding through the test. For me I needed to not stress out and just focusing on my riding at the end of the day. I KNOW what I am doing, I CAN ride all of these movements separately now all I need to do is string them together. So when I went on to riding through the test this is what I needed to remember. When I ...

Today has been a good first day working at my stables, I'm getting paid £6 an hour, and working for two hours a morning, this morning I mucked out the boys stables, it's a row of five. I did everyone but Gatsbys because Gatsby's stable was completely and utterly ditched. So Fiona went out to get him some Aquamax bedding. Then I helped Fiona to bring the horses in. It was a really good morning and I felt loads better after being there and working. Just before I was about to leave fiona asked if it would be possible for me to work Thursday mornings as well, so tomorrow I am back at the stables again but this time it'll be from 8am until 10am. I'm getting paid weekly and all the money that I make is being saved up and going straight back in to my savings account. I'm loving spending so much time at the stables, I feel that it is helping to improve my health and help me lose weight.  Anyway I'm curled up in my bed with my nephew so I'm going to leave yo...

Hiya everyone,  well theres no news on the horse front at the minute and I've had a really boring day today, I've basically spent most of the day just sleeping (hopefully I will be able to sleep tonight). I did go to boots to weigh myself and have discovered that I have lost 2ibs in the last week. For those of you that are interested in my weight loss journey I have also created a page that is called 'Weight loss progress', here you'll be able to see the changes each week and how much I put on or lose during a week. This is more for my own benefit but feel free to check it out.  Tomorrow I officially start working at my stables it's going to be so much fun and I really can not wait. I saw this photograph on Facebook and thought that I would share it with you guys :D  Until Next Time  A Girl With A Dream 

Today has been a good day but a long day at the stables, I got there for 9.30 this morning to help Fiona out and Suzanne came up to help out too. We had all the horses to muck out and the weather was horrible, it was chucking it down. I mucked out Little Rocky, Percy, Gatsby, Soly and Sam's stable. I then put in their stables Gatsby (the trouble maker), Sam, Vettie, Chloe, Fussy, Rosie and then Fiona did the others. We then started debating bedding, for the past few months the stables have had straw pellet bedding in, but it looks dirty all the time. Yes it's easier to muck out but it doesn't look good. Thursday Fiona decided to put in Bliss bedding, this looks amazing, and smells clean and fresh BUT is a nightmare to muck out, it takes forever, it clumps together and you end up taking to much of the bedding out. So we're going back to using Aqua max bedding at the minute. That looks clean and fresh and is easy to muck out but it's expensive!  After I'd f...

Well today has been a long day and also a kind of boring day. I haven't been able to go riding today, unfortunately we have been given some really bad weather and today did not let down. When I got in last night at about 7pm I knew that the weather was not going to be good, the wind was getting worse and worse and when I was driving there was lots of branches and assorts all over the road. When I was say watching T.V. with my mum and dad you could hear the wind outside over the T.V. and this carried on all night.  When I woke up this morning the weather had not got any better in fact if it had got worse, the wind was getting stronger and faster and it was dropping colder. Fiona decided that the wind was getting to strong and so she cancelled the lessons, however I am going up on Monday and if the weather is okay she says that I can ride Vettie. Vettie and I on one of our first lessons, my position is awful here and is loads better now.  Tomorrow I am off to see Ja...

Hiya Everyone,  Well today has been a really really good day I absolutely loved my time at the stables. I got to my stables for 8am and was there up until 1.20pm, while it was a along morning, I really enjoyed it and I got to spend some quality time with Gatsby :D. What more could a girl ask for? I got there for 8 and started on mucking out, Fiona had already told me that she was going to be going out at 9 and I would be at the stables with Barry so could carry on doing work. I did Gatsby's stable, Soly's stable, sam's stable and Vettie's stable, and made sure that they had all got there hay nets filed, I also filled Percy's stable while Barry mucked him out. When Fiona got back she also offered me a job :D, so now instead of just helping out in the mornings, on a Wednesday I will be working there for two hours and getting paid for it, then in February time I might be working more than one morning a week. I am super excited and really can't wait :D I'm ...

Hiya Everyone,  Well I'm just waiting for my homemade lasagne and Garlic Bread to cook that I made with my mum so I thought what better time than to write a post :). First of all I thought that I would let you know what Dressage Tests I am planning on doing in March. The first one is Intro B (I haven't seen this test yet, but I do know that it is a walk/trot test) and the second one is Prelim 14. My riding Teacher told me to learn this test this week so I thought what better way to do this than by writing it out here :), hope you guys don't mind but if you find it boring feel free to skip.  1) Enter at A in Walking Trot and proceed down the centre line. At C turn Left.  2) H to E working Trot, at E Circle Left 20 metres, E to K working trot.  3) Between K AND A transition to walk for 2-5 steps, then proceed to working trot.  4) FXH Change the rein in working trot.  5) Between H AND C transition to walk for 2-5 steps, then proceed t...

I'm feeling tired today it has been a long day and I haven't slept much last night so it is safe to say that I am pretty tired right about now so this blog post might not be very long. This morning I was at my stables, I got there for 9.30. I then mucked out Sam's, solys and Gatsby stable and little rocky's stable, I almost forgot that little man. I then helped fiona to fill all the hay nets so there is now two days worth of hay nets filled and bring the horses in and turn the two remaining horses out.  I then took my mum and dad to cosmo for lunch, and got my nails done :D. Before going back to my stables. Pony Club is now back on. So tonight we covered an important topic, the little kids wanted to go outside and run around so they did that and then the older ones stayed inside so two of us and Fiona and we discussed the steps you'd go through to buying your own horse. It was really interesting and I learnt a lot, I know that i am definitely going to be asking...

Today has been a quieter day, I hadn't slept very well friday night and then was awake at a reasonable time yesterday morning, then I had a really busy day so I knew that by the time I got in and went to bed I was going to go to sleep well. I ended up sleeping really well last night and then over slept this morning. I had no plans for today so I've just had a peaceful day.  I've spent time catching up on everyones blogs, which I have loved doing. I have read a book from start to finish, if your interested in what book you can find it on the books I've read page. I've also come up with new ideas from my uni work. One of the modules that I have to do is a professional work place module, for this we have to find a client and do a paid shoot, or we can make it up and do it as a general idea. I had originally thought about finding a hair dresser to photograph her work however my friend came up with a good idea and said that she thought I would find it really fun. Ta...

Today was the first ride of the year and it was an eventful ride, it wasn't the best riding that we have ever done but it was good enough for me to know what I need to work on before my competition in march.  We started up warming up, Fiona said that I needed to figure out what the optimal warm up time for both Gatsby and I is, for us this is no more than 20 minutes, probably 10 minutes in walk/trot stretching,  followed by 5 minutes to completely stretch out at a walk and relax, then another 5 minutes starting to collect him and add a couple of little bits of canter in! I've got to remember that this is mine and Gatsby's first trip out together so we might not win but we can only do the best that we can do. Also that I am not to put myself under extra pressure just because this competition is at Broomfield, yes there are going to be people there that want to see what Gatsby is like now but I am not to let that bother me.  stretching and Gatsby doing his giraffe...

So as you will all have seen on my new years eve post I have decided that this year will be the year that I finally get my own horse (or at least that is the plan anyway). So tonight I have sat down and figured out what money I get and when, and how much gets spent a week, so I thought why not put it on here for you guys to see.  I also went to the bank today and put £131.00 in to my ISA Bank Account, this way it is being saved up but growing on interest at the same time. So that is £131.00 towards my horse already and it is only the 2nd January.  So here's my plan, for the next £12 weeks I have got £118.00 to spend a week. I have to remember the things that I do need to spend my money on. So here's what I have to spend my money on.  Petrol - To fill my car up it costs between £40 and £50 so I've financed to spend between £160 - £200 a month on petrol.  Vanquis - Credit Card that I need to pay off - £30 a month.  HSBC Credit Card - £30 a month....