The way to heaven is on horseback

Hi everyone, Sorry for the lack of posting over the Christmas period, I thought that I would have some time off ready to hit the new year with posts every date and plenty of magic updates. When I first started writing this blog it was a journey to getting my own horse, a journey through my riding, and a journey to where I would end up in life. Now part of that journey has been completed, I have my very own horse, the only real dream that I have had since a young age has come true, and I'm not going to stop there. So as life is a journey I've decided that the best thing to do is keep writing my blog. So what's to come in this journey? Me completing my BHS stages and exams, both in riding, teaching, care and lunging. I aim to get my own stables and yard, that will primarily be a livery yard but will also be a rescuing and rehoming centre for animals that really need help, while it will mainly be horses, I'd like to think that I could include other animals too. Making...

Well it was bad enough when it was just me that had got this horrible bug that goes around, it causes sneezing, coughing and an extremely painful throat, but now Jack has got it as well. So for the weekend when it has decided to be really warm we've both been in the flat feeling rubbish, however we managed a few hours in the sun yesterday to do Magic. Then in the evening we took Casper for a walk and then today we managed to do exactly the same.  Magic is coming on really well, he's grown loads and in four days he will be one year old, and it still amazes me as to how quickly the time flies. I plan on getting him a bit and a few other things but unfortunately that is going to have to wait until I have sorted out my financial situation fully. He's finally nearly fully got rid of his dreadlocks look to, he's just got the last few long hairs on his belly to go and then he is going to look like a smart clean horse. As much as I love having a baby horse I can't wait...

Recently I've been seeing lots of things on facebook about what makes a person who they are, with it coming to the end of the university year lots of people that I want to school with are ending that mile stone. I see lots of comments about this is the end of their journey making them who they are but I completely disagree with this because I don't think that the journey to being you will ever end. As the majority of you will know I have suffered with long term illness and health problems since I was the age of 11, you will also know that I was studying commercial photography at university. However at the end of last year I had to make an extremely tough decision due to my ill health and personal stress problems I made the choice to 'quit' university. Now for a while this made me feel like a complete and utter failure. I've never been good at making my mind up but I don't normally give in, so for ages to myself I was just a fail. Which wound me up and drove me ...

Well it's been a while since I have posted and lost has changed since the last time I posted on here. So the first thing that I have got to tell you all is the fact that I have now moved out of living with my mum and dad, I've got a nice little flat not far from them and not far from Magic, and share a flat with my boyfriend who is here most nights. The flat's nice and homely, it's small but it's something that I've gotten used to.  Aha i love this photo of the Mr and I on the way to the pub earlier.  The next thing that I've got to tell you all is that Magic has finally been gelded, it was horrible to watch and something that I will definitely never want to see ever again but he seems happier now that he's been done. He was never a angry or mad horse before but he is even quieter now. I haven't done much in hand work with him recently due to being really unwell but I have still got to see him lots which I've really enjoyed. He's curre...

Magic really does make me laugh, he's been doing things that are funny for the past few days. This morning when I went up to do his stable he was no where to be seen, so I did all the inside of his stable, got his feed ready for tonight, and still magic was no where to be seen. The next thing that I know I was doing his Haynets and I had just watched Lynn call all the horses and seen them come running up. I was in the middle of filling the Haynets when all I heard was 'oi what are you doing' so I shouted back to Jack to ask him what was up as all he was supposed to be doing was putting his Haynets in the stable, and as I had come out the area where the haylage is stored I looked to the left and stood there was magic playing with the feed bucket. Jack thought that he had escaped and then Lynn told me that she had let magic come up. So I grabbed hold of his head collar and walked him up to the stable so that I could carry on with filling the Haynets but after that I really co...

Well from my blog title you will see that today is the 70th day of the year and personally I think that, that is insane. It feels like it was only yesterday that it was the start of the new year and had just been Christmas, what feels even stranger to me is magics age. In 10 days it will be exactly two months until magic is one! And OMG how time has flied. It's currently 6.35 am realistically I should be curled up in bed with the Mr fast asleep but tonight that is not the case and so far I've been awake since jusy before 5am. The weird thing about tonight is that all my tablets were taken at a 'reasonable' time so that in itself should be a guaranteed way to keep me in a deep sleep until the morning but not so much the past few days. Another thing that I don't think is he long with the sleep but I do know is helping with my weight is the fact that I am just stopping snacking at night.  I've been trying to do this for a while but it normally lasts two or three we...

Well this post is going to be two days in one, it might not be the worlds longest, as those of you who have me on facebook will know that I am having quite a few health problems. But I'm trying to just keep going so I'll start with day 65 (which I was half way through writing last night and then ended up deleting it like a complete and utter mong)! As you do.  4th March 2016  Yesterday was a quite day, I wasn't feeling very well and was really tired and I had to go to the dentist which in my mind is never really a good thing but it's one of those things that you have to do so I just get on and do it. I got up at about 11am as recently you'll know that I am not sleeping very well, so I end up sleeping in during the day and just get myself in to a really bad sleeping routine which isn't good for me at all. But the first thing that I did was go and clean out Magic's stable, by the time I had got to the yard it had started to snow and I really wasn'...

Yesterday was a long day and I just completely forgot to get around to posting it so I'll post this now because even though it's 5.48am, I'm lying in bed wide awake but God knows why. Within about 30 minutes of waking up jack and I were up and about and ready to go out and do the jobs that we need doing. One of the main good points about Magics new yard is that he goes out with the rest of the herd.  And part of the deal that was made with loan was that she'll put him out and bring him back in so that he never really goes out on his own, seen as he normally goes out at about 9.30 am it means that i don't really see him in the morning and I get a bit of a lie in. But the first job that I do when we go out is go up to the yard and muck his stable out so that he has a nice warm bed for when he gets in. I'll also sort his feed out for the next two feeds but I will only add water to the one that he'll have that night. Kisses from the pony face. This morning ...

Today there has been massive improvements on my little boy, I'm so proud of him and the accomplishments that he has made. Magic's not a perfect pony but he certainly is trying his hardest at the minute. As you'll all know from my post yesterday he DID send me to A&E but that was due to the treatment that he received at his old yard. Since moving Magic has been able to trot and walk in hand, in the trot he does get a little bit excited. Play the three parelli games that he has learnt so far, be polite when picking his feet up and is getting better with his food.  Playing the friendly game with magic while he eats his food, my aim was to jsut get him used to people being around him, so far he is reacting really well to this game.  This morning I bought Magic out of his stable and he had absolutely trashed it, it was a complete and utter mess. Which is nothing new for him, he'd got a hay net up that Lynn had put up for him as I was feeling poorly so overslept th...

Well things with Magic are slowly improving, my mum did him this morning ad I was just in to much pain to be able to do it. I spent the day resting and to be honest, Jack and I spent the majority of the day, just chilling out watching TV and sleeping on and off. Then when jack woke up for his driving lesson I went up to sort the pony and I'll be honest magic and I had a little bit of a debate. I tied him up in the stable for a change and decided that I was going to brush him in there, I thought that this might help with the whole feeding issue.  I then put him outside while I cleared up his stable. Then it was feeding time and to be honest I was dreading it, after the amount of pain I had been in all day I was tired and worried because I couldn't take another knock. But I went in there with a confident attitude. I made him wait for his food, and then put it in when I was Ready and I wanted him to have it. Then when I did put it in I left him and stood by the door I'd got ...

Hi everyone, I decided that I would start off writing this blog test while Im curled up in bed before sorting magic out later on today. At the minute I'm curled up with Angel, while the boyfriend chills on the playstation. To say he's obsessed with GTA I think is an understatement. My gorgeous little puppy dog curled up in bed with me, Angel says she's a tired girly.  This morning Jack and I woke up really early, for once we were awake before even my mum was up and that never normally happens. We stayed in bed watching TV until everyone was up and then it was time to go do magic and he was such a good boy. As I am still in extreme amounts of pain mum said that she would start mucking out magics stable, she put his head collar on and he was a very good boy for it. Then jack and I took magic for a walk.  We only went out for about 25 minutes but he was really good, he looked at a few of the scary things but he was calm and relaxed the whole way again. At one point he ...

Today hasnt quite gone as I planned that it would do, i woke up at 10 to 8 this morning sobbing, in agony and completely unable to move. I quickly woke jack up, and he helped me to get to the bathroom and move around until he had to go to work. Unfortunately due to the amount of pain that I was in it meant that I was unable to ride today. I spoke to my riding teacher and she said there was no point in my riding because of the fact that I had got hardly any balance.  However she thought that it would be a good idea for me to go up and brush gatsby before a small amount of time so I DID get Gatsby cuddles. Still one of my favourite horses, to be honest I think this boy will always hold a special place in my heart I love him so much.  After doing this I went to see Magic and ended up completely knackering myself. I got there at one and knew I had an hour before someone was coming to view one of the horses on the yard and I'd agreed magic would be in his stable while this pro...

Today has been a good day it has been long but good and to be honest with you I haven't really done a lot. This morning magic got fed and then left for a little bit to eat his food. I then went back later on and turned him out in to his field this was after he was a really good boy and picked up all four of his feet with out having to be bribed and blackmailed. He let me clean them out and then spray on firstly a spray that helps to repair damaged feet and then a spray of pig oil that the vet suggested to use to repel some of the mud and protect his feet a little bit when he is out in the field. I also gave him a good groom but tomorrow I think that he is going to have his legs properly cleaned as he is in all weekend and I like having a pretty looking pony. I then went home and did the jobs that I needed to do for example, cleaning out my wardrobe of clothes that I do not wear and sorting through books that I have already read and then getting rid of them. I then just generally ...

Yesterday was the pony club in hand and best turn out show. When we got there Fiona had already chosen the horse and person combinations, and I was quite surprised but looking forward to having Sam. Sam's one of the newer ponys at the stables. We had an hour and a half to brush and groom them however we wanted to we could bath them if we wanted to, so I set to work going all over his body with a brush first. I knew from the beginning that I could not do his mane and tale because his Mane used to be hogged and is only just starting to be grown back (where he was before hogged him because he had sweet itch). His tale I think at some point had been pulled but I think that he has been rubbing it as well, so that meant that plaiting him was out of the question but I was okay with that. Instead I spent some time trying to get his white socks clean and then I washed his tale. I liked doing this although Sam didn't always like it but we got there in the end. I then went over his tale ...

Today has been a good day, I got up fairly late and got to help my mum out while at the same time doing some driving practice. Which was fun and also really useful. As it's monday this evening was pony club, originally I thought that it was going to be quite quiet but I was wrong. There was three new girls there that seemed really nice and of varied ages. We spent a good hour looking at feeding rules and things to do with feeding, e.g. different types of feed, why some horses eat hay and others haylage, I did find it really interesting though at some points it also got really confusing. When it got to the end we all picked horses that we could put to bed, I was asked if I'd mind helping Grace as she had got one of the little boys and said no that I didn't mind, then Ellie also came down (one of the new girls) to help us. I found this fun to do but also really useful because it made me think more about the things that we do on a daily basis, I liked that they asked question...

Today was the second badge testing evening at Pony Club, we were doing the points of the horse and I was more nervous about doing this badge than the grooming and handling badge. I know the grooming things, the points of the horse I wasn't so sure about.  I had a practice before and then went to doing the test with Gatsby. To start with I said all of the points of the horse that I knew, then Elaine asked me the ones I hadn't said and I had to say where they were on the horse. I got all of them except three and the ones that I didn't get Elaine didn't know either, so that was comforting to know.  When we had finished that Fiona told us that we were not going to know whether we had passed or not  until the end. We decided that we were going to work on doing plaiting and also how to put on bandages. This is something that I have always found difficult but I only got one attempt at three years ago so I was looking forward to trying to do it again. The great thing w...

It was a good night at pony club today and we all managed to pass our pony club handling and grooming badge so this was great. Next week we will do another badge, I think we agreed on points of the horse. I'm going to have to do some brushing up on them as I find them really hard to remember.  When we got there we talked about what we were going to be doing, we then got two horses and split in to two groups, four of us had Hazel and the other three had Big Rocky. The first thing that we had to do was lead the horses in a straight line, then round a certain block, back again and halt. Making sure to use our voices and actually talk to the horses. We then put Hazel back in her stable and left Rocky tied up while Fiona got Daisy out. We then had to show that we could tie a horse up using a slip know, this time I got to work with Daisy who is so adorably cute.  We all went in the tack room for cake and drinks. After we had done we all had a piece of paper and a pen, in fr...

Yesterday at Pony Club we were doing some practice towards our first badge night next week! The first badge that we will be doing is grooming. So yesterday with the sun shining and it being nice hot weather we got the sponges and shampoo out and started working on bathing the horses. Alice and I did Gatsby and first of all we made sure to brush him all over especially his tale which was particularly knotty. When we had done we started putting the horses to bed, making sure to put the hay nets u and top the water up. It was then time to go home but mum was running late so Fiona let me get Tabby out (one of the new kittens) so I got lots of cuddles with them. They are so cute and I love them, I'm looking forward to afternoons at the stables and cuddles with the kittens. This morning I had got my third driving lesson with my new driving teacher. We decided that we were going to work on doing emergency stops. We talked about how it was important not to stall when doing the emergency...

Today my new phone came, I got the blackberry z10 and I love it. It's great and easy to use as well as being light weight. Another cool feqature that it has is to so with my BlackBerry playPlayBook. And is called remote control and it means that what I typon my phone then appears on my pPlayBook I don't really get how it works but I find it really fascibnating.  Today I've not done much. I did another drawing last night and also has pony club last night which was really fun. We brought Gatsby out of his stable and looked at all the different parts of the horses some I didn't have a clue where they were and other parts where really easy. We then put Gatsby away and when we Had done that Elaine gave us all a sheet on it was a diagram of a horse and you had to write next to the letter what that part of the horse was. There was only two that we missed (we worked in twos) and these were the croup and the chestnuts. I found it fascinating knowing all the different parts ...

Today was another good ride on Gatsby. I got there for 12:30 so that I could groom Gatsby and tack her up, I really enjoyed spending time grooming him, and he was really good. The only thing that I found difficult was picking out his back feet, as the ground has clay in it in the fields that the horses go out in, it's either really soft and easy to get out of the hooves or it is rock hard. Today it had dried so it was more difficult to get out.  When I got on him Fiona asked me what I would like to do with Gatsby today, I immediately said jumping as I loved doing it yesterday. I warmed him up making sure he stretched and had a forward strong rhythm in his walk, at one point it looked like he was 'power walking' and it felt so funny but it felt great at the same time if that makes sense! It was odd but good. Just after I had started warming Gatsby up, we heard the gate go and all I could hear Fiona say was 'that's Jenny'. Jenny is Gatsby's owner and she ...