The way to heaven is on horseback

Why is it when you think that you are going to do a dressage test, your brain freezes up, you can't think and you tense up? Well that was exactly what happened today. When we got there we all got given the tests that we would do I got to do a British Young Riders Dressage Scheme 'C Squad' test. This test included Walk, Trot, Canter, serpentines, 20m Circles and half 20m circles. We walked through our tests first and I noticed just how much canter work I would actually be doing and I think that this is the thing that I was most nervous about. When we had walked the test, we then tacked up the horses that we would be riding, we tacked up Gatsby, Rascal and Rocky. I rode Gatsby, JaimieLeigh rode Rascal and Mollie started off riding Rosie but then later switched to riding Rocky and JaimieLeigh got on Gatsby.  In walk all the horses was fine, Gatsby was active and stretching, he was responsive and listening well. Rascal and Rosie were also fine. JaimieLeigh and I are used t...

Today has been a long but fun day, filled with lots of horse time. At 2pm I got to my stables, armed with face paint as we were going to be painting all the bone structors on the horses, this is something that has always fascinated me and I loved learning more about. When we first got there we went out to the fields to bring in Gatsby and Rascal, as well as Big Rocky and Soloman. Fiona gave us some sheets showing where the bones where on the horse and also more information about the muscles. I haven't fully read the sheets yet but found them really interesting (diagrams were really helpful). Before she unleashed us on to the horses on our own, she bought Solie out of his stable and showed us how to draw the parts on to the horse. For the next hour I spent time drawing all the bones on and then because I finished early on Gatsby's other side I drew on his muscles, this was a little bit more confusing but at the same time fascinating. I really enjoyed doing it and found it so he...

This morning I woke up just in time to go for my riding lesson, when I got there I got to work on grooming Gatsby and I was amazed to see how shiny he was. He looked so clean. When I went to tacking him up we decided that we were going to make a few changes. First of all we took away his martingale we might use it when jumping him but for now when doing flat work we aren't going to use it. We then changed the bit, I can't remember what bit he had got in before, I think it was a gag. But then we put him in a snaffle with a lozenge joint.  As soon as I got on him the difference was amazing. He was forward and responsive and I was still managing to almost get him in an outline so I was happy with the work that we were doing. As soon as I asked him to warm up and stretched he dropped straight in to working long and low and it felt great. He was really swinging in the walk and it felt so nice to not constantly be putting my leg on to get him more active. We all noticed the diff...

Riding two horses in one day. This morning I got up to go riding, I turned up at my stables to find that for once it had cooled down a bit. There was lots of clouds and it looked like it was going to rain but it didn't. I spent half an hour grooming Gatsby, and giving him some love. Then at 1 I got on JaimieLeigh  wasn't there for the lesson today but Alice was. Before I got on we made sure that both of my stirrups were level. Then when I got on Fiona and my mum looked to see whether I was still level and I wasn't this proves that my hip is slightly out of place. I spent the first 15 minutes riding Gatsby making sure that he moved willingly and forward. I then got off and put the belt on it's job is to hold my hip in the correct position not the position that it is at the moment.  When we put the belt on and I got back on Gatsby we noticed an immediate difference, I was so much more level and Gatsby was a lot more responsive. He was amazing! He turned from me movin...

Today was my lesson on Gatsby I was buzzing when we got there, we spent a little while talking to Fiona asking if she had had a good holiday as she had been away to Norfolk and she said she did. She then said that we would sort out a day where I can go up and ride Gatsby from the work that I did this week. I started grooming Gatsby and he was so shiny! He glistened, was really cute. Then I started tacking him up and the funny thing was the minute that we got his tack the heavens opened and it chucked it down, the wind picked up and I was sure it was going to thunder again but luckily it didn't!  When it stopped we all jumped in to action and got in luckily for the rest of the lesson it didn't rain. We also have a new addition to our lesson every other week, her name's Alice and she's really sweet. We all worked on warming up it took some adjusting getting used to there being three of us in the lesson instead of just the two, but we got there in the end. We graduall...

Only one more day of school and two exams.  This year has gone so fast it seems like it has been ten minutes since I was filling in application forms and deciding what university that I wanted to go to. Now im planning how to get the best grades to make sure I am accepted to uni. People say that as you get older time passes quicker.  Tomorrow is my last day ever at school. Tonight i put my false nails on so writing this post is taking forever but I love them they are the same colour as my dress and they sparkle so I love this. Tomorrow I will be in school for three hours in the morning then I will come home and go to the hair dressers. I don't know how long I will be at the hair dressers for as I am having my hair cut, washed and dried then I am having it pinned and curled. Then when I get home Evie should be at mine, shell then do my make up and I might do her make up I don't know we will wait and see. Then on the evening I go back to school to get some year photos but a...

YES! We have finally got some sunshine here and the UK the horses were able to have there rugs off today and go outside without them and they LOVED it. Fussy and Hazel even got to stay out for longer than they normally would do! I'm loving it the evenings are getting longer, the heat is getting warmer meaning that Pony Club in the evenings is going to be son fun, it'd be fun in the cold to though!  Today I was riding Gatsby and a guy had already used him earlier in the day for a lesson, so he wasn't too muddy this meant that I got more time and was able to play with his tail and try plaiting it as I've never done it before properly on my own without anybodies help normally it was my mums! So today while Fiona and Elaine were doing other jobs and Jaimie-Leigh I did some work with Gatsby on plaiting and turned out with quite a nice cute plait it was messy at the top but he's had his tail pulled (think that's the right word) so at the top there's loads of ...

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...