The way to heaven is on horseback

I rode Gatsby yesterday (Saturday) and we had a really really good lesson! It would appear that last weeks riding wasn't just a fluke and that I can actually ride in an outline for an hour twice in a row! Can I make it three times though? It has taken me 3 years (roughly) riding at this stables that I am at now to get the feel of the outline and now that I have got the feeling it just makes so much more sense!  We started up warming up in the walk, making sure to move long and low, making sure that I rode off the track and making sure that I was riding straight. I had to make sure that Gatsby's neck was not overly bent to the inside because he was trying to pull on my right rein to block my contact with it. I have to give him credit that once I got him listening he was very good and very responsive. We moved up in to the walk work quite early as Gatsby felt really nice supple and loose through his back, he was responsive, forward and listening to what I wanted! Straight a...

I rode Gatsby today for my weekly lesson and it was amazing. With everything that was going on last week I'd needed a week just me and Gatsby to chill out and do what we do best, being us. This week I was straight back to working him an outline and trying to work him in an outline at the canter as well. We are slowly progressing to be able to do it but that is the operative word, slowly. We will get there in the end. We warmed up in walk making sure that he was nice and warm, that his muscles were working and also to give me a feel of him working in his new bit (can't remember what he's got now, but when I can remember I'll let you guys know). He was really responsive and listening in this bit even if he did try to hang off my right side at times but plenty of half halts and flexion to the right soon managed to sort this out. We then moved up to the trot work this was quite simple he was forward and listening and actually doing what I wanted him to do. I soon learnt th...

Hiya guys,  Saturday I got back on Gatsby. It was the first time that I had rode him since I fell off so even though it was Gatsby I was feeling nervous. Oh and to make matters worse Gatsby's owner Jenny was there and was watching, while I never mind her being there I was starting to feel really nervous that I had to ride Gatsby well to impress her. I know mad logic right?  We decided that we were going to do some work without Stirrups as Fiona said that we wouldn't be doing any jumping and while I was kind of gutted I was also relieved to have some time away form that and focus on what I know I CAN do well. For ages you've all heard me say I wouldn't do canter without stirrups, well I've got over that mind block and now really enjoy cantering without stirrups all though the transitions down are bouncy as hell. It does really help me to improve my position and balance and work on me keeping myself where I need to be. I got some really nice outline work in t...

Yesterday I had my weekly ride on Gatsby. The weather was horrible (really strong winds and chucking it down with rain) but I still enjoyed my ride. I was back riding Gatsby again which I always love doing. I wanted to work on getting him in an outline and was happy to say that I spent the majority of my lesson in an outline.  I also worked on doing some leg yield and shoulder in work. I had the best lateral cross over that I have ever got out of any horse and Fiona even said that it was the best cross over in leg-yield that she had seen out of Gatsby in a long time. Which made me feel really happy and proud of what I was doing. It also showed to me that even in the worst weather I've ever rode in that I can still ride! I feel like I accomplished quite a bit and I can't wait to ride him again. We didn't do any trot work because I wanted to focus on getting nice transitions in to the leg yield and shoulder in and also managing to maintain them both. It was more importan...

Well it's been a while since I've done a post so thought I'd start getting back in to the habit of posting again. Things have been a bit hectic recently.  Today I had a ride on Vettie, I've been riding Gatsby again more recently but I always enjoy being able to get on Vettie as well. I didn't have the worlds best ride today because I was getting pain all down my left side and I spent the majority of the lesson trying to get my left leg to actually work, as I was trying to move it and it just wasn't moving which was frustrating to say the least.  I got some really nice shoulder in  transitions though, I even managed to get Vettie on to four tracks instead of three tracks. We did some leg yield as well and where the was some times where he ignored me when I got him to do it he did manage to really cross over. Which felt great. We didn't do any trot work as I just hadn't got the strength in my left side to do it and the more that I rode the more th...

Well I've not got around to posting in a while as I've been quite busy but wanted to write about a couple of good rides I've had recently and tomorrow I will post Videos of one of my rides. On Saturday I got to ride Gatsby for the first time in a while, I was looking forward to it as it meant that I could work on some different things. We did some trot work and canter work. We did an exercise that we haven't done in a while where you trot over three trotting poles then ask for the canter as soon as you're over the poles and do a 20m circle. This is an exercise that I've always loved doing. We then moved on to doing some related distance canter work. We had two trot poles with three or four canter strides in between them the idea was we would go over it still being a dressage rider and alternate the type of stride meaning we would either extend it or collect it, altering the amount of strides. I really enjoyed doing this but found that I was getting quite tired ...

For my lesson this week I got to ride Vettie, I had the choice between him and Gatsby. I chose Vettie because he is a lot easier to ride and also because he wouldn't hurt my hips because he is not as wide as Gatsby. Before I got on Vettie I explained what had happened and we decided that we were just going to take the lesson easy. We did a lot of walk work, working on getting him to an outline but I was having difficulty with my left shoulder so we put him on his bungees (not sure if i spelt that right). This was to help me get in the outline but I needed to remember that I needed to keep working not just let them do all of the work.  When we moved up to doing the trot work I was struggling to keep my position still but Fiona said that was to be expected after the accident earlier in the week. I still got some nice trot work but it's not as nice as the work that I had got out of him the week before. We also worked on doing some shoulder in and leg yields and it was so ...

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...

Anyone who lives in the UK will know that when the word 'summer' starts being used that we are going to get cold and wet weather! Well not this year for the past two weeks we have had really hot weather (well hot for here ranging from the mid 20's all the way unto 32degrees/89.6 Fahrenheit). Today was no change, when I first woke up this morning I as covered in sweat and I'd not even been under my covers all night. I got to riding for 12:30 like normal and instantly realised that it was going to be a hot uncomfortable ride, we were riding at what should have been the hottest time of the day. Immediately we said that we wouldn't do a lot of fast work (no canter and small amounts of trot) as we are not used to the height and more importantly the horses are not used to the heat. I rode Gatsby like normal and JaimieLeigh rode Rascal. I started grooming him making sure not to miss anywhere but to stay cool as well. I finished grooming him earlier so I looked at some...

Gatsby and I had a great ride this morning we have decided that until I feel confident riding without my stirrups. We started off doing about 25 minutes riding with stirrups the rest of the time was working without stirrups. We warmed up making sure to ride long and low. Gatsby was really stretching and it was nice to see. We then moved on to the trot work now for some reason my position was blocking me from getting Gatsby into an outline. But the minute that I took my stirrups away I could get Gatsby in an outline i was so surprised we then decided to move on to doing leg yielding and shoulder-in in the walk and trot without stirrups we finished my lesson with me riding without stirrups. I had a great lesson it was so much fun and something that I can't wait to keep working on. It really improved the position of my leg quite quickly.  Then it was time to go and fetch my car the drive up was long it just seemed to take forever. When we got there I got given the rest of the pap...

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...

Hey again, this time I am going to tell you about the lesson that I had today. When I first got there Fiona was about to ride Vettie, after I had asked her the day before if I could see her ride, she said that I could watch her. I watched her do some walk work and then went back to grooming Gatsby when I got a call from someone saying 'Amber, Fiona says can you go and watch her do some trot work'. I watched her do some and she said that I could stand in the centre of the school and watch her do some of the shoulder in. She then showed me her coming down the centre line on Vettie, and doing the shoulder in to the right til half way then back straight and shoulder in to the left. I could really see how she was doing it and kept that image in my head for when I got on. Fiona then showed me a walk to canter transition which was awesome to see and then also some Fly changes across the diagonal which was sooo cool to see I was literally in awe, I then went back to tacking up Gatsb...

Okay so this is the first of two posts that I am going to be doing between now and the end of the day, yesterday was my 'Own a Pony day' with Gatsby and I loved it I came away completely aching but it was worth every single minute of it and I wouldn't possibly change a thing. I had to get to West Hallam Riding Centre for 9am, and when we got there it wasn't looking like the best of starts for Fiona, as one of the livery horses owned by Susan had got Colic, Elaine who works at the yard was working her horse round the outdoor school and trying to make sure that he didn't go down, the vet was called out and came out as soon as possible and when they arrived they gave him an injection and the instructions that every 20minutes he was to be walked for 5 minutes and I think she wasn't allowed hay for another two hours. During the day she seemed to pick up and calm down and when I got to the yard today Susan was riding her round in the school.  The first thing we d...

Thanks mum for giving me the title of this post it sure did make me laugh! Well as you know today was my day to ride Gatsby and in true typical English weather it decided to not only chuck it down but to get windy too! But we still plodded on and I got called a dedicated rider again, I am starting to love the compliment but not have as much as I love the sports that we all do! When I got to the yard the rain was just starting to settle down and because of this we decide that we would do a quick brush down as earlier in the day Fiona had done a proper groom and then tack up quickly while the rain was easing off as, so instead of getting on at 1, we got on at about quarter to 1 but then we stayed on til 2 so we got extra then the hour we normally get! YAY! During the lesson we decided that we were going to do some shoulder in and leg yielding, because it was something I really wanted to try because I have been working on my elbows and I just really wanted to try it. So to start with...

hey everybody, Tonight isn't going to be the longest post as it hasn't been one of the best days and at the minute I am pretty tired even though I have been asleep from about 6/7ish really not quite sure what time I fell asleep. I didn't update last night as my best friend Evie invited me over to hers and we watched Ghost rider and then part of the Green Hornet but we didn't quite manage to finish that.  Then today it was time for my riding lesson, there won't be any pictures of that though because the camera that I ordered for next day delivery didn't arrive today when I spent quite a bit extra and no-one knows where the camera has gone because somewhere along the lines the camera has managed to go missing or as my dad said someone might have stolen it. None of us are quite sure what is going on yet with that one but as soon as I know I will let you guys know.  So today I got to Ride Gatsby again and we had quite a fun time grooming him even if he ...

So yesterday me and mum and my nephew went up to west hallam riding centre to brave the cold weather so that I could ride Gatsby, i got him all tacked up, brushed and nice and shiny and all though it was cold I loved every single minute of it. We decided that we were going to do some pole work, to give us a break from the complicated moves that we have been doing mainly the shoulder in, but that we would still try to incorporate the moves in to warming them up and through out the lesson.  The main thing from the lesson that I was buzzing about was the fact that for the majority of the lesson me and Gatsby worked in a really good outline, he dropped his head down when asked to and was perfect he's such a good fella when he wants to be that is, so the trot work was great and the main improvement was that I managed to keep my elbows in which is something that I am practicing now while I write this so that I get in to the habit of doing it while I'm riding, because I think the...

So Today I rode Gatsby and had a good time. So far even though it looks like its going to be a cold winter, and not very nice at all (though I am hoping there is no snow and no thunderstorms as they tend to freak me out! But I was really excited to see that Fiona had got a new surface for the indoor school it is now rubber chippings she had said that she was going to do it and we were going to be the first one to use it. It took fiona and the gang from 10am yesterday til 7:30pm last night for Fiona to have the new school surface laying fat on the ground, and covering the entire arena, it was really fun to ride on and there wasn't as many puddles on it. But it also seemed to make Gatsby feel like he was lighter, he really seemed to enjoy it and have fun. Well his ears were forward the entire time!  Today we decided that we were going to carry on the shoulder in and work on the outline but more focus on the shoulder in than the outline! It was really funny because for the first ...

So Today has been a pretty hectic day, because last saturday after my riding lesson i damaged the ligament in my foot, and it was extremely painful so i got it checked out at a&e and strapped up to make it a bit easier to ride but mainly to make it easier for me to walk because at the minute walking's really painful. So this morning I woke up at 9:30ish to go down to help build a bonfire at eyes meadow in duffield. It was a good laugh and got done a lot faster than we thought it would get done, as it only took one hour instead of two hours.  Gatsby after he worked nice and hard. Looking over his stable doot at me, my mum and sam as if to say 'where's me carrot' unfortunately today he didn't get any. He Looks nice and shiny after a good groom, and now is happily in his stable with his fleece rug on though ill let you all in on a trick Gatsby can do he's not learnt to undo the stable door!  Then my friend sam cam back to mine and then he came to see m...

so yesterday I had another riding lesson at west hallam riding school :) it was amazing, when i got there i spent 25 minutes grooming Gatsby and making him all shiny (Although he was extremely shiny before I even did anything). Then I tried to clear his hoofs out but there was no such look it took forever because somehow he had managed to get all little rocks caught up in the mood in his front hooves. They did eventually come out, then i tacked him up and he was very co-operative (putting his head down) cause normally he puts his head up high and when he does this i cant reach his ears.  To start with we did some warming up, in walk making sure to include the leg-yield in walk so that he would be ready for it when we went in to trot, in walk he was much stiffer although we got a couple of crossovers. Then we went in to trot and he was much better, Gatsby seems to manage things alot better when you did it in trot he seems to find the walk a lot harder and he also seems to go be...