The way to heaven is on horseback

Well for those of you that have been reading my blog for a while you will know that I've always wanted to try riding bareback but that I have never had the opportunity to do it before. A couple of weeks ago I told Fiona that I really wanted to do it and explained that I thought that it would help me really be able to feel how to get Gatsby in to an outline. After explaining this Fiona said I could have a go and three weeks later thats exactly what I got to do. I started out by riding with the saddle, just to be able to warm up, making sure that I could swing in the saddle without feeling restricted, we did a bit of walk, trot and canter work and mainly focused on getting him in the outline. I wanted to make sure that Gatsby was forward but also that he was willing accepting contact and moving in to the outline. I wanted him to feel that he was doing the right thing by accepting small amounts of pressure on the rein and only having to occasionally reinforce the contact and make it ...

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...

Hiya Everyone,  Well it's been a while since I post but things have been really hectic, between Uni and Riding there is not much time for anything else. So first of all I thought I would tell you all about riding Gatsby and a special surprise ;).  Well i started off my lesson riding my all time favourite Gatsby, we decided that we were going to work on riding without stirrups as this is something that I was doing a lot of but haven't done in a while and seen as I'm feeling a lot more confident I decided that it was time to do it again and I have video's for you all :). We warmed up in walk and trot, doing small amounts of leg yield and working on keeping both Gatsby and I straight. The outline came a lot easier this time, and we managed to get it in walk and trot and best of all we were maintaining it through transitions and for the majority of the hour. (See the video's below),  Then after riding Gatsby I got a ride on the lovely hors...

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...

Today has been a really good day. I absolutely loved my ride. It's been a quite a while since I've done any canter work and today after watching one of the other girls lessons I felt the need to do some canter work.  I was back on Gatsby which I really enjoyed. I was looking forward to my ride but at the start I wasn't 100% sure how it was going to go. We spent the first part of the lesson working on the outline. I found that he was dropping a lot easier in to an outline but I think that I was over thinking it a bit to much. I didn't get it 100% but I was happy with where we left it off. I found that he was really locking his neck in place so I was having to be really firm with him to get him to flex.  When we moved on to the canter work Fiona asked me if I was feeling nervous which I said that honestly yes I was. I think in my mind I thought because I hadn't done any canter work in a while I would still be cantering how I used to be which wasn't great ...

Yesterday I got in another ride on Gatsby, I went up earlier than Pony Club with the intention that I would get to ride Gatsby before Pony Club but when I got there it had just started raining heavily and there was extremely big bangs of thunder going on. We had a cup of tea and the thunder stopped leaving us with just a little bit of rain, so we decided that we would tack up and get on. The minute that I got on another bang of thunder happened and it was right over the top of us so I got off and we thought we would try lunging him well the rain and wind picked up again so we decided that wasn't a good idea and put him a way I spent some time grooming him and giving him some love and attention.  When Pony Club started we decided that as there was only four of us that we would do some riding, the sun came out and we got on. I am so glad that we did because it was the best ride that I have had so far. He'd got a snaffle bit in again and we worked on getting him in the outlin...

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 aro...

Today has been another good but long day, I still didn't sleep well but I've been busy all day today so I am hoping that I will sleep better (although I do have an early start tomorrow). This morning I woke up and just watched tv and did some reading as I hadn't got any plans for the morning.  This afternoon was busy but fun. I had my first driving lesson with my new driving teacher and it went really well! He asked me what I knew how to do and I told him the things that I knew. We then started driving and he said that he wanted to do assess my driving. We had been driving for a little while and he said that what we were doing was too easy for me so we moved on to doing hill starts and things like that. It went really well, and he said that I can do my test soon, and I should only need 10 lessons. Then I can drive by myself and tomorrow I will be hearing more about how my car is doing, hopefully I will get it back towards the end of the week!  After this I went up ...

Today was a good day with Gatsby, it was my weekly lesson and I was buzzing for it as I'd not had any horse time since pony club because of being ill. When I got there he was being used for a lesson so I got to see someone else ride him which I found quite useful. When I got on him he was already armed up but I still spent some time getting him to stretch out and getting his walk to swing.  When I picked him up I was getting bits of outline but nothing amazing, but then I had a light bulb moment when we moved on up in to the trot. We'd been doing lots of transitions and working on our rising trot, and I just felt like doing some sitting trot before I moved on to doing any canter work. When I was sitting I was making sure to really move my hips with him and the minute I did this his head dropped down in to an outline, his hind end came under him and it was all more balanced it felt AMAZING! I only had to slightly half halt to keep him in it but I hardly had to move to get h...

I didn't wake up today until jst before I had got my lesson with Gatsby recently I haven't been sleeping well so I asked my mum if I slept in to wake me up as late as possible. I drove to west hallam riding centre without stalling which was great. It started off well then I got to spend time riding Gatsby and he was so sweet because he doesnt like things near his face however he let me put my poorly early against his cheek and for a while we just stood there as it was making the pain feel less he was blocking the cold. as silly as it sounds it was like he knew my ear was hurting me.  When we got on it felt so good to be back in the saddle after having a week off. You could tell that I had had a week off. When we started off we spent some time working long and low getting the horses to really stretch we stayed in the walk for about 15 minutes picking up an outline towards the end he was a lite bit lazy but we changed that by doing lots of transitions it was really good. We ...

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...

This morning was time for me to get up and early and go up to the stables to help out.  I had to be there for 8:30 and I was staying there til 10:30 we mucked out all the horses, cleaned there waters and put fresh in and then we filled the haynets and hung them up as well as filling the hay nets for tonight. when we had finished that we swept the yard and had finished 20 minutes early so I was talking to Elaine and Fiona about pony club. The launch day for pony club is Monday 29th April at 4;30 every 12 weeks there will be assessments towards badges. Well work through bronze the gold levels and then levels E to A and at either a or b we can do our stage three. Instead of having to do one, two and then three.  I can't wait to do it, I've sent my pony club form off today.  Mum picked me up at 10:30. we then had to go to the other side if derby to dressmaker about my sixth form ball dress. To start with she didn't think she could do anything but when looking inside and ...

Well this morning my PlayBook came I was really excited and asked my mum to wake my up when it came even if that's at 8:30 this morning. I set it up even though my mum had to help me with setting up my Emails because it wanted to know all the advanced settings that I didn't know.  Then it was time to go and ride Gatsby he was abit of a pain when it came to grooming him as he has issues with people touching his ears so he kept putting his head really high. When he was eventually clean I tacked him up and it was time to get on him. When I got one him the sun was shining and it turned out to be the perfect weather it wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold. It was just right. Only down side was that there were millions of flies, and they were driving Gatsby and Rosie mad. I quickly sorted my girth and stirrups nd moved on to warming him up. Fiona said that we were going to carry on working with the canter and then maybe move on to working on the sitting trot but doing i...

Today I had a really good lesson on Gatsby, when I got there he was in his stable, so I bought him out and tied him up outside his stable, so that while I was grooming him Elaine could start to put some more shavings in his stable. The minute that we went outside and tied him up it started to snow, and the flakes kept getting bigger and bigger. I just kept grooming him and making sure that under his tummy more than anything else was clear, because that's the part that if I'm going to miss by accident I am the mostly like to. He doesn't like having it done but when told 'no' after an attempt to bite me he just pinned his ears at me and that was that. But he was really good cause after mum said 'no' he didn't try to again. Now that he's had the person out to have his back done he wasn't as cranky as he was when I tried to do his girth up which made me feel better!  When I got on he was raring to go so I decided to let him walk and while he was...

Today my Dad took me to ride Gatsby at West Hallam Riding Centre, he was fresh to start with, I groomed him inside because it was raining and cold outside. So I couldn't see whether I had got all of the mud out of his ears. I then tacked him up.  When I got on Gatsby he was really happy he wanted to move a lot more but I needed to sort my stirrups out as the last person that rode him had really long legs and I couldn't keep my feet in the stirrups at the length that they are. I had to do it while he was moving because it was raining so he decided that he didn't want to stand still so I did my stirrups with both feet out while he was walking around, I then made him stand still to do up his girth. He started off really stretching down getting a low and long frame, while having a 'swinging walk' it felt really good and my hips were less stiff and were willing to move with him. I then bough him up and while he was in the walk got him into an outline during this tim...