The way to heaven is on horseback

Well this post is basically what the title says, going around the blogosphere I've seen these really cool infographics and thought why not try them out for my blog, I quite like the idea of maybe doing a monthly review next year but I am interested in what you guys think. So here's my stats I wasn't sure how to get yearly stats using blogger, so as I'd never done this before I decided to look at my stats since I started my blog in May 2010.  I have also got around to uploading my jumping Videos on to youtube from my jumping lesson not last saturday but the saturday before that it may have taken a while but I have got there in the end, so feel free to let me know what you guys think. They are all quite short clips but they show what we have been working on recently this also accomplishes one of my goals that I set on my blog post called 'The List Part Two'  Above you can see Gatsby and I doing some outline work, this is the first time that we have e...

well it's been a few days since i've updated so i thought i'd let you  know about my lesson with Gatsby on Saturday (i have videos but they won't be in this post because I need to upload them and put them on youtube and that could take quite a while).  I started off working with flat length stirrups, Gatsby was forward responsive and nice off my leg, he felt amazing and we were getting the outline again, i then moved on to doing some trot work. In the trot i made sure that he was nice and stretched before asking him to collect and come in to the outline. We started warming up over three trot poles, in trot. I then asked if we could do the exercise where we trot over the poles, ask for the canter and do a 20m circle and then trot just before the canter poles. Fiona said that we could do it and it felt good, all though Gatsby got a bit excited and ended up turning the trot poles in to canter poles. He really collected his stride and we didn't even touch the poles...

Hiya guys sorry it's been a while again,  well I had the most amazing lesson on Gatsby that I have had in a while on Saturday. I'd got the cutest card ever off my boyfriend that morning which just put me in a good mood and I knew I wanted to do some jumping with Gatsby on the Saturday. I told Fiona I was feeling really positive to which she replied where do you want to jump in the school or in the field. We decided to do some jumping in the open field and omg it was amazing! It felt so different but soo good as well. It was something that I had never done before and something that I can't wait to do again. To start with I just had to get used to how much more excitable and powerful Gatsby felt. He used so many different muscles to ones that I've ever used before. We started off walking around the field (which is on a slight hill) and then we moved on to doing some trot work. I had to adjust to keeping him balanced going uphill and down hill because eventually I wou...

So today I had my half an hour private lesson on Gatsby. Fiona said that I could do some jumping with him and I was really excited. It's been a long time since I've put jumping and enjoyment in the same place. It was nice that it was only half an hour because it meant that I don't get tired easily. We started off doing lots of walk, trot transitions and keeping a nice rhythm.  I then put my stirrups up and did some work going over the poles. When we started jumping we started off with a reasonable sized cross. Gatsby and I had a really nice rhythm so we quickly moved it up to a straight across. We were starting coming up to the jump in trot but Gatsby got excitable and we ended up going over it in canter once two. Fiona said I looked more confident and a lot stronger in my position which was really nice to here. We went over the jump a couple more times all though this time we trotted up to the jump,went over it then cantered up to the long side. Then before we went up...

I love these photo's I don't know why but I love it, I found it so easy to go in to this position and my legs weren't burning as much. I think slowly but surely I'm getting there.  I also really like this picture :)  This was the worst jump out of all of them! After this photo was taken we knocked the jump down it was awful. Just before this photo was taken I froze up the photo's below this one you can see the difference and how we started to improve.  I love how happy and active Gatsby looks in this picture he really loves jumping and it is nice to see how much he enjoys it. You can tell how much he loves it compared to doing the flat work.  This was the first jump and it was also the first time going over the jump in trot. We became much more relaxed and chilled out while jumping. I need to trust myself more and realise that I can do it, I just need to believe in myself.  Until Next Time A Girl With A Dream

Today I rode on my own again. We decided that with Gatsby and  I enjoying jumping so much that we would carry on doing jump work. We decided that we would do two jumps going down the long side of the school. We warmed up and I could fall how responsive Gatsby was it was almost like he knew what we were going to do before we had even said anything. I made sure that even as we were warming up he was listening to me and forward off my leg. Fiona first put out some trot poles that we went over first in rising trot and then in a jump seat. When I was ready Steph and Fiona put two poles down the long side set up with two non jump strides in the middle (I think that was right) the aim was to go over these in canter and get used to the strides in between, we then put the furthest away up to a cross and went over the poles then over the jump, this week we were working on starting to approach in canter, to start with it wasn't very pretty I kept freezing and not being able to get the right s...

 Todays plans had a few changes in them but they were all for the best. As you will know I had a great time jumping Gatsby yesterday but I was knackered by the time I got in bed, I got in bed at 8 and went to sleep within about 5 minutes and slept through until about 10ish. When I got up mum told me that there was going to be a change of plans, instead of getting to the stables for 12:30 I got to the stables for 11:30. Fiona said that she would explain when we got there and when she did explain it made a lot more sense. With only having Gatsby and Rocky that we can use I was going to ride Gatsby early on my own and do some jumping I was all for this. In stead of riding for an hour I rode for 45 minutes but it was more consistent work and I wasn't being as lazy as I tend to be, I was working harder and trying to build my stamina up.  I got Gatsby ready to get on him at 12:15, we started warming him up and making sure that from the beginning he is active. Fiona told me not ...

I love jumping and I've only recently realised it. I bet nobody saw that coming! Ever since I was little I had this image in my head of being able to get on and jump without having a care in the world and now I feel like I can do that!  Today was the last day of the summer holiday, it seems like this whole holiday has gone so fast and soon I'm going to be at Uni and back to being at the Stables less but I will still be there come rain, snow and sunshine! This morning we mucked out the stables and I put Gatsby some new bedding down I love the pelleted bedding that we use and being able to watch it expand. The morning seemed to fly by so fast, I did Gatsby and Fussy's stables, I was so proud of my bedding in Fussy's stable, I know that sounds silly but it was the best I'd ever got it, the banks looked good and it made me want to lie in it myself! When it got to lunch time Fiona told us that we were all going to have half an hour lesson on our own! My mind instant...

Yesterday I had my weekly riding lesson, I already knew that I was going to be jumping because Fiona had told me so the day before.  When I got on we spent a shorter amount of time working with my stirrups at my flat length (during the warm up and a small amount of trot) before putting them up three holes for my jump length. The first thing I noticed was that my ankles were going to ache and so was my hip and while I was nervous I was looking forward to jumping Gatsby. While I was doing some trot work with Gatsby Fiona and Steph (a lady that's going to be there most Saturdays that Fiona is teaching to do her BHS IA, I think!) set up to sets of trot poles one down each side. One had four poles and the other had three poles and was set up with the jump wings on each side. We went over the jumps a couple of times just doing rising trot then moved on to moving in to my jump seat. When I felt confident doing this Fiona asked if I was happy to move up to jumping, which I was. We sta...

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...

Ok its time to actually write a decent length post, while I have not been posting the past few days I have been reading everyone's blogs and would like to say that my thoughts are with L over at Viva Carlos during this tough time that she is going through.   On Friday it was ny nans funeral, while it was a sad occasion I loved being able to see everyone, including my irish cousins that went home today. We went to the crematorium for 3:08pm and emotions were running high. But I had my best friend there to support me and I really appreciated it. We then went back to Horsley lodge for the wake. It was so long afternoon but we had some really nice chats with different people that we would not see very often. Evie their came back to mine for the night because of personal things in her life, she will be with me until at least Tuesday.  Saturday I got to see my big fella and Evie got to meet him for the second time. My cousins also got to meet him and see me ride. We were ori...

So much fun recently yesterday I had a great ride on Gatsby and see generally fun day at the stables when I first got there fiona asked if I was going to the workshop on leg yielding and shoulder in that afternoon. I said that I would like to and fiona and Elaine said that if I wanted to i could stay and help for the afternoon. My ride on Gatsby was amazing I love it. I spent half an hour grooming Gatsby. When I got on he seemed quite lazy to start with so I decided to carry a crop in the walk he was dropping nicely in to the outline he was really stepping under the with his hind leg. We moved on to the trot and did some trot poles he was really stepping under himself ans he was really floaty he felt amazing. We quickly moved on to the canter to start with I wasn't using enough leg so I wasn't getting anything other than a fancy faster trot. I then decided that I was going to ask for the canter and mean it and boy was the change in him amazing. We git quicker smoother transit...

I got to see Gatsby today and my uncle got to meet Gatsby. Today was my weekly lesson. When we got there it looked like the sun was going to come out, it had been raining earlier but there were blue skies and even a bit of sunshine. I groomed Gatsby and tacked him up and even got to get on him early. When I got on him he initially seemed to be quite lazy which we were expecting as he is now turned out at night. We spent some time warming up getting both Gatsby and me to stretch and loosen up. After the week I have had it felt so good to be back in the saddle. We spent quite a long time walking doing transitions. We then tried doing turn on the forehand and it went so well. For those of you that have been reading my blog for a while you will know that I tried doing this before but Gatsby kept backing up and me so we never successfully managed it. Well we did today he was great. Going to the right he was a bit stiffer to start with her just kept backing up. However when over exaggeratin...

No stirrup work with Gatsby. Yep that's right I finally decided with a push from my riding teacher to loose the stirrups. I was nervous but I knew that I needed to do it and that doing it would make me feel more confident. I started off by warming Gatsby up with stirrups getting him to work long and low. really stretching.  He was great and you could see on Gatsby and rocky their heave line working not sure if I've spelt that right and you could also see all of their top line working it fascinated me and I cant wait to learn more about it. when I had worked him on both sides I decided it was time to pick up the contact and getting him working in an outline it took a while to get him into it today as it was fairly windy. We moved on to the trot fairly quickly and he was so much easier to get in to an outline he looked fantastic if I do say so myself. His trot was lovely and when we decided to move on to the no stirrup work. We did a few transitional and his trot was so easy to ...

Here's some video's of Gatsby and I in our lesson yesterday. Compared to a few weeks ago I think you can see a big difference the transitions are smoother and the canter work is generally calmer and lasts for longer. I am really happy with how my canter work is developing. If anyone has any suggestions or tips after they have watched the videos then please feel free to comment with them. I appreciate everyones advice. I hope that you enjoy the videos.  Until next time.  A Girl With A Dream 

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...

Gatsby is such a fantastic horse! We had a really good ride today even though it was raining, haling, sleeting and almost snowing! The weather was awful but Gatsby made getting wet worth every single minute! I groomed and tacked him up and made sure he was all comfy, and then got on when I first got on I couldn't decide whether I wanted to do Pole work or canter work so Fiona said why not do both we could canter and do pole work, I got really excited. The exercise that I did was super fun and something that Gatsby and I really took to. What we had to do was Trot over three trotting poles making sure he was in an outline and forward then as soon as we were over the last pole we had to go in to canter doing a 20metre circle then just before we got back to the trotting poles we had to transition to trot. Now the last part would be the fun part with Gatsby because once he gets going doing pole work he doesn't want to stop doing pole work and the same with his canter work. So Fiona...

You might think that this is a bit of a weird title post but by the end of this post it will become clear what it means. But before we move on to the riding part of my post, I'll do the everyday part.  To start with my mum had to take my dad to the doctors as he has been having a stiff neck and back and finding it really uncomfortable to move, they've referred him on to a physiotherapist. This afternoon I accompanied my mum on a business appointment. Early in the week she made three special hand made wedding cards for a family and the wedding invitations needed to be sent abroad so she only had two hours from the start til the end of the project.  They said that they would ring her back and sort out doing the rest of the cards. Today we went back to the same family and sorted out what we were doing for the bulk majority of wedding cards and then what we were doing for the other 10 Special cards for the same wedding. Now on to the riding, today I think that my riding w...