Rats its Snowing!

Icon having his limited (don't you dare hurt yourself) turnout and Felix the new kitten has a giant rat. Yuk. We keep the rats down with poison and I expect this was already dead or dying when he "caught" it. He is a very happy cat though. No riding as school is frozen and road are slippy, so horses are just having hay and a bit of turnout. No hard feed so no risk of Azoturia when they come back into work. I am having to carry all the water down from the house as everything is frozen. Now melt snow, melt....please....

"Now where is that shoe we Lost"

Here is Stan who found some deep water out hunting when he was taking a short cut. I teach Stan (but not to do this!). He is grandson of Peter Sheppard who bred Icon. Stan's mum Nicky hunted Icon and did the Ledbury Hunt Golden Button ride on him....which is a race over some enormous hedges.....Nicky and Icon just popped round it for fun!

Stan lost a shoe that day, gotta admire him for looking for it everywhere!

We have an annoying small amount of snow today. I taught pony club all afternoon in an indoor school. Then when I got home the snow had gone, so I rode John Wayne and Top Gun in the dark using the lights from the stables to help see where I was going!

Its Very Cold!

Here is Ant bringing Milo and Frank (This is Sarah's, my livery) a large bale of hay. Frank and Milo are waiting cautiously! Our horses tend to be good in traffic they are so used to a tractor bringing them hay!

My elderly cat , 14 yr old Monserat and Sweep find a good way to keep warm beside the logburner. Monserat had been an outside cat all his life and refused to come inside, until last winters cold weather and now he sleeps inside every night. He is a brilliant mouser and catches rats too, he also begs for tit bits along side the dogs and growls at me if I forget him!

Just done quick flat work sessions with the horses the last few days. Monty's walk, trot and canter transitions are less exciting and his free walk is definitely recognisable! Brrrrrr..... I am only warm when I am riding or mucking out, the house is warm enough to take my coat and gloves off by 7 pm when the log burner has really got going. Its the wind thats cold but snow may be coming too Brrrrrrr.....!

Monty's First Ever Show

Took Monty to Allens Hill to do his first ever show, we did the 50 cm clear round and he went clear once and had 1 fence down in the 2nd round. He loved it and was very good warming up with the other horses and when the tiny miniature Shetland foal took off at 90 miles an hour in the paddock next to the warm up arena. It was so small it had a dog rug on, very cute and very funny. I hung on to my neck strap until it slowed down though!

Next Monty needs to learn to jump from canter this will take a while and I will start with using poles on the floor and then to x poles.

Spicer (Duvet Day) has been lent to Janet, Anthonys sister to go hunting and is proving to be a complete star, Janet will make him him into a super hunter, its nice he is being used as I was going to turn him away this winter.

John Wayne is now fit enough to go and do some dressage and show jumping, he is bolder and more confident than before. Top Gun is going really well and will be aimed at some dressage and show jumping in a few weeks, he has filled out and feels much more mature. Both boys have been clipped, just a neck and belly clip. It was getting hard to dry them off after exercise, with the damp weather. They were both easy to clip.....so its just Icon (of course) who is the clipping fidget!

Icon Wins and Monty is Show Jumping

Took Monty (Hartpury Take It 2 The Top) to Tack Farm SJ schooling on Monday. My friends Sharon Bradford and Bernice White came with their horses Nibs and Freddie. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a super time. All the horses jumped well, mine knocked quite a few down....legs and brain too far apart...but he was very brave over the many fillers & even jumped a frozen black water tray left over from Saturdays Derby class. We all went home very happy with our horses.

Measured Monty today he is 16.2, but still very narrow its like riding on a knife!
Monty is becoming wonderful to hack out, he feels real potential top class, he opens gates, does water, ditches, has met loose dogs, cows and even pigs. As I hack out on my own they have to be brave.....this is all thanks to James Grassick who breaks all my young horses in and does an amazing job with them.

Icon won a speed class at Hartpury on Wednesday evening. It was their first evening BSJA show and it was a superb show, the atmosphere was buzzing with loads of people who I knew, James Grassick won the 1.10 so it was a good show for the locals. Can't wait for the next one.

Anthony has been washing chickens all week ready for a big show at Stoneleigh this weekend, they are put on the Rayburn in the kitchen to dry which means some interesting and loud sound effects when I am on the phone!

Gypsy Horses On the Move!

Butterfly and Rif Raf on their way to winter turn out. You can see Rif Rafs fire breathing dragon on her side, quite clearly, if you have a vivid and mad imagination! I taught Rif Raf to have a head collar on, be tied up and to be led all in the last 4 days. The field we are going to is a 1/2 mile walk across the common, she had to be taught properly so she did not get away from me on the journey. They will stay there until the spring when Rif Raf will be weaned.

Icon had a go at an Advanced Medium today at Hartpury, we had a list 1 judge and actually got some 7's but sadly a 1 for a non existent flying change, he managed the other 3 changes but got very excited. We have to make ourselves do these tests to gain experience for next year when we hope to do some more advanced and go 3*. My sponsor came to watch Maria and Daniel Norrell (Payrolls UK) and delivered a mountain of Polo's to a very happy Icon.

A momentous occasion happened this morning I rode three horses by Take It 2 The Limit.
The gorgeous John Wayne, lovely Monty and his lordship Top Gun, back off his holiday. I lunged him first and my oh my did he buck, I gulped and worried about getting on as he went round and round broncing like he had a bramble in his tail. I need not have worried, he was as good as gold to ride, although I think I will lunge him before I get on for the next few days.

Now I have five horses to ride and I am still busy teaching despite it being November when my work usually goes a bit quieter. On a teaching note well done to Sarah Limbrick who has qualified for the Oliver Townend Eventing Finals at Aintree next month.

Pammy Hutton

Took Icon to Pammy today. Lunged him well before we went to get all the bucks out of his system, there were lots of them!!

In just 45 mins Pammy fired suppling exercises at me like she was using a machine gun, this was done mainly with transitions within half pass and shoulder in, it was fascinating how Icon began to move and loosen, Pammy was brilliant and took time to explain things in detail, I have taught Icon to do everything correctly but now it all needs tweaking.

Pammy took my flying changes apart and showed me how to get him to change behind first and then in front, this was weird and amazing at the same time and will eventually lead to a good change, at the moment he is a split second late behind, which loses him a mark or two. (my fault for teaching him over a pole, which I had to confess to Pammy and she winced!)

She also helped us with our medium canter, having worked on his suppleness and engagement I set him up to canter the long side, Pammy shouted "lean back and give one meaningful kick"....Icon bucked and then extended.
WOW!

Twins!!

Here are full brothers Hartpury Top Gun and Hartpury Take It 2 The Top (Monty). Wonder if anyone can tell them apart!! They have very similar temperaments to ride and handle too, it is like they have been cloned! They are both out of Top Totty II (intermediate mare ridden by Anna Tomson) and both by Take It 2 The Limit (advanced stallion ridden by Leslie Law and Jeanette Brakewell)

It is really windy here today. The leaves from our nearby oak trees have blown onto the school and are making excited whirlwinds, it is like the sand is alive. Monty was a star and never batted an eyelid even when Monserat (my elderly cat) appeared suddenly under his feet.
Then I rode him round the field and jumped some logs, we even did the 2ft tyres and he jumped the ditch, which after all the rain yesterday is now full of water.

I am getting Icon ready to do an Advanced Medium dressage test at Hartpury this Sunday. He is trying very hard to do everything asked and is finding the flying changes less exciting. We have a Pammy Hutton lesson this week so hopefully she will work some of her magic.

Monty Hacks Out and Blog (stats update)

I have hacked Monty out 3 times. He has been through lots of water, mud and past a scary farm yard. Also jumping tiny fences on the school. He still has his back up a bit for a few minutes but that's quite normal for a 3 year old. His trot work is coming along nicely and the canter is really green and will be for ages as he is still pretty disorganised with his long legs!

Will try and get some photos of him to put on here tomorrow.

Hello to all my Blog readers we have just had some stats on the blog site it has almost 2,000 hits, its being read in the USA, Canada, Poland, Japan, China, Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Italy, France and of course the UK. No one from Ireland yet, my mother is half Irish and has loads of relatives over there so I will have to let them know about the site. Hope you are all enjoying it and thank you for reading. I had no idea so many people were interested in reading about my lovely horses and thought I probably had about ten readers!!!!

Yearling pics, News on Smartie & Monty

As requested by my Blog readers here is updated photo of my youngsters
Hartpury Twilight -yearling full brother 2 Top Gun & Monty.
Snip-yearling out of Paintpot by Take It 2 The Limit
Crunchie-yearling by Milo out of Josie Jump.
Mika-2 yrs out of Butterfly by Sluggalug (TB)

The lady who bought Smartie is really pleased with him, he has settled in well and best of all she will keep me updated. She is hoping he will make a showjumper, she was once head groom to Ellen Whitaker so we may see Smartie doing wonderful things in the future. He is certainly bred to do that so fingers crossed I will be proud of him one day.

I have ridden Monty and he is really lovely, more uphill than Top Gun, I was trotting round the school in a wobbly green sort of way and Ant shouted "he is going to get better dressage marks than John Wayne and Top Gun already".
The next day I have now jumped a teeny course of cross poles and jumped a few logs and ditches in the field. Wow he is brave, pure 4* potential but we all know that will also depend on many other things, as well as being amazingly talented, he has to love it, be trainable, stay sound and have a certain amount of luck too.
I have had my Allens Hill schedule out planning his first outing (a walk and trot test) in a couple of weeks!