Bain de Bou

Gosh where has the time gone again?! Sorry for the recent radio silence guys work has been mental and the weather has been pretty awful. With horses living on 24/7 turnout in the rain we've been having, they have been spending a lot of time stewing in the field.

Et voila the reason why - lovely clear skies for May - NOT

That photo was taken Friday afternoon as I raced against time to haul the two muck monsters in to have a hope of getting a spin in on them before the got soaked in another shower. The weather has been mental here for the time of year - I mean it is the end of May and last Friday it was -1C when I woke up!

Wednesday 22.5.2013

The girls, have of course been taking full advantage of their field being like a pig sty - and covering every inch of themselves in mud at every opportunity. I only managed to ride Kika on Wednesday evening for a jump school and Nancy "only" got a 2 hour hack on Saturday evening. Oh, and Friday I did managed to squeeze in a spin on the pair of them - apart from that they have been spending a lot of time rolling in mud!

Muck Monster I (Nancy)

I did make a paint attempt at last week's jump school with Kika, but as it has been over a week since I rode it I am afraid that i have forgotten the courses The Guru had us string together. However Kika was awesome considering she hadn't been ridden since the Saturday, when we'd been on a 2 hour hack. Our issue during the jump school was mine in that I couldn't feel when she was on the wrong lead - but we shall work on this for the summer.

Muck Monster II (Kika)












I had two lovely spins on Friday after cleaning all that muck off the pair of them, as the skies were so threatening (see first picture) I hauled the pair of them in at the same time, cleaned them up and popped Kika on the walker for 20-25minutes while I rode Nancy in an arena. We still have our speeding issues, so I have decided that I am no longer going to ride her in an arena on my own as I still can't figure out where I am going wrong, so have asked the Guru to help me out with arena work when she can - on the upside we have no problems out hacking. Nancy is rock solid and such a joy to hack on!

Saturday 25.5.2013

Nancy then got to munch on carrots while i gave Kika a spin in an arena, she was a doll. Still threw in the odd Kika "Oh-that-corner-is-suddenly-scary", but she worked like a charm and we got all our canter leads right. Another yard friend passed as I was cantering and she stopped to kindly tell me that she was going really well - and that she wished her horse could canter as uphill as Kika was going. I hadn't realised that we looked anything special, but while I had her I asked if she would mind watching a few more minutes to be sure I was getting the correct leads - which thankfully we did.
I was so happy, I did offer her a spin on Miss Kika if she wanted as she has been so good these last few months (bar her hacking sillies - but they don't count! :p) - however I think I was too honest in talking to this friend about my previous Kika issues as she has no interest in sitting on her - woopsy! ;-)

I found the above leather headcollar in my stuff that I brought over from Ireland around the time Kika moved out here 3 years ago. I had actually forgotten i had it which is very embarrassing as a very kind person sent it to me for free from a forum pay it forward kindness thing after she'd won it and wasn't planning on using it.
It always looked a bit blocky on Kika's finer head - and I was actually apprehensive about it being too small for Nancy's monster head - but in my biased opinion, I think it loos fab on her!

Saturday was actually Kika's 9th birthday so she got a mountain of birthday carrots. Which she surprisingly shared with field-buddy D. She really has matured so much, I can honestly say i didn't think she'd consent to sharing!




Monday the farrier came and both girls got front shoes. I decided to put front shoes back on Nancy as in 3 to 4 weeks time I'll be moving them to another field off-site which will only have access to forestry hacking - and I want to look after her feet as otherwise they'll get too worn down on the trails.
Shamefully I haven't made it to the yard since Monday evening, but hope is to get there tonight and remind my girls what I look like ;-)