Serene Settings

I had a wonderful long-weekend with the horses...or at least it felt like a lovely long weekend, even though I was in work this morning and then had another half day for house appointments - Yay for tile choices, doors + fittings & bathroom stuffs decisions being made. Fingers crossed now that my choices aren't crazy over budget!
Today was a gorgeous spring-like day and I'm so happy that I got to take full advantage - but I'll come back to that later.

We'll start with a Friday recap...boy was I glad to see the back of last week; it had been a long stressful week at the office with deadlines being moved up having a knock-on affect on workload which wasn't helped by my needing two afternoons off for more apartment decision-making. Anyway that's all besides the point! It basically boils down to lack of saddle time for me which undoubtedly didn't help the stress-levels as then there was the non-riders-remorse to deal with...maybe I'm the only one who feels like that though; as I'm sure neither girl was one bit upset at having been able to spend more time on turnout and no-time under saddle ;-)

Sunset from horseback this evening

So Friday I had decided to ride Nancy as I hadn't sat on her since the previous Sunday and a yard friend had asked to try her out this weekend - I figured although she wouldn't do anything negative from lack of saddle time, she also mightn't be as forthcoming with a working attitude with only one day under saddle in a week. Boy am I glad I sat up Friday evening, as I was leaving work I had misgivings and thought I would be too tired to tack up - but I sucked it up and am glad I got a spin in on her as she was awesome!
So much so that the rider sharing the arena with us (same rider I regularly complain about as being impossible to share an arena with - but she herself is lovely) actually complimented me on how she was going after we had all finished - talk about beaming!
It is not often other riders compliment me on how my horse(s) when I am riding - yes I know I am harsh on myself, but I must be or I'll never improve!

Saturday was another early start as I had to be at tile shop for 8.30am, we went from there to bathroom place to check out other options/pricing - thankfully sticking to original plan (I can go into more detail if anyone cares...but I figure this is a horsey blog and not a building blog - not that I am building anything, but I bought something from plans and now get to make all the "fun" decisions as to what goes where etc. I say "fun" as I am a Libra & decision-making and options are like my worst nightmare!); from where I headed to town to meet a friend for a quick lunch and catch up then out to the yard to turn out ponies...well O.
My poor little darlings were slated for a workout prior to turnout...they gotta earn their perks with me!

Sunday

As is my norm, I started with Kika and we had a pleasant spin in the main arena with two French friends (one of whom was having the spin on Nancy the next day) - she was a gem when one of the horses they were riding would randomly explode bucking for no apparent reason. K didn't bat an eyelash...not that I am complaining, but long time readers of my blog will know that about two years ago another horse sneezing would have been enough of an excuse to set Keeks off. However silly Kika is never lurking far from the surface and she spazzed out and refused to get too near the horse-eating-cooler that was draped on the side of the arena...she really is a character, but at this stage I can but laugh at her and work through/around her crazies.
Nancy was next as my fellow riders finished up, she was good again on Saturday, but as is the norm for me...not as good as the previous day. There is a problem with my brain whereby if i feel something goes well one day or someone is kind enough to compliment me on something, I invariably fall apart and can no longer function in the saddle the next day...well perhaps I am exaggerating slightly - I could still function in tack, just not as smoothly as the previous evening. Fear not - I don't think I will ever be physically or mentally capable of EVER getting too big for my boots (big-headed). N wasn't bad or bold, I just wasn't very good at communicating to her what I wanted, but we still managed to get some nice work when I got my shiz together *blush*

Monday

Sunday was thankfully not as early a start as I had thought it was going to be as my friends decided not to ride N at 9.30am but it was closer to 11am when she got her spin - sorry I was too distracted watching my pony prance to get media.
If he asks to rider her again, I will deff snag some footage. I think he liked her, compared to his own horse (who is more crazy than Kika); Nancy was very normal & level-headed. He too noted that one of her go-to defences is to trot, I took small satisfaction in her doing to same things to him as she does to me - rolling in too much on herself rather than carrying herself properly (although this is partly the friesian half of her DNA) and also she attempts to escape to trot rather than walk...although Nancy & I have made progress on that front, when I remember to coax her forward with my seat and not touch her with my legs = no mixed-messages.

Best bits about Sunday & Monday were my escapes into the woods for some long overdue hacking!

Kika first on Sunday with L on her mare & the two wonderful bearded collies of hers. We had a lovely two hour stroll in the woods - where K was an absolute angel! The evil gerbils in my brain had gone into over-drive during the night & early morning and the nerves had kicked in, I had convinced myself she would be the devil incarnate and all her nasty old scardey-cat habits would resurface as we hadn't hacked in the woods since September (despite having spent 4 months of the summer doing nothing but hacking in the woods). Turns out the only scardey-cat with hamsters for brains is me, Kika strode around like a boss & was relaxed on the buckle the whole time - even when a dog came flying from another path barking like mad at the horses & dogs, she barely flicked an ear in its direction.

Apologies for blurriness

Today was such a gorgeous day that after my house meetings finished I text L, to say how jealous I was of her getting to hack her girl in the lovely sunshine...we had made loose plans that she wanted to ride N after & she'd offered to give me some pointers/a lesson on Kika afterwards. However when she realised I wasn't in work, she suggested we rendez-vous at the turnout as she returned her mare to the field, I'd tack up the other two and we could go for another quick hack before sun disappeared for the week (rain-forecast...yay-NOT)
It was glorious & where the majority of the pics came from for this post - we got some crazy fast trotting at first before both the donkeys settled. Kika required more convincing than N to settle and in fact had a bit of a shit-fit which resulted in some schooling rather than the supposed relaxing hack she had been slated for...she really should know better than to mess with the Guru. That aside, we had a very enjoyable hack and set us all up right for the week I think.

What happens when you try to capture the sunset from a moving horse

My plan for tomorrow is to give N the day off & lung Miss Kika in the pessoa, she enjoys it and I think a change of pace wouldn't go astray for her at this stage. Wednesday I cannot make it to the barn in the evening so L will play with the ponies, she may or may not jump K (depends on arena availability) and I dunno if she has her sights set on N. Eitherway I shall be making my return to their saddles Thursday evening and then seeing where the rest of the week takes us plan-wise...hopefully we can get another hack or two in over the weekend :)