Monday 4 January 2016

New Year - Same Goals

Going to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) with goals this year and only pick one - namely ride my pretty ponies more!!!!
Thankfully PL has kicked my butt into gear as i like to try to ride Nancy between her spins to help keep my ear in. Kika is the one I have to get the finger out with and ride more often. I hopped up on her today for the first time since the start of November and she was absolutely awesome. She got a little light on the forehand at the start about a random corner of the arena, however a bit of leg, less rein and some stern words and she got over herself. Our first canter tansition was awkward and on the wrong lead for the first few attempts. When I set her up better we nailed it, even when we changed direction and things got a little iffy i kept my cool, lowered my hands, sat back and put some leg on and she got right down to work. I was grinning like a looney when we finished!

Good girl foam

Nancy has been a little sticky for both PL and I in the arenas when on the right rein in walk. She is fine and straight in trot & canter, however gets rather squirrely in walk. PL has a better feel for things than I do and reckons it's a weakness thing. Unfortunately for Nancy her weak side & my weak side are one and the same. It's not hard to know whose issue it really is (read:mine), as it's Kika's weak side as well - hard to know what came first the chicken or the egg in that case. Whether she had the issue and twisted me, or I was twisted and twisted both her & Nancy...prob the latter!
A friend of PLs is also a riding teacher and came to watch her ride Nancy once, I'd love for her to come back as i love watching lessons and my horses learn new things. She suggested working on shoulder in to help strengthen Nancy's weaker side. PL knows how to do lateral work, as does Nancy - the only one who cannot yet do shoulder ins & leg yields is me!

Christmas day spin
My other goal for this year is to use the money I get from leasing out Nancy to take a lesson once a week rotating between the ponehs - which will also help me meet goal #1 of riding moar ☺

How to know you're an equestrian
 - this is what your hallway looks like!


Final goal is take better care of my leather goods. What is the point in having he lovely smelling Viva Carlos Higher Sandards cleaning soap & balm if i never use it. I brought my saddles and bridles home this evening to clean them up before the saddle fitter comes on Thursday. Fingers crossed the girls current saddles can be amended to better fit them, as after putting my back out last month & the doc visit, physio + Christmas has cut into the little saddle fund i had managed to scrape together. *sigh*

18 comments:

  1. That's a good looking hallway ;)

    More pony time is a great goal!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you swing back to April/May 2015 I took a video of a virtual tour of the furnished flat before I destroyed it with all my stuffs everywhere ;-)

      Delete
  2. We used to call the white foamy lips "working horse lipstick" at my old barn XD

    Sounds like you have some awesome plans for 2016, riding more is good thing :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love seeing it as it means I didn't stress the ponehs out & that they were relaxed in our work. K gets more on that side than the other which I assume has something to do with both our imbalances/weaker sides

      Delete
  3. My entire house looks like your hallway :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. great goal! exciting about more lessons too :) wishing you a very happy new year !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fingers crossed i can swing it and we'll be laughing ☺

      Delete
  5. Oh, I can help you clean the tack! Favourite thing to do after riding, sleeping, eating, catching a film, grocery shopping, going to the dentist... You know ;) hope you get more rides in this year, it's always the struggle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha I actually do enjoy cleaning tack, I find it therapeutic. It's just a struggle to find the motivation to do so at the barn which is so cold...so the dilemma becomes how to get the tack home when I so rarely take the car to go to the stables *sigh*

      Delete
  6. The girls still look lovely as ever! I am diggin' that hallway. We have a bedroom full of my tack, plus the shed and shop so it is a little more hidden. Less fun, I say!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha - best to spread it out though and/or store it in multiple places so we can delude ourselves as to how much equine gear there actually is - that's the main reason I visit my parents basement so rarely...too much horse stuff I don't use but can't throw out as i might need one day *sigh*
      #equestriennehoardingproblems

      Easier to leave stuff in the hallway when no goats or dogs to do damage & when you love alone only one person needs to remember not to trip over things ;-)

      Delete
  7. Your place looks so posh! Riding more is one of my goals too

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Place still has a lot of cables & needs light fittings - so far so good on riding more but only just over a week into the new year. Jury's out whether I'll manage to maintain momentum

      Delete
  8. Riding more is always a great goal :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well that's one benefit of half leasing that I never thought of before!! That's awesome that she had her trainer out and they can help strengthen Nancy's weak side. Yay!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So far so good on the PL front. Nancy & I have been super lucky ☺

      Delete

I love to hear from readers, thank you for your comment :-)