Friday Flashback I

I would like to make this a regular feature on my blog pending this inaugural post's reception. Aka if you like it; please leave a comment ;-)

Possibly my first equine encounter?! Sadly photo isn't dated, but my sis wasn't born yet so i'm going for '86-'87

The idea behind this feature, besides the fun eliteration the title allows me, is the ability to share a bit more background knowledge about my "horsey" life. Although I was a latecomer to horse ownership I am lucky to have been born into a "horsey" family - although not necessarily my immediate family, however my mother & sisters can all ride and my dad likes to remind us of the "horsey" slants to his family tree also...I hope to elaborate on all these connections as this FF feature blossoms...all going well.

Concrete proof my mother only has herself to blame for my eq-diction

Each week will feature one or more photos with tidbits of background information depending on what I can remember and/or get people that were there to help me fill in the gaps. :-)

Further proof of the role she played in equine journey

Random Rambling Alert

(Touché not much different to what I normally write)
 
I caught the tail end of the tv-segment Riders Club on Eurosport Wednesday evening when I got in late from work & didn't make it to the yard #LeSadTimes
 

LINK to photosource & Article

Congratulations to Zara Phillips & Mike Tindall on the birthday of their daughter (adorably named Mia Grace) earlier in the week ... talk-about a power-couple; sod Brangelina these two combine 2 of my favourite past-times to watch: Horses (obvs) & Rugby...although being Irish - patriotism makes it difficult for me to like English teams/players
#sorrynotsorry

LINK to H&C Article

 
Also congrats extended from Pampered-Ponies to Team GB London Olympic Gold medalist Laura Tomlinson (neé Bechtolsheimer) & her husband who announced they are expecting their first baby later this year.

Baby boom has hit EQ-land!




Completely unrelated to the rest of this post, but please cross fingers & toes for the Guru & her horse O who have an appointment at a vet Clinic in Belgium today to try and suss out why the mare has been so on/off lame for the past year & a half/two years.
She has been diagnosed with navicular,  but how bad is it? What are the treatment options/injections? Is it the hereditary type or could L breed from her? Would the mare be more comfortable retired?
So many questions that I hope she gets answers to!

Fingers crossed this Happy Healthy Horse returns!

PS: Belatedly edited to add (cos i'm a muppet and forgot this when i posted this morning); the rider in the first picture is my mam's youngest brother & the other two photos are my mother holding me as a baby and were taken at her family's home place. This farm features predominantly in my obsession with horses! It is also where Kika lived when we were in Ireland (after i bought her from her breeder) and where Nancy was born & lived until i meanly brought her out here to join Kika & myself.

PPS: I vehemently do not condone riding without a helmet - nor does my mother for that matter - what can i say the 80s were a diff time i guess. Ask calvin Harris about things being acceptible in the 80s (or at least i think that is who released that song...but please correct me if i am wrong)

FYI

Sadly my PoAftW  changed due to workload yesterday I didn't make it to the barn last night!
 *Le-Sad-Times*

I LOVE the BBT - Hopefully Sheldon is wrong on this occasion though ;-)
 LINK

What the plan was supposed to look like for the week:

"Monday - Guru schools Kika / I rode Nancy
Tuesday - Ride Kika / Lunge Nancy
Wednesday - Guru schools Nancy / I lunge Kika
Thursday - Farrier due / down day for girls
Friday - Ride both girls
Saturday - Ride both girls
Sunday - Lesson on one or both girls"

What it is now looking like:

- Nancy not lunged Tuesday
- Neither worked Wednesday
- Farrier + planned day off Thursday (hopefully goes to plan)
- Friday will be lunging day for the pair of them
- Saturday pole work day for change of pace for them & me
- Sunday lesson with Guru or flatwork day...hopefully better for changes in scheduling ;-)

Also think I should mention that I changed the url for my blog...in case anyone was having difficulty finding me - please spread the word!
I changed my blog address from lyssatra.blogspot to pampered-ponies.blogspot; as Lyssatra is Kika's registered name & I wanted to include Nancy in the url...call me sappy & sentimental and I'll wear those badges with pride when it comes to my girls as I want them both to get equal recognition & blogtime.

In actual pony news today, I did manage to make my lunchtime-mad-dash-on-public-transport-across-town to turn the girls out. My worries about the farrier not being finished in time for me to be able to turn the little darlings out for the afternoon (which would have sucked with my not being able to get to the barn tonight if they'd had to spend the day inside!) proved unfounded as he was just finished with Kika when I arrived. Sadly for him he had to contend with my broken & very poor German as i asked if they were good & their feet were ok - thankfully all seems well! *happy dance*
Took two quick snaps of the girlies feet for memorabilia sake cos as we've already established...I'm a sentimental sap!

Kika 2-front & 1 sneaky hind

Nancy 2-front & 2-hinds'ish

If i understood correctly with my poor German, he said all 6 barefeet were fine - 4x for Nancy & 2x hinds for Kika. He said that he made Kika's feet a little smaller however that it shouldn't cause a problem for arena work, but that she might be a little ouchy if too much work done too quickly outside of arenas or on gravel...as I have no such plans, this is a non-issue for us. :)

Down in the Dumps

Apologies in advance for what is probably going to be a whiney/self-indulgeant post.
My Tuesday evening spin with Kika went quite pear-shaped which is unfortunate as we had been getting on great of late.

Kika was less than impressed with my impromptu photos

I was then berating myself & my incapabilities; that to have lunged Nancy afterwards would have been a pointless excercise as she is not the best on the lunge so it ends up being a needlessly stressy experience for us both...so rather than upset the apple cart further for the evening I gave her the night off, in the hopes that she wouldn't be affected by my negative ninny energy.

Google Image

A couple of places where I think I went wrong:
- I am bent as an S-hook in the saddle on our bad rein which doesn't help matters at all save to frustrate us both

- I am trying to change my whole MO when riding as apparently I have been doing it wrong for years

•  which is so disheartening to hear & I am finding it quite difficult to correct as I am now second guessing my first instinct

- Kika will rarely help me out by offering what she knows I am trying to ask for if it means more/proper work required from her. 

I finally remembered to snap K in her quarter sheet

I am well aware that I have many holes in my eq-cation. I learned the basics of walk/trot/canter/jumping but never properly learned the nitty-gritty of riding properly, working the horse correctly or having good eq. My hands are awful and most of the time I can't even keep my heels down - what I need is lessons on a school-master and to be brought back to basics, neither of which is currently available to me funds or time-wise sadly. So shall plug away with my horses & the Guru and hope I can regain some semblance of control over myself!

The evening was then topped off when Nancy got a fright and jumped down on my foot - she's not too light...shall see whether I still have a toenail in the coming days ;-)
Somehow her frying-pan sized feet managed to simultaneously clobber the tip of my toe & my ankle-joint (where my leg meets my foot) - shall monitor bruising & share photos if impressive LOL!

I feel terrible being such a Debbie Downer when I actually have it so good. I am healthy (bar the toe/foot), I have two wonderful kind & healthy horses and great barn (and other) friends who are there to help pick me up from my mental bashing and coach me along to help me get better. Others are not so lucky as me between injuries and other less pleasant things - I really have nothing to be so negative about & feel very bad for moaning!

I need to suck it up, brush myself off and keep trying - hopefully one day I'll get there.

Another Google Images gem

The plan (drafted yesterday!) For this evening's eq-ventures has possibly changed pending my escape time from work & arena availability. All going well on both those fronts, Kika and I may get a well needed change of scenery with some pole work...fingers crossed! Nancy will still get some Guru schooling, not sure if she too will get to play over poles or not. Whatever the outcome it deff cannot hurt any of us.

PS: Spent my commutes yesterday catching up on Carrot Top's blog & love all her gif'ing (yes I have now made that a word!) - hence the slightly random images in this post I guess, ;)
If you haven't checked out her blog before, you are missing out - her posts are awesomely funny with unique handrawn re-enactments of hers & her horses adventures + cool use of gifs!
It is a super fun read & should deff not be missed!

Plan of Attack for the Week (PoAftW)

I'm such a muppet, the whole point of yesterday's post was to lay out my plan for the week & I forgot!  *blush*

Google images

Anyway, here goes:

Monday - Guru schools Kika / I rode Nancy
Tuesday - Ride Kika / Lunge Nancy
Wednesday - Guru schools Nancy / I lunge Kika
Thursday - Farrier due / down day for girls
Friday - Ride both girls
Saturday - Ride both girls
Sunday - Lesson on one or both girls

Google Images

Hope to lay out a plan like this for myself each week, hopefully next week I remember to include it in Sunday/Monday post!

Memory Lane Monday

Well sort of, the photos decorating this post will be the "memories" from July 2013 (I'm not sure I shared them here...apologies if you have already seen them); my verbal vomit will be from today - apologies in advance....but here's a photo to start us off on the right foot.

Kika was lucky today and got a schooling spin from the Guru before I arrived. L said she was very good in the newly resurfaced arena; which is deep & most people are avoiding for the moment. Which I am secretly delighted about as it's the arena with a full wall of mirrors and is usually the busiest. So I'm thrilled people are shunning it & I get to play in there to my hearts content - plus it keeps my spins on the girls short & sweet...it really is very deep and I don't want to push them so hard that they do themselves a mischief.

I got another spin in on Nancy, it was one of the best spins I have had on her in a while. A few posts back is evident as to how down on myself I've been about my inability to gel with N in arena setting. Now there has been no magical miracles, we are still very much a work in progress,  but with the Guru's tips in mind and a game plan to walk/trot and then tackle our canter issues before we both got too tired. The canter itself isn't the issue as such although it too is a work in progress; we struggle with the downward transition & N being slightly wired and running rather than calmy resuming a nice balanced trot.

I think the deeper footing possibly also worked in my favour to keep Nancy's speed in check when transitioning down. However I did have to remind myself to release her head and if she didn't slow once pressure left the reins after a couple of strides I brought her back to walk; attempted to defuse the situation/de-stress us both; ask a different question and then once I had her concentrated again re-asked for the canter.
Oddly I got it perfectly on our normally bad side first go...probably because she wasn't expecting it as such. Then our typically better side took a lot of stop/starting and re-phrasing the question as we were getting our signals crossed and she'd strike off on the wrong lead or start right but throw herself about playing in the deeper footing that she ended up wrong and we had to go back to square one & defuse the situation.

"Whatcha doin'?!"

She did give me a nice big buck and some more prancing/dancing but as she was on the correct lead we weathered the "storm" and came back to trot/walk then tried again and finished with another lovely correct lead canter.

In total I was only in the saddle for 30mins as the footing is so deep and she'd been really good (the buck & leaping weren't malicious). I was super happy with the pair of us after our less than stellar saddle time logged of late.

Kika then covered me in pollen as
she had to devour all the things near me!

I got two lovely compliments yesterday & today. First was an elderly lady who has a young (same age as Nancy I think) Iberian mare, I want to say Lusitanien but I'm just not sure. Kika & I shared the arena with her yesterday and when I was finished (after her) and rejoined her in the grooming bay; she said she really liked how I warmed K up in walk first and then eased her into trot/canter work. She said she has seen a lot of people go straight into demanding trot work (with draw reins or the like) without warming the horse up properly. She said she would have no qualms in asking me to ride her mare for her if she couldn't make it one day...now I'm not sure I would accept if that ever does happen as I don't think I'm a good enough rider for her young horse. I'm happy to tinker with my girls, make mistakes & learn from them...I don't think I'd be good enough to school someone else's young impressionable horse!
The second compliment was this evening & less for me as for Nancy.  She has won herself another admirer. A lovely French guy, who is a fab rider & has had some of the most rotten luck with his super horse being more or less out of work for the two years he has been at the yard...but when they have been able to work, man are they like poetry!
He was full of praise for my Nancy & really liked what he saw - even though it was me in the saddle! I think, he like a lot of people initially dismissed her as heavy or plain due to her breeding/looks but man can she fair float when ridden properly...not that she often looks lile that with me. *blush* but sometimes we can coordinate wnough for it to look kind of nice ;-)
I wasn't talking to him myself, but L was while N and I attempted to work at the other end of the arena and she relayed the message to me afterwards. Apparently he was excited, yet surprised at the thought I'd let him ride her. I'm only too happy for better riders than myself who want to try my girls, seeing how others ride them & how the girls react can only be educational for them and me.
Does that make me weird?

Right enough waffle out of me, thanks to whoever has read this post to the end! All pbotos were taken the 19th of July as the girls supervised my poo-picking of their field ;-)

Rider Review: Ariat Windmere Boots

I had a quick search of the Ariat website but I'm not sure they sell these boots anymore which is a massive pity as I'd have bought another pair in a heartbeat.

Winter 2012

I picked up my pair on offer at the RDS Dublin Horse Show in Ireland in August 2012. Getting them back to Luxembourg travelling with a budget airline in the hottest month of the year was interesting and a fun start to my life with them as i wore them home ;-)
I got them at almost €100 off, to say I was delighted would be an understatement. I adore them and have gotten so much wear out of them. Heck I practically live in them during the Autumn/Winter and even some Spring months.

Pre-cleaning today

I wear them daily to go to the yard on my lunch break to turn out the little darlings and have ridden in them before but prefer my jodh boots & gaiters as my feet/ankles felt too loose in the Windmeres. However that is a personal preference and not a reflection on the boot itself which is made to be ridden in as well as worn for "country" wear.

Post-cleaning today

I will hold my hand up and admit that I have not always taken the best care of my boots, but as can be seen from the photos accompanying this blogpost they clean up alright when I bother. I have been known to wear them to my office job and in fact cleaned them up today to take me to the theater to see West Side Story :-D
Now I would never lay claim to being a fashionista in any way shape or form, but these are a fab multi-purpose boot that take me from everyday life to the yard and back.

My boots at the theater today

These boots have kept my feet dry & warm in rain and snow and have great grip when walking on icy routes.
Now that it would appear (from my brief google) that the production of these boots has been discontinued I shall be scouring the net for a back up pair for if/when mine give up the ghost.

Nancy sussing out the new arena surface

In actual pony news I got both girls ridden this morning for quick spins after their vaccines last week. Kika was an angel in a busy arena as we worked through our paces. W/T/C without asking for too much or breaking a sweat.
Nancy was a superstar in the largest arena just the two of us as we tested out the new surface. It is a bit deep at the moment but that probably worked in our favour as we struggle with my teething problems ;-)

Saturday Stills

I have some media to share as the girls enjoy their 2 (3) days holiday post annual vaccines, so no new riding news from us.

I am walking a friends OTTB gelding for 10mins twice a day this weekend and next as she is off sunning herself in Florida for a week for her husbands birthday (lucky buggars). Her poor OTTB did himself a tendon injury a month or so back and so has to walk for 6 months :-(

Neither Nancy or Kika got turned out Thursday nor Friday so I thought they'd be Cray-Cray today when let loose, but the video above is as mental as they got. Fast forward 0.50ish seconds for the most explosive action offered, other than that it's just the girls getting down & dirty (rolling).

Kika sniffing out the electric fencing - always on the look out for a weakness

Please send thoughts and prayers to sprinklerbandits who had to make the very heartbreaking brave yet tough decision to PTS her Heart Horse Cuna. My heart aches for her following this very hard decision, I hope that should the time come for me to make such a call for an animal in my life that I can handle it with the care & grace she did.

Don't forget to hug your horse as often as you can - I'm off to do just that with mine...after cleaning their stables and setting everything up nice & cozy for the spoiled creatures!