Ack - I Apologise!

The Festive period simply got away from me and my blogging time was non-exsistant! My apologies to all those who have been waiting on the Chirstmas Contest results!

I wish to start of 2014 by saying a HUGE THANK YOU to all those who entered & to Niamh @LifeofRiley / TraceALine for allowing me place a custom order for her gorgeous Paper Cuts.
All the entries were fabulous & inspirational, I am only sorry that I didn't manage to snap any Xmas photos of my own girls - as i mentioned above the time just got away from me! :(

FIRST PLACE

Amanda & Simba @ChasingTheSun

SECOND PLACE

L. Williams & Carlos @VivaCarlos

Originally I had planned that the Paper Cut prizes would be of the winning Christmas photos, but as 2013 was a challenging year for both L & Amanda with the devastating losses of their equine partners - I hope Niamh won't mind that I open the prize up to allow the winners chose their favourite photo to have immortalised with her fabulous Paper Cuts.

In news of myself & the girls, please feel free to tune out now as probably will get waffly ;-)
My festive plans of pony bootcamp for myself & the girls to make up for my lack of saddle time in November & December didn't quite happen sadly, I did however use the time to buy myself a gorgeous kitchen at half price which the shop will hold till my flat is ready to have it installed - so although no saddle time it was time none the less well spent.
I shared the pictures in my previous post of my "baby" sister & I riding the girls on Christmas Eve, I also have a video of myself & Nancy that my sis caught for me. I am disappointed with my hands & as always my ankles - on going battles with myself!
I apologise for it being sideways & sound - I'm afraid I am a technophobe when it comes to videos and have no idea who to (a) remove sound or (b) fix it right way up.

I know Nancy can be inclined to curl up and duck behind the vertical, we are working with her and as she muscles & strengthens up we'll hopefully be able to help her stay more balanced in the way she carries herself.

Another photo from our Christmas Eve spin

 The girls then got a good few days to laze about the turnout & stuff themselves with hay as my backside didn't get back into the saddle until Sunday 29th before taking another break for the Kitchen hunt & purchase (eek the expense *blubber*), I managed to get three days work into the girls once the New Year started, including an unfortunate soaking for myself as I was forced to ride Nancy outside in the rain on Saturday as all other arenas in use between a carriage driving clinic & preparations for the yard Party & Quadrilles on Sunday 5th.

Kika hasn't quite reverted to her Horsey Houdini antics thankfully, however she has taken to stealing her neighbours hay! I swear this horse will be the death of me - but as ever she is entertaining to those around me!

I missed the chance to review 2013 & set goals for 2014 in individual posts, so I guess I'll do a quick recap here. Last year I posted some goals for 2013:

"Looking forward to 2013 ...

I should probably set some goals for myself, but in all honesty if I can just keep making baby step improvements and enjoy my horse riding I'll be overjoyed.
I haven't really gotten into the competitive scene out here, but who knows maybe if we can keep on our upward cycle of improvements we might look into taking out a license and trying to get some outings under our belts...
Balancing two will be interesting and a whole new challenge, but one I am thoroughly looking forward to!

PS: I know I need to stop looking down and must also work more on my heels to (a) keep them down and (b) stop niggling at her with them...amongst all my other faults - but sure if I'd nothing to work on 2013 would be boring, right? :-)"

My 2014 goals shall continue along those lines, although having found out how much it costs to take out a license to compete here that goal may be a long-term thing depending on how things go for myself & the girls. I am just hoping that I can get more saddle time that I got towards the tail end of last year!

I am super proud of the work done with both Nancy & Kika, when Nancy arrived last January we took a good few months to gel and relax into our ridden work partnership. The months spent hacking in the woods worked wonders for us - we haven't looked back since and although we still have plenty to work on, we are getting there. Slowly but surely with both girls - I have no deadlines or set goals to achieve so so long as both girls are healthy and happy in the work we do I will be overjoyed!

Highlight of the year has to be our trip to the Beach in August - sadly I still haven't gotten the photos from my friend, I really must get after her for that!

Roll on 2014, here's hoping we can keep improving & learning together and who knows maybe I'll find some ambition & set myself some monthly goals or something! My biggest hope is to be able to find time to take lessons again so that I don't flounder and stall through my lack of knowledge & sour my horses to arena work! :/