Tag Teamed

I took a half day on Monday and spent the afternoon playing ponies. Perk of having funds tied up in home-ownership & horseflesh is having 40+ days holidays to use this year! Eeep, sadly won't be adding any new pins to my world map this year either :-(

Hanging in my office, a reward I allowed myself for becoming permanent at my job,
"defacing" the property #noshame

I hadn't ridden Kika since the end of January due to putting my back out a second time and requiring more physio! Seriously body, turning 30 is not an excuse to wimp out on me! Grrr - so after throwing more money at the physio I have more exercises to do morning and evening to help hold my ailing aged self together *tongue-in-cheek*

I had kept K tipping along with pessoa lunging at the weekends and Nancy has been kept out of mischief by PL who is having a blast playing with all Nancy's buttons that I never dare to play with; namely lateral work and has taught her how to back up under tack. They are having such fun ☺

K was very good on Monday afternoon so despite initially not being in the mood Tuesday after playing catch up in work (how can one afternoon off leave me so busy the next day?! Cray I tell you!)
I changed my mind while bringing her in as I wanted to play with my neglected poneh! Inspired by Emma's recent post and taking heart from PL's success playing with Nancy's lateral work I decided to dust off Kika's shoulder in work. As ever Miss K has to be caught in the right mood and asked nicely or she gives you the finger and gets way too light in the front end if you know what i mean *sigh*
Thankfully yesterday we managed to keep a lid on the crazy and got some nice steps going both directions if a little over bent at times. However her willingness to try is a win for me & my limited abilities. We'll get there with more riding and practice!
Our first canter was colourful where she pulled out some hopping dolphin-esque moves and an impressive Lipizzaner style leap, which was a first (ahem) but then we put the brain back between her ears and had plenty quality canters on each rein.

Nancy has been giving me a bit of cause for concern this week. She has started pawing while tied in the grooming/tacking area which is very unlike her. It's not Kika's drawn out look at me-type pawing its short burst of pawing - very unlike N who is usually super zen and stands for ages unperturbed by anything. When i rode her on Monday she was her usual slightly awkward self at times for the first 20-30minutes and then the toys seemed to get thrown out of the pram when i asked her for a halt at A and she fussed at the bit then refused point blank to move forward preferring to back up 10 paces. My pathetic pony-club kickking the reversing tank were to no avail. So we stopped, i gave her a pat to destress the situation and we walked forward on a circle stopping and walking off without issue in other areas until we came back around to the corner before A and she stopped again without a request from me however and she stood there head curled into her chest worrying at the bit.
Thinking this might be her newborn evasion technique after a demanding lesson with PL on Saturday when they played with all sort of fancy lateral movements, i waited her out and when she stopped worrying at the bit we walked on again. However as this pattern repeated itself numerous times - all on the same rein the warning sign started flashing amber in my mind. So long reins, i tried removing any pressure I just wanted her to walk a circle without stopping, real basic baby steps. When i got one circle, i cued for a canter, got a nice transition and circle then came back to walk -> long reins and we walked around the whole arena.

PL came back on Tuesday evening, i mentioned to her the perplexing behaviour from the day before and suggested she go right back to basics and max 20-30 minutes work to try to end on a good note. Simple, walk, trot, canter, changes of rein no lateral work, no backing up and no halting at A (but other parts of the arena were fair game).
I also suggested we go for a pressure free hack in the woods at the weekend to change the scenery for us all and get out of the sandbox for a change.
I rode Kika in the same arena so i could see what might be going on from another vantage point than that which i had in the tack on Monday. 10-15 minutes in Nancy had checked out, she started randomly stopping and worrying at the bit in more places than she had with me the day before, there did not seem to be a pattern to it beyond stopping chewing at the bit and then she'd walk a few strides without issue and rinse and repeat. PL & had mused while tacking up that it might be hormonal with spring awakening and that she may be feeling rather uncomfortable - which being female i wholly understand! PL also mentioned that she felt like she wanted to stop and poop the whole time, so she was carrying herself "higher" behind. She will have today off, and I'll loose lunge her tomorrow evening to see if she has similar issues without a rider and tack - hopefully not as she is happy to walk alongside her rider without issue. Which brings me back to thinking it might be an ovary/lady-discomfort with where the saddle sits - i should probably also mention this is only happening on one rein, when she is tracking right.
I hope to hop up on Friday evening if the loose school goes well and seems better in herself and then we'll go for a stroll in the woods Saturday, all going well. Obviously if things do not improve I will be calling the vet and/or acupuncturist/masseuse/herbal lady to help ease any discomfort in my big puppy dog.
I hope she is not in major pain and that this discomfort passes soon so that my sweet girl is back to her jovial self in no time.

PS: Apologies for lack of media accompanying this word vomit, I have been really bad at remembering to take pictures/video!

Heart Horse

I hear/read about people talking about their heart horses and while I love both my girls dearly I am not sure they are "heart" horses to me. I don't feel bonded to them in such a way that they would pine for me if we were separated. Although I do miss them and find myself grouchy if i don't get to ride them often enough (usually through my own fault/laziness) - however I do not think that feeling is specific to these horses. I think I would (and have in the past missed) any contact with horses. What can I say...crazy horse girl through & through here!

All images borrowed from instagram
- credit to those who shared them there first

Kika is honestly prob more horse than I can actually handle - well maybe I can handle her better now but it is often a fine line and there was deff a time a few years back where it got super rocky. But she like myself loves to jump, I am pretty sure we would both have a lot more fun together if i could organise myself enough to set up and then put away fences every couple of weeks. Note to self - *TRY* to do that at least once a month...okay maybe every couple of months!

Nancy is probably closer to a heart horse as i did covet her from her early days and feel blessed to have been in a position to include her more permanently in my life. She greets me whenever she sees me and is a genuine pleasure to be around 99% of the time. Nancy is like a puppy dog whereas Kika is more like a cat - happy to see you when you can do something for her...less enthused on other occasions. However K is more vocal when I arrive since Nancy joined us, so long as the transfer of good behaviour continues to be from Nancy to Kika and not vice versa - it bodes well for me ;-)

In saying all this, I started writing this post yesterday afternoon then rode Kika last night. She was an absolute gem - in as much as she ever has been! Sure we had some discussions about spooky spots in the arena & yes there was some fussing in some of the canter work - but nothing was an out and out battle/meltdown. We recovered and negotiated each occurrence with cool relaxed heads which plastered such a huge grin on my face that it is still there this evening and has me so super stoked to ride Nancy tonight and Kika again tomorrow. Hopefully neither of those experiences end negatively for all involved!

Corny - but such joy.

While I may question our relationships in terms of heart horses, there is no doubting or denying the utter joy and satisfaction they bring me after a day in the office. Even just being able to go see them on my lunch beak to turn them out brings me such happiness everyday. As the saying goes for life partners, the same can be applied for horses. I am not sure if we are right for each other - but they sure do feel right for me right now.
*snuggles*

January may have me feeling a little low & stressed with bills/insurance renewals/car fixing/Christmas.  I couldn't be without either of my safe havens; heart horses or no. I loffs them and couldn't imagine my life without them now that I have them.

Mute Monday - Drama Llama edition

Do you think they could make it easy &
 look in the same direction?!

Nancy does have eyes,
despite first photo

Yay for green grass & blue skies now that
most of the snow is gone.
Long may it last!

PL caught this hilarious snap of
Nancy yawning after work

Reckless Rebellion

This afternoon I did something kind of rebelliously reckless and out of character. I asked PL if she wanted to take Nancy for a stroll in the woods. She was tacked up and I'd already turned Kika out so I was going to walk alongside N and decided to collect Kika en route and just lead her rather than haul her back in and faff tacking her up.

Our woods are quite hilly, lots of up and down which i had inconveniently forgotten when I suggested leading the lazier of my two horses (really i was dragging her up the hills) ... an extra workout I hadn't signed up for. As we came to the last hill I was tired of hauling her so as we passed a fallen tree trunk I rebelliously hopped up bareback (well she was in her rug) without a helmet *gasp*
Very reckless of me considering she hadn't been ridden since the saddle fitter was out the week before last and she was in a headcollar and leadrope. But she immediately put my mind at ease when after hopping up she started excitedly trotting and i was questioning this irresponsible action of mine when I made the slow-down sound (heard at the end of the video in the last post) and she responded straight away and settled into a lovely calm striding walk to catch up to Nancy & PL who obvs were negotiating the hill up out of the woods better.

Apologies for lack of media accompaniment for this post.
 I only snapped a couple of pics of N & PL
 edited for anonymity.
How adorbs is Nancy's little face?!
♡♡♡

I stayed on her back until we got back to the field and K marched like the big brave girl she has become when hacking with Nancy - aka alongside N or ever so slightly in front until she sees something scary and tries to swing a u-turn to exit stage left. However even though N scared herself passing too close to a barrier K didn't flinch and remained calm with the same soothing slow-down voice command.

I am beyond ridiculously happy with how it played out, I don't know why I go so long between spins on her cos the longer I wait between rides the more I build up silly scenarios in my mind and then have to do something last-minute and silly to catch myself off guard and hop up. *sigh* The ridonculous mind games I play with myself *blush*

PSA - I do not condone the reckless rider behaviour  I undertook today, hopping onto a horse in the woods with snow melting from trees and slush underfoot. I know accidents can happen to anyone at any stage and do not think myself hot shiz - i am glad K had her level head on today and that nothing spooked us. This is not something I do often and despite my glee at having hopped on again after our mini break, it is mixed emotions as i imagine all the scenarios that could have gone wrong.

Freezing Friday

Ice rain actually fell and froze on my jacket as i walked home from the yard this evening. Boy was I glad that I decided to forego riding Nancy this evening in favour of trying to beat the ice cold and get home in one piece.

The girlies got to blow off some steam running loose in the arena tonight instead. They have been taking it real easy this week after their osteo adjustments on Monday, but with the ground in turnout being rock hard & my inability to turn them out yesterday meant there was energy building and no way for the little darlings to release it.
They have been holding it together really admirably as i lead the two of them over icy pathways to and from their turnout. They actually ran around this evening without any encouragement from me, at the end of the video I'm actually trying to slow them down as i didn't want them to snot themselves after I only just had them adjusted on Monday! (Post to come with osteo fixing)

Hopefully the video works...if not let me know in the comments and I'll upload it to youtube.

Mohawk Monday

Saddle Fitting - Nancy

First off I want to say a massive thank you to the brave souls that not only suffered through yesterday's word vomit but have come back for more today. Fear not, this should be much shorter!
*ahem* hopefully those are not famous last words *cough*

V's first reaction on standing beside Nancy, was "woah - she's a big girl" - she's not 18hands+ or anything, but she is a well built machine. Think tank more so than sports car, but a well put together tank...i am not saying anything negative about my precious ponykins.
You just don't really get a feel for her size until standing into her as she is deceptive when viewed from a distance.

The same three measurements were taken across her back and she was taped around the middle for weight (perhaps?).
Other information was also requested like
- year of birth,
- height (here i had to guesstimate as to my shame i still have never sticked her),
- workload,
- living arrangements (field 24/7 from May to October and stabled overnight/paddock for the afternoons from November to April),
- has she had (m)any injuries
- does her weight fluctuate during the year or is she pretty stable (thankfully the latter for both)

All of this info was also taken for Kika but i forgot to mention it yesterday *blush*
My details were also taken, my height, again a guesstimate on my weight (not sure the last time i weighed myself *gulp* - so long as my clothes fit i don't tend to care) - this information was recorded on their own specific info sheets. She had a blank application form type document which she filled in for each and then used a carbon copy sheet to transfer their initial 3 back measurements so she had that information stored in two places. It was fascinating to see how she had it all organised and will have it to hand for return visits for comparison sake. I know this despite it being my first time using her services for my girls as i learned off her through a good friend who has used her for a number of years for her horse and on each visit she retakes the 3 back measurements and draws them in different coloured ink (which she dates) to see where/how the horse has changed shape between visits.
Getting Nancy's measurements took a little longer than it had taken to get Kika's as Nancy is notorious for standing with a hind leg cocked. This is the only downside to her being such a zen-creature, I had to keep tugging her tail between each measurement taken to keep her weight spread on all four feet while V skipped from one side of the horse to the other to check that the measuring device (not sure what else to call it, it was a maleable "stick" that moulded to the shape of the horse's back kind of like a playdoh but was more likely a thin soft metal rod wrapped in rubber if that makes sense*sigh* there are so many more questions coming to mind now that i wish i had asked her then) was properly taking the contours of her back.
Nancy and I went for a stroll so V could watch her walk for any irregularities in stride/movement etc - again thankfully she didn't see anything to cause concern or alarm and was as impressed as i have been that any time i have had to osteo check Nancy out she has never had to have any work done to realign her.

Apologies for awkward angle, i was back there
trying to stop her resting a hind leg

The first behind the withers measurement was again compared to the front of Nancy's saddle and my wallet breathed a sigh of relief when it was given the A-OK. The saddle was then sat on Nancy's back without padding to check fit/balance, i was very pleasantly surprised when she said that the fit was pretty good. We tacked up with the saddle pads i usually ride in (Ogilvy + standard saddle pad) and off we went to the arena.
She watched Nancy walk a bit in the saddle without a rider on board and then I hopped up for some walk, trot in a straight line and on some circles. V commented that Nancy looked like a pleasurable and smooth to ride (backward nod to Kika's awkwardness earlier methinks), she had also praised her kind eye when taking the measurements and saddling up as N sometimes like to turn to watch/help you while you work.
V said that she could see what i meant by my body twisting slightly to the right, but that unlike with Kika the saddle wasn't shifting on Nancy. She actually mentioned a very interesting riding aid for my twisty self, a sweater/jacket/zip-up top that was all black but had fluo lines that you could wear when riding in arenas with mirrors to see whether you are riding straight or not. She had one on had to show me, it was fascinating. I have asked her to remind me of the name when she sends me the info + bill from yesterday and will deff share the info when i have more.

We were done after less than 10minutes in the saddle, Nancy's easiest spin ever by a country mile!
V could see nothing glaringly wrong with the saddle or Nancy's way of going in it. She said that the worst thing about it was it might be a smidge tight in front, I asked did she think she could fix it by moving flocking; but she was talking a centimeter at most and said that with the Ogilvy absorbing and cushioning between the saddle and Nancy there wasn't much she could/would do.
I also had her quickly look at Kika's GP on Nancy as PL is more comfortable riding in it, she said the dressage saddle is better on N, that both saddles have very minor detractors (different ones) but that for one or two spins a week if PL wanted to use the GP she couldn't see it doing any lasting harm either to the horse's back or the saddle. I wouldn't want to run the risk of hurting N's back OR widening Princess Kika's saddle - we all know how sensitive Miss K can be about her back. I won't ride N in the GP myself as it puts me in a terrible armchair position, but so long as Nancy is happy to go in it and PL is more comfortable I see it as an ok compromise until i get the saddle fitter out again in a few months time to check and/or possible buy a new saddle then.

So despite my calling the saddle fitter due to fears of Nancy's saddle being ill fitting, it turns out Kika's needed the most work - what a surprise, Princess Superstar couldn't be outdone as the bigger drain on my finances ;-p (I kid)
In fact V said that of the two horses/saddle combinations - she would lean more towards replacing Kika's saddle before replacing Nancy's.
Colour me surprised!

I am beyond delighted at the full service the girls received and the fact that V kindly worked with me to help keep the current saddles working for us while i save up to buy new ones later. If anyone is ever looking for a saddle fitter in this catchment area i will not hesitate to highly recommend her excellent service.