A place where I record the adventures of myself and my Irish Sport Horse mare, Kika. Who I purchased as an un-backed 3yr old in 2007. This blog follows the trials and tribulations of first-time horse ownership since moving from Ireland to Luxembourg in 2010. UPDATE: as of 2013, Kika is being joined by Nancy a Friesan X ISH mare bred by my family who I had my eye on since she was a foal and have been lucky enough to buy and add to my equine family.
The fabulous Hillary @EquestrianAtHart has taken up the blog hop mantle and she is running with it. Kicking the fun &games off with an awesome first blog hop where we get to show off our equine wardrobes - wherein I have no problem admitting that I love my "horsey" wardrobe way more than any other clothes I own...probably because I either spend my time in these outfits, work clothes or pjs. And we all know horses are the best way to put people in a good mood, closely followed by sleep & then there are the work clothes...which sometimes get supplemented with horsey polos to make me feel like a super rebel - lol!
I shall try to keep this post word light - I know, super change for me!
Typically during the warm months I ride in polo shirts, jodhpurs and my fav Equikozy socks. I have already swooned for a whole post about the virtues of the Equikozy socks - LINK, in fact I cannot wait to order more - the prices really are so inviting, they are super comfy & come in fab colour combos!
Blue Quagga Polo, teal Horsewear Polo,
Horze jodhs & blue puzzle Equikozy socks
My polos have so far all been purchased from trade stands at the RDS Horse Show in Dublin, Ireland because I like to bargain hunt and barter with the retailers in the hopes of getting some $$$ off my purchases.
My two Quagga & Horsewear Polos were both bought at the RDS in 2010 and my two Puffa Polos were purchased in 2011 - all have worn extremely well. Although thanks to Hillary & Amanda @900fbpony I now covet a much more expensive Kastel Sun Shirt as the weather had been lovely and warm here all summer. It has now taken a turn for the wetter & i haven't seen my girls since Saturday - yep I am a terrible horse-momma, especially as I am scheduled to have my first lesson tomorrow. Fingers crossed i can dry one of them off for that!
Equikozy socks, Puffa polo & Lidl jodhs
I love the Horze jodhpurs, and actually have two extra pairs that are not pictured...I3m not sure why i couldn't put my hands to them when i was snap happy last night. Which leads me to a question i have been dying to ask, but feared looking ignorant when commenting on other peoples blogs...my own - i don't mind so much ;-)
What is the difference between breeches and jodhpurs?
I think i have a pair of Horze breeches which have side pockets (like normal pants) and button fasteners for those pockets vs the "traditional" jodhs I have which have one zip pocket on the front. In my mind breeches are looser fitting than jodhpurs - but this may be completely in my imagination...
A German chain of supermarkets which is prevalent in Europe, Lidl, sometimes have equestrian themed offers for one week only where i nabbed two pairs of "thermal" jodhpurs (pictured above and below) but which i actually use predominantly during the summer months as i find them to be thinner material than my Horze ones...ironic?
I think so...
"Glamour" shot self-portrait without my ugly mug :D
However, I am hoping to splurge on either the Tredstep Donatello field boots or the DaVinci field boots when i get back to Ireland next weekend and can actually go to a stockist to try them on. My gaiters are sized 13/17inches and I am not sure how the "off-the-rack" tall boot sizes compare for people like me who have chicken legs...So i want to try them on before i spend that much money. I am super excited to have my first pair of proper tall boots!
Old photo, but shows a couple of things i forgot to photograph last night...my paddock boots & gaiters,
plus my old broken GPA helmet, my BR gloves and my grey Horsewear polo & my bordeaux Horze breeches.
You can just about make out my gloves in the above photo, sorry I don't have a better shot. They are made by BR. I have two pairs - one leather brown pair that are insulated & I use in winter for outdoor work but only ride in for hacking in the woods as they are pretty thick. My second pair are just about pictured above and are made of black stretchy material with mesh over the knuckles for breathability - they are marketed as "summer" gloves but i use them all year around as they are skin tight and keep my circulation flowing perfectly :)
I think that covers my Equestrian Wardbrobe - I do have a draft post somewhere which I was going to do about my Winter Wardrobe but then the weather improved so i haven't yet compiled the photo-data/spam to accompany that delight just yet...The way it has been raining here this week - that post could be making an unwelcome return!!!
Massive THANK YOU to Hillary for inspiring a great blog hop!
*snaps* girl!
Plans for saddle time & polework had to be cancelled when I looked out the window this morning and saw grey clouds and rain with thunder & lightning forecast for the day. So instead I decided to play with my new Higher Standards leather care products that arrived during the week.
I will do a full review later when I've used them a couple more times and have a better feel for them however first impressions are good as they tackled the rejuvenating process on my "old" gear that lives in the basement. Namely two old bridles and Kika's old saddle. Before and after photos accompany this post.
My first impressions of the Viva Carlos Special Edition is that it smells divine & works really well when one follows the intrusions on the pot. I love the little sponge that comes with it and the lovely citrus scent.
While I like the way the Conditioning Balm works after cleaning, I am not gone on the smell of that product. However I do like how a little goes a long way and am sure both products will last me ages.
Just sitting down to watch Live coverage of the Puissance from the RDS on the TV, wish I was there but this is the next best thing. Daniel Blumen was fantastically fun last year, hopefully this year will be another brilliant renewal.
Nancy prior to our spin
I rode both girls today, started with Nancy who behaved beautifully again. She really is such a good girl when we remember that she was ridden only on Tuesday this week!
Sunbathing post spin
A yard friend that I don't get to ride with often said she looked really good which certainly warmed the cockles of my heart. We kept it simple with w/t/c transitions, circles, serpentines and some halts although not too many.
Sweaty Kika after work - she was such a great girl
Kika was next and put in a lovely effort, she really buckled down and worked for me - which she hadn't done our last two spins. I did put my stirrups back up a whole after having let them down last Sunday - i felt like it made a difference and maybe it's all in my head and that in itself made the difference as so much of riding is a mental game.
Awkward pose from Kika as she sunbathed
We also changed things slightly in that K didn't spend an hour on the walker first as another horse has been added to their field so i no longer have to bring both girls in when I ride.
We also worked on a spiralling circle on each rein during our warm up which helped to get her mind engaged and her bending. Then the usual w/t/c circles, serpentines and halts too. I did try to focus on our walk and help her work at it some she gets kind of squirrely when walking rather than striding out. Baby steps and we will hopefully get there ☺
K kept me sniggering as we worked on our trot work She made weird puffing sounds last week while we worked, today she was making hilarious growling sounds. I think I'll ride her without the flash attachment tomorrow just in case that is having a detrimental effect on her breathing *worried*
Grazing together
Both girls got a hose after work and some chill out time in the sunshine before they went back outside and i continued the paddock maintenance for almost 2 hours and cleared all the poop from their paddock.
Nasty flies annoying my poor Nancy. We're due a heavy rain fall
so i don't like leaving their fly masks on if they are going to get wet
as i worry about chaffing/rubbing.
Tomorrow I shall tackle the other side which I haven't managed to finish clearing since they swapped sides. The upside to the recent rain is that growth is coming on well on that side of the field so when I do swap them back over they won't go hungry and i won't have to decide whether or not to sort out some hay for them. I hate giving them hay during the summer as they are already round enough!
I left the three of them napping together
Hopefully we'll play around with some polework tomorrow.
This flashback takes us back to 1993 when I partook in my first pony club camp on my mother's old horse Tassie ♡♡♡
Weirdly I think i got most improved rider for the week, but seeing as I probably hadn't ridden since the previous summer I could really only improve from two lessons a day 😉
Apologies for the photo quality, they are camera phone captures of old school photos.
Am hoping to get in plenty quality time & saddle time over the weekend! Fingers crossed i can find dry windows between the scattered showers & thunderstorms to haul the girls in, ride them & get some more poopa scoopin maintenance of the paddock.
I quite possibly had one of the most unglamorous evenings a gal can have when it comes the the haute couture lifestyle that accompanies horses.
Nasty flies - poor ponies
I spent a good hour picking pony poop, placing it in a wheelbarrow and whisking it to the corner of the field and out of the precious ponies' way.
The things we do for our horses!
I could've ridden & lunged like I'd planned to do yesterday but ended up aborting due to rainfall all afternoon.
Nancy wanted her close up
Living out 24/7 + rain = no saddle time for moi.
As this evening was dry I decided I'd best take advantage and attempt some paddock maintenance, which I am hoping I can continue over the weekend *fingers crossed*
I'm so glamorous
Now that I have written enough gibberish without actually saying anything, so I'll shut up.
In a first for me, I think it is time I start writing down some goals for myself and the girls - to try and hold myself accountable & to have an aim to achieve something by the end of the month - besides just ride.
First off I must remember to KISS; so bearing that in mind my first goal is to: - LESSON I want to take at least one lesson with new trainer at yard and if it goes well sign up for more!
And if that is the only goal i meet this month, I will be super happy to have done at least that. In saying that, I am not limiting myself to that one goal, I am however hopeful that all going well with that first goal; these other goals might be more readily achievable - or i might at least be able to start making a dent in them...
A. RIDE BOTH HORSES - work on walk & halt with Nancy - work on walk with Kika - straighten/sort myself out to help N right lead canter - continue working with Kika on stretchy strides & relaxed trot work
B. Work on refining me - look up - heels down - shoulders back...
Have I seen some sort of a brace/aid mentioned on other blogs to help with shoulders - can anyone help me find out more about this please?
To achieve these goals I have set out a rough guide/plan of attack aka a weekly schedule, which looks a little like this:
Saturday + Sunday - ride both
Monday - Ride one; lunge one
Tuesday - Ride one; lunge one- inverse Monday
Wednesday - day off for both as Wed is typically a super busy day for me at work.
I also "plan" to keep Mon/Tues & Thurs/Fri flexible should I wish to and/or have the time to ride both - the above schedule is not set in stone. Although I hope to stand pretty firm with myself on riding both both Saturday & Sunday; to my mind those days are non-negotiable as that is what weekends are for.
As I said at the start - ACCOUNTABILITY
Google Images LINK
In saying all this I have already messed up this week, LOL In that i didn't go to the yard at all Monday evening as I was feeling poorly - but then rode both last night and plan to lunge Kika and ride Nancy this evening; so there is plenty fluidity & movement to the PoA (Plan of Attack).
K was a bit of a pill about things like relaxation through her neck under saddle for much of yesterday's spin so a little work in the pessoa where she is arguing with herself is in order I think. Although we did get some nicer work towards the end of the spin - I wasadamant we would do something constructive with our evening. Really yesterday was just a continuation of the little bickering arguments we had in the videos from Sundays spin (posted yesterday). I did lengthen my stirrups a hole - which made me a bit looser in the tack for our first bad side canter yesterday evening and proved once again that I am gripping with my knees as I struggled to sit into the rocking (really more choppy) motion of her canter as she flailed a bit with her front legs initially before we could find our rhythm some bit. When I really concentrated on breathing and releasing the tension in my body she eventually took her cue from me and we got some much nicer work - although all still a long way from the lovely spin we'd shared on Saturday. If only i could (a) remember what i did and (b) bottle it to reaxamine at a later stage - I'd be doing well. Admittedly Saturdays spin was in one of the smaller arenas, so maybe that had something to do with it. Also we were just the two of us on Saturday, whereas both Sunday and yesterday there was at least one other horse in the arena with us - I know that distracts me as i spend too much time worrying about staying out of their way rather than riding to my own plan and trusting we can maneuver around each other. I honnestly cannot blame my horse's ADD on anyone but myself - poor Kika being such a sensitive creature and having inherited so many quirks from me - it is scary how alike we are. That saying about animals being like their owners ring scarily true for K & I!
Old photo showing Nancy's awkward Friesian inspired stance
PS: that's her mama in the background :)
Nancy was a doll as we worked on walk, trot and halting - I can feel slight improvements. Now to remember to keep changing things up so that it doesn't get stale and we both get bored. Mirrors area godsend when trying to work on halting properly on a FriesianX horse who likes to stop and stand as awkwardly as physically possible.
All of this to say, you read it here first guys! I have set myself my first monthly goals with a plan of attack no less - now here is hoping i can stick to it somewhat and make some improvements - keep your fingers crossed for me & all encouragement welcome ;-)
I haven't shared a Kika-centric post since Nancy's arrival; and rightly so - yet Miss K is most definitely still true to herself & regularly gets up to her quirky character driven tricks.
If you would like to hear about them on a more condensed basis, I could potentially make this type of post a "thing" and update it once a month or every couple of months depending how quirky she is at any given time...
The following recent activities have spawned the potential birth of this feature.
Video I - beginning trot work
(1) Her first misdemeanor to spawn this post was accidentally cow-kicking me when stomping at flies in the cross ties. This was a complete accident as she has never been a moody mare nor lashed out at me. Bar the ill fitting saddle issue back in 2010-2011 when she was quite grouchy because I was failing to see the issue, but she still never lashed out at me.
Horses really are such noble creatures aren't they?
Video II - Kika doing her best steam train impression as puffs along,
I think it is to do with her lack of fitness - but if anyone can enlighten me, please do!
(2) Her second bout of Kika'ism conduct came about as I brought both girls in from the field on my day off a few weeks back (the day I had hoped to have my first lesson with the new trainer).
As they are turned out just the two of them together I bring them both in when I want to ride so that one isn't left alone outside screeching & hollering suffering from abandonment issues. To get the pair of them in from their summer turnout, we have to walk along a stretch of road which is a normal street and used by cars etc. Nancy typically walks at my shoulder and Kika plods along slightly behind us (rubbing her head off Nancy to keep flies from tormenting her - while Nancy & I are harassed - another typical Kika'ism, looks out for numero uno primero) all of us remaining on the footpath.
Video III - our trot work is getting better but still carrying quite a bit of tension and she is still not stretching her stride, preferring to take short choppy steps ... although in saying that, this IS better than it used to be. Baby steps and one day i might get there with her!
This particular day a truck came towards us which Kika took a dislike to and stopped to stare at it for a second - the problem with this is that she is behind me, so pulled my left arm back slightly - Nancy doesn't stop as quickly as K does - think articulated lorry or train, these things take time to slow to a stop. By the time I got Nancy stopped, Kika had decided she definitely couldn't be doing with the scary truck coming towards her a second longer, turned tail and pulled the lead rope out of my hand (hello - rope burn), turned tail and trotted back the way we had just come. This unsettled Nancy who spun to follow her but I still had a hold of - THANKFULLY there is a patch of grass, an unenclosed field (I don't know who it belongs to) where Kika stopped there, eyeballed the truck for another second, snorted at it then dropped her head to eat waiting for Nancy (almost prancing in her excitement - honestly talk about chalk & cheese these two :) ) and I to get back to her.
We stood there (no more eating for Kika) till the terrifying truck had passed and then continued on our way with my hand in bits from the rope burn on my middle & ring finger of my left hand. I did still manage to ride both and then lathered my fingers in Vaseline before making my way home - yay for smartphones with internet access so that I could look up how to soother rope burn.
As an aside, they went back out to the field no problem after this adventure and have come in every time since without issue.
Video IV - first canter video, she sure has a lot to say for herself ... perfect for this post as she shows off all her Kika glory & mannerisms as she converses with me while we work ;-)
(3) The weekend after the above incident, their old buddy O (The Guru's mare) was returned to their field for Friday & Saturday night before she returned to the off-site turnout they had all shared in may & June. Which meant that I could bring one of my girls in at a time & leave the other one in O's company. I must just highlight to readers, at this point that O, screeches and hollers something atrocious when either of my girls leaves the field. But most notably if Kika leaves her - she is almost distraut. Which is odd because I wouldn't say Kika is always nice to her - "treat them mean keep them keen" might be K's motto, she sure has done a number on me in any case :p
Anyway, Kika leaving the field is no problem, being tied in cross ties & ridden at the yard across the street was of no issue to K (last year she had hollered back a few times - but not a peep this year from the yard - she have enjoyed some Nancy-free time with me, or maybe I'm grasping at straws and projecting human emotions & feelings onto animals whose minds don't work at all in that way *blush* )
Video V - sorry not great, next time I'll show my mama
how to use the zoom when videoing on my phone.
I'm not sure if you can see her I-want-to-canter head toss
on the circle as we approach the other side of the arena
Going back to the field was another story for Miss Kika, who made half-hearted attempts to squeal in my ear - but knew she wasn't allowed so she'd start to screech, but when I'd look at her she'd choke them off. She also wanted to prance back to the field as quickly as she could, but again knew she couldn't so tried to contain herself to a walk - with her neck all arched as she really struggled to rein herself in. However it all became too much for her (read:an-excuse-presented-itself) when a car passed a little faster than I'd have ideally liked and she grabbed the opportunity to have a little hop & call loudly for a second - to reassure her mad mare-friend that she was on her way back.
She is such a cheeky cow as she knew she wasn't allowed and mellowed immediately after she had her moment of rebelliousness to walk calmly the rest of the way to the field.
Well I say walk calmly, she strided - a proper ground covering stride, the like of which she generally feigns inability to do - as she never strides, normally she prefers to dawdle behind Nancy or generally just plod along on a lead or under saddle.
Video VI - some left lead canter to round out the videos for the weekend as the mama was distracted by people chatting to her while I finished our workout without footage for comparison. I am not complaining, I am so glad to have this early spin footage to see what i am doing wrong from the beginning :)
So those are some of Kika's kika'isms to regale you as i shared the video footage my mama caught of our spin on Sunday.
Hopefully you don't think me a horribly un-careful owner, allowing myself get caught by her hind leg and letting her get loose as we walk from field. These are once-off, I hope, incidents although never say never again or anything concrete when it comes to horses as they love nothing more than proving us wrong.
Kika is a character and has much more spunk & curiosity then easy-going Nancy. K has always got this glint in her eye that you have to watch out for as she is always up to something and looking for some sort of mischief or other to keep herself amused. Remind me next time to tell you how she goes around in the walker! I'll have to try and catch a video or photo of it - she is unique!
Take-away points from these videos:
- my heels are worse on Kika then Nancy - I wonder is that to do with riding in shorter stirrups in my GP or the fact that I nag K to keep moving whereas for some reason I know Nancy will...must do more closer inspection of what i be at when riding this evening.
- I need to really get after her to work for me, i let myself get suckered into "conversations" with her rather than just pushing her that little bit harder to do what i am asking of her.
- I also need to ride for myself and forget about worrying where others are in the arena or what they are doing or trying to keep out of their way. I have as much right to be there & ride my way as anyone, i need a bit more self-belief & confidence in myself...story of my life that!
I've just realised that this post paint K in quite a naughty light, she really isn't bad nor dangerous at all - just mischievous and windy (as in a scardy-cat). So sometimes her reactions to things that frighten her cause her to disengage her brain, but she does trust me and will come around when i talk her down off the ledge. Really she is just miles too smart for me, and likes to keep me on my toes. I'll have to keep better track of the funny things she gets up to - and hope that my tales of KikaChiquita don't make me look like the totally neglectful & incapable horse owner i feel like this post has *blush*
PS: Apologies that the video quality is poorer on these than the Nancy ones i shared yesterday. Same phone videoed both from the same position, but outside factors had changed. As I mentioned in yesterdays post, a storm was brewing and the natural light that had helped in Nancy's videos was well gone by Kika's turn.
