Yup its the middle of November.....And its raining. Constantly. I know in the Summer I moaned about the lack of rain (constantly), but enough is enough. I am FED UP of getting wet now. I have even ordered a dry robe/human tent and am starting work on an Ark. Now in theory I don't mind the rain (being British and all), but its come with wind. The wind knocks over my delicate Agility Course. As I have become addicted to Agility, I want to get on with the November competitions....If the wind could just drop, and stop blowing away my 'Flag Alley' and flattening my 'Curtain'. Last month being Halloween, I had Witches Hats on my cones, and was constantly chasing after them as the wind took them. But I did have a couple of calm days, and managed to film my entries. I am thrilled to announce that Charlie got a First in Liberty with a Perfect Score, and a 2nd in The On-Line Course, which bumped us up a level, so we are now working on Medium Level Tests. We also worked on The Level 3 Course Blueprint. An easy set of moves.....but done on the offside. Still pretty easy.....unless your pony is partially sighted on the Offside....Like Charlie. It took a lot of work, and a lot of trust from Charlie, who prefers to have his Offside clear. Working at his shoulder on that side meant I was blocking his view, and he constantly tried to swap sides. But we did it!
We also had a lovely sunny day on Monday....Meg came over and we took advantage of the weather and hacked the mares out. Meg rode Daisy and I rode Lulu and we all enjoyed a nice relaxed hack in the Sunshine.
And so we are revving up for the new Top Barn Challenge. It doesn't start till January, but its Sign Up Time, so everyone is hyped up. Top Barn Online has been running the Winter Challenge for a few years now. Perhaps Admin could let us know when it started? I am now on my 5th Challenge. I failed to complete the 2020 Challenge due to catching the dreaded Covid and ending up with pneumonia and 2 cracked ribs from coughing! But we completed 2019, 2021 and 2022.
Top Barn is a very special Livery Yard in Gloucestershire, and they came up with a brilliant idea for an Online Community and a Winter Challenge to get people outside and doing stuff with their horses during the deepest darkest winter months. The Online Community has grown and grown, and there are now Summer Challenges and Competitions, aswell as a thriving Online Community. Members have become friends, and visited each other. Nobody judges and everyone is welcome no matter if you are just learning to ride, or compete at high levels. Everyone is there to support each other.
And so every January the Winter Challenge begins. Its NOT a competition. Everyone pledges a Level Of Commitment. I.E Bronze Level....You commit to 3 hours work with your horse a week. 30 mins can be Pamper Time, which includes Hanging Out, Grooming, Carrot Stretches, Hand Grazing etc, with the other 2.5 hours consisting of training, which can include Groundwork, Hacking, Schooling, Lunging, Trick Training etc etc. The Levels go up with the time committed...Silver is 5 hours and so on. This goes on for 12 weeks. During this time you get one Holiday week, and one Rollover Week. The Holiday week is just that. A Holiday....Yeah put yer feet up, Get the Beers in. The Rollover week is a week you may need to take due to sickness, 6ft snowdrifts etc, but the time needs to be made up before the end of the Challenge. My advice is to get your Rollover hours 'banked' early so that week is in reserve. It is based on honesty. You should record as much as possible by Phone, Pivo or Partner-willing-to-film. Or record your activities on an app such as Equilab. Then upload your progress weekly. As I said, Its not a Competition, so if you cheat, you are only cheating yourself.
I strongly advise everyone to go 'Premium' . I think it costs £12 this year. Thats literally £1 a week. Lets face it, you'd be lucky to buy a loaf of bread or pint of milk for a quid! For the £12 you get many extras, such as Rhi's Randoms. Each week Rhi sets a task. If you Complete, Video and Submit the task in the week you go into a draw to win a prize from a sponsor. At the end of the 12 weeks, everyone who submitted all 12 mini challenges get a Rhis Randoms Rosette. There is also access to Question Time ( with Rhi, not Rishi Johnson or whoever is PM), Rider Yoga, a fantastic time sheet to fill in, and the girls at Top Barn deserve your support. They work really hard, making up challenges and checking submissions.
I would like to add here that I am nothing to do with Top Barn. Although this sounds like an advert, I promise you I am not being paid to promote this in anyway. I am just a member of the Top Barn community who has enjoyed 5 years of friendship with fellow horse-owners and love the Winter Challenge. Its something to look forward to and a kick up the butt to keep working throughout the Winter, when it would be all too easy to see to the horses, then go home to hibernate. I don't even have a link to join, just look-up Top Barn on Faceache.
If I wanted to promote something (and maybe I do) I would steer you towards Charlies YouTube Channel...... @Charliethetrickpony ..... I think. I have discovered YouTube Shorts! Videos of 15 seconds or less. For some bizarre reason Charlies YouTube shorts have attracted up to 25k watches and doubled our pitiful Subscribers. We now have 86 Subscribers. Only another 914 to go and Charlie can pay for his own hay!!! We are currently uploading 'band names' once a week. So go on, subscribe to our channel. It doesn't cost anything and you can imagine me struggling to come up with a band name we can re-enact each week😀. Example..... Wham. https://youtube.com/shorts/osBy23XULxw?feature=share
So... Sign up for Top Barn, watch Charlies YouTube Channel, try something new with your horse, make a promise to yourself that you will achieve just one thing over the Winter, just embrace the wild weather......But Don't Hibernate!! I will touch base once more before the dreaded C word x
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