A False Spring, Tricks Galore, and The Top Barn Challenge is Galloping By

 OMG Its February already!!!! Where did that long long month of January go? And whats with the English spelling of these early months (all this uary endings is stressing my spell check)?  So after a nasty January weatherwise, I'm now being lulled by this false spring and thinking of removing some layers.  Its been a calm, mostly sunny few days with the temperatures hitting double figures in the East. The nights are pulling out, the birds are singing and the snowdrops are out.  In fact on Tuesday I was so lulled by this False Spring that I did indeed shed some layers. Oh what a mistake.  The wind was bitter and out in the fields on the tractor I froze. Must remember that some of our worst snow-outs have been in February/March! But still, Spring is coming.......

I know a lot of people doing the Top Barn Challenge are having much worse weather than us, so Charlie and I are setting Charlies Challenges every week for a bit of fun, and ideas for things to do with your horse without moving from the field or stable. A long long time ago I joined Horse Tricks Club (find it on Facebook). We learned a lot of tricks, and so most of Charlies Challenges are trick related.  We have been going over some old tricks and its amazing that he remembers them all.  I have been working on a Maths Trick with him, but I'm not showing it here, because it will be a Charlies Challenge (Spoiler Alert).  I have to say I am crap at Maths and my OH (Mark the Mechanic and Part Time Horse Whisperer) laughed his head off when I said I had been teaching Charlie Maths! Next up Card Tricks!!

And as fast as the month has galloped by, so is The Top Barn Winter Challenge. We have already completed a Third of it. You may want to check this fact as I have already admitted my crap maths!  So far me and the ponies have kept up with our hours.  Charlie has banked one and a half hours, done all the Rhi's Randoms and 8 Mini Challenges.  Daisy is bang on target and has completed 7 Mini Challenges. I'm taking it very easy with her, due to her age and the length of time she had been retired. But she is totally enjoying the attention.

Both ponies have managed Agility entries this month. Charlie with his WO Liberty and OLHA and Daisy has tried Equagility!!!!  Having been only a brood mare and a Happy Hacker (being ridden in a Dutch Gag) she has never had any formal schooling and is only just learning Clicker Training.  She pulls like a steam train and isn't the sharpest tool in the box, but she is the sweetest Mare ever.  And we have to start somewhere.  Also she sucks her water!!!!!!

And so as a very special person used to say "Onwards and Upwards" and "To Infinity and Beyond".   Keep it up Top Barners.  And Good Luck to all the Agility entrants for the January Competitions.  

Oh and by the way......I have just entered the shady world of Tik Tok.  Charlie now has an account called er....er...Charlie The Trick Pony???? I think.  I'm doing the Tik Tok on my phone and the Blog on my Laptop, and I'm way too old to share any links.  We also have a YouTube channel (Charlie The Trick Pony) and Instagram (also Charlie The Trick Pony) and a Facebook page (also Charlie The Trick Pony) .  While I am plugging Social Media, I have 2 books available on Kindle. "The Ridgeway Romp" and "Tails From The Rda".  Sorry I can't share any links.......Thats Old Age!  

See you in Spring x

Cause For Celebration and The Top Barn Challenge Begins

And so the 2023 International Agility Club year ended.  Where would we end up in the League Tables?  I waited, chewed my nails, waited a little more, gnawed up to my knuckles. When the results came out i couldn't look.....literally. The site crashed!!  So I am absolutely humbled to announce that Charlie and I became European Champions and Reserve World Champions in the Walk Only Liberty League.  It was my very joking pledge at the beginning of the year......But I never thought we could pull it off!  I am full of pride for my boy, who started life badly and found himself on a meat truck at 5 months old.  Luckily he was rescued by the fantastic Sara Higgins.  Having spent 3 and a half years running with other colts, he was pretty feral, and coltish, and very opinionated. He is also partially sighted in his offside eye, seeing only light, dark and shadows.  But after only taking up Agility in June 2022, he has pulled this off. Whatever next??? 

So as we continue at the moment with the Liberty Agility, I am also prepping for Equagility (The ridden version).  I would also like to do this with Daisy.  My main aim for Charlie this year is to get him out hacking.

So I have entered both ponies into the Top Barn Winter Challenge.  Charlie is doing Bronze Premium ( 3hrs a week plus some extra challenges) and Daisy Copper (1.5hrs a week).  The Weather has been a Bitch.  We have had Rain, Flooding, Storms, Hurricane force winds, a biting, finger numbing North wind straight off the North Sea (only about 4 miles away), Snow (which went as quickly as it came) and now a dry frozen week (currently -3c).  But at least its dry!! 

The ponies live out 24/7.  There are no stables, barn or inside to work in out of the weather. We have no School or Arena.  Just an area I call my Playpen where I do my Agility. Its just a small grassy area, fenced off with electric fencing and completely exposed to the North East (handy that). However a wise person once said "There is no bad weather, just the wrong clothes".  This year in all my years of working with horses I have had cold hands. Actually they have been numb in the wind.  So I have bought a pair of gloves. Lightweight neoprene. Brilliant. 

I don't advertise or promote anything normally, but I also got some waterproof, fleece lined over-trousers from a company called Cuddlr.  You may have seen their adverts on Facebook.  I also never buy anything from ads on Facebook, but thought this was worth a gamble.  It was!  They have been a lifesaver. I pop them over fleece lined leggings. My feet are encased in Nordic wool socks, and oh so attractive fur lined muck boots.  My top half is covered in t-shirt, sweatshirt, fleece and my brilliant Yak wool jacket that I got a few years ago from Tibet. With a fur lined wool snood covering my face and a silly wool/fleece hat, the weather can throw its worst at me.  I might look like the Michelin man in all this....but I'm warm!  

The Winter Challenge is a Challenge because of the Weather. It wouldn't be much of a challenge if it were in the Summer months.  So buckle up guys, smother yourselves in many clothes and waddle through the next couple of months. Its surprising how many things there are to do with your horse without actually leaving the stable (if you have one).  With this in mind I am posting a weekly Challenge (Charlies Challenges) to compliment the Mini Challenges.  I am posting on Friday nights/Saturday mornings. 

Most of Charlies Challenges will be Trick related.  So we are re-visiting all the Tricks we learned over the years (Check out Horse Tricks Club).  So Top Barn Challengers......Keep it up.. The nights are pulling out, at a rate of 1 minute a day. Before you know it, Spring will be here.  Achievements are achieved by sheer hard work.  No-one ever got their horse out of a field after months off and went and won the Puissance.  It takes hard work and perseverance through whatever life or the weather throws at you. So keep it up, YOU GOT THIS. X