You know how sometimes you can go through life, and learn a skill, but still miss something out? Oddly Jo and I both skipped lunging, with two reins! We have both had youngsters, broke ponies and I even worked on a driving yard.
Having both worked at Livery/Eventing/Showing Yards, most of our lunging has been for exercise or to build up topline. My driving long lining consisted of wandering for miles, two inches behind a horse with driving reins...err...driving it forward.
So after Bridgets visit, my mission has been to master lunging with two reins. I have to say, I'm pretty cack-handed with lunge lines and am just as likely to wrap myself in them, as to control the horse!!
So on Tuesday Viv came to visit. Having told her all about the new mission she kindly offered to come back the following day and give us lessons. First we tried with Lil, who went well with Viv, but was a little confused with Jo and I. Then we tried Charlie, who was pretty good and very laid back with the reins around his hocks!! Viv suggested we practise with a smaller, older pony. Cue Dora. Dora can be a bit of a brat. She especially objects to being lunged as it means working!! To our surprise, she went really well for Viv. She even stayed calm for Jo and I. Bad luck Dora.....You are our practise pony!!!
And more about Dora! This post should have simply been called Dora (a brat). Dora didn't want to work today.....Okay so its been blowing a Northern Hoolie, bringing Sleet and Hail (Yes it is May). I had just arrived this morning, to be greeted with Jo holding a sullen looking Dora....She had refused to go down the drive, even with Mini. Jo asked me to go for a walk out, with her, Dora, Poppy (one of the Saturday Kids), a schooling whip and various dogs. We went down the drive....Dora had one eye on the whip I carried (or maybe it was my coffee which i also carried). Down the drive, along the lane....only minimal protests from Dora. Poppy fed her a polo, then we did it again. Again Dora complied, although she was on her toes. Poppy couldn't ride her back because she didn't have a hat. Neither did I.....But I am an adult. So I hopped on her. I always feel a bit guilty riding Dora, as she is only 11.2hh and I am 5ft 5in. Its like sitting on a narrow pole. Despite the fact my feet are waaay below her belly I am only 9 stone and she is a very sturdy welsh (before you start throwing rotten tomatoes at me). If I thought for one minute she was struggling, I wouldn't do it. However, she is more than happy to jog and prance while carrying me.
She had started to relax, thinking we were going home, and she was done. BUT she had one more lesson!! As we got to the school, I tried to turn in. Dora Was Not Having It. We somehow got past the gate to the school (she is a strong little bugger). I went to turn her back....And she reared, plunged and bucked!!! No problem leaving the ground with all four feet then, despite the great burden she carried. She very nearly had me off!!!! Sitting in (just) a childs saddle, with no stirrups, I had to do some weird body swerve to stay on. Funny though. Dora and I may be having a hack alone later this week....Though I think I better have a bigger saddle and maybe stirrups.
PS... I love Dora!!!
And so to the weather report!!! Its been Hot. Yes HOT. 18c hot!! An Early spring!. (It can't last)
And so we have been backing!!!! Last week I lent over Lily (no reaction), and got on Charlie (no reaction). A couple of days later, Shona came over, and sat on Lil. Again no reaction. Meanwhile i got on Charlie on the qt, no holder etc. No reaction. This is all brilliant.
Shona on Lily
Me on Charlie
Then it was Saturday!!!! Sammi's Birthday Party. Before the party there was lessons. All the ponies were in, doing various things. Eli brought Twix, her very handsome bay gelding. Not sure if it was the presence of another boy, the warm weather, some spring grass or what. But the Big herd went wrong!!
First up I tacked up Charlie to join in a lesson with Tia on board (small, quiet and light). He was nothing short of a GIT. He was behaving like a teenage boy, throwing his toys out of the pram. He had a serious case of FOMO. The parrot mouth was present, and he just wanted to be somewhere else. So I ended up just leading him in the lesson and on the Walk Out. When I turned him out......
Next up Daisy and Lu..... Between lessons and Party, we thought we would let Chanice Who Helps On Saturdays, and Grace (Eli's 2nd daughter), ride the mares. Lu was already tacked up, so went up to the school, while I tacked up Daisy. Jo thought I would be using the western saddle which takes a while, and as Lu was a bit full of it, went for quick ride down the lane. Meanwhile I thought she was waiting for us, so opted for quick English tack. Daisy was already agitated, so I told Chanice Who Helps On Saturdays, to take her up to school while I grabbed a drink. I meant lead her up, but Chanice had hopped up already. When we got to school I realised Jo had gone out. At this point I should have got Chanice off. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?? EXCEPT.... Daisy may get excited.....But its never unseating! And Chanice has been riding her a long time and knows her as well as I do, and can cope with her.
And so... i told Chanice to do her usual circling, cones, disengaging Daisys rear end, chill, relax etc. They understand each other. Normally. Daisy had started to relax, when she heard Lu coming up the drive. Daisy went nuts!! She must have thought she was at a rodeo!!! She went into proper bronc mode....Never thought she had it in her. Chanice did really well and sat out the broncing, until Daisy finished with a huge buck, and face planted poor Chanice.
Chanice has had a few falls with us (learning process), and usually gets up and laughs. Daisy normally stops and waits. This was different. Chanice didn't get straight up...or laugh...and was pouring with blood from her nose. Daisy was galloping round wildly! We caught the pony, and helped Chanice to the tack-room, just as the Birthday Girl turned up!!
All turned out Ok. Chanice went off to A&E and was just bruised. The Party Ponies behaved and Sammi had a good Birthday Party.
So we concentrated on Daisys odd behaviour. We put it down to Spring Grass, but were not happy with her reaction to Lu being missing. So we have turned her out with the minis and fenced a large gap between them and Lu. Buddy sour horses not allowed! Its not something we expect, as they all get worked alone, and go off to different places.
Having brought Daisy in and lunged her for 2 days, I hacked her out today with Jo and Lu. Its what she needed. Slightly "springy", but normal Daisy we were out for an Hour and a Half, in the glorious sunshine. It was really nice to be hacking along the country lanes in t-shirts!! But this is England. Expect rain or snow by next week!
Woohoo its been warm!! Tee-shirt weather. The Daffs are everywhere, as are bumble bees at the moment. We have spring cleaned the hay shed and removed miles of tarpaulin that kept tripping us up. And we have been working the ponies. They have been naked and shedding winter coat at the speed of light. The fields look like a pillow fight in a kids dorm!
Charlie has been long reining daily and is being a star. The other day I tripped over a molehill and face planted the ground. As I let go of the reins so as not to jab him in the mouth, he lept forward one stride, then came back for me. Many horses would have galloped off at high speed. He's also had a sack of bran on his back and me leaning over him at the mounting block again. My other half (Mark the Mechanic) has been working on a car at the yard all week with tools and blankets etc spread around. Charlie walked straight onto the blanket to eat the carrots I had left there. Later I rode Daisy over it with no hesitation. Madam Lu kicked up a fuss, but at last put one foot on it. Charlie is so nosy he stuck his head in the back of the van and also examined the engine.
I hacked Daisy out Tuesday. Having not been ridden since about last October she was slightly excited. Having failed to get a girth around her I abandoned my english saddle and used the Western one, even though the breast plate is too big to do anything. I thought I had cinched it up tight enough. Anyway she jogged everywhere having a fine old time, while I lounged around and experimented with just hooking the reins over the horn so I didn't have to use my hands at all. Riding for the chronically lazy. I love it! On the way home, unusually she spooked at at pheasant. Then followed it up with a bronco bucking fit. That saddle is brilliant for bucking. You just don't move. Poor Daisy...she throws her all into it, but its still not unseating. I laughed all the way home. When I get off remembering to step down, the whole saddle swung with me. Guess my cinching needs to be a lot tighter!!
Last weekend it was Poplar Park horse trials. They are the first biggish ones in the eventing calendar and Jo and I did a couple of hours on the gate....all in aid of the RDA. The weather was spring-like and we had a fine old time watching riders coming up and down the track.....either off to jump, or trudging back having finished. Pippa Funnell seemed to have so many rides, I asked her if she had a twin. She is a very nice lady, not to mention extremely talented, and introduced us to her horses each time she passed us (once every 10 minutes). I gather she did very well....So well done Pippa.
We were able to watch a bit of show-jumping and walk the course which was very well built. I used to work at Poplar Park, and its a great course. Very undulating and sandy soil so always good underfoot. Always makes me want to jump again............
So I admit, I have been away a while.....I have moved and BT are "having problems at the exchange", so its been a while with no internet. Its still not connected but I can sometimes get BT Fon.....the rest of the time I have to go to the pub to use their internet (SIGH). Maybe my readers are paying BT to go slow?????
So its a quick catch up. Having posted pics on Facebook (Ooops) of my incompetence with the western saddle, I was quickly informed that the bucking strap was too tight, and that when tightened up it causes bucking!!! Hmmm. That would explain the bucking fit then! I tried it on Daisy...without the bucking strap, and had a ride. I have to say it felt a bit weird, and I need a breastplate, but I think I'll get used to it.
We then had the vet out to do some dentistry. We told her to bring Ketamine....Charlie being a baby, Sweet Pea not liking muzzles and Daisy being a bit unpredictable as to what she will accept. Charlie was a star and didn't mind at all. Sweet Pea was an angel. Daisy went to sleep. Jasmin (Mini) went NUTS.
Of all of them.....the smallest, sweetest pony! A week later we took her to the vet in the lorry, with Sweet Pea for company and dogs. We sort of erupted everywhere when we arrived! Heavily sedated Mini had an electric rasp to remove some nasty hooks.
Jo has decided to enter Lu at the Suffolk Show, so we have been de-spooking her. We had a play with an umbrella which was hilarious. Lu ran off, so did Daisy initially. Charlie tried to eat it. Having twirled it this way and that with Charlie, I retrieved Daisy, who decided it wasn't so bad whilst eating Herbalicious treats. Lu took a bit more convincing and ended up looking a bit of a twat as herd leader!
Meanwhile at the RDA we need some more horses. Viv and I went out to Essex on a very rainy day and I tried out Stormin Norman, a 13.2hh black and white cob with a long mustache. I was instantly in love. He could be Charlies' brother. A perfect trial....Didn't put a foot wrong, so hopefully we will have him on loan soon.
Things with the Papermill Lane Ponies are not so good. 4 of us went for a visit a couple of weeks ago. We photographed a lot of underweight ponies, with no water and bad hay which was mostly out of reach anyway. We distributed what hay and water we could, untangled a few caught up in each others tethers, and stumbled across bags and bags of bones. We all went home feeling saddened and sickened, fired off lots of emails and complaints. I'd really like to go home with a lorry full! We will continue to fight
Since the snow that never happened it has been COLD. Yes thats COLD in capitals. The water pipes completely froze, leaving us lugging water containers from the Tack Room. And just when we need the tractor and trailer....the wheel fell off the trailer! One minute I was trundling along....next minute I wasn't.
Course the trailer was full off poo. Try as we might we couldn't lift or remove the trailer so we had to shovel the poo out where it was. Turns out the split pin had jumped off the wheel. Yes, you couldn't make it up. Using the metal detector the next day failed to find it. Scrabbling around in the poo we had dumped (Phnaff Phnaff) did. So no harm done, except we had a pile of poo to shovel up and then off load at the muck heap, making it 4 times we had handled it.
Having been coveting a western saddle kit for Charlie for months, I finally got it. Very cheap, but it came as, saddle,bridle,cinches, and blanket. Today was the day to try it on him. To be fair he has been very hormonal the last few days, trying to mount Daisy at every opportunity. So he needed a distraction. A bit full on after months chilling in the fields and growing. He took it all in his stride, despite Mummy not knowing how to cinch it up properly, and the rain pouring down. Once in the "Arena", he had forgotten lunging basics, preferring to come in to me. So I let him loose and picked up a whip. Sending him away sent him into a temper tantrum......bucking, squealing, generally being a boy! Eventually he settled and worked a little. Time to start regular work methinks.
And so we have an Indian Summer......Its the middle of September and it was 29c today. All the grass is burnt, hell we are burnt! The ground is too hard to work the ponies, and the fence posts are breaking when we try to move the fencing back. We have been doing a rain dance. Polly has bruised soles, so is out in boots. Daisy, with her shoes on is feeling well. The other day I thought I would take her out and lead Charlie. mmmmmmm......
I went round the 4 acre first.....good job really. Daisy was like a cat on hot bricks. In the end I had to let go of Charlie, as Daisy was plunging and bucking. I just sat and laughed as it felt so good to feel her so happy.
Luckily I had been practicing the bucking.....on a mechanical bull at a Festival. Major fun if you ever get the chance. It got very competitive.
So today we picked up 50 bales of hay.....As I stood there surveying our hoard I said, 'We won't need to hay until October'. Jo pointed out thats only two weeks away. WHAT???? Its still the middle of summer surely? I panicked at that point and dragged all the rugs out. Jo power washed them while I painted them with Fabriseal. I mean, knowing England it'll be snowing next week!
Bull
Riding
Waterproofing rugs
