Top Barn Week Two....And More About Rhythm Beads

Phew it's Full On Top Barn Challenge.  We are smashing it so far. Can we keep up the pace for the next 10 weeks? Hell Yeah! Even though this week I have dot a dold.....(moan moan). It's the 1st cold I have had for about two years, so I shouldn't moan...But i will!! It is PANTS.  And the reason why I am still up this late....I can't breathe. I know with PAH I have trouble breathing anyway, but this makes it worse......So Moan Moan Moan!!! And Charlie in particular can feel I am weak, and is taking the mick big time. Makes for funny vids tho!!

Last week (the first week of the challenge) we totally killed it!! I explained to Charlie that he couldn't push me around, and gained trust with Lily by walking her alone in scary places. Jo became Stormin Norman!! Hacked Lulu out alone in a proper Hoolie and came back grinning!!  Now we can't stop her!!!  To be fair, Lu has become a different pony.  Being the Herd Leader, she gets worried when left alone too long. She feels all the responsibility for the safety of the herd.  She is highly intelligent, and when she has nothing to do except look after the herd, she overthinks everything and gets stressy.  In the last 10 days, Jo has taken control, taking Lu away from the others, and by taking her out of their comfort zones, has shown Lu that in fact, she is not in control. Lu has visibly relaxed, knowing that her Mum is in charge. 

Week Two.  Lulu is still relaxed and happy that her Mum is in charge. Charlie on the other hand has been on the phone to Horse-Line complaining that his Slave is trying to sit on him. They obviously told him to stand up for himself, and use his strength.  Sensing my weakness (Yup THE COLD), he has been a total TWOT!! Today, I ignored him and took Lily out.  Himself didn't like that, and followed me along the fence line, grabbing at Lil's headcollar, and waving it at me. Hey Charlie...You Snooze, You Lose!! Meanwhile Lily has been a star. She is a pleasure to walk out with, and is eager to work, coming over to me as soon as she sees I am holding a headcollar.  

BTW....Daisy is beginning to feel like she isn't loved!!  Jo brought her in Monday and gave her some love and grooming.  Maybe I should have entered Daisy into the Challenge as well, but doing Lily and Charlie is more than enough hours. However Daisy would love to get out. So if anyone would like to come and ride her out...she is ready to go. She is a great hack. Bombproof, but not a slouch. Real fun... Meg? Viv? Shona?  

And so my verdict on the Rhythm Beads?  I think they work.  They have definitely calmed Lu down. Lily seems laid back when she is wearing them. And I have before and after Videos of Charlie going from wild to calm after I put them on.  So I have been busy making Rhythm Beads for all our ponies.  At the very least, when they are wearing them, they will understand they are working, and at the very most, the bells will distract them from scary monsters, and soothe them into a rhythm and calmness.  These Rhythm beads were first used by Native American Indians....and what they don't know about horses isn't worth knowing!  

I am starting to make these bead necklaces for sale on Ebay #theriverrat66 and Etsy Suffolkbeachcombers. 

I've Got A Cold.....Moan, Moan, Moan!

Ok I hate it when people bang on about having a head-cold, and how ill they are.  Having PAH, (dodgy lungs and a dicky ticker), I find people going on about colds a little, shall we say, trivial.  But I have been really ill with this damn cold!! It's been a real effort to go and hay and poo-pick the ponies.  So they have had no work at all. Jo has been ill too.  In fact on Wednesday we both felt so rough, and it was raining.  We did the hay and water, checked they were all warm and dry, and most importantly, alive, and left the poo.  Luckily the sun was out Thursday, and for my part I had had about 12 hours sleep.

We have been so 'not with it', that the hay had nearly run out, and the guys couldn't deliver until last night.  Luckily we have a friend over the road that has a 5* yard for her shetlands. I mean, these guys are looked after like the most expensive race-horses.  So we bought some bales of last years £6 per bale hay, that they won't eat.  Wow!  It was so green and soft.....The absolute Ritz of hay. Our lot have attacked it like they were starving.  Today they have had to go back to the normal stuff......which is actually excellent hay, and costs £30 for a big round bale, perfectly good enough for natives.  Bet they are on the phone to the RSPCA right now!

The History of Ponygirl

Ok, hello guys.  I am hoping this blog may be of some use to somebody.  It may just be a journal for me to look back on when I,m older and greyer!
Anyway to give you some background information about myself, a life filled with horses compressed into a few words.
I started riding at the age of 3, and until i reached 44, i owned numerous ponies, worked all my best years with horses, in riding centres, driving yards and spent 12 years managing an RDA centre.  
I spent a good deal of time riding for other people, schooling, sorting out problems and competing in showing, dressage, show-jumping, x country, and endurance.
And lets not forget a short dabble with Horseball.

This is Skittles.  I owned her for 10 years.  She taught me so much about competing. She had been there,done that.
We show-jumped, showed and did dressage.  She could be very hormonal but we had a very understanding relationship as long as I did what I was told!
Sadly she was put to sleep after a bout of colic which would just not stop, at the age of 24

This is Harry.  Harry came from a stunt yard.  He was only 5 when I got him, but had already had a chequered career, and several owners. Apparently he was dangerous, but as you can see here, he was actually a real sweetheart and I loved him to bits. 
Eventually I got to the bottom of his bad behaviour, a broken vertebrae in his spine, right under where the saddle (or rider) would sit.  No wonder he bucked for England!! After 2 years, he had deteriorated to the point where i felt it was kinder to have him put to sleep at the tender age of 7.

And this is Paddy, the love of my life. I first got him as 4 year old.  A wild little thing.  A real character!!  Full of intelligence and cheekiness.  We shared 12 years together.  In that time, we attempted showing (but his sense of humour mostly got the better of him). We did better at x-country, show-jumping and endurance though.
Our greatest adventure was driving down to Wiltshire, and riding 120 miles back up the Ridgeway, With my friend Tess and my arab Ryscheyed.  Tess and I wore silly ball dresses....just in case people didn't notice us, and raised £2000 for the Rda. But that's another blog. Seriously check out http://ridgewayromp.blogspot.co.uk/

Then I got ill and struggled to look after Paddy. So he went out on loan to a lovely family in Norfolk, and had 2 fantastic years, before he got a twisted gut. The only time in his life he was ever ill!!!   And how!  He was put to sleep at the age of 18.

Anyway to touch on that illness, without dwelling on it, I have something called Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.  As I put it .....dodgy lungs and a dicky ticker.  At first I was really ill, and thought my life with horses was over.  I felt like my right arm was missing.  The condition isn't curable, but i am better than I was on a cocktail of drugs.
And then......
I met a lady called Jo who has a glut of rescued ponies, and started helping her. And then.......
4 weeks ago I got Charlie from a rescue centre. Very sensibly I have got a 3 year old !!!  As you do at the age of 49 with dodgy lungs and a dicky ticker.
So this blog is about my life with horses Part Two.
Happy reading.....