Top Barn Week 10, Stressage, And Hard Work

 Yes we have completed Week 10 of the Top Barn Challenge.  We have had our Rollover week, but not a Holiday week, so technically Week 11 is the last to complete the challenge, but I am still expecting snow! Ok so the last week has been mostly sunny.....I can feel the warmth of the sun, and layers have been stripped off.

Charlie has been full of spring grass, even though we cannot actually see it growing yet. It may be all in his belly. It is showing in his springy heels!!!

We have not been totally connected.....Charlie has his mind on fresh grass and the mares (probably in that order), so we have spent the last couple of weeks playing at Liberty and working on a dance routine. However although I haven't actually got on him, we are getting close.

We have also been working on our Stressage Competition. What was I thinking? Back in the day, I hated Stressage, the most boring part of ODE. And that was ridden!  In-Hand Stressage? Am I crazy? I have to run! With my Dodgy Lungs!! But anyway we are sort of getting there.  Jo filmed a couple of run-throughs today for me.  Charlie was fairly good. But I wasn't satisfied. So back I went this evening with Mark The Mechanic and Horse Whisperer for yet another take.  Although willing to work, Charlie decided it was too dark to trust me on his blind side.  I would say he 99% trusts me, but when he is struggling with what he can see.....At the end of the day (literally) I am not a horse!!  Yup Sorry to break that to you!  With his feral background he still looks to other horses to keep him safe. 

So more filming to come (sorry Jo).

As much as I have loved my 4th Top Barn Challenge, I may have to take a week off to recover at the end.  Its all been a bit hard core. I am still looking after my Mum 4 days a week.  And the Winter seems to have dragged on (even though its getting warmer).  It's the extra work involved in the Winter months that's the killer! Jo and I are on our knees!!! It hasn't helped this year that our Hay Barn is being restored.  So our hay is delivered once a fortnight. It lives outside, so we have a daily battle with a gigantic tarpaulin and several hundred bricks and pallets to keep it warm and dry.  We should be experts at putting up tents!

Daily we move 4 ponies onto the up-coming grass for 2 hours.(The other 2 stay on the night paddocks as they are Fat Fu****, I mean Good Doers). Then its a round of hanging up hay nets in the field, filling Hay Feeders, Filling Water Tubs, Poo-Picking, emptying Poo trailer, forking up Muck-heap, cleaning trailer, refilling Hay Nets and trailer with hay,  bringing back 4 ponies onto night paddocks. At this point we are exhausted and need to stop for a coffee and a biscuit! We have help at the Weekends, but we desperately need weekday help! It's the hay wrangling that's killing us.  SO.........

Do you have free mornings?  Would you enjoy the fresh air and exercise? Would you like to share a loving Highland Pony in exchange for a bit of hard graft and a small contribution towards her keep? Daisy has so much to give, and although we love her very much, she would love to have her very own human that she doesn't have to share with the other 5.  Daisy is a bombproof, but forward going Happy Hacker. She hacks out alone and in company, is very loving and sweet. She is in her 20's and is not going to set the world alight, but may well light up your world!

 

Life As We Know It!!! And 25 Things

So, nearly the end of April.....and life is still weird!! In fact with 6 ponies to look after every day, life is actually pretty normal for Jo and I.  Except it isn't! 
Everything seems in slow motion.  Its blissfully quiet at the Farm, with a lot less traffic going past on the road. April has given us warm weather, vast blue skies and nature in abundance.  Its almost like everything is in HD.  And we seem to have slowed down too. Not in the sense of getting the basic work done.  In that respect we have got it down quick. But it almost seems we get done and go home.....as if being outdoors for too long is dangerous, or illegal! 

With me being one of these boring people that are supposed to be shielded, everyone is avoiding us.  Its OK to come up.  We are missing you all.  Just treat me as if I have the plague....and don't be offended if I stay 12ft away from you at all times, wearing a bandanna.  We have soap, hand-sanitizer, buckets of bleach and a system for scolding the cups every day.  I have my own towel and will not touch anything anyone may have accidentally picked up.  The ponies would love to see someone else!! As would we!

The Ponies are of course unaware that the World As We Know It has changed. Although they may be missing certain people.  Mini has asked me where Nancy is!!  They could all do with baths!! Any volunteers???

Daisy is in self isolation...of a fashion.  Although fit and well, we are so scared she may get into trouble with the Spring grass, that we have confined her to a Pen within the Hill Field.  The Minis surround her, and she spends a couple of hours each day out with them having a bit of grass, before returning to her pen with a feed full of EMS fighting supplements and 3 soaked hay-nets.

Its a Catch 22 really.  She could do with the exercise right now, and its a brilliant time with the roads so quiet to hack out.  Just fighting with the guilt of What If?  Its ridiculous. I have never even come close to coming off Daisy, and of all the falls I have had, over a lifetime of competing and working with horses, the last time I ended up in A&E was when I was 17! 35 years ago!!!  Ridiculous but there's always Sods Law!!!  Jo had never fallen off Lu, ever, until last week, when a sudden spook n spin unseated her.  Shes Ok, but had a huge bruise and now has protesting back muscles.  Not to mention the fact that before the pesky chest infection in Jan/Feb that floored me, I had high hopes of riding The Gypsy Cobs by now!! 

But anyway....Worst Things Happen At Sea and all that!!  So I have been steadily working on a series of short videos called 25 Things to do With Your Horse on The Ground.  I have just posted Number 9 entitled 'SMILE'.  If you missed them (shame on you 😊), I have covered #1 Hang Out, #2 Lunch Date,
#3 Lunging, #4 Follow Me, #5 Begin Clicker Training, #6 Correct Leading, #7 Ground Tie, and #8 Long Reining.  Still to come is Parking At the Mounting Block, Pole work, Backing, Teaching Pick-Up and more (12 more if my math is correct, which is highly doubtful).  

So check out YouTube UCLYQBYhWqo_WPVdz9MFkCtA.  Please hit the subscribe button. 🙏 I only have 12 subscribers 😩.  It doesn't cost anything to subscribe. But once i get a 1000 subscribers I can monetize the videos and that could pay for next years hay!!!

Yours beggingly
xx

https://youtu.be/nnhrn4XVQOE

Backing, Hacking and Bucking

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!