Our first hunter trial April 28, 2012

Last weekend saw Scarlet and I tackle our first hunter trial together at Coombelands, in West Sussex. I entered the 2’6″ course, feeling fairly confident that we had jumped most of these fences out schooling already. I walked the course the day before with my instructor, and we talked tactics – not for the course, mind, but for how to deal with the maniac in the warm up!

The course itself was straightforward – logs, sharks teeth, roll tops, palisades and so on. Two water elements – one of which included a step up – and one open ditch, which again, I felt confident that we could tackle all of this. The one fence which gave me the heebie-jeebies was about halfway round the course – the trakehner! I loathe these fences more than any other, and am usually quite successful at transferring this sentiment to my horses. It had also been raining like nobody’s business all week, so the ground, still hard from the very hot and dry March, had lots of standing water, including on the approach to this bogey fence. That night I went home and prayed very hard that the trakehner would be taken out.

On the morning of the hunter trial, things went relatively smoothly, and we had Scarlet booted up and in the trailer while she was still yawning and waking up. We also dosed her up on Carl Hester’s Pro-Mag Calm Boost, which had worked well before. I sent Mum on a mercy dash to the saddlery to get me some Airowear shoulder protectors and some new gloves! The bonuses of owning a saddlery I suppose – not many places are open at 7am on a Sunday. She brought back twelve different pairs of gloves for me to try, and I went with the Tredstep Jumper Pro, hoping that the name would give us confidence. They also have excellent grip and are very thin, which I prefer.

We arrived at Coombelands an hour before I was due to jump. This was to give us enough time to get both myself and Scarlet tacked up, to check for any course changes (please please please take out the trakehner) and to have enough of a warm up to get us going without hanging about too much. Scarlet gets more and more agitated if she’s kept waiting, and I get more and more terrified. We parked up, and opened the ramp for Scarlet to have a look around before we unloaded. True to form, she was all flared nostrils and goggle eyes. I ran off to get my number and check the course map (please please please take out the trakehner) while Mum supervised Scarlet’s panic attacks. Of course, the trakehner had not been taken out. In fact, I asked a course official, just to be sure, and she smugly told me that all the kids in the Junior class had been flying over it on their ponies. I slunk away, suitably abashed.

Scarlet launched herself out of the trailer, as usual, looking very excited. We wrestled the saddle on to her and she and Mum went off for a dance around the other trailers while I pulled on my Rugged competition breeches and Mountain Horse Richmond long boots, and my shiny new baselayer. Mum scribbled some details on my medical arm band (she later admitted she wrote down the wrong telephone number) and I soon looked the part, even if I didn’t feel it. We’d taped up Scarlet’s New Equine Wear cross country boots so she was sporting some very snazzy green stripes on her legs, which, at the speed she was waving them around, made me feel quite sea sick. I had delayed the inevitable for long enough, and I was soon legged up on to the crazy one. We jogged off to the warm up, whereupon I realised I didn’t have my number bib on. Reluctant to get off and then get back on again, Mum held on to the horse while my instructor (Janet) forced my head down to my knee and yanked the bib on, nearly breaking my nose in the process, while Scarlet leapt about in a state of tremendous excitement. We started trotting around, doing lots of circles and figures of eight, avoiding anyone who looked like they had anything less than complete control or were going faster than a walk. Interestingly*, the warm up was situated in the same place as the finish line, so this made for lots of sideways leaps as horses galloped through the finish.

Five minutes before my start time, we popped over a warm up fence, which Scarlet did beautifully. I walked her into the start box, where the starter told me to cheer up, and he counted us down. I had envisioned us leaping away from the start and into a strong canter, but it was more of a trickle, as Scarlet questioned the wisdom of leaving the fun of the warm up. We cantered up to the first fence (a TINY log) and Scarlet promptly slammed the brakes on. I was very cross, gave her a whack, and we popped over and were on our way. On our approach to fence 5, two girls came running up waving their arms to stop me – there was a loose horse headed our way! I pulled up just as the horse rounded the corner towards us, and Scarlet, bless her little cotton socks, stood there good as gold while the horse galloped past us. I waited a few seconds and then we cantered away. She screeched to a halt at the open ditch, but one Pony Club kick later and we were over it and over the next element two strides away as well. What a star! Coombelands is a very open, gallopy course, set over several large fields, but I never felt that she was getting away from me, she lobbed along quite happily in a steady canter.

We were now approaching the dreaded trakehner. I knew Mum and Janet would both shout at me if we refused due to my feeble riding, so I sat up, gave her a “reminder” with my stick and growled at her as we approached. Remember the standing water? The course officials had *helpfully* filled in the puddles on the approach with BRIGHT ORANGE SAND. Well, you can imagine what my poor angel thought of that. She slammed the brakes on and did her trademark 360° spin. I flew straight out the side door and Scarlet pissed off across the field. I have to admit, it’s times like this that I’m so grateful for my Mountain Horse Quick Release safety stirrups, which ping open when I fall off, and prevent me from being dragged along. I leapt up (as much as you can leap anywhere while wearing a body protector and tight breeches) and began jogging off in her wake, waving away the jump judge’s attempted ministrations. I know, I’m a brave soldier. Fortunately Scarlet had been caught. The kind gentleman who caught her dusted me off and legged me back up, and we cantered off, after checking that there were no other horses on the course behind me. I made the executive decision to bypass the dreaded trakehner, seeing as we had no chance of being placed and if you fall off twice you have to leave the course. The next fence was a nice, easy steeplechase type jump, which we flew, and went on to complete the course with no more hiccups. She gave me a fantastic feeling, and felt like she was really enjoying herself. She didn’t shy at the jump judges or the various spectators dotted around the course, and was very clever at adjusting her stride, especially at a step up to a log, where I pushed for a long one and she, quite rightly, ignored me and shortened to get an extra stride in and bounced up. She backed off the last fence, which was quite a spooky one, but accepted my leg and jumped it beautifully. We whizzed through the finish and pulled up easily, both as pleased as punch. I was perhaps too generous to her by jumping off and leading her back to the trailer, because she pulled like a train and kept treading on me. Which reminds me of a grumble I must make. I wrote a furious blog post lambasting riders who loll around on their horses and ponies at shows, instead of getting off and loosening girths and telling their horse or pony how awesome they are for jumping the jumps. It’s a horrible display of bad horsemanship, and I wish I was slightly braver and could give them a stern telling off.

Other than this blip, it was a good day!

*Really stupid idea

First cross country of 2012 March 17, 2012

We went for our second XC schooling session at Coombelands this week. I thought a mid week sesh would be ideal, everyone would be at work and we’d have the place to ourselves.

No such luck.

We rocked up at half 12 and saw, to my horror, that there were at least ten other boxes there already. I know I’m all about the exaggerating but swear down, TEN. At LEAST. And the best bit? The racehorses that use the gallops at Coombelands and who are meant to be gone by 12 were still thundering up and down. The gallops at Coombelands encircle the lorry park and the course itself, so I was reasonably panic struck. We lowered the ramp to see Scarlet’s eyes resembling dinner plates, and with nostrils so flared I could *literally* see her brain. We made the executive decision to get her bridle on while she was still in the trailer, learning from past mistakes of trying to tack her up after unloading, while she does her best impression of the Tasmanian Devil. Despite this, she still threw herself around while my poor mother hung on to her nose and tried to force the bit between Scarlet’s firmly clamped jaws. Having seen what a horror she was going to be, I removed myself from the rocking trailer and reluctantly got suited and booted, muttering a few Hail Marys under my breath. Poor Scarlet found it particularly exciting that racehorses were still thundering past her, so by the time she burst out of the trailer on the end of a lunge line, she was dripping in sweat, and, as usual, all the other riders were shooting me sympathetic glances while hastily leading their own well behaved mounts away. I was dismayed to see a rider with a Union Jack stitched on to their hat – it’s bad enough when other amateurs witness our outings, I didn’t need the professionals to see! Mum donned riding hat and gloves and started leading the beast around, hoping it would calm her down if she could see what was happening. This tactic has never worked, and it didnt work this time either. She dragged Mum around, occasionally pausing to rip up some grass and bolt it down, but mostly just leaping around looking wild eyed and making me feel queasy. We hauled her back to the trailer, where, after a few false starts (“catch the saddle!” “Do the bloody girth up!” “Don’t let her tread on the martingale!”) I finally managed to fling a saddle on and get it done up, in between lots of feet stamping, head bashing and rude words. We headed off to the only quiet bit of the field and Mum got her going on the lunge. All too soon my instructor had turned up and I found myself being lobbed up onto a quivering, gibbering idiot of a horse. We tiptoed over to the small warm up fences, me still praying to anyone who’d listen, while Janet (instructor) roared at me to get my leg on and make her behave. And, eventually, she did! Considering that there were horses all over the place (and Scarlet is a very sociable creature, she really wanted to sidle over and join a group) and she’s a natural born dipstick, she was in fact a superstar. She threw in the odd stomach curdling spook and pretended to spin a few times, but as soon as she locked onto the fences, she was a saint. The three strides before each jump and the jump itself were a joy. It was just all the bits inbetween that got a bit exciting! We jumped logs and tyres, sharks teeth, pheasant feeders, banks, steps (I massively wussed out of the bigger steps down, but Scarlet was brave as a lion), tackled a part coffin (first element missing) with an impressive sized ditch and she leaped into the water with positive glee. She didnt refuse anything except where she felt me hesitate too, and that was only a couple of times. As usual, the more we did, the cooler and calmer she got, so the initial white foam lathered all over her was gone after about 20 minutes. We coped with other horses moving around the course, and to finish we did a very short course over fences we hadn’t jumped yet, and she lapped it up. As we cantered out of the last water she leapt sideways, just to make sure I wasn’t feeling too complacent.

I can’t describe how proud I am of her. She can be such a tricky little mare, with so many quirks and oddities in her nature, but she is also one of the sweetest, most generous horses I have ever come across. Yes, the jumps we were tackling were only tiny, but her confidence is what we need to work on, we already know she has scope to burn. She’s incredibly athletic and intelligent in her jumping, and the sharpness that I lament out hacking and in the school is a real benefit when we jump, because she gets us out of trouble when I (frequently) miss a shot. She’s so quick to shorten up if she needs an extra stride, and nothing beats feeling her lock onto a fence and fly over it without me needing to make any adjustments to our stride. It’s a terrific confidence boost, knowing that she’s clever and deft enough to jump us out of trouble, rather than just slamming the brakes on, as other, less honest horses are wont to do. Oh dear. This has become a very long post about how much I love my pony. Props to you if you’re still reading!

Road Rage March 4, 2012

When the weather is this miserable, we tend to stick to the roads because the bridlepaths around us are either chalky and therefore very slippery when it rains, or thick clay, that threatens to pull shoes off and is a nightmare to navigate. So this morning, we set off for a road ride around the lanes, togged out in our hi vis waterproof exercise sheets and Equisafety Polite Notice hi vis tabards, because it was raining and overcast. Both Blue and Scarlet are very good in traffic, but they are horses, and impossible to predict. We always thank drivers who slow down to go past us, because we are grateful to people who show consideration, and want them to carry on showing that consideration to other horse riders. Unfortunately, there seems to be more drivers now who whoosh past, with barely a glance at the horse and rider they’ve just pushed into the hedge. I can’t understand why these drivers think they can treat country lanes as their personal racetrack, zooming around corners and over blind summits, ignoring the road signs which warn that horses are around.

I’m afraid I gave the two fingered salute to one idiot who drove as if she was on the last circuit of the Monaco Grand Prix, but I think the smoke issuing from the screaming tyres would have obscured her rearview mirror. That’s assuming she actually uses her mirrors, of course…

Other than the lunatic drivers, the hack was relatively uneventful, with the exception of the peacock farm, of course! Poor Scarlet had been struggling to hold it together anyway, what with all the parked cars and road signs and wheelie bins we had encountered, but the screeching of the peacocks blew her frazzled brains. She hit reverse and we zoomed all over the (thankfully empty) lane, as I tried to coax her past. One male peacock had been sitting on the fence, but at the sight of this wild eyed Thoroughbred steaming around he made the sensible decision to hop down out of sight. After frightening a couple of joggers, and Blue being super brave by coming back for her, Scarlet finally decided she could scuttle past,snorting all the way. She was pretty convinced that this was lurking behind the fence. Bless. We managed to complete the hack without too many more issues, but I’m fairly sure Scarlet’s brain is now leaking out of her ears.

So the hero of the hour is Blue. He played up a bit at first, but soon realised we were quite far away from home and he had to keep up with the ex racehorse running on nervous energy. He made the wise decision to put all his energy into moving his little legs as fast as he could to keep Scarlet in sight. I like to think that he’s behaving himself at the moment to make up for bucking Holly off last week. On her birthday.

We took Scarlet loose jumping again this week. She was great, cantering round and jumping in a lovely rhythm, until we busted out the fillers. The brakes were slammed on, and it took a fair amount of persuasion before she would jump them. However, once she had had a good look at them, and helicoptered over the first time, she then jumped beautifully. I then got on her (with some tacking up in-between) and we took her into the outdoor school and did some pole work, to get her going forward with confidence before popping through a small bounce. She was great, and we finished up confident that we could have gone on and done more, which is such a good way to finish a lesson.

2012 thus far… February 18, 2012

Considering that I have been writing this blog for about 2 years now you’d think I’d have some idea of how to begin a post. But I don’t, so I’ll just launch straight into the good stuff.

Spring is only a few weeks away now, so soon I’ll be able to ride after work, which both myself and Scarlet are very much looking forward to. The poor lamb only gets ridden once or twice a week now, and is hardly turned out due to her habit of taking on the post and rail into the field next door, which has lots of grass and a stallion next door. Despite this, she is as cool and chillaxed as I’ve ever seen her, and is quite happy to be left in her box with a haynet all day. We recently moved the horses back home, from the DIY livery yard we were at, just down the lane. There, she boxwalked, sweated, shouted and generally gave herself a reputation of being a lunatic. Now she’s at home, with just Blue for company, she’s stopped boxwalking, she doesn’t work herself into a sweat and she doesn’t bellow for attention every five minutes. I can skip out, groom her and tack her up in her stable as well, which I never could before, unless I could keep pace with her boxwalking or was prepared for her to keep breaking leadropes  as she threw thirty fits.

She’s also behaving herself out hacking. Although she is and always will be very sharp and over fond of spooking and snorting, it’s not quite as dramatic as it used to be.This morning we met a hedge cutter on the way out, and she was very frightened, but we scuttled past it – the driver must have thought I was slightly barmy as I was telling her VERY LOUDLY what a brave girl she was, and how good she was to go past, and that if she could get past a fearsome beast like that then she could take on the world, etc etc. We then met it on the way back, and she sauntered past, cool as you please. I was very proud of her.

Blue is, as ever, a law unto himself. If he doesn’t want to do something, he ain’t gonna do it. He fixes you with a hard stare that says, “MAKE ME”. So we now use running reins to hack him out, because it makes it easier to stop him turning round and marching home, and we use a short length of hose to stop him barging and pushing when handling him on the ground. We’re not beating him or anything, but it makes a lovely noise  if he does need a smack for being rude, and doesn’t hurt (well, not that much). Now if he starts getting bargey, we only have to pick the hose up and he is instantly contrite. He’s not a bad pony, he just likes things his way and is quick to make his feelings known. He is going through his teenage years after all. If he could slam his bedroom door and crank his dreadful music up, you can bet he would.

We took Scarlet loose jumping to Sally Thurloway’s place last week, to try and build her confidence up. She was fab – I never see her jumping because I’m the only person who rides her, and I was thrilled with how scopey she is, and how well she keeps her rhythm before and after the fence. She had a few “I’m not going anywhere near that” moments, but Sally was brilliant at making her go forward without frightening her. She explained that when a horse is being ridden, you should never make it go over a fence if it stops right in front it, even just a pole on the ground, which Scarlet often does, because  the fence is out of the horse’s eyeline. If the horse is being loose jumped, however, they can lower their head to see it before making the leap. In a way, this makes it even harder to teach Scarlet that she has to keep going forward, because when she slams the brakes on, I have to turn her away from the fence and come at it again – this doesn’t do my nerves any good and I worry it makes her think she can get away with refusing a jump she doesn’t like the look of. But Sally knows what she’s talking about, and we’ll hopefully get a few more sessions in with her over at Forest Farm, Horsham. Scarlet is such a talented horse, and is so clever when she jumps, working out her stride and rarely touching a pole, that I am determined to persevere with her. She does enjoy jumping when she gets her confidence up, so now I have to make sure, as her rider, that I’m giving her that confidence from the very beginning.

We’re getting into the Olympic spirit here at Dragonfly, with a collection of GB themed Rodney Powell body protectors. Rodney Powell have really stepped it up a gear with their new designs – I’ve found their stuff in the past to be quite inflexible, which put first time users off buying them, opting for the more flexible and comfortable Airowear Outlyne or the Hows Racesafe 2010 instead. The new range though are lightweight and instantly more comfortable than the old ones, so I anticipate these being really popular, especially in the run up to the Olympics! Team GB look pretty strong this year – if we don’t win gold in the dressage and the eventing I’ll be astonished.

December 24, 2011

How to start a blog post on Christmas Eve without it being a horrible cliche…? I don’t know, so I’ll stick to the cliches. Another year nearly over, how fast it has gone, hasn’t time flown, etc etc.

I haven’t blogged for ages because I’ve been away, recovering in a nursing home from the terrors of taking the Beast cross country. I’ve been enduring intensive shock treatments, whale music, and heavy sedation.

OK so not really, I just haven’t blogged for ages, because it takes me so long  to insert links and images and stuff, not to mention thinking up funny jokes to keep you all entertained. It’s all been fairly quiet on the horses front, due to work, weather, poverty and laziness. However, I am happy to report that since Scarlet went cross country, she has decided that jumping is actually quite fun, and no longer acts like I’ve asked her to fight a killer whale or build a nuclear warhead. Suddenly putting a jump or two up in the school is a pleasure to do. She works out her own strides and has now started jumping fillers, which is something I was dreading, what with her being so hysterical. She only did one ludicrous spook when first confronted by a plank (no, I don’t mean my father) and after that she jumped happily. In fact, she’s so enthusiastic about the whole affair that I’m having trouble with my brakes on landing! On the left rein especially, we land and then she shoots off like someone’s put a rocket up her bottom. She motorbikes round the corner on two legs (often on the wrong canter lead, which makes it extra fun) and I get a real sense of what it’s like to ride a genuine racehorse! My instructor offered these comforting words: “Don’t worry, horses hardly ever fall over”.

That’s alright then.

We’ve been hiring a 20m x 60m arena down the lane from us, which has a lovely rubber surface, big mirrors at the C end and lots of terrifying things to gawp at. Scarlet has accepted the mirrors, but is frightened by the horses in the field behind them, because all she can see are lower legs. She’s concerned that there are disembodied horses drifting about, and I’ve warned her that she’ll join them if she doesn’t stop behaving like a total muppet.

 Blue is a mixed bag. Sometimes he’ll behave, sometimes he won’t. It really depends what day of the week it is. He’s looking very smug at the moment, as he has been bought a new stable rug, the Horseware Rambo Newmarket mediumweight. He looks very snazzy. No one has told him it was in the sale though. Bargain price of £63! He doesn’t have the matching neck cover, because he has such a luscious mane to keep him warm. He’s been in disgrace for doing several enormous spooks out hacking (even Scarlet didn’t spook, which means he definitely isn’t allowed to) but then makes up for it by being cute and adorable.

The saddlery has been absolutely manic over the Christmas period, with wellies and breeches proving to be the most popular gift items so far. The Le Chameau Vierzonord are probably the best selling wellies we have ever stocked, with everyone going crazy for the neoprene lining and brilliant tread. The Roeckl Polartec gloves have also gone down a storm, with their warm, water resistant properties and rubbery grip proving to be ther perfect stocking filler for those barmy horsy types who ride in the wind and rain.

Horse wise, the Horseware rugs are going like hotcakes, we are struggling to keep our stock levels up! They are beautiful, quality rugs, and any horse wearing one looks like a superstar. Scarlet is getting a Bucas Power for Christmas though, because I can sling it on her straight after a ride, due to its Stay Dry lining technology, and it can be used for turnout and stable, so I don’t have to keep hanging up her turnout rug, which always comes in dripping with mud and slime. Also, because she’s such a ferocious boxwalker she works up a sweat overnight, and the Power works like a sweat rug, wicking away the moisture from her body. Pretty cool, huh? And she’s so pretty, she’s going to look super smart in a silver rug. I watched her rolling the other day after a lesson, and was entertained by how my lovely, elegant Thoroughbred was suddenly transformed into a wriggly worm, squirming around in a muddy puddle of ecstacy.

OK, that’s enough rambling about my ponies for now. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and prosperous New Year. Don’t forget to leave out plenty of carrots for the reindeer and give your horses and dogs lots of delicious treats before you stuff your own face with turkey and Quality Streets. See you in 2012!

http://www.dragonflysaddlery.co.uk/addtocart.asp?categoryid=10&subcatid=150&hr=h&categoryname=Rugs&subcatname=Stable+-+Mediumweight&itemid=2698

Cross country at last! October 26, 2011

Possibly a bit smaller than the hurdles Scarlet is used to!

Well, despite Scarlet’s best efforts, I am in fact still alive. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m…indestructible? (Except that I’ve been floored by a cold this week – in my darkest, most snot-ridden hours, I begged for Death…)

I’m joking of course (not about the cold) – Scarlet and I went cross country schooling for the first time last weekend and she was magic. Sorry to disappoint my avid fans, who love nothing more than reading about Scarlet’s inventive attempts to break every bone in my body. Drugging her definitely helped – I gave her a shot of the Carl Hester Pro-Mag Calm Boost – http://bit.ly/sbMaxD – just before we loaded her, because although she travels well, she always bursts out of the trailer when we arrive, absolutely dripping in sweat and tears. When we arrived at Coombelands, I opened up the ramp (which ALWAYS makes her jump and is secretly quite funny) and she was pretty sweat free. No steam, no eyeball rolling, nuthin’. So either the Carl Hester HappyPaste did the trick, or we’d brought the wrong horse.

Ordinarily she’s an absolute menace to tack up when we go out as well, so this time we travelled her in her bridle and her New Equine Wear fleece lined cross country boots - http://bit.ly/tJLXp9 – We unloaded her and let her have a look around, a bit of a graze, etc. By this point she was beginning to show signs of being her usual monstrous self, so we attached a lunge line and together we (Mum and myself) cautiously let her walk around, gawping at everything. We headed over to the show jumping field and she made her feelings very clear: “there is no way in HELL I’m going anywhere near those crazy coloured poles and YOU CAN’T MAKE ME.” Feeling slightly nervous, we went back to the trailer, where after a few false starts I managed to get her saddle on, and Mum took her off to lunge the, shall we say, excess energy out of her. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to rid a hyperactive Thoroughbred of its excess energy. Let me assure you, it’s impossible. Thoroughbreds don’t do tired. The only time Scarlet yawns is when I’m putting her bridle on, and that’s only to make me feel boring and inadequate. That said, she was lunging well, dropping her nose and paying (some) attention to Mum’s voice commands. I, meanwhile, sank onto the ramp of the trailer and prayed to every god I’ve ever heard of. I eventually pulled myself together, reminded the voices in my head that actually, I love cross country and stop being such a dipstick. I strapped myself into my Airowear Outlyne body protector and my Charles Owen J3 skull hat and felt slightly better!

The perfect compromise between a snaffle and a gag

Soon everyone else arrived, and it was time to get on. This was actually the bit I was dreading, after she catapulted me into the air last time I was legged up at a party. Janet (my instructor) held onto her with a scoop of feed and Mum legged me up. My wobbly knees meant I only got halfway up, but I scrambled on and thankfully Scarlet decided she liked eating more than concussing me. I remain eternally grateful to her for this. The other riders then got on their horses (the other horses being a 4 year old ISH and a 5 year old ex racer, none of whom had gone cross country before…..) and we began to warm up. Janet asked us to walk in a circle around her while she ran through what she hoped to achieve with us in the session. Apparently Scarlet had no concept of walk, and jig jogged instead, while I tried to lengthen my reins and relax, and remember to keep breathing. She was in a new bit as well, as I felt that a snaffle might not cut the mustard, so we were trialling the Neue Schule Universal – http://bit.ly/sVm0ps – which is basically inbetween a snaffle and a gag. You can use a curb strap with it, but we went without because Scarlet has never felt particularly strong or pully. Yeah it’s a word. The Universal is vaguely similar to a Dutch gag in that you can move the reins up to the snaffle ring or down to the second ring (is that called something?), which is where I had my reins. She went beautifully in it, but she always feel amazing when we’re out because she’s so het up – engagement and suppleness seem to come very easily to her at a party, compared to the impression she does of a horse with pokers for legs when we school at home.

Reinforced for cross country, fleece lined for sensitive legs!

So then we moved out to the course….I was literally terrified. By this point Scarlet was foaming with sweat in anticipation – she loves to get herself worked up about nothing. The lovely thing about Coombelands is that they have such a great range of fences – from really tiny to BE Novice level. We trotted in a circle around a crosspole and a tyre fence, and took turns popping over them. Scarlet was, as I had suspected, lovely when doing the jump itself (once we had ascertained that there were no tigers hiding behind it) but a scallywag when it wasn’t her turn. She was super cross that she couldn’t just bomb over it with the other horses (both boys, needless to say!) We then moved over to the next fence, just a simple log, which, according to the other horses was perfectly straightforward, but according to Scarlet was too terrifying to contemplate. When she eventually leapt over it, we realised why she was being such a baby… The take off and landing areas had been treated with some special stuff (I’m not an expert, OK?) to make sure it wasn’t cut up by horses jumping it. Sadly, it was a different colour to the grass. I mean come on, what were they thinking?! My poor angel was so frightened. Each time we jumped it, she did this ludicrous twist to make sure she didn’t land on this dangerous swamp bit, where crocodiles might be waiting. She did a similar thing a few weeks ago out hacking – someone had their driveway re-gravelled, and Scarlet was full on horrified. Nobody warned her, you know?

To cut a long story short, we went on to do steps, banks, a (tiny) ditch, and a heck of a lot of water. After the first few hiccups (see above) Scarlet didn’t stop at anything – she tackled everything with a great attitude, she left the other horses without napping or getting strong, and bizarrely, by the end of the 2 hour session, she was cooler and dryer than when we’d started! Crazy horse. She locked onto the jumps, she bounded in and out of the water, leapt up and down steps and frightened the unofficial photographer by pretending she was going to jump on top him. All in all, we had a jolly good time.

So I’m absolutely thrilled to bits with my wally of a pony. She has absolutely launched herself into my good books, and I have now ordered her a swanky new Bucas Smartex turnout rug - http://bit.ly/uir83L – and Bucas Power Cooler - http://bit.ly/uv6vH5 – so she doesn’t have to wear a 20 year old rug this winter, or a cooler that hangs around her knees. Hopefully she will now understand the concept of bribery.

BIG NEWS October 14, 2011

Yeah yeah yeah, I haven’t posted for yonks. I’m not even sorry. I’ve been busy, OK?

So, the big news is that Scarlet and I are going cross country schooling next weekend… I’m very frightened, because, as we all know, Scarlet is a mentalist and will blow her top when she gets to Coombelands. She’s bad enough when we pass a fallen branch out hacking – how the heck is she going to react when she sees rustic fences that she actually has to JUMP? And don’t even get me started on how she reacts to puddles. However, we are currently being sympathetic towards the crazy one, because she got in a fight last weekend and got kicked in her lady bits. It split down the side (I feel queasy just writing that), so I dabbed at it fairly ineffectually with some warm salty water and squirted some antiseptic stuff at it. She suggested calling the vet for some proper medicine but I explained that I don’t get paid till next week, and she was cool with that.

Blue has been working through a bit of a teenage sulk over the last few weeks. He’s been dragging himself round the school, trailing behind out hacking and generally being a bit of a pain in the jacksy. We think he’s just been a bit hot and bothered in the unexpected heatwave – he’s got the coat of a grizzly bear despite the eighty degree heat. We’ve been working on his canter and OMG he hates cantering. He reluctantly hops into it, ploughs along for a few metres and then drops back into a shuffley trot. It’s so exhausting to ride I don’t argue with it.

Excitingly, we’ve had a load of new deliveries in this week. Mountain Horse, Joules, Equetech and Tuffa have all sent their gorgeous new winter boots and clothing, so we’re all kept busy trying things on and snatching the sizes we want away from customers. Tomorrow I’ll put some photos and links up, but frankly I can’t be bothered to do it now. I’m tired and full of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, so I’m going to fall asleep in front of the TV now. Deal.

A Very Grumpy Post August 23, 2011

Oh my goodness, what a despicably lazy blogger I’ve been. To make up for it, I’m going to do a disgustingly long post, and then you’ll wish you hadn’t bombarded me with e-mails and messages asking when I’m going to blog again. Ha.

Sadly I am going to begin with a moan. A big moany moan about people and their appalling behaviour at shows. Ready?

So, the Saturday just gone, Holly and I set off for the summer (ha) show at the Royal Leisure Centre in Henfield. We never do tradestands, so we had no idea what to expect, and obviously as it was a Saturday we couldn’t empty the shop of stock. So we took a few bits and bobs – haynet, hairnets, etc. – and set up our little stand next to the catering truck (obvs) and prepared for a pleasant morning watching the action. The show was a little slow to get underway, but by 11am it was quite busy, and we had done some trade. We weren’t run off our feet, however, so we had plenty of time to observe… Now, I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid and was at a show with my pony, there were some pretty strict but fair rules about etiquette, not to mention horse welfare. After a class, unless you were about to be called straight back in for the jump off (sometimes) or for the presentation of prizes (almost never), the first thing you did when you left the ring was pat your pony, dismount, run your stirrups up and loosen the pony’s girth. After all, the pony had just hauled your backside around a course of jumps, or stood in line for three hours while countless individual shows were performed, each one longer than the last.  At this show, however, the vast majority of kids, having completed a course of jumps, remained glued to the saddle, lolling around in said saddle, having shouted conversations with other competitors and spectators and swigging from cans of fizzy drinks. The horses and ponies all behaved beautifully (we didn’t see a single fall) yet they then had to stand there in the sticky heat, not even on grass, without even being offered a drink, let alone have their girths loosened. It made me so sad to see all these lovely horses, all trying so hard for their ungrateful riders, to be treated like park benches.

I am aware that I sound far older and grumpier than any 24 year old should sound, but honestly, I was horrified and saddened by the decline in horse welfare. The Pony Club used to be fantastic at instilling the right values in kids, and parents would back it up with their own knowledge and experience. Now, I don’t know, maybe the Pony Club isn’t so popular anymore? I was chatting to my instructor the other day, complaining about the manners of kids who come into the shop and are rude to staff and their own parents (not all of them, thankfully), and she remarked that an awful lot of kids are turning their noses up at doing Camp these days. She said that it is often the children who are on the PC teams and have their own instructor who decide that they don’t need to do Camp, because they know it all. Well, regardless of how fantastic their riding is, they still need the Pony Club to learn stable management and general horse care and sense. This is especially critical if they have unhorsey parents. I was very lucky as a child – my mother is horsey, and knows a huge amount about everything (don’t tell her I said that), so between her and the Pony Club, I learnt tons and tons about caring for my pony. It’s not all about the rosettes – luckily for me – riding and owning horses teaches kids about responsibility, putting the animal before your own desire for a can of Coke and a cheeseburger.

I wish I could say that was my moan over, but believe me, I’ve only just begun!

Stroppy kids I can cope with. They’re annoying and depressing, but you can hope they’ll grow out of it. Stroppy adults, however, are a different kettle of fish. I was asked to judge at the Equi-Fun show at Plumpton last weekend, and I agreed, even though it would take up most of my Sunday and is obviously unpaid. but when I think of all the judges and stewards and other volunteers who have contributed to my riding career, it seemed like a small way of giving something back. So I rolled up at Plumpton to judge everything from Prettiest Mare to Best Veteran, culminating with the Championship at the end. It was a long day, but very enjoyable. The competitors all looked very nervous, but they had all made a big effort with plaits and tack and all the rest of it. I tried to be as fair as I could, and tried to put the really nervous ones at ease, understanding perfectly how nerves can get in the way big time when you’re in a class.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the day, a rider in the Mountain & Moorland came very close to ruining the whole experience for me. I placed her 5th out of 6, so not a great result, but not the end of the world. As I approached her to say well done and present her with a rosette, she demanded to know why I had placed her so far down the order. She was about 5’6″ and, without being impolite, a plus size rider, on an 11.2hh Welsh Section A. He had a huge crest, and when he was being ridden, he looked like he was about to take off. He was visually an impressive looking pony, but he didn’t go in a way that I felt to be proper. I don’t care how flashy a pony is, if that flashiness looks to be close to out of control, especially in a showing class! I explained that I felt he didn’t fit the bill of a traditional Welsh A, and, more importantly, he didn’t look like a suitable child’s pony. I know a lot of showing people would cry heresy, and say that a big cresty neck is great in a Welshie, but this pony was under saddle, not in hand, and looked like he needed a big strong adult to handle him. The point of a Welsh A is to be a child’s pony. Plus, she had obviously decided that she had  what she believed to the the blueprint of a breed, so it wouldn’t matter how it went. That, in my book, is pot hunting, and as someone who was brought up on “Jill books”, I consider that to be a hanging offence! Additionally, regardless of how wrong this girl thought I was, it is incredibly bad form to argue with a judge, especially when you’re still in the ring, presenting rosettes! By all means pull the judge aside afterwards and (politely) ask her to explain her judgement, but don’t throw a strop IN the class and then stomp out before the rosettes have been given out!! I was shocked by how rude she was, as was the photographer who had overheard the exchange. I had given up my Sunday to help out, and she was unforgivably rude to me. It will definitely make me think twice before I help out again, and that’s a shame, because volunteers are often pretty thin on the ground.

Alright, I think that’s my grumble over. My fingers are exhausted!

(On the plus side, the little girl who won the Championship Class at the end was absolutely thrilled, and her mother came up to me afterwards and explained that she had had a bad fall a few weeks previously and had been very nervous about competing, so she was an even worthier winner for riding so nicely despite her nerves. Interestingly, she was wearing a Pony Club tie and badge… Just saying.)

July 21, 2011

Another busy week at Dragonfly Saddlery & Pets! No ambulances were involved this time – phew.

Easily the most important bit of news is that Blue is in fact capable of cantering on both reins perfectly easily.  He huffed and puffed and threatened to complain to his Union but he did it We were concerned that he had been born without the canter gene – even when he’s larking about in the field he tends to stay in trot while everyone else is galloping around (and past) him. He has a lovely trot, make no mistake, but he finds jumping quite hard work, so I think establishing a decent canter will help his technique, and of course, it means we can move past the “Walk & Trot” stage when we go to some dressage competitions!!

Scarlet has been…..mediocre this week. Spooky to hack, fidgety in the yard, resistant in the school. I think we’ve both lost a bit of our joie de vivre since Hickstead- obviously she is still wracked with guilt, quite right, which is affecting her ability to be a nice horse, while I’m still cross with her and am inclined to be irritated by her fear of pretty much everything, rather than sympathetic.  We had a jumping lesson last week – after nearly ninety minutes of pure effort on my part we managed to canter down a grid of three fences, approx. 2ft in height. Boom. Well done Scarlet, my prospective EVENT HORSE. Even at the end she was still pretending to be frightened of the blue poles. The red and green were fine apparently. Green poles were frightening the week before, keep up!

Our Pony Club Afternoon was yesterday, and we raised a lot of money for our chosen local charity, Safe Haven for Donkeys in the Holy Land. Thanks again to everyone who supported it, especially our very generous suppliers! Raffle winners will be notified shortly…

This rain looks set to last until June 2014, so we’ve stocked up on the lovely Le Chameau wellies and Musto waterproof jackets. Make sure you do too!! http://www.dragonflysaddlery.co.uk/searchresult.asp

I went to Borde Hill last weekend to watch the Riding Club ODE and support our sponsored rider, Lisa Pilbeam (www.lisapilbeam.com) and she did not disappoint! An individual win on Beau and a 4th placing with Tango, plus a team qualification for Nationals next month is not a bad day by anyone’s standards. I saw her go XC on Beau and she scorched round – I literally took a photo of them jumping fence one, turned round to shout at the dog for begging off a stranger and suddenly she was whooshing through the finish! I must have been bawling at the dog for longer than I realised. Anyway, it was great to see her in action, with the horses togged out in their brand new Prolite Event boots! Lisa says she loves these boots, because they protect the horses’ legs and the velcro is so strong she doesn’t need to tape them up to go XC, even though they go splashing through water and all sorts. Even better, when they do splash through water, they don’t become waterlogged, so they don’t get heavy and slip down the leg. http://bit.ly/mUZ9M9

Couple of photos of Lisa and her charges looking pretty snazzy in their Griffin NuuMed saddlecloths:

Flying over the show jumps at Borde Hill

It’s nearly home time. I have to go and ride the horror. I’ve eaten too many chocolate biscuits (the fancy caramel digestives – they were on offer, what’s a girl to do?!) and I’m not sure I can squeeze into my Ruggeds, but she had a day off yesterday so I’ll just have to suck it up. If she does one of her dramatic spooks I think I might see those biscuits again…

Disgraceful dressage and Pony Club prizes July 12, 2011

Apologies once again for the delayed post – it’s taken me  nearly a week to recover from events at Hickstead…

Wednesday morning: I roll up to the yard, drag Scarlet in from the field and give her some breakfast and a pep talk. Scrubbed her legs (turning green socks white again), washed her revolting tail (covered in grass rich poo) and plaited her mane (prior to plaiting she was sporting a Michael Jackson ‘fro circa 1970). I’d cleaned my tack the night before, polished my Richmonds and found a hairnet that didn’t resemble a haynet. We even left pretty much on time. All in all, things were going WELL.  Scarlet dallied on the ramp of the trailer, but a couple of apples enticed her in, and off we went.

Despite the fact that Hickstead is a mere ten minutes down the road, Scarlet had obviously encountered many horrors in that time, as she was drenched in sweat when we arrived. I assume there was a tiger in the trailer, or maybe she’d been doing some intense dance routines while in transit. She exploded out of the trailer, as per usual, and we spent a good twenty minutes dancing round the car park before we managed to wrestle her into her saddle and bridle. (During this time she clonked Mum on the head with her chin and caught me on my lip with a bit ring – yes, she drew blood.) Other horses were quietly grazing while tied up to their horseboxes while their riders cast nervous glances at us tripping the light fantastic, clearly worried that whatever the hell was wrong with Scarlet might be contagious. The tack battle over – with only  minor injuries – we then faced the far more serious problem of uniting horse and rider. I’m small and not very stretchy, so getting on from the ground isn’t an option for me, plus when my instructor attempted this, Scarlet shot sideways and burst into tears. Probably. Being so excited meant that she wouldn’t stand still for me to use a mounting block, while a leg up was impossible with only one helper – Mum can’t leg me up and keep the beast under control at the same time. One of her failings, I guess. So I, very optimistically, sallied forth and seized an innocent bystander, ignoring his protestations that he wasn’t horsey and was only there to call a test. He looked very wary of young Scarlet, who was basically turning somersaults by this point, but agreed to leg me up while Mum hung on to the mad creature.  Unfortunately, this chap gave me a rather half hearted leg up, so I only got halfway up the horse. He then helpfully gave me another shunt, most unexpectedly, and I crash landed on Scarlet. Ordinarily this would be fine, I’ve done it before, and I can regain my balance and gather up my reins before she disappears over the hills. However, this time Scarlet, the little angel, had other ideas. No sooner had my backside made contact with the saddle than she leapt forward and then put in a HUGE buck. As I had plaited her mane and merrily decided to leave the neckstrap off, I had nothing to hold on to, so I went sailing past her head and hit the ground. Hard. Two ambulances and 4 paramedics later I was declared to be alive and well, with just a “bruised posterior” (I maintain that it was my lower back, but whatever.) Oh, and a banging headache. By this point I had missed both of my tests and was close to meltdown. Mum slapped a lunge line on the beast and lunged her for about 20 minutes, while I hobbled back to the car and sat there clutching my poor head. Scarlet knew she’d been bad, because she was as good as gold to lunge, brightly offering correct canter strike offs every time. Cow. She then stood like a little lamb while I gingerly climbed onto the mounting block and slowly hauled myself on board. Off we jogged to the warm up, and bounced around for about half an hour, before we were told we could be squeezed into the two classes at the end. Due to the bang to the head I had received, Mum called the first test for me, but what with the headache, the howling wind and the ludicrous horse, I managed to go wrong twice. The second test I managed to remember, but Scarlet went like a beach donkey, spooking at flowers and flag poles and gawping at the horses outside the arena. Despite this, we managed 9th place, out of about 15. So presumably the other 6 horses had done something really bad, like punched the judge in the face, or something.

Apart from this public disgrace, Scarlet has actually been very good. She loves hacking out and is schooling well at home. She’s being an excellent nanny to Blue out hacking, leading him past terrifying sights like prams and cows and all sorts. She has to keep stopping to wait for him, and turns her head towards him in an inquisitive fashion, wondering why this 13.2hh cob can’t keep up with her. She jogs through fields and scrambles up and down banks, and he troops after her, thrilled to be out with such a beautiful lady horse. We’re very proud of them both. Unfortunately I didn’t buy Scarlet with the intention of being a happy hacker…

At the moment in the shop we’re experiencing a rush on Magic bits and Eldonian American gags. No idea why. We’re getting things ready for our Pony Club Afternoon on July 20th, with lots of fab prizes for the raffle – Mountain Horse have donated a Grace Jacket, Tagg have donated a Polly hat, Tuffa have given a £50 voucher, Just Chaps are giving a pair of half chaps, and Charles Owen are donating a hat of the winner’s choice, to name a few, not to mention the gifts we’re giving away in our goody bags. We’re doing free hat and body protector checks to make sure you’re up to standard and tack checks and repairs to make sure you pass the stringent Pony Club inspections. The proceeds from the raffle go to a fantastic cause – Safe Haven for the Donkeys in the Holy Land. Please show your support!