Back In the Orchard

So here we are back in an orchard just like we'd never left, still on the plus side lots has changed like Pippin our dear Gypsy Vanner has finally been gelded. It was hard getting his owner to agree and pay to have him gelded but this summer he started to become very aggressive towards the other male equines, so his owner caved in the end, although Pippin is still chasing the other horses he isn't nearly as aggressive and I hope that given time he will calm down.

On another note my riding has been going very nicely this summer and Niko is working beautifully for me, above is a photo of him standing rather well for me in his new padded bridle. We've also found a great place to hack so I can try to keep things more interesting for Niko by going on hacks with him every now and then. He really is in good form this summer, I think it might be time to have a few more lessons, to help us both with some lateral movements that I am sure Niko would benefit greatly from performing.

Although these photos aren't of my most recent ride which was actually today they do let you see how his head carriage is coming along nicely and is becoming more consistent, after just a little bit of warm up he is getting very comfortable and going forward onto the bit for me.

And here is Niko above going forward onto the bit for me, you might just be able to see from the way my hand is actually slightly open on the rein how he is on a very soft contact at this point, normally I like to think I have good hands and it's important to remember to be soft with your hands when he is soft. It's nice to see him salivating a bit to.

Here we are again, I think this shot shows Niko off quite well, he is a little skinnier than I'd like but it seems to be a never ending battle to keep the weight on him, still he is 16 now which I believe makes him a veteran. We've got Tipper and Niko some Dodson & Horrell build up cubes which have been helping with the weight a bit. Just as well they aren't competing isn't it after Dodson & Horrell's muck up that I'm sure most of you horsey folks have heard of.

 

One last photo of Niko and I, well a bit of me anyway, as you can see reasonably clearly from this shot Niko is a little below/behind the vertical normally a bad thing, but to be honest it shouldn't really be of concern during schooling like this so long as you have sympathetic hands and aren't putting too much pressure on the horse in anyway, remember going below the vertical is still a form of stretch for a horse and although you shouldn't ask your horse to do this sometimes horses prefer to stretch more below the vertical than they do outwards, this said Niko isn't really stretching here he just sometimes slips below the vertical

 

These next two photos I wasn't sure about posting but in the end decided it would be nice to have a record of this on my blog. So here is Murphy and I, we've just started to do work under saddle and I'm really rather happy with him, he can be very cheeky but overall he is a good lad. Due to Murphy's small size I don't feel that I can ride him for long and of course never at a show, but I am still capable of  beginning his work under saddle and hopefully getting him off to a good start.

You can see here that I'm slightly uneven this is because I'm trying to give Murphy all the aids in as clear a way as I can so I am perhaps over doing it a little with my seat aids here by leaning to one side slightly. Also see how light I'm being with his reins, this is to let him get used to and comfortable with the bit, at this point in his training I won't ask him for a true contact.

And the very last photo of us, I'm riding without stirrups, due to the size of the saddle and length of my legs the stirrup leathers restricted my legs and made it hard to give good clear aids to such a small pony like Murphy, at this point I feel that very few but very precise aids with the legs will help Murphy to understand.

I just have to try and remember it's not about how good I look on him it's just important that he understands. Well that's it from me today, as always I hope your all having a great time with your equines.

It Flooded

After a very long break from blogger I have returned to bring you all adorable photos of ponies and horses, and also to fill you in on what has happened during my absences on blogger. So let's start with the riverbank as it was the last place you all saw the equines. I didn't like the land owner and it wasn't really suitable for horses but to be honest I was pretty much forced into it, so what happened? I think you can guess it's a riverbank, it flooded, of course it had to flood at night while all the horses and ponies were boxed.

    

All the paddocks on the riverbank are in a straight line leading down to the stables, because of the very bad set up we had to walk through or drive through these paddocks just to get down to the horses everyday. So anyways we got a phone call telling us that the riverbank was flooding and we might want to check on the horses, when we turned up the first paddock was flooding rather fast, so I started walking down to get Niko and my mother went to see if she could get the key to open the big gate that was closer to the stables than the gate I had come in from. By the time I finally got to the stables the water was a little lower than my chest, so understandably the horses were getting quite upset in their boxes, but seeing how high the water was getting I couldn't let them out or they might have ended up in the river at night, which would have ended in tragedy I'm sure.

So I head collared Niko and got him out of his box, when he was out of his box he was as good as gold walking through the flood waters, we made it to the big gate with little trouble, unfortunately the chap that had the key for the big gate had left, I might add that he left knowing full well that the riverbank was flooding and that we would need to get our horses off, so there I was stuck behind a really big gate holding Niko while the riverbank flooded. Yay! ain't horse ownership grand.

So off my mother went to find the guy or something like that, after what seemed like an age of standing in flood water during the middle of the night talking to Niko she finally got back, about time too, one of my brothers and the guy with the key were with her so they got the gate open and my mother took Niko for me.

     

Then my brother and I went down the road that runs next to the riverbank till we got on the part of the road just above the stables, I told him to stay up on the road as he is not horsey and wouldn't be able to help me with them, when I came to the boxes I checked to see how everyone was doing luckily the stable doors were keeping lots of the water out, so it wasn't as high in the boxes, however Tipper was getting very upset at this point so I decided to take him next. Looking back maybe not my best idea. He came charging out of his box and nearly knocked me over, then as we left the paddock with the stables in it he went kinda crazy bucking and did knock me over, being knocked into dirty flood water by a crazy TB is perhaps the least fun thing I have done and I will definitely avoid it happening again. Luckily I did keep hold of him and got up, then Tipper decided he wasn't going to leave the paddock from either of the two gateways and in the end we had to climb up onto the road through barbed-wire, fortunately my brother helped hold the wire out of the way.

So we made it out with Tipper but by this time I was freezing cold and looking like a drowned rat I'm sure, honestly I didn't think I'd be able to get the others out by myself, so much to my shame we had to get the fire brigade in and after many more hours of being wet and cold all the horses were out and safe.  

 

We had the help of friends and other horsey people to move our five equines onto a new bit of land that they overwintered on, sadly with no boxes but they all came through winter in good condition. Then the time came to move them off of our friends land, luckily we were able to rent an orchard just across the road from the orchard they had been living in before we had to move them to the riverbank, now all is going well and everyone is happily enjoying summer.

All the photos that have been used in this post are of the equines in their new home. I still have a bit more to tell you all about what's been happening while I've been away from blogger but as I've rambled on for so long about the flood I think I'll save it for another post.  

I hope you're all well and that you and your equines are all enjoying summer.

Equine Photos

Recently we've been looking for somewhere new for the horses to live, we've been to see a few places, but we aren't sure if we'll move to any of them yet, and also there has been some trouble with haylage because a lot of it has been moldy, so that's my excuse for the most recent blog neglect not great I know.

Now onto a different note here are some photos I edited.

I did this one first. I was just playing around but I was advised to blog it, I thought that if I was going to blog it I should do one for all our equines.

I did this one for Niko, I was planning on giving him a military feel to his photo but after awhile it ended up with this old film look, which I think rather suits him.

This one I messed about with a lot and got this which I see as a kind of magic dark fairytale look, and yes that was probably a very bad description of this photos theme.

When I did Pippin's photo I wanted him to have something cool, but couldn't find anything I was happy with in the end I did this, and although it's not what I was looking for I do think all four Pips look very cool.

And finally we have Madeline's photo it's very bright and colorful with the rainbow effect, I know but I think it looks ok.

Well that's it for now I hope you liked the photos and if you had a favorite I'd love to hear it. More posts on the way very soon.

Hey I'm Back

Hello everybody it's been quite sometime since my last post, but I find myself looking back through my blog and feeling that I should continue it, so here I am. 

It's probably best if I start with a report on how all our equines are doing, this was going to be the bit were I go into great depth about how they are all doing but to be honest they are nearly always doing the same, they are happy, not working much, eating lots, and generally living the life of Riley.

And here are some shots of them all just so you can hopefully get used to seeing their lovable little faces again.

Here are some reminders of who they are just in case you are new to the blog or honestly just forgot about them.

Above is No Keep, his stable name is Niko but I have a tendency to swap between Booboo and Niko, he does most of the work out of our equines.

Above is Madeline Araxie, stable name well it kind of changes a lot but mostly just Mady she is the only mare in the herd and obviously the boss of the herd too, she doesn't do much work but she helps keep everybody in line.

This is Bold Hawk, stable name Tipper he's a lovely chap not a lot of use yet but he seems to be enjoying his relaxed lifestyle with us, and who knows he may find himself with a job to do soon.

This is Murphy Junior, seen on the left, stable name Murphy he is full of mischief and energy which makes him rather good fun to be around, I am currently hoping to do horse agility with him he's pretty good at what he's done so far.

And this is Bayfields Pippin Lord Derby, and yes I know big name for such a small pony, we normally just call him Pip. He is the only male horse that is still entire in the herd, I did want to have him gelded but that hasn't worked out just yet, still he is mostly a perfect little gentleman with me so I guess I can't ask for more than that.

So there you go that's the lot of our herd big and small I'll be doing a new post soon with more of a subject other than hey I'm back.

Well I hope you have all been happy and healthy in my absence, if I get the time I'll try to stop by your blogs and see what you've been up too.

Not Much To Say

I haven't got a lot to say just a small report on whats going on.

It's starting to dry up, oh so slowly, so if the rain can hold off I'll finally get some riding in.

Also I realized that I didn't actually tell you guys how our equines are getting on so I will now, for the most part they are doing well. Madeline has perhaps a bit too much energy because they are staying in over night at the moment, Pip is well and still hasn't been gelded and now I am starting to wonder if he's ever going to get gelded but on the plus side he is so well behaved that he is really no problem, Murphy is good as ever and was working on bowing for me but now it's so muddy that's on standby, Tipper is really good and he has filled out so much since I got him, and of course Niko is his normal well behaved, calm self, I did get him to bow as well as Murphy which was nice because he is a full sized horse rather than a very little pony.

Oh and I have joined Facebook and have a fan page for my blog so if you happen to be a fan of my blog and have Facebook please go ahead and like the page, also feel free to add me as a friend If you want.

And finally just before I go I'd like to say thanks to you all for sticking around despite my long absence from blogger, and hello to my new follower thanks for following hope you enjoy the blog.

   
             

Snowy Days

As you can see it snowed and the whole orchard has got a good covering. I had hoped that it wouldn’t snow because the other times it has snowed since we had horses it has been horrible and has made looking after the equines very difficult, but thanks to having better facilities and by better facilities I mean a tap that doesn’t freeze, it’s been quite good fun.

This was our ride for the day down to the stables, it’s a Land Rover Defender 110 County TDI, and it is my father’s. We arrived with the feed already mixed so all the equines got a morning feed.

I try to give the horses and ponies as much turnout as I can and so they all went out in the snow, but before they got to their paddock they all had a play in the snow, here are a few photos.

Tipper rolling in the snow.

Niko heading off to explore the new snow covered surroundings.

Murphy going for a run in the snow.

Pip shaking himself down after a roll in the snow.

Here’s one of Madeline in the paddock, blowing off some steam. So as you can see they all had a lot of fun in the snow.

And finally to end the post my snow man of sorts, he is really rather dirty because all the snow came from our muddy paddock, he is possibly the ugliest snow man I have seen but it was fun making him.

I hope if any of you have snow fall you are enjoying it.

Now just before I go, hello and welcome to my newest follower and thanks for following.

The Horrors of the Moustache

 Just a few photos today, but they really make me glad not all our equines have moustaches

 

 

Here’s Pip he looks quite sweet here, he’s just had a morning feed before he goes out with the others.

  
But the bad news is he saves some for later. Now I think we can all agree this is just unpleasant.

Anyway I will leave you with a far cuter photo here, it is Pip before he had grown his moustache as you can also see he’s younger.

Now before I go I’d like to say hello and thanks for following to my newer followers.

In The Orchard

Now that we have portable electric fencing we can move the horses just about anywhere and as they have now grazed all the land where the trees were removed we decided do some pruning to make room for the horses to graze between the trees. Here’s little Murphy enjoying the new grazing.

  
And Niko too but he is more interested in treats at the moment. It’s still too wet here to be riding so he’s just having a long break from work, but I am sure it’ll do him good to have time off, he normally gets a long break every winter.

  
Pip looking very sweet and innocent, but don’t be fooled he is a little monster at the moment. He is still a colt so is starting to get a bit full of himself, so I’ve started to try and get him to behave himself a bit better. He has the annoying habit of lashing out with his front leg if he is made to wait and he ended up smacking me in the knee today, but afterwards I made him walk and trot about with me and stand to wait a bit as well and he was really good, so I was quite happy with him.

 

Here’s Tipper looking quite the fool with a weed hanging from his forelock, he’s muddy but happy. He to isn’t doing anything because of the wet, but I have taken to putting a bridle on him to take him out and in as he hasn’t been very good about having one on the few times I have put one on him. By putting the bridle on to take him in and out it shows him it is not just for work and can be a nice experience for him, he happens to get a bucket of feed when he comes in ;)

And finally last but by no means least Madeline who is loving the trees as they make for very good bum scratcher, quite a disapproving look on her face in this photo, but it’s the only one that is any good out of the photos I took. Lots of thought going into Madeline right now with regards to her future work.

It always amazes me how I can write so much about so little, anyway that’s about all from me now.

The Little Things

 

Today’s post is just a lot of different stuff that wasn’t really enough to make into posts of their own so I’ve put it all in just the one post.

So to start with the weather has turned pretty nasty, in the above photograph you can see what I pulled out of a water bucket the other day, luckily it’s warmed up a bit since then and now it’s just rain, rain, and more rain.

 

Due to all the rain there’s lots of mud and our feed supplier almost got stuck. We now know why it is as bad as it is, the ground is well less than ideal, because it has only a small amount of earth on top of heavy blue clay so the water has no where to drain away to.

  
Here’s Tipper trying on a new bridle I bought, it was meant to be a full size but it is in fact Pony sized, it only fits Pip which is a bit of a annoyance considering it isn’t the correct style for Pip’s breed, but I am still happy with it because I really rather like rolled leather.

I’ve had to take a break from riding because of the ground being so slippery. In other news I took Niko’s stable rug off to put on his turn out, and was pleased to see his weight. I fuss over the horses and ponies weight non stop, I am always checking them over, manually as we do not have anywhere to weigh them, and we don’t use tape. But anyway back to the point about Niko, I was really happy as he looked just about perfect to me, obviously he has been out of work for a while so he hasn’t got enough muscle but he is still looking good.

Anyways that’s all from me now.

Pony Power

 

After writing my last post about Pip’s feathers I realized that I still had a lot to drone on about with regards to the ponies. Here’s little Pip, check out the moustache, he’s got a pretty big one now it used to be more like Murphy’s one but is now far more impressive.

  
The ponies share a box as they are both very small and the boxes were made with Niko and Madeline in mind, Murphy and Pip both stand at around 12 hands high, Murphy is about 12 1 and Pip is about 12 2. I am not confirming their sizes because  I used a hands tape measure and we don’t have a concrete pad for them to stand on so the measurement cannot be precise.

  
Here’s their bed, it is dust extracted wood shavings that also happen to be scented :) it’s a lovely smell when a new bag is first opened, we use wood shavings for the ponies because they will happily eat straw beds, while I do expect any equine to eat some of its bed Murphy takes it a little too far.

  
This is Murphy with his morning hair, which means bad. Murphy gets on pretty well with Pip in general and they are play buddies, but.

  
As you can see Murphy can be a little bit destructive, I was not too shocked to see he was able to kick though the kick board, considering they are made of sterling board , but having said that he has kicked me and others a few times and it hasn’t even left a bruise, I guess he pulls his kicks with us.

So that’s the ponies and their box it’s all worked out nicely as Pip wasn’t very happy with being in a box, but now he gets to be in with he’s good friend Murphy  Pip has now become very settled in a box.