Just Keeps Coming Back

Long time no see right? My last post was all the way back in 2014 wishing you all a happy Halloween which I hope you had. Now I’m back with Christmas looming just around the corner let’s hope it’s a good one for all, but back on track now, it’s been fun looking back through my blog and seeing how my point of view has changed so drastically on some subject and stayed so true to others but that’s part of the reason I wanted to start a blog so that in years to come I could look back on it and see all the good and the bad times I’ve had with our equines, so without further ado on with the blogging!

As you can see we’re all muddy and the winter plod of horse ownership is in full swing. For anyone wondering that has forgotten our little herds names or simply for my newer viewers the little chap at the very top of the post is Murphy our Welsh section C and the big bay fella above this text is Niko my Thoroughbred gelding that I believe stands at around 16.2hh I should probably re-measure the old boy. Our herd is still fully intact but I currently don’t have any photos of the others floating around to use in this post.

  

Here’s a pic of Murphy going shopping in our farmshop to make up for no photographs of the others and to think people complain about not being able to load their horses and ponies into a trailer, be patient put the time in and your beloved equine will follow you anywhere.

Trusting that I can find the time I’ll be doing a few blog posts during the run up to christmas and onwards into 2016 and beyond.

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.

   
             

A Much Needed Update

It's been a long time since my last post so a fair bit has been going on. To start with a lovely lady, whose name will not be mentioned, has allowed me to ride in her field, so Niko has some room to blow off steam and have fun. The ponies have been down too and they enjoyed themselves so that's been nice.

Oh and the circus came and set up in her field so that was nice because we got to meet the two horses that worked in it, they were both beautifully kept and they are Andalusians too which brings me on to my next piece of news.  
  

And here he is. I have had the pleasure of working with this fine chap, he is a 8 year old Andalusian gelding. I've been working with his buddy too, but I haven't got a photo of him, he is a Andalusian stallion. They are both great fun to work with and be around. The person that owns them is teaching me to ride and work on the ground with the horses in a classical way so it's very interesting and hard too, really hard. It's helping me with our horses too as I can apply all the things that I learn with the Andalusians to them.
  

But for now I am not getting to do anything with our horses as it is too wet, cold and muddy to ride so I am rather bummed out about that, but at least I got to put a funny hat on Murphy. Also our laptop died due to my dear brother spilling his breakfast cereal and milk all over it :( so I've lost my huge stash of horsey photos. I don't really want to go uploading all the new ones I take to the laptop I am using now as it kinda looks like it might break if you breath on it too heavily.
      

Still all in all things are pretty good with me, I hope you are all doing well and having lots of fun with your horses or whatever it may be that you have been focusing on.

Just an Update

  
All the snow here has melted and we’ve had a few day of dry weather so everywhere has dried out nicely, the horses are still enjoying their holiday and will probably do so for quite a lot longer, we had a spot of rain today but nothing too bad.

Also we found this sometime ago in our haylage, a golf ball, still I have heard that someone once got a pair of antlers in their haylage. Our recent haylage has been very dry almost like hay, so despite the fact that we are feeding the right amount of food for our horses, they are off work, they are getting two feeds a day, and the weather is very mild they aren’t even fat! And while I don’t really want them fat I would expect them to be and I am worried that Niko will get skinny when I start working him again.

  
Here’s an old shot of Murphy. I’ve been thinking about him and a show, I’m pretty sure that if we do ever go to a show that I want to show him in an in hand bridle because he gets very fast and it is easy to slow a horse/pony evenly in a bridle where as in a halter he often turns in on me when I try to slow him. Don’t know if any of that made sense.

I’ve also been thinking about Tipper’s coat, when I first bought him his coat was horrible with many bald patches and scars, now that we’ve had him sometime it has improved greatly, but it still is a bit patchy and it’s not as full and smooth as the others, which annoys me. So do any of you have some advise on getting his coat right?

Anyway as you can probably guess from all the rambling in my post there’s not a heck of a lot going on right now. Now before I go I’d like to say hello and thanks for following to my newest follower, also apologies to my fellow bloggers for the lack of comments I have been leaving. I do still read your blogs but it’s hard to find the time to read and comment on so many blogs, so a very big thanks to my commenters for finding the time :)

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.

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.

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.