Back On Blogger

Hello everyone as some of you may have noticed I have been off Blogger for sometime, in that time I’ve had my 18th birthday and been doing I lot of riding. Anyway on to the blogging but one more thing I’d like to say thanks to Abby for the happy birthday comment.


So here is the post I said I was going to do about my riding and Niko and I. Here’s a photo that was taken just earlier today, as normal I have a odd look on my face but I am really not bothered about that, as you may be able to see I am not wearing spurs, to me he looks like he is going quite well and just as well as he goes when I am wearing spurs.

I haven’t really got any good photos of me riding him in spurs for you to compare with the photos of me without spurs, but enough about the spurs. I’ve found I am having trouble with my legs so I have a question for any of you horsey experts out there, how do I keep my legs wrapped around the horse and my toes in, anyone got some tips?

Now that’s quite enough of my whingeing I could go on for days, but all in all I guess my riding has improved and Niko is going really well for me. I am so pleased with him. Niko is slowly starting to get a bit more of a shape to him with all the work he has been doing in a good outline, he still has a lot to build up. Also it may not seem like it but his mane has grown quite a lot too which I am happy about, I would like to let it grow long and then I’ll decide if I am going to do something with it after winter.

Well I think that’s plenty of rambling for one day I hope to be doing some more blogging soon and hopefully my posts will be a bit more organized.

These Boots Are Made for Walking, Riding, and Maybe Sometimes Running

Sometime ago I bought a pair of second-hand Tredstep gaiters, and today my jodhpur boots arrived, they are not Tredstep. Anyways here are my new foot/leg wear I know that to many of you it probably looks a bit tatty but it was cheap and I prefer this to my old riding boots.

The boots are just standard jodhpur boots, they are very comfy but they do have grippy treads, which I have been advised against because they can stick in the stirrup iron and you’ll be pulled along with your horse. Still the other pair were out of stock so I just went with these, and at the moment I am not really going to fall off doing what I am doing. I think if I was to go cross-country I might have to worry. Well I am happy with the boots anyway.

In other news Tipper’s still sound from the walk work I have been doing with him, he’s still not ready to go up a pace but it’s coming along nicely.

I’ve also been trying to get Murphy’s mane to stay on the right side, it really, really doesn’t want to, I tried plaiting it and leaving it for a few days but when I un-plaited it soon went back to the wrong side.

And I am going to have a lesson tomorrow so let’s hope that all goes well. Now I must be off to clean my tack, I'll try to catch up with your blogs over the next few days and reply to your comments.

My Riding

So here’s the post I said I was going to do about my riding. It all seems to be going very well, but I have concerns. I am concerned about the use of spurs, my instructor has me ride with impulsion spurs. I don’t mind the use of spurs as long as they are being used in the right way, they aren’t there for someone that can’t ride properly to bully the horse into doing as they wish, so I am left wondering should I be using spurs, but anyway enough about the spurs.

As you can see from the photos he is going rather nicely for me and I am delighted with him, remember to look at the horse not the ugly mug on top, I think he’s looking more round as well so that’s good. My instructor says his trot is great so I was pleased with that, I do love to trot but must remember to do lots of walk too. My instructor was trying to explain how to do a leg-yield today they decided to show me so hopped on Niko to do a leg-yeld but sadly he threw a paddy so they decided not to stress the matter and go on to different work. They said that someone else has probably tried leg-yeld with him before but not done it right, so it might take a bit to get him leg-yelding nicely.

All in all I am having a great time riding and I am really enjoying my lessons, but I do just worry a little about the spurs, the rest is going great and I couldn’t be happier. If any of you have an opinion on the spurs please feel free to comment it.

I Have Returned

Hello to all my fellow Bloggers and viewers, first off a very big thank you to all my commenters and thanks for all the advise. Also to put your minds' at rest I have been quite well thank you, the reason for my absence was simply I was distracted by other matters. I have been on blogger and I have been reading some of your posts but did not find the time to comment sorry, must try harder.

Right so lots has been going on, mostly riding. This photo is of Niko and for those of you that don’t know he is on the bit. For those of you that do know and think it looks a bit messy, I am aware, my instructor says we might need to use a flash just to stop Niko’s bottom jaw from flapping, not to hold his mouth closed. Oh and those are my hands holding the reins, so I am very happy that I finally got him on the bit.

Also Madeline has had a bit of schooling with my riding instructor, Madeline tried really hard to do the what she was asked and did really quite well. My instructor says Madeline is very unbalanced and needs lots of work in walk and very slowly build her up to rising trot, my instructor has given me advice on how to go about schooling her.

So everything is going pretty well, thanks again to you all.

The Instructor Meets Niko

Today I’ll be telling you about what’s been going on regarding my riding instructor, but the photos will be of my saddle, with and with out its saddle pad, because my follower allhorsestuff said it would be interesting too many, so none of the photos will be relevant to what I am telling you.

My instructor arrived as planned, first of all they wanted to see me ride Niko in walk trot and canter on both reins, and then jump in trot and canter, so with all that done they were ready to get on and give him a go.

I never really get to see Niko being ridden, so it was really nice to see, at first he was a little bit cheeky and did try to get out of working from behind but only for a little, and then he was good. He really does look stunning when he is on the bit and working nicely, but then he is my horse so I would say that.

I was surprised at how floaty he looked obviously not as floaty as some dressage horses but still a very pretty picture. My instructor really liked him, they said he was responsive and had a lovely mouth, they also said he was quite rusty, understandably with me on him for the past couple of years, but that he could be quite good in sometime.

I rode him after my instructor for a little and they told me more about trying to get him on the bit. Afterwards my instructor took me back to their yard, where I was able to see them getting Spike ready for a one day event that they were going to. I saw them jumping Spike and then bath him and plait him and what sort of products they use.

I got to join in with bathing Spike and I cleaned their dressage bridle while they did the other tack. My instructor also took a look at all of our other equines, and gave us advise on them, which was all very interesting.

So all in all it was a lot of fun, and I like to think I have learnt some useful things, plus this was the first time I have see my instructor ride, so I was happy to see their riding lived up to their qualifications.

And on a completely different subject KK if you are having difficulty finding the right sort of saddle pad you might want to take a look at this blog’s post which is about saddle pads.

Tipper Turnout Rug

Recently I brought a load of new horsey stuff including Tipper’s turnout rug. So I don’t have one horribly long post I am going to have to split up lots of the things I have bought and have been doing into different posts. His new rug is from Rhinegold and I quite like it.

So here it is his new rug, at the moment the rug is cleaner than the horse, the rug is a great fit for Tipper and is a pretty warm rug too, it isn’t as fancy as Niko’s Rhinegold rug but if it gets to cold we can always double rug.

The rug has this great tartan padding on the inside, it is nice and soft and really builds heat always a good thing, the rug doesn’t have the tartan padding at the front so I think that must be to do with preventing rubbing on the shoulders.

The rug also, like most turn out rugs, has a fake sheepskin wither pad with a ring to attach a neck cover, I do have a matching neck cover that is made to go with the rug, complete with tartan padding on the inside, but I haven’t tried it on him yet so have no photos of it, I hope it fits.

I have also had another lesson today we worked on lot of stuff as always but especially improving my turns and working on keeping the horse straighter. Also my instructor will be coming to ride Niko tomorrow, they will ride him for a bit and then they will teach me on him for a bit, it should be interesting and it will be nice to see what dressage Niko can do with a more competent rider on board.

Also blogger isn’t always updating your blogs on my dashboard so sorry to those of you if I keep missing your posts.

All King Edwards Horses Can’t Make Big Fences

Today’s lesson went quite well or at least I think it did but you would have to ask my instructor to know if it really did go well, anyway I had fun. I have mostly been learning the basic stuff the sort of stuff I should have learnt at the riding school I went to but, now I know more about riding it turns out that my old riding instructor didn’t know the first thing about riding or if they did they must have just chosen to not teach it, anyway back to my lesson, I have been working on lots of things like my transitions and getting the horse to work from behind, I also used spurs today I was not exactly skilful with them but I hope that will come with time. All In all it was a lot of fun and I think I have learnt a thing or two, oh and my saddle pad has arrived to day so I will soon be able to try it out.

In other news September is just a few hours away so I thought I would share some of my favourite blogs with any of my viewers that care to take a look, these blogs are all great and are well worth taking a look at and following in the new month.

My Spotty Pony this is a great blog full of interesting posts with beautiful photographs of England and some of its most wonderful estates and lots more.

Little House in Paradise is a lovely blog full of good nice to read posts with some truly wonderful stories, read the one about bees.

All Horse Stuff this blog is a lot of fun and may even teach you a thing about riding it’s a great blog for someone interested in trail riding or just horse stuff.

Please check out these blogs they are all great reads and a lot of fun to follow with nice friendly owners that run their blogs very well. There are so many good blogs out there that obviously I can’t list them all but take a look on my side bar for more good blogs.

A Nice New Rug

Here’s Tipper in his nice new stable rug, when we brought Tipper he didn’t come with any tack or rugs so he has been borrowing spare rugs from the other horses, but now the time has come to start getting him his own rugs, starting with this lovely new rug.

I still need to get him a turn out rug of his own, I have seen one I want but I just need to get around to ordering it. I was really happy with this winter stable rug as it is suitable for use in the dead of winter, meaning it’s very warm, most rugs like this are very expensive, but we got this one for a very low price indeed, just one more plus.

In other news I had my lesson as planned, I rode a lovely warm blood called Spike, I had a lot of fun and felt that it had helped a lot, the coach was very nice and helpful, plus they had a microphone so I could hear all they were saying loud and clear, so I was very happy with it all and have booked another one for next week.

Worming Time

Yesterday we wormed all the horses and ponies, here’s Madeline having hers she was ok but didn’t really like the new wormer I think it must have tasted worse than normal as she did try to waste a lot of it.

When we are worming the ponies we have to give them a smaller dose so as not to harm them.

And here is Murphy taking his wormer like a good boy, no fuss from him, but we did have a bit of trouble with Tipper which is why there are no photos. He wasn’t bad it’s just he is scared of syringes, so when he saw the wormer he ran away, but he got over it after a buck and then let me catch him and give him the wormer.

Niko took his wormer very nicely as always and we had no problem with him, he is always happy to stand and let you get on with it.

Here’s another one of Niko taking his wormer, he is showing what a good boy he is and that he has taken all his wormer, well apart from the stuff round his lips but that was soon gone too.

And finally here is little Pip he was so easy to worm and so nice about having it done. All in all it was very successful, Madeline did scrape my hand a little bit which I was slightly worried about at the time. I am not sure why Tipper is scared of syringes probably more mistreatment from his former owners. But he really is starting to trust me which I am very happy about.

Oh and in other goings on I am having a dressage lesson tomorrow, with an instructor I have never had before, and I have not had a lesson in long long time so this should be interesting.