Wet Wet Wet

Just one of those horrible days!

Although there was some excitement when I arrived at the yard - a mouse had attempted to fit through a whole about the size of a grape..hmmm not possible and so had died, eyes open ears pricked I SCREAMED, just to let you know I didn't realise it was dead at first.

On from that, went for a hack today along with Benjamin. Started off alright, but by the end I was cold, wet and fed up, and so was Mayfly as she marched her way home. I must say it was rather nice to be able to do a whole hack with out having to get off to open a gate and been barked at erratically by a dog as a horse style thing has been put in, so things can but improve!
She stayed in today as well, she would have been far from impressed about being put in the field. lol. Instead she was much happier inhaling her haylige!

She has this way of going for a wee as soon as she gets into her stable after being ridden and I am getting rather good at catching in it a bucket so it doesn't ruin her bed! haha how pleasant.

Lazy me should have cleaned my tack today after it being rained and mud splattered but I really wasn't up to it with the cold weather and all. lol

The Dangers of Ride and Lead!

Safety first...

The weather was so dull today I decide to do something different today so I rode Mayfly and led Penny pony, we went on a hack.
Now this isn't the most safest thing to do, but they are both pretty well behaved so there was no serious danger. lol

We set off down the track in trot, unaware of the fact that around the corner was a tree branch so both horses jumped it and then cantered off...I can tell you now that attempting to stay in control of this is far from easy!

Though Mayfly knew that she should not be doing this so she can to an abrupt halt leaving penny cantering on then she got to the end of the rope and went spinning round, quite a funny experience.

On a plus note we managed to get a lovely extended trot going together up the drive, however they got a little carried aways and attempted cantering..on tarmac hmmm I think not!
Also we maneged to be reasonably skilled at gate opening :D


Mayfly got rather angry that she didn't get fed first today, she threw a hissy fit!

- Take a look at the lip

Ha she is so spoilt!

Speedy and SUPER

Gosh I really hate traffic!
Arrived late to the yard today, so I had to be quick...well reasonably quick anyways.

Seeing as Fly was not ridden yesterday she was somewhat "full of herself!"
For the first time in about 7 months Mayfly literally wouldn't stand still in the arena, I thought that I had conquered that! ahhh she is silly. Suppose it just shows how well she is feeling at the moment.
I had to let her canter to relieve her from jogging. lol

However on a brighter note...today Mayfly did the most amazing leg yield, in trot! I was sooo pleased with her. I could really feel her powering her body across the arena from her hind, and she was straight and balanced. I wish I caught it on camera!
Also her sprightliness meant that we could do a beautiful medium trot as well :D

To show her how happy I was with her she got an apple, which went down very well. lol

Jog On! :D

Accomplished rather a lot in today's flat work session :o)
Apart from at the start we walked past the feed rooms and there was rustling of the feed bags which left Mayfly in a huff about missing a chance of food!

Began by attempting to work on our medium trot (gradual lengthening of stride). I can never quite understand Mayfly as she can do a superb extended trot out on a hack but of course in the arena it is a different story...why must she make life so hard?
Then I was rather shocked by her unwilling clear transition to canter from trot! I think that I have been doing to much walk or halt to canter so I spent the rest of the time doing plenty of transitions around the arena which always ends up with Fly anticipating every next move therefore we were jogging around in trot and canter. lol crazy Mare!

She zoomed straight into her stable afterwards without me getting a look in as her food was waiting there for her...this meant she was incredibly unhappy to be dragged out of there for me to un-tack her! :P

Sweaty Bum. lol

The Joys of Bareback!

After taking ages to clean my tack yesterday, I decide that I would not use it today and ruin it. Suppose you could call that laziness but hohum. I haven't ridden bareback in agesss so why not?
I was quite pleased with my balance skills, I was expecting to be all over the place :P

I set up some trotting poles, we went over them so fast thought we were doing two at a time!
Also did some more leg yield as I took advantage of having "long legs" she is getting pretty good at it now...depending on what mood she is in. ha
Then I attempted to ride her sitting sideways with both legs on one side of her, I will tell you now that it is far from easy. lol

By the end of our joyess session I have a very sweaty bum as Mayfly had got rather hot...not nice.
So I got off and did some more ground work practice, getting her to learn respect for me but at the same time want to be with me. I must say she is understanding my madness a lot more now :o)

oooo and when I was taking her boots of she decided to try and fight with Bonnie and having a pulling faces competition, meaning her front legs went flying around. As you can guess I was far from a happy bunny, and there was a rather lot of shouting.
Goshh Moody Mares!

ICE, ahh soo Cold

The first proper Ice.

It brought many problems...
The taps were frozen so we had to wet the feeds from water from the annex - which wasn't too easy.
Couldn't fill waters.
The yard was like an ice rink so couldn't get Mayfly out of the barn!
On a plus we got a new hose today which is very swish and I enjoyed using it once the taps were working.
Due to these problems I spent the morning being rather bored...and it was raining hail just to make the day even better.
I decided to pull Mayfly's main as it was in desperate need, she was not a happy bunny about that :P

The sun eventually came out at about 11:30 so I took Penny in the arena for some fun.

Then the ice on the yard melted so then I took Mayfly into the arena just to stretch her legs as she had not been out (to be quite honest I am sure she didn't want to go out anyway!)

I messed around in the arena with her...bareback with her rugs on as it was still freezing. hehe

Eventually we went for a nice hack along with Benjamin and Bonnie. Was rather wet out so could only walk and trot but was still enjoyable, apart from Mayfly was not happen that she couldn't gallop everywhere, so she kept trying to shoot off...I was a bit stuck with a strong Fly, but I guess I am used to that by now! lol
Unfortunately had to clean my tack when we got back because it was covered in mud. Urg that was boring!

Ohh and discovered a tiny bit of mud fever developing on one of her front leggies so coated that in suda-cream.

Jumping Exercises!

Today we tackled an open cross :o)

I set up a combination of two doubles, with the middle jump an open cross, and the other two as 2ft6 uprights.

We came at each section of the double at angles, and also jumped it as a grid.
It got Mayfly having to use her brain as to begin with she was a little confused!

Kept the jumps small as we did jump twice last weekend, so aimed to just have some fun.
It went well and Fly seemed to be having a great time!

Went for a little hack around the land and up to inspect the new XC area (to be), to finish off.


She is in desperate need of her 3rd clip...looks like a fluff ball again. Grrr it is rather annoying. lol
However it is keeping her warm over these cold nights, tonight is the first night of this winter that she has had three rugs on!

Ouch.. The Pain

Rode Stirrupless today!

Ok it really isn't that painful...I am just being a drama queen. lol
Did my balance some good though.
It also got Mayfly really listening to me, and we were do leg yield beautifully as my legs were free and longer so I had better control, and a schooling whip for once which makes a big difference!

So..there were a crazy number of poles around the arena today, I decide to take advantage of this. We were doing some superb canter transitions from walk as we went over the pole. Mayfly was perfect at it, she amazed me :o)

Got a surprise of my life at one point, nearly went over here head.
We were cantering along and I slightly mentioned the word "woaa" thinking it would take a good few strides and some half halts to return her to walk, but I was wrong. She came to a complete, dead, halt immediately! Was a big shock. ha.

Also did some ground work again at the end of the session, she is getting pretty good at the whole thing now. Hopefully I am not some crazy freak to her anymore. lol.

Overall she was in a very "cute" mood today, which is what I like! hehe

Lateral Work...

I realised that I haven't done any proper lateral work in the arena for quite a while...So that is what I did with Fly today.

She was a good girl, worked at a good pace and was listening to me well today too.

I began by doing some balance work, which was mainly just fun!
I half dismounted while Mayfly was still walking so I had one foot in the stirrup and were hovering in the air to one side of her I then got her moving a little faster, lent forward, and swung myself back into the saddle. I will just say that it is harder than it sounds :P

We did some counter canter, which is a new thing for us. Mayfly found it quite hard to start with, but began to understand it after a while. I need to help her to keep and outside bend, as then she will find it a little easier...but it was only my first go at it.

We also practiced our leg yield. We have stepped back to doing it in walk now, and aiming on keeping he straight and balanced, instead of trotting and ending up with her running through her should.
I must say that she is improving, gets a little frustrated at herself at times though! lol
Silly Marey...

Synchronised Riding :D

A lovely friend of mine came today to ride Penny... So there were two of us.

What better to do on a dark cold evening than synchronised riding!

It was a great laugh :D

We made up a little routine and practiced it.

Was a tad hard, as obviously Mayfly is twice the size as Penny, so to every one of Mayfly's stride Penny had to do two! Bless.

Fly had great fun and she was anticipating the trasitions, she learnt the routine before I had (she is very skilled at that, it is the same for Dressage tests too which is a bonus!)

Overall it was a great success, and we maneged not to collide with each other and stayed pretty damn synchronised! hehe

Rode for a little longer today so Fly was a little later than the others to get dinner so she was NOT happy, just to take her anger and fustration out on me she pulled on her rope and managed to give me rope burn on my ear (don't ask how) which I can tell you is rather painfull. lol She is such a greedy guts!

The Best Yet!!

Things could not be better, Mayfly is feeling great a the moment, and it is really showing!

Due to Bonnie's leg flaring up this morning and be unable to go to the lesson they had planned, I went instead and had an amazing jumping lesson...taught by Sarah, a professional eventer.

I brought Fly in from the field, and I think she new what was coming even thought there was no sign of the lorry yet, she was all tall with her lip wobbling at 100miles per minute, and kept pooing! haha.
And treat lady (Phoebe) gave her some Smoothie just to give her some more sugar!

She started off a little lazy, silly mare only going at her pace! But by the end of it we were flying round a course giving some good height over a range of jumps from 2ft9-3ft3.
We did a grid/combo with the last jump a 3ft3ish spread :o)
Then we moved onto doing a complete course - I manage to remember it, and jump the jumps all correctly, which is a bonus compared to our last attempts of a course!

I learnt a lot to help me set Fly up to a jump well.
I got her into a powerful bouncy canter and kept the rhythm going all the way into and after the jump, as she tends to have a lot of power but lose it all a few strides before the jump and we end up jumping into the ground! lol
It was a great feeling and a successful day, I even jumped a rather large and scary arrowhead cross country jump for our "finalé". Get us! hehe

I will give Mayfly the day off tomorrow as she has had a rather busy weekend, and has done me very proud :D

Crazy Jumping Time!

Haven't jumped at home in quite a long time so today we did some rather interesting exercises.

It consisted of four separate jump joined on one block in the centre, so they were in the shape of a cross (if that makes any sense!)

We did lots of tight turns and changing legs over jumps to improve for our next showjumping outing.

Bless silly Fly couldn't quite understand when I asked her to jump over the middle point of all four jumps..so we ended up jumping the wider parts as a large spread instead. I think we need practice on jumping the centre of jumps! lol

She was a very good marey and mobbed me for an apple afterwards. hehe

oh and her back leg is stilled slightly more filled than usual, it isn't heated though and is causing her no problems so I think it will be fine.


Also have to add that Penny Pony is back from her loan home. I forgot how little she was, and I may have to ride the poor mare! I think she remembers me though as she was following me around the arena, trotting when I ran just like old days :o)

Happy Buzzing Mayfly :D

I didn't ride yesterday, so arrived today to a very buzzing, muddy Fly!
Arrgg I hate all this mud, especially wet mud! Spring can't come quick enough lol.

Her back leg was a little less filled today, but I am keeping as eye on it.

Started a little bad as she was not listening to my aids, and we were struggling to get a clear transition from trot to canter...she seems to think walk to canter is the only possible way!
But, the spooky moon was not being helpful as she was a little worried by it at first sight.

Eventually we moved onto doing rein-back to trot and canter as we need a little practice on going back just a few steps, not shooting back across the whole school, and doing it straight...Well as you may know by now this makes Mayfly somewhat hyper. hehe

She was randomly jogging here and there, and trying to canter. Silly Moo
I can say that this helped us to produce a lovely medium trot so not all bad.

She does make me laugh :D

Circles Circles and more Circles

As it says - did lots of bending and circles in the arena today as I am finding that Mayfly is becoming resistant on getting that "curve" sometimes when we circle so today I was determined to crack her habits...I think it went successfully as we managed to do walk, trot, canter circles with a nice bend. hehe

Noticed that one of her back legs was slightly more filled than usual today, so I took things a little easy, but after riding her is had gone down. Hopefully nothing bad :o)


Oh, and have to just say that the glorious Delami arrived back from trial today - they liked him, but not what they are looking for. However, they have agreed to buy him once holidays come and then they will work on him and sell him on. So I think the outcome is good for him :D

Oo was there a buck??

After my fall my arm has been in pain, think I pulled a tendon...but life must go on, and so I rode.

I expected Fly to be a little tierd from sunday I thought wrong. lol
She does make me laugh when she is a bouncy!
I even think I got the closest I will ever get to a buck from her today - the bum lifted!! :O

Anyway, I must say that our canter to halt is getting rather good now, just needs some polishing.

Attempted to do some lateral work, but came to the conclusion that I need to get of her back and have some fun on the ground with her so she really starts to listen and work with me more... that is what we did, I think she thought I was bonkers (yet again)!

First Fall...

It's got to happen sometime and today was the day..
Trailblazers at Manor Farm! Sunday 9th November 2008

We arrived super early, then to add to our waiting it was running one hour late! grrr
Mayfly was a little full of herself (I think it brought her back to her BSJA days).

We popped round the clear round, unfortunately had one pole as I didn't have enough leg on.

Then came more waiting..did Benjamin some good to chill out, unfortunately soon came wind and rain! Mayfly went all funny and attempting to turn her bum into it whilst warming up. hehe

Eventually came our turn for the 2ft6 class, it was two phase. To my surprise we made it clear round the first phase...hmm idiot me hadn't really learnt the second phase soo it ended up rather disastrously with Mayfly locking onto a jump and attempting to jump it backwards.
I tried to pull her away but when she wants to jump it there is no stopping her. lol. Luckily she just stopped in time.. to my surprise, so I went up her neck and off the side. Sort of looked just like a dismount but fast and well, less graceful. I got my foot stuck in the stirrup, but clever Mayfly stood still and looked at me as if to say, "What are you doing down there? This is no time to get off!"
ahh she does make me laugh.

Oh yeah and it was all caught on video, so you can all laugh. haha

So that is another event to go down in the history of The Fly and I! :D