Follow the leader

 I came to visit Flag today because we're going away for the weekend and I cannot ride him because he bent one of his shoes again... it was the cutest thing ever - I kept backing up to try and get a nice picture of him but he just followed me and I couldn't manage to get far enough to take some descent pics.

Winter training show - 5 June 2011

Me and Flag had our first "proper" show yesterday.

We did the prelim 1 & 2 dressage tests and the 30 and 40cm course. I borrowed some white jhods and a jacket from Veronica so we could look the part as well :)

I was so nervous I felt like I could vomit - but as soon as we were done with our warm up and the first test it was much much better. I got off inside the arena this time - and walked him back to his stable. Before the jumping classes began I walked him out to the arenas again to show him the people and horse boxes that started arriving, walked back to the mounting block and got on.

He was so super sweet in the jumping - he LEAPED over one of the 40cm crosses and got very excited - after which I brought him back a bit too much and he knocked the next jump, but all and all he did very well and I couldn't have been a more proud mom. :)

Lesson with Tossy Raynor

So... me & The Flag, together with Emma & Sox, Tristan & Lilly and Veronica & Monty had our first group lesson today from internationally acclaimed Tossy Raynor.

Tossy Raynor in our arena :)

Now those of you who know Tossy, will understand how absolutely awesome this opportunity was for all of us!!! None of us can afford to take 4 lessons a month from her, but at this stage, with the babies, we were thinking once a month would be a good start. We don't want to start jumping them too high too soon. None of us are really that experienced either, so to be able to take jumping lessons from an internationally graded rider is really great and we can pinpoint our faults early on and fix them accordingly.

The group lesson.

We didn't jump at all - but she worked on our seat a lot and reinforced some of the advice Pam's given us as well - like RIDE WITHOUT STIRRUPS at least 5 minutes every time you ride!!! She made us CANTER without stirrups for the first time - so that was quite a challenge for us. Then we did canter poles - but I couldn't get Flag to keep on cantering over both poles - he would break into a trot after the first pole.. so she hopped on and showed him who's boss. I think he got a big irritated with us because we also had an hour lesson this morning with Pam - so he was probably a bit tired...and I was very cautious to smack him with the crop too hard in case he tries to buck me off again.



She was wearing spurs obviously - so he was nice and forward!!! Went on the bit immediately and cantered beautifully!!!

Me & Flag riding in the lesson.

Don't think he's ever had someone ride him with spurs... he did try some tricks with her but she showed him who's boss and he cantered over the poles beautifully twice!! She says she can see he's sometimes very stubborn and that I'm too soft with him - I need to show him who's boss... so I guess that's going to be my next step - pushing us both out of our comfort zone and riding him much, much more forward... I think he's getting lazy the little shit :) She also suggested I get spurs, but there is no way at all that Pam will allow me to ride with spurs at this level! :) So crop and legs it will have to be...


The lesson was awesome and she promised to be back again soon to help us. Next time the group lesson will be for longer as well since we ran out of time - but I also think Emma would prefer taking private lessons since she can already jump... so with one less person I'm sure we will also have more time to spend on us individually.

I'll be doing the 30cm, 40cm and prelim 1 & 2 in next Sunday's show - so that's bound to be exciting! :)

First grass canter

Saturday morning (14 May 2011) I got to the yard, fetched my boy, tacked up and as I bent down to do the final check and see if the martingale was in the middle of his tummy - I saw it!!!!!!....... he pulled a shoe AGAIN.... so I had to untack and couldn't ride.. :(

Moral of the story? Check your horse's feet first before tacking up!

Luckily our farrier - Jono - could fix him up that afternoon still... so I managed to work in a ride on Sunday.. and WOW!!! What a ride!?? I had my first canter in the grass arena! (Remember I said the grass was very scary for them for some reason). We also did lots of transitions, I worked on my seat by doing rising and sitting trot without stirrups and I tried to canter in light seat... I can trot in light seat, but the canter still throws me off balance a bit - so I'll have to work on that.

6-8 May 2011

Friday 6 May 2011
I got off work early, so I went and rode quickly. Everyone was super impressed with how well my boy was doing! He did the transitions flawlessly and responded to all my aids almost immediately. He's going round / on the bit for longer periods of time now, and he's also starting to go round in the canter - which he's never done before!

Saturday 7 May 2011
We started introducing some more challenging work today... canter half a circle, change rein in the canter, trot two steps and canter again straight away etc. Flag coped very well and it was so much fun to do something different that required a bit more concentration and skill. It's also helps them to develop balance and concentration.

We did a little (very little) jumping course, but we still have a lot of work to do here because he still just trots over it - he doesn't JUMP... so I'm sure Pam will help me work on this before the next show.

Sunday 8 May 2011
Our last couple of rides have been so amazing, I can't believe how everything is just coming together all of a sudden! All the hard work is starting to pay off now and I'm just loving it more and more every day!

I got onto my Flag bareback today, with only a halter on. It was quite a mission getting on - cause he didn't quite understand why I'd try and get on if he hasn't been tacked up - but eventually I manged to get on (in a very unglamorous way of course) and we walked around for a bit.

It was such fun! Sore... but fun! I decided I should do this much more often from now on :)

Rest of April 2011

Sho.. it's been forever since I last wrote!

Let's see... it's been a very good month. We've confirmed that my boy has the attention span of a flea and that he's way too clever for his own good :) But I have no reason to complain whatsoever!

Cantering is coming on great and we even started doing little 30cm jumps. He trots over them nicely but he doesn't "jump" unless you canter him - but that's also okay, baby steps! We're doing much better than the first time around when he just ran straight through the jump, not even bothering to pick up his feet.


Our next show is on the 5th of June 2011 - so I'm hoping to enter two dressage classes and perhaps a 30cm and 40cm jumping class.

Will keep you updated!...

Lesson 9 Aril 2011

Holy crap! Pam almost killed me today!!! Remember I said I struggle to keep him cantering for more than one circle? Well today we ONLY cantered...

We started the warm up as usual, then we started cantering... a couple of small circles, go large - 2/3 circles, change rein, trot in the middle, pick up the canter again - trot small circles, go large, change rein... and so it went on and on until it felt like all I did was just flopping around in the saddle and every time it felt like he might die I just kicked - although I must admit by this time I didn't have much kick left :)

When we were eventually done it felt like I ran the comrades!!! Shows you (again), how unfit I am!