2015 Goals in review.

So last year, I did set goals but apparently I forgot all about these and they all kind of went out of the window when I got Star too, alongside starting my A levels and generally growing up.

So last year my goals were:

• Get John to jump a fence, correctly, no matter what height this may be.

This didn't happen, we didn't really work a lot on this but it has come to seem like John's trust in me is ever growing and he will hopefully do this one day! We've got our whole partnership together to work on this and right now I'm enjoying just having his little face around. So I'm going to carry this over for the rest of our years until it happens really.

• See Ron at a place.

This did happen! Ron went to his first show in April and did a little in hand class and it was very lovely to see him being  big grown-up boy! My love for that pony exceeds me.

• Get John's loading somewhat there.

This also didn't happen, again I'm really not too fussed about this, just like the jumping, more so now that Star man is around to go out and about on.

• Have John in a consistent outline in at least one pace.

This sort of happened. It's not completely there but we are getting there and this is not completely out of reach so I'm taking this over to 2016.

• Canter Sunny.

This most definitely did happen! I was so chuffed when I did this that I felt over the moon for hours afterwards! I think I did this extremely early on in the year too, Yay!

• Have a jumping lesson and build some confidence back up.

Now, whilst officially I didn't have an instructor, I would say our session at Watt Meadow with Beff shouting at us definitely counts. I ended that session jumping a 90cm fence which I never thought I would do on Star and so I very much would say we did this.

• Ride John bareback at at least a trot.

This didn't happen, in fact, no bareback happened this year!

• Get John's confidence up hacking on his own.

This also didn't happen, no hacking with John happened this year, I'm going to bring this back and try again this year in the Spring/Summer.

• Sort out John's behaviour bathing.

Whilst John's behaviour bathing is not exactly where I'd like it to be, it is a whole lot better than it ever used to be and so I will take that. He no longer spins and kicks out, just fidgets so I would definitely say this is pretty much a success.

• Go hunting at least once.

This did definitely not happen and this will have to be more a life goal I think!

So I think overall, last year was quite successful considering. Hopefully this year we can crack even more! However I'm not setting myself anything because I just forget and so it's a little bit pointless, I'm just going to take each day as it comes.

And it may be a little late but,

Happy New Year!

Late night blogging (zzz!)

I am such a bad blogger, I continue to get better and then worse again, I think it's because I'm so busy I just forget!

Anyway, enough with excuses, my ponies are being SUPER!
I could not be prouder with how they are going recently and they really are proving how worthy all the hard work I've put into them is.

John is turning into a fantastic little horse, schooling amazingly and he has matured so very much in the past few months. I do really think with a pony like himself, it does him the world of good to go be fat for a few weeks in between work. He always seems to come back so much better and not only that, but this time he seems to have screwed his head on a bit more and realised that not the whole world is trying to eat him, only some.

Star is still being super. We've been for a couple gallops across the stubble field while we have it to ride in and it's safe to say we both thoroughly enjoy them. We also went xc as I mentioned in my last blog with Beth and Sparkie and he was amazing. He felt so much more balanced and level headed than the last time we went and even though we didn't jump fences as big as last time, I felt like there was a massive improvement in him despite the ground being terrible and riding with another horse!

They both continue to impress me so much. :)

In other news, apart from this, not a lot has happened!
School has started again and everyone is at work and so team has not had much quality time together which makes me oh so very sad and I hope this is going to be rectified very soon.
I have begun putting Emma what seems to have become leg bootcamp to help improve her leg and general aids when riding by standing in a field and screaming at her. It seems to be working so I must be doing something right?! But no, in all honesty, it is really nice to see someone who you care so much about flourish so well in something they enjoy so much. It's even better, in fact, to know you're helping them get there. :)

All in all, not a lot to say really!
Summer is over, sad, but christmas is fast approaching and that in itself is something to get very happy about indeed!

I will try to blog more, promise!!

People are weird and ginger ponies are the best.

So my laptop decided it didn't want to charge... again and I was left without a laptop... again. But now I'm back, hopefully for good this time and things have changed since my last blog!!

So my assistance has left me. Needless to say looking back on it they probably weren't worth and I've now learnt to be very careful with who enters and stays in my life. Safe to say my ginger ponies and some very dear friends will be the few that remain.

In other news, Inca is still sort of my adopted pony, Lottie's back is a little better now and she can ride again but she has said I can possible adopt Inca again when she goes to uni which is exciting and has also said I can have a go at competing her over the winter so that might be something to try!

My ponies are fab and fat and doing well. Both are progressing lovely recently, Star has really started to flourish and come out of his shell and his jumping has exceeded my expectations completely and I couldn't be happier with him.
John has not been in much work on the other hand but is still a very fancy, ginger pony who I still very much love and will be keeping for a long time to come.

Not much to say really! A lot has happened but not much to write about in all honesty!

We are off xc tomorrow so hopefully I shall update you after this!

EEEEEKKKK

I've acquired some assistance (and adopted another pony?)

Hi!

My laptop has broken yet again so I'm now left stuck with nothing to blog with apart from my phone which I won't lie, is a little annoying and causes a lot of spelling mistakes which frustrates me more than it probably should. But, I felt that despite this, it has been far too long since I last blogged and I needed to get an update posted so here you are.

June hasn't been that awfully crazy apart from me gaining some new friends and a new love interest. Safe to say my boyfriend continues to make me feel like one very lucky girl all the time. This is because, he is absolutely fantastic with the horses. He catches them, brings them in, grooms them, helps me tack up, rides and helps me muck out... He really is quite cool (but do not tell him I said that) and I love watching him have a little cuddle with my favourite ginger pony knowing my two boys are best buds, it's really really nice to be able to be this happy again.

I've also acquired a helper who's name is Ollie, Ollie is Brad's best friend and he is always willing to help and go to the horses! He's also a great fan of the ponies and with the two of them around, yard chores have become so much nicer that's for sure!;-)

I've also adopted another pony, sort of;-) her name is inca and she is owned by one of the lovely girls on the yard, who has a very poorly back currently and so I've been trying my best to help her out and ride inca, bath her and help with her field upkeep. Inca is a pure dressage horse and she is so very different to ride from my two but she's lovely and I throughly enjoy riding her as I sort of begin to feel like I can ride and do sort of maybe know what I'm doing! I'll include some pictures at the end for you:-)

My two haven't really done a lot this month as for the first half i had exams! However star has done some hacking and jumping as well and some relaxed chilling and he's starting to come back into work very nicely:-) 

John however is just getting fat, naughty lottie needs to get an exercise regime in place for him soon that's for sure! He's done bits and bobs recently, teaching Ollie how to lunge a horse and giving me some hefty bucks! So he's enjoying life as a fat pony currently but I shall be cracking on with him this month hopefully!

Star hasn't really been out at all this month, he went to Emma and Beth's yard and played over some jumps and went on a hack and was a well behaved gentleman as always! We had great fun that day and he proved he is not just a pretty face! He also had his first bath whilst with me and he was super, so good as I expected! (A lot nicer to bath than John!!)

But overall we haven't really done a lot! Hopefully we will do more this month and you will be able to see but for now I will leave you with some recent pictures!:-) 

Show day is finally upon us, and Lottie is not okay.

Before I start, this was written 31st mah and I apparently forgot to post so here you go!

Aloha!
Well, today was show day and I woke up feeling like I was going to be sick and could taste the dinner I had eaten the previous evening. Safe to say, I was not excited.
After some arguments with myself I did finally manage to get out of bed and get ready for the show and so we went to get the trailer and go get a pony!

When we got to the yard we were running quite behind schedule (turns out we were super super early anyway) and I was still feeling nervous with a very soggy pony from the rain that night and a voice in the back of my head telling me to go home. Either way Star on the trailer and we set off to the show.

we got there so very early we were waiting around for 2 hours! Many thanks to my amazing support team for staying so long in the freezing weather and to Star for being impeccably behaved despite the standing around, and some rather rude people who clearly do not understand personal space and that horses can sometimes kick.

Back with a bang.

(Before I start, I wrote this about a week ago so it made sense then promise)
Helloooo!
Safe to say I am feeling extremely good about my riding recently and the ponies. I just feel like they're really coming along and we're just really starting to get to where I want us to be. I've also really been working on my position the past couple of rides and more myself than the horses and I really think it has aided me quite a lot.

I also think that recently my jumping has come back better than ever. I really am starting to get back into it and really love it how I used to! I think most of that is down to Star though as he just makes me feel so safe and allows me to sit back and focus a little bit more! He is just ace!

He proved this yesterday when we took a little trip to Ashwood to have a play round the xc course! This was our first time out on a xc field alone with no other horses and he was so well behaved and jumped everything I asked of him minus one fence which I was wrong to ask him to do and so I am going to forget that as it was unfair of me to expect it of him. I don't really have much else to say because he was just so awesome for me, emma and beth! Here's some photos :-)

star looks cute and then there's me....

ass for days son (also v impressed with my position here)

awww

need to learn to stop leaning on him

having a great time clearly

jumping big scary corner for Beff, good boy!

easy peasy

emma's head will forever amuse me hahaha! v proud of her for this though

Thoughts, Feelings and Ginger ponies.

This week for me has been, let's say, pretty awful.
I've just had the worst week I've had in a while and just when I thought I was doing okay, I seem to be right back to where I started, where I was around two months ago.

All I can say is, I am very lucky to have my pony.
He is my absolute world and without him, I would probably have given up a long time ago.
And this is super gay but he is my bestest friend and the love of my life. I honestly do think he is my soulmate without sounding like a forever alone horse lady.
I mean do not get me wrong, I do have a special person in my life but I also have John who is just my absolute best friend and he is the equine version of me in all he does, it's quite scary actually. He is literally the best thing that I have minus my friends/family right now. We've just had him over a year and it's crazy to think that just over a year ago I had never even met this pony or even heard of him and now look at us, a pair of crazy gingers!

I think my last ride on him sums it up really.
Emma and Beth came to see him and have a play because it has been so long since John got to show off to my friends! He was a star and it was so nice to hear the people who have been there from day one of me owning this pony saying how much he has come on and how wonderful he is becoming. It really warmed my heart I won't lie. Even just saying how much his weight has come on made my day.
When he was stood on the yard, we had next to no fidgeting, he was a gentleman to groom and tack up and was fantastic to put his bridle on which we used to have a lot of problems with! He let me get on from the mounting block, from the right side!!!, and proceeded to give me one of the most fantastic schooling sessions we had in a while. He was using himself, not looking at anything else going on, listening to me and even did some fancy welsh trot when changing the rein, just because he can and there were people watching, and then his canter was prefect, using so much power from his back end, really pushing off and even trying his hardest to give me a few strides of contact in canter. Safe to say I was thoroughly chuffed with my little ginger pony. He even schooled well for Emma and did everything she asked of him even when he knew it was hard work. It's just crazy to see how much he has come on, filled out and grown up. I'm so very proud of both of us, because he has not been easy to crack but he has shown that is really is worth it and all he seems to do recently is progress.
So all I can really say, is here's to the next years pony because I know that he is going to be one stunning, amazing, little horse and I am so very excited and nervous to say that it is me who is going to get him there and has got him to the stage he is now.

Here's some John photos from over the last few weeks!:)

After we had a very brave session of desensitizing! 

Mr. Fancy Pants he is becoming!

Contact in canter nearly?!

More KitKat please Mummy??