Spring

Today was a fabulous spring day!!! After spending the last three days in Christchurch for work (I DO like that city) it was lovely to get out into the country and spend some quality time with the animals.

First up today was the farrier. The Spyklet got his shoes back on.....yay....back to work. It was so lovely that the boys had their rugs removed for the day. Straight after that I took the girls for the usual lovely walk in the forest. It was really, really warm up there and the girls had a few lovely swims.

Next on the agenda was stopping by Kristina's to be her 'pole person' when she rode Oscar. He is such a sweet boy and sooooooo laid back. Kristina is recovering from swine 'flu and I would have to say that she looked pretty awful by the end of the ride (sorry K LOL). Oscar was a wee star though and did a couple of exercises from a book of 101 jumping exercises. They loooked like really interesting exercises so I thought I might try them with Spyke.

After Kristina's I had to race out and get some dog food. Unfortunately, the shop didn't have any so I had to buy a small bag to keep me going for a few days till they could get some in. It's a REALLY expensive way of doing it. :-(

Next on the agenda was a ride on Spyke. He was sooooooo lovely. I am trying really hard to work on my position as Spyke tends to go very 'on the forehand' so I am really trying to open up my front (if that makes sense), keep my shoulders back and think 'forward and up'. It really seemed to work as Spyke didn't drop on the forehand and went really, really well. Once we are going going 'forward and up' I will work on getting him into a better frame. He did some FABULOUS halt to trot transitions and then we did the 2 exercises over poles. They were a LOT harder than they looked. They REALLY made both of us work hard and they showed that Spyke needs some free-ing up on the right rein. They were great exercises and I am now going to invest in the book as well as the 101 flat exercises.

Kristina had a short ride on Spyke (he was a little naughty with her, the toad. Not a lot but a little) and then we called it a day. After the ride, while fiddling about, I managed to get Tai's 'bean' out which was BRILLIANT as it has has been worrying me for ages. For those of you are not horsey, it is a boy thing and it is best not to ask!!!!! Hopefully he will be a lot more comfortable now. :-)

Tomorrow I am going to buy some jump poles (to be followed next week by some drums for stands - very excited!!!), then I will shoot down to Waiuku to get some hay and then it will be another ride.

Any hoo, here are some of the pics from today:

Rodeo on a Rope

Well spring appears to be here. Spyke last night put on a pretty impressive race/rodeo horse display on the lunge. He bucked and yahoo-ed and galloped. It was so funny. I have ridden him a few times now. We have trotted over poles and a small jump. He got quite.... ummmmm.... 'chipper' over the small jump so more exercise is required methinks. He has been really, really good though. He gets his shoes on this weekend and then we will be away. I can't wait to get up to the forest!!! He was supposed to get his teeth done today but his dentist has swine 'flu (call that an excuse Kristina???? Huh?? Huh??? LOL)

I didn't ride at all in the weekend as the forecast was terrible for Saturday so I hads resigned myself to not riding and when the weather turned out to be not too bad I was just not 'in the zone' and figured I'd ride Sunday. Uh uh!!!! The weather was hideous on Sunday.

I did go up and see Tina's herd on Sunday and they are all fab. Biscuit is so ready for education to begin and they all are just such NICE horses.

I get my bonus this week (Yay!!!!!) and the plan is to get some poles, drums and jump brackets so that I will have enough jumps to do some real jumping this season.

Our first outing is early next month. It is a WRC dressage day and it will be our first novice start.....GULP!!!!!!

The girls had a run in the forest on Saturday and then ('nother drum roll please) had a bath!!! They were VERY unimpressed!!! Especially since I used the hose not the shower. They are lovely and soft and clean now though.

I'm afraid there are no photos as I don't even know where my camera is.

I am off to Christchurch for a few days tomorrow so everyone will get another few days off. :-)

We're Ba-ack!!!

Yussssss!!! I had a full on animal day today. I started the day with a walk in the forest, which was luffly.

Then (drum roll please) I rode Spyke!! Yes! Our season has begun. We didn't do very much as the paddock is still very wet (It was sooooooo wet yesterday) so we stuck to a walk and a trot. We also practised a bit of sideways stuff which he DID remember -YAY!!! I walked him over a few poles. He did have the odd 'thought' while trotting but was too lazy to act on it. He is a lovely boy. :-)

After the ride I cleaned the car AND waxed it!!! I know!!! Even I was shocked. LOL

Then I took the girls for a quick cart up the road and back. Sammie screamed the neighbourhood down when I was out with Brina...sheesh!! Brina, as a result, got shut in the house when Sammie went out. My harness has a design flaw, it only has loops for the shafts which means that when the girls go downhill the wagon runs up their bum. I will need to figure out how to fix that.

All in all it was a great but tiring day. I finished it off with macaroni cheese, mmmmmmm, however I am now STUFFED!!!! I can feel a glass of Pinot Gris heading my way soon.

Winter Blues

I have been off line at home for a while but then I haven't had a lot to write about. The weather has been very cold and very wet. I was planning on riding Spyke for the first time in months today but at lunchtime the rain arrived....and boy, was it a LOT of rain so the boy had another day off. I did manage to give him a 5 minute lunge in between heavy showers but tomorrow the forecast is much better so, fingers crossed, I may actually manage to get a saddle on him.

I Have a Harness

Yay!! I actually have a harness at last. I ordered a webbing one from The Real Dog Equipment Company and it is perfect!!!! It fits both girls and is completely adjustable so should fit any future dogs too. I haven't got the girls out in it yet though as the weather is still completely awful. In fact, last night we had a pretty impressive lightning storm that scared the living daylights out of Sammie and I. I had a busy weekend (as usual). On Saturday morning first thing, I helped Martina with her foal Bad Jelly The Witch (yes that IS her name and she is quite good at living up to it). BJ had cut her leg so On Friday night I helped when the vet came to inject her with antibugs (although I would have to say that I probably wasn't much help) and then on Saturday I helped Martina to wash it and then give her an oral syringe of more anti bugs.

After treating BJ we both headed up to help Tina with her injured baby (who is a VERY different kettle of fish) and rebandaged young Tilly too. It was great as Tilly didn't need any sedation this time at all, she just stood like a rock. In fact, she just loved having the skin around the wound rubbed really hard, it must be really itchy as she was pulling faces and just loving the scratch...... bless. Having said that, the little troll nipped me as I was leading her back to the paddock. Grrrrrr. LOL

Next on the agenda was a quick run up to Falloons to get some jute sacks for Barbera, popped home for a quick shower and headed off to Ardmore to catch up with Barbera and the crew. Meggie is looking fabulous!!!! AND she got BOB at the first show....YAY!!!!

We went for a walk in the Botanic Gardens after the show and then had dinner at Casablanca in Sylvia Park, which was very tasty.

Sunday was really, really wet!!!!! I had to help Martina first thing. She wanted me to be there but not to do anything as she wanted to see if she could manage by herself. It was not an auspicious beginning as BJ refused to come out of the paddock and when she did her and her mother knocked Martina completely over. It really worries me that Martina might get hurt as both girls are big, strong and bloody minded.

The rest of Sunday was supposed to be dedicated to housey type stuff but, as usual, that didn't happen. Maree was up for her annual girls get together so I caught up with her, Gill and Anita at Bliss for coffee. I love catching up with Maree and I am so thrilled that she will be family (even more than she already is). Once I had left Bliss and fed the boys the weekend was over. I don't know how I managed when I was riding as well!!!! LOL

I am working from home for the first time this week on anotheraudio with Manila and I LOVE it!!!!

Yay Some Pics.

Biscuit at 2 and 1/2

Tilly at 1 and 1/2

The forest after 'harvesting'. Yay!!! They left my favourite side alone.

The frog that appeared in our house.

My 40th birthday ride with......

.....my friend Martina.

Spyke looking handsome (and slightly worried 'cos his girlfriend is over there <<<<<< )

Brina doing what she does best.

Looking almost normal.

Mindy, Tracy and the girls.

Mindy

Brina asleep...yes..it is very normal for her.

You Can Tell It's Winter....

....as I don’t post very often as I don’t have very much to report. Having said that it has been a busy couple of weeks again.

The biggest news of the year though is that Andrew and Maree are engaged!!!! Yay!!!!! I am so excited, my best friend is marrying my brother so I get a GREAT sister. The wedding is in February but the difficult bit is that it is an Art Deco theme…..yikes!!!! What on earth will I wear?

Life has changed at my house as my flatmate of two years has moved out. Tracy was offered a fabulous job in Melbourne and, selfishly (*wink*), accepted it. It is a great move for her and helps her to move in a completely different and exciting direction and we wish her well…..but… I am all alone now. *Sob*. Thank goodness for my dogs, they keep me sane.

I bumped into Tai’s original owners in the forest one day a week or so ago and they came to see him in the weekend. I think they were surprised at just how well the old bugger is looking. They are a lovely, lovely family and I hope to see them again soon.

The weather has been DIABOLICAL and I am very glad (once again) that I made the decision to turn Spyke out for the winter. He had his shoes pulled off in the weekend and I will put them back on probably about the beginning of September. Both boys were wormed last week too. I have decided to add some yeast to Spyke’s feed, he is looking well but he never has any extra covering over his ribs so I want to give him a little boost.

I was at Fieldays this week at Mystery Creek. For those of you overseas it is the biggest agricultural trade show in NZ. If I ever want a BIG tractor, Fieldays is the place to go LOL. I went with my friend Kristina and had a fabulous time. We ‘stalked’ the Rural Bachelor of the Year competitors around all their competitions. It was really worth it too as I won a pair of $150 gumboots, which, bearing in mind the weather, are proving extremely useful.

My friend Tina has a couple of LOVELY foals by Zabalu (well, not really foals, one is two and a half and the other is one and a half) and the youngest one has degloved a back leg so at the moment on a Saturday I am on nursing duty to help rebandage the wee (16hh) soul. She is such a sweetheart but finds the bandaging a bit painful so we have to sedate her. I think she is in a ‘happy place’ once the Sedazine kicks in and stands like a rock with her big sister helping. I will find photos of them.

I think that is all my news. As always I have no photos (sorry), I WILL get them off my camera at some point and download a few.