My kind of love

Another ride on Hannah today and what to say?! This blog is going to become very boring if I spend my life writing about “perfect pony”
I treated her last week to a gorgeous HKM Pro Team sporty saddlecloth in brown as I felt we deserved to look a little smarter. It’s really nice, and the colour suits her.
Today was a busy day at the arena – it is never quiet when I ride, if there is going to be a bonfire/loose sheep/person on ladder, it is guaranteed to be when Hannah and I are in there. All good practice though, and last year I wouldn’t have even contemplated getting on.
More work on keeping the outside shoulder today, when I have the shoulders controlled, I have her totally with me. I’m using a schooling whip to tap her inside hind to encourage her to bring in through and be quicker with it. This made a massive difference in the canter and she started to sit more and it felt like there was more jump in the pace.
I don’t think she was overly impressed at the abundance of 10m circles and hard work, but she did appreciate the polos when we finished, and was very sweaty! I also got some lovely stretchy trot and free walk work.
So what’s next? Hiring an arena I think and checking we can do it away from home. After that I would love to do a Novice test this year, and start working on some Elementary movements at home
Easyfit team training was tonight which was great as usual. I am struggling with sciatica still, and a painful shoulder so back to the physio this week, and I think it might be time to go and see my GP for a scan referral. Something is not right, and it has been like this for a few months now.
With all this exercise I have ordered an Elomi Energise sports bra after seeing it on http://fullerfigurefullerbust.com/ I will review it when it arrives. Go visit her site – its fab!
Xoxo

Our version of events..

Can I just do a <3 !!!!
I am so, so happy with Hannah e last few weeks. Have had a few lessons with Rebecca and she seems to get better every time. Last week I was a little nervous, but soon enough I realised how lovely she felt. We started with some spiralling circles, keeping control of her shoulder so she was really using herself to step under in walk
On to some trot work, continuing with the circles, and some halt trot transitions then halt trot making sure I got the reaction. I need to make sure that after every transition, the next pace is forward straight away.
We moved on to some shoulder in, and my first attempt at travers which Hannah kindly put up with. After I got the hang of what I was meant to be doing, we did some shoulder in to travers which Han seemed to really enjoy. Canter work, and she excelled herself just felt like I could canter all day and the pace would stay exactly the same no matter what I did.
Points for me to work on – shortening my reins to help me carry my hands, and working on the canter being more forwards. Photo and video below
I am still at team training with Easyfit, despite sciatica trying to limit me! Have got a really good physio who is helping (and nagging) me. At his instruction I have spent 4 days doing nothing and now am itching to ride. I have an inflamed facet joint in my back and a peripheral nerve problem in my thigh just to top it off
Next aim – a Novice test! Xoxo

And so we face the final curtain…

The end of Easyfit training! Well, I say the end, some insane people like me have signed up for another 6 months

Tonight was a bit different and we headed out to the local park. I really struggle with running, I have tried several times to do the couch to 5k programme and failed every time. I ran at school and up until about age 18, doing 100m, hurdles and 200m. Even when doing that I used to whine about running round the track – must be built to be a sprinter, not for endurance

And tonight was – you guessed it, lots of jogging/running/shuffling depending who you were looking at. The clue being that I wasn’t running at any pace

So we ran up the stone steps, walked back down them, repeated. Just as my calf muscles wanted to lie down and cry we switched back to the flat, then up a hill, down a hill. You get the idea. Next was a mini death circuit. In my book anything called a death circuit is never going to be fun. Started with squat jumps, then bastards, press up crawls and lunges doing 30 seconds of this. After a walk back we decamped to the pub. No honestly we did, it was the end of the course celebration and so the group went for a meal

I am getting there, slowly but hey snails keep moving! I want to try the couch to 5k again now I am a bit fitter and as I am carrying on team training I am sure I will get there, and probably blog about it too. I am fitted now than I tbought I would be. I forget that the weeks do get harder so I still feel like I have a long way to go but the things we did today I would never have been able to do in week one

More horsey stuff to come at some point, but Han is having a bit of time off so any blog posts would consist of “brushed Han, mucked out, fed Han treats, gave Han a cuddle”

Time for a hot bath now and my Grey’s Anatomy addiction

Xoxo

Feel the burn!!

Ok so I need to talk a bit about what I have been doing the past 6 weeks……… Team Training at my gym with a company called Easyfit

I was caught at a weak moment in the gym and signed up for the 8 week programme. It is basically a workout 3 times a week plus nutrition advice, and emails to keep you on track. I wasn’t too sure when I signed up as I was quite unfit having had a break from the gym and lacking all motivation. What can I say? I LOVE it!!!!

A typical session would be a warm up, then a circuit. We work in pairs so on each station we do 30 seconds then rest while our partner does 30 seconds. Exercises include squats, crunches, press ups, shoulder presses, sled drags etc

Today we did 4 times round the circuit and then finished with an exercise called 12 days of Christmas. Ok it wasn’t called that, but I don’t want to swear this was different exercises counting down. So 12 punches, 11 squats, 10 bicycle curls – you get the idea! After 3 lots of that I was feeling a tiny bit sick (and possibly a bit dizzy)

I really think it is improving my riding as my core and posture are getting stronger and I am toning up. Plus getting fitter means schooling for longer is easier. I must enjoy it as I have just signed up for another 6 months! After the first session I couldn’t sit down as my thighs burned so much, and I couldn’t lift my left arm above waist height for 2 days. I had massively underestimated what I was already doing in the gym

So if anyone is thinking of doing something like this, just do it! I did……

If you have any questions about it, please ask me and I will do my best to answer 

Xoxo

And I felt like Carl Hester…..

Braved the disgusting weather today for a lesson. Typically it was lovely until I picked up her tack at which point big splodges of rain started falling – and carrid on!

I rode in a different arena today which was a change, and also didn’t lunge before getting on which is my comfort blanket I popped on before Yvonne arrived and let her have a wander round, plus it meant I was wet and not her saddle!

She felt lovely and soft in her neck as I warmed up, eBen straight away in trot she was seeking the contact and it all just felt so different. I rode some straight lines with inside and outside flexion whilst watching for her escaping through her outside shoulder. I tend to flex too much to the inside and Han pushes out through her outside shoulder so I am very aware of it!

Leg yield off the 3/4 line next, first out to the track, then in to the centre line making sure she was straight and forward first before asking. This felt really nice, and I started to feel like I could put her anywhere I wanted. 

We worked on moving the trot on slightly, first on a circle, then down the long side, where as usual I forgot that sitting trot, sitting back and leg on = medium which Hannah was very happy to oblige!

Back to working trot and bringing her back to sit on her hocks whilst keeping her forward and stretching from the wither, not bringing her neck back. Han was as soft as anything by this point and everything  felt so easy. Popped into canter and back to trot and finished with some stretching down in a lovely swingy trot

So proud today, I did it! Han has been smothered in hugs and kisses and left looking rather dozy

Xoxo

Nervous, not novice :-)

Ooh this could be a tricky one to write!!! I am trying now to say I am a rider who is nervous, not a nervous rider – self fulfilling prophecy and all that so this is a post about what I AM capable of, as I have a bad habit of not reminding myself of it. This post is inspired by a conversation with Yvonne when I was having my lesson this week
I started riding age 4 and since then I reckon I have sat on at least 400 horses, mainly due to my parents passion for moving and so having to change riding schools a lot. Age 17 I went to equine college and started a National Diploma, followed by a Foundation Degree and then a BA Hons Degree. On the National Diploma we rode 4 times a week, sometimes twice a day both flat and jump lessons. I have studied biology, breeding, stable management, health and fitness of the horse, equestrian teaching, strategic management, event management….
I’ve taken care of my own horse, by myself from age 11 with little or no help, I did farrier, vet and feed research and did a pretty good job of caring for my first horse.
I find sometimes if you say you are nervous, people think you are not capable or experienced. So what have I done? I have done a few dressage tests, cross country, show jumping. Ridden bareback, jumped a park bench, hacked for 4 hours with a break for sweets at the local shop
Looking back on the nice things, having good hands and a nice seat seems to come up a lot as well as being a sympathetic rider. I do get nervous, and some days are worse than others. I will get on other horses – but only if I have seen them ridden first. Now to me that is just sensible, once bitten twice shy…..
I can care for an ill or lame horse, I am capable of teaching novice riders, and after 5 years of it, I’m pretty good at the stable management side. I can tell you the best was to secure a poultice, and when sugar beet had to be soaked for 24hrs, as well as looking after minor injuries and being calm in a crisis. I have cradled a horses head in my lap, and stroked him as he drew his last breath. I’ve been broken hearted over a horse, I have cried many tears, and laughed until I couldn’t breathe
The things you remember are not always the biggest or the best. Warming my hands with a cup of tea and watching a horse eat. Going hacking in that dim early light, where the only thing you can hear is your horses hooves, and you come home not wanting to get off because your toes have frozen! Sitting on a grazing horse bareback in the summer, and cooling your feet in a water trough.
Horses are my medicine when I am low, upset or happy. But I am a rider who is cautious, safe, and sometimes scared. Not a novice xoxo

I miss your ginger hair…..

Do you really? I’m digressing slightly from horses here, but it’s something that is on my mind after reading an article tonight. I think generally women are bitchier than men, but why are women so horrible to each other? What happened to the sisterhood? Everything I read is “oh, she is too fat, she is too thin”. Beauty comes from within. I know a woman who is the most beautiful, patient, giving person and yet if you asked me to describe her, I couldn’t. I don’t need to, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that her love for others just shines through and she is a wonderful person. It doesn’t matter to me what my friends look like, they are friends because they care for me and support me. I don’t think my friend will mind me saying that her appearance changed after an accident, and I couldn’t care less, she is still stunning to me
And kick a ginger day – what is all that about?! Why is it ok? I am sure if I started “kick a black day” there would be absolute uproar, but the dig dig dig of racism via red hair is still very much out there and tolerated and accepted. I have red hair, big deal and not much I can do about it. Did you know red hair is less likely to go grey? We bleed more easily, need different amounts of anaesthetic and tolerate pain in a different way. Quite special really when you think about it
I have signed up to a nutrition and exercise plan this week. I can already hear people going well why if it doesn’t matter what you look like? I don’t feel fantastic at the moment, and I am definitely not at my fittest! Exercise for me increases my energy, my circulation, I sleep better, my skin is better and it’s good for my heart, lungs, muscles and bones
I am doing it to be fit, strong and to learn about putting the right fuel into my tank. Not because I want to drop 7 stone or run a marathon, although if that is your goal that’s fantastic, but for me I want my body to run at its best
So next time you think or comment about someone being spotty/ugly/fat/thin – think why you are doing it. Does it have an effect in your life if a person that walks past you for 10 seconds looks different? Or are you just taking your own worries out on them?
Going to take my beautiful body off for a bath now – its beautiful because it works and it is healthy! You can’t expect others to love you, if you don’t love yourself, and life is too short to spend hiding under the covers and not wearing a bikini xoxo