The 12 days of Christmas...2014 memories. The 3rd day of Christmas

When thinking of what I could do for this years "12 days of Christmas" theme on my blog, Mark and I came up with several ideas for what you guys as readers would enjoy reading and what would seem dull.

In previous years I've focused on products that I would recommend using on your equine and canine friends, and the posts have always been well received. However, this year it's safe to say my blog has taken a very different approach. Ceaser's fan base has gotten considerably larger in comparison to previous years, and with the new addition, Ziggy, people seem to be coming to me to find out just how that loveable grey is getting on. Add this to the surprise Mark and I have coming up for you on the 13th December and we decided why not do a post every other day where I pick a favourite photo that means something to me and reflect on the memories I gained from it.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me: Quitting your job! 

Spring - Celebrating with my main boy!

These photos go hand-in-hand. Celebrating here with the 2nd boy! Sometimes in life you've just got grasp what's out there and take chances. 

Let me explain. I've never been adventurous. Well, hang on, let me rephrase that - I'm adventurous when I'm on a horse and I want to try a new jump, or go down a bridle path I've never been down before, but when it comes to real life I quite like routine. That means taking chances is a new thing for me. I hate change. 

So, when I walked in a meeting one day with a job and walked out without one you can imagine my heart was beating ten to the dozen and part of me thought what the hell have you just done. (My Mum was fuming by the way...!)

I'd been in a job I really disliked for 6 months. I was fed up and wanted a change, I wanted to embrace new beginnings and after endless talks with people I realised my job wasn't going to take me anywhere. You see, I have this plan. In a few years time I want my own house, the cockapoo (or spoodle) dog, I want a bigger horse lorry, I don't just want to be 'another person', I want to be successful, I want to be someone people look up to for advice, I want to leave a stamp on this earth, whether it be through getting some books published, or simply by motivating people to follow their heart. 

Anyway, the moment I realised I wasn't going to get anywhere where I was and I'd had enough, I went into a meeting with a job and came out about to work my months notice. 

I didn't want this blog feature just to be about the ponies, because whilst they're such a huge part of my life, I do enjoy working and I get joy from seeing a project completed. The top photo is a very poignant photo for me as it was my last day in the job. I don't think I'd been that happy in weeks, possibly months. My friend met me at the yard with some champagne and we sat there for hours talking about our plans for life and enjoying listening to the horses munch their hay. It's the day I vowed I wasn't going to sit on my bum anymore and allow opportunities to come to me, I was going to go out there, find opportunities for myself and embrace any fantastic offers that came my way. I was going to make use of my mantra "Dream, Believe, Achieve" and be as successful as I'd always wanted to be. It was almost like that photo signalled the start of the rest of my life. 

The second photo is a mere month later; Mark and I are in Prezzo's celebrating the news that I'd just been offered a new job! From that photo onwards I've freelanced for Horse & Hound, I now blog for Carr, Day & Martin, I've had numerous wins with Ceaser, I've got more time for him than I had in my previous job and I've been involved in workshops on behalf of BD....but most of all, I love my job and I love waking up in the morning. 

So you see, sometimes it's good to take chances in life. 

(Disclaimer: I'm not telling everyone to quit their job. For the record I woke up the day after the top photo was taken not just with a sore head but wondering what the hell I had been thinking and whether it'd be possible to beg for my job back. hehe)

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Dressage to Music - a whopping score!

When this year started I set myself a couple of goals in my head. I didn't want to share them because ultimately I was too scared to, too embarrassed at what people might think and I honestly thought they would be laughed at. I kept them in my head and I told a very select few people throughout the year. A few times I lost sight of the dreams and just when I thought they were possibly getting closer they then seemed as far out of reach as they could ever be. But, as long as I had the dreams no one could take them away from me and one day I just got out of bed and told myself I'd reach them - whether it was alone or with the support of others, so I began to share them more and confided in others I never had before.



My goals included:

- Compete at the regionals at Prelim level
- Compete at the Area Festival at Novice level
- Compete in the Northern Region teams
- Qualify for the Freestyle to Music Novice regionals
- Get in Horse & Hound with Ceaser

Honestly? I thought of that list a few months back and couldn't believe how far out of reach they seemed, but then everything seemed to start going my way.

More on that another time.

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I decided to take last Friday off work as a local venue were having a 3-day affiliated BD competition and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try and get the Freestyle to Music regional qualification I had wanted for so long. The last time we had tried to get it the judge told me our music didn't suit Ceaser and our floor plan wasn't the best. However I wasn't prepared to change my music because it means so much to me, so I worked on everything else in our lessons and getting Ceaser working in a better frame and more uphill.

I was slightly apprehensive about whether I had done the right thing by booking in for two novice classes as I was away with work Tuesday-Thursday so it would mean Ceaser would have a couple of days off and then have to go straight out competing. The day before the competition whilst on my last day away with work I found out I had passed my Masters in Sports Journalism so needless to say by the Friday I was walking round on cloud 9 and nothing was going to ruin my good mood!

Ceaser initially warmed up well and looking back on it I think I was very fortunate my music class was first. The warm up was busy with the bigger horses because it was a weekday show, but I tried to keep a focus on what we were there to do and ensure we utilised all of our 40-minute warm up time.

I tried to remember and put into practice what my instructor had said about collecting Ceaser up, doing lots of transitions and circles, changes of reins and mixing things up to keep him focused. Once he's warmed up, then tapping behind my leg a few time to ask hind legs to engage to help create the impulsion. It worked well and he felt great.

I had a slight meltdown before my test, couldn't remember if I was supposed to salute in the first halt so asked a fellow competitor I really didn't want to have to. Then Ceaser wanted the toilet as my music started so I had to push him on! Anyway, managed to catch up quickly and slow myself down, which I found difficult as that then made me behind my music by a few strides, which was odd - we've always been in front by quite a bit! 

Everything felt much better for being slower and I was pleased, but mad with myself that we had ended up behind my music and was adamant we would be penalised for it!

The test felt nice, we finally had some power in the medium trots and I focused a lot on getting my halts perfect, without Ceaser stepping back. We had been working a lot on getting a little more bounce and activity in the canter in lessons, so I concentrated on imagining I was trying to get his knees up more whilst keeping everything together, ensuring the hind was engaged and active. Ultimately it felt like an 'ok' test, but I'm always critical and I'm constantly finding things I could do or could have done better.

I took Ceaser to cool off and was in a bit of a down mood that my music really needed changing and I had allowed the hectic warm up to get to me a little. I put Ceaser away, walked off to get my score and didn't expect too much.

As I was approaching the board I saw someone had won with 72.50% - blimey I thought, we would be very far behind that.....until I followed our name and saw IT WAS US!!! I could not believe it, I had to stand and stare at the sheet for a good few minutes AND find our sheet until I was convinced I hadn't made a mistake and we had WON with 72.50%. I'm slightly embarrassed to say I ran back to the horse lorry to Mark, whom just stared at my sheet and then swore a little. I won't repeat what he said, but put it this way, we were both extremely shocked! I couldn't believe it...!

We had achieved ANOTHER of our goals; we were going to the Novice Freestyle to Music Regionals.......and then Horse & Hound phoned..............

Dreams can come true - if you want them to <3 

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Help Ziggy win a set of goodys for Christmas from Neue Schule!

This is Ziggy's first Christmas in a loving home where he'll be adored and loved to every inch of his life.

Currently Neue Schule are running a competition called "Second Chance Horses" where the public have been urged to nominate a pony they think deserves to win the goodys because of their past.

If you haven't read Ziggy's tale of turning from a duckling to a beautiful swan then head over to my blog post by clicking this link.

Once you have then please head over to the Neue Schule Facebook page and "like" his photo, then share and ask your friends to do the same!

Ziggy said: "Thank you for voting everyone!"

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The 12 days of Christmas....2014 memories. The 2nd day of Christmas

When thinking of what I could do for this years "12 days of Christmas" theme on my blog, Mark and I came up with several ideas for what you guys as readers would enjoy reading and what would seem dull.

In previous years I've focused on products that I would recommend using on your equine and canine friends, and the posts have always been well received. However, this year it's safe to say my blog has taken a very different approach. Ceaser's fan base has gotten considerably larger in comparison to previous years, and with the new addition, Ziggy, people seem to be coming to me to find out just how that loveable grey is getting on. Add this to the surprise Mark and I have coming up for you on the 13th December and we decided why not do a post every other day where I pick a favourite photo that means something to me and reflect on the memories I gained from it.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me: Going to the beach! 

April 14th - Sara and I on Theddlethorpe beach, Lincolnshire.

This photo has been one of my favourite photos from 2014 since the moment I saw it. It was an absolute freezing cold day (despite it looking warm), but the day couldn't have been any more perfect if we had tried to make it. Mark and I hadn't had our lorry long and I had been wanting to take Sara to the beach for a while. On our first day off together in a long time we decided what better way to spend it than galloping up the beach whilst Mark takes photos.

Sara loves the beach and is a big fan of going through the water. It's not often she gets away from the yard as I'm too big to compete her now, so she loves nothing more than going off to the local beach and having a good leg stretch. If you could see how mad she goes once there you would never believe she's 19. I love nothing more than going for a good gallop with my best childhood friend and forgetting all the trouble of that day. 

Personally I think Mark captured this photo perfectly. It couldn't have been better. It'll be a photo I cherish for many years to come and makes me realise how lucky I am to have Sara, and have been able to share all these years with her. 

We're so lucky to live in Lincolnshire, where we're blessed with miles and miles of sandy beaches which offer fantastic galloping surfaces for when we're with our equine friends. It's so peaceful and you can go for miles without meeting any other people. I urge anyone wanting to take their equines to the beach to have a look at those on offer in Lincolnshire, you won't be disappointed.

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The 12 days of Christmas.....2014 memories. The 1st day of Christmas

When thinking of what I could do for this years "12 days of Christmas" theme on my blog, Mark and I came up with several ideas for what you guys as readers would enjoy reading and what would seem dull.

In previous years I've focused on products that I would recommend using on your equine and canine friends, and the posts have always been well received. However, this year it's safe to say my blog has taken a very different approach. Ceaser's fan base has gotten considerably larger in comparison to previous years, and with the new addition, Ziggy, people seem to be coming to me to find out just how that loveable grey is getting on. Add this to the surprise Mark and I have coming up for you on the 13th December and we decided why not do a post every other day where I pick a favourite photo that means something to me and reflect on the memories I gained from it.

To start the 2014 Christmas feature off, we have: Gaining new wheels!

January 16th. A few days after picking the lorry up.
Ceaser shows he loves his new set of wheels!

I had wanted a lorry of my own since the moment I passed my driving test, however the time had never been right to invest in one and quite frankly I didn't have the money. In September of last year I got a full-time job in Marketing and finally I realised I had enough money to be able to afford to keep a small, low maintenance lorry on the road, and so we set off on the search for that perfect lorry.

To be honest the search took us up and down the country, put me in hospital (I had a bad sinus infection, yet still decided to go and pick up a lorry on a cold winters night, only for it to not start when we got there which resulted in us stood in the pouring rain for 4 hours, which then resulted in me being admitted to hospital very poorly) and various others things. Finally we found one closer to home whilst I was laid on the sofa poorly and I sent Mark to go and view it. A few hours later he came home with a deposit securely placed and once better I accompanied him to go and pick it up!

The feeling of having something to call my own that could take me wherever I wanted was great. I had always relied on someone driving my dads 7.5t lorry, and now I didn't need to! It was nerve-wracking seeing if Ceaser would load or not as we had always had loading issues with him, however like it was meant to be he walked straight on and always does to this day.

This lorry has cost Mark and I an arm and a leg in repairs, but it's worth its weight in gold and we love our little run-around. It might not be the prettiest, nor the quietest, but it doesn't matter what you turn up in,  it's what horse you unload that matters.

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Lesson with Ceaser and Ziggy 22/11

It absolutely threw it down for my lesson on Sunday. I don't just mean it rained a little....it rained buckets. Then it rained some more. I don't think I have ever been so chilled to the bone! But, commitment isn't shown by just riding in the fair weather. I'm in this for the long haul and I believe that if you want to succeed you have to take whatever life throws at you. (Including soggy underwear from sitting on a saddle that resembles a puddle!)

Anyway, moving on swiftly from the topic of my underwear.... 

I was looking forward to this lesson. We were beginning to actually get somewhere with Ceaser and I had seen a huge improvement in Ziggy from the previous week, so upon waking up I had a spring in my step. Which probably also had something to do with getting 12 hours sleep the night before, but you never know! 

As usual we started with Ceaser. The plan was to work on walk to canter transitions this week now that we had started to get some clean trot to canter transitions that we're getting us 7.5's in our tests (BOOM!). 

To start with we worked on some nice long and low steps to help warm him up, whilst gradually picking him up and asking him to bend more through. The left rein is always a particular struggle for Ceaser so we tried something different this week. We worked him on a circle at B and slowly asked him to work into the contact, by lifting my inside rein for a few steps and then dropping back down, then lifting, then dropping back down. It really seemed to work much better than instantly asking for the bend, and in asking in stages we didn't have any tantrums from him to show that he was struggling - so that's good, i'm going to keep using this when working at home and warming up at competitions. 

For the trot work we asked for some shoulder fore to begin with. This is really good to help the suppleness of a young or stiff horse, and seems to work well for Ceaser when warming up. Since adding this into my warm up plan I've noticed a huge difference in him when it comes to the later work. 

Anyway, as before we flip between riding shoulder-fore and shoulder-in. We'll ride shoulder-fore along the short side and shoulder-in down the short side. Not only does this help to get everything supple with Ceaser, but I really feel it helps get the connection and him listening to my aids. Especially when we then add a bit of change and go across the short diagonal, then across the next short diagonal with some leg-yield. Sometimes when I come out I find him to be quite stuffy and resistant to my aids, so this exercise wakes him up and gets him thinking whilst connecting the hind legs to the front so to speak! 

We've been working a lot on slowing the trot down, but opening and speeding up the canter. I'm not sure if you remember me saying but my instructor described our canter in my first lesson as always collected. We've been working on opening this up, moving forward and creating more lift from the front to create that impulsion and uphill look. 

In all honesty the canter has felt much better since I've allowed Ceaser to go forward more. To help get some clean transitions we've found that if I just open my inside hand and rein slightly then he canters much easier and without dropping the poll, which we were getting a lot previously. Once cantering my instructor told me to move the canter forward immediately, and change between the counter and correct bend, just to get him moving around a little. Once we did that we added some counter-canter and then came across the diagonal again onto the correct lead, and then trotted, straight away focusing on getting the same rhythm in the trot we had previous to cantering. 

Once we had warmed up it was time to start and ask for the harder work; the walk to canters. My instructor told me to focus on 10metre circles off the track and then upon hitting the track ask for a canter immediately. The first time not a lot happened in the first three strides, but we still had the forwardness which was good and he did pick up canter afterwards. She noticed I tend to flop into the canter and 'give everything away', so told me to sit up more, help Ceaser's balance with my rein, leg and seat and try again. This time he popped into canter immediately like a doll and did some fantastic transitions. I liked that because she didn't know which is our worst rein for walk to canter transitions she just picked a rein and told me to try it. It just so happens it was my worst rein which I struggle with, but it just goes to show that actually when I put my mind to it, it can happen on both reins despite me thinking it can't.

After doing this on both reins we both felt we had possibly the strongest trot we'd had in all the few weeks I had been having lessons there, so decided to be brave and ask for some medium trot work. Again, after watching some videos of my previous tests, my instructor thinks I have a tendency to get into the medium work, throw the reins at Ceaser and expect him to do some fantastic medium strides - which as we all know isn't going to happen. So to begin with we started with my shortening my reins and creating the feeling I had him between my legs, hands and seat perfectly. Afterwards we gently asked for a few medium strides, then collected him back and then along the long side asked for more. At first I did what I always seem to do and threw the reins at him whilst expecting him to do all the work. Immediately I realised where I had been going wrong all this time now it was explained and focused on keeping him balanced whilst asking for the medium trot down the long side.

Honestly, I think my face said it all at that moment - I couldn't believe what I was feeling. We had power!!! At last! I'll upload the photo Mark took during the trot work, but it doesn't show what we felt, nor what we had. Fingers crossed I can keep that feeling in my test on Friday. So, that was it for Ceaser - he had been a complete star as usual!

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Next up was Ziggy, that had been an angel all week, up until the previous night when I decided to ride with some kids from the yard and once again we had a spooky pony.

We started by changing his bit into a Neue Schule loose ring snaffle to see if he relaxed more into the contact and stopped the constant chomping. Without jinxing it, he seems to be going much better for now which is good.

At the moment I'm getting really hung up on getting Ziggy into a constant contact and because he can be such a star, it's hard to remember he's only 4 at the end of the day. This week we focused on keeping my hands wide to offer a foundation for the contact and to ensure I had him at the end of my rein all the time, but without pulling him in the mouth. It's so different to how we're now expecting Ceaser to work, so to come off one pony where you're trying to do the complete polar opposite and then get on one you need to its quite confusing.

My instructor told me to focus a lot on my position and keeping ziggy moving forward, forgetting the contact and how pretty everything looked, as well as his spooking - if there was any!

From the beginning he was much easier as he had been the previous week and felt a lot more willing, with much less spooks. Whilst before I've been making an issue of spooks, my instructor wanted me to just ride forward and positive - even if we had spooks. It's really difficult for me not to get hung up on the spooks as I feel like we're never getting over the monsters outside the arena and so on, but actually when I make less fuss of a spook, he doesn't bother again - so maybe it doesn't have something to do with trying it on? Who knows.

It is safe to say I was considerably exhausted after both lessons but am really looking forward to putting all we worked on into practice! I'm enjoying varying Ziggy's work to ensure he doesn't become stuffy, but it's scary just how big he can jump!

 

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