Autumn has Arrived

This year September has been a disappointment.  There has not been much late summer sunshine, all we seem to have had is wind, wind and more wind.  Of course here in the UK we have been lucky other parts of the world have had hurricanes and flooding :(
 
We are desperate for rain here, the grass has hardly grown since June and I know I will be getting through a lot of hay this winter.  It is raining today and we have had some this week so fingers crossed the soil is still warm and we will have a late flush of grass.

This means WATCH OUT for Laminitis which could become a problem and I will be watching Tommy's weight carefully.  He and Basil have lost a bit since August and although they had some to spare I don't really want them (particularly Basil) to lose much more before the winter.  I have been slowly increasing Basil's hard feed over the last few weeks because he won't eat much more hay than he is having now.  

I have been lucky though that I have had enough grass that I have not had to start feeding hay in the field yet.  I have been saving half of the field and giving it extra attention this year with weed killing and trying to get rid of the buttercups to give the grass a chance.  Hopefully this rain will make it grow for a few weeks now. 

Over the last few weeks I have been clearing out the stables, removing the rubber mats, jet washing and disinfecting the floors, getting down cobwebs and bird's nests - the swallows finally left a couple of weeks ago.  I have cleared out the feed room and had a reorganise and have decided to store shavings and rugs in Chesney's old stable which will give me more space.    

I have had a hay delivery and filled up the store and have checked all Basil and Tommy's rugs so that I don't get one out in the dark one morning to find a hole or broken strap!!!  Basil's stable rugs have been washed and are all shiny and ready for when he needs them.

The horses have had their last worm egg count of the year and neither needed worming - which is great.  In a couple more weeks I will do a test for Tapeworm  this is a tapeworm saliva test which is a bit of a nuisance because the horses have to stand for half an hour with no food or water before I can do the test, but it is worth it to help prevent resistance building up.  Basil and Tommy are pretty good for this, Chesney was not keen on standing for that long!

The annual vaccinations are due next month and I usually get their teeth checked and rasped at the same time, to reduce vets fees!

I will be keeping an eye out for

·         Sycamore seeds and leaves -  Atypical Myopathy. 

·          Acorns too are poisonous, as are the leaves of the Oak trees.

I think we are ready for winter, although I hope it is a good few weeks away still.

 I have just uploaded a new video 'Stables Tour - Updated'  on my You Tube channel?  
Horse Life and Love.  Please check it out and SUBSCRIBE.

You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates on Basil, Tommy and Daisy.

Until next time!

Jo

July & August 2018 Review

July was a difficult month.  I finally decided that it was time to say goodbye to Chesney and let him join my other horses; Fidget, Josephine and Cocoa in the big field in the sky.  I don't want to go into detail here but he was finding life more and more stressful and it was becoming evident that it would only get worse.  I like to think he is now munching lovely grass, running around and generally having a wonderful time.

Basil and Tommy have adjusted amazingly well, I am not planning on getting another horse at the moment.  Tommy is absolutely fine on his own when I ride Basil and that is the only reason I would get another - if he was unsettled.

Basil and I continue to make progress with our schooling. This occasionally includes some steady strides although it is generally still too fast, there is some more rhythm to the canters.  Our transitions into canter are variable too, sometimes we get the correct lead first time, sometimes it takes 2 or 3 attempts.  If we don't get it first time it gets more difficult as Basil gets more excited and listens to me less and less, a few sideways strides and a very wobbly bottom!  However, we don't stop until we get it right.  In trot (before we canter) we are achieving some really nice work and I feel like I am riding a proper dressage horse.  We have balance, rhythm, nice shape and he works through with his back legs.  We fit in a nice hack most weeks now and I am hoping to get out for longer now and go a bit further afield. 

I had Basil's new saddle rechecked a couple of weeks ago, now it has had time to settle, and it had a bit of extra flocking put in.  He seems really comfortable with it which is brilliant.  I need to treat us to a new numnah and girth now!

Tommy is feeling a bit more confident.  He is less wary of Basil than he was of Chesney and is not so worried that he is going to be chased off if I go to see him in the field.  We are practising putting the headcollar on in the field but I can only manage it if he is close to the gate.  I am not sure why he is still very jumpy about it when in the field, but hope we will get there eventually.  He definitely enjoys the attention of being brushed and pampered!

I swapped the horses back to their 'in at night' routine last weekend, which I am really glad about now with the colder nights we have been having.  This has meant that I can start on my autumn clean up, de-cobwebbing the stables, clearing them out and jet washing the floors and mats. I have also been painting the stables, 2 sides of them have had a bit of a hard time this year with the sun so I have just redone those sides - they look very smart.  

This is how July looked:

1st - lovely hack

3rd - arena, circle and serpentines.  Some nice walk and trot work, canters were a bit fast but we got the correct leads on both reins first time

4th - lunged , a good day today

6th - lunged again

7th - rode in the arena, silly to get the right canter today, really napping.  Walk & trot leg yield in and away from the track.  Some better strides on right rein canter today.

8th - hack today, sadly we found a bicycle inner tube in the middle of the road, under some trees where it is quite dark and Basil is always a bit jumpy - I think he thought it was a snake.  Anyway, we did not manage to get past it .... this is not a safe place for me to make a stand ... I know he will go down next time.

10th - lunged

11th - arena, some good trot work today, steady, balance, rhythmic and on the bit J Awful turn on the forehand.  Good canter transition (although I didn't allow for many trot strides) but canter was too fast. 

13th - lunged, had a silly turn in the middle today.  Galloped off around the arena, then he settled again and we carried on.

14th - arena, walk and trot leg yield, definitely improving our balance, rhythm and shape.  Canter transitions were good (didn't ask for many trot strides - this doesn't give him time to get too excited).  Still cantering too fast but generally a bit more balanced.

15th - hack :)

16th - lunged, bit silly again

27th - lunged - good after 10 days off, but he kept wanting to roll

28th - 20 minutes in the arena today, very windy, Basil was very jumpy and we stuck to walk and trot

31st - lunged, good today

This is how August looked:

1st - rode in the arena today, walk & trot circles and serpentines, quite nice work.  Canters were OK but a bit fast

3rd - lunged and very good

4th - arena again and windy again and Basil was jumpy again so we stuck to walk and trot

5th - hack out, first time leaving Tommy on his own and he was fine - off down the field eating when we got back

7th - lunged, what a star

8th - arena with some good trot serpentines, better canters with the correct leads, bit fast but more balanced

10th - lunged, another loopy section half way through

11th - lovely hack again

12th - too wet today :(

14th - lunged, Basil jumped at the black cat which was in the corner of the arena but was mostly very good

15th - arena today and Basil was a bit jumpy - early and a bit dark so pigeons still waking up in hedge!  Walk & trot serpentines were good, balanced and rhythmic.  Walk leg yield was OK but a set his jaw on left rein (thinking canter was soon!) Tried to canter right first and got wrong lead.  Getting more balanced but too fast, canter on the left rein and we got the wrong lead twice before getting the correct one

17th - lunged

18th - hack

19th - too windy, too risky

21st - arena and really pleased with Basil today because there was a stationary tractor on the other side of the hedge with the engine running for the first half of our session.  Nice walk leg yield today, trot leg yield was a bit fast, but generally some good trot work.  Canter leads were a disaster today and to fast.

22nd - lunged

24th - lunged had a buck today

25th - hack out today, proud of him as a bit windy.  I am really looking forward to going further afield now

26th - arena, trying to fit it in before the rain arrived this morning.  Lovely trot serpentines, cantered early today but meant that the trot leg yield I tried to do afterwards was a disaster.  We did get the correct leads on both reins today though but canters a bit fast.  Early trot work was lovely.

Sorry, today's blog is so long, lots to catch up on.

Have you seen my new video 'One Sunny September Day!'  on my You Tube channel?   
Horse Life and Love.  Please check it out and SUBSCRIBE.

You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates on Basil, Tommy and Daisy.

Until next time!   

Jo