Why I chose my horses ...

I have been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting recently.  Most people don't understand why I live my life how I do and why I have chosen it.  This quote pretty much sums it up!

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Have you seen my latest video 'A Very Windy August 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

A Very Hot Bank Holiday!

Wow, it has been hot this weekend.  Last week Basil 'told' me it was time he was in the stable at night .... he is standing by the gate when I arrive in the morning!  So, I swapped their routine over on Friday so that they are out in the daytime and in at night.  

Obviously, Basil had not checked the weather forecast as it has been a bit hot for them out in the day over the weekend.  However, I have made sure they could both access the trees at the top of the field for some shade and they have been coming up for a rest there every now and again to cool down.

 Have you seen my latest video 'A Very Windy August 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

July 2019

July started well with some lovely hacks and good lunging sessions.  This is the best time of year for hacking out early in the morning when the roads are quiet, the sun is up, the birds and all the wildlife are out and about.  It is just so peaceful and I just love going and enjoying the countryside with very, very few other people out.  Basil seems to really enjoy himself too, he walks with purpose out and home now and is just a pleasure to ride out.  He enjoys going a bit further and seeing places we haven't been for a few years too.

I am managing to keep Tommy's weight under control, he is looking well but not fat.  He seems to exercise himself most days by bombing up and down the field - which he often does when I am riding or lunging Basil in the mornings.  Luckily Basil ignores him now so we can just get on with what we are doing.  

This is how July looked:

2nd - both Basil and Tommy were being absolutely loopy in the field this morning I so ended up with no time to lunge.

3rd - rode Basil in the arena today.  Basil went down on his knees to roll, with me on top, which he has never done before.  I managed to get off and get him up before he rolled on his saddle - but a very stressful few seconds!!!  After that he was pretty good and did some nice trot serpentines,  our first canter on the left rein was pretty good, right rein was a bit fast.

4th - lunged today and after A LOT of rolling he was very good.

5th - lunged again today and Basil was not so good today and ran off and then bombed around for a while :(

6th - hack today and we went a good distance further than we have been for a few years now.  Basil was very good and we had a lovely time.

7th - hack again today and another lovely early morning ride.

9th - lunged and he was very good today.

10th - rode in the arena and none of the issues we had last time!  We had some lovely walk and trot leg yield and he really worked hard to cross his legs today.  Canters were pretty good too with very little napping although they were a bit faster than ideal.  We tried a bit of shoulder in in walk too and he tried really hard.

13th - hack out today, lovely again.

14th - another hack but Basil seemed tired today and was really dragging his back feet so I cut our ride a bit short. I decided to start doing some of the exercises which the physiotherapist (January 2017)  had me doing with Basil again. I will do these every day for a while now.

16th - lunged again and we also did some of the physio exercises in the arena over poles.

17th - lunged with pole exercises again.

19th - lunged with pole exercises again today, I thought I would do a few days of this with the other exercises on the yard to see if it helped.

21st - short hack today and Basil seemed fine :)  He is also getting better with the new road markings now and will walk over some of them.

22nd - lunged but it was quite windy so he was a bit jumpy today and I decided not to do the pole exercises today.

23rd - another lunging day and we managed to do our pole exercises today too.

25th - rode in the arena today and we did some good trot leg yield on the right rein but when we changed to the left rein Basil thought it was time we cantered and so became nappy.  Eventually he did a few OK leg yields on that rein too.  Our right canter was OK but we did not try our left canter as he was being too silly and I decided it would do more harm than good trying to get a decent transition as Basil was worked up!

Lots of rain  :( :(

31st - lunging and very good today.

Have you seen July's video 'Summer has arrived'  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