The First Show of the Season

Well, the first show was on Sunday and it went really well! We took the little Dartmoor 3 year old colt, Lad, and he was fabulous.

The ritual began on Saturday afternoon with the hectic bathing session. He is very good when being bathed, although he's not keen on having his ears washed, so both myself and Nic (Lad's mum) got a bit of a wash at the same time! The bathing and preening went on well into the evening, but by the time the hood was on and Lad was all snug in his lovely clean stable rug, we were rather impressed with our efforts.

Sunday morning came very quickly, when more preening commenced. As you can see, Lad's still a little bit woolly, as winter isn't quite over yet! But we don't mind, he still looks fabulous and woolly is par for the course with a native breed.

He's a very handsome little man!

When we had finally finished our brushing and buffing and oiling we were ready for the off. We are lucky to have the local pony club show right near Lad's home, so all we had to do to get there was walk two minutes down the road. It was a chilled out walk, although when he smelled some ladies he got rather sprightly! Bless him, he wants to be friends with everybody at the moment and I think he grew a couple of inches on the walk down to the ring.

Because it's still classed as a winter show, the classes were held in the indoor arena. Lad acted like a real pro, he showed off when he needed to and stood well in the line-up in his M&M Youngstock class. As you can see, the judge loved him.



Well, I can reveal that all the preparation paid off and Lad won his class! So the first show of the season was a resounding success!

The next one is next month, let's see how he does! Then we'll be getting into the summer shows and that's when the real competition starts!

Onwards and Upwards!

Thanks for reading.

Sarah

The Half Halt

The half halt is something that I will always remember from my riding lessons. Mainly because I spent most of my childhood life trying to work out what it was! When my friends and I would ride together and talk about what we'd learned that week, most of us used the half halt as a mini braking mechanism. It was simply a movement in the hand and reign to slow the horse down into a lower transition..

As I got older and started riding more challenging horses and performing more difficult movements, especially when I started competing in dressage, I realised that there was so much more to the half halt.

So, what is it?

The half halt is a signal that you send to your horse, either to tell them to prepare for the next movement, or simply to remind them that they should be listening to you. It is an important tool in ensuring that you have your horse's full attention in preparation for your next task. Also, it enables you to collect your horse's energy and harness it, ready to make the most of the next sequence you are performing.

And how do you actually 'half halt'?

OK, so the half halt is not just a mini reign tug to slow your horse down. The half halt uses your whole body, ensuring you engage your horse's whole body too. When half halting, you need to ensure that you are creating energy in the horse's hind quarters. To do this, take a slightly deeper seat, engage your stomach muscles and use a little bit of leg to tell the horse that it's energy you want. Then, to collect this energy, you need to close your hand around the outside reign to keep the horse engaged. My instructor once explained it to me like the horse was a tube of toothpaste. When you squeeze the bottom of the tube, if the lid is not on, the toothpaste will just squirt out of the end. You don't want that to happen with your energy, so you need to keep the 'lid' on your horse. Keeping your horse's shape round and using your outside hand as explained will help to do this. Do not be tempted to simply hold on to your outside reign. This encourages the horse to lean on you rather than hold themselves in their own shape.

What does the half halt actually do?

The half halt, as briefly explained above, helps you prepare your horse for the next movement, or gets him or her to listen to you more intently. It enables you to balance your horse ready for a transition for example, moving from walk to trot smoothly, or from trot to canter. However, it is not just used for upward transitions. You can also use a half halt to balance your horse after a movement or transition. Sometimes, when going from canter back down to trot, riders and horses can tend to collapse back down to the lower gait. It's almost relief, the canter was great, quick get back to trot. This is not good! It is important that your transition downwards is just as smooth as the upwards one. So, to keep balance in the trot when returning from canter, half halt!

If you haven't practiced the half halt before...

Take it back to basics. Firstly, in halt, practice the actual movement in the hand, body and legs so that you become familiar with the action. Then look to using it firstly in walk-halt-walk transitions. Once you feel comfortable and you feel your horse engaging and listening to you, try moving up the transitions. You can also try lateral work, such as serpentines, different sized circles, leg-yeilding and shoulder-in. Each of these movements can benefit from good half halt signals and good collected energy within the horse and rider partnership.

So, go forth and half halt!

Thanks for reading!

Sarah

Buying Your First Horse - Part 2

The Budget

Before you even think of buying your first horse, you need to have a proper budget plan in place to make sure that you can afford to keep one. There's not just the initial outlay for the horse or pony itself. There's the ongoing cost of feeding him or her, along with bedding and stable rent. Then you have to factor in vet's bills, farrier bills, replacing anything that gets broken or worn, such as tack, and insurance for you and your horse.

So, how do you know how much all of this is going to set you back?

The best place to start is to find a livery yard where you want your new addition to live. The yard manager or owner will be able to give you a breakdown of costs related to stabling and feeding, such as your weekly stable rent, bedding that you may be able to buy through them and any feed that you may be able to buy through them, such as hay or haylage.

Many livery yards offer you the option of buying your bedding through them. Usually they will buy the bedding in bulk and then sell on to the people on their yard because this is a good way of keeping costs down. This may be the same for hay and haylage, or the yard may have the facilities to grow and bale their own hay. Either way, the owner will be able to tell you how much that part of your bill will set you back.

The average rent for a 12x12 stable is between £20 and £30 per week, dependant on the area you are in and the level of facilities included in your rent. The price of a bale of hay can vary quite widely depending on where you are buying it from. Somewhere around the £4 to £5 mark probably won't be far wrong. You will need to factor in a bit of a margin in your budget for feed, as until you buy your horse, you won't know exactly how much or little he or she will eat. If you are buying an average 14.2hh native pony, you're probably looking at 3 to 4 bales of hay a week if they are in full time. But if you're buying a 10hh shetland then you can take that down to 2 to 3 depending on their appetite!

Once you have the day-to-day feeding and bedding, you need to look at the next most regular cost, which will be your monthly insurance payment. The cost for this will be completely dependant on the horse you buy, but if you have a breed, height and age in mind you can get some quotes from different insurance companies to give you a good idea of cost for your budget.

Next there's the slightly less regular costs of the farrier. If your horse is going to be shod, you can look at paying anywhere between £45 and £100 for a set of shoes and this will be every 6 to 8 weeks depending on the rate the horse's feet grow. If your horse will not have shoes, they will still need to have their feet trimmed at the same intervals, which can cost £20 to £30 dependent on the farrier.

Another thing to take into consideration is vets' fees. Your horse will need vaccinations once a year. This will be a relatively small cost, around £50 for the visit and injection, possible more depending on your vet and how their fees work. Other than this, hopefully you won't be seeing your vet very often, but you do definitely need to bear in mind the fact that if your horse does get injured or develop an illness you may need to pay some quite big vets' bills. If you have insurance which includes vets' fees, then you more often than not will be able to claim through that. However you need to keep in mind that there is always the possibility for extra costs in this area.

Those are the main things that are a must in your budget plan. There are of course a multitude of other things you can be spending your money on, such as new rugs, new bridles, brushes, tack boxes, tools, buckets, head collars.... The list is endless!

The main point I'm trying to make is that buying a horse is not something to take lightly, especially in times where money can be tight. Please carefully consider how much your new addition is going to cost you before you take the plunge. It is heart-breaking having to part with your horse, no matter what the circumstances, so please take your budget seriously. The last thing you want is to have fallen in love with your new horse only to have to sell him or her a few months down the line because you didn't realise the costs involved. That would not be fair on you or the horse.

If anyone has any questions or comments about budgets, whether you are looking to buy your first horse, or you have one already, please leave a comment below and I will read and respond to each one.

As always, thank you for reading!

Sarah

Quote of the Day

Riding - The art of keeping a horse between you and the ground.

I love this quote. I may have it made into a sticker and put it in my car!!

Rubber Matting - Is it worth it?

I know a lot of people who have rubber matting and most of them tell me it's a godsend. I have to say I do agree with this, to a certain extent.

I had rubber matting in both my stables when I had my mare and my gelding at the same time. Both stables were a similar size, however the horses were a lot different.

My gelding was a typical gelding, quite clean and tidy. He did his business mostly to the back of his stable in a straight line. My mare was a different story! She did it wherever she was stood at the time and she was unbelievably wet! So I suppose I had the perfect pair of horses to road test matting with.

Here are my findings!

In my gelding's stable I fitted rubber matting firstly just to the front half. I had a normal bed of shavings for him to sleep on. After a few months, the shavings were getting underneath the matting and making it lift. I decided that wasn't the safest, so got some more pieces and fitted matting through the whole stable. I then put a banking of shavings around the back and sides and had a sprinkling (about an inch thick) of shavings in the middle. It was brilliant! Each morning I would sweep out the middle of the bed, getting all of the dirt out in one go. Then I would just sprinkle another inch of shavings down and that would be it! I could then do exactly the same in the evening to keep his stable as fresh as possible as easily as possible. He wasn't a very wet horse, so it was really easy to do and once it was swept out it didn't smell at all.

He seemed to like it too. He used to lie down near the back, with his head on his banking to go to sleep, bless him. Before he had matting, he would sometimes sleep quite far forward in his stable, occassionally meaning that when he got up he would graze his hocks on the floor through the shavings. Once I'd had the rubber matting fitted, he didn't do this any more, which was a brilliant bonus.

Case study number two, however, was a slightly different story. My mare was pretty filthy to be honest! I had rubber matting fitted throughout her stable straight away and did a similar thing with the bankings and the shavings. It was just as easy to muck out, however because she was quite wet most days, I would have to leave the shavings up for a little while to let the matting dry out. I also had to put a thicker layer of shavings down for her to soak everything up. As well as this, I had to take the matting up quite regularly to clean underneath, which I didn't have to do so much with my gelding's stable. As with my gelding though, it did protect her from any grazes she might have got from the concrete floor of the stable, which as I have already said, is always a bonus.

So, what's the verdict?

I think if you have a horse that lives on shavings and is not extremely filthy, then matting is definitely a great idea. It cuts down on bedding costs and on mucking out time. I could muck out both my horses in half an hour with rubber matting!

If you have a horse that is really messy and has a lot that needs 'soaking up', I still think rubber is a good option, however I would recommend having a thinker bed on top of the matting anyway, to make sure you don't constantly have a damp stable.

On a final note, I do need to point out, if you have a horse that you bed down on straw, rubber matting can still be a good option, however you would probably still need pretty much a full bed to make sure you soak up all the wet. Otherwise, straw can get pretty slippery and you don't want your steed skidding around in his stall!

If you have rubber matting, or are thinking of investing in some, please leave a comment and let me know how you get on!

Thanks for reading!

Sarah.

Riding in Winter - Safety Tips

So, the British winter has arrived with a bang! The freezing cold weather may be a little late this year, but we've had dark nights for what seems like an eternity!

How many people actually ride in this weather?

Well, unless you count those lucky few people who can spend the whole day with their beloved animals, there's a ton of us out there who have no choice but to don the reflectives, cover ourselves and our mounts in flashing lights and head out there into the dark unknown.

Because it is such a regular occurance, hopefully that means that most of us are in the habit of keeping ourselves safe and seen. However, I have seen a few strange sights recently, such as someone riding down a road with no helmet. I also saw a young child being led on a pony by an adult, on the road, and neither pony nor child had any reflective gear on at all.

This inspired me to write a little piece on safety when riding on the roads or in the dark, or both. So here are my top 10 tips for staying safe on those cold winter rides.

1. Always have the correct tack. You must make sure you have a saddle and bridle that are well-fitted for both you and the horse. Loose girths, ill-fitting bits and snapped chin straps are all accidents waiting to happen. The last place you want tack issues is a mile from home, in the dark with no one around to help.
2. Be seen! Whenever you are going out for a ride in winter, always make sure you wear reflective clothing. You might be only going out in the middle of the afternoon for an hour, but whilst the days are short, darkness can really creep up on you and you don't want to be caught out on a ride in the dark with no reflectives.
3. Light up your horse like a Christmas Tree. You can't have too many lights on both you and your horse. Anything that you can do to make yourself more visible is great. You can buy flashing lights that strap to your legs and arms, you can buy flashing bibs to wear and flashing strips to fasten to your horse's bridle or exercise sheet. The more you have, the easier it will be for motorists to see you when riding on roads in the dark.
4. ALWAYS wear a riding helmet. There is absolutely no reason or excuse good enough for not wearing a helmet whilst riding. Every rider knows the risks of not wearing a helmet, so just don't bother running the risk!
5. Try to go out with other people, especially when riding at night. If you can go out in a group of 3 or 4 horses, you can not only make your ride more enjoyable, but also stay safer. Horses are herd animals. As long as you have one or two laid-back horses in the group, it is a lot easier to keep your horse calm and steady when it has another horse to take the lead from.
6. Take your mobile phone with you. You never know when you  might need to make contact with somebody whilst out on your ride. It could be anything from letting someone on the yard know that you might be late back, to needing emergency help because your horse has gone lame. Whatever happens, it is always handy to have a phone with you.
7. Be smart. If it has been snowing all night and is freezing cold, be sensible. Take a look at the conditions in which you will be riding. If the ground is frozen and slippery, or covered in snow, do you really need to go out today? No matter how much you might want to exercise your horse, there is no point putting yourself or your animal at risk by going out in dangerous conditions.
8. Check out your horse. Before you go out riding you must check your horse over to make sure all is well with them. Pick out their feet and give them a good brush. This gives you the chance to check them from head to tail to make sure they have no cuts, bumps or lumps that may cause any issues whilst you are riding. A stone stuck in their hoof could cause bruising and lameness if you leave it there and then ride them on a hard surface.
9. Know your highway code. Make sure you know the rules of the road if you are going to be riding on one. You need to have an idea of where the traffic may come from and how motorists should be acting in certain places. Take a t-junction for example. You need to know where and when a car is likely to pull out in order to make sure that you are making safe decisions. If you do not have much road experience, it is advisable for you to perhaps ride out with someone who drives, or has been riding on the roads for a long time. Make sure you are fully aware of any traffic around you. You will need to make hand signals if you want to turn, for example, as drivers will need to know when and where they are able to pass you safely.
10. Lastly, make sure someone on your yard knows you are going out and approximately how long you should be out for. This is especially important if you are going out alone. If you were to be unfortunate enough to have an accident and not return to the yard when expected, that person could arrange for people to begin looking for you sooner than if you had not given an estimated time for your return. An hour could make a lot of difference if you are stuck somewhere, especially in bad weather conditions.

Looking at the above, a lot of people who read this will probably think I am trying to teach them how to suck eggs. But really, I don't think there's anything wrong with going over safety rules. In fact, I recommend you read all 10 points 3 times, to make sure they stick in your head. You can never be too safe when it comes to riding out, whatever season it is.

There are other points to consider, such as planning your route and knowing your surroundings. If you are going on a ride you have never been on before, try your best to remember which turnings you have taken in case you need to re-trace your steps.

Have some common sense. If you have never ridden a certain track before, and there's a log that's perfect for jumping, don't just canter straight up and hop over it. Check out the ground before and after. The last thing you want is to jump what you think is a small log only to find a three foot ditch on the other side of it.

I hope this has helped anyone who is a novice when it comes to riding out.

If you have any experiences to share, or tips on how to stay safe, please feel free to post your comments below.

Thank you for reading and STAY SAFE!!

Sarah

A New Addition

I got a message from my friend this afternoon. She has a Welsh section D colt at the moment, called Brenin. She sent me a photograph with the caption 'What do you think of this?' It was a photo of a liver chestnut Welsh section A gelding. A beautiful pony, and I told her as much.

To my surprise, she then replied, 'Glad you like it, I picked it up today.'

So, there is a new addition to my little horsey neighbourhood!

He is 3 years old and called Remy. My friend is going to be starting to back him in the summer, ready for her daughter to ride. So, expect updates on him over the next few months!

It's going to be an interesting summer for me this year. I have two friends backing 3 year olds now as well as a first showing season for a yearling colt. Lots of crazy times ahead!

Thanks for reading!

Sarah

Quote of the Day - A Thought Provoker...

Show me your horse and I will tell you who you are.

So, what does everybody think of this one?

Many people say that a horse is a reflection of its owner. To be honest, in my experience I think that might be true!

When I was younger I had a very scared gelding, he was scared of his own shadow. Thinking back on it, I was probably just the same. I didn't have the most confidence in the world, was petrified of jumping and I'd never have said boo to a goose.

The first youngster I bought was also the first mare I bought. She was highly strung, stubborn, stroppy and extremely fiery. I was fifteen at the time and pretty much the same!

Looking back over my horsey history, I think the quote above has quite a bit of truth in it. How about you? Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences. Let's see if we can prove or disprove a theory!

Thanks for reading!

Sarah