Horses roaming the meadows

Our friend Adrian and his mother has borrowed our meadows above Nant y Coy to place four of their highland breed horses for a few months to rest their fields.

There is something magical about having them there, it brings the landscape to life somehow.

Lessons 7

I've finally had a chance to catch up on my blogging!

Lesson 7 (last week) was great, with a change in the regular school riding work to make the most of the warmer weather my instructor took me out for a hack.

We did a little road work heading down to a quiet lane near the riding school, and then heading off across the cross country training field.

We kept a steady walking pace, challenging the balance as Lyric went up and down hills.

We made our way back to the riding school in a rising trot.

I managed to dismount without falling!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad, how flash is that!

She's not a horse but this is Teacup

When we turned up at our old Tea Factory in Pembroke Dock one day at the start of June 2010 we found someone had left this poor little scruffy puppy outside. We took her in dried the rain off her and gave her some food. After three weeks of working with Radio Pembrokeshire and the local Dog Warden we had no luck in finding her owners so we adopted her.

She's mischievous and wonderful, and very VERY friendly. She's often found playing with her friend Gem, our Retired Greyhound in the nature valley behind the mill, where she seems to always end up in the stream having fun.

You can follow Teacup on twitter @pembteacup

Just back from riding Troy.

Just back from South Pembrokeshire meeting Troy with Amy and Kate.

He's a lovely horse, well mannered and a great personality. After seeing him out hacking he was a slow, careful and friendly, Kate and I were impressed.

Once we had him in the School ring he livened up -a little too much perhaps-, as he got very excited trotting and cantering. Kate and I both felt he was perhaps a little too much horse while in the schooling ring. Kate enjoyed the lively ride, as she cantered around, I stuck to a rather controlled walking pace, although tempted to try a trot pace, I thought he was too excitable in the schooling ring.

Amy's suggested I try him trotting out on the field as he better behaved when hacking out. I'll have a think about it and speak to her soon.

MOST IMPORTANT THOUGH! I did three dismounts without falling off and without any bruising!

Thanks to Kate for the great advice and testing him with me.

Off to meet Troy on Saturday.

Troy is a Cob horse, who lives down in South Pembrokeshire.

As i've been riding I keep telling myself, "Not until Summer!" when both my riding and understanding have improved more.

However, Emma, Paula, Amy, Lucy and Laura, have all said I need to see a horse called Troy who is for sale in South Pembrokeshire.

He's exactly the sort of horse I should be looking for! He's great with roads, got a wonderful temperament and is a cob horse, which ideally suited for our fields at Nant y Coy.

I'm still not sure I am ready yet, certainly not in the riding stakes, but after a good chat with Kate, she said that learning to look after a horse in Winter would throw all the problems at me early, so I know what to expect for the next 20-30 years, and if come spring I could still enjoy it, then go for it. I love Kate's no-nonsense, throw yourself in at the deep-end and learn approach to things!

So after a chat with Amy, Lucy & Paula last weekend while at the Narberth Food Festival manning the Pembrokeshire Tea, and Upton Farm IceCream stands, I spoke to Kate on Tuesday and she's agreed to come and look at Troy with me on Saturday Morning with a view to having him on loan for 6 months before purchasing him.

I'm nervous and excited to say the least. I've already gone and bought a bucket feeder, a drinking trough, the largest poo-picker I have ever seen and a Shires' horse grooming kit.  -I've left it all in the van so Michael doesn't know yet.

Even if we decide Troy is not for me, it's part of the learning experience to look, ride and understand more about different horses, so I am looking forward to this aspect as much as meeting Troy.

Lesson 6: Trotting and tight turns

Arrived at Bowlings riding school today, Lyric very happy to see me, and I was told he was of his diet.

We got straight into a fast trot around the school arena, then I was brief on how to do a '20 metre' tight trotting circle. I started this in walk to get the basics right, then attempted in Trot. Lyric was desperate to cut the corners and slow down, but I worked on him to keep his pace. -I've been told I need shout at him more.

We carried on with rising trot and also working on some other basic techniques for a 'hacking ride' I may be doing on saturday with friends. -More on that soon.

Still a bit more work on the turning circles to do but getting there! Perfect dismount this week, no falling, bruising or awkward landings!

We took Lyric back to his stable and he looked a lot happier for his diet being over, he was almost skipping back to his stable!

Equipment buying

Had a bit of a mini horse equipment spree of late.

Below is the result of two horse stuff buying trips:
New Helmet: £49.99
Riding Shoes: £24.99
Pair of blue chaps: £19.99

Pair of black chaps: £16.99

Riding gloves: £3.50

Winter gloves: £9.00

Riding whip: £2.50

Water Trug: £7.40

Feeding trug: £10 (nice design that fits in the middle of an old tyre to stop it getting kicked over

Poo picker & shovel: £12.99

Grooming set & box: £19.99

This all seems quite a lot looking back, but through shopping around i've saved a fair bit. Most of this will last for a few years too.

I've been shopping a Horse warehouse and Town&Country Farmers in Withybush, Robinsons UK online and ebay.

My aim is to buy a couple of bits of equipment now and again so as to build up what i'll need in the long run. Better get some more work done soon to pay for anything else!