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!

Lesson 5: Rising Trot & Transitions

22nd September 2010

With the new instructor again, and Lyric slightly more naughty this week, we continued working on the Rising Trot. Either through his naughtiness or my poor commands he kept dropping back into walk or cutting corners in the arena.

The instructor said it was probably more him and suggested I try holding a whip, not to use, but just hold. As they are trained to accept riders with lunge lines and whips they respect and behave when a whip is present.

Suddenly he was a different horse. He listened to me, behaved, kept the corners as they should and stayed in trot. I managed to get my rhythm right and it worked. We worked on the transitions up to trot and down to walk, focusing on the sitting trot transitions. A little bit more work to do on these but getting there!

We looked briefly at cantering as the next transition, but that is for the next lesson!

Dis-mount this week was more of a land-on-feet-fall-over-backwards technique again, this time with added extra mud.

I must work on this bit harder!

Lesson 4: The cheeky extra one.

17 September 2010

Well... Thursday afternoon I thought, I fancy a ride... I phoned up Bowlings, and booked an extra lesson the following day at 3pm. A good excuse to 'bunk' out of work for the afternoon.

Determined to master the rising trot this week, sense of rhythm or not I will do it. I had a different instructor this week, as my first one was returning to University to continue her studies.

New instructor informed me Lyric was still a bit 'naughty' as his diet was still on, while waiting for the previous lesson to finish, Lyric was certainly trying to make me feel sorry for him looking towards the food and trying to nudge me to get him some. -He didn't win, although I did sympathise with him.

We really focused on the Rising Trot. I found the rhythm at last! It suddenly stuck. I kept loosing it on the corners, and found keeping Lyric at trot pace quite a challenge as it meant kicking my heels in while rising and falling in the saddle.

By the end of the lesson I had the trot going well.  Dis-mount this week was less graceful again. I managed to get down ok, then stepped back and fell on my bottom in the mud.  Technically this was just me not being able to walk and not falling off the horse though.

Lesson 3, Rising Trot (or not bouncing and panicking)

15th September 2010


After the first two lessons I again couldn't wait for Wednesday to come quick enough. I'd been off at the Really Wild Food Festival the weekend before, and since then been so busy with paperwork at the Tea Company I needed an afternoon off.

I'd purchased a couple of horse riding books and spent ages looking at the diagrams below to try and understand this trot business better.

As I got there, Mrs G, was very excited as there was a double page interview with me in the local newspaper, focusing on our work at Pembrokeshire Tea. (Local celebrity status improving I guess lol), she asked if she could introduce me as one of her pupils to a group of local WI ladies who were spending the afternoon with them. -On horse back of course.

I mounted Lyric -from the block again- and walked him over to the gallery area to say hello. It was odd talking about work from Lyric's back, but interesting, they had all tried the teas we produce and were impressed. I think that counts as my most interesting public speaking exercise, but helps with horse control I guess.

I spent the lesson working on my balance, turning, and improving my overall control of Lyric, who had started a diet that week so was not in the best of moods.

He was certainly being 'cheeky' this lesson, helping to highlight areas of my controlling him I needed to work on.

Dismount this week was less graceful. I slid down, managed to get my feet on the ground, and a stirrup shaped bruise on my stomach. Nevermind. :0)

Lesson 2: Now it begins.

8th September 2010

After the first lesson, this week could not come quick enough! I arrived said hellos, and then went to meet Lyric, he remembered me and once again come over for a nose rub. I spent a bit more time also finding the "right spot" on his neck which he liked.

In this lesson we covered rising trot basics... a lot harder than the walk, but exhilarating as it is moving faster. My sense of balance, nerves and having no rhythm let me down! We slowed down the pace and perfected the basic walking techniques. Another successful dis-mount with no falls!

I enjoyed it all and eagerly awaited the next lesson!

Lesson 1: Meet Lyric.

1 September 2010


I arrived at Bowlings Riding school, slightly nervous and 30min early. I met Mrs G, the owner of the stables who instantly put me at easy with her wonderfully friendly manner. I was introduced to my first instructor, and then given a tour of the horses and facilities there.

I had my new riding hat, my new chaps, riding gloves and boots, all from the Equestrian Warehouse in Withybush, where quite by accident we bumped into Kate, who helped me choose what I needed.

Mrs G was very interested in Pembrokeshire Tea and what we do as she had seen/heard us in the local press and radio, so we chatted for a while as they got Lyric tacked up for me.

Lyric from Bowlings Riding School

Lyric is a very tall horse, at 16.3 hands (someone is going to have to explain these measurements to me) he is one of their largest, but very safe and very friendly.

He gave me a quick assessment and decided to offer me his nose to rub as way of an introduction.

They then took him to the indoor school and sent me off to wait on the mounting block.

I was shown how to put my hand on the saddle and left foot in the stirrup, then swing on to the saddle.

It felt very odd for a few seconds, Lyric was great just standing still for me. I was passed the reins and told to hold them like 'TeaCups' with my thumbs outside, then shown how to make Lyric walk.

An odd movement, of slight swaying and bumping, but exciting, I think that first sensation of horse movement will be something I hope to remember for a long time, pure excitement. I was shown how to 'Whooa' (stop) and the basics of turning with the reins.

We spent the lesson getting me used to Lyric, how to move my legs to request a turn, how to balance and sit and then dis-mount. I didn't fall off!

I walked Lyric back to his stable and said goodbye.

Once back at Nant y Coy all the TeaLadies wanted to know how it went, I couldn't stop smiling.

Wonderful.

How not to fall off... Or my new adventure in horse riding.

For years i've loved the idea of horse riding, I love the history, the sense of symbiosis with another creature and I love horses. Through, studying art at university, and then many years as a brand consultant in London I never really got the chance to be near horses. Living in London, and before that the Medway towns I was somewhat dis-connected from nature, and for years lived in cities as millions of other people, enjoying what they had to offer.


Then we moved to Pembrokeshire.


It was sudden, fun and most of an adventure. Michael (who wants nothing to do with horses), and I moved with our two greyhounds to a wonderful home in the Preselli Mountains. We lived there for nearly 2 years, learning to live in a 'remote' (compared to London) area.


We started a small company called Pembrokeshire Tea, which has been a lot of fun, and then we moved to a wonderful 800 year old WaterMill at Nant y Coy.

One of our friends, and business partners, has a horse, the lovely Kate. I read on Facebook for over a year of her trials, achievements (not noticed a falling off though) as she got back into horse riding and thought, sod it, i'll do it.

Suddenly a whole sub-culture of horse-people opened up, Emma, Paula, Allana, Adrian, and many other friends suddenly told me they kept horses, even my PA, Llinos keeps them. With a good chat with Emma, she steered me towards a highly respected local school called Bowlings Riding School, booked a lesson for me and away I went.


I used to view horses as a sort of friendly companion who is somewhere between a dog, boyfriend and bicycle. Now after 5 weeks of lessons I'm starting to change my mind.


I'll do a quick re-cap of my lessons past, and blog about lessons as I go in future posts here, and also talk about what else I get up to on here too. Watch this space.