Easter holidays

 - A week of it all - 
The Easter holidays are here !!

It Has been a fun week. Monday and Tuesday I was able to borrow my friends Appaloosa and take Z on a couple of long hacks through the woods. Monday we did a short loop ( Short loop meaning 2 hrs) Tuesday we did a longer loop and stopped off half way for a picnic. YUM,YUM!!

Monday

My word it was windy. Riding an 18hh Appaloosa i did wonder if i would be blown out of the saddle!! Thankfully i stayed there and as we dopped down into the valley the wind dropped. Although the trees still creaked which freaked Z out a little "Mam will the trees fall down?" Hahaha bless her!!

We had a lovely hack though and a plodge in the river - Horses not us haha, thankfully they happily trundle in. Im sure they smile and seem to love it!

TUESDAY

Best day for the woods! We took a picnic. It was about 18 degrees and bright sunshine. Better still. No wind! We went on a longer loop and took a picnic. We made ourselves tuna panini melts. It was tuna with red pepper, red onion and mayo. Baked in oven with cheese and then wrapped in tin foil MmmmmMmmmm. We also had some biccies, a drink and some crisps. We took carrots for the horses and let them graze while we ate. It was a brilliant day!

Wednesday -

 DAY OFF and a sunbathe for Viv. I had an appointment mid day and then had to do some shopping. I hate food shopping i really do. I much prefer the quiet countryside!

Thursday -

JUMPING!!

Z made a really cool little course and Viv LOVED it. As did my friend on her horse. Viv loves jumping. We try not to do it too often as to sicken her. Usually once or twice a week in spring/summer. Winter maybe couple times a month. She really does love her jumping though!!

Friday -

MY TURN FOR A HACK. BOY WE HAD A BLAST

I took viv on a short hack (About 50 mins) But its only short because there are many many places for a good Zooooom. And viv loves a goood zoom!! I really enjoyed our hack. We had some lovely strolls and blew some cobwebs away on the zoomy parts haha! She could have done it again how fit she is lately!!

SATURDAY - LESSON FOR Z

Z enjoyed a flatwork lesson. She worked on counting strides and then shortening and lengthening them. She did circle spirals in trot and canter 20m down to around 10m and back out again. And even more impressive than that they managed to do trot and canter to halt with a turn on the forehand 90 degrees and then strike off in trot or canter again. Viv really had to use her back and her back legs for this. Z said she felt like viv was going to bronk but realised this was her propelling her body forwards into the upward transition. Really using her back and those hindquarters! 

They are coming on so well. 

SUNDAY -

Just a little play in the arena for Z. She practiced a bit more of what she learned on saturday and just played about with no purpose just ENJOYMENT. We were going to go on a hack but my legs were too tired fom walking back and forth to work and i just wanted to sit on the blue barrel and watch :)

MONDAY ~

My neices came over to see Viv and have a little ride. They have both been dying to come but with lockdown we havent been able to make this happen. They were over the moon to be invited to come Easter Monday. Of course it was one of the coldest days of the Easter holidays so far and we had even had a sprinkling of snow! Thankfully the arena is a bit of a suntrap and it was much warmer down there! 

Viv was a little diamond as they learned how to sit in the saddle. Steer go and stop. We set up a little obsticle course together and they had fun navigating their way round it on the leadrein. They had a lovely time despite it being FREEZING!!

TUESDAY ~ 

Day off. My friends did Viv for us. She had a nice chill day in the field with her pals and I had a study day and enjoyed putting my head in my books. I am studying towards my stage 2 care exam and i have neglected my studies lately so i have been making time to really get back into learning and expanding on my knowledge. I do love learning. And BOY I have so much to learn to get to that dream of coaching!! BUT HARD WORK PAYS OFF and DREAMS ARE THERE TO CHASE. And well Im doing both of those things so fingers crossed in the future i look back on this blog post and SMILE. I will be happy to have MADE IT!!

We still have a few more days left of the school holidays and we are looking forwards to some more adventures. Lets hope it warms back up again! 

As it feels like the middle of winter!!

Borrowed my friends appaloosa again - Fantastic hack!!

 Yesterday was a fantastic fun filled day because we borrowed my friends horse 'B' again and got out on a nice hack together. It was so funny though because we got to the yard and I was toying between three different hacks and then we ended up on a fourth hahaha!! It was lovely though because Z will be going back to school on Wednesday OFFICIALLY. No more online school, no more 2.30 finishes and straight on our way to the stables. 

We are unsure how we feel about this but we are ready and willing to transition. It has to be done, we need to somehow get back to some sort of normality. As un-normal as it is, which is the hardest part!

It's now going to be all about testing, social distancing, masks and one way systems (among many other things) Rightly so. But still lets remember that these are children they just dont understand. Not like we do. And they have to live it. every day. Cut off socially. Something we all took for granted!

 BUT YESTERDAY there was no online school, because of Year ten and eleven testing days' 

SO NO SCHOOL MEANS FUN TIMES. YIPEEEE . . . 

 . . . . SO we had a FUN day together!  A HACK !!

We brought our OWN horses in for a groom. OMG. HOW MUDDY WERE THEY TODAY!! And we chatted and tacked up and got ourselves ready. It was so cool having a horse each. Well even though Viv will always have a place that is so special in my heart!

THROUGH THE EARS OF B 

18HH APPALOOSA 

We had a great time ~ We were out for about 2 hrs mostly walking and chatting. A few nice trots listening to the hoof beats, and a nice long canter. It was PERFECT!!

Hack through the woods ~ Such Fun!

 I love it when I have the opportunity to borrow my friends horse. She is an Appoloosa all 17.3/18hh of her!! She is a beaut. A bouncy beaut, but either way a beaut! 

We went for a hack through the woods. Out for about 2 and a half hours in the glorious sunshine which felt like a SPRING DAY! Listening to Z chatting away to Viv and the birds chirping away in the background was like magic. Such special moments, such special memories! 

With the nice weather we have also made time to give Viv a good tail scrub! Her tail was in desperate need of some scrub a dub dubbing with all the mudding hahaha!!! 

Today was cold though BOOHOO! I took Viv for a short hack round the block as i was pushed for time today but BOY DID I WISH I HAD TAKEN MY GLOVES! Frozen fingers on returning home!!