Fun Ride Time

Went with a friend to do a fun ride on the weekend in support of local riding for the disabled group (RDA Quest).

Day went so smoothly - trailer hitched, horses on, got there a whole hour early but luckily we started early too. Here's a piccy of Oreo and Olivia sharing food in the trailer (not Oreo's idea, by the way)...

Anyway, it all went very well - the ponies seemed to enjoy themselves, no falls or hurts except for at one point on a steep downhill path, Olivia decided to throw her entire body into a small step down rather than...you know...step down it...
Nevermind, everyone has their quirks (some more than others). Other progress is looking fantastic; I gave her a good long stretchy lunge on Monday and she looked FABULOUS on the lunge. Gone are the days when she used to run round with a hollow back and head looking everywhere but around the circle. She was shaped (a parelli phrase coming..) like a good banana, back up, neck down and stretching and really striding out.

Today we had a quick ride in the miserable weather, stretching again because I'm still waiting for this slight tucked-up-ness to go away, but she felt so good again. Very happy :)

Now here's a quick question...I feel every day I spend more time brushing mud out of her beautiful long, flowing mane than I spend riding her. To pull or not to pull?! The dirt is driving me mental, but without her long locks she wouldn't be my pretty pony, I'm torn!

I will let you know what I decide :)

Tucking Up

So today I thought I would write about tucking up, as in the last year this has been a constant bother for Olivia and me. It all started about March last year when Olivia started to get really tucked up with hunting. Back then she tied up twice, and after lots of vets bills she didn't have equine exertional rhabdomyolysis (try saying that fast..)

Well that was then. Once we had the all clear, I brought her slowly back into work and the next few times she was trailered up for a hack she got all tucked up too. But several trips later she was totally fine.

Now it's back!!! She was tucked up after we went hunting again but that went away after a few days, and then when I trailered her for a hack she was again, but it was the excitement of where we were going! That went away again, and then I must have pushed her too hard in the school because once again it came back. I wonder whether it's to do with the cold, does anyone else have a similar problem? I try to keep her well rugged but she is a very warm horse and don't want to keep her sweating, especially as it is so warm at the moment.

She's in light work, and after she's stretched her legs she always looks much better. In fact, yesterday when I took off her rug she looked perfect, and I was ecstatic! As soon as I walked round the corner her tummy tucked in straight away...hmmm is someone faking? I'm still erring on the side of caution, lots of stretching, no lateral work, and no breaking sweat. I've checked her muscles for signs of spasm and there's nothing, so please don't be concerned! However I would LOVE to hear from other people who've had a chronic tucker-uper? What do you do to solve the problem?

Here are some pictures I took of how she looks, it's not terrible but it's annoying for sure!

Over and out!

xox

Welcome Back ... x2

Ok... So it's been a while (again), but I'm back to do more! I've graduated from University, started a masters, living at home and got all my good old friends around me again so things are looking great.

Most importantly though, Olivia has gone from good to better. We are still trying a bit of everything. We started hunting last season which I loved although she got a little over excited and put herself out of work for several months, which in the end turned out to be a muscle strain but at least we've got bone scans and muscles biopsies to prove it..! We also did our first dressage test over the summer, which didn't go well seeing as I forgot my test and had a very tense horse. Oh well ... it was only while I was trying to get Olivia fit again to do more fun stuff like ... DRAGHUNTING! Went the other weekend and had a blast, as soon as I've got transport sorted I will be doing it as often as I can. Towing, using my Dad's audi a6, on muddy fields turned out to be a big no no. We got stuck twice on the grass at the hunt, and then putting the trailer back in the trailer park turned out to be impossible so now it' sitting in the mare's field, waiting to be used again!

I am currently laying down plans to buy a nice big 4x4 with my Mum, I'll let you know how these get on!

Anyway, she's looking better than she ever has and is moving better than ever. I was hoping to go XC schooling today in preparation for a bit of eventing next spring (fingers crossed) but the bloody weather got in the way, thank you Britain! Such a shame, but my friend who was going to take me, and is able to tow in her lovely 4 wheel drive, has agreed to do a few hacks and other xc schooling sessions over the next few weeks which is all very exciting :)

Anyway, after the vet fiasco of last year, here is my current feelings on horse care

Over and Out

xxxxx

Show Jumping Successes

I never gave an update about how things went at the show a few weeks ago. I entered three classes - Ridden hunters, Ridden foreign breeds and 2"3 jumps. Ridden hunters we came 3rd (out of 3 so no biggie) and foreign breeds we got a 4th (of 5). Concluded that we don't like showing :P Obviously we had tongue issues through the whole thing and kept picking up the wrong leg in canter. I wasn't especially gutted because I only really wanted to jump, and I wish that I had not bothered with the showing but done the 2"6 as well because despite being 1st in the ring we came third :) She did a lovely clear round and I played the corner on the turn to the last jump too safe so we lost of to (only) 2 people. So so so happy!
Here are some pictures from the day. My mum didn't enjoy the showing either so didn't bother with taking any pictures of it! I've also got 2 pictures pending that the show photographer took. I'll put them up when I get them.




Got a few things coming up before France, but I am so excited about it :) Just about everything for the way there is planned now, just a waiting game.
Jo xxx

Sucker for good advertising...

I stumbled across this video today:



It's Klaus Hempfling promoting his book/DVD titled 'The Horse Seeks Me'. I've not read it, but I am reading his book 'What Horses Reveal' slowly but surely. As you may have been able to tell from my bit down the side about horsemen that I admire, he is on there but I wasn't totally convinced. The video is obviously made to promote Mr Hempfling and show him in a good light so people buy his material and it has worked on me. The reason I dislike the book I'm currently reading a little is that the author comes across quite arrogant, and above it all. I find humility a really important aspect of being a horseman, in fact I think its an important quality in any career. There's no point saying 'I can do it all' because then your audience will just be waiting for you to get it wrong. I guess we can look at Pat Parelli and Catwalk last year at Stoneleigh Park, just as an example. Although the Parelli's maintain that Pat was doing the right thing, it just didn't look pretty or calm. I think horsemen should say as little and they can but show as much as they can. People are always more impressed when they are suprised. Besides, that way you don't set yourself up for a potential fall.

Anyway that wasn't the point of the blog. What I wanted to right, was that I really like the way Hempfling moves with his PRE Stallion. I thought there was such harmony there and it was pleasant to watch. I want to get that book and see what else he has to say in it. It was written before 'What Horses Reveal' so perhaps he isn't as arrogant in that one as he has become since gaining popularity.

Does anyone study much of his material and have any opinions? I'd love to hear from you.
Jo xxx

So much going on!

So exciting how busy I've been. It's my holidays but I'm more shattered then I was at university.
I've been teaching my brother to ride on Sundays when he's home from work and last week we took the camera and he took some cool pictures when I jumped on to show him a few things.




Then on Wednesday night I went with some friends to a local open schooling jumping course at a yard round the corner from us. It was mini week, so the courses I did were 1ft9 and 2ft. Olivia had never gone round a course though so I wasn't too bothered about heights. I was just so impressed with how she got on! In the 1ft9 she refused one jump once, but we still came third and in the 2ft we did a clear round and came 1st. So proud of my pony!! She was jumping the jumps HUGE though. After the grids I've been practising with Emma she has become a lot more careful about the jumps, and it shows in the photos a friend was taking. Here are some:




I've caught the showing bug now anyway, and on Sunday am planning to go to a local show and try out a 2ft3 course.

One thing that struck me was how excited Olivia was about the jumping. When I went in to do the laps of honour she was so on her toes about going into the ring. I think I've found the sport that makes her tick, and luckily for me it kinda suits me too :)

Love Jo xxx

Jumping

I had a jumping lesson yesterday with the fabulous Emma, it was possibly the hardest Olivia has worked in several years. Emma set a grid up for us to do: 3 uprights with a stride between and a canter pole. Olivia loves to jump, especially if she can run through at a million miles an hour (except for the one time I took her to a show and we got eliminated at the first jump). The grid stopped her though and made her (and me) really think. I haven't had ridding lessons on other horses since I got Olivia, so about 4 years, let alone jumped another horse who's more technical. I got a shock as she slowed right down and realised my position had gone to sh*t!!

Olivia often chucks her head up in the air and hollows her back after jumping Emma gave me some useful tactics to help stop her doing that. The lesson was great fun and I learnt a lot, especially that if she would only keep her tongue in her mouth and focus on the jumping then she would do much better. I've been thinking for a while about getting her a grackle as a jumping & just special occasion bridle. The bridle I've got at the moment is really horrible and casual looking so I'm adding grackle to my birthday list, fingers crossed!

Since it's been so long since I blogged let alone posted photos here are some to show you how she's been getting along the last couple of years.




Love Jo xxx

Try New Things

Always somewhere in my new years resolution list...

I've recently started a new bed with wood pellets (www.lancashirewoodpellets.co.uk). Got the stuff since I've gone onto DIY now I'm home for good, and shavings are just far too expensive, especially with my extra wet horse. It was getting beyond gross to muck out. For those that don't know, wood pellets are an alternative bedding which, apparently, are more popular in the states. They are cheaper than shavings, more environmentally friendly because they degrade quicker, and quicker to muck out (which is definately true). The wierd thing about them is that when you bed down for the first time you have to water them so that they expand. The glorious thing is, they soak up wet! So ideal for wet horses like Olivia. I put them down about 4 days ago, and mucking out has never been so quick. Where I used to get a full wheelbarrow of muck out a day, now I take out about a quater. Even though Olivia kicking and burying her poo, the way the pellets fall through the fork like a sieve means minimal bedding is removed. Hooray! Me likey, I'll let you know how she gets on. If you want any more specific info about the wood pellets just email me - jo.bialkowska@hotmail.co.uk.

That's not the only new thing - NEW BIT! It's great, she's still sticking her tongue out but she's a lot lighter on the bit a lot more of the time. Result.

I'm also going to go back to the level 3 booklets and work my way through them again so that everything's polished for France and we can learn new stuff. I'll write how she does and hopefully will soon have pictures and a new video. Can't wait for September!!
Love Jo xxx

New Found Motivation

Good morning all,
It's been a fair amount of time since I last blogged, but I thought I may as well get back into it as I've got a lot of time and writting down gives me a chance to process what goes on when I work with Olivia.
All is good in our world, I've been away for 3 weeks so Olivia has had a lovely break and, unsuprisingly, has got a bit full of herself. I got back to find out she has been beating up her field mate and hassling the staff when they bring her in. Woops! I worked her for the first time yesteday, only for about 15 minutes of groundwork. She cantered over to me in the field when I went to fetch her, normally she just plods over which goes to show how exuberant she was feeling. In just 15 minutes there was lots of rearing and defiant behaviour but by the end she was happy to just calmly stand by me. My always hungry horse also insisted on eating the grass every time she wasn't moving; she even tried to trot and graze which produced a lovely looking stretch but wasn't really what I was going for. Probably my mistake in working her in a field that has been rested during all this rainful and sunny weather and so is full of long, rich grass.

In other news, while I was away I was watching a video I had made of me and Olivia (http://www.youtube.com/user/princessjoxxx#p/a/u/0/3kjp6OaBIjI if you're interested) and I noticed that when I used the parelli/myler cradle bridle Olivia's tongue was much quieter. Of course there is the exception of when she was really heavy in the hand during the back-up and her tongue pops out, but when the contact was light she was light in the mouth. For reasons I can't remember, but I'm assuming it was to do with being a bit hungry for some money, I sold the bridle and bit a few years ago and have been using a simple snaffle since. Well yesteday I ordered a new myler bit with a high port and am hoping that it will help with the restless tongue syndrome. The myler version is slightly cheaper than the parelli, and I didn't want the whole cradle system because I want the connection to be with her mouth rather than all over her head. When it arrives I'll let you know how she gets on with it.

Anyway, now that I'm back for a solid two months until I go to France (with Olivia) for 3 weeks - more about that another time - I'm happy to be able to try and get some proper work done with her and accomplish some new goals. Ideally, a quieter mouth.

Over and out, love Jo xxx

Minor Falls, Major Lifts

Quite frankly, the last two days have been rubbish. Olivia's become really bolshy and disrespectful. She doesn't look very happy and I'm definately not. I'm so glad that tomorrow I've got a 1h30 lesson with Terri Martinus, maybe she can help me deal with Olivia when she's in that mood. Or maybe its me! Its been horribly rainy weather, I have a horrible burst blister on my foot that rubs against my boot, and I've just got an injection which has made my arm achey and weak. I'm supposed to be enjoying a week free from school, but I have to spend every minute I'm at home revising for the exams I've got next week. It sucks.

Anyway, I've been watching a lot more of the new levels, and to be honest I find that they have so little structure or instruction. When I'm reading back over the old level 3 booklets, they have so much infomation and detail that's easier to learn from. So I'm going to ignore the new levels for now and work my way through the stages. Stage 1 seems so simple - I've been absent-mindedly playing with the concepts for a while, and I have Olivia trotting sideways and backing up (slightly)quicker. I thought I had canter on 22 ft line down to pat, but now when I ask for it Olivia can barely do one circle at the canter. Freestyle is a different picture. Although our isolations are nothing to be proud of, the simple lead changes are just beautiful, and flying lead changes are really coming on. Yay!

I never explained my title, I was sitting at home feeling sorry for myself and heard the lyric from Rufus Wainwrights (however its spelt) song, hallelujah, And it got me thinking that no journey is full of highs. Recently, the highs have seemed too good to be true. I don't think the last few sessions have been rubbish; they've just not been the standard of our previous sessions.

I like to think I'm emotionally fit, and when I'm happy I am VERY emotionally fit. But, just like my horse, I'm a super emotional person and if one thing goes wrong I can see the wrong in everything. Something for me to work on. It's my attitude thats bought on this dip in our progress.

Savvy wishes !!

Long time, no see!

It's been a while since I posted because I've been so busy, good or bad, I don't know. (Actually, more likely bad because I'm not so much busy because of Olivia, more because the scary A-levels are looming!!).

Anyway, major breakthroughs recently. Since I've been driving and able to get down everyday, I've been able to spend a lot more undemanding time. The weather easing also helped with that. Our liberty went from being non existent to just beautiful! The smallest area I can work in is the 60x20m school. If I wasn't so lazy, I could fence off a section with some jumps but unfortunately I'm not very strong, and would be puffed out after such strenuous work :P Anyway, all of a sudden everythings come together and Olivia's been doing circles around me, like SMALL circles! As I watch her I can see her consider pissing off, but I've had to exert MASSIVE control, and 'trust her to respond, but be ready to correct'. I think getting handy with the 45ft line has helped a lot in that respect, because now I can coil and through pretty quickly, Olivia is thinking 'daaym. Now she can get me from 45ft away? RESPECT!!' So thats my theory on why its come together anyway.

I also had fun running around with her cantering after me, doing sudden stops and changes of direction, and started a bit of the cutting. The expression on her face is just like, 'wow, who knew Jo could be so much fun!?'. It's awesome.

My fore-mentioned laziness also means that taking Olivia (and her field mate - we aren't allowed to leave a horse in a field on its own) up to the yard, saddling her up, taking her back down to the school, doing my thing, taking her back up to the yard to unsaddle and bring her horsemate back down to the field is just too much! Instead, I've used it as an opportunity to improve my bareback riding, and there have been massive changes. From being bounced all over the place, I can now sit to her canter (woopee!!!). It's not as great as my seat in the saddle (I don't want to brag, but my independant seat in the saddle is pretty solid) but it's getting there. I find that so many things are revealed when I ride bareback, such as my right leg tends to tense up and shorten a lot. I think this is why people always talk about my stirrups being so uneven. A couple of years ago I was hit by a car on my right side, and I never went through the physio to get the muscle working again, so that leg just got weaker and weaker while my left leg got stronger. Unfortunately, this isn't helped by Olivia also having uneven muscle; with her left side being much stronger. So we really have to work together to bring our right sides up to the same level as our left sides.

Loong post today, sorry about that! There's just so much to say!! Anyway, tomorrow I have a lesson with a classical dressage trainer as part of a clinic my yard is organising. I am so excited - I've designated my mum as photo taker and video maker. So hopefully loads of pictures to come. Until then - here's a couple recent ones of Olivia.

From Jo and Olivia

From Jo and Olivia

Happy Holidays!!!

Merry Christmas ! Unluckily, the snow missed christmas by just a few days, but I've got a picture of Olivia in a light white covering from last week.



Today was the first day I played with Olivia since before Christmas Eve. She wasn't keen on the idea of coming out of the field, but I made sure that when she wasn't with me she was getting some exercise and it certainly didn't take long for her to come running straight to me, and then she really did not want to leave! So we played a bit with the question box online to prepare for a nice riding session. I've been working on my bareback riding for a while now for two reasons - 1. my independant seat bareback is light years behind my seat in a saddle especially in canter 2. I've been too lazy to lug my saddle around :)

Anyway, we played question box and bullseye at walk/trot and it was nice. Then we started cantering, which I'm unsure about. I know that I tense up a lot more in the canter and thats probably the reason for her being silly. She tends to toss her head about a lot and she does short, snappy strides and stops, and does little bucks and jumps normally. Because her canter is lovely under saddle, I can only assume she does this because she feels the tension in my body. So she was giving me the same today, and we just kept going through it. And then, she did the LOVLIEST rear ever! I say lovely because it would have made a beautiful photo, she was veery left brain about it and I wish my Dad had caught it on camera. Unfortunately, I hadn't asked her to do that. But after the rear everything just fell into place. She did lovely canters to both sides, and I felt totally at ease. I really wanted to keep on going with that canter, but I heard Linda Parelli's voice in my head: 'ride for tomorrow', and so I left it at that and cannot wait to see how she goes tomorrow.

Hope everyones had a fantastic christmas! Can't wait for the new year and what it will bring

Polite, Passive, Pesistance

I started this post last week, so its a week out of date, sorry!

I think that is the main lesson I learnt today in my lesson with Terri Martinus. And along with that line, is a story she told me. When she was in the Florida centre, she was lucky enough to have a talk from a top trainer from one of the water world parks. Now this lady had trained dolphins, whales and other trainers, and one whale she trained was named Shamu. Now just the week before, Shamu had put another of his trainers into hospital. One of the students on the course asked why/how this trainer had ended up in hospital, and the lady said 'we tell or whales/dolphins to send like this (much like the way we send our horses), but this trainer made the movement twice with his finer, and Shamu was such a dominant whale he was having none of it and just went at him'.

Ok, so obviously Olivia is NOT that extreme, but she is like that! She is so very very sensitive but also needs to be TOLD you ARE going to do this.

We went right back to basics today, and spent most the lesson refining the first 3 games. We started to get really picky about what I was asking, and rather than boring her to death, this actually caught her interest. I've never seen my horse yawn so much!

Working REALLY hard on my emotional fitness..

Because, I really want to throw the hugest tantrum that I can't be at the NEC celebration this weekend :(
Was sooo close to going - I've been deadly ill all week, and I was hoping that my geography teacher would say it would be better for me to not come on the school trip to Cardiff. Sadly, I think he barely noticed me sniffing and coughing away today in our lesson (the first one I've been at all week), and so I can't persuade my mum to let me skive. Ah well, I got my email this morning saying the whole would be televised which is (in Scrubs' JD style) AWESOME!

While everyone parelli in the UK is in Birmingham, I will be in Cardiff on Saturday and then back home on Sunday, hopefully having my mum take some photos of me doing cool stuff with Olivia. Last week was a massive break through for us, we got the bridleless canter (everyone now, woop woop!!!). It was loverly, I felt so in tune with her. In fact, the whole session was like we were on a cloud. She was so responsive, and kept a real tab on her emotions when I asked her to go faster and then slow down (when she would normally get a little stressy).

Anyway, after an amazing and motivating session like that its inevitable that I would get ill and not be able to do anything. But the last week at home as let me get back on top of all things of Parelli. Finally caught up on the last 2 savvy club DVDs, loads for me to play with there! I also finally began reading 'Natural Horsemanship Explained', a book I must have bought over a year ago. How embarresing that I'm only reading it now...!! I guess thats intensive UK education for you. Boo!!

Oh well, I'm dead excited becasue I'm going to be pestering a friend on blackberry messenger all weekend for the gossip from the NEC, I'll still be able to order the DVD, not to mention the new levels that are coming out, AND I'll still get to spend a little quality time with my beautiful horse.

I'll try and get some pictures on here soon, I hate this blog being a big fat chunk of writing. YUCK!!

So...this program REALLY works?!

After a month of doing nothing coz I've been so busy, sunday I finally got back into the swing of things and took Olivia for a little online stuff. She was in one of those 'MAKE ME' moods' which I understood because it's been a while since I've exherted my authority over her. Anyway, as I was bringing her in from the field I noticed how bolshy and badly mannered she was becoming, after JUST a month ?! Her respect for me was waning very much...

So on Monday I came to get her in, and the little angel came straight to me :) After Sunday's session, as I was taking her back out again I was thinking 'dam, after today Olivia's not gonna want to come to me on Monday...' Then I smacked myself on the head and remembered not to give horses human emotions. She wouldn't be annoyed with me, she would respect me as her leader. And surely enough, she did :D

So online was beautiful, got a lovely sideways trot (although her hind end stills lag behind a bit too much for me to be REALLY happy with), got some lovely figure of 8s going. When I got on, the whole ride I barely had to touch the reins (I'm thinking ready for some really bridleless soon..yay!!). I'm just so happy with how we're progressing.

Also, in the good news, Terri Martinus (2* professional) is hopefully going to be coming to give me a 3hr private lesson in Decemeber, which should be great and really helpful with getting us out of this end of level 2 rut we seem to have got stuck in.

And if life couldn't get any better, I got an offer from one of my favourite universities the other day. WAHOOO !!!!

Poorly Pony

Poor Olivia was feeling down over the last couple of days with a mild colic :( She hadn't touched her food (this is a horse that literally inhales her food normally) and she was very uncomfortable. Annoyingly, my mum wasn't home and so I couldn't get down to the stables, but lovely lovely Emma and Sharon stayed until about 11.30pm to wait for the vet to come down and take a look and to make sure she was ok before she was left for the night. I love where I stable my horse :D :D

Today I went down straight after lessons, and she was much perkier (phewww) and was eating her hay. Took her for a little walk to stretch her legs coz she wasn't turned out, and by the time I left she was looking a lot happier (as was I).

It was a bit of shock because my horse is never ill, and also because its really difficult for me to be down there and I trust everyone 100% but I'd like to be with her. At least its all good now, as long as nothing happens next week when I'm away in Rome with school. Then I have a week free so I can begin to bring her back into work, and we can really dive in level 3.

And in brilliant news, I've booked my driving test for December, so FINGERS CROSSED!!!!

Growing Up

I think that's what Olivia is doing. She's beginning to mature and grow out of her silly ways a little.. She still throws tantrums but they aren't temper tantrums, and she's much more willing to cooperate than she has been. This weekend has been an absalote pleasure to spend with her, and shes really made my days !!

We can begin a session now and straight away she finds her comfy trot AND canter. Both online and freestyle. So I began to play with monkey riding at the canter, which so far she won't relax into it, but I'm just waiting for her to stop fiddling with her tongue so much when she feels the concentrated rein. I'm going to re-emphasize the monkey riding at a trot a lot as well, so that she remembers the feeling and will find it easier to transfer into the canter.

Yesterday my brother had a little ride, and I was really impressed with how she responded. He has ridden before, but just jumping on his friends horse in Poland, going for a bomb round the country side and coming home, so position, relaxation and calmness isn't very important for him. He picked up fairly quickly, and I think he was pretty impressed when I told him to 'stop his body and sit deep' and wooaah, Olivia came to a halt :) I'm so proud of my pony!

Today she was in a bit of a sluggish mood, so we played with our porcupine game and some transitions online. Her hindend yields are very ball-like, she just flows straight away from my fingers, every now and again breaking contact. But her front end yield and sideways yield is a bit rubbish. Something to do with being a LBI, she likes having that neck to porcupine/drive ME away, so she ain't to impressed when I play the same game with her. Transitions were beautiful, and I had a few circles around me at the walk without a single attempt to change direction or gait, which is a big thing for us because she finds walking aimlessly (as it kind of is in a circle) quite boring. What a star!

I have loads of photos from Saterday, here are some I picked out:

excuse the sun, I just love the way she looks in this photo. Totally loose and relaxed




very few corrections on the bullseye




my brother riding


standing on top of a horse, and yet he still must pose for the picture!


so i decided I want a posed picture too :)

Photos

Larissa sent me some photos from the Bissell Wood course today, which is awesome! I put some up on my facebook page, so if you would like to see just add me as a friend

I would add them on here, but I'm so busy at the mintue I barely have time to write this :P

sadly, the follow on course at Bissell Wood next year is at the end of May, which is smack bang in the middle of my exams meaning there is absalotely no way I can go. It sucks, but sometimes life chucks these things at you and I'm sure its because theres something much better around the corner which will benefit me and Olivia even more :) Positive thinking, aye!

Don't be shy of adding me though :) xx

And so it begins...

The beginning of the end. My god it's scary, daunting, fullfilling and exciting at the same time. We are well into the school term now and teachers are feeling confident to give us ridiculous amounts of homework. I have actually forgotten what my horse looks like since I haven't seen her in so long :(

Last Sunday she was a little star when I just did about 15minutes of online with her, just warming up to ride. By the time I got round to riding her, the horses had been bought in from the fields and we were alone at the school. That freaked her out quite a bit. I spent the whole session practising our lateral flexion until she relaxed, and she eventually did chill out. Her tongue was going crazy with its silly licking thing though, so I know she wasn't confident, its something I've got to work on, but it's hard because I don't know when other people will be using the school, so it's just luck (or unluck) if one day we turn out to be on our own.

If we had a graph of our progress, I reckon that we are a stable line going across, so increase or decrease at the moment. I wouldn't except anything else since we have so little time together, but its so frustrating because after a massive 'up' in our savvy over summer I really don't want to be pottering about at the same level. It's important for us to do this though, get our feet on the ground and heads out of the clouds before we shoot for the stars again :)

Hopefully pictures soon xx

What happened to time ?!

I can't actually believe I haven't posted since I got back from Turkey. It's like every single second has been jam packed.

I had a brilliant holiday, got nice and tanned, and am safely back in chilly UK. Olivia is fantastic, she really couldn't be better. I'm gutted I have so little time to work with her because just before school started we really started to accelerate our learning.

But now its my final year of school, which means from now until October is packed full of university applications, personal statement etc. And then its packing everything in for the a levels at the end of the year. So literally all I got at the minute is weekends. And even then its not great because 8 - 2 I'm working and really tierd by the time I can do work with her. But oh well.

Good news, we went to see a car the other day and we've put a deposit on it and its coming home next week YAYYY!! Its a 2006 little black polo, super cute. I've got lessons planned and hopefully I'll find a minute to book my theory. My goal is to pass before christmas, and then I can go to Olivia every day.

So theres a super rushed update on my life, its 9:20 pm and I'm shattered and rushing this.

Hopefully I'll be able to get someone to take some photos soon, and hope you're all progressing well !

Jo and Olivia xx