A day at the stables

Beautiful little foal! :0)

The foal has been named Lola already, but the list of names from Jen are going to be used! Today was Lola's first turn out with her protective mum.
And I met my new kitten! I couldn't choose which one today, but the mother cat did let us see her babies, @ 8 hours old here.
Had a lovely hack out on Merlin, who was thoroughly spooked by a field of sheep and needed lots of reassurance that the bleaty monsters couldn't get us.

Well good luck with the kitten, they can be quite a handful.

Originally Posted by patm1313

Well good luck with the kitten, they can be quite a handful.

O rly?

Lovely pictures Janine, I love the foal and the kittens! (I love cats, as I'm sure you know)

Have fun with the riding! My Aunt has been riding for about 6 years now, and she only got her own horse about 3 months ago. We barely speak to her anymore because she's down there so often!

All the best

David

Originally Posted by patm1313

Well good luck with the kitten, they can be quite a handful.

Thanks Pat. I've raised kittens before, and we currently have 2 adult cats, so one more furry terrorist will be no sweat! The kittens' mother is a really sweet girl, although she's nominally a stable cat she's not at all wild and will fling herself at you for cuddles. She abandoned her former owner in the village to live at the stables, so they get first choice of kitten. I don't mind whether I get the blue tabby or one of the tabby and white ones. If I get a girl, she'll be called Bonita, if a boy, El Guapo!

Thanks Dave. This was my first proper hack out since my back injury. Merlin's terror of sheep combined with a spate of big lorries passing made for an 'interesting' section of the ride. Thanks to Kim's lessons I felt confident and competent enough to keep the poor boy under control and calm enough to deal with his frights. Learning just how scared a great big pony (relative to me) can be and how much they need to rely on their rider in difficult situations is part of the safety issues that Kim and my other friend have drilled into me from my early days when I was first relearning. After we'd passed the scary sheep I had a chance to work on my trotting, I'm still getting the rhythm wrong and getting bounced a bit on rising trot, but I'll get there! Kim's going to work me and Merlin on a lunge rein for my next lesson to help with the trot.

Instead of being sensible and going to sleep after my 4th nightshift, I got changed and was collected for another horsey weekend. I went with Kim to watch her schooling some horses for clients, but fell sound asleep in the truck at the first yard while she went out for a hack.
After that we went to see another horse she's helped the owner to back, Billy is still only 6 and has been raised using Parelli and is a very laid-back horse. I found lots of ladybirds bumbling about in the meadow.
Then I went to visit my other friend's ponies, Coconuts looks like she'll foal any day now, and Kim gave a schooling lesson for Joey who was not impressed at all and bucked a few times. Afterwards Joey settled down and enjoyed a good cuddle and grooming session.
We had a girly night in resulting in a horrendous hangover this morning, spent more time with Joey and Nuts before heading home. I didn't ride this weekend, but worked on groundwork and handling skills instead

you are soooo lucky... joey's awsome. lol... he's got personality and looks.. I think im in love with him. lol.. I love how he is mostly white on one side and the other is mostly black.

Originally Posted by fu1bar3

you are soooo lucky... joey's awsome. lol... he's got personality and looks.. I think im in love with him. lol.. I love how he is mostly white on one side and the other is mostly black.

Oh, the first horse there is Billy, a french trotter cross something. Joey's mainly black with white moonboots, some slashes of white and he's got a mad eye wioth some blue in it! I'm not experienced enough to ride Joey yet, he's too inclined to buck, I've ridden him a couple of times before I got broken but can't risk it until I've got better control and he's better schooled. He is my secret favourite out of all the horses and ponies, the best ride I've had was a hack out and gallop on him and I'm hoping I'll be able to ride him again later this year.

lol..now that you mention it, i looked back and i can deffinatly tell they are differant horses.