A day at the stables

A very drool-worthy site.... simply because of all the gorgeous horses. Am looking forward to seeing pics of the last two foals now... I expect that will be lookers...

I'm not sure, I think the next is due in around 3 weeks, the last one is due in July sometime. I'll check on Tuesday, when I'm due a day with Kim and a lesson on Merlin unless the weather breaks. I've left my camera behind, but the welsh mare Loulou and her foal are now staying with Nuts and Luna for the summer grazing, the big newly in-foal mare Megan is with Joe.
The introductions went quite smoothly, Joe and Megan have buddied up and settled well. The two mares with foals at foot are avoiding each other for now, but hopefully in a few days the foals will be playing together

Beautiful shots all round Janine. Luna is to die for, shes freakin adoreable!

Thanks Elle! I'm totally in love with the babies. I had a lovely bonding session with Luna on Saturday morning while I was trying to sort out some of the hedging. Cathy was busy with an electrician, the sun was shining, so I took a stroll down to the field with secateurs etc. Nuts was far too nosy to miss out on some early morning company so I had her and Luna 'helping' me

Had a lesson on Ben today after a busy day at the stables, and have nailed the rising trot!
First we took one of the cats to the vets to have her spaying stitches out. Then we moved 3 of the horses to new grazing, just a short walk through the village. Next was feeding and watering both stallions and the mare each is running with. Then poo-picking the fields the others are grazing in. After more barrow-loads of horse-poop than I'd ever wish on anyone, we drove over to the livery yard Ben, the thoroughbred x highland pony, lives in.
On my first lesson with Ben, Kim put us on the lunge rein for trotting. This time she surprised me by saying she thought I was ready to trot under my own steam. By the end of the lesson Kim had me changing rein, turning circles and some sort of serpentine pattern, and getting smoother transitions. I'm absolutely thrilled with the progress

(And yes, I know my arm position is wrong, I was trying so hard not to pull on the reins I forgot where my elbows were supposed to be!)

Congrats! I have to say it took me a while to master the rising trot...I had a lot of issues with finding my center of balance when I was young, so my body would just be falling all over the place!

I get up early tomorrow morning to ride the racehorse, a.k.a. Trivilin. He was brought off the track about 2 years ago and we've been training him for dressage since.

Thanks Jez. I've thankfully got very good balance, but a major issue is my short legs! There's just too much saddle for me to have good leg contact! Before my accident I was riding Nuts either bareback or with a pony saddle, but she's got her foal at foot so I'm riding Merlin and Ben who are are bigger and have bigger saddles. So I've just got my ankle and foot to give leg aids with.
After the formal lesson, I had some fun practising neck reining with Ben, because he has been trained to do western riding as well as the english style.
Next weekend I'm attending my first show as groom for Kim

You'll find as you ride more and your legs continue to get stronger, you can use your legs right through the saddle. Your main tools as a rider are your thighs and your seat, and trust me the horse can feel you even though you feel like iyou have about a foot of leather in between you and him!
I'm super excited to watch you progress through this thread - just wait until cantering!

Today I was groom for Kim and Merlin! Kim rode him and Ben at a show. I had to wash and prepare Merlin for his 'coloured ridden' class. (Ben's owner prepared him at his yard).
Kim got second place in Ben's class, 'mountain and moorland partbred, ridden', but unplaced on Merlin. Of course I'm totally biased, I thought Merlin looked and performed beautifully. The best thing was that he thoroughly enjoyed all the attention and his day out, as did Ben.