...Another lovely hack out.

Today I took Troy out with my friend Liz and her little mare. Another different environment for the wee boy, and again, he surpassed all of my expectations. The ride was around a very large dairy farm which is local, and its probably easiest if I list the things we encountered.

- Verrrrry large puddles. After a lot of hesitation, we are now the Puddle King. spent most of the ride with Troy actively hunting the puddles down, and sploshing through them.

- Big boom irrigators. Walked underneath no worries at all.

- walking over electric fence tape on the ground. Even after getting it tangled in feet (mum nearly poohed herself at that point) - we have discovered that it is best hopped over.

- Hills. Bring it on.

- Big piles of silage with black flappy plastic and tyres all over it. Yawn.

As seems to be his method, Troy marched out ahead of his company. He walks at a cracking pace, taking it all in, but always going forward. I think soon he'll be ready to tackle the big hacks out on his own.

Thanks Lizzy and Kindy!!!

Sunny weekend

Well, after all the rain we've had lately, it was lovely to get a fine and frosty weekend. Managed to ride both days - the sad part is that I took Friday off work and it rained constantly (never mind) and had a great time with Troy.

Yesterday, we played here in the paddock, then went for a quiet ride down our right of way and onto Simpson Road. All good, and despite all the scary things, Troy was very trusting and stayed forward all the time.

Today, we floated up to my friend Kelly's place in Waverley. Troy had his first long-ish ride, in the company of Kelly's lovely schoolmistress hunter. We had a lot of new things to encounter - crossing SH3, Railway lines, road signs, herds of cows grazing the roadside, and we had an absolute ball. All up only riding for an hour, but it was plenty for a little horse to think about, and he took it all in his stride.

I am so pleased with the way he loads and travels, too - as soon as he sees the float he's waiting at the gate, and climbs up the ramp on his own as soon as I head that way. :o) It was a good half hour trip in the float which was all taken in stride.

So pleased!!! An awesome day...

My next random post.......

OK, so it seems that I tend to post on here once every two months or so.....lol. There are far too many websites to keep up with these days, and I imagine anyone who was following this has long since given up!

Anyway, I'm here using this as a diary again, as I have brought Troy back in after having around 6 weeks off. He needed his wolf teeth out, and I also just felt that he needed a little break to give him a bit of headspace. Anyway, the wolf teeth came out, all good there (just waiting for the vet bill....) and my stable is all but finished. (Just waiting for the door - sort of important!)

Its been raining pretty much solidly for the past few weeks - we get the odd nice day, or lately, hour or so!

Measured Troy last week, he is standing at 165cm tall. He also now has a new friend in the paddock - Penny has come to stay until the end of the year when her owners will return from the UK. She is a wonderful Welsh X pony, a terrific school mistress for the girls.

anyhoo - Troy - the last thing I did with him 6 weeks ago was take him to Theresas place, where we went for a quiet hack around the farm. Dear Belle came to babysit, and it all went swimmingly. A good place to finish things off for a bit.

So, I brought him back in the other day. Gave him a couple of quiet minutes on the lunge then turned him out again. The next day, it had been raining, so I didnt want to lunge him on the wet ground. Decided to take a couple of hard pills, and just hopped aboard.

The wee man was a superstar. He has done so much growing, both physically and mentally. I had a lovely little ride, and another yesterday. He's so calm and relaxed, and I really look forward to riding him "properly". I hope to spend this season, just taking him to look at lots of things - little shows, big shows, just having him soak up the atmosphere.

Luke (aged 8) took some video of my ride the other day, and I've taken a few fuzzy stills from it (below). You get the general idea, anyway!!

Troyboy growing up!

Yep, here I am doing my usual once in a blue moon posting on my blog....

So...whats been happening??? Well, lots actually.

After winning his lovely wide ribbon, I did find that the 3 kids/fulltime job/two horses thing was getting a bit much. So, Maxy has gone home to his owners for the winter, for a well earned rest (and perhaps a few hunt starts!).

So, I'm pottering around with troy again, which has taken the pressure off a fair bit. Anyway, I have been riding him very slowly, and taking small small steps. He is still very young, but as you'll see from the pics, has really started to grow into himself, and is looking like a "proper" horse now.

Photos taken today - unfortunately I didnt have a capable person with me to take any ridden pics as Darcy's away, but I'm hoping to rope in a poor unsuspecting friend tomorrow.....

I am so fickle.....

Thanks for all your comments from my last post - its all been very thought provoking.

Today, I took Max to a local show, sort of end of season thing.

He took out the Champion ribbon in his ring, which as you can imagine, I was absolutely stoked with. Just when we think all is lost, these horses throw us a curve ball!!

One of his owners was there also, and he was thrilled with the way he's going. I've had a bit of a breakthrough with bitting - he's very happy in a hanging snaffle - and that has made all the difference.

Righto, hungry kids to feed.... more later if I get a chance!!

Revelations for the week.

OK, so today I really am using this as a diary. This evening, something dawned on me. Since Max has been here, my feelings about Troy have been, well, different. Obviously, because of Troy's age, I can't do an awful lot with him anyway, but really, all my mental and physical energy has gone into this flash, well bred horse that has come to stay, and wee Troy has taken a bit of a back seat.

I have started my new job, and to be honest, although a great challenge, and a lot of fun, the last couple of weeks have been very taxing. Darcy has been away, and its been absolutely full on with working full time hours, 3 kids, and two horses, one of whom I'm supposed to be putting a bit of work into.

One hears about WB horses being "high maintenance", and today, it has just dawned on me that perhaps I am fooling myself to think that I can put the work into Max that he needs. Don't get me wrong, he is absolutely lovely, I love riding him, and we have a great thing going, but he is hard work. And when I'm absolutely shattered tired, I find it really hard to focus on a horse that takes every ounce of my attention and energy.

Which is funny, really, because the very reason I bought Troy, was because I wanted to buy a horse that would emulate my dear Belle - also a clyde cross, lovely temperament, nice looking, not the greatest movement, but just a generally lovely, pretty, easy horse to have around.

So - maybe I'm not at a stage in my life for the high maintenance young WB?? Who knows! I'll give it a bit longer, as I love having him here... but, food for thought anyway!

Lazy Saturday

All is well here. Horses survived the night together with no mishaps or injuries (thank god!!!) Brought Max in this morning for a bit of light work, nothing too strenuous as its all very strange here for him.

Spent about 5 minutes lunging on each rein, and then hopped on, he was a bit looky to begin with, but settled really well and did some lovely work. I left things just with walk/trot work, and kept things short. Will do a little more tomorrow. He seems to be enjoying being here - hangs over the fence with Troy whenever the kids are outside, looking for scratches! So cute...