2017 Hacking/ Riding Challenge.... Add your photos too

Are those high vis hoof boots? You both look fantastic. I want a Charlotte DuJardin jacket (that's what you have isn't it?) but I can't justify the cost lol

I did a measly 10 minutes today because I wanted to try a canter with no bucking. It worked and he went ok. No bucks at any rate which was good.

I don't have a very good photo but I got my daughter to take one anyway. :)


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Friday after he got new shoes it was as if butter wouldn't melt and mr diddle trotted and cantered around the track on a loose rein and I thought ooh do I have my horse back after his crazy antics over the last week (including reacquainting me with the ground). Saturday we popped over a few jumps and did some schooling and he was a little rushy and strong but mostly good. So I thought ok let's do it, and still went to the comp on Sunday! the first two rounds he was stopstarty and then bolty and just not listening at all, and we had a dumb rail in both, then I entered him the next height up (our 3rd attempt at it!) and he suddenly started respecting the height and it was our best round of the day, one rail (striding was wrong it got almost everyone!) but till came 5th. And of course he jumped the two scariest the best (brick wall and jump #1 - which was actually 5cm higher than the class, and yes the rules do say there can be a 5cm tolerance but still, jump #1 should be the smallest of the course!)

Running total:
Aus: 239.5hrs
Mads: 9hrs
 
A very disappointing weekend for me. Yet again I spent an hour urging, persuading and pleading Harvey to hack away from the yard. When we eventually got to the bridleway he was happy, but back on the road heading for home he just wanted to get back. Everytime I asked him to stop he swung his quarters across the road giving us 2 close encounters with cars and generally having a complete paddy. I'm prepared to accept that they have bad days, but he seems to get worse every time I ride him and I'm starting to think his future lies with somebody else. I'd put down a deposit on a nice little horsebox for him, but as soon as I got home I cancelled it :(

On Sunday I hacked out in a group of 4 and he was fine. I think he just can't handle hacking out alone. Sadly there is almost never anyone to hack out with (the group I hacked with don't normally go out, but they went specially to give me some company). He doesn't seem stressed about going out on his own - he just doesn't seem to want to do it.

I'm going to give to give him a few more weeks, but if he doesn't start improving I think I will be selling him. I think he has had a fair chance - I reckon I have hacked him out over 50 times now, mostly over the same routes


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Hacking
3.5 hours
11 miles


Totals
Hacking
86.4 miles
28.5 hours

Schooling
2 hours 40
 
@GaryB I am really sorry to hear you may be selling Harvey. I know what you are going through as my boy was awful nappy going out on his own. I have a thread on here somewhere showing him not even wanting to go out through the gate to leave the yard. There is light at the end of the tunnel though, Marley is great now, he can still have his small moments but they are very short lived and it was just being persistent with him. Hopefully you and Harvey will work it out ;)

@SeeingSpots Yes I splashed out on myself and Marley , we both have the Dujardin range on lol Those are his second pair of scoot boots and when they brought out the new neon green colour I just had to get him them. I had to order them direct from scoot boots in Australia :) 10 mins isn't measly if you got what you wanted out of the 10 mins ;)
 
@GaryB dont decide anything too hastily, see if you can get an instructor to work with you on hacking. Ive been in this situation so many times and I wholly sympathise.. I live to hack and I have noone to ride with. What Ive found is that there are actually very few horses who will 100% hack alone.. all of the time. If you sell Harvey and get something else, you may find yourself in the same situation 6 months down the line. This might just be something you need to work through and I guess what Im saying is if you dont work through it with him, you may end up working through it down the line with something else and from what i can gather Harvey isnt actually doing anything dangerous whereas something else might. My previous little highland youngster went through a really nappy phase and i got someone else to hack her out for me for a bit, that really helped. Good luck with it whatever happens, i think you’re such a lovely partnership.
 
Thanks everyone. I am trying to get hold of instructor, and Harvey will have chance to turn the corner. I just need him to start improving as at the moment he is getting worse and he is starting to get dangerous - on the way home I can stop him, but if I do he immediately turns his backend into the road.
 
I woke up to snow this morning but the sun started to shine and the snow soon disappeared. It turned out to be a lovely day although a bit chilly and windy. Marley and I tried to work on our canter, his good rein is my bad one and his bad rein is my good one, not a good combination but we put up with each other :p I find with my bad hip I find it difficult to canter on the left rein which is Marleys good rein as he always goes on the wrong leg on the right rein. It doesn't help that during the winter our hacking is road hacks or lanes so mostly straight lines and my field is so wet that we only canter large. It wasn't too pretty today but hey ho we will just have to work on it over the summer months. We had fun anyway and by the time we got back to the yard he was a sweaty horse :D

Total ridden 26 hrs 30 mins
 
I find with my bad hip

I have a bad hip too. I was born with hip dysplasia and have metal plates in. The biggest plate is in my right hip and it's that which gives me trouble. Everyone says I've really picked a challenge in Toffee as I already ride a little unbalanced (massively improved though with my lessons) because of my hip and I've gone and chosen a pony who is slightly small for me and one that can have 'difficult' moments lol Oh well, who doesn't like a challenge!
 
Ive totally lost it with my totals sorry! however Skye was out on Saturday doing a sponsored ride and on Monday she went round a national trust park locally that riders are allowed in. Both were very, very busy either with traffic or with people walking and crazy numbers of dogs off lead and out of control. All I can say is, thank goodness for Skye.. everyone needs a Skye in their life hehe :D She was literally foot perfect and not bothered by a thing. I was a bit frustrated on Saturday as she was very lazy and it was hard to keep up but I popped on a little set of spurs on Monday and what a difference that made, I didnt even have to use them but she led the way :) She didnt even blink when my car alarm went off when she was tied to the trailer bless her. Here are a couple of pics
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And Brook went for a hack today over at a friends place which is just 10 mins in the trailer. She was super but I think the kevins are looming a bit, she was lovely and forward but still pretty spooky about things. We were walking along the edge of a field and she suddenly went whoosh all 4 feet up in the air. I got a well sat from my friend and Ive no idea where it came from but I just have an inkling the next few months may become more challenging with her haha. We were riding in the big field at home the other day and she was thinking she might have a go at napping back up to her friends but I caught her in time. Im **hoping** though that Ive found an RI who will come and hack with me too :)
 
So I'm not sure if this counts, but I started my share recently and we did 20 minutes hacking around a track on site. It was mostly for me to get used to him a bit more and get a feel for what he's like. There's great hacking near his stables so I hope to be able to add to my teeny total soon!
 
today i realised one of my aims. I trailered both Brook and Skye off to hack together in some lovely forestry that is about an hour away. A friend who rides but doesn’t have a rideable horse came to meet me to jockey one of my girls.

First off i was so chuffed they travelled so well together as thats a first :) Got to the carpark and it was really busy, as soon as I unloaded them it was clear that Skye’s lovely calm, bombproof temperament was a good influence on brook. She was honestly so chilled out with her buddy with her, so much more brave and even went off in front. We had a couple of canters as well. We played pony swapsies and got on and off both of them to swap twice and they both stood like rocks. Im so pleased that Skye is doing for Brook what I hoped she would. Lots more to come this summer ahead I hope.
 
Tues I rode for 35mins and popped a couple of jumps.

Today I went hacking, it was fab! But a train went over the bridge we were under, both horses spooked but okay, huge accomplishment for me that I didn't get off or turn around and go home after that. Really my confidence is so good right now. I still have my wobbles but my share looks after me so well :)

Total 22 hours 40mins
 
Yesterday I schooled Toffee and it went terribly. His canter just doesn't feel right at the minute. My instructor schooled him and she said it seems like he is struggling a bit so she's going to school him next week again and see how he gets on. It just felt like he was sticky to canter, like he was really finding it hard and he struck off on the wrong leg which is bizarre since he hasn't done that in ages. I'm trying not to read too much into it at this stage because he does do this sometimes and he's a challenging pony at the best of times. I don't know whether he's just finding it hard with the warmer weather being as his coat has grown back but his summer coat isn't through yet and this is making him sweat. We went out for a little walk afterwards and he was fab. Seems his forte is definitely hacking at present which of course I don't have an issue with. I just want to try and get him doing some little jumps this summer so hoping he hasn't lost his mojo in the school completely.

*I know we have no high vis on but we didn't go on the main road, we stayed to the private land and it was literally a 5 minute walk up the road and back to cool off. The land is owned by 2 livery yards and horses are constantly going up and down that section of road we were on, especially since the other yard down from ours, has to walk their horses up the road to get to their turnout so it's very busy horse wise. Any further and I would have had high vis and a BP on* :)

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I also washed his legs with some Supreme Products stain remover as I am testing it on his stained feather. Hope it works. And I bought him a cheap fleece combo for when he has his baths or when it's warm overnight but not quite warm enough to go without a rug. Feel free to laugh, the whole yard did when I tried it on him haha I don't care though, I think he looks fabulous and what are ponies really good at? Looking cute in funky rugs and fleeces! He has quite an extensive wardrobe right now haha I'm known as the crazy rug lady on my yard.


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Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, Happy Mothers Day to all you mums out there and hope the weather is as nice for you all this weekend as it has been up here for me! :)
 
First day of BST and I managed my first ever solo hack on my new share. I know it's early days but he was a DREAM, I couldn't have asked for any more. My OH walked out with us (which is also a big deal as he HATES horses lol).

I forgot to activate my tracker app but OH tells me we did about 4km.

Totals - distance 5km, time 1hr40(ish)
 
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