The Adventures of Kiki

[No_Angel]

Kiki is starting her voyage into the world of a riding horse so I thought I would start a diary of how we get on. :biggrin:

She turned 3 in July and the weekend after her birthday I decided to have my first sit on her. I had been doing a bit of backing practice with standing on a block and leaning over her. She took to it really well and didn't really notice me sat on her. I felt brave enough for my mum to give me the rope whilst she took some pics.

My first sit on

 

[No_Angel]

Her second ride I had a sit on again and let her eat. My mum led me on her a few steps and then I got off. No pics that time I am afraid.

 

[No_Angel]

Her third ride and she stood still for me to get on with my mum holding her, I put weight in the stirrup this time instead of just swinging my leg over. My mum led me down the ride while my sharers were riding 2 of the other horses, and we practiced some halt aids. I then asked to be unclipped from the rope whilst my mum walked next to me and we practiced some halt and walk transitions and turning on our own. She picked it up really quickly. We then posed for a few piccies.

 

[No_Angel]

Today I rode her again, I decided we would go for a short walk up the road as she seemed keen to go up the road last week. My mum came on Ceryn and one of my sharers came on Murf.
I gave her a good groom and trimmed her mane and tail, then tacked her up and put on her new bridle, I had made a sidepull attachment to go on a bridle I already had as she had outgrown the cob sized bridle.
I mounted her on my own using the block, full weight in the stirrup and she stood perfectly still whilst I got on. We had a little trouble following the others as she decided she would rather eat the grass than go riding but we got there with some gentle persuasion and we were on our way. We ended up over taking Murf and Ceryn and leading the way up the road, till we go to the top of the road then she decided she had gone far enough, the other 2 went first and with some more gentle persuasion we followed. We went up around the island and back home where she took me back to the mounting block. I dismounted and untacked her, just as I undoing her girth the block I had stoop up behind her fell over right behind her back legs and she didn't even flinch, I am so glad she is pretty much bombproof.
I felt completely safe on her and not worried at all, because I have had her since she was 6 months old we seem to have a mutual understanding and trust.

Some pics from our ride.

 

[tazzy-anne]

oh WOW. oh my god. i cant believe you have accomplished that on your 4th go! thats pretty amazing. ive sat on xander lots of times now, i trust him completely now to not bomb off or do anything too silly, but no way are we even ready to ask for a bit of a walk, never mind a mini hack, thats brilliant for you. she looks like an old rs horse (i mean that like she's not bothered about it all, not that she looks old!). fantastic.

on a tiny other note, have you seen the new Wow western saddle?!

 

[No_Angel]

I actually feel a lot more confident and safe on her than I do on Shay! She has always been an old head on young shoulders, but she has always been great in the way the moment she has a headcollar on she goes into work mode.
Hoping to get the aids sorted out and try some basic trec obstacles over the winter, and maybe take her for some short rides out in the trailer at a safe place as my lanes are fairly busy, then in the spring when she has more time under saddle we will start with tackling our lanes.

I did see the wow western but not overly keen on the pommel/horn.

 

[No_Angel]

We had another ride on Sunday. Got her out and tacked her up with the western saddle,mounted her on my own, full weight in the stirrup and she stood perfectly still whilst I waited my mum to get on Ceryn.
Went for a walk up the road, had a little problem getting her off the grass to start with but all went well with some gentle persuasion. Turned around at the top of the road and had a sneaky trot. I asked her for a halt and she stopped straight away, caught me off guard a little and I almost went over her head. My mum had a trot in front of us and Kiki walked nicely behind and made no attempt to follow which is fabulous,we then practiced halting whilst Ceryn walked off in front and finished our ride. I am very pleased with her :biggrin:

Heres a pic of us, I was trying to keep her off the grass.

 

[No_Angel]

I thought I would update this as I haven't done anything with her since our last ride.

This week I tried on her new tack I had made for her and my Torsion saddle that I changed to western rigging so I could check it would fit her.

The saddle should work for backing her but I'm not sure how it will air long term (for anyone interested in treeless it's a Torsion Duo saddle (17 inch) with barefoot sheepskin seat. Stirrups leathers have been put on both stirrup points and girthing has been changed to western rigging. Pad is a Christ Lammfelle fully lined pad with 1 inch neoprene type foam inserts.Pommel block is an x wide treefree block.)

She was a very good girl and led away from her friends and her haylage really well, although she got slower as we got closer to the top.
She tied up beautifully and stood still whilst I took off her rug and groomed her, then tacked her up. She moved slightly when I didn't loosen the chin strap of her bridle enough and had to crush her ear, but I took the bridle off and loosened it and she stood nicely to have the bridle back on again (bridle is a sidepull bridle made by myself).
She then posed for pictures and stood nicely whilst I moved the saddle into different positions to see where it needed to go.

I am very pleased with her and she is a lovely laid back girl, it's nice to have an 'easy' horse, I hope it continues as she grows older.

 

[No_Angel]

Kiki hasn't done a lot since my last post, just some work loose in the field.

Today I caught her, gave her a groom and we went for a little walk.
A couple if pictures

Also did a bit of groundwork with her and took a video, I look huge, time for a diet before I become a pony squasher!

 

[No_Angel]

Just got back from another ride on her.

I caught her and trimmed her feet and then tacked up, so stood as good as gold to be tacked up and then I waited whilst my mother tacked Ceryn up and then I climbed on.
She stood really nicely to be mounted as well (better than Ceryn who kept moving away from the block).
Shay was being a pillock and running up and down the fence line so both girls were a bit on edge, but I didn't feel unsafe on her at all and she didn't do anything silly, she led the way down the road in front of Ceryn.
She seemed quite keen so we had a little trot at the bottom of the road, she is lovely and smooth :biggrin:
Tried to get her through a puddle but she was having non of it :giggle: I asked if we could have another trot and my mum got Ceryn trotting whilst I kept Kiki walking behind, and then I asked her to trot to catch up.
We walked back up the road next to each other and then I asked my mum to take a couple of pics.

Unfortunately the only in focus picture I have makes her look really weedy!

She towers over Ceryn now and is starting to get a nice big bum,she;s finally starting to mature a bit.

Not a great picture again, makes her head look huge!

 

[tazzy-anne]

She looks lovely! Sounds like you're doing considering your general negativity this winter - at least you haven't had to shell out a small fortune to get her 'broken' as you're good enough to start her yourself. How old is she now - 3 or 4 this year? Eta of course she's 4 this yr, durr!

 

[No_Angel]

Yep she's 4 in July :happy: 11 days before my 25th birthday! So we will be celebrating together.

I am planning to take her out a couple of times in the trailer to get her out and about and then we are planning to go further afield around our birthday (it's my mums birthday to) and have a lovely ride out.

 

[tazzy-anne]

ooh i can meet you at the chase some time!

 

[No_Angel]

Another short ride today, on her own this time.

We practiced some trot transitions today, I put my heels on a bit too much and got a bit of a buck :giggle: we we ended up with a trot transition in the end.
Practiced a bit of rein back which she did beautifully.

No pictures of me riding but some after I untacked.

 

[No_Angel]

Another ride on my little girl tonight and she is just wonderful :biggrin:

I injured my knee just before going out but she looked after me, she stands perfectly still to mount, so goes away from the others easily and we worked on our trot transitions today, we practiced rein back and halt to trot and she was going beautifully really sharp off the aids.

 

[No_Angel]

Got up bright and early this morning and roped my parents in to help me. I got my mum on her mare and I tacked up Kiki and led her to our local bridleway, she walked beautifully over the new horse stiles that have been put in and I let her graze for a bit, my dad had come up with the car and parked in the car park and bought the steps so I could mount, I got on and she was fine no movement or anything. I let her eat for a while whilst I was on her and then we went for a pootle, we went around the bridleway through the woods and was a ab girlshe is :biggrin:
Hardly any spooking, a few looks and she kept trying to jog but pulled up easily :angel:
After our little ride I let her eat some more and posed for a few pics, we then rode home.
I let my dad go first in the car to clear the way she was wonderful and walked nicely all the way home :biggrin:
We had a car come past us and met a bike but she was so good :angel:

I look huge on her in this pic, I'm sure I'm not really that big on her :frown:

 

[No_Angel]

Well today I rode my girl again for the first time in ages!

I've put an extra girth strap further forwards on my saddle as it seems to have made all the difference, it sits on her back now and doesn't seem to move forwards at all, it also fits Shay really nicely, so we are back in business :biggrin:

She stood nicely to mount again today and plodded down the road like she'd been doing it all her life, we have a couple of short trots and then back to the field.
She is such an easy, nice girl, I luffs my scruffy pony :inlove:

She towers over Ceryn now and is in a big girl rug, a 6ft. Her head has also grown and I will have to make her a new bridle as her current one is on it's last holes and I could only just get it on her head :help:

 

[No_Angel]

My first ride on Kiki in ages again!

I caught her (very easily) and my mum caught her mare Ceryn (not so easily), and I led them both up the road and into the top gate of the field so we could have some 'alone time'.
It's so nice to have 2 horses who I can lead together without any worries. Shay wasn't too keen on his new number 1 girl being taken away from him though and was calling out to them a lot, not that the girls were worried.

I gave her a groom (she's very, very dirty!) and tacked her up. She wasn't too keen with me doing her girth up which is a bit of a worry and kept moving away. :frown:
She's now got Skito inserts in her pad so that might make a difference, we will see how she is next time. I was worried that her 26 inch girth was going to be too big on her, and I was on the look out for a 24 inch one, but she looks to be fitting it fine and she's looking more like a 'horse' now, so she will probably bulk out quite a bit over summer.

Once she was tacked up I led her down the field a little way away from the ice and climbed on, stood as good as gold to be mounted but moved away as soon as I was on, so there's something else for us to work on.
It was my first time riding her in the field and I had laid 2 poles out to walk over and we were going to practice rein back through them but we didn't get around to it.
Her stubborn side has never popped up under saddle but it well and truly made an appearance today!

At first she refused to walk forward so we had a little discussion about that, then we had a little discussion about the direction and she walked over the poles like an old pro.
We walked around the field and over the poles a couple of times trying to do it calmly until Susie and Shay decided to trot up to the centre fence just as Kiki was coming up to the poles and she did a mini rear. :giggle: We carried on over the poles and Shay and Susie realised she was boring so wondered off back to their haylage, and we did one more lap over the poles nice and calmly, then changed direction and went over the poles, we had a slight discussion about the speed in which she would like to return to her haylage, and then I dismounted, untacked and gave her tail a groom and doused her legs in pig oil.

Despite her antics I didn't once feel nervous on her, so I am really hoping we are going to have a great partnership :biggrin:

Some pics before our ride

And her new bridle and horse hair tassel. The hair is from Amber, my girl who passed away in November. I've always said Kiki is the foal Amber didn't have as their mannerisms are so similar, so it's a nice little memento of her

 

[Thyme & Me]

Sounds like you already do have a great partnership

 

[No_Angel]

Ah thank you. :biggrin: Hopefully she doesn't hate me too much :giggle: