Educating Sienna  (for further info on Sienna's breeding and early years click here)

My 4 year old horse Sienna has taken a little bit of a back seat in August due to the various championships we have been preparing other horses for and because I have been so busy with lessons.

Fortunately she is proving to be one of those few youngsters who can be left for 3 to 5 days and will carry on pretty much where she left off without turning into a fizzy time bomb.

I am now able to get on her without feeling the need to always lunge her first and she will stand and allow me to mount her off the mounting block with no fuss. Now we are nearing the end of our second month I would say she is now going into the arena to be schooled in her way of going rather than just getting around in some fashion and tolerating me being on board.

Originally she was a bit stuffy to ride in the arena but now she is becoming more confident she is going much more forward, though it only lasts about 15 minutes and then I feel like a Thelwell rider with legs flapping to keep her going! She is now doing some nice canter work and usually strikes off on the correct leg. I put this down to the fact I do a lot of work with my horses on the lunge and longe reins in canter. All my horses have to be able to respond to voice to go into canter, have easy transitions on both reins and maintain canter on circles before I would even try to do it in the saddle, this enables me to know which side is their favourite before trying it under saddle and gives the horse chance to think about their balance and coordination before I am on board.

(Left Sienna snoozing in the field)

The only issue I have had with her this month was that she tried to develop a habit of throwing her head up when bridling. To overcome this I make sure I use a head collar that can be undone from on top of the nose so once the bridle is put on over the top of the head collar it can then be taken off. I have changed her cheek pieces to ones with clips on the bit so if I am by my self if necessary I can put on the headpiece first then put in the bit and clip it back onto the bridle, this way she does not get away with her evasions being successful therefore she is already showing signs of giving up this would be habit now.

 

My Horses

Misty – What a rollercoaster our visit to the PUK championships was. First we were preparing to compete in the Kingsford M&M finals for which I had high hopes of doing well. I had purchased a new sheepskin numnah to replace a nice one I used to borrow. I was warming up in the collecting ring cantered round a corner when my saddle span to almost 90 degrees around the side of her. As the girth was all done up as normal it had to be the new numnah, she went into blind panic mode broncing until I eventually came out of the saddle. Having just had a scary experience Misty was rather upset at being saddled again and to begin with felt very unsettled and sharp to ride, before we knew it, it was time to go into the ring. Misty behaved well being pulled in 12th out of the 28 horses. As it was a championship there was a ride judge I had decided if she was ridden first I would stay in the ring and let the judge ride her but if the she had to have her saddle taken off her first to go in front of the confirmation judge I would pull her out of the ring as it would be risky putting the saddle back on tight enough and putting a strange rider on her as she had behaved so nervously after her scary experience. Unfortunately only the first 8 were asked to keep saddled the rest of the competitors had to unsaddle first to go to the confirmation judge. At this point I decided it would be better to withdraw than risk upsetting my horse or risk giving the judge an unsettled ride. I felt so disappointed I did not even go back and watch the rest of the class. On a brighter note we went back on the Saturday for the interclub Challenge, Misty was her usual calm willing self and went brilliantly she finished in second place behind another excellent performing pony.  During the evening performance she behaved perfectly back to her usual reliable self. (Misty pictured left standing like a police horse! during the evening presentation)

Florence – Was brought out of retirement for the interclub challenge age 19 she has not jumped in a show ring for 2 years since undergoing her second colic operation. Florence loved her day performing a lovely round but having just one fence down when the rider over stretched her stride into a fence (I must of forgot I was riding a 19 year old rather than a 9 year old). Florence has now been returned to her nanny duties showing the youngster how to behave out hacking



Saturday Group Training/Mini Competitions

To see the report from the August 29th session click here.
Further dates will appear for sessions soon. These are likely to be indoors at either Woodnook or Bromley October onwards.



August Fun Show

We were once again lucky to have good weather for our second Fun Show. To read the report click here.

The 2 Fun shows have proved very popular these will be run again next year. Most classes from August will be kept for 2010 though I will introduce one or two new rules regarding eligibility according to experience in certain classes. Any other comments of how to improve the show, what you did, or did not like let me know.

(pictured right one of our younger competitors tackling the clearround at the fun show)

 

Autumn Show

Don’t forget our next show on 20th September this show will be held at Bromley Farm. It will be a 2 ring show. We have 3 plans for venue depending on ground and weather conditions…

1. In the event of having a dry September we will be holding the show in Wortley Park(go straight on follow road round past usual show rings.  Go left at junction (towards Pilley),  Go underbypass look for cottage and sign for Timberland trail, Turn Left here, carry on up field is on left.)

2. If September is a wet month but weather is okay on the day we will stay on the good draining Bromley Farm site where we will benefit from the hard standing for parking. The classes will be held outdoors.

3. In the event of a poor weather day… showing classes will move into the sand arena and jumping will remain on the bottom left flat ring at Bromley Farm. (Only in the event of strong winds or persistent heavy rain would we cancel the jumping classes as usual details of go ahead-exact venue will be posted on the website)

Hope you can join us.  To See the schedule go to the events page.
 

Membership Latest

Davina Whiteman Challenge – As many of you will now know the team returned victorious from our first team competition winning the Ponies UK Interclub challenge to bring back the £500 Davina Whiteman Riding Club Masters title. To read the full report click here.

The Members area is now complete (on the horizontal bar far right tab). Please visit this new area to find out about
How to become a member,
Members points tables
Member’s news
Member’s photos
Members please send me your photos and news to keep this an interesting area to visit.



My Favourite Products
 

Clip Cheek Pieces

These are useful items especially if you need to change your bits for various disciplines or horses and also come in very useful for helping to bridle horses that tend to be challenging.

Jumping studs

These are a bit of a pain to put in but I would hate to be without them when jumping on grass. It is necessary to have a varied selection to choose from depending on how hard or soft the ground is. Use pointed shorter studs on hard slippy ground and Larger square shaped studs for deep soft going.

 

Carolyn