Winter Riding

A much much younger Connie at a winter clinic- her very first clinic as I recall.

I have actually managed to ride twice in the last fortnight or so. Ah winter. It's been a very warm mild winter so far, but it's starting to set in now. As my grandad used to say " As the days get longer, the cold gets stronger" and he has yet to have been proved wrong. I can expect to ride in the rain or the next three months or so. I really need to start travelling out to a local indoor. My parents are in Turkey at the moment so my sister and I are in charge of the farm and time is at a real premium what with all the cows I have to feed. So anyway, the horse I rode twice was dear old Bill sausage who appears to have grown considerably taller in the month since I last rode her. I wouldn't be surprised if she has added an inch of height in that time. Her neck hasn't gotten any longer unfortunately so it feels like I'm sitting on a giraffe. She is so different to ride to anything else here, on sheer power of hindquarters alone. Like Kate has a huge canter and plenty of power but not with the same effortlessness that Bill does. It's almost a bit intimidating, only she is so smooth it isn't.

I really think I'm not that good at training though. I'm always going back and filling in holes but I guess thats part of the process. She was so lazy under saddle I spent heaps of time getting her to carry me and go forward and now I really need to work on her rating because we currently have two speeds, resisting going forward and then full speed ahead without breaking gait. To be fair after a 20 minute session the other day she was starting to feel quite good and a bit more consistent in pace. I really don't want to ruin her by missing something in her training, because if she turns out to be brave enough she could be a really good horse, she is certainly athletic enough. I have always had pretty rubbish horses, that were nice horses because I worked so hard- Bob (Bills mum) being the exception, and perhaps Connie, so to have a nice one is a bit scary really, knowing someone else would be doing a much better job. And Connie is a funny one because she was so awful and even my trainer guy was like I really wanted you to sell that horse because she was so average but you have done a good job.

It's so so easy to get disheartened this time of year. When the only time I see the horses really is when I brave the now torrential rain to throw them some hay. It's a bit like exercising, when you do it every day you get really keen but as soon as you have a few days off it gets a bit harder to get motivated again. You want to do it, and you know you need to do, but you look at the rain and its easy to just say nah. After this weekend I really need to start cracking on and get everything going. In about 4 weeks time when everything is a bit fit and making progress it will be so much easier. Man I want it so bad I can almost taste it. The feeling of cantering down to a big fence, being a bit scared, getting that great distance, and just that power off of the ground. Love it can't wait to live it.