59 Questions, Cause 60 is just too much!

So because I've had no time this week (can school just go away, please!) and I found this horse meme thingy on deviantART (art website :3) I shall give you a slightly boring filler post! Maybe it's kinda interesting... IDK?

Here I give you cute (but crappy pic) pony as peace offering

1. dish face or roman nose? why?

Either but with a slight leaning towards Roman noses. Um I don't know, but I'm obviously not gonna 'not like' a horse just 'cause they have a dish face!

2. mares or geldings? why?

Either, mares because I love a challenge, but geldings because they can be equally challenging and they can be chilled out. I don't think you can really choose a horse based on gender 'cause there is always an exception to the norm!

3. Do you think warmbloods are over-rated?

Not really, a horse is a horse.

4. Describe your dream horse.

Midge, he has the best personality and is a problem pony according to some people, but thats why I love him :3

5. What kind of bit do you use and why?

Normally a plain snaffle - but it depends on the horse I'm riding. I'm pretty sure all the GV horse are ridden in snaffles, correct me if I'm wrong!

6. Stock horses or sport horses?

Stock 'cause their awesome and lower maintenance, but I'm not discriminating!

7. Favorite horse colour?

Bay, buckskin, black, but then again I find it really hard to say I have a 'favourite' colour 'cause then the other ponies feel left out!

8. Least favorite horse colour?

Don't have one.

9. Dressage or Jumping?

Jumping but a solid foundation in flatwork is essential for jumping and I don't actually mind dressage, and as of late I'm starting to lean towards this dressagey bussiness :P

10. Favorite stock horse breed?

Anything really.

11. Favorite Hot-blooded breed?

Again, anything!

12. Favorite cold-blooded breed?

I'm so boring, ANYTHING!

13. Dapple grey or Fleabitten grey?

I have a thing for dapples, but flea bitten can look very, very nice too

14. Most expensive piece of tack you own?

Nothing as of yet (Soon... Sooooon)

15. When did you start riding?

I started lessons when I was 9 but I've been on pony rides since I was 3 and trail riding since 7 (or 6)...

16. Leather or Nylon halters?

Depends - Leather look smarter for shows and stuff, but for everyday Nylon, cheap and cheerful + a heap of colours.  

17. Apples or Carrots?

For horses? Apples, I guess they have a sweet tooth :'). For me? Both

18. Chestnut or bay?

Bayyyyyy (may or may not be slightly, bias ;)

19. Palomino or Buckskin?

Booottthhhh

20. Lazy horse or Hot horse?

Both - I love the challenge of working with a lazy horse and getting the best out of them, but I also love riding hot horses and getting them to actually work, not just run all over the place. I'm not picky I guess but I would tend towards a lazy horse for challenge and the enjoyment and satisfaction of getting them to move their lazy little buts!

21. Have you ever been trail riding?

Yup

22. Have you ever had to put down a horse that you loved?

No *fingers crossed*

23. How many saddlepads do you have?

0 (YET....)

24. How many bridles do you have?

0

25. Favorite saddle brand?

Kincade can actually be comfier than Wintec but I like bates for the leather and the smart look.

26. Beige or White Breeches?

Beige although I do prefer dark breeches (they hide dirt better)

27. Least favorite discipline?

In hand showing

28. Do you own a horse?

Not yet - I'm finding a job and then I'm going to buy Midge, as I'm sure I've said more than a bajillion times before :P

29. Do you collect Breyer horses?

Nope I collect Schleich Horses.  

30. Favorite color of saddle pad?

Any colour, if you haven't picked up on it yet, I'm really not a picky person (sometimes...)

31.Private barn or Boarding stable?

Depends on the facilities - to be honest I would be happy anywhere, but I would like the company and riding buddies at agistment!

32. Opinion on spoiled riders?

How come they get to buy 10 thousand horses the second they ask their dad but I'm riding once every two weeks for an hour and working my but of to get there. (and dreaming of buying midge... :) Ok, ok, might be exaggerating a 'lil. I have nothing against people with mulitple ponies btw!

33. Have you ever ridden tackless?

Ridden bareback in a group lesson - second time I fell off and sprained my neck :(

34. Have you ever stood up on a horse?

Nope, and if I buy Midge I don't think I will :')

"WHAT IS THAT ON MY BACK, WHY IS SHE SO TALL!!"

"ABORT, ABORT, ABORT"

Midge's train of though :D

35. Overo, Tobiano, or Tovero?

Anythhhiiinngggg

36. Favorite face markings(s)?

Any - I'm not fussy!

37. Why you started riding?

I've always loved horses I started saving up for riding lessons when I was 7 and finally started when I was 9, then I started volleying and now I'm so so so close to getting a job and a pony!

38. Does anyone in your family ride?

My younger sister :) 

39. Have you ever owned a horse?

No but I plan on buying one near the end of this year, or early next year!

40. Something you want to improve on?

Jumping position and lengthening and extending of strides, and leg yielding!

41. A bad habit you have?

Not bending my arms, sticking my toes out, giving too much with the reins... Should I go on?

42. A bad habit your horse has?

Do I even have to go through what Midge does? (I know he's not my horse, but still...)

43. How high have you jumped?

40-60cm I think?

44. Have you ever had a dressage lesson?

Yes! Last term I rode with school at a primarily dressage stable! It was a great experience and got me very interested in dressage, but I don't think that stable was the right fit :/ 

45. What really makes your horse spook?

Well Midge spooks at anything - He spooked at tire tracks! And he will not let you have a drink (water bottle or not) while you are on his back. Makes mounted games fun...

46. Trail riding or ring work?

Both but arena work more.

47. Indoor or Outdoor arena?

Both, depends on the day

48. Colorful or plain saddle pads?

Depends on the scenario, lessoning or showing? Showing: Plain - Lessoning/Casual: Anything!

49. Do you like horses with blue eyes?

Yup

50. Have you ever gotten into a fight with your trainer?

Nope all three of my trainers have been freaking amazing!

51. Light bay or Dark bay horses?

Both

52. What is your equestrian dream?

Tbh, learning as much as I can, and maybe becoming a vet or vet nurse... Maybe.

53. Long mane or Pulled mane?

Both depends on the horse to be honest

54. Least favorite thing about your barn?

It's far away but not too far - 40 mins - far enough that my parents won't drive me out there more than once a week, but luckily its close enough that they'll drive me out there at all.

55. Favorite thing about your barn?

The people and the horses, and the atmosphere and the fact we're all like a family :)

56. Have you ever ridden a stallion?

Not to my knowledge - LOL!

57. socks or no socks on a horse?

Both

58. Favorite horse names?

Whatever suits the horse.

59. If you could ride any horse in the world, which one would it be? why?

A schoolmaster for a lesson would be nice, but otherwise Midge :3

So congrats if you got all the way down here! I promise I'll get back into action next week!

Meet The Dog

So despite the fact that this is a horse blog, I feel the need to introduce the family dog. 

Don't ask me why, my brain works in weird way (if you haven't picked that up already...)

So  without further ado I present to you, Peanut:

Not the best photo I know, lightroom was lagging and I got fed up...

Although he looks like some sort of mutt thing, I promise you he is actually a purebred Standard (not mini!) Wire Haired Dachshund. I'm not lying. I promise. This lil' cutie has just turned 11 (read: he turned 11 in April, April 16th to be exact) he was born in Norway (where we lived for a couple of years) and lived there up until he was 3, at which point the entire family moved to Aus, and yes he went on an airplane, two airplanes actually, and spent 2 months in Aussie quarantine. He didn't like us for a while after that :').

Too many words, more pictures of meeeeee!

He's a very, very, very stubborn dog, however he has an extremely caring side and as of late has turned into more of a squish ball! So now I shall proceed to fulfil your cute doggie needs for the day. Enjoy. Oh and all photo's are by yours truly!

"I'm a model and I know it"

Who doesn't love fluffy doggie buts?

"Work the camera, work it, work it"

Throwback to earlier this year when he was shaved! iPhone pics!

"Peasant, don't touch me"

And back to semi decent! Also this is him recently - aka with hair :)

Day 3: Best ride ever? + Updates and Decisions

How about no.

Am I the only one who can say I haven't had a 'best ride ever'? Sure I've had some pretty awesome rides...

One kinda recent really good lesson was on this guy (a few months ago):

Excuse my face... Focus on the pony! (ok, he's not a pony...)

That my friends is Ged I mentioned him in this post. He's the awesome ex- eventer :) 

Some of my all time best lesson and rides have been on Midge. Cliché I know, the best rides are on your favourite horse... yadadada. But truly he's taught me so fricking much! When I first started riding him he would bolt for no apparent reason, drop his shoulder, evade the bit and llama his way around just to name a few, now we have some sort of decent riding when I ride him, just riding on trails is obviously a little detrimental to this, as my concentration isn't fully on him, I'm focusing on keeping the customers safe and such. However even if we've had an 'interesting' ride (read: spooky, bolty, very 'looky', not focused at ALL) the connection I seem to find with him is really awesome, I just kinda 'get' him and even though the rides are less than stellar I still feel as if I've accomplished something :)

Now that we've established that I don't like today's post challengy thingy,  we shall move on to  catching up on the photo challenge, because I suck at life and can't remember shit.

A picture of you riding:

I actually can't find anything on my laptop of me riding, so you all will have to wait and I'll do a post in a few days catching up on the photo challenge! And I have to find the damn photos (they're all over the place, on the family computer, on phones, etc)

I laughed so hard at this :D 

Source: http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4p7k1g93a1rrpdnko1_1280.png

In other news I had an interesting lesson on saturday. I started off the lesson back on Casino, flat work, working on 3 loop serpentines and stuff like that and then 'R' (My instructor) set up a few small jumps so we could continue to prep for the schooling show thing at my barn. Long story short we went over the trot poles and one small cross rail, me riding him has forward as fricking possible but he still trotted over. After a quick discussion "R" and I determined that he didn't like to 'jump' because he was unbalanced, to put it in perspective when I started riding him a few months ago he could barely canter! So considering he's doing a HEAP better, we're still working on his right canter lead and getting him to lower his head and work his body a little better instead of llamaing around the place :D So "R" got me on Stanley when we started jumping, he's this huge chunky chestnut gelding, who is a complete powerhouse, or should I say, powerhorse! So basically I went from Casino's awkward, bouncy, unbalanced stride to Stanley's huge, smooth and even stride, fun time :)

But boy does that horse jump! 

I'm still debating wether to ride Casino in the schooling day, 'cause I feel like it would be a really nice challenge to get him from where he is, seeing as we've already come so far! However "R" wants me to ride Stanley because she thinks it'd be a nice learning opportunity to ride a horse that doesn't balk at everything (Midge), doesn't be an idiot (most problem horses I ride while volleying, and Midge) and doesn't llama his way around the arena unevenly like Casino! Stanley is a fairly trained horse, relative the the rest of the lesson ponies, and is a nice ride, he is super, super, super strong though so I would have to work on my stopping skills!

Decisions...

Source: http://www.quickmeme.com/

Day 2: The Last Time You Rode A Horse And What you Did?

*Thinking.... Thinking.... Thinking*

Last time I rode was October the 4th.

This is too long ago.

Yeah so I had my last lesson nearly two weeks ago, I would've been at GV for volleying last sat however school holidays finished, it was my first week back at school and despite GV and the people at GV being the only people/place that truly makes me happy, unwind and relax (yes 10 hours of hard, hard work in the heat is my way definition of happy, and relaxing. That's the horsey life for ya. LOL) mum still said I couldn't go (and I can't drive myself yet:( so I was stuck at home, sitting on my but and comforting my dog who seemed to despise everything, to be honest I felt them same way.

Me 'cept I love GV people and horses (all the ponies) stuff everyone else :P

So back to the original topic (See, I told you I get off topic easily!) my last lesson consisted of prepping for the barn show jumping schooling thingy in a few months. Now I've only two pointed for two laps since I've been back riding (easing my stupid back, into it) and so my muscles were some sort of atrocious mess and I was weak, but my balance and coordination was there, kinda. Luckily my instructor actually also had a back injury, hers however was a fairly major one and she ended up taking off around 1 1/2 - 2 years! So she understands that I'm still getting back into things and I will have to rebuild muscle. 

So "R" (my instructor) set up a small course (30 - 40cm, 5 jumps?) so we could get used to jumping again, we did a few months of solid flatwork/dressage for the dressage training day (that I ended up missing, again, thanks back *insert angry faces) and not much jumping, only ground poles to help with striding and stuff.

So yeah long story short Casino doesn't jump. He'll happily trot over the 'jumps' (I use the term loosely, I haven't really done much compared to some of you!) but will not, I repeat will NOT jump in correct form. We tried every fricking thing we could. We tried raising the jumps slightly, he refused even though "R" was chasing him and I was kicking him. We tried cantering him up to the jumps, he would canter full force as if he was going to jump, me riding him up until the last second and legit 5cm before the jump he would trot, and casually trot over it. We tried so, so, so, SO many things and nothing would make him jump. The only time he actually jumped was over a 60cm cross rail in between two barrels, even then it was more of a cat leap.

Oh Casino...

 I can only partially blame him however, he isn't a 'trained' lesson/jumping horse by any means, and I reckon he just needs to be taken back to basics on that. He is also a weirdly built horse with a very, very short stride and a weird build. I would also blame my weak muscles for a portion of the problem. Now I would love to work on his jumping with him, but "R" was so fed up with him it was actually quite hilarious ;D She said I will definitely not be riding him in the training day, and I get to choose between riding Gilligan or Ranger (both lovely horses who are technically beginner adults however she said they need a bit more 'encouragement' to jump:)

And if I'm not mistaken, this is the first time I've blogged two days in a row since the start of this blog. So sad, but an improvement!

Day 1: 30 Day Challenge Equestrian Edition

I swear I say this at the beginning of every post, but its true.

So yeah, I'm a bad blogger. I keep up with your blogs but I just can't seem to write blogs with out straying soooo far off topic :/

Anyway I was on pintrest and I found this!

http://www.wattpad.com/27501787-30-day-challenge-equestrian-edition

I know it's probably reeeaaallly old, and been done a bazillion times but, being the person I am I'm going to do it in order to get me in the habit of blogging more regularly (Now let's hope it works :P)

Also I came across this:

Day 1: A picture of your horse(s) or the horse(s) you ride
Day 2: A picture of you riding
Day 3: A picture of a grooming item you couldn't live without 
Day 4: A picture of your equestrian idol
Day 5: A picture of your dream barn
Day 6: A picture of your riding boots
Day 7: A picture of your dream horse
Day 8: A picture of your favourite piece of tack 
Day 9: A picture of your favourite famous horse
Day 10: A picture of a horse-related item you want
Day 11: A horse-related picture that makes you laugh
Day 12: A picture of a horse-related thing you want to do
Day 13: A picture of you and a riding buddy
Day 14: A picture of your helmet
Day 15: A picture of your favourite piece of show attire 
Day 16: A picture of the treats you feed your horse 
Day 17: A picture of you at a lesson
Day 18: A picture of your [favourite] saddle
Day 19: A picture of you riding a different horse 
Day 20: An "ear-shot" picture 
Day 21: A picture of the arena you ride in (indoor or outdoor)
Day 22: A picture of your biggest ridding pet peeve
Day 23: A picture of all of your grooming supplies
Day 24: A picture of your horse tacked up
Day 25: A picture of your horse(s) in their pasture/stall
Day 26: A funny picture of your horse/the horse you ride
Day 27: A picture of a discipline you'd like to try
Day 28: A picture of a horse that makes your day
Day 29: A picture of a place you'd like to ride 

Day 30: A picture of you giving your horse/the horse you ride a kiss or hug

It won't align with the middle and it gave me no source... Grrrrr

It's a 30 day Equestrian Photo Challenge! 

So in the interest of making my posts a little more interesting, I'll be including that at the end :)

---------------------------------------------

Now off the information and onto the good stuff!

Day 1: When and why did you start riding?

I've been on pony rides since I can remember! (the 5 minute ones, with the fat fluffy shetlands with bad hooves :/) And trail rides since I was 7ish I think (not very often, maybe once a year?)

However I've only been taking regular lessons since 2009, specifically August 2009. I'd always been that 'horse crazy kid', my room was covered in posters, I had a few informative books and wore them to death! I'd begged and begged and BEGGED my parents (who hasn't, be honest!) and researched and researched and researched (mainly on actual riding not places and such) then a few months before my 7th birthday, my parents said if I found a place cheap enough and close enough, and worked/saved my but off they would pay for half of each lesson! :)

Long story short, I saved, Every. Single. Cent. For 2 years and finally when I turned 9 I had enough for my half of 8 lessons, and I found a place (GV, the same place I ride at and love today_, 40 mins from home, but the cheapest in the area for at least 2 hours. A few phone calls later and my riding assessment was booked :)

The week leading up to my assessment was a blur of excitement and nervousness but it turned out really well, I was told I could go straight into a beginner 2 group class and off I went. 2 lessons in and I had my first canter, turns out all those years of pouring over books taught me a thing or two and in my first instructors words "You've saved yourself a few months of riding, with whatever you've been doing!". All was fine and dandy, and I LOVED it.

Fast forward to August 2012. In August I turned 12 and subsequently was old enough to volunteer at GV, let's just say I took to that like a duck to water and I've been doing it as much as freaking possible! Volunteering has honestly been the best time of my life so far, it's taught me so much and I've met the best people. From "K", "S", "H", and Jess from over at Adventures of mate on my first day, to "A", "T", "J", "J" (a different person I swear) "V", "R", "A" and "F" in the past 8 - 10 months. They've all taught me so so much, and I've made really good friends with people of all ages! I've learnt a HEAP, just to name a few things:

- Saddling and Bridling (when I first started)

- Watching a gelding of two colts recently

- Blood being taken

- Preg tests being done

- The farrier at work

- The vet at work

- Foal training

- General upkeep of horses

- General maintenance of the property

- And loads, loads more!

Everyone at GV is just so awesome, I literally can't even begin to thank them! I started off volleying once a month, and now I'm going every week, sometimes both sat and sun if I can convince my 'rents :)

I guess that's both the questions kind of mixed up into one, but just in case you couldn't pick it up: I started riding because I'd always been in awe of horses, everything about them kind of captivated me, I learnt as much as a horse crazy 6,7,8 and 9 year old could and learning to ride just kinda seemed like the next step!

Now onto the photo challenge:

A picture of your horse/the horses you ride

Uh well this is gonna be difficult 'cause I ride a different horse almost every week I'm at GV!

However there's always:

  

 This cute face around :3

Midge, he's a permanent fixture, I may not get to ride him every time I'm there but we all know I still love the fluffy pony!

The pony I'm currently riding in lessons is Casino, however I don't have a photo of him (kinda defeats the purpose of a photo challenge...) but I will have one soon.

A couple of months back, I rode in the agistment gymkhana (as a volley, on a valley horse) and I rode Bonnie. She actually hasn't been in lessons/arenas before (she's a trail horse) and "A" and "F" the yard managers wanted me to trial her out in a arena/lessons situation. Turns out she went so well for her first time in lessons that she is now being brought down to lessons regularly!

And here is the lovely Bonnie:

Please excuse her lack of enthusiasm, her brain was tired from a full day of new things! She is a sweet horse!

And my muddy, chaps and awkward leg angle, we were both tired!

Now in another post I may actually do a kinda recap of all the horses (I have photo's of!) over the years... Maybe... You'll have to remind me.