This week i have to go without seeing my beautiful pony until Sunday because we are packing and moving house! Unfortunately this has left me to be doing the only thing imaginable for a insanley horse mad teenager, Day Dream.
It's not a good thing in grade 10 when all you can do is day dream about your beauitful pony when you are meant to be studying the 'Treaty of Versailles'.
At the moment the only thing thats getting me through is remembering how good she was on our trail ride last Saturday. We went with a lady and her horse as a guide and calming influence as it was their first trail ride. Georgie was perfect and amazing, just as i expected her to be. Even when the other horse (a 15hh Arab called Oscar) was spooking at things Georgie just stayed calm and plodded on. At one point there was a 'really scary concrete pipe that was going to kill poor Oscar'! So Georgie stepped up to be the brave pony and fight the pipe, she walked straight over it without even thinking, and it was her first time walking over it too!
When we got to the beach all Georgie wanted to do was charge into the water and splash about for a bit, i love it when she does this as not only do i get wet and have hysterical laughing urges but it shows me how brave and no fuss she is. Water jumps aren't going to be a problem for her!
We didn't stay at the beach for long though as it was bloody cold and windy so we started our ride home. The ride home was so relaxing, once we got off the beach and into the bush a bit it was quite nice, no wind and not cold! Once Lou and Oscar were feeling a bit more confident we had a trot up some hills and along the grass. After an hour we were home again, i was kissing my snuggly rugged up pony goodbye and saying, 'I'll bring you lots of treats next Sunday so please don't get mad that you won't see me all week Georgie!' And then i had to go. That was only 3 days ago and i am already having severe horse withdrawal! God knows how i'm going to last another 4 days!
The one thing after my Saturday ride that Georgie needs serious work on is standing still while i get on. Every time i had to get off for anything it would take a good few minutes before she'd stand still while i got on! And she does the same in the arena, but for not quite as long.
Any tips or advice on what i can do to stop her doing this?
Believe. In the end, it's all we can do.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Those little legends of first ponies.
First ponies.
We've all had them, those naughty little rascals that know how to do everything they shouldn't, and also how to do everything that 5 year old horse mad girls need them to do.
I had two 'first' ponies, both as cheeky and loveable as each other.
The first was 'Lochlea Lamai' or 'Squidgie'. She came when i was 5 years old and my world revolved around her from day dot. She was perfect and amazing in everyway, she taught me how to walk, trot and canter and also how to sit a pigroot and always be on alert for sneaky things, e.g wrenching the reins out of my hands for the nibbles of grass arond the edge of the arena because she was obviously half starved, even though to look at most people would assume she was pregnant. Squidgie was a pinto pony, dark brown and white, about 12hh and 16 years old when she died of colic in my 7 year old arms. We tried everything to save her, the vet was there all day but in the end, when she couldn't fight anymore, we put her down to stop any suffering.
R.I.P Squidgie Moo, always loved and never forgotten.
The second 'first' pony was Lacey. And i say 'second first pony' because at 7 1/2 i wasn't ready for anything other than a 'close to bombproof as you can get' pony. Lacey was certainly that, she still had that 'I shall pigroot if you ask me to canter' attitude that Squidgie had, but thanks to Squidgie i was already an expert in sitting pigroots and rarely fell off.
Lacey was one of those ponies that had done everything, and done it well. She had done trail riding, showing, hacking, pony club, eventing, showjumping and games. The minute you put a bridle on lacey she would become rounded whether you asked her to or not. When she jumped she had the most perfect even tuck even over jumps 30cm high. However games were her specialty, her favourite game was racing my bigger horses from one end of the arena to the other, it would go like this:
Halting at the end of the arena, Lacey quivering with excitment.
Me shouting 'Ready?' to my oppoinent and Lacey's eyes getting as big as dinner plates.
And then, 'GO!' this was when Lacey would go from halt to gallop and run as fast as she could to the other end of the arena. She would ALWAYS win too.
After a year of having Lacey, (She was also a pinto pony, 12hh high and believed to be between 15-18 years old when we bought her.) we got the dentist around to have her teeth floated, upon looking in her mouth the dentist asked how old she was, and my father told him, '15 - 18years old.' Apparently not, this pony was already in her 30's and going strong. When i heard this i instantly forgave Lacey her pigroots, 30 years of cantering around an arena and i'd pigroot too.
6 months later we retired Lacey as i was finaly ready for a bigger horse, and she definately deserved to be turned out into a paddock to rest for the remainder of her life, still being pampered with brushing, bare back trail rides, rugging and lots of hugs.
First ponies are the horses who shape us as riders, determine the nervous from the confident, teach those of us who want to learn natural balance and how to look out for cheeky behaviour. We owe them our riding ability. I definately owe Squidgie and Lacey my (quite good actually) ability to sit a pig root! If i could i'd thank them for everything, they were unbelievable, amazing and incrediable ponies.
We've all had them, those naughty little rascals that know how to do everything they shouldn't, and also how to do everything that 5 year old horse mad girls need them to do.
I had two 'first' ponies, both as cheeky and loveable as each other.
The first was 'Lochlea Lamai' or 'Squidgie'. She came when i was 5 years old and my world revolved around her from day dot. She was perfect and amazing in everyway, she taught me how to walk, trot and canter and also how to sit a pigroot and always be on alert for sneaky things, e.g wrenching the reins out of my hands for the nibbles of grass arond the edge of the arena because she was obviously half starved, even though to look at most people would assume she was pregnant. Squidgie was a pinto pony, dark brown and white, about 12hh and 16 years old when she died of colic in my 7 year old arms. We tried everything to save her, the vet was there all day but in the end, when she couldn't fight anymore, we put her down to stop any suffering.
R.I.P Squidgie Moo, always loved and never forgotten.
The second 'first' pony was Lacey. And i say 'second first pony' because at 7 1/2 i wasn't ready for anything other than a 'close to bombproof as you can get' pony. Lacey was certainly that, she still had that 'I shall pigroot if you ask me to canter' attitude that Squidgie had, but thanks to Squidgie i was already an expert in sitting pigroots and rarely fell off.
Lacey was one of those ponies that had done everything, and done it well. She had done trail riding, showing, hacking, pony club, eventing, showjumping and games. The minute you put a bridle on lacey she would become rounded whether you asked her to or not. When she jumped she had the most perfect even tuck even over jumps 30cm high. However games were her specialty, her favourite game was racing my bigger horses from one end of the arena to the other, it would go like this:
Halting at the end of the arena, Lacey quivering with excitment.
Me shouting 'Ready?' to my oppoinent and Lacey's eyes getting as big as dinner plates.
And then, 'GO!' this was when Lacey would go from halt to gallop and run as fast as she could to the other end of the arena. She would ALWAYS win too.
After a year of having Lacey, (She was also a pinto pony, 12hh high and believed to be between 15-18 years old when we bought her.) we got the dentist around to have her teeth floated, upon looking in her mouth the dentist asked how old she was, and my father told him, '15 - 18years old.' Apparently not, this pony was already in her 30's and going strong. When i heard this i instantly forgave Lacey her pigroots, 30 years of cantering around an arena and i'd pigroot too.
6 months later we retired Lacey as i was finaly ready for a bigger horse, and she definately deserved to be turned out into a paddock to rest for the remainder of her life, still being pampered with brushing, bare back trail rides, rugging and lots of hugs.
First ponies are the horses who shape us as riders, determine the nervous from the confident, teach those of us who want to learn natural balance and how to look out for cheeky behaviour. We owe them our riding ability. I definately owe Squidgie and Lacey my (quite good actually) ability to sit a pig root! If i could i'd thank them for everything, they were unbelievable, amazing and incrediable ponies.
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