Waikanae Sports Day

Today i took Vi to Waikanae to do some Hunter classes and SJ. It was steady drizzle all morning which soaked us right through by the time we had finished our flat classes, so i decided to go home and forget the SJ. Partially since Vi wasn't studded and i wanted to avoid any accidents.

Our Hunter classes went very well, Violet was such an angel for me all morning i couldn't ask for more. She just keeps giving me more confidence in myself every time i ride.

Our results were:

1st - Best rider over 17yrs

2nd - Open Hunter

3rd - Paced and Mannered and Working Hunter

I also got my first ever prize money so yay for that too!!!

THE END OF 2009!

Well today is the last day of 2009. I must admit i have been very slack with this whole blog thing. Although in my defense I've been having some terrible back problems so haven't been doing a lot of riding lately.
The start of this season started with on and off lameness from Vi (i think I'll keep her in light work over next winter to see if that helps).
As soon as Vi was ok the Jeep packed a sad and needed seals fixed or something like that.

Finally the Jeep and Vi were ready to go, I've become a bit scared of the whole eventing thing at the moment despite our successful first go together. So it turned to a case of finding a nice local show to start with. Lucky for me Western Hills was postponed so i focused on that being our first day out.

Vi was amazing all day, we had a ok start to our flat classes, the class was absolutely huge and i wasn't really asking/pushing Vi and so she only gave as much as she had to (fair enough too). We had a break during the novice hack classes so i took that opportunity to really work on the two of us. We finished with the open hack class and Vi was amazing every transition was completely on the mark and she was very consistent. Unfortunately the judge didn't like us that day and we finished the Flats empty handed but i was stoked with such a good start for the two of us as a team for the season.
I entered two SH classes the first was a disaster, i rode terribly and Vi cruised around doing her own thing. The judge was awesome gave me some pointers to focus on for my next class. So for the 90cm class i focused on my riding and we did a much better round only pitching into a couple of the jumps finishing in 5th place and a ribbon for our efforts.

I'm hoping our next show will be the Upper Valley Equestrian day where I'm hoping to do some flat classes, dressage and some ring 2 SJ.

In November I came to the difficult decision to find a new home for Amy. She was still lame and thermal imaging showed what looked to be some Arthritic problems in her back legs. She had had a full life and deserved a long and happy retirement.
Lucky for all involved a lovely retired couple offered a forever full retirement home for Amy. She has 17 acres pretty much all to herself, people around 24/7, lots of pampering and free to wander around doing as she pleases.
We couldn't be more happy and i'm allowed to visit anytime, i couldn't have asked for more. It was very sad to see her go.

Tack area spring clean

I decided to clean up my area of the garage since today's weather consists of rain, hail and wind.

unfortunately i didn't get any before photo's but because i'm so lazy everything was just dumped in containers and piles everywhere.

And yes i know its still not even near tidy compared to some haha.

Beautiful spring day.

It was absolutely gorgeous today, Vi and i pottered around the paddock's bareback, then i gave Katrina a little trim.

Amy and Taani have taken themselves across the farm for better grass, so i left them there for now.

Photos added: Vi laxing in the paddock and before and after shots of Katrina's tidy up.

Dental Work

On monday i took Amy and Blondie to the vets to get their teeth done. I was lucky enough to have Kerri take me and them in her truck and she as always had her camera with her.

Both were sedated to get their work done so got some goofy photo's especially from the old fella (Blondie) he's like a drunk when sedated.

sunny winter weekends.

Lately down here we've been lucky enough to have some very nice weekends with beautiful clear sky's. And so yes i couldn't help myself and have started riding Violet again too. We've just been doing little 10min hacks and the odd couple of circles, she is so amazing to bring back into work too.

Both Amy and Violet have been perfect angels for not being ridden in months and minimal handling they have not put a foot wrong at any time, its been so nice.

Next plan of attack is attacking both girls for their spring makeover's although i may have to get someone to do it for me or they might come out worse than they went in lol.

Tomorrow I'm taking Blondie and Amy to the vets for more dental work, as yet they have no idea and am wanting to keep it that way so they'll go on the truck in the morning.

First Ride

I had my first ride since the start of May today, and Amy's first ride since Feb when she went lame.

We just had a short plod around and did a couple of trot circles before dinner and bed. I tried Amy in Vi's rubber mullen mouth, which she seemed to like.

All the others are still in hibernation, I'm wanting to bring Amy on as slowly as possible to make sure she stays sound.

<- (Amy waiting for her dinner)

Amy and Blondie are booked in to get their teeth done at the vets at the end of the month, and Vi will be coming back into work all going well in August.