House update

The gibb-stopper has nearly finished in the hall and two of the bedrooms. Yay!! Which means we can start painting soon. Then we'll move into one of those rooms and the master bedroom will be gibb-stopped.

My partner and I are having a bit of an argument about what to do with the windowsills in the bedrooms. He wants to sand them like we've done in the lounge. But the fact that we haven't even finished those off yet makes me highly doubtful that we'll ever finish 3 more big windows. So I'm going for the paint option. This will also be better in terms of protecting the wood from the damp. The windows in the bedrooms do tend to get a bit wet in winter.

We're also looking at getting a nice new wardrobe fitted but my goodness, they're expensive. For a few shelves and a couple of poles it doesn't really seem like good value. But we have to way up the convenience of someone else doing everything against the time it would take us to make the same thing. And time is one thing we don't have enough of.

Window furnishings are another important thing we're looking at with winter nearly here. We got a quote at the proper blind shop that came to nearly $6000 to do the whole house!!! Of course we did choose the second most expensive blinds they have. It was the only one we could agree on LOL.

I want just some nice plain roman blinds, I've seen some that I really like that are white with wood poles. They look classy, but not too fussy and best of all we can get them cheap at the local Warehouse store. The only problem would be getting the right sizes.

The lounge has not progressed any. We still have no lights, the rest of the sanding still needs to be done and window coverings need to be chosen.

Things are happening way too slowly but we only have ourselves to blame. I'm busy with studying, working and riding and this is my partners busy season so he has been working up to 80 hour a week. He's taking some time off soon and I will be giving Fox a month off so hopefully we'll be able to finish a few things!!

Upcoming Competitions

I am doing the next day of the Winter Dressage Series, still doing the two walk/trot test but I have also entered a canter test. I'm pretty nervous about it but like people keep telling me, it's all fun. Good thing is one of the walk/trot tests is the one I got eliminated on last time so really keen to have another crack at it.

I'm also doing combined training at a One Day Event the weekend after the dressage. That means I'm doing the dressage and the showjumping. I wanted to do the cross country too but back protectors are compulsory and with all the vets bills lately, I can't justify getting one right now. It will give me a good experience though. I'll know how it all works for the next time.

Fox is really pleased to be back jumping, I think he's really missed it.

Vets

We have been to the vets 4 times this month!!
First was for Jack and Kitty Slut's vaccinations, next was Jack getting another staph infection and then Sam broke a tooth. He's at the vet's now getting a dental. The whole tooth needs to be pulled because he exposed the root pulp.

I haven't paid for the surgery today but we will have probably spent around $500 at the vets this month. I'm totally in the wrong industry!!

I guess that's the price you pay when you have animals.

Jack will be the most expensive animal I have ever owned. Because of the likely hood that he will have lifelong skin problems we can expect regular trips to the vet for him. We've probably spent close to $2000 on all his medical stuff and that's just in the first year!!

But it's worth it isn't it :)

Results!!!

Fox and I had such a good day. Results wise, things were a bit mixed but the weather was fantastic and the other competitors were really friendly so a good all round atmosphere.

Results - First test: Fourth!!! I got my ribbon!!

Second test: Eliminated :(

Fox caught me by surprise and ducked out the gap. I was a bit upset at first but got over it pretty quickly. Based on scores I would have come fourth on that one too.

My whole family came and watched which was really cool.

But the biggest surprise of the day was getting Best Presented Horse and Rider!! We didn't even know they were doing that. I have to give full credit to my friend who insisted we plait and helped me do Fox's plaits.

I'm also going to have to start using Fox's show name as all the other horses had long pretty ones but I don't really like it. It's L'Fox Affaire which just doesn't seem to suit him.

I'm going to try and do the whole series which is four days over winter. There is also a winter show jumping series that I'm thinking about doing.

Here's some pics

Fox and I

My dad, neice and Fox

Warming up

Test

Nearly Ready for my Dressage

Well, I've learnt my tests the best I can, organised the truck and the float so I'm good to go for Sunday. Wish me luck!!
I'm only really doing it for the experience but part of me really wants one of those ribbons.

Fox and I have had a bit of a struggle over the last week, he's had to have the bit back in his mouth and he hates it. It is getting a bit better now, but he has a tendency to be really heavy on his forehand with a bit and he also leans on my hands something wicked. We're trying to reach a happy median in terms of contact. A touch too much and Fox tosses his head round, too little and he falls to pieces. Tricky, tricky.

Horses and fitness

I'm probably in the best shape I've ever been. I attribute most of it to horse riding and a bit to walking the dogs everyday.

Some people just don't seem to understand that horse riding is work. I went for a hack with my partner who was walking the dogs. I did a few jumps and had a bit of a gallop. Afterwards both Fox and I were puffing a bit. Ryan asked me to do some more and I said no, we're both tired. 'What do you mean you're tired? You've just been sitting up there." I tried to explain what a physical activity riding is especially jumping and going fast. Did he get it? No, he still maintained that all I was doing was sitting up there.

Not so!! Anyone who rides can attest to the fact that you use a whole lot of your muscles when riding, right from your core to your arms, legs and butt.

When you have professionals as friends

This is a bit of an on-going problem at the moment. It's happening in a few aspects of my life. Firstly, with the renovations. My partner has builder friends, Gibb stopper/plasterer friends and plumber friends and one of my workmates partners is an electrician.

This is incredibly handy, especially when you are on a budget. The problem is, they are doing you a favour, so you can't demand that they be here this day and do this many hours. Things are progressing at snails pace. All the gibbing in the bedrooms and hallways has been done but the gibb-stopping is taking forever!! A bit is done here, a bit done there. I totally appreciate that they are helping us out but at the same time it is frustrating.

The same is happening with my riding. My instructor is also my good friend. She refuses payment apart from when I manage to take her out for lunch. So I can't organise weekly lessons and I feel rude asking her for one so I don't have them unless it is her idea. I know she would also be offended if I asked for lessons from someone else.

There is a dressage day coming up that I am going to try and train for, hopefully I can get my head round one of those tests. I'll just be doing a walk/trot test as our canter still sucks when we are in the arena.
Have been practicing our xcountry jumping. The owner of the orchard has them set up all round the orchard so it's good fun going round them all.
They are also having some show jumping fun evenings at the local showgrounds so I'm going to try and get along to a few of those as well.

The best feeling ever!!

I haven’t ridden bareback for quite some time now. Last time I tried, as soon as Fox broke into a trot, I got all tight and thumped around. Not nice for Fox or for me as he has a very bony back.

Yesterday I had to move him from a paddock about 5 minutes away back to where he normally is. I decided I may as well hop on and ride back. It started off great so I asked for a trot. And what do you know, I could sit his trot perfectly, not even hanging onto the mane.

The last bit up to his paddock is a bit of a rise so I asked for canter and wow!!! What an amazing feeling. Perfectly comfortable and perfectly in tune.

I have to credit my instructor for my improvement, the few lessons I have managed to get have made such a huge difference.

Horses and affection

Fox has always been an aloof kind of horse. Not really caring what happens as long as I bring his food.

But the last couple of days, he has been showing, dare I say it, some kind of want to be around me apart from when I carry a bucket. It has been over a year since I bought him so I'm really pleased he has started to warm to me LOL.

When I leave the field, he will come over and say goodbye, he will also stand still when I scratch his big butt. And the other day when I was playing with the dogs in the bottom field, he walked the fence line and neighed till I came over and said hello.

With dogs, it's easy to tell they have affection for you, horses not so much.

Now the only problem is figuring out if he is doing this because he thinks he's the leader or if he finally sees me as an authority figure in his life.

The farrier said he's been getting better and better with his feet which is great news, he's still a little PITA but better. I'm now on the hunt for a good equine dentist who will hopefully cope with Fox's little quirks.

We're also going back to putting his bridle on like a halter as he has been acting up the last few times. So two steps forward and one step back.

He's definitely a hard horse to work with and the amount I have had to learn to cope with him has been huge but I believe it will be an asset in the future. I believe he is lucky to have me as his owner, someone else may not have been so forgiving of his foibles. Even my instructor said, she couldn't deal with him on a regular basis, she would have gotten cross and they would have had a falling out. Sometimes I think it would be really nice just to ride a push-button pony but I couldn't get rid of him now.

Bitless

As well as Fox being barefoot, I also ride for the majority of the time in a bitless bridle. When I start competing I'm going to need to have a plain snaffle so I use one for lessons also. Every other time I use the bitless. It's fantastic.

Fox used to hate being bridled. He was head shy and would fight every step of the way. As he got to know and trust me he got better and better but I could still see his displeasure. When riding he would do everything possible to evade the bit. He would open his mouth and jig his head.

My first ride in the bitless I had my normal bridle on top so I had two sets of reins. I was really surprised at the amount of control I had. I didn't need the bit at all.
The next ride I used only the bitless and it was quite amazing to feel the change. No more fussing and tossing of the head, his head carriage seemed lower and overall he felt more relaxed.

My first thought at the change was 'it must be his teeth'. When the dentist checked them he said they needed a quick file but that was it, nothing major. Fox just enjoyed not having a hunk of metal in his mouth.

At first, I was quite nervous about the whole thing. I was taught from a young age that my bit was my control. Most horsey people will know that that is an illusion. I mean when a horse wants to go, he goes, no matter that you have a bit in his mouth. It was so ingrained in me, this thought that all my control was through the bit that it took a long time to trust the bridle.

But when I did, it was amazing. It has made me much more aware of how I'm actually riding. What my hands are doing, what my body is doing, what my legs are doing. How I can get that control without a piece of metal in my horses mouth.

A lot of Fox's resistance when riding is also going and he is learning to go into the nice long and low shape. No collection yet, but we at least have a start.