Golden Girl

I have recently been musing about what a gift Sofie is to me atm.

In a world of social isolation and lockdown she has been a constant ray of sunshine. I have loved going to see Sofie through out the year. It has definitely kept me sain.

Recently Sofie came in to her stable at night, and in order to keep costs down I have been doing her stable in a time share agreement with our neighbour. I have really surprised myself by finding I actually enjoy mucking out! To be fair Sofie makes it very easy, she poos in a neat little pile and always wees in the same spot, and makes sure she eats all of her hay. This makes her very economical as I don't have to remove much bedding. 

She's also so safe, I never worry getting on her, and can completely trust her to be entirely sensible despite all the daft things we encounter due to all the newcomers to the surrey hills. If she wasn't so safe I wouldn't be riding right now with all that is happening in the hospitals. I have recently been helping a friend with her youngster and its had a few strops. Nothing major but it has made me realise that nowerdays I am quite risk adverse, have lost my bollarks entirely. Having a Sofie is just what I want and need.

And she is so sweat with Rachael, OK yes I can't lead her easily with Racheal, especially if there is food avalible as we get towed their at great speed. But I know she would never kick or bite R, and when we were down the other night she smothered R in kisses over the stable door. In fact she is generally very easy going and cuddly. She had a full clip the other day, didn't move an inch whilst being clipped and helped me by lifting her legs to do her armpits. No drama lamma and I love it.

So thank you to the fantastic golden girl. I am so lucky to have you in my life.

Babysitting

 Lockdown and covid have meant that a) sharers not able to get down as much and b) need to entertain Rachael outside. The combination of both means sof has done a lot of babysitting. Often friends with toddlers have also joined us as they too are struggling with what to do to keep the kids occupied.

Sof has been very tollerant of all this. I am not confident enough to do anything more than just feed sof at the gate. Not because of Sof, more because my wayward toddler loves running off. She is a pickle. At leaste at the gate I can just abandon sof at the field and chase after the marauding toddler.

Hopefully by next summer Rachael will be old enough to follow some basic commands and we can do more. I am hoping perhaps some lead reign rides. We will see. It does make my heart swell seeing them together.

Photo shoot

 My lovely and very talented freind Ben is wanting to expand his portfolio, and sof and I are only too happy to help so we booked in a shoot.

We were hoping for a lovely sunset but we're not so lucky. Did still get some fab moody Skye's.

We shared the shoot with our lovely friends Jane and Reme. Reme was put down only a few days after so the photos are rather bitter sweet. Still it's nice to be able to help Jane with some memories.

Beach trip

 Making the most of summer (well in reality Autumn) we finally made our much awaited beach trip.

As a child I have found memories of swimming my little fat pony Frodo. I have long dreamed of reliving my childhood with Sof. 

Last year we were thwarted by sof refusing to get on the trailer. Since then we have invested in a Micheal Peace loading lesson, so armed with my new loading skills we booked a hire box.

O was hoping for a big social trip, but in the end it was just 3 of us. This turned out to be a blessing as it was a sunny October day and everyone was out enjoying the beach. The long flat out gallop I was hoping for was out. But my lovely photographer friend Ben came down and we got to spend our time possing for photos.

In hindsight it was perfect, first trip was nice and quiet and a lovely way to introduce sof to the beach. Had we all galloped about like loones Sof may have lost it and I wouldn't have had half as much fun.

In fact she was impeccably behaved, a bit blulshy and bouncy but that was just excitement. She even braces the waves with the help of Charly who is an old hand at beach rides. She loaded into the box fairly well, and other than a bit of a stress protest pouring she kept it together for the hour she had to wait for Annie to decide to join her (Micheal Peace paid off, I managed to get her in after her owner admitted defeat. I certainly couldn't have done that prior to lesson).

All in all a lovely day and got some fab pics.

Lili dressage clinic

 Since moving to South Warren we have been attending Lilli Broksby Dressage clinics that are held at the yard down the road about once a month.

Lilli is an old Clandon Park friend. As a child she was outspoken, had untamed dark hair and owned a notoriously feisty grey mare named Gemma. Despite being the same age I was quite intimidated by lili at the time. Back then I was a demure awkward and frankly quite odd little girl with minimal riding ability and a much loved geriatric ginger fat pony. So our interactions were limited but I do remember how much Lili doted on her naughty pony, and when we lost my sisters pony to grass sickness Lili was exceptionally kind, and offered my sister to ride said naughty grey as much as she liked. 

Age has only intensified Lili's best qualities. As a young woman she is witty, forthright in the best way and kind to a fault. She has moved on from naughty greys to talented if sometimes tricky black dressage horses. I have stuck with my fat ginger ponies, but gained enough self esteem to actually talk to Lili no and we have a great chat during our lessons. I love going to her clinics I enjoy the challenge of riding properly again. Its great to have someone on the ground to focus your attention and remind you how to ride. 

So far we have worked on general fitness and position, a bit of lateral work, and getting Sof to move forward. Sof at times has felt beautiful, but I still feel like most of the time I am blocking her and battling her into a outline. I know she will go much softer if I get my position bang on but we haven't quite managed it. This is something I discovered in our EE lessons, but have yet to find a way to keep that balanced seat. I thought perhaps its her saddle and as a result I have bought 3 saddles in my quest to improve my seat and her comfort but to no avail. Sofies top line is atrophying and I have been worrying that the latest saddle is still a poor fit.

Last week we focused on my lower leg. Having reviewed the quite shocking photographic evidence of my wondering lower legs I wanted to see if I could get some more stability from the knee down. Lili suggested riding without stirrups to help extend my legs. EURICA! Once my stirrups were removed it felt like everything clicked. Sof became soft and round underneath me and the trot felt effortless. Suddenly I remembered finding a similar thing with Tonto when I schooled hi years prior. Its not the saddle fit, its my inability to use my stirrups.

So this is an exciting light blub moment. Now I need to work out exactly why I struggle in stirups and how I can overcome these issues. I think its to do with tightness in my hips and ankles so perhaps a bit of stretch work and maybe some supportive tack will help. In the mean time I will do some more sans stirrups work to build up Sofies back.

Unlikely Champions

Another retrospective post. This time about the Newlands riding club championship weekend on the 13th September.

In the continuation of live for the day summer of fun I entered me and Sof into the 2ft 3 class. I almost immediately regretted it. I haven't jumped Sofie a single fence in.... well actually baring a small twig on one hack this summer I haven't actually jumped her since 2015. The class was titled 'novice jumping' which seemed to fit the bill, and I used to jump 2ft 3 without blinking an eye as a child, but as soon as I entered a wave of anxiety took hold. 

Sof had a little jumping lesson with her summer sharer a week prior, mainly to establish if they would be up for taking her to said show. However Sofies overwhelming enthusiasm made her sharer decide against it. This in hindsight I should have taken as a sign. 

Never the less I stuck to my mantra live for today and entered anyway. The day before I tried to steal myself to jump a log, but whoosed out! The lovely Vicki and Sofies current bestie Annie rode with us to the show. I was very grateful for their company as it distracted me from my nerves.

The show was very quiet as it turned out, and when I arrived it turned out I was one of only two competitors and was able to go straight away if I wanted. No time like the present, course quickly walked and then we went for a warm up jump - DEAR LORD I NEARLY FELL OFF!

OK um, so lets go straight into the ring before I bottle it. In my haste I ended up starting before the bell. on hearing the bell Sofie pulled up muttering - 'all we had to do was not get eliminated to get placed and you couldn't even manage that!' but I wasn't listening so pushed her on to complete the course. It was a bit frantic, Sofie charged at the fences whilst I desperately tried to slow her down/steer/stay on. We had two polls down but I was fairly happy to have got round and survived. Mission accomplished. 

But when we left the ring the nice judge pointed out my folly but offered us to enter into the championship class, same course starting almost immediately. 

Well I survived one round, and they were low on numbers. Why the hell not.

In we went for round two, boyed by surviving round one I took the hand break off a bit more, at the 5th fence Sofie was jumping so enthusiastically that we very VERY nearly parted company. I think this is the closest I have ever come to falling off sof. I landed in an unceremonious heap on her neck and understandably she did a bit of a bronk in protest. Thankfully she heard my pleas for help and stopped and allowed me to get re-seated. Hand break firmly put back on, well at least I tried to have the hand break on, but now sof knew the course and was determined to win! So we compromised, a couple of fences at speed and a couple of pauses for me to breath/get re-seated. It wasn't the performance of a Whittiker but amazingly it was good enough and we won! 

Hurray victory, first time I have won anything since I was 11. OK fair play Sofie won this one, I just clung on for dear life. 

We got a lovely red rosett and winners sash and a bottle of prosecco. I had to leave the prosecco with Clara with the promise we would catch up and drink it next time we saw each other. We did very much enjoy our ride home, soaking up the glory of championship pony. 

Sofie really is the best!

Video can be seen here