13/10/13 Jacko Part Deux

I arrived at the yard early today, and found lots of the Common Riding horses on the actual open yard rather than the barn. It meant I got some nice photos and a bit of time with each of them, so here’s a few of the pics I took with my phone. Hugo is always very photogenic, but sadly I really need to get Starsky out of his box and in the light to really capture his size and beauty!

Starsky: 

 I like big butts and I cannot lie!

Hero:  

Hugo: 

I spent most time unexpectedly with Abbie Bear, and that’s who I asked for in the office. Sadly she has thrown a shoe, so I was told I needed to have “Hutch or something big like that”. Well, given that Hutch is the bottom of my big horse list, I asked for Starsky or Jacko and was given Jacko – the orange ex-showjumper that is a bit dead to the leg, but rides beautifully from the seat and with very light hand aids. Collecting and extending him is a positive joy!

Jacko

L was taking us out, and while I was ready to put myself as the last horse before the ponies, L called me up behind her; she was riding Finn out, who is still a green, spooky and cheeky 4-5 year old that’s learning to be a lead horse. Jacko was chosen as steady, even-tempered company for the young chap.

I was enjoyed the banter between L and M, but when the first canter came, I needed a lot of leg and indeed my crop to get Jacko out of a fast trot and into canter, the lazy sausage that he is. I quickly realised that I’d forgotten the trio of things I’d been relying on recently to keep me riding: my ankle support bandages, my prophylactic Ibuprofen and my physio exercises. D’oh! I mean, the bandages and drugs I can understand, as I had to leave the house earlier so it was easy to forget in the rush. I was clearly just too busy fussing horses and nattering to people to remember to warm-up on the yard though, the buck eejit that I am!

Anyhow, the first canter needed lots of leg to make Jacko canter up the slightly spiralling wood-edged path, but he was nice and straight for me, as opposed to the banana-shape he can sometimes hold himself in. We got to open up a bit more on the next canter on the flat, but Finn totally freaked out at the puddles, and did a big shy and wall-of-death impression; Jacko isn’t bothered by puddles, but he was letting me know he wanted to go right of the puddle rather than through in case Finn had spotted Nessie in there, so I steered him around it. I’m always glad of keeping a couple of horses’ length behind the person in front when that kind of stuff happens, so you’ve time to see what is happening and make a choice, rather than be a passenger amidst it. The horses can also decide how to react too, rather than being so close that reacting identically to the horse in front is the only sensible option in terms of survival.

The next canter was slightly uphill, and while I’d apologised to my friend on Ripper when I was put in front of her about the pace she’d have to keep, L split the ride a little; so, Finn and Jacko were to go the short-route and Ripper was to lead the rest of the riders on the long route, meaning they’d get a slightly longer canter, but could also go faster to make the gap (as long as they didn’t give us the bum’s rush). So, I had a lovely canter uphill, watching Finn dance around puddles like a madman while me and Jacko just pulled a collective “WTF?!” face and ploughed on in a straight line! Cantering back down was just as easy too despite going slightly downhill, as Jacko is comfy and needs a minimal amount of voice, seat and fingertips to bring back.  On the last canter Finn freaked out a bit less about the same puddles from the opposite direction, and it felt like we went that bit faster. I still couldn’t smile with my mouth open for the mud though!

The roadwork was interesting. At the sheep farm, we met walkers on the footbridge and L stopped to let them through. However having stopped, Finn planted and napped, and I took the lead to get us all across the bridge (even though Jacko is not a lead horse either, so was rather tentative about the whole thing). It then took a solid 5 minutes of both me and Finn spinning and pushing to get Finn to overtake Jacko’s place. Jacko was a star, only moving to avoid Finn who was pushing into him, but Finn was trying to run backwards. After lots of knee-knocking and body-blocking, L finally got Finn back in lead file, and we made the decision that rather than do the polite and usual thing of stopping to let people go first, that everyone (pedestrians included) would be safer if we kept moving at a walk, and they either waited or moved for us.

We made it through town fairly quietly. Yesterday Finn had spooked at a plastic bag and ran onto the other side of the road into the path of a bus: seriously NOT COOL! He did take off in canter at one point after a slap for napping, but Jacko remained entirely unperturbed. I fact, if he could talk, I think Jacko would have been scoffing about all the wasted energy – what a rookie error! lol.

L talked about changing the order for the railway line, as Finn slowing and spooking would make it a bit stop-start and not very enjoyable for the rest of us. I was hoping it wasn’t me that had to lead – I would have been happy to, had I not found out Jacko doesn’t lead and I felt his tension even just leading over the bridge. After a beautiful walk through the Country Park, the sound of hooves reverberating among the trees with the sound of the waterfall beside us, we reached the bottom of the steps onto the Railway Line. Thankfully M on Ripper was put as lead horse, but was not allowed to gallop: she had to keep it steady until the bend, and if clear, could open up a little bit, but no galloping. That could have been a challenge on Ripper, but M did such a sterling job, I thanked her at the end. Not only did I get to canter the big man all the way from the steps until we met human traffic near the end of the line, but we were all a safe distance from each other, and even Finn behaved. I did spend a lot of it trying to get a flying change out of Jacko though, as he was striking off on the left lead in a banana shape, and it wasn’t very comfy. While I can change him on a steady canter, he wasn’t for switching for me now that we were faster. It did help me realise that even on a Common Ride if Jacko wasn’t riding straight, I would be okay on him, and I would definitely consider him if Abbie was ever unavailable; Jacko was an non-fussed as Zing Zang upon entering a field for a gallop on my last private hack, but with a bit more speed.

The walk home was done in pairs wherever possible, and the chat was good. We knew it wouldn’t be a fast hack as it was a ‘schooling’ hack for Finn in the lead-file, and there were riders L didn’t know with us which precluded doing stubble fields. It was also well inside my comfort zone and on a bigger horse (about 17hh), so that always does my confidence good, if not my sense of adventure!

I have been asked twice now to do the charity show though, so I have signed up and emailed to book my horse and a jumping lesson in a couple of weeks time. *GULP!* While L told me that a professional photographer would be there, which is appealing as I have hardly any jumping photos of myself, I have now found out that a film crew will be there to cover the show for an Equestrian TV company too. AARGH! I just keep telling myself “I’m doing it for the Sick Kids’ Hospital, I’m doing it for the Sick Kids’ Hospital…” There is still a chance that my work schedule won’t allow it, as it’s a Friday afternoon. Still, my name’s officially in the hat now and Tom has been provisionally booked – I guess I’ll have to give it a go if the stars align for me!

I am also going for a hack at a different yard this week; a trekking centre on the other side of the city is offering 2hr mid-week hacks for about £25. Me, my friend, and another riding buddy are off on Friday afternoon to give them a whirl. We’re not looking to change yards (we are MORE than happy where we are), but with horsey holidays to think of, practice on horses and routes we don’t know is good experience; plus a new riding adventure is always fun! I already hack at the fastest yard around, so I figure going somewhere unknown, while it’ll challenge my nerves a wee bit, the riding should actually be easier and will provide a wee boost. I am also awaiting an email that will hopefully bring more exciting horsey news this week… It’s all going on at the moment it seems!

Me & Jacko post-hack on Sunday :)

6/10/13 Serendipity

I have had the blues these last few days – nothing to worry about and only temporary, but still a miserable coming together of hormones, less daylight and stress at work. I knew horse riding would help, but I couldn’t chase myself to do it on Saturday morning; I needed to turn the alarm off and just curl up in bed until I could sleep no more.

I brightened a little on Saturday evening, just enough to take the initiative and book a Sunday morning hack online. So, despite the earlier start and later journey home due to the buses, I was off to the yard to ride, and all I wanted was Abbie – my absolute comfort zone and my little superstar.

I finally caught Abbie outside for a photo!

I arrived at the yard, had some quality time over the door with lots of the horses, and saw Abbie was in the barn. The yard was quiet, and only a few people turned up, including 3 of my private hacking crew from last summer. One of them is always given Abbie however, so I didn’t fancy my chances, and with Tom not in either, I really didn’t have a clue who to choose. Luckily, The Boss gave me Abbie anyway, and the guy was given big Jacko to try. I was delighted, as she was just what this doctor ordered!

L was taking us out, and she was riding Hugo: it was clearly going to be a fast one, which I was looking forward to. No one else that turned up was due on the hack, so without organising or paying for a private hack that’s what we got – 3 of us out for a burn out with our favourite leader and on a fast horse, with no one else joining us. The scene was set!

Hugo and Cha Cha are faster horses, but Abbie kept in touch with them all the way up the first hill in canter. She was keen to go too: she leapt into action by rocking on her hind legs in halt and launching off. She has also kept her fitness quite well – she was still cantering at a point on the hill where the ride usually trots, but with Hugo’s temperamental brakes, it wasn’t an option to do anything less.

In the woods, the two horses ahead of me lead the way, but Abbie wasn’t too far behind, and we actually galloped everywhere; normally the wood gives 3-5 canters, but we got 4 gallops out of it. It really does feel faster when you’re enclosed like that too, and the branches are whistling past your face, rather than in open fields where you have no landmarks to provide a real point of reference.

The horses had really seemed to go into Common Riding mode, and through town, Abbie went from happily keeping 2 horse lengths back, to trying to rush up Cha Cha’s bum. We also accidentally cantered through town – Hugo was on his toes and took off, and while Abbie collected up with pressure on the reins, she wasn’t for trotting when the horses in front were still cantering. Luckily it wasn’t more than half a dozen strides, as I do worry about the impact when doing more than a trot on tarmac. Everyone was safe, and the canter was short-lived and collected from everyone, but there was a wee thrill from having been so unintentionally naughty and in front of the church too!

The Country Park was just a delight. Abbie and the other horses were all on their toes, and seemed to be anticipating a canter, even though we only ever walk through there. The waterfall and warm air filled the forest, feeling nothing like a typical October morning, and the horses clip-clopping across the bridge at an excitable jog just added to it. The horses all attacked the steps up and down with gusto too, though Abbie did not leap them quite like Ripper did thankfully!

We set off from the bottom of the steps, cantering until we go round the bend and onto the railway line straight to open up. Despite having it made it through the overgrown woods scot-free, I got attacked by a tree that jumped in my way while I was holding Abbie to the side to avoid last week’s horse-eating fallen bush. I couldn’t believe I wasn’t bleeding when I pressed my face to my sleeve, as I had the swollen discomfort of blunt force blow, but also the stinging hotness of a sharp injury too. I plundered on ahead however, and shortly after I hit the tree, we had to emergency brake for a dog-walker. We were approaching the off-shoot where we join the railway line in winter however, so the walker turned off to the left onto the off-shoot to let us go down the main of the line. 

Well, go we bloody did! We were onto the strait of the railway line, usually our total length of the line when the park’s closed, and could see that it was clear. There was no holding back – we all floored it, and while Abbie held a bit more of a distance from the lead two horses, she comfortably stayed third in the queue. We had the wind in our hair, and I was grinning from ear to ear (something I can’t do in the woods, because you literally eat mud if you do). We even extended the railway line, so rather than stop where the ground hardens, we switched onto the grass verge at that point to lengthen it. Suddenly, it felt like a Common Ride-length gallop, and it was glorious, and a big step in the right direction after feeling a bit negative the week before!

At the end of the railway line, I dared to hope that we would be doing the stubble field at the end. Apparently the farmer was more than happy with us doing it last time, but didn’t like that we used part of his lane to get onto the road home. So, rather than do the length of the field and exit onto his lane, we had to go back to exit where we started from. L hadn’t been on the middle of this field or done all the fringe before to check it was suitable for galloping, so we had to turn around and gallop up and down the same track on the long side. Doing so required some planning, as if the slower horses met the faster horses going the opposite way back, there would be some spinning (and possibly rider dumping) to ‘catch up’. The plan was semi-circles – the lead two horses would do a large semi-circle to turn into a tear-drop turn, whereas we would do smaller ones, to help all 5 of us bunch together again before galloping back down.  All was going well – the gallop was a blast, and I kicked on (something I’ve regretted not doing in my earlier common rides). I brought Abbie back into a collected canter near the end, and we got turned safely without motor-biking. However, Hero behind me went shooting off 90 degrees to the right, apparently heading the short way home. Abbie tried to follow him, but despite leaping and objections from her, she found that she wasn’t allowed to face anything but the correct direction and she wasn’t permitted to follow Hero. However, Abbie then reminded me that she still is a green 5 year old (something I can forgot, as she’s mature in so many ways already), and she felt a bit panicky on her own – she was too nervous to gallop up to the 3 at the other end of the field now, and I wasn’t letting her go with the naughty Hero. All she would do is jog, and I knew I just had to get her behind another horse to give her the confidence to go. So, I waited for Hero’s rider to get him back, so that I could slot Abbie in behind. Sadly, the leaders had walked up and reached us by this point, so there was no gallop to be had together to catch them up. Abbie then saw the 3 riders facing us, so tried to spin so that she was oriented the same direction as them to gallop, but she got another firm no from me. I marched her towards the 3, Hero joined us, and then the leaders turned for us to get a nice long gallop back down the ways. Phew! Abbie settled back with the herd, and was her happy, gallopy self at that point.  I thought to myself, ‘How funny: 20-something year old Frankie does it, and she’s an opinionated, stroppy mare. Meek wee non-marish youngster Abbie does it, and it is greeness!’

So, despite the fact the gallop was cleaved unexpectedly in two, and I had a nervous pony trying to weave and spin her way to the wrong company, I enjoyed it. However, on leaving the field, we saw another stubble field across the road that had open access to it. L said “Let’s do this one too, and we’ll do a lap around the outside”. So, we would galloping around corners – something I have done lots of this summer on Common Rides, but wouldn’t do after 2 long hours in Ripper’s uneven saddle last weekend. I was feeling my hip by this point, so I didn’t kick on to push Abbie full out, and we finished last despite being 3^rd fastest all hack-long. I had a great time, and it eased my nerves no end – I totally forgot last weekend, about saying no, and denying two of today’s hackers another field last week. Abbie & I even cut the last corner to catch up a bit, but I got Abbie to balance through the turn rather than lean. It was glorious!

So, it seems the horses were right to get into excited mode, as we had ourselves a mini-Common Ride in the end! I must have said thank you to L about 20 times: because she knows all of us and knows we can ride, she was fit to tailor the hack for our needs, wants and abilities (whereas another friend went on Saturday morning’s hack and described it as “cautious”). I could not have scripted it better myself – not only did it help me banish the guilt of removing a field for everyone last weekend, but the adrenaline, joy, sunshine and company just blew my low mood away. In fact, I seemed to be on some sort of roll afterwards: I had both Malteaser and Fudge the dogs scrabbling for my attention on the yard, the £20 dress I bought on the way home rang up as £5 on the till, and I was so buoyant that I was uber-productive that afternoon: scones were made, a roast beef dinner with all the trimmings and home-made pud were cooked (apple & raspberry oatmeal crumble – NOM!), the ironing was done and dishes were washed. It seemed like the morning had not just been a cure for guilt, shaken confidence and low mood, but a cure for laziness too! Lol.

Many cuddles were had afterwards with Abbie, who had sweated up a white foam from excitement and hard work, so it made for some lovely patterns on my clothes between her using me as a scratching post and me fussing over her. She was also keen to continue the contact after I took her to the hose to clean her up – nice! L had played that mischievous game of holding for a puddle then accelerating out of it too, so we looked like coal miners by the end of the ride. I think I scared the first time clients I met at the bus stop too, who enjoyed their first ever trek but happily drew the line there for now! Lol.

I did however get asked if I would jump in the charity show this winter. I do plan to school more this season, and the lesson I go into has a 30min jumping option at the end. Upon hearing a professional photographer will be there, and having almost no jumping pics of myself despite a lifetime of SJ yards as riding schools, that helped encourage me to start preparing myself to maybe do it. Only a fraction of the Common Riding horses are used in the school though and I’m never sure about who would suit me, but apparently Tom is a darling to jump, so I would be seriously tempted if he was available for me. For now though, before those fields of stubble get turned over for resowing, a hack will be hard to turn down… Watch this space!