Tari's progress

Oops, haven't posted for a while, we've been busy with boring things like exams and work. But now it's the summer holidays we've had a bit more time to get things done with the horses.

The first part of the holidays was spent out in France, and we got a fair bit of mounted archery done, more on that on the archery blog

Since our return, we been concentrating on getting some stuff done with Tari. We have found all sorts of things to entertain her, such as an old mattress left lying around....

She's had a saddle on, and then someone on her back and this really hasn't bothered her at all.....

If you're wondering about the new hairstyle, it's an attempt to keep her a bit cooler along her neck whilst still having some fly whisks. Hopefully cuts down on the dreadlocks too.......

The only thing we've discovered she's really not happy about is a white plastic bag, even when it contains carrots......hopefully Gandalf's example will win her over!

One year on......

Can't believe it's been a year already since I brought Tari home. This is what she looked like then

and here she is today

She was being a bit nosey bout Sky's tack, so I thought I'd see how she liked wearing it.....

....didn't seem too bothered!

Sky's extra wide cob saddle seems to be a good fit now so she's definitely going to need the treeless by the time she's old enough to ride!

Lovely day so we took her for a walk and jumped some ditches :-)

A day off!

The OH made it home this weekend for one of his rare visits so I got the day away from the SNO, a absolute luxury......

Went out this morning with Ali and Fina, rode Chester in his Western saddle which is possibly the most uncomfortable saddle I have ever sat in. Nice little amble (for me, gotta watch the back) by the river, Ali and Fina (and Choccy) did some hooleying and jumping

Then this afternoon went up to ride Gandalf out with Tess. His new saddle has arrived, and it's a lot more comfy than Ches's!! Organza was a good girl, we even managed to stretch the elastic a bit and got her five whole vine rows away from us :-)

And the best thing about today? No small (but insistent and loud) voice saying "mummy I need a poo!" ......

Kinna does some long reining.....

The snow is showing no signs of leaving, so I have decided to carry on trying to work the horses regardless. We got out the proper grown up horse stuff today (well alright, the felt saddle we used to have for the pony) and tacked Kinna up.

No problems with that, she's had a saddle on before. Then we added some long lines and went for it.....

And she did really well, I had Ali at her head to start with til she got the idea and then she was fine, despite various distracions and my happy "helper"........good job Kinna knows all about long ropes and how not to get tangled in them!!

Afterwards I took the long lines off and let her wander about witrh the saddle on, so naturally she tried rolling in it, which is why I use the old pony saddle!!! Once she realised she couldn't get rid of it, she gave up and went over to give Chester a hard time......

Quite pleased with that for a first go.

Ebony......

Did a bit of work with Ebony today, introduced her to a few things, like a saddle cloth....

....and a saddle....

....and some weight!

She took it all in her stride, really, think she's got the idea that she can trust us.......  :-)

Cowgirl Ali

As Ali didn't want Kinna to be left out, we did her photo for the calendar yesterday.

She was very good, didn't mind the (rather heavy) Western saddle at all. I even dug out an old hackamore bridle to finish the look.

Kinna looked very small under all that....

Inevitably, Éowyn wanted a ride......

So that's both babies backed then, what shall we do next?

Couple of firsts for the babies today, we took them out for a bit of a graze and a walk around. Chester had just had his saddle taken off, so I thought I'd see how Sky would react if I put it on her, she didn't mind one bit......

As soon as Éowyn saw the saddle on her she started asking if she could ride her........so I stuck her on just for a second - and Sky never moved a muscle!

Then Kinna go ther first jumping lesson with Ali....little video here

Chester was a good boy too today, we wanted to check how he'd be in the trailer as we're  going to do a TREC competition next week (more about that here if you're interested).

He loaded fine....