Competition

Okay, so I never compete, I used to, a tiny amount, when I was quite young on my old pony. So here is a list of what you need on the day:

Rider (For the ring)

• Show jacket (When show jumping or dressage, or in hand)
• Jodhpurs, cream/white/canary is usually preferred but some do ride in darker colours
• POLISHED boots either long or short (use joddy clips) make sure they are super clean and polished
• Hairnet if you have long hair, in a bun
• Show shirt, depending on style but ties are sometimes good with a collared shirt
• Clean hat, approved and safe
• When required, a body protector for show jumping
• Gloves, usually leather, just not grippies!
• Stick (some aren't allowed in classes and some bits aren't either)

Rider (Before, when getting ready)

• Trackies, other trousers to cover your clean jodhpurs
• Muckers or wellies
• Rain jacket (when out at shows you will defo need this)
• Gloves, some hardy ones maybe needed for hay etc (you will need gloves with difficult loaders)
• Hat

Horse

• Clean and polished tack
• Clean numnah and girth with least amount of hairs
• Fully groomed
• Polished hooves
• Plaited mane (sometimes when required with correct breed)
• Plaited tail (polo needs a tail completely wrapped up)
• Clean markings, ears, eyes, groin and bum
• Passport is sometimes needed

Yet another update, but actual blogs coming soon!

Hello people :)

Now, I think I'm going to do a couple of small blogs just to keep things fresh. I have said in the past that   I will keep a blog short and its ended up long so I don't know how successful this is going to be. I shall at least write 3. One today, one on Wednesday and one on Sunday. Okay, spoilers

• Flying/legs
• Review
• Storyboard
• Competing

Koolio, so I hope this keeps you happy, I really am sorry that I have disappeared but I am back now, for a short while. 

(Just another heads up, I recently got a uni offer to up north YAAH! This means, if I get the grades, we will all be saying goodbye to Blue and Shannon for a while, I'm going to try and find a pony to ride when I'm up there or save money for lessons but I'm sure my channel and blog will become quite quiet. My dads plans for the horses are to keep them with us but have a loaner to ride them, if they are super awesome, maybe they could take over the blog, or YouTube  or send me videos of them so I can continue to make videos of them. Whatever happens all of you will know, and I do have all summer to make videos so it maybe a case of saving footage and making videos into the uni year)

Update

Hey peeps. Just a cheeky wee update. Firstly, apologies for not posting much. On the contrary, I have had a quite an increase in readers, hello to the viewers in South Africa and China. So my plan to do this every week kind of failed.. I give up on promising to post on a certain day or on a regular basis. Sorry! In addition to this I have exams coming up which I am sure I will be complaining about for a while and here will become quite bare (like D's flimsy arse) BRAINWAVE! I will make blogs and videos in the holidays coming up so please don't get annoyed if they're repetitive.

Okay so apologies but scrap past promises. I give you my word though that I will not leave you guys and will try my best to post all that I can. After all this hell is over I will have so much time to spare so I will be doing tons! Also I am getting Blue over to a stables for a couple of weeks in the summer so there shall be plenty of footage from that, possibly quite repetitive but I shall make it as lively as I can. Please stay patient with me. I swear once all this shit is over, I will be totally engaged and connected with you. (No, I'm not marrying you, well unless you are Darren Criss). So I will see you soon :)

Jumping (For greenies)

Hello, my equine buddies :)

So, recently, one of my friends have been trying to bring her 4 year old onto jumping and I just thought since I did this with Blue that I would do a post saying what I did with him and what I think works for bringing a horse on.

(Warning: This is based on by past experience, not a professional opinion. Also, the height ratio should be altered depending on the size of the horse/pony)

Okay, I'm not sure where to start but I guess you want to make sure that you are in an area which you and the pony are comfortable in and have lots of space around the jump. Make sure to be happy trotting and cantering over poles and they aren't offended by anything surrounding them. Such as jump stands!

So I would suggest starting off with just the one pole on the ground with jump stands either side to get your horse used to the set up. Now its likely, if they are green, to be quite spooky around this foreign object (if you can turn your pony out with the jump in their paddock, or in the arena, do, just so they are used to the sight of it) remember to reassure your horse and reward it when it over come its fears. Even though I say that, don't pussyfoot around too much. Give them the support they need but make sure you are still in charge and that you still expect them to do as you say. Ensure that you go over the pole at speed, defo a trot, obviously a green horse isn't going to canter over it instantly but make sure they can before putting the rail up.

Okay, once you have your horse going over the pole in a canter, well. You should now bring the pole up a little, only a little to lift the pole a few inches of the ground. This introduces the idea of the pole being higher than the ground and the horse is going to have to put effort in to get over it. Again make sure you are going at it straight and that your horse is happy. Now, obviously you are going to knock it and don't get disheartened. Keep at  it until you feel, both you and the horse completely get it. (AGAIN you are still going to knock a rail from time to time, you don't have to continuously get it right before moving up a notch)

Okay, this is where things get interesting and a little more complicated. I'm going to try and spell it out in two options.

Option 1:
If you are super confident, are bringing a horse back into work or teaching an experienced horse to jump you can try this.
After your horse has got the gist of the jump scenario and the pole off the ground I would bring it up around half a foot off the ground.
This gives a defined message that your horse needs to actually jump and can't just trot over it. From then onward I would go up at what ever pace you like, I find this good, go up 1/2 foot then, then 1/5 foot and then 1/8 foot onward.

Option 2:

Gradually build the jump up as slow as you like, you could go a cm at a time. (You may want someone there to put the jump up, its seriously ridiculous to have to get off and on every 5 seconds). I did this with Blue when I had just got him, I was 13 at the time and was very nervous so the caution was more to settle my nerves rather than Blues. I'm not sure exactly how gradual I did it, I did quite a few cross poles to get up to an okay height.


Once you have got to this stage you are pretty much good to go. Just a final thing.
Vary, the jumps you jump, don't just stick with one for the entire learning experience, for 1 you are going to pick up bad habits, 2 you will end up with a preferred leg and 3 your horse will not understand a course of jumps with turns and bends. I say that, don't go jumping 10 jump courses when you are learning, when you are up to just less than a foot I would suggest a couple of jumps, never one directly after another.

Now, on a similar note, vary what kind of jump you are jumping, vary between cross pole and straight pole and double pole. I understand you may have a preference and feel more comfortable to jump a certain type, that is fine to jump when you are going up a notch, but make sure you can jump a straight of similar height as well. A cross pole is great for alignment and I would suggest using them regularly while learning but don't overuse them as your horse has to learn to curve on a jump as well. If you have a dodger (you can guess what that is) I would suggest putting poles at the ground on the sides of the jump, you can actually place them on the the rail itself but I would really only do that for alignment. If you need help with your pacing and strides, you could try putting a placing pole in front of the jump, either when you are to break into canter or when your last stride starts, this gives you good perspective of how long your horses stride is.







I think that is all it, ooft! I hope so at least. Okay. That was a very long ramble. I wish you the best with your jumping etc. Remember safety, is the upmost importance, so hats on and preferably body protectors on and have fun! Byeeee! xx

Everyday

(Apologies in advance, no pictures due to my tablet cutting them all in half)

Hi guys, so where do you ride? Keep your horses? What do you do?

Today, I thought I would tell you exactly what I do and where I
do it. So, on an everyday basis I have the horses in a 8-9 acre field. The field is next to my house. This makes life incredibly convienent, I can run out in my pajamas and crocs and go jump on blue, literally! We have one stable, split into two, one side for storage, one for horse. The actual stable is quite dreary especially in winter when there is no sun, however it is serves its purpose. Nearby is a room half for tack and half for dad's stuff, sometimes when I am untacking blue I take him in there (sshh don't tell dad) this room is spacious and is great for cleaning tack. There is about a 3 metre gap between the stable and the house, with my room's velux directly aligned with the stable door. This means when I have a pony in I can wake up, walk from my bed to the window and say morning. This is the luckiest thing ever, no-one I know can do that. The
downside/upside to this is that if there is a loose horse I can quickly deal will it, on the other hand they are running around a trampoline and cars!

Within the field I have a diet field, which I used to use for flatwork but now its too muddy, a flatwork area which is in the 'some nights' video on my YouTube channel. I have several jumping places, on along the side of the ditch, and the two you see in '-Blueberry-' video. At the top of the hill in the field there are huge rocks sticking out the ground so I can make some fun xc courses up there. That is basically it when it comes to the field, I don't do much clearly and I don't adventure much but I still really enjoy it.

So where do I go other than the house? Hacks, so much hacking! I have several routes, some outback some not. I do enjoy hacking around forests aposed to roads but where I am you have to spend a significant amount of time on roads. Ah well the forests around where I am are worth it. Outback hacks are short and I am still to discover more. Another place I go to with blue is a nearby stables with an outdoor floodlit arena, not sure what size but three arena's worth. This place is great, I go there for a day (free, because the manager there is amazingly generous!) and jump blue in their huge arena, with awesome jumps and fillers. As my Christmas present I get 2 weeks livery there for Blue so you will definitely be hearing more about this place. I sometimes go to my friends stables where she has her horse kept, the place has plenty more facilities which some are amazing, indoor arena yaah, one thing I have had to realise is arena protocols, at the place I go to there has only ever been one or two other ponies in the arena, using the other side. Shock to the system!

I think this ramble has gone on long enough so I am going to bring it to a swift end. I hope you enjoyed it and good luck with your own shenanigans!