October so far;; Barney Rubble ♥

Oopssss... I REALLY need to start updating this more often! Sorry! I thought I would give you all one long entry for now of October so far.

This month I have been riding Barney quite a lot. At first, I was just meant to be hacking him out when we rode out on hacks, but now, his owner and her mother have given me permission to ride him in the school etc., which is absolutely brilliant! I suppose the big news with him, is that I’m taking him to a show this Saturday... which I am really incredibly nervous about! Our dressage needs a miracle, and if we aren’t careful, our jumping could go incredibly badly as well! Arghhhh stressful days!!

Anyway. The first time I jumped Barney properly was... interesting. I was trying to figure him out really. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get a decent position... You can go with him at the start, but then it all goes wrong somewhere in the air when he somehow manages to land about a metre away from the jump. Bad times. The last jump we did that day was actually alright, because we had a nice speed going up to it and he took off nicely. I over released a bit, but I think out of all of them, it was the best.
Somewhere in the last couple of weeks, Alex and I went on a couple of hacks. The first time, we went with Cloudia, who owns Barney and Diesel. We sort of ambled along and found the sandy track that we were allowed to canter along. It was a lot of fun! Barney goes mental and tries to kill me by chucking his head in the air and then whizzing along. He is SO good. He goes when I ask him to, and 99% of the time, stops when I ask him to as well.

The second hack we went on was just me and Alex... it was rather eventful. They went pretty well throughout the hack, mostly not too strong or too ploddy. Actually, I lie, Laddie was PAINFULLY slow. We went for a canter together, and Laddie always has to go in front, and he would. Not. Move. I was just trotting behing Alex going, ‘ALEX!!! MOVE!!!’ but it was good fun. Until it started raining. Towards the end, we decided to canter back along the sandy track to get home quicker. As always, Alex went in front, followed by me and Barney. All was going well until Barney put on a burst of speed; and overtook Alex. Then Alex was going, ‘Okay Liv... you can stop now!!’ all I could say was, ‘I can’t!!’ Every time I tried to stop the reins started slipping through my hands and then he would shove his head down and pull me forward. Then i dropped my whip. And we kept going. Eventually, i managed to slow down. Then i had to go back, get off, retrieve my whip, then get back on. It was an interesting time.

Last Sunday, we had a bit of a jumping session. It was really, really good. He was an absolute superstar. He absolutely FLEW over the small jumps. We went up to 3ft which he cleared with so much ease it was like ‘WOAH.’
Was still trying to figure him out a bit but I think we’re getting there. slowly.

As for today, we hired out the arena down the road and had a jumping session in there to practice for the show. We did a course which Alex set up for us. He still flies. Also today was the first time that I jumped fillers on him. The first time, we had a bit of a tumble, but after that little episode, he was as good as gold and flew over everything. I’ve learnt that I need really relaxed hands, all the time, or he starts fighting and we mess up the striding completely. To be honest, I’m not all that worried about the jumping; it is our dressage that needs a miracle.

And that is all for the moment! I will keep you posted more often now, I promise. Wish us luck for the 24th!
Livvy, Laddie and Barney. xx

"He's like a rocket on steroids on a sugar high!"

I'm sorry this entry is slightly late... things have been rather hectic recently!!

So on Saturday I went to Blenheim horse trials for the day, which meant no Laddie. :(

However, on Sunday, Alex and I got dropped off at the yard my my Dad. You have to go down a series of country road to get there, and my Dad sped. Me and Alex were literally sitting in the bakc seats fearing for our lives! Anyway, we got there in one piece and I suppose that's all that matters.

We caught him in without any trouble. When he was all groomed and ready to go, we made our way down to the field.

Flat work he was absolutely fine.

Alex was teaching me again, and she set up some trotting poles. We were trying to get him to pick his feet up, so Alex turned them in to raised trotting poles. The first few times he knocked the last one very slightly, but then, he did them perfectly so that was all good.

When the jump went up to a small cross pole Alex wanted to work on getting him steady. Which is easier said than done!! He always wanted to break in to canter before the pole, even though the jump was less than a foot off the ground. Once he goes, it is quite hard to stop him. As Alex says, he, 'is like a rocket on steroids on a sugar high!'

So we worked on getting him steady. Once or twice after the jump, he shoved his head down and bucked and Alex was just screeching, 'SIT UP!!!! SIT UP!!' Fortunately, nobody got reunited with the floor so that was fine really.

We often find that he is a lot stronger in the field. I'm not really happy with the way I rode to be perfectly honest. It just didn't feel very 'in control,' and I know we could do better, so hopefully we'll just keep improving.

ANYWAY.

We were all packed up and ready to go when we realised we had another two hours or so until Alex's dad was coming.

Barney was in so we started to make a big fuss of him with his owner (who is absolutely lovely!)

She was telling us how he was being a bit grumpy and then offered me a ride on him! :*

So we tacked him up and headed off in to the field again. I did some flatwork on him and his canter is gorgeous. He really goes with the 'rythm' and its lovely. It's nice to sit to. :)

After flatwork, she put up a small jump. I was expecting him

to be really nice and easy going but ooohhhh no, he goes a bit crazy. He sort

of goes sideways and then throws his head in the air and does all these little prancey steps. His actual jump is nice; but if you fold normally, he then sort of extends in the air, catching you off guard! Then you get left behind anyway. But he's super. :)

Anyway, that's all for this week. :D x

The Eventful Hack.

So yesterday, Alex and I were taken out on a hack by one of the [lovely] people at our yard. I'd never really been on a 'proper' hack before, so I was actually quite excited because there are some really lovely hacking routes around.

We set off, [struggling to keep up at times because Tully, the horse at the front is an x- eventer or something, so his walk is the equivalent to Laddie and Barney's trot.]

Barney is absolutely lovely to ride. He's pretty much the 'perfect' pony, he's adorable.



So all was going well until we had a canter up a stretch of land, which was sort of sloping upwards, so I suppose ot was a sort of 'long' hill. Tully, being the fast horse he is, surged forwards. Barney was like, 'OH MY GOD!! WE'RE GOING REALLY REALLY FAST!!' and sort of threw his head in the air and extended his legs out to keep up. I don't think I have ever been so fast in my whole life... not even at Warwick on crazy pony, [Juanito]. We basically flew.
So we were cantering along fine. Until I saw Laddie do a small buck to the side, still galloping along. then he did it again, this time shoving his head between his legs. Then I just saw Alex going arse over tits and was like, 'Yeahh, she's a gonner.'

After that little event, our hack went rather smoothly!

Alex's teaching.

Hmm, I'm not quite sure what to say.

I suppose I should start with why this blog is called, 'The 2 L's,' if you haven't already worked it out for yourself.
Well, one L obviously stands for 'Livvy' and the other for 'Laddie.' Well there you go, that was simple enough.

So what about Laddie?
While Alex was away in France, I went down pretty much everyday, which was nice, because it sort of felt like we were making up for the time when I was in Greece. It also gave me a chance to 'get to know him' a bit better, and for him to get used to me, as well as the other way around.
Well, when my friend Charley and I got down on the first Monday Alex was away, we found that he had a nasty cut on his back, and another on his leg. It turned out they had already been checked out and treated, so we just took him out to graze for a while which was nice for him.

Then, on the Tuesday, they told us that he was nearly back to his old self-the wounds were healing nicely, and that it would be absolutely fine to ride him, just not for too long. We did about twenty minutes flatwork, which was actually surprisingly tiring. He wasn't in any discomfort, but me, being my paranoid self, didn't want to risk making it worse, so we stopped after about twenty minutes.

On the Wednesday, my Grandma came down to watch me, so I felt a bit... under pressure? That's not really the right word, but I felt a bit nervous. She's very sort of, 'Oh my god!!!! Don't jump!! Oh my, he's walking, is he supposed to do that?! Don't fall off when I'm watching!!!' So yeah. We did flatwork again. About ten minutes before we finished, I took off his saddle and did a bit of bareback. Apparently nobody had really ridden him bareback before, so I didn't really know what to expect. It was quite different- I could actually feel him working, and his spine is the boniest thing on this planet, it wasn't nice to trot. I did canter a little, but not much as it was the most bizarre feeling (and quite uncomfortable when he went from canter to trot. Ouch!!)

On the Thursday, Charley accompanied me down to the yard again and they said that he was back to his normal self. I got lazy and actually couldn't be bothered with the saddle to start, so we went without. After warming up, and doing more flatwork, we decided to head in to the field where the jumps were set up. Charley shoved it down to the smallest cross pole and I went over it. It was quite uncomfy. Then, I did it again, at the same height, and he stopped as soon as he landed and sort of 'pranced' and went in to the fence. I just bounced right off the side. After that, we got the saddle out. He basically walked the cross poles, and stared at the middle jump as if we were taking the mickey out of him. When it got to tops, he absolutely flew. His owner said he loved jumping, and he actually does. One time, he did shove his head down right after and I fell off, again which was a bit gutting, and I didn't really have the motivation to continue.

After that, Alex was back.

The first time we went down together was yesterday, [30th August] and she decided to give me a flatwork lesson with no sirrups. I don't think my body has ever felt so much pain. Alex is actually a very good teacher. She's blunt, she tells me what I'm doing wrong [and right] and she isn't scared to yell at me, so it was all good really. We have established that I have a big hand problem, and need to sit back a bit more. After the flatwork 'lesson', in which we worked on outline, she took off the saddle [again] and told me to go over a jump, and that 'it would be funny if I fell off. :D' so off we went over a very, very, very, very small jump. When I say very small, I mean it. It actually went quite smoothly. I still can't understand how people can jump up to four ft without a saddle. Isn't is painful?

Today, [31st August], Alex wanted to work on jumping. She wanted to get my old [apparently 'good'] position back, and she wanted to stop me moving my hands. Which was easier said than done. She also wanted to do it in a double, which I hate because whenever I do them, I always end up over the handle bars. Considering, it went okay. Towards the end, he started taking the piss slightly and would try to duck out at the second jump. At this point, I was all ready to give up, but Alex just went, 'YOU ARE NOT FINISHING LIKE THAT. HE WILL JUMP IT.' So I didn't really have a say in the matter. ;)
In the end, we did jump it, so I am glad that she made me do it, because it meant we ended on a good note and not a bad one.

After that, Laddie was all nice and sweaty, so, because it was such a nice day, we decided to give him a bath. He had dried in under half an hour, so we sat in the sun and he had his food, then we turned him out for the night.

Tomorrow, we're going down and I'll be riding Barney, and we'll be going on a hack which should be really good because I've never been on a proper one, so I'm quite excited for that. :D
So, until then. X