I know it has been a while since I last had a ramble on here. I have been out of the saddle since the end of November and did not want to bore you with blogs of how bored and frustrated I have been (lets just say i now have no hair left!!). Anyway I am now back in the saddle and couldn’t be happier, before my time off I was rather busy so did not have time to post much so lets catch you up with that first.
Then 5yr old (now 6yr old) Barinka Hfd moved up from Novice to Elementary very comfortably and on our last outing before she went on maternity leave we won our second Elementary on 74%!! A very good note to finish on I think. We are now anxiously awaiting her foal due at the end of Feb. She is in foal to International Grand Prix Stallion Mooiman Hfd, i have my fingers crossed for a grey foal as there are not allot of Mooiman Hfd grey's around. With Mooiman as the sire and Barinka Hfd's talent and amazing work ethic the foal is sure to be a star, so it came as no surprise that her owner has already had offers on the un born foal!
Barinka Hfd
Spyder Hfd now 4yr old AES breeding stallion has also been progressing fantastically. His flat work developing in the correct way and really starting to soften in his back allowing me to sit right into him. His willingness to learn still amazes me and he never fails to make me smile. I am looking forward to our first outing in 2012. He also had a little play over jumps for the first time before Christmas and he thoroughly enjoyed it (the bucks and squeals kind of gave it away) and he also showed a very promising technique, hopefully we can do some 4yr old jumping classes this year too! 
4yr old Spyder Hfd.
4yr old Spyder Hfd. A few breakers came and went one in particular to mention a now 4yr old coloured cob X. This little mare came to me because her owner had bought her and been told she was "broken". Her owner trusted this and took the mare home, tacked up walked two strides and found herself clinging on as the mare stood bolt upright! Fortunately her owner realised she needs some assistance (this was the first youngster she had bought) and contacted me straight away. It was very clear that the mare did not have a clue what she was being asked to do, and due to her no objection to tack I can only assume that the previous owners idea of "broken" is here is a saddle, here is a bridle, plonk a person on, lead them about a bit and vwala a "broken" horse!! This really angers me that people have such little respect for the horse and the person they have effectively conned. The owner of this mare could have been seriously hurt due to the sellers lack of morals/knowledge, or the mare could have been sold to someone less understanding and could have been taken for a naughty pony and been dealt with a different way. Luckily the mare went to the right home and then spent 3 weeks with me and went home happy that she now knew what she was being asked to do. She actually turned out to be a very sweet and patient mare, who I now still teach with her owner and it’s great to see the happy result of what could have been a very bad situation.
Now more recently, I jumped back in the saddle with a new schooling project and possible competition prospect. A lovely Irish Draught X grey mare 5yrs old, but broken late so still at 4yr old training. She is proving to be a very enjoyable project as with the big ' I don’t want to do that’s’ also come very big UP's. She is a true all or nothing kind of mare, comes out very tight in the back and takes a while to soften. We are getting there slowly each day is better and the contact getting more and more consistent (very big tendency to curl back off the contact) lots and lots and lots of transitions and rhythm changes. For a change of pace yesterday we took her for a little jump, this is her first time in a new indoor arena and first time seeing fillers. It was a little shaky as she is not yet that brave/comfortable enough with the contact to 'take' me into the jump and also scary new fillers to back off. There video is below of a few clips of our first little jump together, you will notice my stirrups are a tad to long as I took the flat work saddle by mistake so stirrups only went up so far! (Yes I am blonde!). You should be able to see in the video how the first few clips show how we started off (backwards/hanging in the air) and the last few how we finished (more rhythmical and relaxed).
Enjoy guys and as always any comments welcome.
