As it was

Hello, and welcome back to the blog. It’s been almost half a year since I wrote a post and lots has happened in that time. Things have been very all over the place this year in general, but I am so pleased to be getting life back on track.

In today’s post, I am sharing a bit of a recap of what has happened since my last post and some insight into how things are now, and where they are headed.

Where do I begin…

April

My parents were over for the majority of April so I didn’t really do very much at the horses as we were busy showing my parents all around Queensland! I was feeling pretty disconnected to Bryni at this point and was considering selling her.

May

Firstly, I sold Bryni. There were various reasons for this. One was that I didn’t feel I connected with her the way I wanted to. I think that was due to both a character clash and the fact that she is young, required much more work than I anticipated (she had lots of issues) and I just couldn’t give her what I thought she deserved. I was worried about selling her to just anyone, but it turned out she ended up going back to her old owner who is over the moon to have her. I’m really happy with how this turned out for her. As far as I know she is doing well and is bossing around another horse in the field, typical Bryni!

Secondly, I bought Harry. Then I sold Harry in July. And now I have Harry back (presently August). It’s a long story, with lots of personal ups and downs, but the main thing is that I have him back (he never actually left the yard, the lady at the yard was buying him, I simply refunded her the money much to her delight).

I never actually introduced Harry properly on the blog when I bought him so this is a little bit of a belated introduction to him.

‘Harry Styles’ is an ex racer (hence the name), like much of the horse market in Australia. He stands at around 16.2/3hh and is a beautiful bay. He is 8 years old. He hasn’t raced in two years though he has not done a whole lot since then. I think the people who owned him just ran him with the other horses for training for the last couple of years. He can walk, trot and canter (with a surprising amount of effort required on my part) and can kind of turn- but not quickly- and he stops well, thankfully. He’s a more whoa than go kinda guy who follows you around the field, acts like a big chicken around the other horses and is a sucker for a carrot. He only likes carrots and very particular treats- namely Jo’s homemade treats (a fellow agistee at the yard). I am not roping myself into baking for my horse however, so carrots it is.

I didn’t have a lot of time with Harry before I sold him so now that I have gotten him back, I am going to spend some time getting to know him again and finding out where all of his buttons are. He has also dropped some weight with it being winter here so I want to get him back up to a healthier weight and get some muscle on him.

I don’t have any particular or grand goals for Harry other than to just enjoy him. I’d like to get him working at elementary level dressage comfortably and teach him to jump. I think this will require more patience than I might possess judging by the complete lack of impulsion in going over a pole even at a walk, but we will give it a bash.

My main focus for Harry for the rest of the month is to get his weight up to scratch and to get him going around the field comfortably at a walk and trot. I’m still not sure where all his buttons are and what his quirks are so I’d like to spend some time getting to know them.

I would also like to do some small pieces of groundwork just to loosen him up a bit. He is a big boy and it’s a bit like turning a double decker bus at times so it would be handy if he learned to be a little more bendy. He and I both to be honest!

Finally, I would like to find a new routine for Harry that aligns well with work. It’ll take some time to get used to a new routine again, but I’m looking forward to it.

Overall, I’m excited for the road ahead and getting back to enjoying horses again.

Happy Horsing!