THE MONTHLY MUSTER
March Newsletter

Hello, and welcome back to the blog for the March Monthly Muster. It’s been a whirlwind of a month for me with going back to Scotland, returning to Australia and work, and now being off for the Easter Holidays. Though it has been a whirlwind and there have been many low points and areas of life I am not overly happy with, there has been many wonderful moments that I am grateful to have had.

Personal Updates

As I mentioned in the February Monthly Muster, I headed back to Scotland at the very start of March to be with family as we were going through a bereavement. It was a bitter-sweet visit in that it was hard seeing everyone under the circumstance, but it was also lovely to spend some quality time with friends and family. In addition, I was over the moon to see Bo again. He seemed so chunky and little as my eyes have gotten used to my big, lanky Harry here in Brisbane. But, I had a great time looking after him again and stepping back into those familiar routines. I was also lucky enough to be able to go out a ride on my friends’ Highland Pony- Glashan- and I had the best time. He is such a kind, wonderful little horse, not to mention SUPER comfortable. I could have absolutely rode him all day long!

Training updates

As I was away, a friend of mine here in Brisbane was kindly overseeing Harry and giving him his feeds but he has obviously not been in work. Since returning to Brisbane, Harry has done a couple of lunging/ groundwork sessions but that’s been about it. Between trying to settle back into a busy time at work wrapping up the term and consistent wet weather, I just haven’t managed to do a whole lot with Harry yet.

But I am hopeful.

Goals for April

Get back on the horse!

That’s it. My main goal is to get back on Harry!

I can’t lie, it has been frustrating not being able to give Harry as much time as I would like. It often feels like a battle against time. It also feels like a battle against confidence as I won’t ride for various reasons such as work commitments, weather or energy levels and then because I haven’t ridden in a while I start to get a little nervous about riding. This then puts me off riding and I almost find reasons not to, which leads to frustration and the cycle continues.

However, I am lucky to be off for the next two weeks and I’m thinking if I can go to the yard early before all the kids and teens turn up to ride their ponies, I will be able to have some quiet time to rebuild my confidence and to ease back into riding. That way, when I go back to work and have to ride in the afternoons, I feel better about my riding and Harry is more comfortable to get going with some work.

We will need to take it slowly, of course, with Harry (and myself) being out of work yet again. We’ll be starting in walk and slowly building up, nice and easy. My thinking is that if we can get a good couple of weeks of consistent riding, it should help when I return to work after the holidays. The rides will likely have to drop down to 2-3 times a week and I need to go back to trying to ride in the afternoons, but at least we’ll have had a solid start to getting back into work.

Recommendations

Merry People Gumboots

Oh my goodness, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these boots. I bought a pair of the Bobbi Boots which are an ankle boot, kind of in the style of a jodhpur boot, and I loved them so much but when it’s really wet I did need a taller boot.

Upon visiting home, my mum surprised me with these ones and I adore them. Like the Bobbi Boot, they are so comfortable and I just love the brightness of them. They have so much character! I would highly recommend! Perfect for horses, farm work, dog walking, puddle jumping- you name it!

You can see, I even rode in these because I didn’t have riding boots and they did they trick! Perfect!