Diary of an Amateur Equestrian on Maternity Leave
Winter in the UK is a challenging time for horse owners. It is cold, wet and our horses are often stabled overnight which means the yard workload increases. Most of us unfortunately have to work and so balancing work and yard duties in a day can be tricky and can mean that we equestrians frequently …
Normal people (as in non-horse folk) struggle as it is to have the sought after 'work-life balance'. Society now is so goal focussed that people are working ridiculously hard and yet still feel incomplete, rushed or like that hamster running on the wheel but never getting anywhere. Before I started my teaching career in August …
Continue reading "5 Ways to Achieve the Work/Life/Horses Balance"
If you are an equestrian in Britain then this post just might be for you. Winter in Britain is usually very changeable- from frosty and the occasional snowy days to gale force winds and unrelenting rain. As a result of this, our fields are muddy, our horses are muddy and we ourselves get muddy, not …
Continue reading "Tips To Help You and Your Horse Through The Winter"
I have decided to kick my 2021 off to the right start by pledging to be a Brooke Champion and influencer. Brooke is an international charity who works to protect and improve the lives of working horses, mules and donkeys all over the world. Their aim is to give those in the developing world education …
I love New Year. There is just something about the close of a chapter and an opening of another that excites and inspires me. I find it helpful to reflect on the year past and to find hope and make decisions for a better year to come. I have already got my new journal sorted- …
I recently read an article in a horse magazine all about how the lockdown was experienced by horsey people when it was announced on the 23rd of March this year. Consequently, I thought I would write a little post to do the same. It will be interesting to look back on this next year when …
Since the last time I blogged, I have been doing a lot of thinking about where I want to go with my horsey passion and about the things I want to do. Originally, I was attracted to competing in dressage but as I've thought about it over the last couple of weeks, I've realised that …
Continue reading "My Riding Ambitions; A Heartfelt Confession (pt 2)"
Recently, I've been thinking about what I want to do in respect to my horsey passion. I've become aware that my work as a teacher is very time consuming and full on which has meant I haven't spent much time with my horses over the last few weeks. I've felt a bit down and out …
Continue reading "My Riding Ambitions; A Heartfelt Confession (pt 1)"
I must say, as much as I enjoy my job as a school teacher, boy am I glad to be off. This is my second week off and I have enjoyed it very much. I always think it is so important to recharge with such a time-consuming job as teaching and a way I do …
Picture this- you have just gotten off work, you know you’ve got your horse to see to before you can get home, shower, eat, tidy, work some more. So, you rush to the yard and get started on the chores of things like mucking out, making haynets, filling water buckets. You do all this at …
If you follow my instagram- @bbequines - you will see I have started to ride a lovely little horse called Harry. I have known Harry for a long time- I used to ride him when I was about 15 or 16 years old and he was 5. Somehow, 10 years later we have ended up …
Bringing a horse back into work is not as simple as just popping a saddle and bridle on and cantering along a forest track. If a horse has been out of work for a while, or is in very inconsistent work, it can be dangerous to assume they are fitter than they are. If a …
As equestrians, we all share the love of horses. Building a solid bond with your horse forms the basics of good training, both in the saddle and on the ground. By creating mutual understanding and trust, things will go much more smoothly as a confused horse can become a dangerous horse. There are some really …
Continue reading "How to Build a Better Bond with Your Horse"
Looking at arthritis Arthritis is the inflammation of a joint which causes stiffness and pain due to the breakdown of cartilage in the joint. As the cartilage breaks down, the synovial fluid which lubricates the joint loses it's ability to facilitate smooth movement in the joint. As a result, this creates pain and stiffness. It …
Groundwork is an essential tool that every equestrian can benefit from using to develop the bond and relationship with their horse. At this present time, in Scotland anyway, the British Horse Society recommend that you don't ride your horse because if you are to have an accident and require medical attention, this would put unnecessary …
My my, it has not been a productive pony week. Otherwise, things actually have been quite productive, I’m on top of my studies and I’m feeling organised but Bo and I just haven’t done much this week. Sometimes I feel like I don’t really know what to be doing with him but then I think, …
With Bo starting to gain a bit of fitness, we had our first schooling session this week and it went really well. We started off by walking around the arena in hand. It was a little bit windy and Bo had his bug eyes on looking around in his wee unsure way so we had …
With bringing Bo back into work and spending my time with only him now that it is just the two of us since I sold my youngster on, I have realised just how much of a bond we still have, despite our lack of quality time spent together over the past year. I have been …
I took a big step today and went to the Edinburgh University Equestrian Club's open day to have a lesson. I haven't had a lesson in around 2 years, in fact, I haven't had consistent lessons since I was at college when I was 17 years old. At that time I had two lessons a …
Bo has been in very inconsistent work over this past year but we are now at a point where I have more time to dedicate to him and so I have decided to bring him back into a decent level of work. However, this is not as simple as just throwing the saddle on and …
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