Sheryl, Sunny and super-sized zuchini

Went out this morning to pick the zuchini and thought there'd be a couple there plus some peas so took a bowl out with me. Hmmm well I under-estimated the zuchini a wee bit...


The biggest one is 35cm long, getting pretty marrow-like! Have started freezing some of them for winter, apparently you can freeze them if they are chopped up so hopefully that means we'll have some for winter casseroles etc. Only got a few peas too - the last off the first vine, and the peas on the second batch are still a good few days away.

Sheryl and Sunny are getting on really well, and having regular play time fun - although Sheryl has heaps more energy than Sunny! Some action shots:

Where's Sheryl?

Sunny playing mummy and cleaning Sheryl

Tails are fun to play with!

Sheryl had a weigh-in this morning - 1.3kg. She was 1kg when we got her but lost 100gm when she was off colour so good to see she is heading in the right direction now. Such a smooch too!! Her favourite things to do are play with Sunny, sleep and cuddle/crawl all over us. She loves to snuggle up under your chin when you're on the couch and lick your neck (can't say I love that last bit!).

Had a great time with Oscar yesterday, me and Sarah took the boys down to Ellie's and had a play with trotting poles and some small jumps. Sarah and Ellie (and Ellie's mate Jill who rode Spyke a bit) went over the half barrel height ones but we stuck to the x-bar height. Although having said that at a couple of points when we popped over them I had urges to do bigger jumps... hmmmm what is happening to me?!

Jill hopped on Oscar after me and it was good to see him jumping. Realised that he is jumping quite deep into the jumps so we put up a ground pole and his jumping improved heaps. One of those things that seems obvious once you've done it but didn't think of it before yesterday! Ellie videoed a lot of it so will hopefully have some video snippets later. Also shortened my stirrups one hole which did a world of good for my lower leg. Felt almost glued in place!

He has lost a shoe though so was feeling the hard ground a bit yesterday. Have had to cancel tomorrow's lesson as I think he'll just be too sore on the sand arena. Bit of a bugger as on Wednesday night (drum roll) we found the left canter button!! Had a lesson with a dressage rider at adult ride and discovered that he likes a different aid to ask for left canter than right. Now that I know it that's fine by me! Meant to have another play yesterday but ran out of time, and won't be able to have a go until this Wednesday now probably. But he just popped straight into the left lead, was fantastic! Steering was rubbish but it was rubbish on the right rein to start with as well. Fantastic progress! Yay!!

Sheryl visits the vet

Poor wee Sheryl has already had her first vet visit. I took her in last week as she was lame on her left front leg, although couldn't see anything or feel anything going on. She is also due for her first lot of vaccinations, so thought we may be able to get those if the vet was ok with her leg.

Took her temp however and it was 40 degrees. Not the ideal temp! So instead of a vaccination she went home with some antibiotics. She was pretty quiet and sleepy for the next couple of days and not that interested in food. But by the weekend she was acting much more like a kitten and her and Sunny have been having a bit of rough and tumble. Poor Sunny doesn't always make the corners that she scoots around easily though, and he has spun out a few times.

The two of them cuddling up

Oscar had his first Ribbon Day on Sunday, and was not too bad although after the first group canter he lost the plot a little. The first group canter was in the 'most obedient horse' class and he actually won that class, probably because it was the first group canter and he was still pretty calm and also because the canter was on the right rein - bit lucky really!

At home with our ribbon, Oscar with his new blingy browband

A good experience for him anyway. And we had a good lesson on Monday, worked on getting his butt underneath him with some trot-rein back on the ground and then trot-halt-trot ridden transitions. He did some great trot work too - not sure you would call it lengthening but I was really able to adjust his stride and gosh it felt nice when I pushed him forward. We even got an accidental (but lovely) canter when I was riding him forward in trot. So it proves that he can do an easy and very nice canter transition.

Also had a lovely left canter (even though we were asking for right canter!), and managed a full 20m egg-ish circle on the left lead. Felt a lot more balanced too.

The garden is going nuts, with loads of green tomatoes on the plants, ready to ripen up. Got heaps of zucchini too, and the second batch of peas are coming through really well.

The hay is still standing, hopefully that will be cut in a week, I don't think we are going to get anymore growth of any worth out of it. It's a bit thinner than we hoped but should still get hopefully 1000 bales.

Oscar goes jumping

Well we got really brave on Sunday and decided to have a play in the paddock at home with some jumps. We have done a wee bit of jumping already, only tiny jumps and mostly to help Oscar with his left canter lead. He does a few crazy jumps in the video below, the first is waaaay over jumped and I am completely left behind but there are some nice bits from him (and lots of crap bits from me, lol).

And even a bit that shows how I fall off - at least it's the start of tumble. Really shouldn't have fallen off, what a wally! But I had my new back protector on - Christmas present from Ben - so clearly I felt a need to test it out. It worked great although doesn't cover my butt so I have a sore right buttock but my back is fine :-)

Anyway here's a video (thanks to Ellie for filming and my darling husband Ben for editing it all) of our first bash of jumping at home - try not to laugh tooooo much:

We went to the forest today, was a hoot. Had a mini race with Ellie and her horse Spyke, was really fun and then the boys just went back into plod mode straight after. So much for crazy thoroughbreds. And we even popped over a log (twice!) in the forest. I always thought jumping wasn't for me, however I am really quite enjoying popping over small obstacles. And having fun hooning around in the forest - is this a mid-life crisis?!

Sheryl is getting on famously with Sunny, they are really playing well together now. She flops and rolls in front of him, he jumps around, and they generally have a ball. I heard from Sheryl's foster mum today, and Sheryl's feline mum is now looking after a few other baby kittens, looks like she has taken to feeding them really well. They look so tiny compared with Sheryl (who is still tiny herself at just over 1kg in weight). She is off to get her first vaccinations this week, feel bad when she is so little! But I think they need them when they are so wee.

There is an Open Ribbon Day at the pony club this weekend so we are going to have a bash at that - more for the outing than anything and we'll just do the flat classes in the morning. Oscar hates baths and all the palaver that goes with turning a horse out for a show, poor boy won't love the preparation for it all!

Apart from that the only other plans are to carry on extending the yard paddock (we have moved a fence that was right down the middle of the only flat part of the property) so we have a nice flat area to ride in, and keep an eye on the hay, plus we'll plant another batch of veges this week. Looking at doing more lettuce, capsicum, zuchinni, and carrots.

Kitten has a name!

After being called 'the kitten' for the past week or two, we have decided to call her Sheryl. Very tongue in cheek name... a true westie name and she is a real westie kitten. Plus now we have Sunny and Sher(yl) as our two cats, haha. The two of them have been getting along really well and Sunny has been great with her, letting her bounce around him and I think he secretly wants to join in some of her antics. So we have a huuuuge load of pics of the two of them and a few of Sheryl bouncing around on her own:

Sheryl's rearing horse impersonation

Sheryl spots her own shadow...

Am I cute when I do this? (Obviously not based on Sunny's reaction, lol)

What about this?

Wake up Sunny! I want to play!!

Did that work? No? Hmmm...

What if I pretend I'm a big scary grizzly bear?

Grrrooowwwwwwwwlllll!! Wake up Sunny!

Sheryl loves Sunny xxx

Such a time waster! She is so full of beans, I think Sunny gets pooped just watching her sometimes.

Oscar was a bit pooped yesterday too, we went to the forest with Ellie and Spyke and did the 'up and over' track, which involves a lot of hills and some quite steep bits at that too. Was good fun, haven't ridden on terrain like that for a while, and Oscar did really well I thought. He hardly stumbled so I think the new farrier is doing wonders for his feet. He used to be very stumbly, even in the paddock which made me a bit wary about cantering in the forest with the odd tree root lurking.

We met a couple of deer yesterday, just as we had started to go for a canter. They went running straight across the path about 40-50m ahead of us. Oscar stop and froze, and I could feel his butt shaking, meanwhile Spyke decided to go cross country and bounded off through the trees (this is the horse that had a mini tantrum about going through a puddle and walking over a broken branch in recent times, haha). Was quite funny to see him disappear off (with Ellie still on board) into the trees. They both settled fine afterwards although Oscar did keep a sharper look out - literally looking left and right a few times while trotting. Funny boy.

He is a bit fitter than I thought though, he was tired after the ride but not exhausted, which was good.

The hay is going okay, and we should probably be cutting in two weeks or so. We have had some good weather for it, a bit of rain and then sunny days which will give it a bit of a boost.

The pigs should be heading off soon too hopefully, will be nice to have some real bacon again. And soon we should be adding to the mob too which some more weaners in a few weeks time. I have no idea what prices are doing now although suspect that with the rain they won't have dropped as much as they did last year when we were already heading into drought by this time.

Cantering, kittens and Christmas

Been a busy couple of weeks!!

Oscar has been going great guns, and the lesson we had on the Monday after the dressage day pretty much cemented in my mind that he is the right horse for me. We did some jumping, which is not really my thing at all - or so I thought... we started off doing some trot poles and while I was trit trotting around my trainer, Laura, started fiddling around with the poles and next thing you know they were getting higher and higher. We got to the dizzying heights of about 35-40cm but the best thing was that Oscar just cruised around really happily. He was as forward as I asked him to be, if I dropped back then he did too but when I rode him forward we had a lovely bounce through a couple of grids followed by (get ready for it) left canter at the end of the grids!! Yahooooo!!

Then we got a left canter again on Wednesday night at adult ride. Asked for canter over a pole and he leaped over the pole which I wasn't expecting at all but then cantered left for a good 10-12 strides. Clever pony :-)

And to top off a great week me and Ellie went to the forest on Saturday and we had two lovely canters through the forest. I forgot how much fun that was. Bowling along happy as larry and when we stopped cantering he just cruised along again, wasn't all razzed up about it. Only time he did get a bit full of beans was on the second canter when we ended up in front - but still completely controllable and nothing to worry about at all.

He is really coming along well with all the work we've been doing on schooling him to what the different rein aids are as well and we can now move his shoulders over really easily. Love my pony!

We also have a new addition to the family - a wee black and white kitten who is only about 7 weeks old. She is very cute and full of energy, bounces around all over the place. She and Sunny are still not too sure about each other and she got a smack from him the other night when she was playing with his tail a bit too vigorously... Anyway here are (lots) of pics of her:

The day she arrived home - pooped after exploring

Snoozing on the computer desk

Watching Sunny
Rrrooooaaawwwww

Little poser! Watching birdies outside

And a cute one of Sunny, all curled up in a platter - the perfect size for a cat as it turns out!

The garden is coming on really well and we have had our first harvest of peas, yummmmm. Also had the first lot of carrots, and the zucchinis are days away from being ready. The tomatoes are coming along slowly, not sure what is going on there. Ben put some more manure around them the other day so hopefully that gives them a boost. The capsicums are doing well and one plant has a little capsicum growing quite nicely on it.

The first lot of peas with the day's eggs

And tomorrow is Christmas day so it will be all go around here. We have 13 adults and 3 kids coming over, so it'll be a very full house. Not sure how the wee kitten is going to handle it so may have to shut her in her room when everyone is here if it's all a bit much for her. My niece is very excited about seeing her (she is animal mad) so she will have lots of cuddles tomorrow I suspect.

Oscar wants to be a dressage pony

We had our second dressage outing today, and went to the third spring dressage day run by the Waitemata Riding Club. It was pretty quiet at this one, not sure why, perhaps because it was on a Saturday - they are usually held on Sundays.

I entered Oscar in two training tests, which meant - eek - attempting to canter in the arena. We have been working on our canter but just can't get the left canter lead. Driving me nuts. Had a ride at Ellie's on Wednesday night as adult ride was cancelled, and we just about did a 20m circle (ok it was v egg shaped but still...) so it gave me some hope! Only on the right rein of course...

Anyway today Sarah came along with her old boy Em and did the same two tests as us. He was great as usual, although Oscar was very clingy and spent all our warm up calling out to him. We did have some nice moments in the warm up so he was definitely better than last time where our warm up involved tanking trot, jig jogging and not much else.

Second test warm up was marginally better and we even had some really really good (for him) trot-canter transitions. Steering was a bit crap but that's not unusual. He is quite funny though - he can be a complete twit outside the arena but as soon as we go in he settles right down and in his second test particularly he did some really nice trot work and I was very pleased with his free walk. Bit bummed that his right canter flopped a bit - he did the transition but then went back to trot. I think a big part of it was me not giving him enough rein but ah well that is what training tests are for I guess.

So this leds me to believe (and was suggested by Ellie) that Oscar does in fact have a burning desire to be a dressage pony, given his love of the arena. Fine by me :-) Although we are going to attempt an ODE at the end of the season. Gulp.

We have had some good growing weather here in the past week or so, with a bit of rain and then sunshine. The tanks are full and the hay and garden are growing well. We even have some peas ready!! Stoked about that. Had my first couple of pods straight off the vine the other day, was lovely. Lots of flowers on the tomatoes too and the zuchini and cucumber plants are also doing well. Have a few zuchinis coming along nicely.

With our tank now pretty much full we have discovered that our tank stand needs reinforcing. There is quite a bit of bowing in the wood which is a bit of a bugger. There is no way we will empty it at this time of year so hopefully it will last until the end of summer and we can sort it out then.

I thought the whole thing was about to come crashing down the other night when I heard a cracking and popping noise. Ran outside but the stand was still there, and couldn't see anything else. It sounded like gunshots so I thought maybe the neighbour was off shooting possums again. But no - it's a rather large branch from one of the trees by the driveway. It has split off the tree and is currently resting on a tree on the opposite side of the drive, about 15 metres above the ground. Don't think it is going to come down of it's own accord so will have to get someone in to chop it - it's waaaay too high for Ben to get up there. Just don't have the gear really.

The piggies are doing well, and are pretty happy now that we have got loads of veges for them. We can get 4-5 big bags of vege scraps each day from the fruit and veg shop up the road, which is almost a bit much for them to get through! Although they really don't like raw onions so there are a few of them lying about in the pen.

Hopefully they will be ready for killing in a month, they are still growing well but to me just need to get bigger butts (don't quite look roast size to me just yet....)

Big week!

Well it's been a huuuuge week for Oscar. Monday we had a lesson (in the pouring rain - discovered that my favourite jods chafe when wet, ouch), and we had our first proper bash at some canter work. We have had a few canters in the paddock, but our steering is not great. Anyway we had a play on Monday and got some hilarious leaping forward transitions into the canter to start with and then had a few lovely ones. Left canter is a bit rubbish but right canter is great.

Tuesday was a day off then Wednesday night was adult ride night and we cantered in a group of horses for the first time, and it was Oscar's best adult ride ever. He has been a bit clingy with his paddock mate who also goes to adult ride but last week he was so much better. Called out heaps (Bert the paddock mate was on the other side of the grounds in a different group) but was just fab otherwise. Had some lovely trot work and good canter. No left canter though, argh. Think part of it is me, I am quite asymmetrical with my hips (from being dragged a few years ago) and find left canter a bit tricky on a well schooled horse, so on a green horse like Oscar it's even harder. Have asked Ellie and Sarah to have a go with him (they seemed really keen for some reason... ) so hopefully they will help cement it into his brain a bit.

Thursday we headed up to Whangarei with Shelley and her mare (renamed Bitch Lips as she was in season, out of work for a couple of weeks, and on spring grass), and it was Oscar's first long trip on a truck. He travelled great and was quite impressed with the flash accomodation we had lined up for that night. A client of Shelley's lives just outside Whangarei and has a lovely property with stables etc so the ponies stayed in luxury accomodation that night. Then went to the A&P show on Friday, which to be honest was a bit crap as it was raining, then really muggy but Oscar behaved so well. I was really pleased with him.

Drove back on Friday afternoon, and he was pretty pooped when we got home. Had Saturday off then this morning we went to Muriwai and went for a forest ride with 8 others. It was a bit exciting to start with but all we had was jig jogging, apart from that he was a star. He loves to be in front which is a bit hilarious as he was the greenest horse there! Had a cruisy ride and he does seem to be getting fitter which is good to see. Although he did come home and have a big lie down and snooze - I have never met horse that loves sleeping so much...

After the ride this morning me and Ben did some fencing down on the creek boundary. We put a fence up there a few months back but then all the rain and flooding stuffed a bit of it up so we had to reset some of it. All good now so hopefully when the creek goes really low in summer the cows won't wander into the neighbour's place.

The garden is going great guns, and we should have some peas very soon! Have been eating the lettuce for a couple of weeks, very yummy! Some pics of our bounty:

Tomatoes - three batches worth, newest ones in front

Peas - one older row and two new rows from about 3 weeks ago. There are pods on the older row that should be ready in about a week, yay!

Lettuce - bit of a random variety with weeds in amongst them all for, er, variety.

Sunny checking out the carrots. The bigger ones are the ones that the chooks ate most of the seeds from, the others are much newer and were the ones we chook-proofed.

Courgette and cucumber plants - newer courgettes and some gherkins on the left

And then to top off a great day we have just been nibbling on some cheese and crackers and champagne. It's a lovely sunny early summer evening, we have some scotch fillet steak for dinner courtesy of one of the cows, and I can see the horses grazing in the paddock, pretty nice really!