01/04/2012 by shaun.

….wow, we promised that by 1 April we would be able to ride in the outdoor arena and we were true to our word. In fatc we were even a bit earlier than promised because on Saturday we were having lessons in the outside school. This is as well as riding in the field in lessons because of our fabulous weather.

So I have not been writing the blog recenty, but that is because I have had no time. And now I will give you all a full update.

My last post was on Tuesday, Wednesday was a really busy day. Rab arrived at 7.30am on Wednesday to start working with the excavator and began scraping the old surface off the arena. He started at the gate end where the surface was deepest. At 8am Neil arrived to drive the dumper and then the two worked all day digging out the arena and taking it out to the field. And while this was all happening Katie and I were desperately waiting for the glue I had ordered to stick the sheets of liner together and the liner itself. At lunchtime the glue arrived. The plan was to get as much of the surface lifted and the liner down in time for the first delivery of surface. Unfortunately, the liner didn’t arrive on Wednesday.

Here’s a picture of Rab and Neil at 10am.

By the close of play on Wednesday all the old surface had been lifted from the top 2/3 of the arena. But the day was so nice that the evening lessons were in the field. And Wednesday night is polocrosse night and the weather was so nice and the horses still coming into boxes at night so we had polocrosse in the field and mounted. Everyone was very rusty and our passing was pants (a polocrosse technical term). So we are going to have to practice really hard if we are to have as successful a season this year as last. Once the arena is complete we will be able to have Sunday practices at ours.

And a big hug goes out to Charlotte and Hannah, you will be back to riding in no time at all.

So Thursday came around and Rab and Neil continued to dig out the arena and we waited for the liner. Once they had started on the bottom end where the surface was replaced last year they moved it to the indoor school so we could recycle it. The first load of surface arrived and we still didn’t have any liner. Arghhh! The surface got dumped in the car park.

So Thursdays lessons were very uneventful with the 4.30 going out for a hack around our fields in the glorious sunshine. I then had a two hour break before the 7.30 lesson. I had been planning to spend the two hours laying liner and glueing it together. But no liner so no glueing.

Friday arrived and so did a box of ribbon material so I could make rosettes for the gymkhana on Sunday. But by lunchtime there was stil no liner and a second load of surface arrived which had to go into the car park too. And just as the lorry left the liner arrived.

So away I went laying liner 27m down the length of the arena and gluing it together until it looked like this..

We were really lucky then because Harry came down with his big bucket on his tractor and then spent three hours moving the surface from the indoor school and the car park into the outdoor arena so that by Friday night the car park was empty and the liner on the arena was full.

So Saturday morning I couldn’t really use the arena because it was all bumpy and so the first lesson went out in the field while Garry dragged our gate leveller around the arena flattening all the bumps out so that by the start of the second lesson we could ride on the arena and the ponies could go out in their field. And we did…

And we even had our first fall to christen the surface. Apparently it was very bouncy..

And so Saturday night saw me making 54 rosettes for the April Fools Gymkhana today. It was great fun and we rode in the field. The first class was a scurry but ass it was April Fools day we set the course up and numbered it correctly and then made everyone jump it backwards (in reverse actually) so starting at jump 10 and then moving to 9, etc. I even placed the number on the wrong side of the jump so everyone had to really learn the course inside out and backwards/

Then came chocolate pairs. Everyone wants to win the huge bars of chocolate. As the teams raced around the jumping course trying to get the quickest time. At lunch we put the bending poles and games equipment back in th e field and ran three games lanes in the pony field just like at Pony Club this week. And after that and lunch we got back to showjumping. So that was the week so far and tomorrow we have the first day of the first of our Easter Mini Camps.

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27/03/2012 by shaun.

..best job in the world. Sunshine on my face for the last two days means my builders tan is coming back, long days and the heat mean the fields are drying up and the grass coming through means the horses and ponies are starting to get excitable.

Now the easter hols are fast approaching and we have an action packed schedule. The arena refurbishment is about to begin and we had a massive dumper truck and digger arrive tonight. Mind you because of the fabulous weather we think we are going to run the ghymkhana on grass. Many of our young riders haven’t had much opportunity to work on grass before and so we are going to make the most of the good weather. In anticipation of this we ran Pony club in the fields. It was games league this week and so Katie went and bought 15 broom handles and I flattened an area of the pony field using the tyres of a 4×4 (thank you garry) and then we set up three full sets of games lanes.

See…

It was great fun and I liked it so much I’m even thinking of setting up a permanent grass arena.

Here are some action shots of tonight.

And we will do more games at the April Fools Gymkhana on Sunday as well as showjumping. There are still some ponies available for anyone that wants to try their hand at games or jumping in the fields. On Saturday we will fence off an arena and fill it with showjumps from the arena.

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26/03/2012 by shaun.

..on our face. So today, for a change, the weather was so great that we had lessons in the fields. The pony’s were really well behaved until one of our neighbours made Big Misty jump and Jennifer galloped all the way back to the gate from the river field. Jennifer couldn’t decide whether it was exciting or scarey. In the second lesson Daisy was equally as silly and cantered around with Olivia n his back. Olivia sat the canters brilliantly.

And the weather was so great that Mollie showed us how hard actors work…

And in the final lesson the ladies and I went into the pony field and cantered around racing the horses up and down the field.

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25/03/2012 by shaun.

..Mayflower, aka Holli, who went off for a break to Abernethy yesterday for a few weeks to help wean Flora. She will have rich grass in a three acre field with Charlie and Flora for company.

And today was a glorious day, we got mucking out really early and then I went off to borrow Garry’s landrover so I could tow the trailer to Gleneagles for tonights polocrosse practice. But at 3pm Ru and Hamish and I closed the horses into the Seamab field and then we galloped up and down the Cradle Field. Jazz was really fast and overtook Teddy and Remy.

And at 5pm we headed off to play polox in the big indoor school at Gleneagles. We had 12 attendees and managed to train for an hour and then played chukkas for an hour. It was great fun.

For those of you that don’t know what polocrosse is then here is an australian video about the game.

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23/03/2012 by shaun.

..Kit after your stay at the vet hospital. Kit is very tired after a busy schedule at the hospital, having tests and surgery. She is spending tonight out in the field so she can get a really good nights sleep because she doesn’t actually sleep in a stable. Anyway she is very happy and relaxed back with her pals.

Lots of other things have happened this week, Pony Club was team showjumping and Robyn Bash and Hannah designed a great indoor course for everyone. Lessons on Wednesday were busy and full and we are still running unmounted polocrosse practice. There were only 8 this week and so we played dodge ball, tennis and a game of unmounted polox.

And talking of polox, the ball is swinging ahead. If you are wanting tickets then get in touch fast so we can make sure we have the right numbers. Any ideas for raffle prizes then get in touch.

We went to Freya’s school play last night, Pirates of the Curry Bean, and at the end they were auctioning off the ships. We are now the proud owners of a fabulous jump filler - The Curry Bean. Once I have varnished it, it will be coming out as a jump wing for smaller jumps and a filler for the bigger ones. If we use the snake planks back to front we will have blue waves with the ship as well.

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20/03/2012 by shaun.

..yesterday after a busy morning mucking out I then lunged Jazz, rode Remy, rode Reba and then rode Scottie.

Jazz was super on the lunge and responded very well to the fact she couldn’t pull the reins from her riders hand, because there was no rider. Remy was, after a week off, his usual self. Bit lazy, but working quite well/ Scottie only had 5 minutes in walk but was fine. I was very worried that as soon as I sat on his back he would start his bucking. He didn’t buck and walked around nicely, although he didn’t like the piggy fillers.

It was the first time I had ridden Reba as well. And again I was nervous that she might be a bit silly, having not been ridden for a while. She was, however, a sweetie-pie. Walked, trotted and cantered quite happily, although she was quite stiff and didn’t really bend in any direction. That will easily improve with riding and even by the end of the session she was lifting her back and lowering her head and engage her back end a bit. More riding for her.

And so today it was team showjumping at Pony Club and we had six teams with between 5 and 7 members in each team. Tomorrow night as well as lessons we have unmounted polocrosse. And for those wanting their mounted polox fix we have hired Gleneagles on 25th March. If you want to join in call us and book in.

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16/03/2012 by shaun.

..tonight of Reba. She did go out this morning with the other horses and had a play with Remy and Willow. They all had a gallop around and play so tomorrow she will probably be ignored. As it is Saturday tomorrow I’m sure I’ll be able to get someone to take a nice snapshot of her.

It rained today, which has been unusual recently. The ground was just starting to dry off and harden up a bit. I can’t remember when it did last rain. Well today it kind of just drizzled all day. After getting all the mucking out done this morning Mollie and I went and walked Neala and then I came back to teach a lesson. After that I mixed up feeds for all the horses and put them in their boxes. Imagine the horses surprise when they came in and found dinner waiting for them. There was a reason for all this preparation. Tonight I had cancelled all my lessons because at 4pm we all headed off into Edinburgh to watch Mollie at the Traverse. The play was great and we are all fresh back from it.

And tomorrow is a busy Saturday so I better get off and start getting ready for it.

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15/03/2012 by shaun.

..Mollie has her opening night,

Tiger gets a haircut,

a new horse, Reba, arrives,

and Jasmine behaves like an angel with the farrier.

So the lyceum youth theatres, Victim, Sidekick, Boyfriend, Mee starts tonight at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. Robyn went tonight so she can tell us all about it. We are al going tomorrow night. Can’t wait to hear all about it.

And Tiger has been struggling with her coat getting all matted with her puppy hair growing out and the mud we have been having and so she went off to the doggy hair dressers today and came back looking like this..

She is really happy though with the freedom that not having all that hair gives her. Fortunately she has a lovely pink equifleece top to keep her warm.

Reba arrived this afternoon just after the farrier had left. She is 16.1 and lovely to handle. I’ll get a photo of her tomrrow after I have ridden her. She used to live with Jess and Jess heard her wickering and wickered back which was sweet. But, although Mary doesn’t believe me, what was even nicer was Mary went to the back gate to the pony field to see Jess and give her a pat and as Mary walked up the steps and Jess saw her she wickered for Mary, obviously remembering her. I wouldn’t mind but I almost always bring her in and she never wickers for me.

And so to the biggest surprise of the day. Gary Hood, our farrier, was around this afternoon and amongst other Jasmine had lost a shoe. Now ast time she needed shod we had the vets out to jag her with sedative ‘cos she was so naughty without it. I had meant to drive to the vets and get the topical sedative but ran out of time and so I suggested to Gary that he comes back net week and I organise something then. Gary said he would have a go at the mare’s foot and before I knew it Jasmine was standing like an angel and had her missing shoe replaced.

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14/03/2012 by shaun.

..to the Royal Dick Vet School. She had a really bad day yesterday that ended in her having a compression fracture of her skull. The Vet school have given her a ct scan and when they get all the inages out together tomorrow they will know how much wiring together and rebuilding they will have to do. She really will be a kit horse for a while, stuck together with wire, plates and pins. She seemed happy in herself this morning when we went off in Garry’s landy, mostly being upset that she wasn’t allowed a hay net.

So that is the really exciting news from the yard, everything else pales into insignificance. We are progressing pans for the outdoor arena. The polocrosse ball is well underway and if you want tickets to it then call us to book them.

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08/03/2012 by shaun.

..for Manchester with Katie today after a very fast mucking out. She has her audition tomorrow so all our fingers and toes are crossed. I dropped them off at the station and then came home to teach Catherine and Daniel. Fortunately for me they had moved their lesson from 6.30 to the afternoon so I had two hours between lessons to get dinner for Bash, Ru and Freya. We had curry with nan bread. THe nan bread was a huge success, all the more so because everyone thought I was going to forget it.

Tomorrow I will be doing all the mucking out myself. Its not a big deal ‘cos I have done it before but I also have to take the trailer to the recycling site in Kinross to empty it of bags of rubbish so we can wash it out tomorrow and so it will be ready for Sunday. Polocrosse at Gleneagles at 5.30.

And of course everyone needs to start planning to come to the Scottish Polocrosse Ball in Kinross on 28th April. I am intending to set up a facebook page all about Scottish Polocrosse shortly.

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