Finally...First ride on Stylee

I fought the weather yesterday and I finally got on Stylee. I thought about putting it off till a better suited day weather wise but i had already amped myself up and the wind didn't seem to bother him.

I started out lunging him first, on the left rein he was fine, you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with him, but he struggled a little bit on the right rein. His bad eye was on the inside and he couldn't see around the circle properly, but he still tried his heart out and progressively got better.

Once he had had a walk, trot and canter on each rein, it was time to get on. My heart was racing which was strange for me, I don't usually get nervous around my own horses, but I guess the accident made me lose confidence (especially when I saw him fall over all those times). I hoped he wouldn't fall over with me on him. I got on slowly, he didn't bat an eye lid. I started walking him around, letting him sort out himself, he was very wobbly. It felt like I was riding a drunk horse. If I didn't guide him with my outside rein, he would wobbly and fall out to the outside.
After a few laps he started to get the swing of things, he was still wobbly, but he could walk in a reasonably straight line. Time for a little trot. He was being very lazy, which I didn't really mind, but he sprang into a nice energetic trot which was quite well balanced. I realised the more forward I rode him, the better balanced he was. I brought him back to a walk and he seemed much better.

Back to his old tricks!

P.S: I swear my cat thinks it's a dog, she's carrying a sock around in her mouth and growling...

Palmerston North = Wind

So it's another extremely windy day in Palmerston North.

A lot of you may be thinking, it's only wind! That doesn't stop you from riding!

Well if you are thinking that you obviously have never been to Palmerston North.

It seems now that day light saving has finally ended, it has brought the crap weather with it. I was planning on riding Stylee for the first time today since the accident. He has been lunging well, and is quite balanced, so I figure I'll see what happens when I get on.

Hopefully if the wind and rain goes away I may be able to ride!!!

Oh, and here's a pic of Blue from the other day...

The flies are going to kill me!!

I finally got to work Blue today, she had three days off due to weather and work. The more fitter she gets the more sparkier she gets as well. This was the case today! Now that the weather is turning to custard, the sand flies are about. And there's not one thing Blue hates more than things flying around her head.

A few broken lead ropes later, I managed to get her saddled up and jumped on. I had a lesson with Andrea Raves last week, and she picked up on Blue's head swinging. So today I was working on keeping my outside rein stronger and steadier by holding a strap on my saddle blanket. As usual, Blue fought for about 20 minutes and wouldn't bend to the inside without softening her neck, but I just kept my inside rein open, outside rein steady and used my inside leg to ask for the bend. She eventually got it. I got some quite nice canter work out of her, she's starting to bend more on the right rein and really use her back, and the trot was starting to look quite good towards the end once she had loosened up.

Hopefully we'll be ready for Tielcey Park which is in 2 weeks! I think we did well to get up to Elementry in a month and a bit though.

First Love, First Blog

Well I guess you can't start up a blog without a introduction! SOOO here it is...

Well my name is Yvette, I work part time at JK Kids Gear and I'm 19. But enough about me, it's time to meet the gang!


This is Stylee. He started his career as a racehorse (a bad one) and then was snapped up by a leading eventing/dressage rider. She took him through to Level 4, which he was consistantly winning/placing. He has an amazing medium trot (constantly getting 8's) and is a real smarty bum. Unfortunatly after owning him for only 2 months, he suffered a tragic accident. I was lunging him, and he decided it would be fun to rear. Except he went a little too high, and flipped over backwards, landing on his head leaving him with severe brain trauma. He landed so hard on his head, he went blind for a few days, and couldn't walk (let alone stand up). The vet gave him a 30% chance of full recovery (and said he would probably never compete again). Luckily, my boy is a fighter, and he can now walk, trot and canter steadily on the lunge. Also he cut his right eye quite badly when he fell, and he has about 50% vision in his right eye (which is still healing). I plan to ride him again sometime next week, fingers crossed things go well.

This is Blue. She used to be dapple grey (she still has a slight dappling on the bum to prove it) but decided to change to flea bitten. She started her life living on the hills and was discovered one day by a dressage rider, who took her through the levels to Level 4. She was then sold to another girl who took her to NZPCA Dressage Champs, where her team placed 2nd. Then, I was lucky enough to stumble across her in the Hawkes Bay. She taught me everything about dressage, and took me to competing at Level 3. She's also a successful show horse. We're currently preparing for the Tielcey Park Winter Dressage Series, and aim to get in the NZPCA Dressage Champs team for 2009.

I also have a broodmare (Jaguar/Wharf's Son), and a miniature pony (she's one of those tiny show minis). So that is a basic sum up of me and my horses. Make sure you come back :)