No stirrups

I had another riding lesson this morning and I loved it! I was on Murphy again, and we walked and then trotted around the school both in rising and sitting. Then it was time to work without stirrups apparently..... Bev had me doing a few exercises to loosen off my lower back and then I was trotting around in sitting trot, doing serpentines and all sorts! Then a bit of rising trot which was a bit more painful (!). Stirrups back and a couple of attempts to get a canter. Success of sorts with the canter, but this is now what we will be working on mainly. I have another lesson tomorrow and the day after.

Older son is on a driving lesson at the mo, so the house is nice and quiet. Bliss.....

Best get on and do some housework I suppose. Or shall I put the kettle on first?

Morning

Monday again.....

That was a lovely weekend. We dropped younger son at the stables on Friday evening and he ended up staying there until Sunday afternoon. He had a great time, he works hard there too. Older son played football on Saturday afternoon for the first time in ages. He was knackered when he got home and was in bed by 10.30. On a Saturday! On Sunday he went to Carrow Road where City were playing Man Utd. City apparently were the better team by far, but Giggs got a 92nd minute winner 2-1.

And us? Well we took the dogs to Sandringham for a walk - it's about 20 minutes drive away and a great place, with a nice tearoom too. It wasn't very busy, well the tearoom was, but that's no surprise really. We had a lovely walk - both the dogs behaved really well especially around the other dogs there. We have only recently been able to let them both off the lead at the same time (they used to run and run and run.......) and they did well. Coffee and cakes at the tearoom (and yes, I did have my camera with me too).

Sunday was very relaxed. We sorted out some of my photos and put them in a display album to leave at the stables. I have started doing Equine photography and the album has samples of my work. I am seeing if there is much interest from the liveries at the yard. Quick trip to the airfield with my husband, to hear about the new controlled airspace restrictions at the airport. Then a lovely roast dinner and a play about with my new Florabella actions. I have treated myself to Vintage, Colour and Haze and Black and White. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

I have also dug out my coursework for the OCA course I was doing. I am going to pick it up again, and have been giving it some thought. I am not sending it up for assessment any more as I have long since missed my deadlines, but I am going to do it for me. I will continue to use one of my other blogs on here, My Corner Of Norfolk, as my learning log.

This week - more riding lessons, playing with my photos and doing some coursework, looking at Excel and working out how to keep fat dog out of the chicken run.....

Hack

Bev called me and asked if I'd like to go on a hack on my horse. Would I ??? Of course!

So I got to the stables and sat on Lara for the first time ever (she's my son's horse really - we just pay for her !!). She's 15.2 hh and and an absolute darling. We went out in a group of 5 and walked along the track and along a road and then had a short trot. I had been told she is bouncy in trot so I was ready for it. It was lovely, I just had to rise a bit higher than I had been used to. A bit more walking and we got to a scary hose with an even scarier leak which was lying across the lane. Eventually with a bit of dancing, we managed to show it who was boss and stepped over it and carried on. Then we turned onto a track and Lara took this as her cue to take off. I wasn't expecting it and I shot forwards and my legs went back. It's quite difficult to recover from that whilst still in an active canter, but Bev managed to position herself so she could grab Lara. I knew what I had done wrong in not controlling her, and so I was even more alert from then on. We stayed in walk for most of the rest of the way, until we made the turn for home and the horses got excited. Short trots followed by an unexpected canter, which was surprisingly comfy and I stayed in position for - yay me !

More lessons next week. Hopefully my legs will have recovered by then...

I have been on the Aspire photography courses website and there is a new course covering Equine photography. It's a weekend course and it's in the New Forest in June. I'm hoping that I might persuade my husband a) that it's a good idea and b) that he will come too as he can fly at one of the clubs down there.

Oh, and did I mention that Eddie laid her first egg for us yesterday? Delicious!

And the other minor miracle? Teen son has tidied his room. I think I need to lie down...

Pancakes

It was pancake day yesterday, and boy did we eat some ! I made the batter in the afternoon so that we could all eat them when my husband got back from work. But the kids couldn't wait. So by 4pm I was making pancakes and they were piling them high with strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. They did look sooooooo yummy.

Then I had to do it all over agin when my husband got home. They are lovely but I can't get the smell out of the kitchen yet as it's too windy to have the windows open. Ah well...

Anyway I'm just back from my second riding lesson. I was on Murphy again, and we did loads of trotting, rising and sitting, controlling the speed of the trot (or trying to) and 20 metre circles (which weren't particularly circular). My legs are aching now already.

Bev also told me about the benefit of Pilates and how flexible it can make you. So I have been looking on the web and there is a book, Pilates for Equestrians, which I may buy or download. I am also going to keep a track of my weight and try and lose a few pounds, and hopefully tone up a bit. And as it's Lent, I think I may try and give something up - possibly chocolate which does appear in most of my meals, snacks and treats...

So pleased with myself

I'm back. I had a fab time and I am really pleased with myself. I got there and there were loads of cars parked up, so I realised that I wasn't going to be keeping this a secret! A couple of the girls had been to McD's and got pancakes and were sitting in the barn eating. Bev came along and got me the indemnity to sign, and off I went for my lesson in the indoor school. Murphy (piebald? skew bald?) is lovely and solid and not too bouncy in trot apparently. And while he's not as tall as our horse (Lara) it's still a long way down when you are sitting on him.

Bev led me round the school in walk for a couple of laps so I could get used to being on a horse again, then I was walking him on my own. Then we trotted - rising trot which felt quite smooth and natural and Bev reminded me how to make sure I was on the correct diagonal. Sitting trot was next, which was more comfy than I had remembered from those long distant lessons many years ago. We changed rein and trotted some more. Then on to serpentines in walk, rising trot and sitting trot, and again on both reins. More trotting on the large track on both reins, then it was time to do some exercises on Murphy. Feet out of the stirrups, lifting my feet up and pointing my knee down to stretch the thigh muscles. Bliss! Attempting box splits and leaning forwards. Not bliss. Lying back flat and then sitting up again. Comfortable in lying position, but getting back to sitting without a winch was a challenge! Feet back in the stirrups for a bit of trotting in light seat. Now that was fun, and the weight of my bum acted as a counterbalance so I didn't tip forwards ! We had covered downward transitions, with varying degrees of success. Walk to stop was ok, but trot to walk will take some more practice! Bev had warned me that my legs would be wobbly as I dismounted, and sure enough I landed on my feet then on my knees!

I had a great time. I was so pleased with what I could remember from when I last rode. My legs ache now, well the insides of my thighs do. But it's that nice ache from when you know you have worked hard, like after a run or a swim or a bike ride.

I'm there again tomorrow and Thursday for more lessons. I think I could quite easily be bitten by the riding bug again...

I'm ready

I'm up and in my jodhpurs, drinking coffee (of course). Just have to wake up my older son who has a driving lesson this morning and then I can go.

I'm quite excited, although I think I shall be making a right t*t of myself!

We'll see......

Lessons

I have arranged to have riding lessons this week. Three riding lessons. Now I haven't ridden since my younger son was 3 months old. He is nearly 13 now. That's a long time. I will be like a beginner again. An older, creaky and slightly overweight beginner. I learnt to ride all those years ago to overcome my totally irrational fear of horses. It worked and I love to be around horses even now. But it's just that I've not ridden for so long. But the plan is that we are going on a Ranch holiday this summer to Arizona.

Wish me luck...

Monday, Monday

Busy weekend...

We had a whizz around the Norfolk and Suffolk countryside on Saturday to meet with someone and also to drop some bits off at my cousin's home. We stopped on the way back for coffee and a sandwich at a lovely little cafe we have been meaning to visit for aaaaages. And I bought some jodhpurs as I am planning to start riding again (eeeek).

Sunday was spent quietly drinking coffee, reading the paper and then mucking out the chickens and going to see the horse.

Forgot to mention that we have a new lodger - Eddie the hen! She was wandering in the road near our friend's home, and they got her in off the road and started making enquiries to find out where she was from. No joy. So my younger son said we would have her. He said she was slightly bigger than our Pekins, and white. She is huge and brown. Close. Still we introduced her to our girls, on the understanding that if she upset them we would take her round to another friend of mine who has only brown hens. But after a couple of minutes of one of the Pekins trying to show her who was boss, it has all settled own and they all seem like friends. So much so that another of our girls was snuggled up to her last night when we went to close the coop.

So this week, hopefully having a riding lesson or two, brushing up on my Excel as I am job hunting, and general tidying, cleaning, cooking, ironing and other assorted domestic goddessery.

Rock and roll !

Just thought...

...I'd post one of the photos on here

It's my favourite one from the selection, and I used the Florabella action Ruby.   I'm not usually one for post-editing, but the Florabella actions are lovely and give a fab contemporary feel to the images.  I like the way the colours are brought to life, even on a dull shoot.  The photo wasn't cropped or altered in any other way.  

Have a look...

...at my website (purelyphotography.co.uk) cos I've added a new equestrian gallery to it with some photos I shot earlier this week. I have done various edits to the images using the fantastic Florabella actions (Florabella.com) and I've also ordered some prints online to see how they come out. I'm very pleased with the look of them, and I'm already getting fab feedback on them too.

The shoot was great fun - through some lovely local farmland, and we even saw deer on the track.

I'm back

And it was cold, but I did take some photos of our horse :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Snow

Ooooh it's cold out there - but so pretty.

I've just seen to the chickens - their feeder was covered in snow and their water was frozen. I've dug a path through the run for them to walk and scratch in. But of course, as soon as they tumbled out of the coop they ran straight into the snow! Ah well......

Off to see to the horse in a bit - need to dig the car out first. I'm going to take my camera up there too - but I expect my fingers will be too cold after mucking out to use it!