Riding exercise of the month: transitions in lateral movements

I recently saw this floating about on Facebook again and this picture really caught my eye and inspired me for this month's riding exercise! ⤵️ I use most of these movements in my every day riding, just because it really helps to achieve a much straighter horse in comparison to just riding around aimlessly and adding in a few oddly shaped circles here and there. 

I often warm up in walk using shoulder in, travers, leg yield and half pass on all of my horses. It's a super easy way of suppling them and getting them to actually pay attention to me, which I've found to really help to achieve a better schooling session. Once I've warmed up in walk, I've been adding in trot-walk-trot transitions down the long sides whilst doing any of the lateral movements. It really is not as easy as it sounds! 😬 It's a big brain work out for both you and the horse, but it also helps with all of the other work. With Erik, the biggest difference that I've noticed has been that a straighter and more supple horse is not only an easier horse to ride (obvious much!) but also that we get much better flying changes! For a horse that is long and a bit slow, trot-walk-trot transitions down the long side whilst doing shoulder in and travers has been the best idea ever 💡

Trends to watch out for: Equestrian Stockholm AW18 collection

And to round off the end of August (which means autumn is officially here tomorrow!) let's have a quick look at Equestrian Stockholm's new AW18 collection. If you love red, you'll be happy and if you love navy or green you'll be over the moon, but if you don't, then this collection might not set your matchy world on fire.

Like PS of Sweden, Equestrian Stockholm has gone for the two staple colours of autumn with a bordeaux red and a deep brown. Whilst I'm not a big fan of brown on my any of my horses, and although I know how absolutely lovely the bordeaux red will look on bay and grey horses, what has really caught my eye in this collection is the white edge pad which has finally been released in dressage (SJers have been lucky to have had this for two seasons now!) I think it is SO smart, a beautiful twist on their midnight blue pad  which means you can easily wear white or navy bandages with it - it is perfect for training! ⤵️

Trends to watch out for: Eskadron Classic AW18 collection

With love from... Eskadron! Have you already seen the newest Eskadron Classic collection for this autumn/winter? 🍁🍂❄️

After years of waiting for the return of purple, it's finally here in a Classic collection. Eskadron have created a lovely collection, with masses of glitter and sparkles thrown in, so for the magpies out there resistance is futile! ✨ The colours of this collection are called plum, lavender, atlantic blue, dark navy, marshmallow and silver pearl. Plum appears to be pretty close to last year's blackberry Platinum but several shades darker with a navy tinge to it, whilst atlantic blue looks identical to the Next Generation's 2015 royal blue so if you missed out on that, this will be a good alternative! Silver pearl looks pretty much the same as violet grey from last year's Platinum collection BUT the cotton, big square and the glossy emblem pads all have the edging in plum or lavender which does create a contrast and a bigger difference. So far the only one that looks like a total copy of a previous collection is the silver pearl glossy big square - see for yourself ⤵️

Also a funny thing to note is that plum is available in seven different styles of saddle pads, atlantic blue in six, silver pearl and dark navy both in five, but marshmallow only in one style as well as the lavender colour in only two and there are no matching bandages or boots for it! Which I think is a real shame, it's such a pretty colour and I know it would have sold well 💸

Trends to watch out for: Anky AW2018 collection

Autumn is just closing in on us, can you feel it? 🍁🍂 The nights are drawing in earlier and the mornings are getting colder, but if you haven't noticed it, you can see it with the release of more autumn winter collections from more equestrian brands! This time Anky has released a brilliant collection, full of beautiful colours ready for autumn and winter. It also made me smile that they've gone for interesting names for the colours, so far hummingbird is my favourite!

The colours of this collection are called sparrow, parrot, dove, black bird, robin red, hummingbird and blue bird. Dove seems like a darker version of PS of Sweden's capulet green and Equestrian Stockholm's olive green, whilst hummingbird looks rather similar to Eskadron's NG 2015 deep pink. And whilst it's always guaranteed that Anky will bring out a black, a navy and a pink colour in every collection, at least they always have a collection that has 6 or more colours in it! They've also done their super cool sparkly over reach boots once again, but for some reason only in the colour dove and pheasant? Which I thought was a shame, because I think it would have been fun to see the over reach boots in the other colours too. 🕊

What I love about Anky's saddle pads is that not only are they always such good quality, they're also made of semi-leather material with a glittering glow, which gives the saddle pad such a chic look. As the anti-slip letters are glittery, it make the saddle pad extra stylish but the letters also actually really do work in ensuring that the saddle doesn't slip. I do think Anky has changed the material a little as it's a lot more grippy in the more recent collections than in the older ones. And for me, personally the best part of this collection is that the saddle pads have now become anatomically shaped by the wither - finally! 🙌🏻 Although this is something that brands like PS of Sweden and Le Mieux have been doing for years, it's nice to finally see it being done by other brands too.

Stable renovation: part 1

In case you've been working why I've been a bit AWOL from both social media and from the blog it's because over the last several weeks I've been chilling out and spending some quality time with friends and family 💞 My brother came over from Finland for nearly a week with my nephew (who is 18 months old and the cutest little person in the world!) and we spent the majority of the time discovering new local places, going shopping and playing with Lego. We've had old family friends pop over for the day and I've had horsey friends come to visit. My grandparents are coming over for a week and we have a party planned for after the renovations are done 🎊🎉. Real life has a way of suddenly catching up with you and taking over your time unexpectedly!

But I'm finally feeling settled enough in our day to day life to be able to bring you guys up to date on one of the most exciting things that I've ever been involved with, which is the renovation of our American barn! When we first came to look at this place, we all knew that it would require quite a bit of money and work to get it looking like our own home. One of the biggest problems of the property was that the barn had only 4 stables, that it was 17 years old with a leaky roof and that it hadn't been looked after properly. Not only was it mouldy everywhere due to the leaking roof, the internal partitions creaky when a person just lightly leaned on them AND the entire barn was covered in cobwebs and an inch or more dust and dirt, which is so not the environment you want to keep your horses in, especially if you have horses like Basse is very sensitive to dust.

 

Luckily we were in contact with West of England Stabling who were able to come to have a look at the barn before we had even moved in and let us put the order in before we had finalised the purchase of this property, and we went with the Tintagel internal partitions (this design is different from their other fronts as the curve is made from tube rather than box section or flat) in a light wood and their classic American barn which is the same size as our old one, but this time we'll have 5 stables put in as well as a tack room and a storage room. The rest of the remaining space will be used for the storage of hayledge, straw and the horses' feed.