Trends to watch out for: Eskadron Heritage A/W 2016

Although this collection has already come out in mainland Europe (Germany, Holland and Belgium for sure, I think it's arriving in the UK as I write this) I feel like not a lot of people have yet seen or heard about this brand new collection from Eskadron!

In case you don’t know, Eskadron releases new collections twice a year, in spring/early summer (S/S collection) and in autumn/early winter (A/W collection) and for both times there is the Classic Collection, the Next Generation Collection and the Nici Collection. Confusingly, there’s also the Platinum Collection that comes out during the summer between the two main release dates. However, for 2016 A/W collection instead of the fun, bright coloured Next Gen collection Eskadron have decided to go for more muted, traditional colours with a brand new Heritage Collection. Although I’m a bit disappointed that there is no new Next Gen collection, I know a lot of people will be incredibly happy with the Heritage.

#rootd: navy and silver

Although I love bright colours, at the moment this set is my absolute favourite. I think it looks so classy and timeless ✨✨✨

So our outfit of the day is

Saddle pad: Equestrian Stockholm 

Bandages: Eskadron

Over reach boots: BR Equestrian Equipment

Browband: Pearly Ponies

10 Questions for November

The wonderful Viva Carlos to the rescue with her 10 questions for November!

How old is the youngest/greenest horse that you've ridden? I think a 4 year old Basse like maybe once a week when he was being trained by the professionals but I wanted to have a go! I think all I did was trot and canter in a circle but it was fun to be riding a youngster.

How old is the oldest horse you’ve ridden? Probably around the 20+ year old mark. Nelli was 20 the last time I rode her but I'm pretty sure I rode a few older horses when I was young before I got my pony.

5 tips for clipping your horse when you hate clipping

It’s got to that time of the year when everyone starts clipping their horses. Mum has already clipped Rama three times(!) so this weekend I decided to clip Basse as he was really struggling with the warmer weather that we’ve had for the last few days ☀️😎 I’ve seen several helpful tips blog posts, but I wanted to make my own version for those of us who absolutely hate clipping and try to ignore it until you have to! 

So here are my 5 tips for clipping your horse when you really really hate clipping:

1. Give yourself plenty of time - there is nothing worse than being in a rush and trying to get the perfect clip when your stressed for time. I gave myself an hour and a half(!!) just to do an Irish clip on Basse because I haven’t had to clip a horse in over a year and I really dislike not being able to do an amazingly smooth clip in 30 minutes like some freakishly talented people I know. I also prefer clipping when no one else is at the yard so that no one sees me stressing!

Christmas wish list

I think I have done a Christmas wish list every year since I started this blog, and every year it seems like I write it earlier and earlier! This year I feel like that I'm both early and late to writing this post, early because it's only mid November and late because my brothers have already sorted out most of their presents and Christmas lights have gone up in Helsinki and even at home 🎄🎁

SO MUCH SNOW

Having acclimatised to the British winters, I can say it has been a hell of a shock to be riding in -15c with a foot of snow on the ground! Once I feel a little bit more normal, I think I may to do a "how to survive proper winters" blog post ❄️🌨

More bling!

"You can never have too much bling" is something that I heard a lot whilst I was living in the UK. There's definitely a cultural difference between Finland and the UK in the fact that no one over here has really blingy browbands. Sure, there are more people now than three years ago who have some form of blingy browbands, but I have not seen any 'megabling' browbands over here yet. So of course(!) I decided to order one for Basse from the same company that made Vallu's browband - Pearly Ponies 💎✨

Vallu update

There's nothing quite like horses with their ability to bring you back down to earth with a bump! Whilst I thought our rehab of Vallu and getting him back into full fitness and proper training work was going wonderfully well, Vallu's leg decided that everything had been going to well for too long.😓 Just when you think everything is going well and that you've done really well with the rehab and being careful, then 💥💥💥 and you put a stop to everything...

After our Ville lesson a couple of weeks ago, I decided to lunge Vallu the following the day to give him an easier day followed by a few days off. After 2 days off, I went to go ride and suddenly his front leg was swollen right where the old injury was! 🙄😩 And when I mean swollen it was really just the ligament area being slightly puffy with no heat so that an unobservant person may not have even realised that there was something different. Luckily, there was no heat and he was not lame/off at all in trot so no visit to the vet but it did mean he managed to bag himself a 2 week holiday whilst I berated myself for being a bad horse owner for doing something wrong (even though I still don't know what I did wrong!) After a few more days off the swelling disappeared and then due to my essay deadlines we decided that having another week off wouldn't hurt him or his leg, which is why you guys haven't seen him on Instagram or anywhere, because the fat potato has been chilling in his paddock or in his stable, enjoying his grooming sessions, hand grazing and hand walks.

This week we've returned back to riding work, and so far so good! The leg has not swollen up after riding, which I am over the moon about. Although we have only done walk, trot and canter in straight lines and on big circles, it seems like the two weeks off were just what he needed. Now to see if we can create a weekly plan where he gets worked enough to keep his a lid on his exuberant moves but not too much so that his leg flares up again or that he gets bored. Especially with winter arriving here with no warning, I really need to be able to keep Vallu calm so that he doesn't hurt himself in the paddock. 

 Voting is still open and you have until midnight on Friday 4th November 2016, to vote for Roosa's Horsey Life just click HERE and enter your email address. It will take less than a minute, I promise and I'd be so grateful for any votes 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼  Results are out Monday on Twitter, so come along to #HorseHour on Monday night from 8pm GMT (10pm in Finland) where Haynet will announce the winner! #HorseHour is always a great place to be, but this will be even more fun! ✅

Haynet Blogger of the Year 2016

Absolutely over the moon to have been included in the top 10 finalists for the Haynet Blogger of the Year for the FOURTH year in a row! It makes me feel really loved and special to know that people are 1. reading this blog and 2. consider this lil blog of mine to be worth being included in the top 10! So thank you very much everyone in the Haynet community and Sam for including us once again in the finalist group ♥︎

Although I found out about my nomination already on October 19th, I had so much essay work thanks to my master's programme that I have only just last Sunday evening emerged victorious from my essay hell. In the last 7 weeks I have written 11 different essays and research papers totalling around 17,000 words of which more than half were written last week. You can imagine how I haven't had much time for blogging and even both my boys have had a very easy few weeks whilst I've been continuously staring at my laptop screen trying to get everything done before the deadlines. Anyway, now that I've survived those I can get back to more enjoyable things, like riding and blogging!

TO VOTE FOR THIS BLOG: If you click on THIS you will get taken to the voting page, where you just have to enter your email address and then click which blog you would like to vote for. It's really that simple and I promise that it will take less than a minute! I also promise to be a lot better at blogging this month, my next set of deadlines are for the middle of December so November should have a lot more time for horsey shenanigans and blog posts! :) Thank you for voting!