29.9.18

Stable renovation: part 2

And ta-daaaaa here it is! 🤗 Isn't it amazing?
Here's some progress shots from the last four weeks since my last update ⤵️ The builders have worked so hard, you can't be anything but incredibly impressed with them! They've done plenty of 12 hour days and have been happy to answer any questions and queries that we may have had AND they've consulted us whenever there has been anything that they thought we would like done differently. The work that has gone into this building is quality! 10/10 for the builders, they were all amazing. 👏🏻

17.9.18

#rootd: plum and navy

Well it's been a while since my last #rootd blog post, but having survived another week of renovations, family visiting, sorting out paperwork, I was SUPER excited when my Feather Dressage delivery arrived! 🛍 I've been living in my own little bubble ever since moving to Wiltshire and my life has generally consisted of renovating, painting, moving furniture, cleaning and attempting to have some kind of a normal social life and catching up with friends - it's not left much time for blogging, taking photos or training properly! But now that the house is starting to look like 'our house' and the barn renovation project is nearly done, I thought it was well past the time for me to return back to blogging with a bang 💥
Saddle pad: Eskadron plum cotton
Bandages: Eskadron plum
Over reach boots: Eskadron Platinum navy 
Top:  Navy HV Polo Elaine
Breeches: Kingsland Chisasib leggings

16.9.18

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 💡