Packing up

The last week has been really busy, with training, the photo-shoot, a farrier day, and my leaving dinner. In the middle of this, I've been trying to prepare for our departure. Vallu is being picked up on Wednesday afternoon, and I'll leave the day after on Thursday. Vallu should arrive on Friday evening, and I'll be there Saturday morning. I'd far rather be there to put Vallu on the horse box than be there when he arrives, I think it'll be easier for both us that way. Unfortunately I can't do both because the ferry timetables don't match up. Luckily Vallu is used to being at my brother's place in Germany and the girls there know him well, so he'll be in good hands before I get there the next day!

I still have some rugs at the cleaners which need picking up, and a lot of stuff to pack!! But at least my first aid kit is ready ;) All of his rugs, riding stuff (saddle pads and bandages, bandages liners, boots) night bandages and pads, travelling pads, saddle, bridles, girths, lunging equipment, and then all my stuff too! Vallu's transport to Germany is now sorted, but I still need confirmation that the transport company is willing to transport him to Nottingham, so it's all a bit stressful still. But I'm sure everything will get sorted, it always does :D

Here's hoping for a smooth travel back to Nottingham!

A fairy tale

Woodland fairy

"Give your all to me, I'll give my all to you. You're my end and my beginning, even when I lose I'm winning. 'Cause I give you all of me, and you give me all of you"

All photos by © Ritva Waris-Worlin (no reproduction allowed!)

September Goals

“They become part of our family, you know, they really change our life. It’s a sport that we chose because we love it, but it’s also a sport that we chose because we love the animal…. It’s not like breaking a hockey stick or breaking a tennis racket, for us we become very close with this animal and have great respect for they do for us.” -Eric Lamaze

I've seen these monthly goal reviews everywhere recently so thought that I should start doing it too! Hopefully this will help with achieving more and keeping on top of my year goals. Better late than never :D

September:

Vallu

Survive travelling from Finland to Nottingham!
Maybe do a full diagonal of two tempis without a temper tantrum
Continue woking on being supple, with shoulders and front legs up and in front.

Me

Get normal looking photos with photoshoot with Ritu (like above, and not like below!)

Survive driving from home to Nottingham, through Germany and Holland!

Survive the start of second year of university

Keep working on moving hands up and forwards to keep Vallu's shoulders moving that way too → more active fingers to keep him soft when he's struggling with this.

EAH Blog Hop: Keeping It Clean

In this weeks blog hop let's talk about what cleaning products you use on your tack and why?

It's so interesting to see what other people from across the world are using on their tack. Thank you to Hillary at Equestrian At Hart for doing this! I personally use Absorbine's Horseman's One Step Cream. It's a leather cleaner and conditioner, so it leaves your leather really soft, and saves you the trouble of having to use a separate conditioner all the time. You also only need to use a tiny amount, so one tub lasts me around 3 months, with me cleaning my bridle and boots everyday day and my saddle once a week!

Because Horseman's One Step has the conditioner in it, I'm not particularly fussy with proper conditioner. My favourite one however is the Oakwood Leather Conditioner, followed by Stübben Hamanol. I like the Oakwood one because it smells lovely (great reasoning I know!) and Stübben's Hamanol is great on the saddle because it gives you slightly more grip... Always useful when hacking out Vallu!