40 Things for 40

Here are most of my horse journals for 2018 (not sure why photo is sideways). I have a Leroy and Bongo planner for Amber and hopefully one for Matti arriving soon. The 2 notebooks with 1 photo are my homemade planners which include year spread, month and week layouts, pages for farrier, vet and other visits, feeding, weight and health checklist plus pages for goals and plans. The other photo notebook is my Wobbleberry one. The unicorn notebook was from a secret Santa and is going to be my riding/ training journal. Finally the 2 folders are my original design and I'm not ready to give them up just yet. They are too bulky to carry around hence the notebooks! I am happy to take photos of pages or give more details if anyone is interested ☺ from Team Solstice Wobbleberry Challenge http://ift.tt/2EkIKyG via IFTTT

Decided to ride Matti after 4 days restricted turnout/ no riding and it was rather windy  😳 What could possibly go wrong? Absolutely nothing actually  😀  Did a stretchy walk and trot session in which Matti felt good. Took Amber for a walk in the school too, she was also very good. I now need to walk faster to keep up with her though  from Team Solstice Wobbleberry Challenge http://ift.tt/2BYCGdI via IFTTT

Time for Matti to dust off his dancing shoes. #thewobbleberrieschallenge #leroyandbongo from Team Solstice Wobbleberry Challenge http://ift.tt/2ljn26s via IFTTT

Starting by clicking when the horses looked at me so they know click means treat and have had a few short sessions teaching the horses to touch a target. Amber picked it up within 5 tries and will now touch the target wherever I hold it. Matti has got the idea that a click means treat, but struggles a bit to find the target. I think he needs a scented one! Next trick is to give a kiss, then working on the rather more practical picking up hooves from Team Solstice Wobbleberry Challenge http://ift.tt/2C9NUjX via IFTTT

So what are everyone's goals for 2018? I'm going to keep mine fairly simple - complete The Wobbleberries challenge and enjoy the journey and have fun with my horses! I have a few smaller steps to complete the above including getting to as many competitions, lessons and clinics as possible, making our BD debut and having regular trips to Bramshill as well as one to the beach. Currently filling out my planner from Leroy and Bongo with a few competitions and clinics! from Team Solstice Wobbleberry Challenge http://ift.tt/1dZceUn via IFTTT

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Amber is being a good patient so far. I think she is enjoying being in. Hopefully they can have a couple of hours out tomorrow. I have been inspired by Pony Pony Podcast & Sparkle Pony to do some clicker training with Amber as I think she will enjoy having something to do, even for short sessions. from Team Solstice Wobbleberry Challenge http://ift.tt/2BKGm3F via IFTTT

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Again? Really? With my track record? I know, I just can't help myself! So here it is, the list of 18 things to achieve in 2018. I have tried to have a few more SMART goals this year, and some of these are in the more ambiguous goals so I can actually say yes I did it. So far I have 14 things, but at least I have a couple of weeks to think of four more! 1  Healthy Me Lose 5kg by March, then reassess if I wish to lose anymore Get back to being a size 8 before September Complete 10 week running 'course' and a Park Run with running club Continue running with club/ park runs Do 30 minutes exercise everyday (eg Wii Fit and EA Active on Wii, Fitstar and other apps on phone) Look at reducing medication Find out ways to sleep more! 2  Slightly Less Poor Me Two parts to this, cutting spending and saving more.These are my personal aims, other household stuff, joint savings, debts etc are not included Set budget for buying 'stuff' and stick to it. £50 a month,...

The hopes we had were much to high; Way out of reach, but we have to try Best non-Christmasy Christmas song ever!

Amber's been on the heavy stuff again! We had her vet appointment today, as suspected it is her SI joint that is causing her issues. Her right hock, back and neck were a little abnormal, but this could be compensating for the SI pain, or contributing to it. So we decided to treat the SI joint and if no improvement, we can then x-ray the other areas, the vet is quite confident that treatment will improve her though. Amber had to be sedated quite heavily as the vet has to work behind her, and some horses can really react to the injections. I can't say I blame them, the needles were sodding ginormous! She had one on each side of the joint and certainly felt the one on the right a lot more. Today and tomorrow she has to stay in, then two weeks of normal turnout but no riding, then we will be starting rehab work. The vet kindly wrote a plan out for me, because I'd have forgotten half of it before leaving the yard otherwise! Although I was a little bit nervous that the vet ...

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I am delighted to announce that I have been chosen to be an official blogger for The Wobbleberries challenge. Leroy and Bongo have generously donated their amazing planners to some of the lucky bloggers. Just a little bit excited (and nervous). It means I have to do more stuff so I can post about it. I'm looking forward to following all of the official blogs from Solstice Dressage http://ift.tt/1dZceUn via IFTTT

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Thought the Rangie was fixed, but we had problems again this morning so decided to be safe rather than sorry and withdraw. I've not bounced back quite as cheerfully today, often it feels like when I start getting positive/ happy, the universe likes to try and drag me back down! Still, Matti's safety is paramount and we have other adventures planned. from Solstice Dressage http://ift.tt/2BBiFNG via IFTTT

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I was meant to be taking Matti to a polework clinic today, but the Rangie had other ideas :( It's with our mechanic now and I'm hoping it will be ready for our next planned outing on Sunday. Instead I gave Amber a good groom, then attempted to groom Matti. He decided to have a good wallow in the mud and was filthy! Mud was in his ears, he had mudlocks in his mane and managed to get mud where his rug covers! I got the bits where the tack go clean, then we had a productive 40 minutes in the school. Did walk, trot and a bit of canter, he was very good and very settled today. Left them both in with stable rugs on and lots of hay. I will go back to check them and turn out later. from Solstice Dressage http://ift.tt/2yDitI5 via IFTTT

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Amber wanted to share her hay with me! They are still living out at the moment, so enjoyed a few hours in the warm, munching on lots of lovely hay. Mind you, neither were that enthused about going back out again so they will start being in overnight this week. from Solstice Dressage http://ift.tt/2z3CDhH via IFTTT

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Yay, my TROT pass arrived on Saturday, so I can start planning trips over to Bramshill Forest for hacking again. I think Matti is going to be rather excited so will make sure I take body protector, and possibly a parachute too ;) from Solstice Dressage http://ift.tt/1dZceUn via IFTTT

Due to the weather predicted for tomorrow, the vet contacted me to ask about postponing Amber's appointment. She will need to be trotted up, circled etc on a hard surface so the last thing we want is for her to slip, so we moved it to next Tuesday as would rather be on the safe side! from Solstice Dressage http://ift.tt/1dZceUn via IFTTT

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I had a coaching session with Jenni from Flying Changes Coaching yesterday. I always find Jenni's techniques very helpful, especially when they help me connect some random thoughts into a proper one! So today we discussed why I feel nervous on Amber more than Matti. I had concluded that it is because she is more likely to slow down/ head toss/ stop so then I panic that she is going to rear. I had put this down to the issues I had with Mia (story for another day!) a few years ago. I can cope with Matti because he is forward going and therefore is less likely to pull any stunts when trying to go flat out. Also, when he does have a silly moment, I tend to think he is just a bit excited. I also mentioned that Amber has reared with me once but that was due to having a sore back so I could kind of understand that. Anyway, pondering over it all later and I realized that actually that was the problem: I'm not scared by Amber's behavior, but the fact that if she is acting like i...

Amber and Matti had a visit from their physio today. Both were good to bring in from the field. Amber is no longer in season as she ignored the two geldings we have to walk past! Matti was in pretty good shape, just a little sore on the girth area, but a fluffy girth cover should help with that. He seemed to really enjoy his treatment, especially the laser. Amber was rather sore over her SI area again, so had a good amount of time spent on that. She was not too keen on the H-Wave at first, but it did seem to help once she got used to it. Not sure if the SI itself or something to do with her right hock as she was not stepping right under with it (something I noticed when I rode her last month). So next step for Amber is getting the vet out to discuss options and further investigations. These could be anything from a bute trial, to medicating the joint. Most options will mean I will need brave pants and rescue remedy as she will need to be in work to see if the treatment works. Alt...

Thank you to Equus for my order of lovely thermals that arrived last week. The HKM thermal set kept me toasty warm today while Amber and Matti had their physio treatments. Less than £20 for top and bottoms so a bargain too! from Solstice Dressage http://ift.tt/1dZceUn via IFTTT

Rather excited that my Leroy and Bongo planner arrived this week, although it has been given to Simon to wrap for me as a Christmas present! I did manage to have a quick peek inside and it looks great, so can't wait to get started with it :) from Solstice Dressage http://ift.tt/1dZceUn via IFTTT