After some questions on the equestrian bloggers page I'm apart of on Facebook I decided to expand Adventures with an ex racer and create a Facebook page. I decided to create this page to keep everyone updated easier, as it will come up on their timelines. Also I know that not everyone follows me on twitter or Instagram so I think this will be great up put up some pictures, updates and thoughts.

You can find our new Facebook page here

And other social media links are:

Twitter - @xraceradventure

Instagram - @xraceradventure

Getting Back's Checked

Legacy and Cloudy had the back man out last week. This is something that was well over due for them both. I typically like to get them checked every 8-12 weeks. This is because they are both idiots in the field. Thankfully it's just Cloudy who's an idiot after I've put him out in the morning, Legacy just walks straight over to the haylage and will have the odd roll now.

The man who I have out to have a look at them has been doing them since I first got to the yard I'm on now, this is the 4th year using him and I've never had any problems after having him out and he's only ever been great with the 2 horses. He checks them all over, all down the spine, checking the poll, hips, legs, feet.

Legacy was first up and she had a sore tail bone and a dropped left hip. This is the first time that she's ever had a sore tail bone but it's a regular thing for her to have a dropped left hip. This must be something she does while being an idiot in the field. This typically never effects her when being ridden or she never really shows any pain from this. She can be lazy with her hind legs so maybe this could be contributing to this. The main time you do know when she's got something wrong with her hip is when you try to pick her back feet up. She will very much let you know that it's painful and I know it's bad but due to this I tend to leave the picking out her feet hind feet when I can, thankfully she doesn't have hind shoes on. Due to her hip she had to have a few days off work for the pain to go.

Cloudy was pretty good with his check over as he only had his poll out. Typically he will have his left hip dropped like Legacy and his arthritis with be showing in his foot, but this time he wasn't too bad. Super flex must be going a great job for him during the winter. Due to him only having his poll out he was fine to be ridden after but my mum wanted to give him a day off for him to get back to normal again. He was defiantly feeling better when he went out after as he was running rings around the field stopping for the odd buck, rear or roll. He even went over to Legacy who just went over to the haylage to try and get her involved but she didn't both and then he carried on.

Although there wasn't much wrong with either of them and there were no major issues in terms of pain riding before hand I'm going to make sure I don't let them both go 6 months without being checked again. The 2 times I've been thrown off of Cloudy have been due to back pain which could've been avoided if they were checked more often and that's even when they were done every 8-12 weeks. 

Do you get your horses backs checks? How often do you do it?

Aims for 2018

One of my aims for last year was to get Legacy doing the online dressage competitions in the ROR & beginners classes, unfortunately this was not something we managed to reach by autumn time when the ROR classes finished. This is now something I have rolled over to this year and my new aim is to get her ready over the rest of winter and start adding her to the classes some spring in the march - may months depending on how we're getting on. 

With this being our main aim for the year the other aim I'm wanting to do which can make the online dressage seem simple compared is to get Legacy's canter sorted this year, I'm going to be looking up loads of schooling exercises for when I'm riding and for us to do on the ground to get her balanced and holding herself in canter. Over the last couple of years it's been her trot that we've been establishing getting her being able to work into a rhythm. Outlines aren't something I'm majorly fussed about at this point with her, I'd rater her come down into an outline when she's happy rather than add on loads of gadgets and force her into one. There have been signs of her lowering her head and coming into somewhat of an outline once we've established a nice rhythm in a 20m circle trot, so I'm happy with this for now. As I said the main aim is now to get her canter balanced on both reins and have her working happily. 

Legacy's been having a nice rest over Christmas and the New Year as I'm finding it hard to get any motivation to ride in this cold weather, Not being able to feel my toes is not my idea of a fun or relaxing ride. Unfortunately the lack of motivation to ride has resulted in the lack of motivation to blog, hence why I've been MIA for a few weeks but both horses are getting their backs done Tuesday to have a fresh check over on everything. I'm really hoping with that and now writing this blog post I will get my riding and blogging mojo's back.

But we're on the up as the night's are getting longer and the morning's are getting lighter earlier. It won't be long before I'm putting the horses out to the sunrise at 7:30am soon.

Legacy's First Group Session

The other week Legacy had her first ever pole work lesson. Since I first got her she has come along way with working in the school with others. The first time we went into the school with another horse she thought the main aim was to race this horse. At this point I wasn't even working her, she was just standing in the corner trying to get her used to others in the school as I didn't know what she'd be like. Thankfully the other horse wasn't far off finishing in the school when we went in so I could just manage to keep Legacy calm enough for the others to finish and leave. 
When my mum got Cloudy she had no choice but to get used to working with others in the arena. When she would first go in with Cloudy she would get a little excited but it's something she got used to and is know completely fine with. Although I do feel she uses him as a distraction when she doesn't want to work and does her planting. 

As I've been having my weekly lessons on Legacy and we've been doing poles recently when the instructor had an idea of doing some group pole work lessons I thought this would be great for Legacy. 

There's a few reasons why I thought it would benefit her:
- She will learn to stop and start work without stopping meaning finishing.
- She will learn to have to work while others are around without getting distracted

This was the pole set up for the lesson, the poles on the left were set up as walk poles in the beginning then changed to a trotting distance further in the lesson. The pole in the middle was a small half pole which was used for one person at a time to do figures of 8 over to help supple up the horse. The poles on the right in the fan where first set up at a walk distance when changed to a trotting distance. The session first started out walking over the 2 sets of the poles to warm the horses up. After this one horse would go onto the middle pole. After doing this for a while a set of the poles were changed from walk to trot distance and we where then working in trot and walk. The fan of poles was then changed to trot as well so we were constantly working in trot. After that the exercise changed where a jump wing was put half way through the poles so when approaching the fan we had to choose if we were going over the wider part of the poles or narrower part. After that all the horses stood in the middle of the arena while they had their own turn going over the poles on their own, the other 2 horses did some canter work around the poles, Legacy just kept to trot. 

Over all Legacy wasn't too bad working with the other horses in the arena. She was a little pent up at the beginning playing up when I was walking her over the poles. I feel this was due to her not being worked for over a week rather than being in the arena with others. There was a couple of times where I did feel like I wanted to get off and give up on the group lesson with her, but after a little perseverance she calmed down and I stayed on and had the lesson. She worked well with the other horses and the only problems we had was that she was a bit stiff and was a bit awkward to get turning. There was a couple of times where she wanted to stop working and planted but after a little hit with the reins she was away working again. I'm really happy with the way she worked in this lesson and hopefully she'll keep it up when I school on my own or with my mum.

The Trams Lines Exercise

Yes those lines in the image are poles, it was the best I could work up after forgetting to take a picture of the actual poles. Although this is something I might try doing in the future with pole work posts, then add in a picture of the actual poles too. If it came up to a more complicated exercise to explain I will be able to add in arrows etc to show which way we went.

What we did with the poles:

Throughout a circle that took up half of the arena we set out 3 pairs of poles. One in the middle of the arena (orange),  one by the entrance gate (blue) and the other in between them too (green). 

The exercise was to then go through the poles and around In a circle or oval depending on which two sets of poles we were going through. In this lesson I hadn't done any work with Legacy since the lesson the week before so on the rare occasion she was a little lively (she can normally go awhile without work and be fine when you get back on.) this toyed with my confidence a little and I'm going to be honest there was a few times I was ready to throw the towel in and say I wanted to get off.

Thankfully I had put my big girl breeches on that day and I fought through it. 

Before using the 2 outer sets of poles we did a few exercises between the blue and green sets of poles. At this point I was fine confidence wise with Legacy. 

Some of the exercises we did were:

- Go through the blue set of poles and then through the green set.

- Go through the blue set of poles and either go on the a inside or the outside of the set of green poles.

- Same as above but opposite way around. Going through the green set and either way around the blue set. 

These exercises were done on both reins. 

After that we started to incorporate the orange set of poles. Were we would do big circles from blue through orange and smaller ones in between of orange and green then blue and green.

It took us pretty much the whole lesson to get a nice rhythmic trot out of Legacy this day as she was very much running in her trot. My Instructor was very determined to get a nice trot out of her before the end of the lesson and to end the lesson on a nice trot aswell.

When we started to incorporate the orange poles was when Legacy started to heat up a little. I hadn't been this far down in the arena with her for a while as we'd been working in the top quarter to half in 20m circles and on a square/rectange that way I could always have a good amount of control of her.

The control when she starts to heat up is definitely a communication error rather than her needing another bit, something not fitting correctly, her not being happy etc. As when she does heat up my first Instinct is to stiffen and tense up and pull back on the reins slightly. Now I know that both of these are something I need to work on. In terms of the pulling on the reins this is also something we worked on in the lesson as the instructor told me to try intermittently slightly pull on each rein and that if she doesn't go off on me to send her into the arena fence a little by turning her head. I did manage to find some control of her by trying these out and maybe we'll get there when I stop stiffening up. 

The Funnel Exercise

During my last lesson on Legacy we used poles to switch it up a little. Although I pretty much understood what was wanted of us after a tester warm up round. It took me a while to translate it over to Legacy. 

What we did with the poles;

On a 20 circle I would either go on the inside, over or on the outside of the fan of poles. Then on the set of 2 poles I would go between the fence and poles, between the 2 poles or on a smaller circle between the fan of poles and the 2 poles. 

I did this exercise in trot on both reins and my instructor would say what she would want us to do with the next set of poles as we finished one set. For example I would go between the gate and the poles and then over the fan of poles. Sometimes she would leave it a little longer so I would have to react fast and get Legacy working quickly and effectively. We struggled with this a little in the beginning because it took a while to get Legacy into a nice rhythm, she would be running along in trot. When she's at this pace I never know to kick her on to keep her going or slow her down to steady her I'm fear she's going to think I'm asking her to canter or if she'll stall on me. I had to try get her into rhythm without showing her I'm worried about what she's going to do. 

Even when you think you've got Legacy working at a good speed you still have to be on the ball and concentrating on her at all times or she will just give up and go back to walk or even just stand there. There was a few times I lost my stirrups and took my concentration off of Legacy to sort these out during the trot and she was back to walk. 

So the stirrup situation is something I'm going to work on, through my position and possibly trying out the cheese grater stirrup grips so help with my losing stirrup problem.

At the end of the lesson we did a little canter on each rein, this is something that Legacy needs to work on a lot as she's not balanced at all, and I don't feel like she's balanced enough to get any benefit out of being cantered on the lunge. So in my sessions with her when I feel like I've got her in a good trot I will ask her for canter but only do a few strides then bring her back and continue doing this as she gains balance. Another thing she needs to learn is that when she comes back down from canter to trot is to keep working and not just die down back to walk.  

I really enjoyed doing this exercise with Legacy and it was nice to get her working over poles. This is something I would do again with her on my individual schooling sessions with her. 

Long and low

The main aim of my lessons in the last couple of weeks has been to get Legacy to work long and low and stretching down. In the past she's always had the typical racehorse head. When I ask her to do something she isn't keen on (like working) she will throw her head up, there's even been a few times where I thought she was going to hit me.

There has been a few times where I've got her working in a happy rhythm on the right rein on a 20m circle where she's started to stretch down before.

Since having my last lesson I've also started to think that I've been stopping her to allow to stretch down and drop her head by keeping her on short reins due to her running off when I've ask for trot before. Although once we've gathered a nice rhythm and I've been comfortable I have allowed her to work with long reins.

From what I've seen on the lunge she also seems to get into a rhythm much quicker on there and is willing to drop her head down. I'm not one for using different type of lunge accessories and gadgets, I'd rather her learn and work properly the natural way. I don't mind if that takes us much longer to get to, I'd rather the outline come naturally. 

In my last couple of lessons she's been working well with teaching her to stretch down, and the small set back we've had is me trusting her enough to ask her for trot on a long rein and her not running off with me. I'm fully comfortable to trust her about halfway through the lesson to change transition on a long rein when she's warmed up and listening. I'm still struggling to do this at the beginning though. This is something we'll both have to work on in the lessons and other schooling times.

The Windy Lesson

After last week's fall I had a chat with my instructor about what's going on with Legacy and we have come down to a possible answer of she's not getting worked enough. In the past she's never been the type of horse that does need to be worked constantly as I have left her out of work for 2-4 months before and getting straight back without another thought. But it seems to be that with us now having lessons she's starting to get into a routine of at least being ridden once a week, and she must be liking it. So after deciding that could be the answer to theso many questions of why? I had my fall on Tuesday then lunged her Thursday although she wasn't the most cooperative we sort of got there as when I changed the rein to lunge she came up lame.

I'd arranged another lesson with her on the Monday so I decided to give her until then to come up sound which she did. We just had some awful wind on the Monday and the 2 horses were bolting and doing laps around the field, just to give me that little bit of confidence just before my lesson, thanks Legacy. After explaining to my instructor what had just happened and knowing that Legacy could be a little spooky by the arena due to sheep trailers clanging in the wind I didn't want to get back on her in those conditions.

We decided to give her a lunge to see what type of mood she was in that day. After having a good lunge and not playing up once I decided that I would be brave enough to get on her. During the lesson she then went really well, she was a little slow and lazy and made me work to keep her going but I would much rather that than what I had last week.
Towards the end of the lesson she was stretching out and staring to lower her head, it felt a little odd for me to give her more reins so she could lower her head as I'm used to her ears nearly hitting me in the face. And we did some transitions where I didn't shorten my reins before asking for trot as this has become somewhat of a safety thing for me as I never know what she will do.

So it definitely feels like we're onwards and upwards now, myself and the instructor have decided on working Legacy 3 times a week. We feel this would be enough to get the energy out of her. I'm aiming to ride on my 2 days off and give her a lunge on either the Thursday or Friday. But obviously when it comes to the winter I will have to work harder at sticking to working her the 3 days and possibly not be so much of a fair weather rider. How that will go, I don't know. We'll have to see...

We're Back On Track...

The last 2 days I've ridden Legacy and I've managed to do more than just sit on her or walk her around in circles on the spot. Yesterday was just your average schooling session in the arena with my mum on Cloudy. I started out the session by trying out some starting suggestions I got over on facebook through the equestrian bloggers group and she was just doing the usual of stopping and throwing her head when she doesn't want to work. 

After feeling inspired from the comments over there I seen a whip on the side of the school and decided to give it another try. I never typically use whips on her as she must've had somewhat of a bad experience with them in the past as whenever you give her a tap on the bum to back up the leg she will try to kick your leg as to say 'get off'. So knowing that I decided to just show her the whip, and it actually worked. I didn't have to hit her with in once, she knew it was there. Each time I felt she was going to slow down I would just show her the whip and she go back to working. There was a few head throws in the beginning but when she got into a rhythm she would work nicely. Even at the end of the session I asked her for a little canter on each rein, which we both have to work on very much as more as ground work before ridden but it was nice to have a little canter on her which we haven't been able to do for about the last 6 months.

In today's lesson she tried to start off a little slow but there was no stopping and no head throwing as usual. In the lesson today we worked on a big 20m circle then smaller ones at certain parts of the bigger circle. This was so we could help Legacy become more supple from her left side on the right rein and so she doesn't flick her back end out on the left rein. As she flicks her back end out on the right rein she's not sure what to do with her back legs as she's turning corners within the circle, she's kicking herself with her back legs which results in her stumbling and then having to correct herself. This now means that she has to wear boots on her back legs. This isn't too much of a major problem as I've gotten her used to having boots on her back legs, she can just try to swipe her legs at times to try and get them off, once the first velcro is done she's fine. This is just something I've got to watch with her. 

Didn't manage to get any pictures from the lesson so I've added these in to break it all up.

My Holy Grail Horse Magazines - Your Horse & Horse & Rider

Every month I get these 2 magazines and I live by them. They both have some great articles in each month. Your horse currently has a great retraining ex racehorses feature in, currently on jumping and this month it's featured with Harry Meade giving his tips and tricks. Although Legacy isn't quite there with jumping yet I keep all the magazines I've bought and plan to use them in the future. All the schooling ideas and tips in both magazines range in the skill of the horse from leaning a leg yield to some dressage moves or jumping a grid. Both magazines have an 'Ask the experts' section to where there is different subjects each month, they range from tack questions, feed questions, vet advice to management questions. 

Both of these magazines retail at £3.99 each, but you can subscribe to each of them and depending on which month you subscribe to them you can either get a free gift usually worth £40ish or a heavy discount on the subscription fee. 

Both magazines offer a paper print magazine and digital magazine. There is separate subscriptions for these or you can get one with them both combined.   

Currently until 5th April with Your Horse you can get a free Charles Bentley Slip Not Grooming kit with 9 brushes and a carry bag worth £35. You can get the print subscription from £49, the digital subscription from £28 and the print & digital subscription from £59. You can subscribe here with Great Magazines. 

With this months Horse & Rider you can get a HY leather headcollar and leadrope set worth £39 when you subscribe. You just have to add the code HPAPR17W into the promotional code section after choosing which way you would like to pay. There is a Direct debt version when you pay once a year and it comes out automatically or there's a one off payment option. Before adding this promotion it costs £54.60 to subscribe. After adding the promotion code you then have the option to pay £25.93 every 3 months, or pay £51.86 with direct debt or through a one off payment. There is also an option to subscribe and pay a direct debit of £10 every 3 months, although with this you won't recieve the free gift. You can choose to subscribe to this magazine here through Webscribe. 

Acavallo Gel Out Seat Saver Review

   

Amazingly this is something that I'd never seen or heard of online before it was mentioned to me on the yard. At first I was very much confused and put off by the idea of having so much gel on the seat. I always thought it wouldn't give you much movement in the saddle or I'd be stuck not being able to do any rising with my trot. 

But then one day I actually realised that I was spending my time correcting myself in the saddle quite a bit due to it being slippy, and it was worse when it came to the rare time I gave my tack a clean. I then found that I could only ride comfortably when I had full seat breeches on, and with the price tag of these I thought I'd do some research into this seat saver.

I found out that it's unique breathable gel construction supports the body of the rider by stabilising the bones and prevents and unnecessary movement. It also majorly reduces concussion in the lower back, helping people with any back problems. It's discreet and easy to fit, and helps the rider stay secure while training or hacking and helps achieve a deep and stable seat. They are also British Dressage legal. 

After having a bit of a research and reading some reviews I found there was also a gel in version to where the gel is on the inner side of the seat saver and sticks to the saddle rather than your bum. The upper part which you sit on which this one was like a suede material, so it would give you some extra grip in the saddle compared to a naked saddle but not as much as the gel out one. My mum then decided to invest into a gel out seat saver for Cloudy, this was back when I was riding him and decided to give it ago. At first I was sold on the idea and found it weird to sit on, but the more I was riding Cloudy I actually came around to the idea and felt more comfortable and secure in the saddle, granted he decided to throw me off twice in one schooling session not long after but I stayed on much longer with it that I probably would've without. 

I was then on the hunt to buy one for Legacy, and I got hers in black and in the medium size. There are 3 sizes available they come in pony (15-16"), medium (16.5-17") and large (17.5-18") and available in 2 colours of black and brown. You can get them in 2 different cuts gp/jumping and dressage. 

This seat saver has saved me from going flying off Legacy quite a few times where she likes to have her moments and bolt off or when I ask her for trot and she decides to canter. It has also offered me some security in the saddle when it comes to hacking out as she does like to nap and then go or she will play up in the road. These are also great for big moving horses as they will help keep you still in the saddle.

I would not like to ride a horse without one of these as I have become reliant on how secure this makes me feel in the saddle, I think it would feel like I was learning to ride again in a way without one of these. I would recommend these to anyone all day long and I can't rave about them enough. With the price of them starting from £60, it can be quite a bit for an initial outlay but I would say it's 100% worth the investment. They last for years if looked after the right way and if you do get one I will be shocked if there is anyone not happy with it, and also you'll then be the one not wanting to ride without it.

I have looked around for the best prices for you all and I have found a few of the gel out ones on eBay here. This link includes both the gel in and gel out seat savers. Most of these offer free postage which is a great added bonus with the amount being spent.  

My Aim by the End of Summer

Now that I'm back having lessons on Legacy every other week I think it's time that I give myself some goals to complete by the end of the summer.

The first big thing I'd like to do at the end of summer or possibly half way through and then again at the end to see if there's any improvement would be online dressage. I've seen that there's a few websites that offer this with a range of classes. I would love to enter Legacy into some of the ex racehorse classes I've seen. The classes that I would choose would only probably include walk and trot as we've still got quite a bit to work on with canter, but you never know there's still quite a bit of time until the end of summer. 

One of the best things about this is that I will be able to still compete with Legacy while not having to leave the yard. I find this is one of the hardest things for me to do at the moment, as Legacy won't travel on her own and Cloudy won't travel unless he's in a 7.5 ton horsebox and it's hard to find one of them around here to hire. Although my main aim with Legacy isn't to be out competing it would be nice to be able to do something small on her every once in awhile. 

Another aim I have to do by the end of the summer is to be back riding Cloudy, this is also another big one for me as I hate knowing that a fall has got the better of me with losing my confidence with him. I'm really hoping that with getting my confidence a lot better while on Legacy I will be able to transfer it over onto him and he won't feel any tension from me. I'm hoping that when I get back on him it will be like the fall never happened, okay I will be wary with him but I'm hoping that if he starts to play up with me that I will be able to sort him out and then he'll know that he'll get told off and made to work harder when he starts to play up and won't get away with it any more. Who know's I might start doing online dressage competitions on him too. 

I'm only setting myself 2 goals to achieve by the end of the summer because they are both pretty big ones. All my efforts will be put into achieving these and once these are done I will be able to set myself some more. 

Legacy's Take on Bedding

In the 3 winters I've had Legacy I have tried a variation of types of bedding. Most of them have worked well in the beginning and then have just majorly fallen down hill as I thought that plan and type of bedding was working. During the time she's been at the current livery yard she's been in 4 different stables. In these stables her stress levels have been different in each one, this has contributed to how messy each stable has been. Pretty much each variation has included shavings at some point and it even went to the point of trying out different types of shavings. 

All of the stables she's been in have had rubber matting in, so this has been a major help when it comes to putting down a bed for her. When I first had her she was on shavings, in a average stable size she would just poo where she was standing when eating her hay, the only problem with this would be that when she would walk around the stable, the poo would be walked into the shavings. 

Apart from this the main dilemma I've always had with her beddings is that she's very wet, this at times could be to the point there would be a slight puddle in the middle of the shavings if there wasn't a thick enough layer down. 

The bedding variations she's had are:

- Shavings with thick banks and thin bed layer

- Plenty of shavings all around, thick banks and bed layer

- Shavings banks with Megazorb in the middle

- Shavings banks with shavings and wood pellets mixed in

- Wood Pellet banks and bed

- Straw banks and shavings bed

- Shavings banks with straw bed
- We've also tried deep littering her on shavings

Before trying her out on what she's on now she was going through a bale of shavings a day if you were mucking her out properly she was that wet, so I knew I had to find a better alternative for her. She now has Straw all over for banks and bed with a sprinkle of shavings underneath in the middle. This seems to be working well for the time being, and she will probably be on this until she goes out for the summer which I'm hoping will be within the next few weeks if the weather sorts itself out. The shavings layer beneath the straw is enough to soak up the wee from the bedding to make it not so soggy or have wee running through the stable. 

She also seems to be very much less stressed while she's in this stable, she is now next door to Cloudy who she is very close with as their never separated now, being in both summer & winter fields together. He has really seemed to calm her down and it's really helped cut down on her separation anxiety. She still has a few stubborn moments trying to get her into the stable on her own, but with a little persuasion she's much more better and willing to be on her own. 

Here is a quick before & after picture of Legacy's stable. 

Shires Tempest 300g Combo Review

I know it's a bit late on in the year but I just had to write my review on this rug now, it couldn't wait until next winter. Although I bet there are some clipped or even unclipped horses out there now still in medium-heavy or heavy weight rugs the weather has been so awful in this country recently. And with another set of bad weather supposed to be on it's way soon before we get the nice weather I thought I'd throw this in there now. This is a great rug to have if a heavyweight is too warm and a medium weight is too cold. 

This is the Shires Tempest Original 300g Combo Rug. 

Some of the key features for this rug are:

- 600D ripstop

- Breathable ShireTex Outer

- 300G Quilted Polyfill

- Tapered Seams

- Blanket Set Breast Fastenings

- Velcro Closure on Neck

- Adjustable Cross Surcingles & Fillet String

& A Tail Flap.

To the left is a picture of Legacy when she first got the rug, before she went out and rolled in it to cover it in mud. 
The rug fits her body shape really well, she's had no rubs on her shoulders, withers or her mane. I know that some people really struggle to find combo rugs that don't rub away any part of the mane. 
I've always been really lucky with Legacy and all of her combo rugs have fit really well and I've been able to avoid this. 
This rug has a nice sized neck that doesn't leave too much behind the ears exposed, another great part about this neck is that it stays in place and doesn't slip down towards the body. There is a velcro neck closure on the neck where it folds back on itself through rings for security. 
The tail flap on this rug may only be small in comparison to others but it's attached in a way it gives great protection from the weather elements. It always stays down and never flaps back up onto the body of the horse.




Although this rug is only 600D, it's managed to survive 2 winters without any rips or leaks. Legacy is good when it comes to not making holes in rugs and looks after them but there is bit's of barbed wire around the field because of the sheep so there is always that possibility when the horses are playing or trying to get to grass. 
Legacy has worn this rug in some bad weather this winter including some of the recent storms and it has held up really well. Not once has the rain been too much and the rug has started to leak or get damp. 

Overall I would really recommend this rug and I would definitely consider buying a Shires rug when I'm in need of one next. 

My Time at Bolesworth International CSI****

I was very excited a few months back when my mum finally agreed to come with me to Bolesworth International. Having found out about it last year but it being too late to get time off work we weren't able to go. So this year I made sure to book the time off work well in advance, well as soon as april came and we were allowed. Next up was ordering the tickets, I'd missed the 2 for 1 deal they had around Christmas and New year so the next best deal was 40% on the presale. The hardest part for us was choosing the day, there was parts of each day that we both wanted to see. This would be great if it was a day long event. After much discussion we chose to go on the Saturday 18th June. 

Trying to find the venue was complete mayhem when you listen to a satnav the whole way. It got us to about 10 minutes away perfectly then started to take us down some back roads that had signs for 'no event traffic', 'no horse boxes this way' and 'horse box parking 100 yards away'. We were on a wild goose chase turning around where we could for about 30 minutes until I ended up with Google Maps searching for Bolesworth castle, this took us the correct way. Tip for Bolesworth when you can no event traffic, please put another sign saying which way for us to go! 

Once there we had a look at a few stands then we went to watch the Show jumping on the grass, having never been before we were walking around finding out where everything was. Then finding the main arena we were just in time to see Scott Brash in the young horses class Jump off. He had a clear round on Cademuir but didn't quite get around quick enough at ended up with 7th. It was great seeing Michael Whitaker in this class to, placing in the top 6.  

After this class we had another walk around to get a coffee, hot chocolate & a danish pastry. Throughout the afternoon we had a look through the stalls, found some stuff we both wish we had the money to kit out the horses with and then we were back on the search for the ex-racehorse display, which in the end we ended up missing due to not remembering which arena it was in. One great thing I feel Bolesworth should add is a board outside each arena to say what's on and the times, I know they are probably in the programmes but not everyone want's a programme for this purpose. It was a shame because we spent most of the day not knowing which class was which, what time they started and what was on next. This was one of the main reasons we left at 2:30pm as we didn't know what was left of the day. 

Although it turned out very well as through all our walking around we were able to see Michael Whitaker on his horse waiting to go into the main ring for the young horse class presentation, Ben Maher & Scott Brash, who I really wanted a picture with and one of my aims of the day was to see him but I was too nervous to ask, silly me and that is a big regret of mine. Definitely next time there's no holding back haha. 

After having a few ups and downs of the day it turned out to be a great day, the weather held out for us although it was muddy from the past days the sky was dry and it was warm but not too hot. I'm definitely wanting to go back next year, after the traveling my mum isn't too keen so I've either got some convincing to do, find someone else to go with or have a day out to myself. 

Did you go to Bolesworth International this year? What day did you go on & are you going back again?

Credit to Events Through a Lens for the Scott Brash Picture

& the other image was from Bolesworth International Facebook.

More images can be seen from the event on both pages. 

Balancers, Why Feed Them?

Balancers are a great way to give your horse all the recommended vitamins & minerals without having to feed multiple times a day or giving them a bucket full of feed. Depending on the choice of balancer you will be giving them no more than 2 cups of feed and that's for a 16hh+ horse.

It has always been a big no no to give your horses bigger feeds as it can increase the chance of colic among other things but giving your horse 2-4 feeds a day isn't always readily available for some people. The more times a day a feed is split up into the better as it keeps the digestive system working correctly as fit's with the way the horse has always eaten, little and often. Splitting the feed up is also a good way to help put weight onto your horse as it will give the system plenty of time to take up all the nutrients needed from each meal.  

Some of the benefits from feeding a feed balancer with ad-lib forage are:

• Better digestive efficiency
• Reduced risk of loose droppings 
• Reduced risk of colic 
• Reduced risk of laminitis
• Reduced risk of stereotypical behaviour (once called ‘vices’) 
• Reduced risk of ‘tying-up’ 
• Reduced severity of gastric ulcers
• Reduced risk of DOD (an umbrella term covering abnormal limb development) 
• More relaxed behaviour with improved focus 

Feed balancers can be fed alone like the Naf Optimum or can be added to a chaff to add a little bulk and more of the horse to eat.

Some balancers come in a pelleted form like the Naf Optimum or they will come in a powder form. From experience I've learnt that the powdered ones will be the ones you come across in a small tub such as the Equine Answers 365 Balancer starting at 1Kg (I've done a review on this product, which you can read here), but the Naf Optimum also comes in a smaller bag starting at 3.7Kg. 

There are now many different types of balancers each suited to your horses needs:

- Performance

- Lo-Cal/Lite for laminitis prone or the fat

- Conditioning

- Weight maintenance

-  Joint

- Hoof

- Veteran/Senior

- Stud

- Donkey

What's great about balancers as well is that they will be low in starch & sugar meaning they won't heat up or fizz up for horse. 

The 2 balancers that have worked really well for Legacy are the Naf Optimum & Equine Answers 365 Complete 

Do you feed a balancer to your horse?

*Images are from this article

*Italicized list is from this article