Keeley & Kylecrow Star

May: A bit of a wash out :-(

2006-06-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

Another month gone and still no saddle - I have been trying to think up ways of sorting it but have now resigned my self to the fact that I will just have to get another conventional saddle and change it again at the end of the year.

Haven't managed to ride star much this month apart from bareback. I did try the saddle once and it seemed ok, so we jumped - here are the results.

She jumped fabulously, even though it was pouring down with rain. She is going really nicley when I school her bareback and I cannot wait to see how she goes when I get a saddle on her.

Here is a side on piccie, to show how she changes shape as the seasons change. She has since started to get round again - bloody horse!

April - Summer is a'coming!

2006-04-26T04:59:00.000-07:00

Finally the grass is starting to come through at the yard and the weather is warming up. .

Star has started to go out without rugs on during the day now and is looking really well, she had her first bath of the year when it was really warm one day - she wasn't too impressed though!

My saddle really does not fit and I am currently trying to sell it on eBay so I can afford to buy a new Saddle Company Saddle - I feel this will be the only way I can keep a saddle as they can be altered soo easily. I am a bit annoyed that I have to sell the albion as I really like it, but its best for star.

we have been lunging and Long reining alot the last few weeks, in amongst riding bareback and in the saddle (padded up though) so I could go on a proper hack. Star's balance has really improved and is going very nicely once I get on.

When I have a saddle I'm hoping to bombard you with pictures of shows - I have alot planned for this year!

March 2006 - Update

2006-04-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

Well, March hasn't been to good to star and I.

What with her changing shape and us need a new saddle it has caused loads of problems. We borrowed a Saddle from our Saddle Fitter and that fitted for about 2 weeks! In that time Star has her back done by the Chiro and I took her to the Equine Affairs SJ Champs at MKEC.
The SJ wasn't great as Star was being a monster because she'd got wound up in the collecting ring, we got eliminated in the first class for refusals and I retired from the second. But hey will be better next time. This is a picture of us jumping in the warm up class:
Good news with her back though - she was only slightly out and can now go on routine checks, not 8 weeklys!

Still the saddle saga continues though, she changed shape some more and the saddle I borrowed is now also wrong. I will have to get a new saddle now as mine cannot be flocked to fit her. I'm currently doing lots of ground work to try and bring her muscle back before having her fitted for a saddle as she will only change again! Oh well.... Things can only get better!

Photo's of jumping

2006-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

These were taken off of a video so not great quality but you get the idea!!

1. Last jump in the first round.

2. First fence in the Jump Off

3. 2nd part of treble

4. last part of Treble!

SJ 22nd Feb 2006

2006-02-22T07:44:00.001-08:00

I decided to take Star jumping last night, (Well I was actually forced to go by my mate as it's the only time we'll be able to go for about a month.)

I decided to just take her in the 2'3 and the 2'6 as couldn't be doing with a late night, and she's never been jumped in an indoor school before. Took her in the warm up ring and she nearly got me off 3 times!!!! She wouldn't jump anything , not sure why but may have been because of the floodlights (no shadows though) as when she did finally jump she flew! with my confidence now completely shattered thinking that she was gonna be a cow in the indoor! But decided to jump anyway, in for a penny in for a pound and all that!

We wnet in and walked round then when the bell rang I started, she refused the first jump (as she was watching what the ring steward was doing!) but then got the idea and went round the course ok until we had to jump a 4ft wide skinny, our approach wasn't great so star decided that actually she'd jump the fence that was next to it! ELIMINATED! They let me jump the rest as they weren't very busy and she jumped fine! The next class was so much better, it was full up 2'6'' and had some scary fillers but star knew what she was supposed to do and jumped perfect! Jump off was also really good, I just went steady and took the long routes as i'm trying to get her out of rushing. Even trotted at a few points! To cut to the chase I WON!! My first first with Star! Granted there was only a few people in the JO but we were the fastest clear! I couldn't believe it! next time i'll start with the 2'6 as don't think she was even looking at the 2'3!

Got some of it on video so will try and take some pics from it!

A Look Back in Time

2006-02-09T06:57:00.000-08:00

This was star in summer 2002 when we moved her to Burcott.

A Brief History!

2006-02-09T06:49:00.000-08:00

You may know by now that star had some 'problems for a couple of years, hopefully this will shed a bit of light....

In April 2001 my dad told me that I could start looking for another horse, I already had a Pony called Jester, who I had outgrown in ability, I was allowed to have another one as well as jess because I could have fun on him and concentrate on getting the new one well schooled and to hopefully jump it.

We looked at a few horses but found star in a dealers yard and I immediately fell in love, she was a bit over the price that I was allowed but dad said ok as I was so set on having her! Star arrived at Liscombe park on April 19th and settled In very well, she stayed at Liscombe for the rest of that year and into 2002, but in March 2002 I decided to move her to a different yard because she wasn’t happy and neither was I. By this time I had sold Jester because I didn’t have enough time for both of them.

I moved star to Burcott and this is where the problems started! Burcott was a big Dairy farm and it had very rich grass so throughout the summer star got fatter and put on condition, we realised her saddle didn’t fit so consequently got a fitter out in September to sort it. We got a new saddle but she still wasn’t right and so we got fitter out again, he re-fitted it and told us to use a poly pad underneath it!!!

Over the next couple of months things got worse, star was refusing to be tacked up and definitely didn’t want me getting on. The YO was telling me its because she wasn’t ridden enough (Only at weekends) and that I should try and get up more, which was difficult as I was too young to drive and had to rely on others to give me a lift. In may 2003 I moved star again, this time to a yard closer to home so I could go up more often, she was on part livery so I could spend as much time as possible with her, and not spend time doing jobs.

This was when I decided to get to the bottom of her behaviour, I changed her saddle and got a McTimony chiropractor out to her, finally a ray of light! Star’s pelvis had dropped and subsequently along her back she had other rotations, she was very uncomfortable. Throughout that summer & Winter star had regular visits from Samantha Barrett who had to keep putting her right, as her pelvis kept on rotating! Each time the rotations were less severe but they just wouldn’t hold.

In spring 2004 I decided to use a different chiropractor for star, the YO used a different physiotherapist, (Emma from Theravet) who did a range of treatments. This meant that as well as having McTimony she had LLLT on her muscles. Emma told me that because her pelvis had been wrong for such a long time she’d adapted her movement so that she dragged herself along with her front legs to compensate for not using her back end. This caused a lot of tension in her shoulders and neck, which is what the LLLT has helped with.

Star has come on really well since then and has been having regular visits from Emma every 8 weeks. We still have problems with the fit of her saddle as she is very sensitive to them, which is understandable considering that a saddle caused it in the first place, she has her saddle fitted regularly to stop any problems before they occur.

I’ve spent the time in between physio visits and saddle fittings, schooling star and having fun, after all that’s what owning a horse is all about. There were many points along the way where I wanted to sell her and leave it at that, but we got here in the end and it was so worth it.

As you can tell Star is now fit and well and hopefully will be going out and doing some Jumping this year

Improvements?

2006-02-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

This is me & star in October 2004 - note the huge muscle on the underside of her neck! *Cringe*

This picture was taken on 5th feb 2006, the size of the muscle has now dramatically reduced, and all of the muscle are alot more relaxed due to having physio and giving her regular massages, though she could still do with more topline!! (But we are working on that he he)

February Already!!

2006-02-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

The year is going fast! Its february now and still going well!

Didn't get to go SJ last night as my friend who takes me (love you K!) had to take her pony to have colic surgery, he made it through the op and is recovering well though! GET WELL SOON JACK.

Anyway have been doing lots of different bits with Star, for flatwork I have been using the Abbott Davis Balancing rein a couple of times a week just to help her realise that she's supposed to carry herself and not expect me to do it (she can be very heavy). It seems to be having the desired effect and she's improving each time we use it.

Her jumping is still coming on leaps and bounds (excuse the pun) and she's restoring my confidence in her, I've been concentrating on getting her steady after jumps and not allowing her to storm off afterwards. Need to keep a nice rythm ready for the courses! Hopefully will be taking her out soon though, just for a test run!

To finish off... just a couple of pictures from this weekend!

Ready for the off! 'Get on then Mum!'

Update for January

2006-01-30T02:10:00.000-08:00

Well, Star and I seem to be having a fab start to 2006!

I have started up a fitness programme for her and we are doing some proper work. I try to make sure I ride 5 times a week (as can't manage to ride 2 days during the week) 2 schooling sessions, 1 groundwork (lunging/long reining) and then when it's light at the weekends i'll jump and hack. (Floodlights aren't good enough to jump during the week but can manage pole work!)

She is jumping out of her skin and seems to be leaving all her problems from last year behind her! I have been doing grid work with her and trying to shorten her up, as a couple of weeks ago she was bouncing a double that was 8 of my big strides (about 24 ft!) she was doing this easily (I have a video and it looks effortless to her) but i'd rather her put the stride in.

She was alot better on saturday though, as she was listening and not rushing through so therefore had enough time to put the stride in and was jumping through nice and confidently. We also did a double that was a very deep cross of 2'6 and a spread of 3'6 which posed no problems. I have discovered that anything below 3ft star regards as not worth it and flys at it, but once a little bit bigger she thinks and jumps nicely! All that is left now is to put some fillers in, although I don't think they'll pose a problem!!

I'm all geared up for february to go to MKEC and do the Evening Novice indoor SJ on Tues 7th (2'6 - 2'9 no fillers and kind courses) then if that goes well we will do the Open SJ which are a bit bigger and asks more questions in the next couple of weeks.

I can't wait as my hopes of doing a british Novice actually look acheivable!

14th January 2006 - Jumping!

2006-01-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

Decided to do some jumping with starry today - we haven't jumped in a while due to christmas so thought i'd get on with it.

Shame the pictures are blurry but you get the gist of things. She jumped really nicely and was sort of steady for her! The jumps here are about 3ft but she makes them look tiny and gives them loads of clearance - i'm sure i'll get more confident and build up to bigger things!

6th January 2006 - Venturing out!

2006-01-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

Today me and the YO decided that we'd take our horses into MK to take them on a long hack. Milton Keynes has loads of bridleways and you can be out for hours! We took a shortish route of 9 miles, and we didi it in 1 1/2 hours! Though we did canter alot and our horses were knackered!

Here is a picture of star at the end of the ride ready to be loaded onto the lorry! I'm thinking that all the purple may be a bit OTT!!!

Its 2006!!!

2006-01-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

Ok as its 2006 i'm going to try and keep this blog updated to keep track of our year.
To start things off - A Picture of Star on New Years Day in the field... I wish she'd keep her rugs clean!

Comp photos August 2005

2005-12-09T04:35:00.000-08:00

Star doing her own version of 'Dressage' We got 50.5% for this test as she was extremely silly! Us humans forget that white boards are there to bite horses feet!

Doing a 2'6 SJ course a TTEC in the pouring rain! All was going well until just after this, after this there was a 3 strided related distance on a dog-leg, Star landed but slipped and fell going round the corner, (the surface was saturated as there had been so much rain) I came off but star was more injured that me - she had cuts all up her back legs.

I did get back on and finish the course, but riding very defensively! Star was very genuine and finished the course without hesitation!

RAF Halton sponsored Ride March 2005

2005-12-09T04:31:00.000-08:00

We had a fab time on this ride but Star managed to get me off twice! Both doing dirty stops - this was very unlike her and when we had the physio out the next week we found that she was once again uncomfortable as her pelvis had rotated as it had done last year.

This was the start of all our XC problems, as she has been very reluctant to jump incase of pain (I guess) but I am hopefully going to rectify this when the XC courses open for 2006, by taking her XC schooling and not asking too much!

My poor girly!

January 3rd 2005

2005-12-09T04:25:00.000-08:00

This is star and me jumping in January 2005, we had just started jumping properly after her problems in 2004!

She adores her jumping but gets a little over keen!

2005-12-09T04:21:00.000-08:00

This is star my beautiful girly whom this blog is dedicated to! This picture was when I first moved her to our current yard - she was really excited bless her!

This blog is for my memories and to keep my friends informed about what we are doing and how its all going.

I hope its not too boring for you!