BARN BLOGS /3

 27/7/22

BARN BLOGS /3

Hi again everyone! I know its been nearly a month since I lasted updated you guys on my volunteering at the yard, but it's because I've been really busy finishing primary school and starting off summer holidays!

This morning (Wednesday 27 July 2022) I got to the yard at 9:20am, to get ready for the Own a Pony morning going on. All the girls doing it turned up and we went onto the yard. I followed up at the back of the group to close the gates. We went up to the bench so they could put their stuff down and get settled. They were assigned stalls to muck in partners before we all went down to get the wheelbarrows and forks. As we went into the stable blocks the other helper took one pair down to the other end of the block to muck out a stall owned by a livery pony, an older grey mare in semi-retirement. Me and the riding instructor went into the last blocks and gave the partners their stalls. I helped them push the barrow over the bump of wood separating the stall from the rest of the block. I gave them their forks and they started to muck.

By the time they were around half way through the job, our riding instructor came in and said that we were to stop and go and watch two ponies get their vaccinations for Equine Flu and Tetanus. The vet prepared the needles while her apprentice went to get the stethoscope and checked the ponies heartbeats. The were completely healthy and got lots of pats and cuddles afterwards.

They then finished mucking and came onto the yard to clean feed buckets and fill waters. Filling waters is the longest job at the yard and takes a lot of awkward silence, especially when the girls know each other and giggle and I'm just standing there keeping watch of the water to make sure it didn't overflow. The riding instructor carried them into the stables and we went to get headcollars (or halters) for the ponies. Everyone was happy with the ponies they got, except the girl on the biggest pony (Zen) looked rather shocked as she had never ridden him before. The girl on Hector was really happy as he is her favourite.

They practiced tying up the correct way (quick release knot) and then we went up the lanes to the field to catch in the ponies. They were all hidden in the trees, so the instructor and the other helper went to catch them, while I stayed and made sure all the girls were staying there. They all lead their ponies down the lane and I stayed with Storm, a bay New Forest gelding, as the girl had never ridden at the yard before. I helped her groom and plait up Storm before I helped the girl on Ellie tack up. I put on the bridle, showing her how to get the bit in her mouth, and then did up all the straps and placed on her saddle. I then realised the saddle had no girth (strap to keep the saddle in place), so I called to the riding instructor and said Ellie had no girth, and the other helper went to get her one. Meanwhile I went to tack up Hector, but he was throwing his head around and wouldn't let me get his bit in his mouth, and he was backing up a lot. Since I can't put the bridle on when he was clipped to the rope, I decided to take off his bridle and put on his saddle instead since I didn't want him to back up too far and scare any kids so I just put the saddle on. He is such a cheeky monkey! He puffed out his belly when I put the saddle on so I could only get the girth on hole 2, so i did it up again before the girl got on. The other helper did his bridle and I went to get Storm's rider on. I did her stirrups to the correct length and we went for a ride in the school and did races. We won some and had good fun! I went home at 1:30pm after all the jobs were done.

5:15pm

I came back to have my riding lesson, on a pony called Wilma, a dapple grey pony with a green passport (we don't know her breed). She was so good! She went all the way into the corners of the sand schools (she usually cuts across) and was really speedy! She did do a little stumble in canter but she picked herself up and carried on going! When we did the races she wouldnt stop! We sped off and won all of them, until we got to the race where we had to be as slow as we could. I could tell it annoyed and her and wanted to go fast, as she threw her head up and stamped her feet. We came second out of three in that race and the others did great too! 

I got off and untacked her, and after that she did a really big yawn and then I left the yard.

I will be back on Saturday (30 July 2022) to help and ride.

See you soon,

MTLTH, offline xx