Moonlight Manor Horse Riding

Happy Halloween from Thing & Cara!

And who says Macca the Alpaca standardbred (Extreme Makeover was his race name & he’s from NZ, bro!) Here he is, doing one of his best canters yet, cantering like a boss with Maddy riding him like a champ!!! Go Macca!

Zafar has gone home for a little while to help teach new riders how to be endurance riders. I know he’s a favourite for many & people will be asking where he is! Home is Burpengary way, I have him on a life long lease & he was at the Manor for approximately 4 years. Previous to being a spunky little school horse, he was an endurance race horse & even winning 160km race! His name was Joslian Shaka Zulu. Zafar actually means “victory” in Persian. His owners (Casey & Natasha), their other learning horse is out injured at the moment, so Zaf is going to be a good endurance learning horse for a while! Although all the good feed here has wrecked his endurance physique……

Luci starting her jumping journey with steadfast Rocky! Go Luci & Rocky! You rock!! (Yeah, I know, very punny!)

What a great achievement! One year & from a nervous beginner starting on steadfast Nomad, to being able to canter Zafar! Great job Maddy!!

Izzy having a play at introductory cross country on Diesel, showing us that at 21 years old he still has da moves!!!

It’s embarrassing how many layers I wear at night, especially given my childhood was in Canada…. In my defence…. that was 34 years ago……

Moe is singing to Cara….. describing his life……. 🤣🤣🤣

A video from yesterday. I can see ALL of the bad habits Rebel (& Gary!) has pointed out to me. No matter how far we have come, or how long you have ridden, you always, ALWAYS need that feedback. It’s always good to be able to see what we’re doing & analysing, so we can keep improving. Self analysis & self correcting is what speeds up improvement. Being open to feedback & taking it on board. I’ve got plenty to work on! I better get cracking before my next lessons!!! Sorry Hercules & Hektor, no rest for you 🤣🤣! The H team!

Why do we clip the horses in winter? Brisbane has a warm winter climate. A horse’s winter coat is designed to withstand 0oC & below temperatures. When they’re being ridden late at night & sweaty, it can be hard to wash them off properly & get the sweat out. They’re also more prone to rain scald & other skin conditions. Clipping means we can wash them off thoroughly & they dry super fast (you shouldn’t rug a wet horse in 5oC or less) & it keeps their skin in much better health. I clip them myself, but there are professionals out there who do a wayyyyyyyy better job! As you can tell by Rocky’s facial expressions, he’s thrilled….. lol

Natalie & I took Baldur & Hercules out to TEG for some unofficial training on their cross country course. I had another Xray last week that has indicated that my ribs are STILL repairing, so I rode Hercules focusing more on rhythm, transitions & only jumped him over the really low jumps that we had jumped before & again, he was perfect. I took the opportunity to lunge him over some of the bigger “scarier” looking jumps. He is still learning bravery out there & I only want to push him so hard as I don’t need to fall off right now. Lunging is a SUPER way of exposing them to new obstacles & they don’t need a big run up to pop over because there’s no rider to upset their natural balance. I popped him over all sorts of funny looking jumps between 60cm-80cm & it was a great experience for him! Some trainers aren’t always fans of lunging over jumps because it can be hard to get a proper rhythm on the approach & a good departure line. I think if you’re doing it over low obstacles for desensitisation & not just doing it repeatedly for no good reason, it can be a great way to let them find themselves over jumps that look weird without having to worry about them jumping oddly, running out or stopping & then creating a pile of issues that you have to go back & correct. Twice over each weird jump is all that is needed! Good boy Hercules!

Sunset yesterday evening. Courtesy of Cara!

Soooooo, I did a thing today! Technically, I was allowed to return to riding last week. I MIGHT have accidentally started riding a couple weeks ago, which lined me up in time to squeeze in a lesson this morning out at Fig Tree Pocket with the awesome Rebel Morrow. Hercules was a CHAMPION. Jumped BEAUTIFULLY. Our last lesson was the 24th Feb & he just picked up right where we left off. I am wearing a body protector & will do when I’m jumping for a little while. They are compulsory for cross country anyway. Rib area is a touch tender, but, I think that’s just going to be an ongoing thing for a while. It was awesome to be able to just pick it straight back up from where we left off. Good job Hercules, my little jumping pony!!! Thank you #rebelmorroweventing ❤️❤️ #rebelmorrow

Nomad was being VERY helpful this morning when Cara was making feeds. He was doing a very good job of supervising….