October with the Hesteyri Horses team!

Well October certainly kicked off Winter for us! I mean we were sick of mud beforehand and then we got MORE rain?! We really began to question our life choices when we could hardly see our horses’ ears through the driving rain.

I’m sure it’s not just us who struggle with mud and low spirits in Winter. It’s a really difficult time for all equestrians, not least because our bodies are literally getting less of the stuff they need to keep us happy (the technical term is Seasonal Affective Disorder), but also because the mornings and evenings draw in and we get to spend less quality time with our horses, and more time wading through mud and mucking out, without the perks!

However, life must continue to progress and we have to magic up more hours of daylight (5.30am starts) to get everyone ridden!

This Winter, to help us do just that, we have employed Dan to help us! For those who don’t know, Dan is Meg’s husband (I know right, keep it in the family much!), Dan is beautiful with the horses and is an absolute star on the yard. He’s the type of person who cuddles the mares who turn round with a face that would make many people wet themselves, and chats to the horses as he works around them. He also uses his initiative, is a brilliant fence mender and has a vested interest in keeping the business and yard running smoothly! All of these points make him a pretty ideal Head Lad and we couldn’t be more grateful to him for all the work he puts in!

We had our amazing dentist come out to give everyone a thorough M.O.T! Clara Peake is amazing with all of ours, especially the rescues and ‘sharper’ amongst the horses! As well as routine visits to our lot, she treated Sienna and Skye’s the Limit for the first time, both were brilliant, thanks to Clara!

Along with having their teeth done as often as they need, the horses also have their backs done regularly so we had Jessica Tovey (helping out our sponsor, Amanda, who is on maternity leave), who treated several of ours and client’s horses; and of course, our farrier – think we see more of Tom than his family does! We ask so much of our horses, it’s so important to make sure they have everything they need and are not sore in any way, before hoping on their backs and asking the world of them!

We were really lucky to have some fantastic deliveries from sponsors to further aid our horses’ wellbeing! This included a new, warm rug for Rowan from Horsemart and Equine Superstore. Rowan loved it, which you can read all about here

We were also lucky enough to receive deliveries of 15+ from Protexin Equine Premium, further review on this is coming, but trust us when we say it was amazing and we’ve since ordered about 5 tubs more! Elite Equine kindly sent us another couple of tubs of the amazing rosehip supplement, which all of our horses are on for joint health and hoof growth!

The rest of the month chugged along, with the focus on keeping all of the horses working to the best of their - and our - abilities.

Tom has started schooling really well and his jumping has come on leaps and bounds…. Mainly because he’s not leaping and bounding so much! It’s been so nice to have his concentration into fences!

Kerry has been pottering on and enjoying life with no pressures. Our boy is really such a star and having his happy head over his stable door is enough to remind us of everything that’s good in the world!

Bobby came in on sales livery and was brilliant! We had a few jumping sessions and some flatwork training, before he sold to a lovely girl who dotes on him!

Bertie was with us to learn to canter as he was bucking into canter or just refusing to move. He had everything checked and then came to us to have some fun. We rode him positively and got him enjoying work. By the end of 3 weeks, he was cantering in the lead on hacks and jumping in the woods! We even got him enjoying schoolwork and cantering and jumping in the school too!

Rose has had some absolutely amazing work, with a few bareback schooling sessions and a super jumping session around a full course.

Sienna had her first canter at the beginning of the month and was amazing! We also had some brilliant work in the arena and she had several jumping sessions, including going over the fillers!

Cassie has done some great work out hacking and in the arena, she even got a sneaky jump when we were showing little Sienna the ropes! Cass genuinely thinks Sienna is her baby sister which we think is pretty adorable, and we’re sure you will agree, looking at this picture of them both sharing a stable! They snuck in together for a sleepover, just like we used to do as children! What are sisters for eh?

Griff came in on sales livery and ended up finding a family home after a week with us. Due to a pre-booked holiday, Griff stayed with us for a few more weeks of schooling and nannying Jazz!

Backing livery Jazz made more improvements and also had a few sticky moments. His first canter included a few broncs, though we got there in the end! He had a couple of difficult hacks down to the woods, where he really had to think about where he was putting his feet, very difficult for him as he has shivers, but also so beneficial for his proprioception which will help his neurological problems! We also headed to the other woods for a few more canters and he had his first jump! We are still experiencing 2 steps forward and 1 back with this boy and have had a couple of meltdowns but with just 8 weeks under saddle (at the time of writing this) we’re still proud of his progress!

Hugo was with us to be backed and he went home after a total of 11 ridden days, already happy in walk, trot and canter out hacking and in the arena, alone and in company! He was so lovely to work with and we really enjoyed his cheeky but friendly character!

We welcomed schooling and sales livery, Taz, who is a lovely boy and has been doing some great work! His hacking, schooling and jumping has come on beautifully, as has his confidence. We, and his owner, are so pleased with the way he’s improved and tried his heart out for us!

We welcomed the lovely Skye’s the Limit on schooling and sales livery! Skye has been a pleasure and is doing really well. After a year off, we’ve been restarting her very gently but she really is a lovely horse!

We hope everyone else has had a brilliant and enjoyable start to the Winter! If so (and if not!), we would love to hear what you’ve been up to!

Here is a sneak peek from behind the scenes at Little Hesteyri, where you can slowly witness our decent into madness and, hopefully, enjoy some of our shenanigans!