Learning to Drive

Abi has been teaching Kerri how to drive our carriages.

They started with Kerri learning how to hold the reins for carriage driving (which is very different to riding). Bob was chosen to be her first driving pony as he is so patient!

Kerri 'driving' with Bob

 Once she had the reins figured out it was time to hold a long driving whip as well.  This is necessary to help steer a driving horse.

Next Abi radioed Oli to ask if he could come to hold a horse as she was planning to take Kerri out driving with Hendrix.  Oil arrived very quickly and went to hold Bob!  As you can see Bob wasn’t likely to move very far!

Oli 'holding' Bob while Kerri drives!

Once Kerri had the hang of it with Bob she moved on to real horses, Hendrix was very patient with Kerri practicing in the indoor school. 

Driving with Hendrix

things went so well in the indoor arena that they decided to try driving outside in the big arena. 

A 'driver's eye view' of driving with Hendrix!

Kerri held one set of reins and Abi was holding the other set in case she started steering towards the fence! they were still talking to each other when they had finished so I guess it all went very well. 

Hendrix tells me Kerri said she is looking forward to having another go! 

Jack's Feeling Sprightly

Jack has had a haircut!

He's been clipped; Teddy tells me this happens to keep the horses which get ridden and driven a bit more comfortable. They don’t sweat as much and they cool down and dry off quicker when they have finished work.

Jack said he had not been clipped before so it was a new experience for him. Kerri did a lovely job with the clippers though and Jack looks very smart.  However he is now full of beans and bouncing around the place! 

Jack enjoying his haircut

This morning Jack made all the other horses in his field go for a gallop with him. I think he is very proud of himself and how great he looks!  I guess it feels really nice to have a good haircut.  Nicky says I don’t get clipped because apparently I don’t work hard enough. Huh! how dare she!

This week we have had some lovely young people staying here from Petroc, which is the local college. We met some of them yesterday and this afternoon we will meet the rest. 

Yesterday’s groups did really well with their riding and also groomed Bertie, Duchess and Jack.  I then had a great time with them doing my agility course.  I was feeling great yesterday and even showed them how I can jump onto one of my obstacles. They all seemed to agree that I was terrific!

Dressage Test

Our guests did lots of riding and carriage driving this weekend, and on Sunday they had a go at a dressage test. 

Henry, Teddy and Brin were chosen to take part and they were made to look very smart, having their manes and tails plaited and muddy bits washed. Two of our lovely volunteers also tried the dressage test. Everyone got judged on their riding skills by Nicky who sat up in the gallery to watch what was happening. At the end of the day everyone had a rosette and certificate to take home with them. 

Brin having a little snack before his big moment!

One of our guests this weekend used to work with race horses. He rode Brin this weekend; I think Brin was a bit worried he might ask him to gallop round the arena! Brin is not too keen on going fast, luckily for him the dressage test only involved walking and trotting! I would not have been the only one amazed if Brin had suddenly decided to show a burst of energy, he's definitely built for comfort not for speed!

The weather is certainly starting to change here at Calvert Trust Exmoor. It has been quite a bit colder and rainy this weekend. I think I will soon be tucked up in my lovely warm stable every night, I can't wait for that.

We are all going out in the fields wearing our waterproof rugs again now. Needless to say we have rolled as much as we can to make them all nice and dirty!  Ah the joys of being a pony......

Horse Weekend and Spooky Goings On!

This weekend we had some visitors to the stables on a horse weekend. All the centre had been decorated with spooky stuff so us horses and ponies were feeling a little left out. However we soon realised that two of us had been chosen to join in the fun, myself and Duchess were decorated to look like skeleton horses!

Nicky got some chalk and we had all of our bones drawn on us! Duchess kept turning round to look at herself while she was being drawn on. I am quite sure she thought she looked fabulous!

Skeletal Horses!

Our visitors then watched us in the arena, as we moved around they could see which bones were moving which part of us. I decided to play a trick of my own though and had a lovely roll. This rubbed all the chalk off so Nickys hard work was no longer visible! Ha Ha!!!

Rolling around

 Hendrix was then allowed to come into the arena to play with us. He must have felt a bit left out because he tried to design his own outfit using a cone! Duchess was not impressed by this but i thought it looked like a good game and tried a cone on for size too.

Hendrix's Cone Costume!

Guest Blogger Daisy 1: My Lovely Horsey Friends

Hi my name's Daisy and I ride every week here at Calvert Trust Exmoor. 

Daisy

I was chatting to my good friend Pilgrim the other day and he asked me if I would write something about the stables. He said that everyone would like to know about my horsey friends so I said that I would; I hope you like it.


I know Bertie very well,he was one of the first ponies I rode here, he's very gentle and loves being groomed, he loves to potter around the indoor school and not do too much if he can get away with it!

Learning with Bertie

Then there's Henry, he's had a bit of a rough summer as the flies really like him! This makes him unhappy,but he's OK now autumn is here. 

Enjoying a ride with Henry

And Jack, well Jack loves to play and zoom around the indoor school, then when he's had enough he takes himself off to the door and asks to go back to his stable! Pilgrim thinks he's really funny.

Zooming with Jack

And of course there's Hendrix,he listens very hard to what I am saying and loves to have fun with me.

Having fun with Hendrix

I mustn't forget the others: There's Duchess she's the only girl and I think that she is in charge! Then there's Safari and Rooster, they are best friends and like to do everything together. And finally there is Teddy and Brin they are the big boys, and both very handsome.

Thank you Pilgrim for giving me a chance to write about my lovely friends, riding here makes me feel really happy, I love learning about the horses and thank you Nicky, Abi , Kerry and Louise for helping me.

Love Daisy xxx

Guest Blogger Duchess 1: A Mare's Eye View

Hello ladies and gentlemen, lovely to have the chance to give you a mare’s eye view of the Calvert Stables.

Hi I'm Duchess!

I have been here for nearly a whole year now and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying keeping all these boys in check!  I do have a special friend here who I lived with before I arrived here, his name is Jack and he is a very gentle soul.

I am quite popular with all the other horses and ponies which is great.  I do try to treat all the boys fairly though, as horses can get quite jealous of each other just like people. I love living here and enjoy both my jobs, I get ridden and also I pull a big carriage.  I am a multi-talented girl! 

Me pulling the big carriage

I'm a traditional cob by the way, which means I am fairly stocky and have a beautiful long mane and tail.  I also have amazing feathers on my legs…

...I know what you are thinking but these feathers are nothing to do with birds! When horses have feathers it means they have long hairs on their legs.  The feathers can be very thick and long.  They help to protect our legs from muddy conditions and also look rather splendid. I like it when my feathers have been brushed to make them smooth and shiny, all the guests here remark how gorgeous I look which is good for a girl’s ego!

The best thing about living here is the amount of fuss and attention I get from all sorts of people; I would stand and be brushed all day long.  

Must go now, my carriage awaits! - Duchess x

Dusty the Farrier

Hi everyone, it’s me back again, the smallest, mightiest pony here at Calvert Trust Exmoor! This week we have had lots of guests here in the centre doing all sorts of activities, including carriage driving and riding.

We also had a visit from the farrier, so I thought I would introduce you to Dusty.  He comes here to shoe some of us horses and ponies, along with his friends Clive and Jordan. Dusty is very friendly and as you can see from this photo of him shoeing Safari he loves having his photo taken,a bit like me! You may remember me telling you before, I have special plastic shoes when it is my turn to be shod.  

Dusty Shoeing Safari

Another visitor this week was the vet.  He came out to see Henry who has had an argument with a fence! The fence came of worst, but he was left with a cut on his leg which the vet had to look at.  Henry is fine again now though and will be back working very soon.

I've had a chat with Duchess who's the only female horse here at the stables.  She is very beautiful and quite outspoken so I thought you might like to hear about life from her point of view; so the next blog later this week will be written by Duchess rather than me.