The Fantasia Horse Festival

This spectacle takes places each year in Meknes, Morocco. It is a celebration of tradition and equestrian performance, which takes place in May.

Each group of riders display their equestrian skills by taking part in a charge, all dressed in traditional outfits, firing a gun at the end of the ride. These charges are inspired by traditional Berber warfare, and the riders try to carry them out with speed, accuracy and synchronisation.

Horses are greatly celebrated in Arabic cultures and they have some of the finest horses in the world. The Barb horse is native to Morocco and many of the horses seen at the festival are likely to be Barbs or at least related to them. The performances at this festival celebrate the relationship between the horses and riders. These animals must be shown the utmost respect.

This is something that I would love to see for real. I have heard a great deal about it from a friend of mine who comes from Meknes. He kindly allowed me to use these photos so that I could spread the word :)

Diesel update :) 

Diesel has been excelling recently. He has been out to cross country, to the beach and out on long hacks on the downs. He takes everything in his stride. Currently Tye Lane has taken a bit of a hit with the weather. We have no school and, with the fields soaked, working the horses is an issue. Sophie and Trudy are currently in the process of purchasing a second yard so they can expand. It has a sand school, so the horses that need it will be sent up there. Fingers crossed that moving day will be soon!

Canter is still an issue for Diesel, but he is becoming far more balanced and seems to be mastering it now. I think we have cracked the pacing :) It was a case of allowing him to canter fast and in open areas before bringing him back in and controlling it as he became more capable.

He will probably be up for sale early next year. We will all be very sad to see him go but he needs someone smaller who can compete him and allow him to reach his full potential. He is a very talented little pony!

Tye Lane's Newest Member! 

Meet Sir Glanton, aka Jimmy :) He is a 3 year old ex race horse straight of the track who has come to Tye Lane to be retrained. He previously competed successfully in flat races but soon lost interest.

Sir Glanton racing at Goodwood

Jimmy seems to be progressing very quickly already and is a very happy and cheeky new member. He is an absolute pleasure to have around. Hopefully he will stay with us for quite a while. As he is so young he is being schooled and taught to jump properly and then will be turned away over the winter for a few months to mature.

Jimmy being schooled by Sophie

Back to reality......

After a busy summer of working, horse riding and all the excitement of the Olympics, I am finally settled back in to a normal routine and university life. This means a distinct lack of horses for a while in my life, but I am always given regular updates by Sophie and Trudy about the Tye Lane gang, and I will be continuing to write as much as possible.

I do a degree in Ancient History and so, being inspired by the Olympics, thought I would share an article I wrote which links the two together. Enjoy :)

The Ancient Olympics

We all know that the Olympics originated in Ancient Greece, but have you ever wondered whether the equestrian sports existed in those early games, and if so how they compare to today? 

Our Olympic games feature three very refined disciplines - Show Jumping, Dressage and Eventing. In Ancient Greece, however, the equestrian sports were about racing. The original Olympic Games featured two types of racing - chariot races and bareback races:

• Chariot Races - There were two chariot races in the olympic games. The Tethrippon which had chariots with four horses, and the Synoris which had chariots with two horses.  These took place in a ring with tight turns and the races were about 1200 metres in length. 

• Bareback Races - There were two races, one for colts and one for mares. The riders only had a bridle and a whip, no saddles. In the mare’s race, the riders dismounted in the last stretch and ran next to the horses, much like in our modern day pony club games.

Do these races sound familiar to you? That’s because they are! Harness racing is very popular today, and we have another variation on chariot races with Scurry Driving. Horse racing is also a big sport around the world, although these days we use saddles and there are far more safety regulations! However, there is still bareback racing today which is very similar to that of the ancient Greeks. In Italy, thirteen tribes still compete against each other every year. This is a spectacle which attracts lots of attention!!  

In Ancient Greece the horses were far more important than their riders! Unlike today, where both horse and rider must cross the finish line to win or place, if a horse finished without its rider it still counted. One horse, called Breeze, owned by Pheidolas of Corinth, was recorded to have won her race despite throwing her rider at the beginning!! Often the riders and charioteers were paid servants, so were not given the honour of a successful race. It was the owners and horses who were always declared the winners, although occasionally some brave owners did compete. Riders could become well known, but would not have been given the celebrity status that they receive today. Being a male dominated world, women were not allowed to compete or even attend the games. However, they could be involved by owning a horse. The Ancient Equestrian Olympics is very different to our modern version, although many reflections can still be seen in the horse world today.

References:

• Buscombe, Chris, (2010), “Bareback horse race takes place in Italy” Telegraph (Online) (Accessed 30th March 2011) Available from World Wide Web: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/7950036/Bareback-horse-race-takes-place-in-Italy.html
• Kyle, Donald (2007), Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World: Blackwell.
• Miller, Stephen (2004), Ancient Greek Athletics: Yale University.
• Pickeral, Tamsin, (2000), The Encyclopedia of Horses and Ponies: Parragon.
• Swaddling, Judith, (2004), The Ancient Olympic Games: British Museum Press.

Tara's Second Show :)

We visited Royal Leisure at the beginning of last month on a lovely sunny day. Due to work commitments I arrived at the show ground without giving my usual helping hand to my friends at Tye Lane at the yard, but at least I could make it!

Tara definitely knew what was going on this time and came out of the box fresh and excited. She was beautiful in the warm up and fabulous in the ring! I must admit I didn't appreciate people clicking at their ponies in the warm up. I suppose it's necessary for them but every time they do it, Tara goes shooting forwards because she hates it. Other than that, I couldn't have been happier.

I didn't have the easiest ride as Tara was very strong but we did a double clear in the first class. In our second one, we had a pole down as we had a stumble after a fence and couldn't fix the problem in time for the next one. Such a shame as she jumped very well throughout the rest of the round. However, we came away with a 4th and a 3rd. We are improving and hopefully will continue to do so!

Photo from LRG Photography

"You can tell a gelding, ask a mare, but you must discuss it with a Stallion" - Anonymous

Someone once said to me that you could tell a gelding what to do, but with a mare it must be a compromise. I also agree with the title quote. It is true, you do have to ask a mare. Many people avoid mares like the plague, generally because they are considered to be too temperamental. Yes, they can be, but there's no sense in putting aside a good horse if you can find a way to make things work. 

I have often found that my beautiful adopted mare, Tara, requires a compromise. Sometimes she does throw a minor temper tantrum when I try to get her to do something she doesn't like, but the worst she does is hop up and down on the spot or get really strong. She is never nasty but she can wind herself up. You see, Tara likes to go fast. If its not cantering, galloping or jumping, its dead boring. Why trot nicely when you can canter everywhere? I have to say trotting round and round in circles in a school is not always my idea of fun either but sometimes it is necessary! 

Some would say I let Tara get away with things, due to the way I ride her. Perhaps I do, but it's what works for us. Where jumping is concerned, she is strong. Sometimes I lose trot. I can ask for it, which doesn't mean I'll get it, but I'll be given the most beautiful collected canter to compensate. There are days where I just have to say "Okay, well at least you slowed down and if I keep this pace eventually you'll get there when you are ready." However, there are times when she seems to understand me when I say "No, I really mean it, we're going to get into trouble if you don't listen," providing I don't panic and I do it gently. At one show we stumbled after a fence and ended up with a disunited canter. After a small strop, she did listen, broke into trot and immediately hopped back into canter to fix the problem. She knew her job and she let me have my way on that one! 

I must admit, sometimes its nice to ride a horse who is as bonkers as you are and knows her own mind. These days I get told off by her when if I turn up at Tye Lane in the morning and don't do anything with her until the afternoon! I definitely think it works when we compromise! :) 

Photo by LRG Photography

Tara's Show :)

Tara has been in and out of work for the last two years due to a tendon injury and pregnancy. She had a foal while she was off work, something Trudy and Sophie had always planned, and as Tara was rather bored it worked well. She made a great mum :) Rio was born just over a year ago and Tara has recently come back into work. Last Sunday, Tara went to her first show in two years! :)

All smart and ready to go! :)

Tara seemed slightly overwhelmed by the show at first. We put her in a small 2ft class to begin with so that she could get round and have a look. She wasn't really concentrating and we had a stop at the third fence. After that she seemed to enjoy herself! 

Enjoying ourselves! 

The second class we did was an open intermediate at 75 cm. We jumped much bigger at home before the competition so it seemed nice and friendly! Tara couldn't wait to get back in the ring and neither could I! She was so excited and very strong! We did a lovely double clear in this class and I am very proud of her for being such a good girl :) Bring on the next show!! 

Couldn't be happier after our jump off! 

Team GB's Olympic Success! :)

Anyone involved in horses cannot have failed to notice the fantastic performances given by all the riders at the London 2012 Olympic Games! In particular, team GB has the chance to celebrate after accumulating many medals right across the equestrian disciplines! I felt the need to share :)

Eventing Silver Medalists: Nicola Wilson, Zara Phillips, William Fox-Pitt, Mary King and Tina Cook
(Photo from Daily Mail)

Show Jumping Gold Medalists: Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Peter Charles
(Photo from the Telegraph)

Dressage Gold Medalists: Charlotte Dujardin, Carl Hester, and Laura Bechtolsheimer
(Photo from anorak.co.uk)

Dressage Individual Gold Medalist: Charlotte Dujardin

Dressage Individual Bronze Medalist: Laura Bechtolsheimer 

Thought Process of a Fall

Today I took a bit of a tumble. Due to my instructor's endless efforts to make me sit down properly in the saddle when I was 15, I don't fall too often these day. However, when I do, I do it in style!

Instead of stopping at a jump like a normal pony, Diesel decided to panic a bit and run straight through the jump wings. We were jumping a pretty decent oxer and he ran through one jump wing, and I, being slightly off centre due to him slamming the breaks on and whipping to one side, got literally wiped off on the other!

If you ever wondered what goes through a rider's head when we fall off, here is what goes through mine:

OWW!!!
Ok, so what hurts? Ribs, knee and shoulder.
Anything broken? No! Excellent!
Can I breath? Yes! Just....
Am I going to cry over this? I can feel tears....Shall I use them? No, its not that bad. I only crashed through a jump wing! That probably looked quite funny! Now I'll start laughing!
Can I move? Possibly.... One minute while I untangle myself from the jump wing... YES!!!
Where's my horse?

Pink horse box? Yes or No? 

I actually saw one of these for the first time while driving down to Tye Lane Equestrian....

Photo from Horse and Hound

Yes, its a Katie Price, PINK horse box. When these were first launched I distinctly remember Sophie squeaking that she wanted one, and me telling her that I wouldn't be going anywhere in it if she did. I have been known to go through phases of wanting a pink car, but in reality I couldn't do it. To me, this really is going too far and it is not my cup of tea at all! I love pink, don't get me wrong. I have a rose pink colour in my bedroom and I wear pink a lot. This horse box, however, looks better in the photo. It looked rather tacky in real life to me and was certainly a distraction while I was driving!

I'm sure there are many young girls who would absolutely love to have one of these, and good on them if they want it. If you are a girl who loves this, then go for it and don't care what anyone thinks of you! I'm just saying that its not for me!

The horse box I saw was much bigger than this. Maybe it was Katie Price's actual horse box.... You never know!

The Wonders of Dettol

Due to all the bad weather we've been having, I failed to stick to my golden rule of summer: Always have Dettol on hand, and don't forget to use it! I won't share with you the footage of the two very nasty horse fly bites I received, because I don't want to put you all through it. If any of you have ever been bitten, then you know how much it hurts. If you haven't been bitten, then you want to avoid it if you can!

There are many different fly sprays on the market, but diluting Dettol can be brilliant! I normally put a capful in a 1 litre spray bottle and fill the rest with water. It doesn't last as long as some normal fly sprays but is ideal for an extra boost in the field or before you go out for a ride. It is apparently also good for horses with sweet itch as it keeps everything clean too!

Before I go out for a ride, however, I don't just spray the horse. Yes, I spray myself. Everywhere. I do, from time to time, get some funny looks, but they won't be laughing when I don't get bitten and they do! Dettol has the advantage of smelling clean and fresh, and not like you have had a bath in your horse's fly spray! It is also rather refreshing on a hot day, and in the last 5 years of doing this, I have not been bitten. Until I forgot...

I managed to get bitten twice on the same day, centimeters apart so it looked more like a snake bite! My leg has gone through varying shades of red to what appeared to be black and purple bruising. That will teach me not to forget my Dettol!

Diesel's Story :) 

We have quite a few ponies that pass through the doors of Tye Lane. Of course we will follow our permanent residents on a regular basis, but often our none permanent residents have some interesting stories or issues. Diesel has been at Tye Lane for about a year now. We bought him from a lady who had originally purchased him for her daughter, only to find that he was too much of a handful for them. He was a bit scrawny, very green and a little bit silly!

Diesel's early schooling

Diesel had little respect for people on the ground, was very spooky to ride and would sometimes get stubborn and reverse himself to the gate when he didn't want to do something! He also paces, which makes cantering a difficult thing to achieve. Diesel has had lots of work from lunging and long reining, to riding with a bungee for a short while at the beginning of each session, to improving his confidence hacking, gradually getting him to lead parts of the ride. He has also had a great deal of handling on the ground and has now become accustomed to being tied up on the yard and has stopped barging into people! We quickly discovered he had a love of jumping and we used this as a reward to make sessions more fun and interesting.

This video was taken at the end of last summer. As you can see, he loves to jump but getting the canter is always an issue! He has greatly improved in this but I will post more on dealing with pacers later!

Diesel in his first British Novice Class

Now Diesel has begun competing in British Novice classes and is showing real talent. He still has some issues, like his pacing and occasional moments where he gets a bit spooky and silly but we are working on these and hope to find him a home where he can be competed successfully! :)

A Day on the Moors

I have just been on holiday in Cornwall and have been exploring the beautiful Bodmin Moors. Naturally, being completely mad about horses, I had to investigate the herds of ponies out there. Being June, it is one of the best times of year to see these ponies as many of the mares have a foal by their side. I thought I would share a number of my favourite photos from my weekend away.

"I'm watching you. I'm a big brave boy, but I'll stick with Mum just in case!"

Two of my favourite photos. The little skewbald was quite a character and definitely kept an eye on us for quite a while! We got quite close to the other little one. She was very interested in us and we almost got to stroke her, but mum soon got worried, told her off, and took her away. 

Me and my Minotaur!!

Ok, so this is not a horse photo, there are obviously also cows on the moors! However, this photo of me and my highland friend is a necessary addition, as the episode that caused this photo to be taken created much embarrassment and laughter!! My housemate and I took this trip to Cornwall immediately after a rather stressful University exam which finished at 6:30pm. It was about 1:30am when we were driving across the moors to the place where we were staying. I was very tired and I had literally been doing Greek and Roman mythology for about three weeks and I think I had gone a little mad by that point! We caught sight of a highland cow on the road and had to break quite sharply because it made us both jump as it seemed to come out of nowhere in the dark and mist! My immediate response was that it must be a Minotaur, a Greek, half man, half bull, monster! Clearly not, but revision had obviously sent me a bit crazy! So this is my Minotaur! :) Still, I maintain that it is more logical than recognising one of these as a buddhist monk, like someone else I know!!! Alcohol may possibly have been involved in that one....

Clearly it's a hard life on the moors!!! 

Something wrong with this picture?!

"I know you are there. You are disturbing my sleep!"

Beautiful mum and baby :) 

Oh dear! Stretch!!! :)

I am also curious about these ponies. I am told they are not always the same ponies from year to year. What happens when the ponies are rounded up? What happens if someone has a car accident with these horses who are allowed to roam all over the country roads as part of the moors? Who owns them? How do they select which ones to leave our and which ones to bring in, apart from obvious reasons such as health? Lots of questions! I shall have to do some investigating :)

I feel some introductions to Tye Lane's permanent residents are needed! First of all let me introduce Tara. She is my usual mount when I am at the stables, but belongs to my friend Trudy. Tara is an unknown coloured, who loves her work. She is easy going and relaxed to handle, which is deceptive to people who don't know her! She absolutely loves to jump, and her favourite speeds are canter and gallop! We have a tendency to argue when being asked to trot, when we know jumps are around! Despite the fact that she is sensitive to ride, I love her to bits and I feel completely and utterly safe on her back!

Me and Tara - photo taken by LRG photography

Next we have Winston. He belongs to Trudy's daughter, Sophie. He is a thoroughbred ex racehorse and is one of the biggest characters in the yard! Quirky would definitely be a word to describe him but we absolutely love him to bits! Winston and Sophie are best friends and Tara and I have many mad hacks on the south downs with them! 

Sophie and Winston

Rio is Tara's foal! His father is My Squire Caretino from the Brendon stud. He is now a yearling and becoming a very large bundle of mischief! Any guesses to what colour he might end up? I will post some more recent photos soon. We think he might look rather like Winston in colour when he is fully grown! 

Baby Rio! 

Finally we have Daisy. She is the 11.2hh, New Forest Pony who Sophie learnt to ride on. Daisy has been part of the family for many years. "Thelwell Pony" is the only way to describe Daisy! We all adore her no matter how cheeky she can be sometimes! 

Daisy! 

More posts soon :)

I decided this summer to start a blog, something I have wanted to do for a long time. I am a history student at university with a passion for horses, and every holiday I spend lots of my time at a lovely little yard called Tye Lane Stables, nestled in the heart of the South Downs in England. It belongs to my very close friends who are kind enough to allow me to ride their horses. It is nothing fancy, we don't even have a sand school, but it is one of the most beautiful and one of the most relaxing places I know. We compete, go hacking for hours, sometimes take in horses to find them new and loving homes, occasionally get ourselves into trouble but always learn and share adventures with our permanent residents! I thought that I would create a blog to share experiences, information, discoveries, and our horses, with people that love horses just as much or wish to learn about them! Hope you enjoy my posts! :)