So, how is everyone?

[mickey]

Isn't the new addition plural now Alison?
Sunday was a fab day- Babybelle who is now 3 had Patience's saddle and Duke's bridle popped on as I'd just ridden Duke. Lu gave her a walk round and then I said I'd put some weight on her back... which somehow led to me actually sitting on her!
This is Belle

Last year but this is Belle and Evie

Duke with Lu

[mickey]

Rory mac

[Debbie]

BabyBell! Congratulations for her first sit on My goodness, your lot are growing up so fast Em

Sorry to hear about Spurzi, but you gave him a lovely retirement Nancy. I'm sure he appreciated everything you did for him.

[tinkerdorisalison]

Yes Em, my new addition (s) are now very plural.

So we were able to recently buy Waterside Jasmin (we had her on loan some years ago for a while), and she has recently presented us with a bay colt foal! Caphouse John Storry.

Also myself and Penny were able to be the new owners of Waterside Eveline, Katy & Samantha, and Samanthas colt foal Samson!!

And Alice is running out with Higclose Maverick at the moment so all being well there'll be a bay/grey foalie next year

So the fields are now full, don't anyone show me any more ponies....... You only live once...........

[tinkerdorisalison]

Sept 6, 2016 8:21:49 GMT -1 dalesnfellfan said:

This is Em in her saddle, Connie's is very similar but with a rounded skirt and not so much tooling, they are both Crates and very comfy, I've become very philosophical about things this year, with one thing and another it's been very stop start with both ponies and lots of cancelled PR's.  That has been the story with Em from the start really, as soon as we really get going and I start to feel we are making progress something happens to stop us.
DSCN1278 by -andrea -tyrrell, on Flickr

Ooooh I quite like the look of the saddles Andrea, bet they're hard to fall out of!

[mickey]

Alison you've got quite a herd again So glad the older mares went to a good home We need some pics though!

[mikea]

Hi guys
I thought I,d better give an update too. Bertie and I have had a storming year so far. He's really coming into his own now. We,ve started on some Endurance rides - and even managed to achieve a Grade 1 at the vetting. We,ve started out doing some dressage too - and the winters practice is now starting to pay dividends - with a couple of reds in the bag. My last scores were 75% and 73.5% - so I'm delighted.
We also managed to get to the Centenary ride , which was amazing. This Autumn were going to have a go @ drag hunting - can't wait. The only snag to having such s super fit pony is that you have to keep on doing stuff - lol. I seem to be constantly on the go. Oh - one last achievement - at the Midland Dales Show - we won the timed trot - huge respect for the little fella.

[NFK Dumpling]

James (27+yrs) is still keeping Musk in order and has a couple of my friend's ponies to keep an eye on whilst her field recovers, although the two sets of ponies are separated by double fencing and at at least 20 feet, just in case....

Everyone yells when James goes out for an hour but nobody bothers when Musk disappears all day.

At 9yrs Musk is more-or-less grown up most of the time He tripped slipped and fell on bank holiday Monday and we both ended up on the ground, luckily he didn't land on me!

I found out why you need to replace your riding hat when you fall off I looked for one on the Saturday prior to the Monday but couldn't find one that fitted so when I fell off on the Monday I ended up with a rather large bruise on my head despite having a hat on. Needless to say I waited until I got a hat that fitted properly before getting on him again.

[knight1]

Wow Alison, you have quite a field full of Dales now!  It will be so exciting to see Alice' foal next year and see how the whole herd are doing.   With everything from youngsters to oldsters you sure must be busy, what a labor of love. 

Micky, Duke and Rory are looking splendid.  My goodness baby Belle is quite grown up and lovely.  She has a very kind eye for a youngster, I sure like her look. 

Congratulations Mike and Bertie!  Quite nice dressage scores.  I love to see Dales do a dressage test as they can often do so quite nicely and surprise the folks who only think of fancy warmbloods.  I would love to do endurance rides again but think Knight would be agast at having to work that hard.  Maybe he could manage some Le Trec. 

James and Musk sound like quite a pair.  Well done there James for reaching the splendid age of 27 and still keeping the younger ones in line.

[mickey]

They're all growing up fast! Rory shocked us last weekend- won the ridden m&m class at our riding club show (patience was not in my good books- going fantastically then decided she'd rather threaten to buck me off and canter like zebedee than extend... grr) and as he's never won a ridden we decided to stay for the championship. He only went and took reserve ridden champ. He's come so far and he is not an easy pony.

Belle can be lovely and is getting better with age. She was a horrible foal She knew how to use her back legs and I never did any showing with her as she'd take off and boot me. Thankfully she is calming down and I think being put to the bottom of the pecking order has helped- Becky was alpha mare and didn't really tell her off or let anyone else tell her off!

[dalesnfellfan]

Sept 12, 2016 12:47:53 GMT -1 tinkerdorisalison said:

Sept 6, 2016 8:21:49 GMT -1 dalesnfellfan said:

This is Em in her saddle, Connie's is very similar but with a rounded skirt and not so much tooling, they are both Crates and very comfy, I've become very philosophical about things this year, with one thing and another it's been very stop start with both ponies and lots of cancelled PR's.  That has been the story with Em from the start really, as soon as we really get going and I start to feel we are making progress something happens to stop us.
DSCN1278 by -andrea -tyrrell, on Flickr

Ooooh I quite like the look of the saddles Andrea, bet they're hard to fall out of!

Yes Alison I love the saddle too, it is so comfy and is not easy to fall out of, in fact a few weeks ago Emerald got frightened by my friends dog barking at her and when she made a sharp move to grab him, Em spun and took off jumping down a bank and onto the lane, I managed to stay on despite loosing both stirrups down the bank, in her English saddle I'd have been off at the spin, the balance isn't what it used to be.  It has given me a lot of confidence on her and I'm now able to push her on through her odd naughty moments without wondering whether I'll be on the floor which in turn has been what she needed.  Like Musk, she at last seems to have grown up at 9, and we are enjoying life together again. Talking of Musk, Em and I are meeting up with Mandy and Musk for a ride in the forest tomorrow, really looking forward to it.

[shadow jethro]

I moved across to the Facebook site some months ago and didn't look here anymore because it looked as though nothing was happening. Somehow I was getting the old site without direction to the new. But everyone was really useful when I got JEthro last year. Today I went on the DPS site and found the 'new/updated Dalesfan address via the link on the Homepage. It was only by accident that I got back 'on board' -and agree that this forum is really helpful for advice and a 'conversation'. Is it worth a post on the Dales Appreciation site mentioning the existence of this site as another place for Dales enthusiasts to look at?

[harveydales]

You are right, perhaps we should put the odd reminder from time to time on the FB site. People new to the FB site are unlikely to know about this although most of the older members do. For me, FB is more a showcase for your pony rather than, as you say, a conversation. Some people have told me they prefer FB because it is easier to put photos on and that is all they really want to do. I use FB to advertise events going on in this area but that's about it.