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Life with Arabella is pretty simple. She is a very low maintenance horse who requires the bare minimum in order to keep her happy. Arabella is what you would call a “good doer” in the horsey world; she keeps her weight well, she doesn’t get fizzy if you leave her for weeks without work and she’s more than happy to live in the field without being touched!

 

A typical weekday for us starts at 05:30 when I wake up ready to turn her out. As I live on the yard its pretty easy for me to just nip out and get sorted… this often means I muck out in my pyjamas! Arabella is currently turned out in the day and in at night, so at around 6:00am I will bring her out into the yard, I’ll change her rug and I’ll pick out her feet. I will then turn her out in to her field which she shares with my sisters two horses.

  

After I’ve turned her out, I will do a super speedy muck out, do my hay and water and then I’ll head back to the house and get ready for work. Because I work full time I don’t get to spend a lot of time with Bella during the week, so at the weekends I try to spend as much time with her as possible.

  

So come Saturday morning, I’m out on the yard around 9 or 9:30, I don’t usually ride on a Saturday so instead of riding I will use this time to “pamper” Bella. Whilst I’m mucking out, Bella is tied up outside her stable with a lick or something to keep her entertained, I like to use the HorsLyx mint flavour because for some strange reason it smells like gingerbread! After I’ve done mucking out, I will give her a full body groom, pick out her feet and clean around her eyes and muzzle. Then depending on how muddy the field has been, I will take her around to the shower and wash her legs and tail. With her being a mare, things can get a little messy when she comes into season! When she’s all clean and sparkly, I’ll turn her out where she’ll proceed to roll in the muddiest patch she can find… why do I even bother?!

  

Now Sundays are my favourite, this is when we ride! We currently don’t have a school so hacking is our main source of exercise. Arabella does hack out alone but I prefer to go out in company, so Jess and Bambi (our hacking buddies) join us on a little pootle around the countryside. Bella tends to turn into a beast when we enter a field; the head goes down and the bum comes up! Our hacks mainly consist of me squealing “I’m going to die” and Jess laughing “no, you’ll be fine” as Arabella tanks off snorting which usually results in me having to run her into a hedge! Don’t get me wrong, she’s not a bad horse, just an excited one! When we ride out, we’re usually gone between 1 hour and 2 hours depending on which route we take.

  

After we ride I’ll brush Arabella down, put her stable fleece on and bed her down for the night. By this point she’s usually shattered and ready for a big fat hay net! Now the nights are pulling out I hope to be able to ride after work and spend a bit more time with her, hopefully booking some lessons at the school up the road and with a bit of luck, I’d like to take her cross country schooling in the next few weeks… I guess I’ll have to put my big girl pants on and hope for the best!

  

Much love,

 

Tayah

xxx