Hello again.

This week at Pony Club in Stable Management we were learning about Vices and Ailments. I had never heard of either of them and none of the rest of my group had too! Sally got us to look in The Manual of Horsemanship and some other Horse Books to find out what they meant.

I found out that Vices are bad habits that ponies pick up. I also found out that Ailments are illnesses that ponies can get. Sally wanted us to look up Wind Sucking, Weaving and Crib Biting in the Vices Section. Wind Sucking is when a horse grasps the edge of an object for example the top of his stable door with his teeth. The horse will arch his neck whilst pulling back and sucking air into his stomach. The horse may make a strange grunting sound too. Weaving can be caused by boredom or it can be learnt from other horses. Your horse will shift his weight from one front leg to the other, swaying his head and neck from side to side. Crib Biting is similar to Wind Sucking. Your horse will grasp the edge of an object like his stable door with his teeth and he will start to gnaw through it. Crib Biting slowly wears away the teeth causing problems with grazing.

Sally also wanted us to look up Splints and Thrush in the Ailments Section. A horse splint is a bony growth that can be found on the splint bones of the horses lower leg. Splints can occur between the cannon and splint bone. Thrush is an uncomfortable infection of the horses frog. It can be caused by Moist, Damp, Dirty Ground or Stable Conditions.  I learnt loads in Stable Management this week!

After stable management we all got our ponies out of their stables and we took them round for our lesson with our stand in instructor Blythe. I was on Minnie! My favourite pony who I told you about on my Meet Jessica Page. She is a speedy grey pony who just loves to canter! She is so fun to ride on. In the summer when the light is better I will take my camera to Pony Club so I can take some photos of Minnie!

We all took turns to trot round and to do some twenty metre circles. Then we all trotted round as a ride. Next Blythe got some trotting poles out so we went over them individually and then as a ride. Then she put up a small jump. At first we took turns to trot over it and then some of us tried cantering! I was one of the ones that tried cantering! It was the best thing that I have ever tried doing at Pony Club! It was so amazing. I am so glad I tried it!

After that sadly the lesson ended. We took our ponies back round to the yard and un-tacked them.

I had an amazing time at Pony Club and it was great fun riding on Minnie Jessica