Ruthven Equestrian

Lewis is home!
It was a long day yesterday taking Lewis home, but he arrived and settled in in his first ever stable within half an hour! His new yard Silversands Trekking Centre are super pleased with him and excited to get going with him in his new job!
He travelled like a pro even when we got stuck in an accident, came off the box and just wanted to munch grass.
... Here’s a photo of him in his stable with his new human Hannah!
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Islay is back! ❤️
Ruaridh Ormiston’s Islay Luchag of Croila is back. She has been back in work for the past few works and has came back from her holiday ten times better than ever. She picks up everything so quickly and tries her heart out, I have so much fun working with her.
Can’t wait to see how this season goes!

Lewis update! ☺️
He has been an absolute star these past couple of weeks. He’s hacking out in walk and trot alone and in company. Lewis started school work and worked beautifully over poles. Today he had his first jump and canter, Lewis got the hang of it after a couple of tries and absolutely loved it!
The only thing we can say about Lewis is he’s a bit on the lazy side which is great for his trekking home!
... He will be going home in the next week or two after some fine tuning!
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Happy Easter from us all here at Ruthven equestrian!

Days teaching like this make all the hard work worth it!
Logan has been coming for lessons for the last couple of weeks in the Easter holidays at Highland Horse Fun. He started off unable to do rising trot and holding onto the saddle.
Now he’s trotting around the arena without assistance! I’m so proud of Logan and how far he’s come in just a few lessons!

Donny had a big day today with his first ridden session in the school, apart from thinking we were off out hacking he was good as gold! Bit more of this to go with a mix of groundwork and hacking for Donny! ❤️

Lewis had a great week last week, the penny dropped with his long reining, he met cars and a fork lift without an issue.
Lindsay from Kessock Equine Vets came down and did his teeth on Monday which were quite sharp and Katie Common came down on Friday to fit a new saddle to him. Very big steps for a pony with little handling for five years and he has taken it all in his stride.
Today he had Alf on and didn’t bat an eyelid, so he even had work at the mounting block with me getting on! Gold star for Lewis ☺️❤️

Lewis has completed week one of work at Biallid, what a boy he has been. He has had tack on and is happily walking up and down the road even with lorries and cars speeding past when we get to the end of the road. Hopefully by the end of the week Lewis will be long reining, he is still learning to trust people so we are taking every day as it comes ☺️

Donny went for a hack today and didn’t put a foot wrong! Between the lack of time since he arrived then the weather since coming to Biallid he’s taken longer than planned to get to this stage but having to do all that groundwork paid off as he was fantastic today!

Milly has been with us for a couple of weeks, already she has found a new home and left today for Rannoch.
Milly hasn’t really been handled for the past five years, so learning new things was quite scary for her and she would go defensive. After a couple of weeks of work she now catches, leads, stands to gets groomed and most importantly doesn’t panic and barge!
The work paid off today she walked straight into the horse box! When she was first meant to come down from Arisai...g they spent three hours trying to load her into a lorry before it got too dark to keep trying. Myself and Ruaridh then took the trip up to go and get them, with time and patience they then loaded numerous times since coming down here.
She is off to her new home to be a pampered pony! Good luck to you all and hope you enjoy her ☺️
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Meet Lewis and Milly the latest new arrivals.
Milly is a 16 year old highland pony who has been Lewis buddy for the past five years up in Arisaig. She is just in to be handled before heading off to a new home.
Lewis is 6 year old highland pony in to be backed to be a trekking pony near Mallaig. He has had the same home since a yearling and not much handling.

**SOLD**
Trojan is now living in the Lake District to start his new job as a trekking pony! He was in quarantine for a week and walked over to his trekking centre, as you can see in the second photo they had a little coffee stop on the way 😂. When trekking season is over he’s off to a college to be used which means he will get to jump!
I couldn’t be happier that he’s found a lovely home in a job that suits him down to the ground ❤️

I think it’s safe to say Cobie is feeling better after his injury 🙈

Had some extra visitors in the car yesterday 🙈

What a pleasure it has been teaching this group from Kingussie high school for six weeks! Had our ups and down with them making me cry from laughter to wanting to cry from frustration 🤣. They are a fantastic group of boys who tried anything that was asked of them.
They’re now able to catch, groom, tack up, take basic care of and ride ponies. You’re welcome back anytime boys!

Tara had her first shot at a grid last week, unfortunately for her it was raining that day but she battled on. Started off small to let her find her feet. She has to build up some confidence and balance to keep her canter going. Next jump she has I will get better photos! ☺️

Having so much fun teaching these guys for “Rural Skills” as part of Kingussie High Schools fourth year course. They come every Thursday for six weeks to come out with a qualification in the end (wish they did this when I was in school). The video below is week five, they are a great bunch of kids to work with keen to learn and try anything asked of them, even if they do keep me on my toes 🙈

Tara flying over the poles today with her high knees. We also did some work over the tarpaulin today. She is unsure when it comes to new things so we are trying to show her as many things as we can to get her confidence up, after showing Tara she can do it there was no stopping her even trotting over the tarpaulin on her accord!

*Gory Images*
Cobie had a bit of an accident last Thursday, he put his leg through a gate and unfortunately severed an artery.
He was feeling very sorry for himself when I arrived after calling the vet and stopping the bleeding, I put on a temporary bandage to help stop bleeding.
... Joe from Kessock Equine Vets arrived and stitched all three wounds. He’s on antibiotics and pain killer and two weeks of stable rest.
I am back changing his bandages every two days. Thought you would all like to see how his bandage changes are done. Below are photos of his original wound and how it looks now!
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We met Becca while buying a pony from Ruaridh Ormiston. She had backed him and was dealing with potential buyers. Becca was great and bent over backwards to help us make sure we were making the right decision. Nice quiet and gentle way with her and you could tell the ponies had a great relationship with her.

Provides a great service and has worked with many of our youngstock (highland ponies) and foals and also backed some older ones too (4 and 5 yr olds) as well as working with our "others" TB and Conemarra - Many thanks Ruaridh Ormiston (Ormiston Highlands)

Excellent

We met Becca while buying a pony from Ruaridh Ormiston. She had backed him and was dealing with potential buyers. Becca was great and bent over backwards to help us make sure we were making the right decision. Nice quiet and gentle way with her and you could tell the ponies had a great relationship with her.

Provides a great service and has worked with many of our youngstock (highland ponies) and foals and also backed some older ones too (4 and 5 yr olds) as well as working with our "others" TB and Conemarra - Many thanks Ruaridh Ormiston (Ormiston Highlands)

Excellent

We met Becca while buying a pony from Ruaridh Ormiston. She had backed him and was dealing with potential buyers. Becca was great and bent over backwards to help us make sure we were making the right decision. Nice quiet and gentle way with her and you could tell the ponies had a great relationship with her.

Provides a great service and has worked with many of our youngstock (highland ponies) and foals and also backed some older ones too (4 and 5 yr olds) as well as working with our "others" TB and Conemarra - Many thanks Ruaridh Ormiston (Ormiston Highlands)

Excellent