KG Equestrian Diaries

Day 6 of

What can you expect from my page?

1) Honesty - I will give you the good, the bad & the ugly of our journey

2) Lots of animal love 🥰

3) Hopefully some good photography 📸 although I don't tend to show my work, just stuff I snap for pleasure 😊

4) My genuine self - I think this is really important to me, no matter whether it gets me 1 or 100 followers I will always be true to myself. I started this page to document my journey with my horses & if you are interested that's wonderful & I will love sharing it & connecting. If you aren't that's also fine 🙂

SEARCH FOR A STAR 🌟

I'm Kassie Greenwood, rising 32 from County Durham & my wonderful side kick is Ruby (Ramiro's Ruby Girl) rising 7 year old Irish Sports Horse.

So what do we do...well we keep trying to get a bit better! We keep pushing ourselves to improve in each area, buildings Ruby's confidence & belief in herself & in me 💜

Our goals this year are to step up to BE Novice and showjump & event at 80 successfully. I'd love to say 90 sj toward the middle of the year but honestly so long as we are having fun together & learning then what more could I want 🥰

Neither of us are by any means perfect, we've both had our issues both physically & mentally, but we've worked through it together and I couldn't be prouder of us 💜

Got a bit behind with this ! Day 5 of

WHY DID I START MY PAGE?

Honestly, it was COVID & I was set a challenge to get my head around insta 😂

I had a personal page that I never used because I just didn't get it, but honestly people were fed up of seeing horses on my personal fb, so challenged me to stick with insta & try to get the hang of it 😂

Needless to say I did it & now love it. I've connected with some awesome people. Learnt loads, realised quite a bit, made a few pit falls & got to the point where I know why I have my page & the people I want to connect with 🥰

Day 1 of

This is me, Kassie Greenwood, 31 years old...not my full name, but that's rather a victorian mouthful 😂 Kassandra Josephine Greenwood ...👀 well now that's out there...

Some info about me that you probably don't know

1) I'm an only child & contrary to most only children, never wanted a sibling

2) I made a choice when I was 13 whether I wanted to pursue the cello or horses....I know which would have been cheaper 🙄

3) I'm a qualified LEGO Serious Play Facilitator

I'm definitely a little behind with this so I'll try to catch up 🙈

Wanted to say a massive Merry Christmas 🎄 to everyone both new followers & those who have been here right from the start 💜

This year hasn't been easy personally, losing 2 people I love very much, Grandad at the end of last year & Nanna this year, Christmas will definitely be different without them 💔 but I also want to make it wonderful as they made so many of my amazing childhood Christmas memories which I am so thankful for 🥰 🥂 this 1 is to the 2 of you. I know you'll be raising at glass up here.

I've also had a lot to be thankful for this year & had some amazing times both horsey & none horsey 💜 so to all my friends & loved 1s, thank you 😊🥰

Let's see what next year brings ! Hopefully some BE80s & some 90 showjumping classes 🤞

You don't have to have thousands in the bank to be incredibly rich 💜

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Thank you Durham Constabulary 👏👏

You are everything 💜

Everyone who has produced young horses will understand that turning point. When all of a sudden you go from needing to hold their hand & help them at every step, to them taking you to a fence & feeling like they've got you. It's so easy to take for granted.

I'm no stranger to the ups & downs of breaking & producing young horses, but we've definitely had some big bumps in the road! We had a massive set back in April at the start of the season with Ruby just saying I'm not sure about any of this Mam, I just can't. I won't lie, it was hard, it really felt that we made progress during winter training & I was ready for a good season (thanks rain 🙄) unfortunately Ruby wasn't feeling the same. So I did the only thing I could, I listened to her & said right what do I need to do to help. Took it right back to basics, made it easy, made it fun! & little by little we made baby steps.

How much things can change in 4 months! Because this last month everything has clicked into place. We've got each others back, it's a partnership, we are a team. We've now had so many good jumping sessions in a row I can't say it's not consistency now. Tonight after a crap day with some bad news I said to Louise I just wanted to keep things small & easy. We ended up round an 80 course, with it feeling small & easy 💪
The biggest achievement however was Ruby towing me into the ditch log combo & not even faltering. This a horse who has always been worried about ditches, has never jumped 1 first time & I won't lie I nearly cried 💜

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So here's a strange 1 for you. Last year Ruby massively struggled with her seasons. Like I knew she was coming into season a good few days before she did because she would get so tense through her body. Since being on she hasn't had this at all this year. Like the only way I know she's in season now is because she's a squirty little tart 😂 I'm not over exaggerating...I did the whole of my hack on Sunday in left shoulder in to keep her arse away from the gelding I was hacking with 🤦‍♀️😂
Last night she schooled beautifully, she was soft & forwards, it was not the in season Ruby of last summer.
It's taken a long time to get everything right for her, but I think we are there & she's 1 happy little horse now 😊 ...if a bit s*x mad at the moment 🙄😂

Have you ever noticed that you have sorted one thing & its massively affected another?

Do you ever just work on your riding? Without thinking about what your horse is doing or trying to correct their way of going
Just purely focus on your riding, the way you use your legs, your hands, your arms, your core, your seat, your head....put like that we have a lot to think about ! That's before we start thinking about different parts of our leg, our heel, our calf, our knee, our thighs, our hips, all work independently to influence & ask the horse to work.
I used to be really bad at focusing on the horses way of going & then trying to adapt my body to influence. Rather than using my body correctly & seeing what impact that had on my horse. It sounds stupid when you write it down. But really think about it, which do you do?
Now I'll try at least 1 schooling session a week to purely focus on me, have I asked for that transition or lateral movement correctly. Am I using my core to hold her power...if my abs hurt after, the answer is generally yes 😂 but it has made me so much more aware of my body & how I'm using it & the impact it has on Ruby's way of going. It's amazing when I ride something right just how good she feels 😊

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When your horse looks like this at her first BD 😍
It was definitely less than perfect in both run up & on the day (see my story as to why we got a 2 🙄😂) but I'm so proud of us both for not letting that start get to us, pulling it back & putting that 2 as an outlier in a fair few 7s 💜
For the first time I actually really enjoyed riding a test 😊 I was pleased with my riding & I'm pretty pleased with my position in these photos too.
Genuinely the last thing I expected when I went back to watch my friend in her music test (which she smashed 💪💜) & pick my sheet up was to have a 3rd written at the top !
Might just have a little dressage diva on my hands 🥰

Bridle
Shining with
Tummy support from
Photos from

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I cannot love my little horse more 😍 that's all I have to say

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Tonight, I cried

Tonight, I cried happy tears

I really feel for anyone who doesn't know what it feels like to have the depth of connection like you do with a horse. It truly is something something so special & so humbling.

This was just going to be a story, but if this doesn't deserve a grid post, then what does.

Tonight for the first time I felt the true potential of our partnership. You may remember a few weeks ago I had a lesson that left me feeling like I wasn't sure what I was doing. Well in true me style since then I've been working my arse off to be better & tonight it all clicked into place. I went from feeling like I'd be muddling through a prelim to like we could boss an elementary 💪😂

She really is home 💜


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Fabulous time training this morning 💪

Whoever said horse riding is an individual sport, doesn't have the team I do around them 💜 honestly feel so so lucky

There's so much she hasn't seen yet & she jumped the skinny arrowhead first time which I was over the moon about

We learnt a lot & took so many positives from it 😊💪

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Just a shameless, my pony is bloody gorgeous post 💜

Over the moon with both horses tonight 💜

Sansa has really cracked this big girl riding thing. Last night we did poles & she was wonderful. Tonight we kept working on her rhythm in trot & her transitions being sharp 😊

Then onto Ruby. I had a really hard lesson on Saturday. My instructor was trying to get me to develop a more advanced frame to take us elementary upwards. I massively struggled with the way I needed to ride. Physically I struggle because I have to work both sides of my body differently. So what I do with my right side, I can't do the same with my left. So I have to learn everything twice. Louise is amazing at helping me with this 💜 but I felt utterly unaffective & frankly like a sack of s**t. Move on to today & I worked my arse off on myself to get my riding right & wow it felt fabulous! It just clicked & I got some amazing work & the best mediums we've ever produced 😊 stuck to walk & trot as it was the canter I massively struggled with on Saturday & I needed a positive session.

I love to post about the positives, but I'm also a massive believer of being real. We all have ups & downs with horses & we are constantly learning!

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Some time for peace 💜
We boxed up today 10 mins down the road to peace & quiet 😊 the ponies loved it & so did the humans 🥰
After a mega busy few weeks at work & another 1 coming, a weekend of hacking was just want I needed to set myself straight 😊
Ruby was back to her angel self today after yesterday's antics 😂
Yes Ruby is titch, but the 2 I'm with are also fairly tall 🙈😂

Absolutely beautiful morning 💜 Nicola Noble Fupi Noble

Absolutely beautiful morning at the beach 💜 couldn't have ordered better weather !!
Ruby was a bit on her toes at first, but soon settled & was a little star the whole time 😊 baring in mind she had never set a hoof on sand I'm over the moon. She's maturing into such a lovely little horse to own 💜 the difference a year can make !!

keeping me in the saddle
keeping Ruby's tummy happy
keeping her looking & feeling fantastic (bridle)
for our wash off afterwards to remove all the sand

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Absolutely amazing weekend to see my best friend married, love you .d 💜
The whole day was perfect from start to finish 🥰
Hope you have the best honeymoon ever 💜

Did not think this would be the post I was waiting after Ruby's first hunter trial !
We only went & got clear 🥳🥳 & on top of that, won it 🥇
Now I was sat joking that given we went clear I was expecting to win, went to look at the scoreboard & burst out laughing, because never did I actually imagine we would have done 🙈
Might have been 70cms, might have been pairs, but she flew round with so much confidence! Not 1 stupid jump, a couple of green 1s where I ended up on the buckle, but that's allowed. She jumped into the woods which she's never done before, she went through the ditch with water in which I've seen cause issues in the be90! I came home with a massive smile on my face 😁 we went to give her some confidence & we most certainly did that, everything else is a bonus.
We won't talk about the lack of brakes 😉 & instead talk about how she towed me to every fence having the time of her life, being able to get up off her back & let her canter under me was the best feeling 💜 & what can we say, we could not have done it without the amazing Louise & Dora who I swear felt the speed of Ruby's canter & adjusted accordingly !
The icing on the cake (oh yes I'm not done yet 😂) was seeing Diamond out with .jclark having the best time in the pairs with & Zara 🥰 swipe to see a very happy but rather windswept photo🥰

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Start of the year to now. Got to say looking at these I'm pretty proud 🥰
The difference in her back end & her neck is fantastic
Don't get me wrong, we've worked bloody hard at this. With the support of her physio - Shout out to Kirsten 💜 & of course Louise my trainer who knew we could do this & believed in us when I was having wobbles in the beginning.
Also couldn't have done it without Merry Mares which have massively helped Ruby at those times when she's in season & is super sensitive. I did wonder if I would be able to ride her through the first couple of days of her season with how uncomfortable she was telling me she was, but these have made all the difference.
We won't mention the number of saddles she's been through 😂
I can honestly say I'm probably 90% of the way back to the rider I used to be, but in some ways I'm 100 times better because I know what it's like to loose it all.
The funny thing is, I'd trust her with my life now & I know every move inside out 🥰

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I'm really bad at tracking my exercise daily, but I made the effort today.
This consisted of a morning workout, which today was weighted abs, a dog walk then schooling Ruby.
I try to work out every weekday morning if I'm working from home, or not having to travel early, then give myself the weekend off 🙂
I've found a big difference to my riding since really working on my strength doing other exercises 💪

Bit of flexi time this morning to go arena eventing schooling this morning.
I looked back at the videos of the last time we went in April & we were jumping cross poles & it took a good 5 mins to get down the step. 6 months on, this is where we're at 😊
Could not be happier. It wasn't perfect by any means, she's a 5 year old! she still threw a couple of dodgy jumps & I totally screwed 1 up getting ahead of her & being on her shoulder & she was like mam i cant jump with you flopping on me 🤦‍♀️ But she was learning, she was towing me into the fences, she jumped a lot first time with no hesitation & no silly green jumps 💜 the couple of massive jumps she gave me I was able to sit behind & actually slip my reins which I'm so happy with as it's been a long road to get there. It might not look pretty but at least we're both safe.
I might have had little breaks or steering, but as Louise said, who needs them in an arena 😳😂
It was the first session we've had where I felt like we were really working together as a team on the same page & boy was it a good feeling 🥰
Spoiler alert, we also jumped our biggest fence (80cm oxer!) Might not seem like much but she made it feel so easy it's given me a big boost.

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