Western Riding Lesson 2

After the workshop that I blogged about earlier, I attended my 2nd Western Riding lesson at Glen Austin Stables on 5 March 2011.

We were a group of 5. Two ladies. 3 men. Debbie Griffiths was our Master Cowgirl.

We learned how to do the following groundwork:

1. Fetch your horse
2. Turn your horse around you, in hand, with application of your own body weight
   
3. Stretch your horse's legs (all legs)
   
4. Turn your horse out (with lunge rope around bum - on both sides)
5. Check you horse's back and general condition before kitting up

These steps have to be performed before each ride. It's a good warm-up for your horse and some vital bonding takes place so that by the time you are ready to get on, you are comfortable with the horse and he is comfortable with you.

We were then taught how to kit the ponies up properly and how to mount. (Thanks for your help V, could not have managed without you).

In a group lesson format we were taught the basics of steering, walking and jogging. Admittedly, I was a bit afraid of the jog, but did manage to get a few strides of the jog in before losing all my nerve.

A great lesson. Much learned.

Western Riding Workshop

Glen Austin Stables presented a Western Riding workshop on Saturday the 26th of Feb 2011. As my hubby is an avid English Rider and would like to see me in the sport and as I was curious about Western Riding I decided to attend.

It was great fun. We were walked through the basics of Western Riding, of warming the animals up and of putting on all the kit. I thoroughly enjoyed it and decided I would give it a go and take weekly lessons.

Thanks to everyone at GAS who made this day possible.

Quick Oriental Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
1x large chicken thigh per 2 persons sharing
1x pack of 2-minute noodles per 2 people sharing
1x handful of frozen chopped veggies per person
1 x Onion, peeled, chopped in rings and rings cut in half

Method:
Grill the chicken in an oven pan at 180 degrees C until fat runs out.
Add the onions to oven pan, stir through the chicken fat - continue grilling chicken and onions until done.
Remove, cut all the meat off the chicken, remove all bones and dice into small blocks.
Keep onions and chicken fat.
Boil veggies in a little salted water in a saucepan until almost soft.
Add the appropriate amount of boiling water to veggies to cook the noodles with.
Add the noodle flavour sachet.
Add the 2-minutes noodle cake.
Boil until soft.
Add the onions and chicken fat and any seasoning to taste.
Add the chicken.
Simmer for a minute or two while stirring well.
Add water if you need it more runny. Simmer again and stir well.
Dish and enjoy :)

Easy, easy chocolate slices (and they are divine!!)

Ingredients:
1 pack Marie Biscuits (200g)

250 gram Margarine

1 pack (500 gram) sifted icing sugar

30 g Cocoa powder

1 egg

Method:

Crush up the biscuits (small but rough, not fine).

Melt margarine, add icing sugar and cocoa.
Stir well over moderate heat until smooth.

Mix in 1 beaten egg slowly while stirring.

Add the crushed biscuits.

Pour into buttered (Spray-n-Cooked) baking tray.

Let cool slightly, cut in blocks, store in fridge.
Eat when they are nice and cool.
Careful, you can easily eat way too much of these and get serious stomach cramps! HAHAHA!

Custard slices

Ingredients:
1 Pack Cream Crackers

1 litre milk

250 ml Sugar

60 ml Margarine

120 ml Koekmeel (sifted)

100 ml Corn flour (Maizina)

10 ml Custard poweder

2 ml Salt

100 ml Cold water

3 eggs, seperated

5 ml Vanilla essence
500 ml Icing sugar (sifted)

+- 40 ml Boiling water

Method:

Butter a flat rectangular container of 25 x 35 x 5 cm (or Spray-n-Cook it).

In bowl, lay 15 creamcrackers in rows of 5x 3 (point them all in the same direction!).

Heat the milk in a big saucepan and bring to the boil.

Add sugar and margarine, stir until dissolved and take off the stove.

Mix cake flour, corn flour, custard powder, salt and cold water well, to form a paste.

Add egg yolk and whisk or beat well.

Beat some of the milk mixture into the paste, to make it runny.
Pour the paste mixture into the remaining milk mixture in the saucepan and stir continiously over a low heat for about 5 minutes until thick.
Remove from stove and stir in the vanilla.

Beat egg whites until fluffy.
Fold egg whites into mixture.

Pour warm mixture over cream crackers - and cover the mixture with 15 more cream crackers.
Let cool completely in the fridge.

Mix icing sugar and boiuling water to a pourable/spreadable icing.
Slowly pour over top layer of cream crackers and spread evenly.

Keep in fridge until needed. Slices in half-cream cracker slices - makes 30 slices :)