Whether 2010 was a good year or not, 2011 might be the one for achieving your goals and dreams, from finding your true love, learning how to ride horses like a pro or even making some career upstream movements. There are three major aspects of each and anyone’s life and this are love, money and work, let’s take a look and see how each of those can really improve our happiness.

LOVE

First things first, love will be our main focus in this article. We all know how difficult it is to spend Christmas alone, New Year’s party with other happy couples, but also one thing is sure: these times have finally went by so you should make room to a new year where anything can (and will) be possible. Right from the start you should dedicate some time to yourself, get to know what you want most from a partner, what do you expect from a relationship and so on. Want to improve your chances of getting noticed on Horse Lovers Dating site? Have a look at your profile and try to do these changes that can definitely make a difference:

–          Update your profile: you should definitely add some photos that show the best of you, maybe you had a great outfit for Christmas’ Party so highlight it on your profile
–          Start a new diary and express what are you looking forward to achieve this new year
–          Go chatting and change memories about how the New Year’s party was for you

WORK

On the other hand, think about how many hours do you spend each time at work…Maybe you even have some extra-things to solve at home, maybe you are doing extra-hours, you will end up seeing that you spend about 10 hours each day with your job, maybe more, a whooping 2,600-3,000 hours each year. Of course, there is not much to be done when it comes to earning a living but you could change the way you are at work – be happy all the time. Avoid office gossips, try to stay positive, neglect negative people and smile more often. Another fantastic way of meeting new people can be related to your job: go out with your co-workers, maybe they have some friends you might find attractive and before you notice, you may end-up within a happy relationship with the person you have always dreamed about.

MONEY

Money are such a sensible subject, especially when we are talking about January, the month where we start looking on our previous month expenses on gifts, parties and so on. But if we consider than January is also a month of sales and discounts, it might be a great time to catch some bargains and once again improve your happiness levels from a financial perspective. Check out clothes’ discounts, find restaurants that offer real bargains, find some fantastic coupons on discounts websites or even participate to free events in your area.

All these might seem so simple at a first-view but they are also fantastic ways to start a new year and definitely improve your happiness from those three points of view.

Countryside Blog 2011 happy year, find love 2011, happiness

Living in the Countryside cost you up to 20% more than living in an Urban area according to a report released recently. The report said for people living in rural area to reach an acceptable standard of living, they need to earn at least £18,600 compared with urban dwellers who only need £14,400.

The report which was compiled by Commission for Rural Communities said people living in a remote village needs to earn 50% above the minimum wage of £5.93 to reach an acceptable living standards. The report said fuel and transport are the main reason for the significant increase in the cost of living in a village.

The index compiled for the report was based on the items people think they need for their household to function properly. Donald Hush commenting on the index said “fuel and transport are the main reason behind this cost, living in a remote rural village you need your own transport to get bye while in urban area there is a public transport system”.

The report also mention the fact that low pay is much more common in the rural area, may rural workers pay fall well short or what they need to keep their household essentials supplied.

The figures the report identified for a single people living in various part of the country follows:

A single person living in a rural town needs £15,600
A single person living in a village needs £17,900
A single person living in a hamlet in remote countryside £18,600

Many rural dweller said higher fuel bill and cars contribute significantly to their household bill. Home in rural areas tends to have poor insulation.

Countryside Blog cost of living in villages, Countryside Blog, rural living

Soil is an important growing medium and comes in many shapes and forms. The best soil for growing is loam, which is a mixture of several different types, but wether you have loam, sand, silt or clay, with some work you can turn it into an excellent growing medium.

Sand
Although sand has very good drainage, the particles are so large and course that you can see them without a microscope and therefore it also allows lots of nutrients to get washed away.

Add well rotted manure, compost and leafmould as the humus will bind the particles aiding water and therefore nutrient retension.

Clay
Pure clay is a nightmare. It is impossibble to dig when wet and sets like a rock when dry. If properly managed, clay retains water and nutrients but allows for sufficient drainage.To do this dig when moist and add manure, leafmould, compost and sand.

Silt
Similar to clay, with small particles, silt is not improved by the addition of lime and nor does it shatter when exposed to frost.

Loam
being a mixture of several types of soil, loam can range from one extreme to the other, but the ideal loam is 40% sand 40% silt and 20% clay.

Mulching
In general, mulching is adding organic matter to the top layer.

In winter soil should not be left open to the weather unless it is unimproved clay that needs the frost to shatter it. I find that well rotted manure with black plastic on top makes the best winter mulch and I leave the manure for the worms to work into the soil.

Mulching is done in spring to hold in warmth, in summer to hold moisture, in autumn to stop erosion and in winter to stop erosion and keep it warm. All organic mulches feed the soil no matter what time of year it is.

Regulating acidity
Of course all plants have different preferences but pH 6.5 (slight acidity) is the best as this is generally where the most nutrients are available. PH7 is neutral and above or below is alkaline or acidic.

Dolomite and ground limestone are useful for regulating acidity. Calcified seaweed adds the seaweed benefits (major and trace elements alike) while also regulating acidity.

Gypsum is a neutral addition which binds clay with calcium.

Regulating alkalinity
This can be done with manure which is slightly acidic and comphrey which also adds nutrients especially potassium.

Many books are dedicated to soil and go into details that I cannot explain here.

Happy gardening!!!!

Countryside Blog Gardeners, Soil for new Gardeners

There are many different riding disciplines ranging from simple local shows to top class eventing.

Although most shows have a certain dress code, for local shows you can get away with smartly dressed, but anything higher you need to wear a proper show coat, long boots, beige jodhpurs, and certainly a riding hat with smart cover up to the current BHS or BSI standard, (if you are doing cross country body protector is an absolute must.)

One day event
A one day event is for those who are not at top level quite yet.
Iti s a mini version of three day eventing, and is dressage, cross country and showjumping all in one day.
The cross country is about twenty jumps long and stretched over several fields, the dressage is about two minutes long, and the showjumping about fifteen jumps long.

Eventing
The first discipline is dressage where the horse performs complex movements, the second is cross country and the third is showjumping.
The showjumping course is high and spooky and the horse is expected to jump clear without time faults, knocked rails, runouts and refusals. The cross country consists of barrels, solid wooden jumps and drops into water.

Jump cross
if you want to have a go at cross country but dare not risk your horse on the hard jumps, try jump cross, knockable show jump like jumps in across country situation.

Polo
At top level,Polo is a sport involving specially trained and bred polo ponies, and riders with their ‘mallets’.
There are two teams and each team are made up of four players. They play in a special polo field with a 3 inch ball of willow and bamboo which needs to be scored between the goal postsof the opposing team.
The game is divided into 71-2 mins long parts or ‘chukkas’ and each chukka has a three min interval afterwards.
You can play with your pony at a local club, but ponies must be agile and fit.

Endurance
For endurance ponies need ro be fit and healthy and have plenty of stamina. All breeds of horse and pony can be sufficiently fitenned to make endurance ponies but arabs are generally chosen because they are strong, willing and coragous.
Endurance ranges from pleaure rides beginning at about 10 miles going up to over 100 miles spread over several days.

For all of these riding disciplines ponies need to be fit, and have stamina.
Driving
Not strictly a riding discipline, carriage driving is done single, in pairs, in threes or in teams and requires skill and constant attention to the situation .
The harness looks daunting and complicated at first and must be correctly fitted. It istraditionally made of leather but now a days is made up of lots of man-made materials.

Countryside Blog

Western-Style Horse Riding – Cowboy style riding, not as bad as you think

Riding a horse (or doing anything else for that matter) cowboy-style tends to be a byword for not doing it correctly or properly hence the expression such as cowboy builders, cowboy plumbers etc. When the author of this article was learning to ride a horse at a riding centre in Herefordshire, one of the instructor’s way of rebuking his student for not holding the reins correctly or doing things incorrectly was to say “we do not want to ride cowboy style”.

An article in The Guardian of the 15th of August 2010 where a rider describes how she learn to ride a horse Western-Style seem to contradicts what the instructors at the ridding centre in Herefords seem to consider cowboy style ridding to be.

Describing Western Style riding, the rider describes how she was asked to slacken off the reins so that the horse has control of its own head and can see where its feet are going, this if very interesting and directly contradicts what English riding instructors tends to say which is to maintain rein contact .

One the whole the article on Western style riding seem to suggest a much more human and laid back way or riding which probably helps the rider enjoy riding more and the horse more freedom. Comparing English style riding and Western style riding Katherine Blocksdorf said ”

Western riding developed according to the needs of ‘cowboys’. The Western saddle is made to distribute weight more evenly over the horse’s back so horse and rider can counterbalance the weight of a roped cow. English riding takes many of its traditions and equipment from European mounted military styles”. If indeed most of our our riding schools in England takes their riding tradition from the Military, no wonder we are so strict about so many riding postures and position.

There are many western style riding centres in the UK, if you want to learn to chill out and learn to ride like a cowboy, you may want to visit some of them, list of some Western-Style riding centres in UK follows:

Western – Style Riding Centres

• Sycamore Ranch Western Riding Centre – http://www.sycamoresranch.com/show/english/contact_us.aspx
• Unicorn Trails Western Riding Holidays –  http://www.unicorntrails.com/ridecategories/westernridingholidays/
• Rocky’s Western Riding Adventures – http://www.rockyswesternadventures.co.uk/
• burlea Villa –  www.burleyvilla.co.uk
• Rock’s Western Ridding Adventures – www.rockywesternadventures.co.uk
• The Mendip Stud –  www.themendipstud.com
• Valley Farm – www.valleyfarmonline.co.uk
• Fairfield Stables – www.fairfieldstables.co.uk

Countryside Blog cowoy horse riding, western riding, western-riding centres Uk