Quick Pick Equine Poo Picking Tool Review; Speeding up your mucking out time!

Quick Pick Poo Picking Tool Review

With the lack of daylight hours over winter being a real problem with riders trying to cram in all their chores and keeping their horse ridden and fit with the few hours of sunlight we get a day (especially those that work full time and go to work in practical darkness and leave in darkness I don't get a lot of time in natural daylight to look after Erik!) why not use something that can save you time and effort?

The new, recently launched, Quick Pick mucker is the tool for you! 

First Impressions

I got sent a beautiful Red Quick Pick by Gary and his team and to say it's beautiful, for a mucker, is accurate because it's so well designed and very sleek; you can tell a lot of thought has gone in to the design.
One of the first things to strike me was just how different they look to a 'normal' mucker that have been around for years; obviously they still have the same overall shape but the little things that bug you about the old style muckers have been added or taken away.

Another wonderful thing to note is that the Quick Pick is fully recyclable so years down the line and your trusty Quick Pick finally gives out after years of use, you can put it in the recycling knowing that it can be broken down and will be used for something else. As someone who is very plastic conscious I love this this! 

Design

I love that those little things that aren't quite right or annoying with the old styling poo picking muckers have been thought of and removed or improved here. For example there is no more bending over at 90 degrees to scrape up the poo nuggets with a not very efficient rake. The Quick Pick has been designed so that you can stand with one leg either side of the muckers bucket, put your feet on strategically placed foot holds that keep the bucket in place, so that you can stand upright and with the normal length rake can scope the poop in to the mucker. 
Brilliant for back injuries or just not putting undue stress on the muscles and joints round the lumber area of the back. It's also good for your core as, as when you're scooping the poop you're pulling them in to the back and thus 'engaging' your core and giving it a work out which is even better for your riding. Who knew doing a chore could help your riding?! 

No stooping or bending to pick up!

Photo by Quick Pick

Securely place your feet either side and then scoop 

Little things like a clip on the handle (pictured above) so you can easily keep your rake and Quick Pick together so they don't get lost or separated from each other. Doesn't seem like a big problem but when it's dark and you're searching around in your store room at 6am for the rake because it wasn't kept together and now you can't find it would be a total pain in the bottom.

Use

Another part that I love about the Quick Pick is that you can pick up and tip out it's contents without having to strain your wrists. The handle tips on a pivot and has a hand slot at the back so you can easily tip out the contents of the mucker bucket without having to awkwardly twist anything in your wrist, arm, shoulder or back! In the photo below it's so easy to see how it tips!

Plus as the mucker bucket pivots the poo and other junk in the mucker bucket falls to the back so you're far far less likely to drop or spill anything while carrying the Quick Pick back to your wheel barrow or muck heap! 

I think this ergonomic design is my favourite feature overall, as some will know that when I broke my wrist I have had some problems since with broken tendons and pain so by not having to twist the mucker to put the contents away I won't be hurting my already compromised wrist. This is a big plus for me because I cannot be 'off my game' when riding!

No twisting, an easy handle on the back and the main handle pivoting the bucket for easy emptying! 

Photo by Quick Pick

While the Quick Pick is certainly made for field poo picking I've also found it's dramatically reduced the amount of time it takes me to muck Erik's stable each morning! When you're on a tight schedule like me with trying to get mucked out and the yard clean before work it's been a wonder with picking up so much more muck! 
As the bucket is quite a size larger than traditional muckers you can fit in 3 poos in instead of the normal 1 or 2, meaning less stopping and walking over to the wheel barrow! And as I mentioned above, with the tipping of the bucket, is that you don't drop any muck and find stray nuggets all over the stable later! 

Regularly readers will also know that we teamed up with HorseDialog a few weeks ago to highlight the importants of Spring Summer #SSTimeItRight which is their campaign to time the worming of your horse at the right to reduce the risk of picking up worm eggs in the summer months so horses didn't head in to winter with a worm burden and now we're in to the winter months its time for #ESRWTimeItRight which is the Encysted Small Red Worm which affects horses in the autumn and winter months as the worms become encysted in the gut wall and then come spring they mass emerge after winter.  By regularly picking up droppings in your paddocks you'll significantly reduce the likelihood of your horse(s) getting worms and other parasites that can be transmitted by the grass they eat in their paddocks. It's something I am very conscious of so with the proper worming cycle worming and paddock poo picking you'll help in keeping your horse healthy and happy! Therefore anything to make poo picking in your paddock easier and therefore something you're more likely to do, the better for your horse! 

Thoughts 
Overall I've been using the Quick Pick Equine poo mucker for around 3 weeks and I genuinely love it! With everything in my life whether equine or otherwise I like tools and items to reduce the workload/time/stress of having to do a chore and I have really found that the Quick Pick has certainly done that for me. 
I also love it when the annoying little things that make a chore more difficult or problematic to have had real thought put in to them and the design to reflect the overcoming of those problems and this I have also found with the Quick Pick, it's been designed to speed up the amount of time doing a chore so you can spend more time riding your horse, it's also been designed to put less physical stress on joints and the body which is great! Repetitive strain is a real issue so to make steps to reduce that is a great and a real plus point in my thought process if I was buying one of these.

I can find nothing, if not very little, to fault the Quick Pick in that maybe with the foot slots make it a little too wide for some slimmer wheel barrows to go in face down but nothing that turning it on it's side or at a side angle wouldn't fix. They really are fabulous!

Cost 
You can buy all of the items separately or in a bundle all together so you're not locking in to buying part of the Quick Pick if you already have something similar.
To buy the Quick Pick bucket and Quick Rake together it's £49.99. To buy the Quick Pick only is £35 and the Quick Rake only is £25.
Some may scoff at the prices but these items are so hardy and well made. No thin plastic that cracks or splits after only a few uses or if you drop it. I've actually dropped the Quick Pick a couple of times from my wheelbarrow on to concrete and it's not even put a scratch on it!
They're extremely well made and are actually manufactured here in the United Kingdom, which I absolutely love! It's supporting local business and our economy, so none of the cheap imports!

You can buy a Quick Pick online via their website (which is easy to navigate and use, plus it looks beautiful too) https://quickpickequine.co.uk/ or if you're heading over to Olympia in December then they will be at stand H287 so if you'd prefer to 'Try Before You Buy' then head over to their stand and have a go scooping in their 'poo potatoes' and get it from them directly! 

Would I recommend the Quick Pick.... a resounding yes, very much so!




*If you read this blog and think you'd like me to try out a product and give it a rigorous test then drop me a message https://www.facebook.com/horsiness

High-Viz Safety this Winter!

Now the clocks have gone back and autumn is most definitely here meaning that the sun is both a lot lower in the sky and that we have a lot less daylight so riders are having to ride early in the mornings and evenings when the sun is just coming up or going down. So I came up with , fellow horse riders, to do the following things -

Always wear high visibility jackets, tabbards, vests etc with reflective strips when out riding! No matter the time of day but especially important at dusk and dawn when the sun is at it's lowest and most dazzling! High Viz can be picked up really rather reasonably and you cannot put a price on your life!

If riding when it's still dark or getting dark then adding a head torch or cycling lights to your helmet or jacket is always a good idea. Anything extra to help you be seen!

Here is my head torch which also has red flashing lights 

If you can kit your horse out with high viz, reflective strips or lights then even better! The brighter you are the more likely you are to be seen quicker!

Car lights; Something I've noticed a lot of recently is mismatched car headlight brightness with one bulb being significantly brighter than the other! Definitely worth doing a light check that your main headlights are both working and are equal in brightness. Getting dazzled by other road users is never fun and not safe to boot!

Lorries; are your head lights working as well, are they equal in brightness? Are your back lights on and working? Does your brake light work when the peddle is pressed? Does your reversing light work? Is it bright enough? 

Nothing worse than being at an event and the sun is going down only to realise your reversing light is out and you can’t see! Or getting to an early morning event and realising you can't see to reverse in to a tight spot!

Cyclists, for the love of all that is holy please don’t ride about with no lights on, in the dark at 6am!  Lycra road cyclists, I know you like your snazzy training kit but on country roads when the sun is low like it is at the moment please make yourself seen by putting high viz on! The near misses I’ve seen recently I tell you! Just like horse riders you are also vulnerable road users and we all need to stick together to remain safe on the roads and be seen. Like I've written above, you can buy very reasonably prices high viz kit from Wiggle!

Stay safe on the roads everyone, we all have to share them. Can you really put a price on your safety instead of paying a few quid for something to make you nice and bright? 

Sophie x

We Had Our First Jumping Lesson

Morning everyone, Brrrrr winter really is here isn't it? We've had such a mild start to the winter months I personally have really felt the drop in temperature this week! 

Over the weekend it was a mild 12 degrees in the day and with a busy Saturday of mucking out, riding early so I could be back to mine to gather up and clean all my equipment ready for hosting RoR lessons at Palace House in Newmarket with the wonder Delphine Tay before I went off to the Retraining of Racehorses End of Season Party all the way up in Doncaster! It was some drive and Chantal and I didn't get home til 2.30am so when I got a phone call from one of the clients booked in for the lessons telling me she had to cancel last minute and had a slot booked for later on that day I had to rush to get my riding kit ready, hitch up the trailer and get Erik in from the field and clean ready to fill the slot!

After only 5 hours of sleep I was finding my nerves giving me jelly legs and the tiredness only exasperating that when I was on and warming up but once I started my less and I had done some trotting poles but nerves gave way and I was able to be more focused at the task in hand!
For those of you who don't know this jumping lesson was our very first one and only our 4th time jumping over fences. In the summer I had asked Georgie if she'd give me some pointers on Erik and I's first time popping over a fence. He was of course very good and didn't mind popping over a small cross pole, then made in to an upright and then very boldly over an upright with a barrel underneath it. I personally wasn't a fan of the barrel and when Erik jumped it so big I lost a stirrup it definitely knocked my confidence a bit and I began to 'psych myself out' as they say and get worried after previous accidents. It seems these accidents can affect you mentally more than you think!
Since then I had popped a couple of small other jumps at home when playing around in the school but not actually had anyone give me official guidance.

Delphine was of course great and noticed right away I was still a little nervous, as when I came to my fences I seemed to hold my breath. I must have been subconsciously trying to focus so much that I felt breathing came second to jumping, and I was looking down in to the bottom of the fence! A big no no, but when you're as rusty as I am and on a horse you hadn't really jumped yet the urge to look down to make sure you're going to get the right stride is hard to ignore!

I soon started putting in to action the helpful comments and improvement suggestions and we were popping fences easy peasy and I was remembering to breath, ride more forward and the strides were easier to see and feel. It seems Erik, being a big horse, much prefers to stand off a fence than to get close to it and for me that suits! 

By the end of the lesson we were both quite tired but apparently from the look on both of our faces it was clearly we both absolutely loved it! Seeing Erik to happy and excited to be somewhere and doing something different was lovely. He's such a smart horse so a stimulated brain is a happy brain!

I am looking forward to our next lesson and doing even more. It isn't about the height of the fence but about the technique of jumping the fence. 

He's such a cutie right! So proud of him and of myself too, I got some real courage and didn't feel frightened at all. In fact we drove home afterwards with me grinning like a Cheshire cat! 

Love this big horse!

Sophie x

Semer Team Chase with the RoR Beasts from the East!

Poor Erik, he has been a little neglected this week, what with me doing the hospitality for Juddmonte Monday to Wednesday for the Horses in Training Tattersalls Sales and then with the dark evenings he hasn't been as busy of late but he did get some lovely long rides out Friday evening (half in the dusk light and was such a good boy considering I haven't ridden him in such low light before) and Saturday and Sunday where he got some fast work to keep his fitness up. We will look at some competitions and training over the winter, I promise Erik!

The mighty Bean has been on flying form of late coming 2nd in the Horseheath Unaffiliated 3ft open a couple of weeks ago  as well as winning the 3 ft 2" eventer trial at Keysoe a couple of weeks before that  so with this weekend being the Essex & Suffolk Team Chase at Semer the Retraining of Racehorses East Anglian team consisted of Georgie Shepherd, Hetty Keyes, Pip Davis and Ginny Fellows and as coordinator for the region I provided the RoR kit. 
An early set off time of 7.15am meant all hands on deck and speedy shoes on to get all rugged up, out in their field, mucked out and ready to go but we managed it with time for me to feed a friends dogs and have a tupperware of cereal at the yard before leaving. We took a different route to where we've gone before which was much less twisty and turny so we got to the event just after we expected to and met up with team mates to go and walk the course while I babysat B who gets so excited we cannot tie him to the trailer. 
Lot's of walking from both and me G later the course had been walked and horses were tacked up and ready to go and jockeys dressed and safe in their back protectors. The team really did look so smart in their kit! 

The RoR Beasts from the East were listed as the last to go in their section and it seems the course had been proving a little difficult with it being very twisty and turnie but when the group set off they had two front members to lead and with Georgie starting, Pip taking over for a short while before G and B took the leading position they all flew round in a nice safe clear and speedy it seems too!
The optimum time being 5 minutes 52 seconds and the Beasts completing the course in 5 minutes and 32 they were too fast but for their first event to get round with everyone safe and clear is awesome. Plus if they did the speed class they'd have come 3rd so maybe the class to do next year? These ex racehorses really do cover the ground quicker than you think!

Georgie was able to wear her GoPro and capture the footage, so have a watch to feel like you were right there with her! P.S sorry about the clicking it's Georgie's back protector zip tapping the GoPro, we'll make sure it doesn't happen again

I was on course taking pictures and despite the low light they came out quite well! Not too shabby for an amateur photographer!

It seems B and his team really do have wings! I am so proud of Georgie and how her and B have been getting on, he really is a testiment to ex racehorses and how they can thrive after being retrained! 
Erik and I will soon be jumping once I get my saddle back from being fixed. I did some dressage writing at Horseheath British Eventing one day event last weekend and earned myself a schooling voucher for the course which I plan to use in the spring once I've got some more confidence back and got to know E's jumping style more. 
Erik's owner Grayznor is coming to give me a flat work lesson this Sunday so I am looking forward to having Erik strut his stuff and me learn some more. Blog etc to follow with how we got on.

Over and Out,

Sophie x