April 2008

Monday 21st April

Today I had the opportunity, still being in Fife, to use a sand arena so took full advantage of this. I warmed Solly up in the paddock with all 7 games provocatively. Saddled him and warmed him up with that too and then walked using the driving game up to the arena.

We had to squeeze between a field with a goat and a very large shut off tractor and trailer. Solly displayed what I would normally think was worry/fear but realised he was unconfident and dominant. I played approach and retreat LOTS and also 'put your nose on the tractor' and this worked well. Sol passed by the objects calmly and with trust in me.

On getting to the arena I played some ground games with him to get him used to the space with me and then I mounted from a fence and sat and relaxed. I've had trouble trying to get a straighter sideways along a fence and Elle suggested that everytime I go to stop on sideways I DHQ's until his side is against the fence, this way he will always be getting ready to DHQ's and thereby be straighter in his sideways. I did that and he got it so quickly, so must make a 7 day programme of doing that to reinforce the idea.

We started with trying follow the rail, he cut corners and wasn't very confident in certain corners at all so I changed that and did point to point from one bad corner to another. Then I put the other corners in the game so that we were following the rail but in quarterly sections. He got much more confident in all the corners so then I upped the game and went from one corner, missed one corner and stopped in the next one. This was very good and he got the game very quickly....so I changed it again. This time instead of going from one corner to another in sequence I muddled the corners up so I went from any corner to any corner, straight to or across the arena. I also put in some backup as this was becomming sticky. By the end he was going to any corner and before going to another place we would back almost half the arena. I wasn't worrying about being straight but just getting that lightness, it felt great, his backup really started to FLOW.

We had lots of relaxing for a while after that and then I started on circles and half circles. Using the side of the arena, using concentrated reins quite often, I would follow the rail down the long side then half circle and back to the track which changed the direction and back to follow the rail. I also put in some sideways coming out of the half circle when going back to the rail, this was great and I encorporated DHQ's at the end of sideways just as Elle had suggested with the ground play sideways. We continued this for a while and now and then put in a 20m circle at one end too. I found it hard to do the 20m circles without the letters in place on the arena walls so that was strange but we got some lovely bends which felt fab.

To finish up with I wanted to canter in the arena, it took a couple of attempts and my riding was all over the place but Elle helped me by telling me to try to 'peddal' in canter like I do in trot, this helped to really relax my legs and stop me gripping upwards. Last canter felt good and I left it on a good note. Really enjoy riding Solly, he's getting much lighter and responsive and is fun to ride.

Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th April

This weekend I took Solly and Tara to Fife where a Parelli L1 course was taking part. I had loaned out both of them to students, one only had a young horse and wanted to learn more, the other couldn't travel her horse there, so S&T were there to help teach the students and a great job they did too.

Sol behaved himself wonderfully and really showed what a LB horse can be like. He was charming but dominant and the student that had him learned that this wasn't a horse that you could pussy foot around. Everyone loved him especially the PNH Instructor Alison Jones.

After the first day I volunteered him for a trailer loading demo. I haven't got around to trailer loading him the PNH way so this was a great way to introduce him to it and also with Alison I knew I would learn a lot too. Suffice to say she made it look easy and it was good to challenge myself with trying to think up what she would do and when I got it right it was a good feeling.

Here is the demo in picture form, easier than writing about it.

Firstly Alison addressed the dominant LB behaviour by going around the arena fence sideways with him about 3 times, he was good but it made me realise that I don't always have total obedience from him!

Keeping that sideways going and looking for signs of softness

Asking Sol to circle with a squeeze of the trailer ramp

Sol not wanting to look or go in trailer so Alison makes it uncomfortable being outside the trailer by not letting him rest...he is really trying to out think Alison

Keeping him moving without fear

Then he stops and thinks he can outwit her by not moving at all !

Alison just out waits him, not more pressure, until he gives to her

Finding comfort on the ramp

Finding comfort in the trailer. It's not about the trailer it's about communication and the relationship with you and your horse, at no time was Solly worried or frightened, he just said 'NO' so Alison just didn't give up asking 'YES PLEASE'

Alison left him in there as long as he wanted and then when he wanted to come out she allowed him and then immediately put him back in. He was very sharp and clever to realise that being in the trailer is more peaceful than being out. A couple of times he moved one foot back to come out and Alison was ready for him to come out but you could almost hear him think about it and then go back in of his own accord as he knew he'd just be asked back in.

When setting up to come home my friend Elle had Sol and she trailered him PNH style without any problem...thank you Alison and Elle for starting Sol well on his trailer loading experiences. He trailers well, now he loads well.

Thursday 17th April

Sun shone and I went out and played with some horses, Sol was the third one today and he did very well. Started with yo-yo's and then walking beside me in walk and trot with backups. Then we played with circling and I asked for walk, trot and canter which he did well and calmly.

Next I went to play with two small logs on the ground and he managed twice to yo-yo back and forwards over them. He's very smart, only showed him once how to do it and he got it ;-)

Sol yo-yo'ing over two logs

Then we rested for a yawn and scratch but soon went onto circling with a squeeze log jump, 4 laps both directions and yehaa, he did them well, no stops, no problems.

Sol jumping on the circling game to the left

Sol jumping on the circling game to the right

We rested big time after that as this was the first time he'd not worried about going over when going in a circle to the left. Passive persistence in the proper position!

After that I thought I'd take it down a notch and went and positioned myself on a large log and asked him to sidle over for mounting. He has trouble with this unless it's a gate so a large log was a pretty good tool to use. He managed to do both left and right and when he was next to the log I did lots of friendly and leaning over him and mounting and dismounting back onto the log. He took this all very well.

Then Mark came down and got Holly, we both went to the house to mount and then out on our 'fitness hack' up the large hill. We've been trying to do this ride out with all the horses regularly during the week to fitten them up and it's been fun.

Sol at top of the 'fitness hill'

I do lots of taking concentrated reins and slacking them off, asking him for slow, medium and fast walk a few times, serpentining along the track and other games to keep him supple and focussed. On the way down we also did some circles with the direct rein and also small circles using the indirect rein. He's very responsive and it was a fun ride. I think Sol is enjoying his adventures and he's much calmer and focussed now when we go out.

Coming towards home after the hack out

Wednesday 16th April

Wow, this week is flying by. I want so much to try to get out with Solly everyday or at least 5 days out of 7. So must try harder with this.

Today he was good on the driving and porcupine games, FQ, HQ etc. Not bad on the yo-yo, very good draw. Circling he was a bit dominant, wouldn't go to the right and kept changing directions so I let him do that but put him into canter which he did well. Then I'd draw him back to me and ask him to go out on the right, he soon stayed on the right as he realised going to the left was more work. When we got right lead it wasn't as good as the left so I let him go down to trot when he wanted but then asked for canter again after half a lap of trot. When he did one really good, relaxed canter on the right lead I brought him back to me for a long rest.

We also tried circling at trot with the log as a squeeze jump, to the right okay but a big NO NO on the left so I worked on that until he could do it, once he did it once we walked away. He did very well and our communication is getting better and my patience is getting better too.

Then I brought him to the house, groomed and saddled him and went up to the playfield. He is getting better at standing still for me to open the gate ridden which is great.

First I decided to do 20m circles around barrels in my polypost arena. He did very well going into the corners and got the hang of the circles and figures of eight quickly. He also changed direction well and did well with me having a concentrated rein.

Next we weaved in and out of cones and then trotted over a small jump. I then did something new and asked him to do a turn on the haunches which actually went very well. He tried to go back and then forwards first but once he got what I wanted and I released at the right point the next one was great. So, I tried turning on the forehand and this he got very easily....wow!

I then decided to get off and try to teach him to sidle up to the gate for me to mount better. Actually he is pretty good with this against a gate but when it's a mounting block he puts his backend away, anyway, sidling to the gate went well and I remounted and went out of the field for a short hack around the forest here.

He had a couple of thresholds and wanted to turn but I kept him facing the way I wanted, he went back a couple of steps and I asked him to back more and faster and after we'd rested he decided that he would trust me enough to continue our hack out. Once over the main hill it was downhill all the way home and he knew we were going home so he had a wonderful stretching out walk down the hill and a great calm and relaxed walk on the path back to the house. Love riding this boy, he tries so hard and it's wonderful watching him grow in his knowledge.

Sunday 13th April

Play with Sol before saddling. I started with friendly and some extreme friendly and helicopter with my CS & SS. Then went onto yo-yo and today it was hard to get his ears forward so didn't push the issue. I decided to do some porcupine too as I tend to do the driving game more so this was a good idea. If he won't porcupine well how do I expect him to take my leg aids when ridden! lol.

I started with FQ yields and played with lots of focus for just ONE step correct which he did after a few attempts. Then I went to HQ yields and again I played hard with just one good step with low phase and he did very well. He even attempted porcupine sideways which was brave of him. He is much lighter to my porcupine now so it will be good to see how good that goes when riding today. He then went and stood on the large log again, he likes doing this so I joined him up there ;-)

Me and Sol chilling out on tree trunk

After resting for a while we played circling. He was a bit resistent today with going to the right but I just hung in there until he decided to do it. Once going he was fine, walk and trot and I also asked for one lap of canter on each side. Going to the right was harder for him but it helped when he had the full 22' line and me cantering with him.

I then asked for the 'back and then over' manoever which he did okay. After another rest I played around with 'S' bends and then 'falling leaf' manoevers which he did very well and I was very pleased with him.

I then went to the house and saddled in three girthings and Mark and I went and played up in the playfield. I played 'stick to the rail' with walk, trot and canter. Canter was okay, could be improved and he went off the rail a bit at the end each time. Am not pushing canter as I want him to be fit before doing more of that. We then did some more play with concentrated reins. Serpentines between cones and the fence and figure of eights around the two tractor tyres. He really gets the concentrated rein and is good with his turns. He also stood on the tractor tyre again with me riding him which is always cool! ;-)

Then Mark and I went out for a ride down the pretty lane here. It was a lovely day, Solly much more confident about going out and taking the lead the whole way there and back. He trotted nicely and did some sideways without a fence on route too! cool. Didn't go too far but had fun and the whole day was a good one.

Me and Sol waiting for Mark to catch up

Saturday 12th April

A bit colder today but still good weather. So Mark and I go out for a training/ridden session with Holly and Solly.

Solly rides the roundpen rail very well, no issues of going faster and I didn't have to ask him to keep going which is good. When he decided to go to walk from trot himself I let him as this is teaching him that he can stop if he wants and hopefully will help with his impulsion later on (Remember impulsion isn't impulsiveness and if you have a scale of 0-10 impulsion should be a 5, same go as whoa!)

Sol stands on the tyre again without a problem, trots over small jumps and is weaving in and out of cones well. Our steering is good and our go/whoa is good.

Mark did some 'pulling a tyre' from the saddle using the 22' line and I got off Sol so that I could ask him to follow this strange thing moving over the ground. He was okay while Holly walked and I did falling leaf for approach and retreat. Then Mark started to trot and Sol was okay with his right eye but went a bit RB with his left eye...glad I got off to do that! lol.

Then after playing we rode at walk the long hill again. It was a good exercise and Sol had a good slow, medium walk and we'll work on his extended walk as we go. Very good for fittening and will do something similar tomorrow.

Wednesday 9th April

Sunshine is shining and Mark and I decide to ride out with our friend Natalie so Nat gets to ride Tara, Mark on Holly and me on Solly. Great to get 3 horses out for a change without me having to do it all on my own, nice to have company.

Solly behaves beautifully, I'm starting to do more concentrated rein work, with the hackamore still and his backup is getting SO light now, fantastic. Now that he's had time to 'unwind' his neck and emotions, now is the time to start winding him back up 'naturally'. I need to get him fitter and ask more from his HQ's so that his topline is better.

I hope also that this training will help to make him more of a 'good banana' than the 'bad banana' he is slightly at the moment. This means that the muscles start happening over the topline with good emotional and mental collection and into physical collection rather than the muscles he has at the moment which tend to be more 'under' his neck, belly and buttocks which can occur due to scattered emotional and mental collection and when we ask for physical collection with those two being scattered it causes the horse to brace in it's body and thereby putting muscles in places you don't want them to be.

Anyway, the ride went well, we walked and trotted up our steep hill and I aim to do a week or two of this ride in walk only to get him fitter. I will also be using this hill to start to ask for a little collection and to find slow, medium and fast walk with plenty of relaxing and stretching on the way. My version of ridden hill therapy ;-)

Saturday 5th April

Today I was supposed to have been playing with Tara but Solly got very dominant over Tara with all the other Parelli students in the Play Park, so I had to play with him a bit to settle him before putting him in a round coral. I didn't want to play too much as he was supposed to be resting from his ET massage yesterday but I didn't want to leave him right brained.

His play was good and I left Tara with a friend to play with whilst I was distracted with Sol.

He was a bit not listening to me but that's understandable, he wanted to protect his mare and we tried to keep the two horses close but not too close. Sometimes he listened to me and other times he was a bit dominant and I had to really work on getting him to focus. All interesting stuff and gave me an insight into what he can be like when protecting his herd when out and about.

Games went well though and again some obvious things I think he would be worried about he didn't bat an eyelid at. lol



Squeezing under balloons

Sniffing a scary umbrella

Falling Leaf (approach and retreat on a semi-circle) with a moving umbrella

Yo-Yo with Tara and Solly together

Circling Solly and Tara together,
notice how he's protecting and driving her!

Friday 4th April

Today I trailer loaded Solly and Tara and drove off to Leven in Fife for a Parelli Play Day. Also Solly was going to have an Equine Touch Massage (http://www.theequinetouchuk.com/) as I've noticed a sweat patch come up regularly on his right shoulder!

They both travelled really well, ate a bit of hay but generally just chilled out. Sol likes to put his head down which is good as this gives him endorphins. He was a very good boy and we arrived with him a bit sweaty but nothing to worry about. I put him and Tara out in a field to chill out for a while.

When I came out to get Solly I decided that it would be a wonderful opportunity to play with Sol in a new place, see what he was like and also to relax him before his massage. This place has a fabulous Parelli Play Park so I couldn't resist ;-)

He left Tara okay although Tara was a bit concerned about where he was going. Tara is normally okay here but because of bringing Solly she had bonded with him well whilst travelling!

I played LOTS of friendly and walked him to the Play Park, here he astounded me, he was calm and willing and did everything I asked and more. I think he enjoyed himself and it was fun. Here are some things we got up to...

He stood straight away onto a large tree stump

Next he went up onto a tall steep hillock


And then came down licking his lips a lot

Then we circled with small obstacles and jumps

And then he surpised me by standing on the very large tractor tyres....later on he actually went up with all 4 hooves onto the top and down the other side! cool ;-)

Then when we were resting my friends brought out their poo picker and tractor and we played a lot of approach and retreat until he was left brained

When going for his ET he spotted a strange creature...a goat! eek!! lol

He was very cool at saying hello and was very curious of this little beastie

Today went very well, travel...fab, play...fab, in strange field...fab, overnight...fab! Wonder what he would be like on his own travelling and being somewhere?

Thursday 3rd April

Well another fine day dawned this morning and I went out as soon as possible to play with some horses, first Tara and then Solly.

With Solly today he caught me well and we proceeded through some games very much like yesterday. All games went very well and I even got 4 laps left and right of circle whilst sitting on a log! ;-)

Then Mark came down to play with Holly and then we went up to the house and saddled up for a short, fast hack out up the main hill here. This is the hill that Sol first went backwards down instead of up so it's interesting to see how confident he is with going up here now.

I followed Mark's lead and we trotted and cantered most of the hill, Sol's canter was smooth, calm and forward going without rushing. Very nice. I feel very happy about his fitness and his confidence now, we're really forming a great partnership, I'm trusting him more and he's trusting me more. Great.

Sol trotting back down off the hill

After the hill we went through an open field which has a small hollow with water in it. Sol jumped this, took me by surpise but I stayed on and he cantered up the small hill after that. Next we cantered along a straight, pictures below show the end of the canter strip, it is slightly downhill and turns right then left, he cantered the first bit and then after first turn he trotted nicely. Sol was attentive, didn't rush his canter or trot and managed to listen when I asked for the turns.

I am loving his new found impulsion...this is all due to his better confidence in his surroundings, in what he's doing and with me. I'm loving this horse, he's a real character, trustworthy and unspoilt.

Really enjoyed todays ride out and I think Sol did too. He was a bit sweaty but not bad for his first major cantering session up hill ;-)

Sweaty Solly, notice he's ground tied!

Sol's topline stretch for a piece of apple

After the ride we put him and Holly back out, he did some wonderful topline stretches for his pieces of apple, he's such a bright horse, learns quickly and I think is enjoying the daily challenges that I bring to him.

My lovely boy

Weds 2nd April

Today we have SUNSHINE! so warm and lovely on my face and back, very very nice, so taking advantage of the weather I went out to play with 2 horses today. First Hubbys horse Holly and then Solly.

So, Sol decided he didn't want to catch me today and played a bit. I just ignored him and went and fussed Tara and then Fortune and hey ho, he came and caught me nicely ;-)

He was a bit distracted as the herd moved away a bit but I played yo-yo's to get his focus back on me. Then I went straight to something new, sideways WITHOUT a fence, to see how he'd handle it and it went okay. He was a bit confused and tried often to move forward but I just went right down to basics for him: move the FQ, move the HQ, move the FQ, move the HQ. I did a bit on both sides, he did it nicely and we moved on.

Next I drove him in Z3 out of first field into another and played sideways with a fence just to reinforce what we did without the fence. Good job.

Then we went and played 'circle for 4 laps at trot with a log jump to squeeze over'... he did this actually very very well, after the first lap he got into it, lowered his head and blew as he went around. Such a cool horse.

After this and a long rest, friendly I took him to a small incline and asked him to circle 4 times at trot using this small hill. He had to half circle on the flat and then navigate going down a sharpish hill and back up again. Again he did this REALLY well and I was impressed. Our communication is getting very good and I'm really enjoying his confidence now.

After another long rest we went to the house and saddled for a short hack out. Today we just went into a field, out the other end and up a forest track at trot and back again. It took about half an hour and he did all the incline bit at trot, relaxed, focussed and moving forward. Very pleased. Will do more of this as it will help put some muscle back on him after the Winter.

All in all a very good day.

Tuesday 1st April

Well it maybe April Fool's day but there was no fooling Sol today. He was full of himself today and it was great to see him showing some lovely paces.

Sol and Stormy having fun together

After catching him we played circling as he was energetic, he decided that he would put in extra effort and canter wildly about so I encouraged him to go as fast as he wanted....funnily enough he decided that he'd rather go slower so we did. His circles are much better, not stopping behind and lively. He didn't stop once and he started blowing which is a great sign of coming off adrenaline.

Next we played yo-yo, usually play this one lots as he has a habit of trying to barge onto me. Today yo-yo was good. Next I played circle with a jump, a couple of sidepasses past the log but then he 'got it' and jumped it twice in a row in the circle. Such a little thing but HUGE for him.

Then after driving game to another log he jumped that one too, and this log he's had trouble jumping as I think the footing before and after is much more squidgy but he jumped it with much more confidence and we rested for a while.

Then the other horses (all 5) decided to run around into another part of the field and I had to concentrate on keeping Sol's focus on me so I took him smartish to our straight fence and did a couple of sideways left and right to get him back on me. Worked a treat ;-)

Then as a rest I went to a large log and asked for sidling up to a log. I did just one side as he was slow to start but got it quickly after that. I thought that was enough, he'd done all I asked quickly and pretty politely so I took his halter off and played 'stick to me' at liberty to the field where his friends were. He did VERY well, stopped when I did and also did a couple of back up steps all at LIBERTY! clever boy. When we got to the field gate I let him know he was free to go and he went to the other horses.

Once free I played with them all and got them all in Springfever mode. Here are a couple of piccie's from their playsession.

Sol kicking out in Spring fun

Sol's trademark reach with front leg whilst playing ;-)