Sol at liberty over the tarpaulin
Then we went down to the small cross jump which he decided to walk slowly over. I went very gently for him so as not to push him over things. He found that when he did something fun he got to graze the other side so that was a very good incentive for him.
Sol walking over cross jump
Then I went over to the tyre jump to see what Sol would make of this, he was sticking to me at walk and trot the whole time there too. He decided that it would take much more thought to jump this one and his way of telling me often that something's too much is to stretch backwards. It's quite amazing to watch and I first of all thought it was just a stretch but he only ever seems to do this when he's been overfaced with something so I backed off straight away. He did decide to sideways very nicely all around it a couple of times with me which was cool ;-)
Sol stretching
After major grazing and moseying I asked if he was up for walking through the scary dvd lines...and he did this, grazed along the way too! lol
Sol grazing around flapping dvds
So for our first venture into liberty in a big field this went really well and I was very pleased that Sol thinks our relationship is okay for him to stick with me whilst we did some fun things. I've now moved a few of the obstacles either in different places or just turned them around to be different. We'll see if this makes Sol unconfident next time we play!!!
I did some of the games in the main grazing field for a change, circling, yoyo's, standing on a log. He was responsive and willing so we moseyed over to the playfield. He squeezed nicely through the gate and then I played lots of friendly whilst he grazed. I then asked him to fig 8 around two cones and then mixed up a few games at the same place, we did circles and change of direction with the fig 8 as well. I started at walk and his change of direction improved well.
Then I went and asked him to circle around me whilst I walked about, he trotted over the tarp both ways and then I got to the large jump made of tyres and thought it would be good to try to yoyo with that, this means that he can jump towards me and then back towards the jump and put it in Z5 without any problem...BUT, before I tried that I wanted to know if Z5 WAS okay with the jump? aha..no it wasnt' and he wasn't going to put it there for me so I didn't push it. What I did do was ask him to sidle up to it and back up around it, sideways along the sides, DHQ and then back up along the other side of the jump. He found this difficult so I went slowly and just kept doing it until he relaxed with his whole body next to the jump. It took a while for him to be okay about this but when he did we just totally relaxed next to the jump for a long time. When he was ready I asked him to move off the jump and then jump the tyres which he did very well.
Next we went and played with change of direction/circles/fig 8's with the middle two of the four weave cones I've placed out. I want him to not get into a habit of doing only one thing with each obstacle so I changed the game plan with the cones today. After he was doing everything I asked nicely with the two cones we moved for a while grazing and then came back and trotted through the 4 weaving cones, he did this excellently and I'm getting the hang of putting the draw and drive at the right times.
Sol's draw at liberty is great
With the session going really well I left it at this, no riding of Sol today. He was very active, responsive and thinking nicely everything I asked of him and hopefully if the rain stays off I will play/ride him as much as possible this week.
Today the sun shone and Sol and I had a great playday. All the games and patterns went extremely well, ridden stuff getting better and better. Here is the day in pictures:
Sol playing with the ball, pushing it about with his front legs, licking and chewing a lot and at one point he actually tried to bite the ball! ;-)
Sol and I having fun with freestyle circles around four cones
Our jumping is becoming more confident
Solly very calm while walking through the scary hanging dvd lines
Sideways without a fence getting much better
Weaving freestyle around cones was great today
YEEHAA....CANTERING
All in all today was great. Hubby said today that I was 'Yeehaa' and Solly was 'Yippikiay'....fun! ;-)
Thursday 11th September
After a good grazing/chilling out session I went and mounted from the fence, this time making sure I do things from the right side as I've been neglecting this. Mounting went well after Sol realised I was asking him to sidle a different way than normal. All the flight tests were great so I decided to walk and then trot the trotting poles with a loose rein. It took a couple each way for him to realise what I was doing but he got it quick after that. Then I rested and then went to the weaving cones. Again it took a couple of times for him to get the pattern again but soon we were trotting the cones nicely, really enjoyed this with Sol.
Great play session, so glad I went out and had some fun with Sol.
After ride the rail I took him once over the trotting poles again and jumped the small cross jump we did yesterday. I was better prepared for him jump and went with him better. I was so chuffed with today that finally I went around the 100' roundpen with 7 stides of canter on each rein to finish. His canter was good, no bucking or silliness and I then trotted straight over to my rucksack and called it a day.
Today I kept to the principles of consistency, so kept to the games/patterns that I've been following with Solly and then add a touch of variety in to keep it moving forward.
All the games and patterns were better and calmer today than yesterday. Everything went well and Solly was listening well. Here in pictures are some of the things we did.
Sol Squeezing through a chanel of flapping dvd's
Jumping over a bar on the barrels
Cool, calm and collected over the middle of the tarpaulin
Sol even managed to stop on the tarp and sniff the post
We also did lots of circles on the move, change of direction (which needs improving) and jumping all the other jumps (barrels, logs and tyres).
So then I saddle and mount and do lots in the 100' roundpen. Changes of direction, transitions (trot, walk, stop, backup) and yin-yangs across the school. His walk and trot were better today, less tripping which may be because I trimmed his feet yesterday. Going well we came out of the roundpen into the field and did some trotting poles. I've moved the poles a bit nearer to the fence where they are slightly higher, hopefully this will encourage Sol to pick up his feet better.
Trotting poles
After having a great day I decided to do something completely new....JUMP! ;-) It went well and Sol jumped the small poles on the barrels neatly. This is his first jump with rider since being with us. And the look of things to come ;-)
Sol's very neat little jump with me on board
Saturday 6th September
Well it seems Autumn has crept up on me again. It was chilly and windy today but it was dry and after being away with Tara and Stormy at a Parelli Playday in Fife it was time to get back to playing with Solly.
He was quite receptive today and we did quite a lot, firstly online and then freestyle. Online was good, a few objections from Solly to turn to the right on a circle but I just stayed persistant with my requests and we got an understanding, he's just a little reticent about giving me his right eye.
We also continued with the Parelli Patterns and he was very good with the weaving and figure of 8 at the walk and also the figure of 8 at a trot.
Solly weaving at a walk through cones
His jumping was good too, he was very aware of what I was asking and jumped well.
Sol jumping the tyres without hesitating
We had some oposition to the tarpaulin again but I just asked for a little and walked away LOTS to encourage him with his confidence. Mark also walked his horse Holly over the tarp lots to help him but with the wind the tarp was moving a lot so I understood why he was worried. Although right at the end of the online session he just walked over it so calmly it took me by surprise!! ;-)
Sol walking over the tarp, calmly and very cooly...I almost missed it!
Jumping well with the saddle on too
After all the online stuff I saddled Sol and rode him freestyle in the 100' roundpen. I did walk and trot and also direct and indirect reins. Turned small circles at walk and trot to change direction and also across the pen. Then I did some point to point with back ups and also ride the rail with some sideways to see how well he was listening to me. All went well and he felt good to ride again.
I then took him out of the pen and did some point to point with the cones, some trotting poles and some weaving the cones at walk. He began to get lighter and managed to weave the cones without much rein at all.
Solly with the trotting poles freestyle
