Tuesday 30th June
Again it was a bit muggy here but I went out to see what we could do together today.
Firstly I played down in their field with a log, asking Sol to sniff it, put a foot onto it. He was cool with this and almost tried to stand up on it with his front feet but I backed him off it as it isn't the most secure log to stand on.
Next I played with asking him to squeeze between two logs together, a very small gap between them and he walked nicely through the space. We then went to circling and squeezing using the log as a jump. These all went well, low phases and good communication going on.
Then I brought him out of the field, groomed him and saddled him up. I put another 22' line, his bridle and my riding hat into my rucksack and up we went to the playfield.
On the way to the field we played Stick 2 Me with transitions of w/t/w/h/bkup/w/t and he was listening but his responses were a little slow. The heat didn't make it any easier. In the field we played around with moving circles with some jumps and more canter, which is going well. I don't have to use large phases to get the canter anymore and he is really listening and watching for my body language more.
After a break for some grazing I go to the cones and work on some fig 8's at trot and canter. He had a bit of a backup strop so I asked him to back up LOTS for a while until he stopped bracing and then his fig 8's were much better. He did them in trot and some great canter ones too. Sometimes when he gets a strop I'm always worried about whether he's being unconfident or dominant and sometimes I can get it wrong but I'm reading him much better now and can usually tell which way it's going to go from the way he does certain things. The weather again was a factor here, he was getting a bit sticky from the heat and the horseflies are HORRRID at the moment, every few seconds I was stiking them from his body. They are really irritating and hard to keep at bay. Working in a grass field doesn't help ;-(
Anyway, the next task was sideways over a small barrel and with me in Z1 he did this both ways with very little resisitance. Finally he's becomming more confident about things under Z3, the ball work last week has really helped him with this.
So, everything going well, he was relaxed, attentive, obedient and his impulsion was going well too...time to ride. I take him into the small arena and mount. I try some freestyle corners game but the horseflies are SO bad that he cannot pay attention, he keeps trying to bite them off him and at one point he was trying to kick his belly at them and it was like an odd buck! eek. SO, I dismount and play some more canter circles with jumps and call it a day. There is no way I could ask him to pay attention when riding with the onslaught of those flies. I'll be glad when horsefly season is over. Hopefully on Friday when we visit an indoor arena for a change of scenery there will be no flies there! I will try to get out with Sol during the week but if this weather continues and the flies are really bad then I'll just stick to some groundplay and maybe some liberty ;-)
Monday 29th June
Today has been muggy, sweaty, hot and down right slow going. I have been very tired and so didn't think I was going to go out today to play with Solly BUT by about 2pm I needed to get out of the house so I pottered on over to the field with my halter, 22' line and cs/ss. The horses came over to see me and to be petted which was lovely and I fussed and stroke them all. There are a LOT of black flies and clegs (horseflies) at the moment and although we spray them it doesn't seem to be doing as well this year as previously.
Solly came and caught me and I haltered up and sat on a log and played around with some friendly interspersed with sideways and yo-yo's. Sol seemed to be lethargic again like me too so I didn't do much. I then walked over to a flatter part of the field with less grazing in it and did some circling w/t/c with cod's and jumping logs too. It was good but very 'slow motion' action today. I then asked him to stand on a log and he messed around with putting one foot on and that was good enough as he was having fun doing it ;-)
I released him, took some time out to kill the clegs that kept being attracted to him every few seconds, hugged him and let him go to find some peace from the pesky little things. Although we didn't do much it was lovely to touch in with him and let him know we dont' always do mega play sessions. I hope tomorrow is less muggy and that we get out to ride a bit...for fun ;-)
Friday 26th June
Today a Parelli friend over in Blairgowrie invited me over to play with Solly at her yard. It's a great opportunity to take Sol to a new place, see how he copes with it and also to see her with her horse playing too.
I ran through the 7 games here at home before trailer loading him (which he did well even after a longish break since the last time) and we headed out for Blairgowrie. The journey took about 40 mins and was peaceful. Sol normally goes slightly introverted, he can sweat up but he's always calm when I get him out of the trailer.
When we got to the yard I left him in the trailer until he stopped trying to pace between the butt bar and the chest bar. lol. He wanted to 'get out now' but I waited until he was calm and then I opened up the front ramp, took down the chest bar and made him wait until I asked him to calmly walk out of the trailer. He was very good and even though he tried a step or two forward he backed up nice and quietly when I asked him to.
Out of the trailer and he had a GOOD look at everything, head up and taking in the scenery. He didn't try to grab at grass or anything and stood actually very well whilst taking in the other horses in fields and stables. He stood outside with me for about half an hour, his sweat drying off nicely, and then I squeezed him into a stable. He did this calmly and politely. I hung up a hay net, gave him some water and left him for a while. He had a georgous chestnut boy called Leaf next to him and they watched each other whilst I unpacked my equipment and took it down to the arena.
After the farrier had been to my friends horse we then haltered up and walked quietly out to the sand arena. Here we played the 7 games, my friend in L1 an me in L3/4. Solly was pretty good at most things.
Friendly: was excellent, all zones and all extremes, ropes over head from all zones and helicopter.
Porcupine: great, he was moving off a lightish phase from my fingers on all parts of his body with me in all zones. He also did a very good, light game of porcupine from the lead rope in 1/4 circles, his stops were very good and his sends were very quick and responsive.
Driving: not bad at all, we did an online version of the corners game with me in Z5 which was cool. His turns and disengagements were going well.
Yo-Yo: his backing up was a great ph1 with just my finger but his draw was a bit sticky. I MUST work on this, it's getting worse sometimes but then at others it's fine. It could have been a bit of unconfidence being in a strange place BUT I think it could be my belly button and I need to learn to move it from looking at him so intently.
Circling: was wonderful, laps of trot without me thinking about it. He did some nice COD's too. His Falling Leaf and 'S' bends went well too and we'd not done any of those for a while.
Sideways: a bit sticky but actually much better slower away from the fence. Maybe he thought the fence was on as it was electric wire. His sideways towards and with FQ and HQ individually were very good. He also sideways'd over a pole nicely and totally cooled me out with going sideways towards me with the pole still under him. He tried to go forwards a couple of times but then got what I was asking him and just did it... First time for this and I was so proud of him ;-))
Squeeze: he jumped the 'normal' wooden pole jumps very well. I've not got any normal jumps so it was nice to see he had no problem with these and he didn't knock them down which was good. He squeezed backwards between to barrels nicely, took it one step at a time and he really tried his heart out for me with that one.
We also played around with w/t/h/bk transitions with Stick 2 Me, moving him in circles to the left and right (so making sure drive and draw working). Jumping one barrel on it's side too was going well. Next we tried some fig 8's and he had real STICKY feet coming towards me with this today. Again this was unconfidence with the new place and I really had to move my belly button from 'staring' at him directly so that he could come around the barrels to change the direction. A good lesson for me to learn as it made me realise that it's just too much pressure for him.
Later on after a small break I tried some 'Lead the leg' with his front right leg and he tried really hard but then went introverted and so I stopped, stood away at the end of the 22' line and let him come out of it on his own. It took a few mins and I could see him struggling with not wanting to go there, trying to blink himself from going there. I really felt for him and realised that I shouldn't try things at new places that we've not done for a while...or at least try them really, really, really slowly to keep his confidence! He went so quickly into it that I missed some subtle signs telling me he was going.
Anyway, he came out of it and we did lots of friendly game and after a few more games I went over and saddled him up. At this point my friend took her horse back to it's stable for a rest and to get ready to be fed as we'd been out for quite some time...and it was getting really hot. So, I saddled and Solly got a bit unconfident with his new friend gone. He whinney'd a bit and tried to go back towards the arena gateway so I just played with him as if nothing had happend. Lots of sideways game and yo-yo's, then squeezing over barrels and generally settling him down.
When he was calm and responsive, obedient and reliable so I bridled up and mounted and did some flight tests. LF, DHQ's etc. He was listening to me and I started straight away with some freestyle corners game in walk and then trot and finally in canter. He was a very good boy and so I let him rest/graze for a bit. Then we went and did some 180's patterns (which I worked in freestyle for the corners game bit and finesse for the turn on the forehand bit), I did this in trot and canter and was having a lot of fun with these. He started getting good impulsion from going into the trot or canter out of the forehand turn...yeehaa cowgirl! lol.
After another break we did some finesse ride the rail in w/t and then moved onto finesse circles and serpentines and popped in a jump too. Finally we played around with some trot bullseyes and then leg yields out on the circle again. These were fun but we were now both getting quite hot so stopped on a good note.
I took Sol and the equipment back up to the yard, popped Sol back into a stable, sorted out my equipment back into the trailer and car and then drove the trailer down the track a bit. Along the track a bit it has one side angled lower than the other and there is a deep puddled in it. We thought it would be better to get the trailer past this and then load up Sol so that he didn't have to bump in/out of that bit whilst in the trailer. SO, then I went and got Sol, my friend had so kindly cleaned the stable he'd been in and that was so nice of her as I was just about to do it. Thanks ;-)) Sol haltered up nicely and we walked down to the trailer, the ramp was down and I put him to it and on the third attempt he popped in. This was pretty good as his new friend was right there at the fence and just cantered off when I was trying to get him into the trailer but Sol still went in for me. He's a SUCH a good boy.
Journey home was peaceful and when I got him home he was a bit sweaty again so I showered him off with the hose and put him out in the field with his herd to await his well earned dinner.
It was a lovely day with a lovely friend and I hope to get out again here. It's so nice to be around other PNHers and to be able to try out new places to encourage confidence with Solly. Thank you my friend for having us over at your yard it was a nice treat for us both ;-)
Wednesday 24th June
Today it was a bit muggy and the weather made me feel very very tired but I went out with some equipment after lunch and then decided to sit down on the ground away from Solly and see if he wanted to come over to me. He was dozing and swishing flies off for about 10 mins before he decided to come on over and investigate what I was doing. He sniffed the tools (CS, SS, Polyposts, 22' line, rucksack and brushes) and then sniffed me. He also put his muzzle onto of my head and rested his head on mine for a short time too! lol.
I realised that I just wasn't feeling up to playing today and I don't think Solly was either. I just got up and groomed him and swished flies off his body with the cs/ss for about 15 mins...pretty nice undemanding time really. I then hugged him and walked back home.
Tuesday 23rd June
I went out to play with Sol today in the grazing field and took the ball with me. He was lying down when I got down there so I just waited around until he got up, it didn't take long and it was fun sitting there bouncing on the ball! lol
He caught me well and I haltered whilst kneeling down which was cool. We started off with some friendly, all zones, going to extreme too. Then we played around with driving from Z5 at walk and trot, tossing the rope over his head when changing direction. Then I tried to do some canter from Z5. He didn't understand to start with but I persisted until he did. We managed canter on both reins but I wasn't good enough to toss the rope over his head during the trotting part of the SLC, something to work on though. I was totally puffed out at the end of it, I'm not used to running around, especially when it's hot.
Next I got him trotting and drove him up to the ball and yeehaa, he stopped, sniffed it and kicked it out of the way! ;-) How cool is that. He didn't look worried by it at all and we made a game of him going up and kicking it. Then I stood in front of him on the 22' line and asked him to kick it to me and I played around with pushing it back just gently to him so that he could do it again. It went pretty well but I didn't overface him so hopefully this is something that we can play around with more later on. Then I bounced the ball around on the ground, making it go really high sometimes and then low and up to his shoulder, on his shoulder, on his back, bouncing it on his shoulder and back and then off again and rolling it underneath his belly. I do this both sides and he does superbly with it all. I leave it on a good note and then lead him back to the house whilst pushing the ball back with the CS.
I saddle and take my rucksack with some equipment in it and head on up to the playfield. I took Sol's saddle and halter off when up in the field and let him loose for a while to graze so that I could rearrange my small 20x40m arena. I set it up with one side against a wire fence, this is along a 'crop' field where pheasants are going to be roaming when they come for the estate. The grass is about 4' high and Sol is a little hesitant about using that side of the arena because of whatever could be in the grass...don't blame him to be honest SO I decide to take the arena down and set it up on the other side of the playfield. It takes time but worth it so that we don't have any flying bird accidents.
After sorting out all that I get Sol to catch me, play around a bit and saddle up and cinch in three cinchings using some circling game, jumps and yo-yo's in trot along a fence.
I then take him into the arena and mount. I decide to not use my reins at all again today, using only the CS and SS around his neck we start with the corners game, on all corners and also going diagonally to corners across the arena which was fun. We do this all in walk and then trot. Next I start asking for some back up when we get to the corners and when this is good I start a session of the 180's pattern in trot. This pattern is to go to a corner (or stop wherever, I'm using corners as this is the game he knows well), stop, backup so that the weight is on his HQ's and then ask for a 180 turn onthe HQ's. We do the turns slowly and I really make sure I'm asking for a turn with his weight back on his haunches. It's fun this pattern and I can see it becomming a good thing to test as the turns could start getting faster when we've got it better and then we could come out of the turn in canter later on too. It will be fun to play with this, Sol could be a cool western horse -)
After having a good play and ride it began to get VERY VERY HOT so I called it a day. Rode Sol home, untacked him and then gave him a good shower with some Ekonneem soap. Hopefully the soap will help keep the flies off more. He was really dirty and I gave him a good scrub with a brush and tried hard to get his tail whiter. It was fun, I got soaking wet but it was so hot it didn't matter. Think he really appreciated it and it's good to get him used to the shower more, every desensitization is working more on his confidence.
Monday 22nd June
Go out today to play down in the grazing field as have been busy this morning and just wanted to do a short session. I take with me 4 polypoles for obstacles. I set them up in a row so I can do weaving and fig 8 patterns. Here's our session:
1) FQ yields:
I stand in Z3 and start walking back in a small circle and Solly draws towards me in a FQ's yield towards. It was pretty amazing, he was on the 22' line but it was very slack and I didn't use the CS at all, he just did it. I tested it a couple of times during the session, at liberty too and on both sides and he just 'got it'. Cool ;-)
2) Weave:
Again using the 22' line I ask Sol to weave at walk and trot with me getting further away from the poles. Haven't done this pattern for a while but he remembers it well.
3) Fig 8's:
He does these at w/t and canter with SLC's and FLC's sometimes. He's learning to do bigger circles at each end now and I'm learning to really use light phases and gestures.
4) Longreining:
Do some weaving and fig 8's at w/t. It's going well, I need to learn to keep my belly button and focus ahead rather than on him but once I remember that he goes forward well. It's great to do this with a pattern as the pattern really helps to get the right focus.
5) Riding:
I jump on him bareback from a log, I keep the reins over his neck and have the SS around his neck. Firstly I do some LF and DHQ's. Then, using only the CS and SS around the neck I work on some walking weave and fig 8 patterns. All is going okay but he STILL doesn't move off my leg/weight so I try something else. I try putting my weight back more and extending my outside leg so that it can actually touch/tap his outside shoulder into the turn. I can't believe it but it works, I back up my leg by tapping the shoulder with the CS if I need to and he turns wonderfully. It feels weird being in a position that extends my outside leg and changes the position a lot of my shoulder and butt but it works so play around with this in walk and trot and with mostly the fig 8 pattern. Very pleased with this, a BFO really as it makes sense to try this but I'd probably never had good enough balance before to try it. Riding bareback probably helped as I can move about without the saddle in the way.
6) Liberty:
After a good riding session I set him to liberty and we do some Stick 2 Me w/t/c/h/bk transitions. He also follows me whilst I pick up the polypoles and ropes and I 'release' him back into the herd before I leave. He's really good at liberty and this is the first time we attempted canter at liberty in a large field with other horses around, before it's always been walk or trot as I've been worried about him running off BUT today he proved we have a good enough bond to do the canter now ;-)
Sunday 21st June
Today is a nice day after the sun came up and sizzled all the midges up. lol. Mark and I went out to the grazing field with our saddles and stuff and played there ready for a short ride out like last Sunday.
My session was good with Solly, he was quite dozy when I first went out so I took things slowly, doing lots of friendly game, friendly with ropes over head from all zones and asking for DHQ's and moving FQ's. He starts to liven up a bit so I play around with some yo-yo's and then onto circling. I use some circles on the move and then stop near a log for him to jump and this goes very well. After playing around with that I then go onto playing around with some trotting falling leaf and 's' bends. He starts to liven up a bit and his turns are becomming sharper and more precise.
I go and groom him and saddle up and play around some more whilst cinching. Then I stand on a log to mount and dear Sol stands up there with me with his front feet. This is SO cool, he's such a joker and it's lovely to see him have fun with things like logs now too ;-)
Next I do some ridden circling, serpentines, w/t/c/h/bkup's then canter fig 8's with SLC's and am ready to head out for a short hack out. We take the same route as last week, first to the river and I let Mark go through the river first with Holly to let Sol see how it's done again and then we give it a go....
...he is a little hesitant but after only 4 tries he goes for it! cool ;-)
Into the river and around the fence like he's been doing it for ages. I'm so proud of him and every little thing now is more fun as he's really learning to trust me more. We then go up the road, Holly has a canter and we follow suit. Sol puts his head up and thinks about going a bit RB but I just raise one rein slightly and lightly (suspension rein) and he comes back to me in an instant and enjoy the rest of the canter without any silliness. Fab.
We then go across a road and canter again and he gives me the most lovely canter and also a fast canter along a grassy patch. Again he is very easy to bring back to me and this gives me the confidence to try it again, so it's all going well. When we go back he doesn't try to just canter out of habit, he trots beautifully behind Holly and then overtakes her without any ears back or faces.
Middle of the hack out where we turn around for homeThen it's onto the small road for a bit, back onto the estate and around the small forest which we tackle in a good trot, some fast walk and incorporating serpentines down the hillock. Fun stuff.
When we get home Sol is a little sweaty so I warm hose him down on his neck and saddle area and he really enjoys it. Another lovely ride out with Solly, Mark and Holly. I put him back into the field and I had to fetch some equipment we'd left on the other side and Sol played Stick 2 Me all the way there, at liberty. Walking, trotting, turning, stopping and backing up with me. It was fun. I gave him a big hug and sent him to be with his herd again. Liberty is so much fun ;-)
When we get home Sol is a little sweaty so I warm hose him down on his neck and saddle area and he really enjoys it. Another lovely ride out with Solly, Mark and Holly. I put him back into the field and I had to fetch some equipment we'd left on the other side and Sol played Stick 2 Me all the way there, at liberty. Walking, trotting, turning, stopping and backing up with me. It was fun. I gave him a big hug and sent him to be with his herd again. Liberty is so much fun ;-)
Piccie of me and Tara.
Today we finally got our green badge and string
from passing our PNH L3 audition in March
Today we finally got our green badge and string
from passing our PNH L3 audition in March
Friday 19th June
Today I spent 40 mins of undemanding time with the herd. I sat watching them whilst they dozed, ate and then Stormy and Solly came over for scratches. I got some good itchy spots from them today, behind their elbows and their inner thighs....fly's have been a bit bity recently. They both then went out and rolled in the muddyest puddles they could find and left me with Tara in her 50' roundpen where she is staying to try to stop her eating so much...I'm also exercising her 1-2 times a day to help keep her fitter.
So today was a nice quiet day with just some special time spent with the herd to make sure I don't always go out and 'do' something with them, I can just be a quiet herd member ;-)
So today was a nice quiet day with just some special time spent with the herd to make sure I don't always go out and 'do' something with them, I can just be a quiet herd member ;-)
Thursday 18th June
Today a friend of mine came over, she has studied PNH for quite some time too and she wanted to get to 'feel' what collection can feel like. She wanted to ride Tara, which I let her, but I know Tara doesn't have the true feel of collection as she is stiff in her back so I took Solly too.
I played with him and rode him, did some freestyle and finesse and some jumping too (bigger jumps now) to settle him for her to ride and then I asked if she wanted to ride him to 'feel' what it's like with a bit of collection. She took up the challenge and did SO well with him.
She has a good balanced seat and really nice hands so Sol was just fine with her. She played around with walk and putting him on circles, testing for softness and flexibility and then I said she should play around with weaving him on a more concentrated rein. She did this and slowly began to get the feel of holding the reins tighter with soft hands.
In the end she did some lovely weaving at trot with Sol, asking him to move over with an inside suspension rein and some outside leg to push him over and she felt that connected feel. He began to arch his neck a bit and bring his back up so that he could step under more from behind. She was smiling from ear to ear ;-) and it was so lovely to see my boy behaving impecably with a friend of mine and helping her 'feel' that wonderful lightness of a horse in natural collection.
My friend Diana with Solly boy ;-)
During my play session Sol did some really nice stick to me at canter at liberty, wonderfully light circling and jumps online and I really enjoyed my jumping with him. We're now doing two jumps in a row with nice canter between and him really easy to 'bring back to me' after each jump. I will continue to add jumps so that we both get more confident doing them ;-)
Tuesday 16th June
I play with Sol down in the grazing field as now they're down by the pond it's a long way up to the playfield and I want to play with the ball down there as it's nice a flat. He does really well today. I play all the usual games, making sure I am asking in lighter and lighter phases and that he gives me more attention, calmness, impulsion and respect each day. All the games are going really well and we play for quite a while. When it comes to playing with the ball I start with asking Sol to do some falling leaf in front of me, slowly getting closer to where the ball is. He has a bit of trouble with this, bending away from me to keep his eye on the ball, so I continue but retreat a bit. Soon he pays attention to me again and I start going back towards it again. It takes a while but eventually after a turn he heads straight for the ball and gets really close, then closer and then sniffs it. I let him rest next to the ball for a while and then I take him away from it completely and do a bit of something else for a minute.
I then ask him back to the ball and he goes and touches it straight away, again I retreat away from it and we rest. Next I go up to the ball and start kicking it away from him, then I bounce it about from my left to right hands keeping Sol to one side or the other of me. Soon I'm bouncing the ball near him, up to his shoulders, bouncing on him, pushing it under him and Sol does well with this all, not moving his feet and not going RBint. I end on a good note and kick the ball back up the hill to home with him following behind us.
I then saddle and bridle at the house and play stick 2 me up to the top playfield whilst cinching him along the way. I have my hard hat on and he is still in the halter with 22' rope.
At the top field I play about with some games, put in some jumps and fig 8's and then ask him to sniff the small white barrel. He does this fine. Hopefully some of the ball work will help with this sticky task now! I then ask him to sidepass over it from left to right with me in Z1, this really helps him to 'not go forward'. He has trouble but is much more willing to try for me so I stay where I am, rest when he tries and keep asking when necessary. Eventually (and it wasn't very long really) he goes over it and I make sure he keeps sidepassing a long way off the barrel to some nice grazing. I then ask him to do the same going the other way and he manages okay, a bit stickier than the first way but hey, he wouldn't even go over the thing last week, so I'm very proud of him for his huge try ;-)
We then go into the small arena and do some freestyle w/t/c corners game, using all the corners for a change. He's really getting good at this game now, just shows what consistency can do for a horse that I thought would never 'get it'. After this we do some ride the rail and he does this well too! Very happy as these are the backbone of getting harmony but I have been slow in doing it as I was worried about his bucking or charging off!
Then I put the CS down and work on some Finesse. Circles, serpentines, COD's in w/t/c and it's feeling much nicer now. I also do some 20m circles in the middle of the arena and include some leg yields in and out of the circle, basically ridden bullseye and this really helps us 'find' the circle rather than me 'keeping' him on the circle. I end on a good note and decide to go out for a short forest hack out. Sol does this very very well, trotting a LOT of the way today and a very short canter too. I'm really loving our sessions ;-)
I then ask him back to the ball and he goes and touches it straight away, again I retreat away from it and we rest. Next I go up to the ball and start kicking it away from him, then I bounce it about from my left to right hands keeping Sol to one side or the other of me. Soon I'm bouncing the ball near him, up to his shoulders, bouncing on him, pushing it under him and Sol does well with this all, not moving his feet and not going RBint. I end on a good note and kick the ball back up the hill to home with him following behind us.
I then saddle and bridle at the house and play stick 2 me up to the top playfield whilst cinching him along the way. I have my hard hat on and he is still in the halter with 22' rope.
At the top field I play about with some games, put in some jumps and fig 8's and then ask him to sniff the small white barrel. He does this fine. Hopefully some of the ball work will help with this sticky task now! I then ask him to sidepass over it from left to right with me in Z1, this really helps him to 'not go forward'. He has trouble but is much more willing to try for me so I stay where I am, rest when he tries and keep asking when necessary. Eventually (and it wasn't very long really) he goes over it and I make sure he keeps sidepassing a long way off the barrel to some nice grazing. I then ask him to do the same going the other way and he manages okay, a bit stickier than the first way but hey, he wouldn't even go over the thing last week, so I'm very proud of him for his huge try ;-)
We then go into the small arena and do some freestyle w/t/c corners game, using all the corners for a change. He's really getting good at this game now, just shows what consistency can do for a horse that I thought would never 'get it'. After this we do some ride the rail and he does this well too! Very happy as these are the backbone of getting harmony but I have been slow in doing it as I was worried about his bucking or charging off!
Then I put the CS down and work on some Finesse. Circles, serpentines, COD's in w/t/c and it's feeling much nicer now. I also do some 20m circles in the middle of the arena and include some leg yields in and out of the circle, basically ridden bullseye and this really helps us 'find' the circle rather than me 'keeping' him on the circle. I end on a good note and decide to go out for a short forest hack out. Sol does this very very well, trotting a LOT of the way today and a very short canter too. I'm really loving our sessions ;-)
Sunday 14th June
1) Catching game:
In large field, he caught me well. I had the saddle with me and he stuck to me at liberty to where I put the saddle down on a log. Liberty grooming then haltered up.
2) Yo-yo's:
Working on lightness and obedience.
3) Moving around:
Play around with DHQ's and moving FQ's faster and with lightness.
4) Porcupine:
Playing around with those 1/4 circles, porcupine stops with lead rope. He is getting much much lighter with these and stops well with just the lift of the rope now.
5) Circles:
4 laps at trot each way then some canter. Then I go for some transitions with some COD's in. Again asking for lightness and obedience with very low phases.
6) Bullseye:
He does this at trot very nicely and he also gives me some close circling at trot with some very neat COD's.
7) Sideways:
Away and towards L&R, then HQ's and FQ's towards L&R individually. These are working very well and I hope it will help when I come to start working on Haunches in and Shoulders in. I then play around with sideways from Z5 too.
8) Squeeze:
Over a medium sized log, he does it very well.
9) Saddling/Cinching:
Goes well and do three cinchings inbetween circles and jumps.
10) Mount:
Do some quick LF, DHQ's, w/t/c/ tests, all going well so Mark and I go off for a hack out. This time the opposite way to how we normally do so it will seem to the horses like a different hack out.
11) Hack:
Open gate; Solly needs to do more of this, he can stand still whilst opening the gate but doesn't like getting close to the gate when I'm trying to close it as the gate can move onto his shoulders/lets! will play around with this more later on.
We go down to the river and I spend quite a bit of time approaching and retreating with the river. He did the river last time after porcupineing him a few sessions first but that was from the other way, this is new to him and just when I think I need to get off and squeeze him through it he does it! yeehaa. Lots of licking and chewing the other side and I let him graze as a reward.
Onwards we go and he is looking about, thinking and 'with' the ride...I check regularly to see if he's gone RBint (his ears moving, his eyes blinking...everything ok) and he's fine. Then we have a short canter as the track is nice and grassy and it was a lovely canter, with Mark and Holly behind us too.
We go up the track and he takes the lead nicely and has another short graze.
Over the road to another grassy patch and we have another canter behind Holly this time, I keep him on a close, but not tight, rein and again he does superbly. I feel very happy and confident with him today. We then go back to the road, up the hill and back onto the estate.
We go around the forest track in walk and trot and we get home happy and calm and I feel we've really moved on a BIG step in our relationship ;-)
Friday 12th June
Sun, sun, sun....yeehaa. I do the lawn and then take Holly and Solly up to the playfield, Mark is going to ride today too and it feels good for Mark to be able to take advantage of working from home by riding out at lunchtime ;-)
I play with Holly for about an hour working on getting her calmer and more obedient with the 7 games and obstacles. She does really well and I feel good that Mark can now come out and only need to play a bit before saddling and hacking out.
Here is Sol and my play session:
1) Catching Game:
I had let Sol loose in a large area while I played with Holly so it was good to be able to play this game and he came to me beautifully even though there is TONS of grass in this spot! I then groomed him whilst he grazed for being a good boy.
2) Yo-yo's:
Working on our draw more.
3) Porcupine:
Using the 1/4 circle porcupine lead rope stops again. This is working wonderfully at getting his attention, stopping brace, upping him impulsion. We even did a couple at canter today and I couldn't believe how quickly he moved his HQ's away! lol. Fab stuff.
4) Sideways:
Working more on sideways towards, he really knows how to get his body over now with the CS or SS on Z3 but today I asked for even more...I used the CS/SS on individual parts so whilst standing by his shoulder I got him moving his HQ's towards me whilst his front legs pivoted and also when standing in Z4 (rump) I got him moving his FQ's towards me while his hind legs pivoted. I was pretty impressed with this today, he pivoted wonderfully.
5) Circling:
Did some transitions, jumps and circles on the move.
6) Ball:
Again I played around with the ball. Retreating with it, bouncing it away from him, bouncing it up near his shoulder, catching it and putting it on his back and shoulder. Bouncing it on his shoulder and back (he went a bit RBint but not badly and I retreated and approached when this happened) then kicking it away from him and us following it. I then got it near his legs and rubbed it up his front legs and to his back again. I was moving around a lot, allowing him to sniff it when he wanted and before he knew it I was rolling it under his belly a few times. He was in RBint mode again but only just and I will continue working with this until it's not a problem at all.
I then asked him to sniff it and kick it, encouraging him to be positive in his kicking of the ball and he really started to do this well. I left it on a good note and will continue progressing with it until he starts going to find it of his own accord ;-)
7) Stick 2 Me:
I saddle him in the small arena and put him at liberty for some more Stick 2 Me. He does very well, w/bkup/halt/walk/trot/canter. With the first two canter tries he runs off but catches me again quickly. Then he does the canter with me nicely to L&R so I let him graze for doing so well again.
8) Freestyle:
Work on the Corners Game again, w/t/c and this time I don't hold the reins at all...yeehaa! lol. It was a really good test of our trust together and he stopped and I tried my best to relax and stop my body to stop him. It's getting better but I must continue practising it.
9) Finesse:
I do some transition work, w/t/w, h/t/h/t, t/c/t etc. Then I play around with circles and serpentines working on making sure his shoulder is positioned well for each change of the rein when doing fig 8's and serpentines. Then I play around with some canter fig 8's with SLC's at trot at X. It goes nicely and it will be fun working on these more. Mark was up by this time and took some photo's of me cantering around.
I play with Holly for about an hour working on getting her calmer and more obedient with the 7 games and obstacles. She does really well and I feel good that Mark can now come out and only need to play a bit before saddling and hacking out.
Here is Sol and my play session:
1) Catching Game:
I had let Sol loose in a large area while I played with Holly so it was good to be able to play this game and he came to me beautifully even though there is TONS of grass in this spot! I then groomed him whilst he grazed for being a good boy.
2) Yo-yo's:
Working on our draw more.
3) Porcupine:
Using the 1/4 circle porcupine lead rope stops again. This is working wonderfully at getting his attention, stopping brace, upping him impulsion. We even did a couple at canter today and I couldn't believe how quickly he moved his HQ's away! lol. Fab stuff.
4) Sideways:
Working more on sideways towards, he really knows how to get his body over now with the CS or SS on Z3 but today I asked for even more...I used the CS/SS on individual parts so whilst standing by his shoulder I got him moving his HQ's towards me whilst his front legs pivoted and also when standing in Z4 (rump) I got him moving his FQ's towards me while his hind legs pivoted. I was pretty impressed with this today, he pivoted wonderfully.
5) Circling:
Did some transitions, jumps and circles on the move.
6) Ball:
Again I played around with the ball. Retreating with it, bouncing it away from him, bouncing it up near his shoulder, catching it and putting it on his back and shoulder. Bouncing it on his shoulder and back (he went a bit RBint but not badly and I retreated and approached when this happened) then kicking it away from him and us following it. I then got it near his legs and rubbed it up his front legs and to his back again. I was moving around a lot, allowing him to sniff it when he wanted and before he knew it I was rolling it under his belly a few times. He was in RBint mode again but only just and I will continue working with this until it's not a problem at all.
I then asked him to sniff it and kick it, encouraging him to be positive in his kicking of the ball and he really started to do this well. I left it on a good note and will continue progressing with it until he starts going to find it of his own accord ;-)
7) Stick 2 Me:
I saddle him in the small arena and put him at liberty for some more Stick 2 Me. He does very well, w/bkup/halt/walk/trot/canter. With the first two canter tries he runs off but catches me again quickly. Then he does the canter with me nicely to L&R so I let him graze for doing so well again.
8) Freestyle:
Work on the Corners Game again, w/t/c and this time I don't hold the reins at all...yeehaa! lol. It was a really good test of our trust together and he stopped and I tried my best to relax and stop my body to stop him. It's getting better but I must continue practising it.
9) Finesse:
I do some transition work, w/t/w, h/t/h/t, t/c/t etc. Then I play around with circles and serpentines working on making sure his shoulder is positioned well for each change of the rein when doing fig 8's and serpentines. Then I play around with some canter fig 8's with SLC's at trot at X. It goes nicely and it will be fun working on these more. Mark was up by this time and took some photo's of me cantering around.
10) Jumps:
I end the playfield session with a couple of jumps and decide that I must start jumping something a bit bigger now as Sol isn't jumping the low ones as well anymore because they're too small.
11) Hack Out:
Mark and I then go out for a hack around the forest walk but also with an extention up a long hill a bit. This is the hill I fell of Sol last year so I've not ventured up here since then. I wasn't sure how Sol would be but he amazed me, he followed Holly well but didn't panic when she went a bit further on. He walked and trotted beautifully and right near the top we had ourselves a neat little canter. It felt good and he was calm and attentive. We walked most of the way back with a couple of little trots on some not so steep downhill bits. There was no birds flying about, nothing worrying us and the sun shone to make it a lovely afternoon out with Mark and the horses ;-))
At the top of the hill
The last part of hack.This is normally the first bit of hack that Sol has trouble with. You can see the shadows down here, it's probably this that worries him on the way out, but not a problem coming home ;-)
Thursday 11th June
Had a very good day today and moved forward with a couple of things which was a good feeling. Here is our session:
1) Driving:
Z5 along road to playfield. Walk/trot/backups. Felt good.
2) Porcupine/Driving:
Really test our DHQ's and move FQ's over so that he pivots more and is quicker. He does really well and it's good to test these every now and then. I also ask for porcupine from the nose and he is very light today.
3) Yo-yo's:
Work on going back with energy and drawing at trot.
4) Friendly:
Extreme and helicopter in all zones then rope over head from Z3, Z4 and Z5 and lastly I do rope over his head from Z1. He's pretty cool with friendly game ;-)
5) Sideways:
I do this from Z1 and ask for L&R moves but use the string to 'pull' him towards rather than the stick on the other side to push him over. Pretty cool, he understands what the flick of the string on his back in Z3 means now without hesitation.
6) Circles:
Doing some more 1/4 circles with the porcupine lead rope. He does them immediately today, very quick off and a very quick DHQ's with a lift of the rope. Cool ;-)
7) Long Reining:
Again today I use 2x22' lines and work on figure of 8's with me in Z5 at trot and throwing the ropes individually over his back. He gets it very quickly again today and he did a few figures without changing gait which is great.
8) Hill Circling:
I asked for 3-4 laps in trot and he went and did a few at canter for me today! yeehaa....won't complain about that one! lol. He is getting much more balanced the more he does of these.
9) Fig 8's:
Doing these again at trot and canter often with FLC's and then with jumps too. I'm using more and more of the 22' line for these and I'm getting better at directing him over the jumps from a distance now, I think the long reining has really helped us with this.
10) Ball work:
On Jackie Chant's course last week I asked her how I could help Solly become more confident about having things under his belly and touching his feet as I was getting a bit stuck on how to help him sideways over the small barrel. Jackie said to use the ball, get him very confident with it, all around, pushing it, on his back, bouncing on his shoulders and then asking him to accept it being rolled under him. SO, today was the start of that.
He was a little unconfident at first, he went a bit RBint and I just had to wait for him to come back from that place before proceeding. I used LOTS of retreat, rolling it away from him. Then approach and retreat and he got confident enough for me to put it on his shoulder, back and bounce it around a bit. Then I asked him to sniff it....
2) Porcupine/Driving:
Really test our DHQ's and move FQ's over so that he pivots more and is quicker. He does really well and it's good to test these every now and then. I also ask for porcupine from the nose and he is very light today.
3) Yo-yo's:
Work on going back with energy and drawing at trot.
4) Friendly:
Extreme and helicopter in all zones then rope over head from Z3, Z4 and Z5 and lastly I do rope over his head from Z1. He's pretty cool with friendly game ;-)
5) Sideways:
I do this from Z1 and ask for L&R moves but use the string to 'pull' him towards rather than the stick on the other side to push him over. Pretty cool, he understands what the flick of the string on his back in Z3 means now without hesitation.
6) Circles:
Doing some more 1/4 circles with the porcupine lead rope. He does them immediately today, very quick off and a very quick DHQ's with a lift of the rope. Cool ;-)
7) Long Reining:
Again today I use 2x22' lines and work on figure of 8's with me in Z5 at trot and throwing the ropes individually over his back. He gets it very quickly again today and he did a few figures without changing gait which is great.
8) Hill Circling:
I asked for 3-4 laps in trot and he went and did a few at canter for me today! yeehaa....won't complain about that one! lol. He is getting much more balanced the more he does of these.
9) Fig 8's:
Doing these again at trot and canter often with FLC's and then with jumps too. I'm using more and more of the 22' line for these and I'm getting better at directing him over the jumps from a distance now, I think the long reining has really helped us with this.
10) Ball work:
On Jackie Chant's course last week I asked her how I could help Solly become more confident about having things under his belly and touching his feet as I was getting a bit stuck on how to help him sideways over the small barrel. Jackie said to use the ball, get him very confident with it, all around, pushing it, on his back, bouncing on his shoulders and then asking him to accept it being rolled under him. SO, today was the start of that.
He was a little unconfident at first, he went a bit RBint and I just had to wait for him to come back from that place before proceeding. I used LOTS of retreat, rolling it away from him. Then approach and retreat and he got confident enough for me to put it on his shoulder, back and bounce it around a bit. Then I asked him to sniff it....
Then to sniff it with more confidence, which he did and almost bit into it...
And then I asked him to try to kick it with his front feet. He had trouble with this but using retreat, approach and retreat he managed to get some confidence about doing that. I used the strategy that if he kicked the ball away a bit he could graze where the ball had been and this motivation really made sense to him! lol...
I will work on that for the next 7 days or more and hopefully up to where I can roll it under his belly ;-)
11) Saddling/Cinching:
Used circling with jumps to help with this today and also trying out some online spins, trying to get these better before attempting at liberty.
12) Stick 2 Me:
I take him into the small 20x40m arena and with the saddle still on I put him at liberty. Then I ask him to stick 2 me at walk, backup, walk, trot, walk. I use this to test our halt/trot transitions too and they work very well. Very pleased with his stick 2 me game. I then ask him to halt/trot/canter and he stick to me very well, in fact he canters a 15m circle around me and didn't run off which was fab. I tested this to the L&R and he did it so well I stopped on a very good note. He's such a good boy, really focussed at the moment which is great.
13) Bridled:
Bit had dried toothpaste on it again and it worked fab. Bit went straight in and no bother at all ;-)
14) Ridden Freestyle Corners Game:
W/T/C and I manage to really just sit with him and stop my body to stop his. His DHQ's and turns are getting much better now, I've really been making a point of not lifting the reins up for this unless I really have to.
15) Ridden Finesse Circles/Serpentines:
Working on concentrated reins with these two patterns is really helping him to balance a bit better around the corners. I make sure that when changing the rein I put his shoulder over first and then circle or half circle a move.
16) Ridden Trans:
Just like what I did with Sol with the stick 2 me I work on halt/trot transitions and he really got it very quickly and was light on the bit. I then take the gaits up and ask for trot/canter trans to the L&R and use the canter to try some 20m circles. He drops in on the circle a bit so I must learn to help him with that in my own body but generally for a first real try in the small arena he did very well. It's nice to know that the trot is going well now so that I can move on to some canter work and get that better now. This is proof of our progression and it feels really good to move on with the things we've been working on to incorporate higher gaits and more maneouvers. Cool ;-)
Tuesday 9th June
Decided today I would play for a shorter time and then go out for a hack for fun ;-)
1) Driving:
From Z5 again from grazing field to playfield with transitions.
2) Friendly:
Started with grooming as he was a very muddy horse today, probably rolled to keep midges off last night. I then played a bit with friendly with the large tyre, asking him to put his nose in it and graze.
1) Driving:
From Z5 again from grazing field to playfield with transitions.
2) Friendly:
Started with grooming as he was a very muddy horse today, probably rolled to keep midges off last night. I then played a bit with friendly with the large tyre, asking him to put his nose in it and graze.
3) Porcupine:
Worked on some obedience and impulsion with porcupine with the lead rope, 1/4 circle stops. This really gets his 'go' going and sorts out some obedience on stopping issues as it's a very quick off on the circle then quick lift the rope and stop with almost a slide DHQ's. It's also helping get our DHQ's more particular with 'no come forward' which is good.
4) Saddling and cinching:
Saddle whilst he's grazing so no problems there. lol. I then cinch him in three cinchings doing some circling with multiple jumps and circling transitions where I ask for a canter, COD w/SLC (trot) and up quickly into canter again. He got the hang of this nicely and had some nice impulsion. Then I asked him to do a couple of jumps.
5) Ridden QB:
I ask for circles to the left at trot first and stay on the pattern until he's focussing better. Then I let him rest at X and graze and then going back into trot from halt onto the left circles again. I try to do as many times as possible to get him listening to me but without him getting bored. He does okay. I then do the same to the right and I know that I must take one day out and just do this LOTS so that the pattern really sticks in his brain.
6) Hack out:
I take him on the forest ride we've been working on and it went pretty well. I didn't have to get off at all and after the initial worry at the start of the track he went all the way with only two grazing stops. I asked for w/t/w transitions and then a few strides of canter which he did nicely. I then thought of asking for t/c/t transitions but on the hill he was reluctant to canter and just trotted very fast so I just asked him to trot, trot fast and then trot again so that he got used to going a bit faster on the track. No problems at all on the hack out, a pheasant flew behind us up onto a tall wall but I saw it and kept Sol's focus on what we were doing and it was fine ;-) It was really nice to get out of the playfield for a while together.
When I got back and put him into the field with the herd I went and took him to the other horses and then decided to sit and watch them for a while with undemanding time. Sol wandered off and then came back to be with me. I stroked him and found some itchy spots which was lovely and he just stood there relaxed and happy ;-)
Worked on some obedience and impulsion with porcupine with the lead rope, 1/4 circle stops. This really gets his 'go' going and sorts out some obedience on stopping issues as it's a very quick off on the circle then quick lift the rope and stop with almost a slide DHQ's. It's also helping get our DHQ's more particular with 'no come forward' which is good.
4) Saddling and cinching:
Saddle whilst he's grazing so no problems there. lol. I then cinch him in three cinchings doing some circling with multiple jumps and circling transitions where I ask for a canter, COD w/SLC (trot) and up quickly into canter again. He got the hang of this nicely and had some nice impulsion. Then I asked him to do a couple of jumps.
5) Ridden QB:
I ask for circles to the left at trot first and stay on the pattern until he's focussing better. Then I let him rest at X and graze and then going back into trot from halt onto the left circles again. I try to do as many times as possible to get him listening to me but without him getting bored. He does okay. I then do the same to the right and I know that I must take one day out and just do this LOTS so that the pattern really sticks in his brain.
6) Hack out:
I take him on the forest ride we've been working on and it went pretty well. I didn't have to get off at all and after the initial worry at the start of the track he went all the way with only two grazing stops. I asked for w/t/w transitions and then a few strides of canter which he did nicely. I then thought of asking for t/c/t transitions but on the hill he was reluctant to canter and just trotted very fast so I just asked him to trot, trot fast and then trot again so that he got used to going a bit faster on the track. No problems at all on the hack out, a pheasant flew behind us up onto a tall wall but I saw it and kept Sol's focus on what we were doing and it was fine ;-) It was really nice to get out of the playfield for a while together.
When I got back and put him into the field with the herd I went and took him to the other horses and then decided to sit and watch them for a while with undemanding time. Sol wandered off and then came back to be with me. I stroked him and found some itchy spots which was lovely and he just stood there relaxed and happy ;-)
Monday 8th June
Just got in some play and trimmed his feet in sunshine before the clouds came over and it rained ;-(
Todays play went like this:
1) Driving:
From Z5 from the field to play area with transitions (w/t/w/h/bkup etc). He did really well as he so wanted to go and graze on the verges but I managed to keep him straight with almost just my focus.
2) Yo-yo:
Asking for him to backup with just my bellybutton energy, this was hard at first as he just wasn't listening to my energy but once he 'got it' he moved back with energy and focus himself. It was cool to do this without wiggling my finger or my rope for a change ;-)
3) Friendly:
Xtreme in all zones, helicopter, throwing rope over head from all zones too.
4) Z5 Back up:
From a few hairs of his tail, just getting lighter and lighter and I don't worry about being in Z5 now, I always play lots of friendly in this zone to keep it sweet.
5) Long Reining x 1 rein:
Using the fence with me in Z5 we do walk, halt, backup and I change the rein by throwing the rope over his head from Z5, getting much better with that and Sol is fab with it.
6) Long Reining x 2 reins:
Using 2 x 22' lines I play lots of friendly in Z5 first and make sure I can throw each rope to the left and right getting the outside rein on his back. I start in walk and do a very large fig 8 around two obstacles, he gets it straight away and only stops at X when I throw the ropes over his bum. After a graze at X I then ask for trot, he's getting better at going up a gait from porcupine on his rump with my fingers which is cool. He trots well, is focussed on the pattern but also on me which I can really 'feel' today. His concentration is good, so is mine and the only time he goes into walk is at X when I change the reins over his back, we get it to where he only goes down to walk for 1-2 strides and do a few more figures and stop at X with a great halt and backup. I'm really enjoying the long reining with two reins now.
1) Driving:
From Z5 from the field to play area with transitions (w/t/w/h/bkup etc). He did really well as he so wanted to go and graze on the verges but I managed to keep him straight with almost just my focus.
2) Yo-yo:
Asking for him to backup with just my bellybutton energy, this was hard at first as he just wasn't listening to my energy but once he 'got it' he moved back with energy and focus himself. It was cool to do this without wiggling my finger or my rope for a change ;-)
3) Friendly:
Xtreme in all zones, helicopter, throwing rope over head from all zones too.
4) Z5 Back up:
From a few hairs of his tail, just getting lighter and lighter and I don't worry about being in Z5 now, I always play lots of friendly in this zone to keep it sweet.
5) Long Reining x 1 rein:
Using the fence with me in Z5 we do walk, halt, backup and I change the rein by throwing the rope over his head from Z5, getting much better with that and Sol is fab with it.
6) Long Reining x 2 reins:
Using 2 x 22' lines I play lots of friendly in Z5 first and make sure I can throw each rope to the left and right getting the outside rein on his back. I start in walk and do a very large fig 8 around two obstacles, he gets it straight away and only stops at X when I throw the ropes over his bum. After a graze at X I then ask for trot, he's getting better at going up a gait from porcupine on his rump with my fingers which is cool. He trots well, is focussed on the pattern but also on me which I can really 'feel' today. His concentration is good, so is mine and the only time he goes into walk is at X when I change the reins over his back, we get it to where he only goes down to walk for 1-2 strides and do a few more figures and stop at X with a great halt and backup. I'm really enjoying the long reining with two reins now.
...long reining with me on the left
7) Pedastal:
I then drive him from Z5 with 2 reins to the pedastal and ask him to stand on it with first two feet (not a problem) then all 4 feet. He had a bit of a problem to start with, me standing in Z5 was hard for him for this so I moved slightly to one side and more in Z4 to ask him forward and onto the ped, this worked okay so it was a good move.
8) Fig 8's:
I keep with the long reins for this but plant my feet firmly near X and ask Sol to go around the two obstacles from a distance. He did fab with this and my rope skills are definitely getting better with this one.
9) Circles:
Back to one rein and normal circling, I go to the incline of the field to ask Sol to trot 3-4 circles in trot on the hill. It was different for him but a great task as it will really help him to get fit and to maintain his responsibilities of don't change gait, don't change direction.
10) Fig 8's:
Did some fig 8's around the two log jumps and then did the fig 8's including the jumps which he did very well. This pattern is a favourite of ours, he does it very well now.
11) Sideways:
I did this along a fence but started with me in Z5 and then asking Sol to move his HQ's over for a sideways, then asking his FQ's to turn away to get me in Z5 again. This worked really well and it almost made going sideways easier for Sol.
12) Ridden:
I did some sideling up to the fence practise as Sol had difficulty coming over to the right (with me on his right side) as I usually get on the left. I decided that for a while I should always get on the right to make this a better habit, so Sol didn't come right over and I spent some time working on the ingredients of that until he did it well and then I mounted bareback.
I did the corners game using only the neck string and CS. I asked for walk to start with but he was a bit lively and went up to trot everytime so again I worked on just asking for walk and making sure my focus was long for the corners and that my life really was coming down for the halt. Working on those few ingredients really made our corners game much better. I also worked with my focus on getting the turns cleaner going back along the rail after our corner rest. After a few in walk I went up to trot and we were really focussing better. I felt my balance was better because I was focussed on where I wanted to go more. Felt good today so I left it on a good note.
13) Trimmed:
I took him home for some treats and to trim his feet which didn't take long, he now has nice tidy feet again ;-)
Friday 5th June
Today's session was good and we managed to get it done before it started to rain ;-) Here's the session:
1) Stick 2 Me:
From the field up to the playfield we did halt/w/t/w/backup nicely. He was paying attention and we had a few grazing spots to sweeten things along the way.
2) Friendly:
Grooming at liberty
2) Friendly:
Grooming at liberty
3) Circling:
Using the porcupine/stops like yesterday, it worked very well today and he was ultra responsive at getting his HQ's away from me when stopping, also didn't try to come forward and run me over like he can do sometimes.
Using the porcupine/stops like yesterday, it worked very well today and he was ultra responsive at getting his HQ's away from me when stopping, also didn't try to come forward and run me over like he can do sometimes.
4) Fig 8's:
W/T/C with SLC's, he was very fresh with this, really trying to do his best, getting his shoulders away from me in the turns at X and putting some effort in to the game ;-)
5) Weaving:
I set up 4 cones for this and he did well and even attempted a bit of canter at one point...I couldn't keep up but it was a great start to a new gait with weaving.
6) Saddling:
I put the normal saddle cloth and pads on today and got the theraflex pad ready to use if I wanted to try it again. I needed to see if he would buck with the normal set up before trying the other pad again. He stood well for saddling and it's good to see his shoulder muscles developing everytime I saddle.
W/T/C with SLC's, he was very fresh with this, really trying to do his best, getting his shoulders away from me in the turns at X and putting some effort in to the game ;-)
5) Weaving:
I set up 4 cones for this and he did well and even attempted a bit of canter at one point...I couldn't keep up but it was a great start to a new gait with weaving.
6) Saddling:
I put the normal saddle cloth and pads on today and got the theraflex pad ready to use if I wanted to try it again. I needed to see if he would buck with the normal set up before trying the other pad again. He stood well for saddling and it's good to see his shoulder muscles developing everytime I saddle.
Normal saddling set up for Solly
7) Liberty:
We go in to the 50' roundpen for a change. I just want to see how our communcation is today at liberty so I ask for circling transitions. We've not done a lot of this so I'm very happy with what Sol did in this session. I was asking him to go out at trot, up to canter, down to trot and then into walk and then up to trot again before DHQ's and resting at me. I asked for 1-2 laps of each gait and did it in both directions. After a good break I then asked for a couple of liberty circles at trot with COD's thrown in. The first one in each direction was a bit slow, not happening but then he 'got it' and did some nice canter lead changes through the COD's. Cool ;-)
8) Pedastal:
Two feet on the small wooden one and all four feet on the large tyre. No problems with it.
9) Sideways:
Away and towards and then towards the small barrel. He is SO tense about it that I just put him to it and away again to try to get his confidence up about it. I then ask him to jump the small barrel to show him it's okay underneath him and he jumps it okay but sideways over it is really testing us both.
10) Riding Corners Game:
W/T/C and NO BUCKS today even though it is windy and a small sit on lawn mower is going up and down the road. I decide that I don't want to try the theraflex again, don't want to make him buck and so I chicken out of putting it back on and decide to just have a good training session.
I use these two patterns to get him used to the small arena, riding along the crop field next door which has pheasants in it sometimes and generally getting his cornering better. He has trouble making good circles and bends going to the left so I really work on those and use some bullseye going in and out to help him relax and 'bend' with the bend.
12) Ridden Circles:
I then move on to trotting and walking 20m circles with good impulsion and a good bend in the circle. He does really well and it was good to get his walk working better.
13) Jumps:
Finally I go out of the arena and do two smallish jumps with canter in between. He did these jumps really well and it felt good to not worry about him bucking in canter, so my saddling is going to stay as it is for now. lol.
Thursday 4th June
I spent a great day yesterday spectating the first day of Jackie Chant's L2/L3 course in Fife. The theme was online and freestyle and it was great to be amongst PNH friends and at a place that was full of inspiration and support again. I took tons of notes and pictures and hope that over the next few days things will come back to me when I play with Sol.
Today I spent at home, my friend Leanne has lent me her theraflex pad with shims and a Parelli Myler C2 bit so I have three days to test them and see what Solly makes of them ;-()
We play around with some games, extreme friendly in between them all and then I try out some new porcupine game that I learned yesterday. This is to have the horse go out on a small circle using a good 'lead it' porcupine rope and then quickly ask for a stop/DHQ using porcupine on the rope again, lifting the rope right up and getting a good 'feel' on it, using the cs/ss or flag to 'roll' the HQ's away...no bending down for a DHQ....very interesting and good game. Makes more sense when you're going to be riding next as it's exactly the same rein positions ;-)
Solly does quite well with it using a flag, but I have to work on desensitizing to the flag quite a bit again so that took time but was fun. Then I decide to go back to the cs/ss, he was a bit slow at first but then really 'got' the game well.
I put him out on some circles/jumps for a change and then go to the car to saddle and try out the theraflex pad. I put 3 shims in the pad as whilst trying out the shims on his back and then putting the saddle on this was the best combo to get the saddle straight with the back part being the lowest (balance point). He saddled fine and we did three cinchings in my small arena which again was fine, moved him around A LOT, over jumps, circles, sideways etc.
Today I spent at home, my friend Leanne has lent me her theraflex pad with shims and a Parelli Myler C2 bit so I have three days to test them and see what Solly makes of them ;-()
We play around with some games, extreme friendly in between them all and then I try out some new porcupine game that I learned yesterday. This is to have the horse go out on a small circle using a good 'lead it' porcupine rope and then quickly ask for a stop/DHQ using porcupine on the rope again, lifting the rope right up and getting a good 'feel' on it, using the cs/ss or flag to 'roll' the HQ's away...no bending down for a DHQ....very interesting and good game. Makes more sense when you're going to be riding next as it's exactly the same rein positions ;-)
Solly does quite well with it using a flag, but I have to work on desensitizing to the flag quite a bit again so that took time but was fun. Then I decide to go back to the cs/ss, he was a bit slow at first but then really 'got' the game well.
I put him out on some circles/jumps for a change and then go to the car to saddle and try out the theraflex pad. I put 3 shims in the pad as whilst trying out the shims on his back and then putting the saddle on this was the best combo to get the saddle straight with the back part being the lowest (balance point). He saddled fine and we did three cinchings in my small arena which again was fine, moved him around A LOT, over jumps, circles, sideways etc.
Then I mount and the saddle feels very nice, good balance point position and soft. I start doing the corners game like the last time we were in here, he feels a bit impulsive in walk and trot so I take some air out of the pad in case there's too much. I cinch up another hole and get back to the corners game. Still feels a little rushed in his trot but we get a nice connection again and I ask for canter, he does some bunny hops and I shut it down and continue in trot. I take the air out of the pad until it stops 'swooshing', there really wasn't much in it but now there is only a little air in it at all. I start the corners game again, walk, trot and canter....BUCK BUCK BUCK...it could be too much air with the theraflex and the cair system in the saddle so I stop and do some online play again.
Online I work on circling transitions and he does SO well with these, going out at walk then to trot, into canter and back down again. He even did a halt and backup on the circle and as long as I keep cantering on the spot he does 2 laps each way in canter with me. Cool ;-)
I then decide to try out the C2 Parelli Myler bit, he didn't take too long to bit up so I decide to jump on bareback and test out it's turning, stopping and backing up abilities. To be honest he chomped on it the whole time, turning was okay, stopping okay but back up he started to toss his head again so I stopped, jumped off and took it off and let him graze. The C2 is usually for a RBint horse and Solly is inately LB so this may be the reason for this. The C2 has a large tongue 'port' and the C3 (LB one) is lower.
We've been having such GOOD sessions recently I wondered why I tried these two things today BUT it's good to be able to try them out to know if it would be better or not. I will try (not promissing anything) the theraflex pad out again tomorrow with just two shims in but to be honest I may not want to ruin our relationship. I will ride him tomorrow first in our normal set up to make sure that's still okay and then think about changing to the theraflex but I don't want to upset him or make him feel that he has to buck so I may chicken out ;-) I'll let you know tomorrow
On the way home though I drove him from Z5 and changing sides with a flip of the rope over his head from Z5 and this went really really well ;-)
Tuesday 2nd June
Wow, it's certainly SUMMER up here at the moment. Very Very hot and beautiful. After an early lunch I go and catch Solly and go for some play. I've taken down my 100' roundpen and made myself a 20x40m arena so that I can play some different games in a different environment. Should be fun, here is what we did today:
1) Friendly game:
Groomed first and then played around with a 'flag' (Carrot Stick with a plastic bag on it), we've done this before, quite a while ago but it was time to re-introduce it to Sol. He wasn't too bad, a bit unconfident with it around his face and front legs but I used approach and retreat to gain his trust and curiosity with those areas.
A little concerned...
...curiosity kicking in ;-)
2) Saddle and cinch:
No bridle today as I'm going to work on our Freestyle. Cinching went well, work on circles and jumps and even though it's hot he's got a bit of 'vip and vinegar' in his toes which is nice....the new feed must be working ;-)
3) Yo-yo's:
I stand facing a fence (Z3) and ask him to trot forward and then back him up in front of me trying only to use the CS for the commands. He is very light to doing this and backs up well.
4) Circling:
Today I up the tasks again and ask for canter circles without me running with him...so to make it easier for him and to keep my energy up I canter ON THE SPOT and ask him to match my energy for 2 laps to the left and then to the right without changing gait!! Yeehaa, he does it very well and even quite close too so that his circles were quite small. His balance is definitely getting better.
5) Riding Corners Game:
This is the main game I made the 20x40m arena for...to get corners. I start asking him on the long side of the arena to just go to those two corners in walk, I have the end of the lead rope holding the reins so that I don't try to micro-manage his stops. I try not to be too specific about where he stops (doesn't have to be exactly at the corner, a little off it okay for now) but I'm asking him to try to get a seat connection with me for the transitions. At each end we rest, he grazes for incentive and then when we set off again I ask for a DHQ's and follow the rail back to the other corner. When it gets good I ask him to try the length in trot. He tries SO hard for me and after a while I can feel he's getting the pattern nicely. I then ask for him to do it in canter and I really have to be focussed on releasing my energy to stop him but he does really well. I end on a good note and make a mental note to do this for the next 7 sessions if I can to reinforce the pattern and seat connection for us both ;-)
6) Ridden Clover Leaf:
I do this today in Finesse at trot and he does really well. It amazes me how small a 20x40m arena actually is but with it set up now I can be more precise with all the dimensions of my circles and fig 8's and also all the patterns we now play.
7) Ridden Jumps:
Just for fun I come out of the arena and do the small tyre jump and the small x jump, he canters inbetween and I have to bring him back to trot before doing the second jump but this means his feed is definitely working and I just need to work him a bit more with transitions. I'm hoping now to start doing some walk/canter transitions, I can safely do these in the small arena now and using a version of the corners game (walk short side, canter long side, walk short side etc) and hopefully our seat connection will just get better and better.
I really enjoyed playing in the small arena today, it gave me a feeling of confidence that he couldn't run away with me like he can in a larger area and this helped me let loose with him and learn to trust him more. He has more implusion now because of his feed and hopefully I can keep up with that and learn how to canter for longer and longer.
When I let Solly loose after our play session he went back to the herd and it was lovely to see them all together so took a photo of it for the blog.
Holly (lying down), Tara, Solly, Stormy and Fortune ;-)
