Saturday 26th June
Well I have about 9 days of teaching and a horsemanship demo non-stop from tomorrow so I took this opportunity to play/ride Solly. He could do with a bit more consistency but work is work and I will be taking off a couple of weeks to help when Mark has his hip operation so this is necessary for my students to progress before I take time off ;-)
I spent yesterday taking down MOST of the 'track' system as the battery operated 'energisers' for the electric fence decided to break and Stormy just knows when they're not on and he was regularly (twice a day) breaking the posts, breaking through the electric wire or actually just pushing into the 'paddocks' for grazing SO it was easier to just give it to them and be done with all the time wasted fixing the fencing. lol. Now I have a rectangular dressage arena, a 50' roundpen and a 100' roundpen. This, hopefully, will suffice for training ;-)
SO, whilst Mark played w/Stormy and Holly I went to get Solly to catch me!!!! He wasn't in a receptive mood, mainly because I've not had time to be regular with him and also because Tara, his girlfriend, is in season and she was WAY more interesting than me. In the end Tara caught me and I put her into the 50' roundpen, played some fig 8 and circling game then sideways away/towards with her whilst Solly hung around as he couldn't 'push' her around and away from me anymore! lol. SO my savvy strategy to catch my gelding was to actually catch his girlfriend and he had to stay around ;-)) worked a treat.
Solly 'pushing' Tara around making sure I couldn't catch him OR her for a whileIn the meantime Mark was having a lot of fun with Stormy and finished on a great note with Stormy at liberty jumping ;-))
Stormy liberty jumping
More liberty jumping w/Mark and StormyNow that Solly had caught me with a better attitude I played with him on the 45' line.
1) Sideways:
Away and towards. Went well, small phases and straight too.
2) Yo-Yo:
Did this from Z1, asking him to backup with a good attitude and then draw to me in trot, did it a few times in a row so that it tested his impulsion. He got the pattern pretty quickly and even started to put his ears forwards more.
3) Circling:
Did a LOT of this at w/t/c. Firstly in walk, just trying to see how relaxed he was and it went well. Then up into the trot where I asked for relaxation and then into canter where I put in some COD's when he changed gait back to a trot. He learnt quickly and stayed in canter for a lot of laps whilst I walked about keeping it consistent with some variety ;-)
5) Jumps:
He did the jumps easily and nicely, even jumped the single barrel with the saddle and bits on it! lol.
6) Saddled and cinched:
All went well, tried a few different places to put the shims but eventually went back to original way as this seems best for him, saddle and me.
7) Circling w/saddle:
Went into my new 100' roundpen and worked in trot on his circles and asked for more relaxation by doing in my body what I wanted him to do in his..it worked. Better on circles to the right so need to work on left circles more ;-)
1) Sideways:
Away and towards. Went well, small phases and straight too.
2) Yo-Yo:
Did this from Z1, asking him to backup with a good attitude and then draw to me in trot, did it a few times in a row so that it tested his impulsion. He got the pattern pretty quickly and even started to put his ears forwards more.
3) Circling:
Did a LOT of this at w/t/c. Firstly in walk, just trying to see how relaxed he was and it went well. Then up into the trot where I asked for relaxation and then into canter where I put in some COD's when he changed gait back to a trot. He learnt quickly and stayed in canter for a lot of laps whilst I walked about keeping it consistent with some variety ;-)
5) Jumps:
He did the jumps easily and nicely, even jumped the single barrel with the saddle and bits on it! lol.
6) Saddled and cinched:
All went well, tried a few different places to put the shims but eventually went back to original way as this seems best for him, saddle and me.
7) Circling w/saddle:
Went into my new 100' roundpen and worked in trot on his circles and asked for more relaxation by doing in my body what I wanted him to do in his..it worked. Better on circles to the right so need to work on left circles more ;-)
Circling in trot w/relaxation
Left circles in trot harder to get relaxedAfter a break I mounted from the ground (don't do this often but surprised myself in being able to do it, bad back and all!) I again worked on relaxation SO started RtR at walk and asking in my body energy for a better walk. He's SO LBint when ridden so it can be very frustrating BUT I put in a few backups and then transitions from backup to trot to help him find his impulsion. Then worked on body energy for trot and this was very hard. He really didn't know what I was doing but I tried very hard to not use my legs seat or reins as I think I've been using these WAY too much in the past. Eventually he got it and started trotting from a walk much easier and also he started to relax and lower his head more ;-)
A relaxed Solly in trotAfter a while the trot started to get better so we rested. Then we started RtR at canter. He went into canter quite nicely but still with a high head. I think I'm using my butt and legs WAY to much and may be causing his hollow back SO I tried my best to just sit still, not leaning back and use my energy to help him get canter. Right at the end he did quite a nice transition and cantered a few strides so I stopped on a good note and praised him tons.
Just to finish we opened and closed the gate on the arena from the saddle and then did a three tyre jump before stopping by the car to untack ;-)
Now I need to learn to sit straight, don't use legs, don't use seat and ask him to go with my mind more and then maybe he'll be able to relax and give me a good canter the whole way around the pen ;-)
Just to finish we opened and closed the gate on the arena from the saddle and then did a three tyre jump before stopping by the car to untack ;-)
Now I need to learn to sit straight, don't use legs, don't use seat and ask him to go with my mind more and then maybe he'll be able to relax and give me a good canter the whole way around the pen ;-)
Solly's relaxed canter ;-)Thursday 24th June
Where does the time fly, it's almost the end of June! eek ;-) Today I had a friend coming up for some 'first time horse owners guide to horses'. This is her second visit and she did very well, much better confidence around dear Tara.
SO, today before the lesson I went down to the grazing field this am and rode Tara back to the house paddock ready for her lesson. Then she had the lesson (and behaved beautifully) and after some lunch I saddled her and rode her to the village shop to get an apple (for Tara ;-) and some electricity for our key meter.
The ride was great and we didn't take that long. I brought her back to the house paddock and she grazed there for a couple of hours. Then I rode her back to the grazing field to be with the herd for her dinner. Good day, did bits with Tara and ride was great.
Monday 21st June
Well it's the SUMMER SOLSTICE and SOLLY's BIRTHDAY tomorrow, I'll be away teaching tomorrow but thought I'd mention it here so that it's not forgotten ;-) He'll be 13yrs young...wow.
So, today I went down early and played with him on the 45' line. I started slowly with w/t/w transitions and had regular stops to let him know he's doing well. Then we went onto canter circles and today was the day I started getting serious about canter. I know he can do it but he's a bit LBint about things SO I used the same technique I used with the trotting circles online and that is that I ask him to go and if he changes gait I COD and get him working harder through that. I had to do the COD about twice on each side BUT he gets this SO well and it worked. He was going 4 laps L&R without much trouble and he got huge rests and praise when he DHQ and came back to me. Very pleased with this...the 45' really helps to give him more space for the canter. I still think he could do with more relaxation so may have to talk to an instructor to ask how to help him more with that.
I then saddled him up and today I used the regular saddle but had 2 shims under it, this looked much more stable and higher up off the wither area. Been trying a few things with his saddle as I thought maybe he couldn't relax into canter because of this BUT today went okay.
Worked in the dressage arena, w/t transitions with RtR, 20m circles and 10m circles/fig 8's. Then I worked on the canter along the long side, he still isn't relaxed and I really try to be balanced and with him as much as possible and he tries really hard. We tried some 'bowtie' pattern to help with the canter but that wasn't very good SO I just did some point 2 point 'corners game' and he did much better. We did 4 lots of canter along the long side, relaxing and dropping the reins for a halt in the corner and he did SO well I stopped on a good note and will repeat the exercise on Wednesday when I will play with him again.
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Meantime, this morning I rode Tara down to the house and she stayed in a small paddock there until 1pm when we harnessed her up and took her to do an hours logging with us. I then put her back in the paddock and rode her back to the grazing field at about 5.30 this evening when she was ready to be fed with the other horses. She did very well today and pulled some quite large logs for us ;-)
Sunday 20th June
Mark played w/Stormy and then Holly...I believe he had a grand time, they both did all the things he asked but I didn't see as I was busy with dear Solly ;-)
So, Solly did very well too. All the games went well and we got some lovely Liberty circling/fig 8's with COD and FLC's, some fab online cantering, jumps, sideways away and towards and progressing with everything nicely. It's been a few weeks since I played w/Solly so I started slowly but moved on quickly. When I was happy with his relaxation, obedience, impulsion and flexibility I saddled him up, cinched and then mounted.
We did some weave, fig 8's and then tried some RtR of the outside edge of the 50' roundpen. I'm not sure if this is too small for him, he can canter inside it at liberty (I'm sure he finds me very unbalanced, my balance still isn't on form since my fall w/Stormy a few weeks ago!) but he seems to not be relaxed when we do it together ;-( I'm going to try, try, try to figure his canter out as it's not how I want it to be. BUT we do have a good time and manage to do quite a few jumps one after the other which was nice ;-)
Solly playing w/the 'water jump' ;-)
Solly managing to put the 'water jump' under Zone 3 ;-)
Freestyle weaving 
RtR at canter....just wish he could relax more
The 'water jump'
Solly's jump is much bolder now ;-)Monday 14th June
I drew a picture of our 'paddock paradise' track, finally finished today and the horses happily grazing around the 'fig 8' pattern I've made with the paddocks.
The bright green bit is where they graze, the two inner paddocks are kept by for grazing at a later date, I can slowly bring the electric fence in a bit per week giving them a bit at a time.
If you click on the picture it should come up larger for you to see the steep hill on the right, water top right, forest centre top, steep bank on the lower part, dressage arena in right hand paddock and play area in the left hand paddock complete with a round of 6 jumps, 50' roundpen, pedastal and large tyre, tarpaulin area, 4 cones in the centre so that I can play 'question box' or just have X in the field and 8 cones set up for a round of weave and fig 8's.
You can guage the scale as the right hand paddock has a 20x40m dressage arena set up in it. All sizes are estimated but it looks pretty much like I've drawn it ;-)
Saturday 12th June
Mark and I both went out today to play with some horses ;-) The day was dry with a small breeze blowing so it was perfect.
I first set up a tarpaulin I'd brought down and then went into the grazing field and Tara came up to me for a scratch...cool. Then I asked Solly to come catch me which he did nicely. They've all been having a bit more grazing as I opened up my dressage area so that they can graze it down for me to actually do some dressage in it, so it was great that Solly came away from the grass to be with me. Mark got Stormy to catch him and then both of us went through to the playfield together ;-)
Mark walked Stormy around the playfield, past our new flying flag and got him used to being in the field w/out grazing too much (grass is pretty high in playfield! lol). I took Solly to the car and put him on the 45' line and then groomed him for some friendly game.
We played around with circles, sideways, jumps, the tarp and weave and then onto Liberty and Mark asked Stormy to sidepass over barrels, circle, weave and then some liberty and then Mark took Stormy back to the field and got Holly out for a play too. Even though we've not done much with the horses recently they were all calm, attentive and happy to play nicely.
Here are some pictures from the day...
Solly jumping single barrel w/tree wings (at an angle as well ;-)
Solly getting to grips with the 'water' jump
Solly cantering at liberty in roundpen, doing some COD's
Backing up from a few tail hairs, he's so light nowadays ;-)
Testing our fig 8's at walk and trot at liberty
Fig 8's at liberty
Fig 8's at liberty, great focus ;-)
Sol not sure about tarp...not done one for a while...he JUMPED onto it.....
Bam....like he was holding it down. lol
Fine on tarp after a few squeeze games over it ;-)
had a great one and half hour session, hugs deserved and enjoyed
Great partnership afterwards, Solly could have run off for grazing in our open 3 1/2 acre playfield BUT NO...he chose to stay with me back to the grazing fieldand the herd ;-) So Cool
Mark circling Holly...she was light and very relaxed
Holly jumping well
Nice jump from Holly 
Stormy showing how easy sidepassing over barrels is ;-)
Stormy squeezing over our tarpaulin...easy, peasy ;-)
Thursday 10th June
What a lovely hot sunny day today, walked the dogs down to the horses where I met up with Mark feeding them and put dogs in car so that I could walk/ride Tara back to the house. Today we are going to do some logging and using Tara not only gives her something to do, putting purpose to our principles of horsemanship, but also it helps keep the forest area from getting too churned up with vehicles ;-)
Bringing Tara to the house was fun, although she'd been this way before (the old field was nearby) she'd not been to the actual house before SO it was lovely for her to visit our garage and find the horse treats, and then our back door where she got some nice cold carrots ;-)
I put up some electric fencing outside our garden in our 'paddock' area where there is a lovely cool burn (stream) running and left Tara there while I got my own breakfast sorted. Then by about 12 noon we were ready to go out and do some work.
Mark ready in his safety gear to chop limbs off the tree, blown down by the wind
Me driving Tara pulling heavy logs up a hill to the trailer
Mark stood on the tree to get this picture ;-)
Tara really knows her job well and it was fun for me too
You can really see the hill here...what a good girl my Tara is ;-)Thursday 3rd June
Tara and the boys ;-)Didn't do too much today although feeling much better than yesterday I'm still a bit under the weather. I sorted out a couple of bits with the jumps and sort out a LOT of polyposts and insulators for the electric fencing. Then asked Tara to catch me so that she could come into the playfield to play with me. I chose her today as she is calm, quiet and won't wear me out too much, I'm also wanting to see if I can ride and she's my most confident horse with nice easy gaits.
I start off with some online stuff, sideways over barrels, sideways away and towards, leg yielding, fig 8's and a couple of jumps whilst circling. She is light and responsive and so I go and saddle her up. She sidles up well to my mounting block and I manage to get on...although it is uncomfortable to sit in the saddle I decide to do a bit of riding w/Tara as I'm missing riding a lot ;-)
She does very well and her lightness is wonderful. We do some weaving at walk and trot, ride the rail of my 50' roundpen in trot in both directions and then out for a short jaunt around the adjacent field. This is fun, we find a log on the ground and sidepass over it and then return to the field. Once back in the field I notice she is a little sceptical of the fencing men and their truck so we play around with approach and retreat until she puts her nose on the truck. She is very very sceptical of the wire fencing as the fencer is putting one of the wires onto the posts and it's moving about and 'twinging' which worries her SO again we use approach and retreat with the fence until it's not worrying her and she can graze next to it happily.
I end the session there, on a good note. I'm very tired and ache a bit from riding but it was great being back on Tara's back again ;-)
My little jump course
Simulated water jump
Single barrel w/ tree wings
Tyre/pole jump
Double barrel jump
Narrow tyre jump w/tree wings
Three tyre jump
Me and Tara out for a sedate walk/hackWednesday 2nd June
Still stiff and not able to run around as normal or ride but went out and put together my 6 jumps in a small area so that Solly and I can do a small round of jumps when I'm feeling better. I have a couple of tyre jumps, ones made with tyres with poles on the top of them and also barrels. I will take some pictures of them next time I go down. So after making my jumping area I put in my dressage markers so that I will be able to use an area for more precision, that is hoping the grass doesn't grow too long and hide the markers! lol. I then went as asked Solly to catch me. He was a little reluctant to start with, he's enjoying being a 'wild' horsey with all the grazing around and doing any play must seem like a distraction from all that BUT when I went and nuzzled Holly he got jealous and came right over to be caught! lolWe just had some fun and played with:
Friendly, sideways over barrel, moving circles and transitions, fig 8's at w/t/c, driving through the weave at a distance in walk, sideways away and towards, COD's and multiple jumps. He did very well, was calm, attentive, happy and having fun. I couldn't do too much else as I was feeling a bit sore after walking about so much.
I then put him back onto the grazing track and Stormy was there wanting to play too SO I haltered him up and off we went. We did more or less the same things and I tried to get his energy up to let him let off some steam. After a short while the fencing men started up their tractor so we played with approach and retreat with this big machine. Stormy did very well and when they switched it off again he bravely went and sniffed lots of different parts on the tractor ;-)
I then put another 22' line on him and did some slow, walking long reining. I asked him to circle, change direction, weave and go around and inbetween all the jumps and obstacles. This was a lot of fun but I was totally exhausted from it at the end. I let Stormy back onto the grazing track and he cantered up the steep hill part back to the herd who were at the top getting some water from the stream. This hill and the water up the top is really helping to keep them exercised in the field ;-)
Holly and Stormy exercising themselves from the bottom of the fieldto the top where the water supply is ;-)
Stormy watching the scary tractor before he made friends with it ;-)
