September 2010

Thursday 30th September

Been away teaching for a few days but back now and after sorting out the winter paddocks and field with electric fencing it was time to see my beloved horses ;-)

Today I asked Tara and Solly to be with me in the arena. I set Solly loose to graze whilst I played with Tara. A few days ago I ordered a French Collar which is a harness collar that can go with a normal harness (rather than working chain harness). I know Tara, being a RBint, is sceptical of things going over her head SO my task today was to get her used to the collar by using simulations and approach and retreat.

I first asked her to touch the collar laying on the floor with her nose. I did this for a while, moving her about in between and reaproaching it from another angle. I then worked with some friendly game and an old bicycle tyre, this went well but I had to use retreat/approach/retreat quite a lot. I also asked her to regularly lower her head with the porcupine game throughout the process so that she knew where to find relaxation.

As she was doing well with this I then moved on to working on getting the bicycle tyre near her face, over her ears, retreating often, back over her ears and then over her neck. This went very well and I was taking it off her head and swinging it back on without any trouble ;-)

Tara with the bicycle tyre over her head

Bicycle tyre in 'collar' position...Solly wondering what is going on! ;-)

I then spent a LOT of time playing friendly game with the French Collar, over her back, up her neck, sitting on her back/rump, working with it all whilst she was walking and then trotting too. Her sceptism showed mostly when the collar was above her nose SO I worked on that A LOT. Tons of approach and retreat with this and my arm was really tired. She was quite RBint so a lot of retreat, her eyes were very stary and her head in a higher position than she ever really holds it normally. I could see she was trying her hardest to be okay with this so I just put in the time she needed to relax and trust me. We have a very cool relationship and she's very trusting of me which I will never ever destroy, it's taken us too long to get where we are today for me to attempt anything that will upset her big time.

I then decided that my arms were too tired so I put the collar upside down on my head (ie. my head holding the lower part of the oval) so it could rest there and work with Tara with my arms down! lol. It worked well. I stood in front of her with the collar on my head, looking through the middle hold, and asked Tara to lower her head with anything I was doing. I worked on friendly game with my hands, then the arms of the collar near her eyes, on her ears, near her cheeks...all the time only retreating when she lowered her head ;-)

It went well and I wasn't going to put the collar actually on her but decided to try. Her head went up a little but she didn't move her feet. Her eyes blinking all the time, licking and chewing at good points so I could see she was 'getting it' and that the collar wasn't out to eat her.

After about an hour of working from the start I put it on, upside down (as the lower part is bigger to go over her head/ears/bigger width of the head) and then just behind the ears I turned it around the right way and let it slide into place on her shoulders. Fab stuff.

I will try my best to repeat this whole process over the next few days so that putting on this collar is not an issue anymore. Tara has been a carting horse most of her life before we bought her and with us too but she's always had a breast collar rather than a FULL collar BUT because of the weight of some of the logs she is now pulling this collar will not hurt her shoulders any longer, also, if we decide to get her a new cart this collar will be more comfortable for that too ;-)

Tara with her new French Full Collar ;-)

I let Tara stand with her new collar for a while and then I took it off (no problems with that) and then played LOTS of friendly with her, big hugs and fussing and then out of the arena, head down a few times, halter off and then kissed her before just leaving her to graze where she wanted. A good session ;-)

I called Solly over to me and he came without any problem. Put the CS/SS around his neck and led him out of the arena to the 50' roundpen. I started our session with plenty of friendly game, tested our backup from the tail...WOW, it was SO light, just a few hairs and he was moving nicely...yeehaa!

Then I tried out some slow, close spins and he did those well too...remembered everything I'd taught him and that was a few weeks ago now. Such a good memory if I leave it on a good note. Next was some circles, started on transitions t/c/t/w/t put in a COD which went well both ways and then asked for more canter, DHQ's when it was going well. I then asked him to trot around and put in some trot spins and they went very very well...he doesn't spin on a pivot but they're nice, calm and he understands what I'm asking of him which is great. I will try to sharpen everything up a bit as we go so that the L4 audition get's closer and closer to being filmed ;-)

My darling Solly, glad to have mum back ;-))

My two white boys....can't believe how big Stormy is now!
(he's the one on the right! lol)

Wednesday 22nd September

Raining and chilly today so booked up the indoor arena down near Blairgowrie again today ;-) Went and got horses and got ready to go out. Friend Allison came up and we took both Tara and Solly down to the trailer and loaded up.

Arrived in good time, set up some obstacles and got equipment out and then got the patient horses out of the trailer. We both did some 'touch it with the nose' to settle them in and then played some games to make sure they were relaxed with willing obedience, some nice impulsion and I asked Solly to be flexible too.

Solly was good, willing, using his body okay, jumping beautifully, changing direction well and generally well behaved. Allison was doing a good job working with Tara too, learning how to use her inner energy better, asking for imulsion and for Tara to jump some low barrels when asked rather than just pushing through them! lol. I also taught her the 'Rolling Rock' pattern which was fun.

After about half an hour of play we saddled up and then spent about 15 mins cinching where Solly and I did a NEW thing today which was this: Had 4 low squat horse driving cones in a weave, 6 strides apart from each other: Sidepass over first cone, DHQ's, move forehand and sidepass over the next one, DHQ's, move forehand over and sidepass over next etc. He did it beautifully and I was very chuffed at his effort, low phases and relaxation when sidepassing ;-)

Allison sat and watched me for a bit and I mounted up and played around with Solly's impulsion. I started out with RtR at walk and when he was more relaxed I put in some transitions from w/t/h/backup. This helped him to be more responsive at a ph1 and then I started working on his flexibility with some circles, cod's, fig 8's and weave. I put in lots of variety just making sure that Solly stayed in trot. This worked nicely and he began to be more flexible and relaxed.

I also asked him to pop over a couple of jumps now and then which went well but when I asked for canter he got a bit tense, did a few strides but then went back to trot SO I didn't make a big deal out of it but asked him every so often to do a bit of canter. His canter online is going really well so this is beginning to be a bit annoying! I remembered that his canter is MUCH better when it's his idea rather than mine and he did offer canter a couple of times but was more inclined to not try much. I'm really going to have to try to sort this out, maybe work in the larger area of the big field and put treats in certain places for him to 'find' and get his motivation going more!!

Anyway, I dismounted and put Tara on the 22' line to give Allison a riding lesson, working on balance and being able to move her body more whilst the horse was moving which went well. I had placed Solly with his head over the barrels and he stayed there the whole time ;-)

I remounted and Allison and I did a pattern with her on the rail of the school, me next to her on Solly and at every letter of the arena we came down to a stop/backup and then back into walk again, we also changed direction down the centre line together and it was a lot of fun doing that together.

2 hours doesn't last long but it was a good 2 hrs ;-).......

half past 5 and I halter up Tara and Solly from the house paddock, make some reins from the 12' line, jump on Tara bareback and then pony Solly back to the grazing field for their dinner and to be back with the herd. Tara rode wonderfully and we managed quite a bit of trot work with Solly behaving nicely next to instead of dragging behind me which he used to do. Nice way to end a lovely day.

Tuesday 21st September

First thing this morning Mark and I brought Holly and Solly to the house paddock for the vet. Solly needed his yearly injection and Holly had a cut on her leg that we wanted to make sure was alright. They walked nicely to the house and were okay for a while in the paddock but then Holly got a bit concerned and Solly started to run up and down the fence line, almost like he was going to jump the darn fence!

Wasn't sure what was going on but I went out and haltered Solly and started to gently play with him. First I asked him to backup and then I asked him to sideways in the middle of the field. These two things calmed him down straight away and we rested for a bit. I then put him to weaving around some polyposts I had in the field and tried to concentrate on him moving over more from a suggestion of my hips rather than the stick at his nose. He started really focussing on what I was asking him and his weave got so much better. I stopped on a good note.

When I stopped I played the friendly game with him from Z1, just over his back and Holly put herself behind me so that I could do this with her too, so I was swinging the CS/SS in front to get Solly and then behind me to get Holly. They both stood still and dozed a bit whilst I did this. I then let Solly go and started to poo pick the paddock so that I could stay with them at liberty and make sure they were okay.

About this time I heard a racket down at the main house (about a quarter of a mile down the hill) and when I listened it sounded like the 'fox hounds' up for a hunt. Up here in Scotland they do this with a man/pack leader on foot with a large amount of dogs. They were baying and all excited SO this was probably what had got Solly and Holly worried in the first place.

So, they both calmed down and I went back into the house. The vet actually didn't turn up until 3pm and I was a bit miffed that I'd missed a good riding morning but at least it was a good lessoon in how to calm Solly and Holly down, they'd been together and they not often get the chance to be away from the herd so that was a good test too. In the end I put it down that the day was a good one in many ways for the horses and them getting used to the paddock. Mark and I led them both back to the grazing field and we were welcomed by a lovely whinney from Stormy. They all looked fine and I added another bonus to my good day by knowing it's good for the rest of the herd to get used to some horses not always being there...they always come home and that's good for them to see too ;-)

At about 5pm Allison and her daughter Mia came up to play/ride Tara SO we went to the field together and Allison groomed, tacked up and played with Tara which was great and Mia then rode Tara with Allison leading her around the arena. This was fun and also allowed me time to play/ride Solly which I did ;-)

Solly was calm and good today. We'd bonded well earlier at the paddocks so it didn't take long to play with him, saddle, cinch and mount up. It started to drizzle and then rain but we continued. His trot was good and his circles getting much better. After about half an hour I then rode Solly out into the field but he got very sticky and unconfident again about being in the field SO I rode him around near the gateway of the arena we'd just come out of so that he could be near to Tara. Slowly but surely he started to move away from the gateway more and more and I just played Point 2 Point with him. Going from the side of one jump to the next, going and standing near the fence and then a cone until he was actually riding around more and more in the jumping area. I then slowly took him back to the arena gateway and he offered to trot ;-)

I left it on a good note and made a mental note to do arena and field work in every session from now on so that both are comfortable for him ;-) In the end it was a very good day, riding was good, play was fun and worked to calm the horses down in a worrying morning. Friend and daughter had a good confident session and laughter was heard around the field which was lovely.

Monday 20th September

Out early today to do a bit more ragworting...in the field next to our horses one. Put in a good start and hopefully over next few days will get a bit more done each time.

After ragworting I went into the horses field and got Solly to come and catch me. We played a bit outside the arena and then inside the arena whilst cinching up. I then rode him for a bit in the arena to see make sure all my ingredients were there (Relaxation/Willing Obedience/Impulsion/Flexibility). All going well so I tried something new today....ride outside the arena in the big field. Well I mounted off a barrel off it's side and did my flight checks but then Solly was very reluctant to actually GO anywhere in the big field. As we've not done this for a while it's almost like doing it for the first time all over again. SO, I just ask him to slowly walk over to a cone and stop, then come back to the cones and stop and repeat this a few times. He was slightly unconfident about it but today's task is to get to the village shop for that all important APPLE ;-)

As time was moving on I dismounted and took him to the top of the field and then out. I decided to walk past the first field on the track as those cattle with calves were once again in the field along the track and I didn't want any more accidents. SO we walked together, me driving from Z3 most of the time to the nearest safe corner. I then mounted and asked him to move off....nope, he had something worrying him SO I dismounted and backed him down to the next corner which was about 70' which was about as much as it took to get him re-focussed on me. I know there is a small water drain half way down this track so it could have been this that was making my boy sceptical BUT he needs to listen to me and trust me more.

In the end I decided to just walk him to the shop which went well. I bought two apples at the shop, one he had straight away the other I had and I sat and ate it and put in some yo-yo games with him as he just couldn't stand still...he wanted my apple core NOW! lol. In the end he stood very nicely and then I gave him my apple core.

I rode most of the way back, he was pretty relaxed and listening to my aids which was good. No problems over the wooden bridge but I made sure I got off again before the cattle field. BUT then I got back on after the top entrance to the horses field and rode him past the wood and down a steep hill to the back entrance to their field where I'd parked the car. He was very on his forehand on the hill so I calmly sat there and asked him to 'come back to me' with a soft but firm rein and got him gently back onto his HQ's more. I did this a few times and it was a much safer ride down that hill. Right at the end I let him trot to the gate. It was a good ride out and much needed...again almost like we'd never done this ride before, he gets so sceptical and unconfident unless he's done the same thing over and over and over again...almost more than the usual 7 times!! hey ho...another thing to put into the routine which hopefully I'll be able to do soon.

Solly leaving the horses field, me walking

Solly coming home down the hilly back field ;-)

After letting him go I asked Tara to come and catch me which she did as she had an itch on her belly! lol. I haltered her and on the 22' line we played some good games, her circling was good and active and she put in some fun things too ;-)

Tara, front feet in a tractor tyre ;-)

Tara on the pedastal

I then saddled her and rode her to the house with some nice transitions of w/t/c, opening and shutting gates and having fun. I then left her at the house and Allison came up after work and rode her nicely home for me, we then fed them all ;-)

Tara at the house gateway

Me giving Tara a treat for bringing me home nicely

Saturday 18th September

Spent some of the morning ragworting, our field is now FREE of ragwort for this year...I am going to do a bit in the field next door as it's spread quite a bit over that field and if I don't do it then it could seed back into the horses bit!! hey ho....looks great when it's done though ;-)

We went back after a cup of tea and some lunch and Mark played/rode Holly and I played and rode Stormy and then played and rode Solly too. Here are my sessions today in brief and then loads of lovely pictures that Mark took for me:


Stormy/Online 22':
Yo-yo's right to the end of the line, ears forwards with a nice attitude and at phase 1
Yo-yo Z5 to an obstacle, not a problem at all ;-)
Sideways along the fence, in trot w/some nice impulsion
Circling, asking for at least 4 laps without breaking gait or direction
Circling with some hindquarter disengagement on the move, this gets some great impulsion and more of an arc around me in his circles, great maneuver for such a big boy.
Jumping on the move and today he did his first two jumps one after the other.
Sidepass over tyres with me in Z1, very cool, first time for this today.
Weaving at walk and trot, asking him to be more obedient on my 'move away' FQ move and he did it in walk and then trot quite nicely.
Fig 8's in walk and trot, he also did a couple of SLC's from canter when he decided it was fun to try to canter this pattern.


Stormy/Ridden:
Saddle and cinch him up, make sure he has lots of circles in trot and canter to make sure no bucks in there.
Sidle up to mounting block multiple times, asking him to move away, DHQ, and sidle up other side.
Lateral Flex a few times on each side.
Mount and dismount on each side.
Sit on back and LF L&R.
Circle around the mounting block in walk and put in a LF. Do this a few times to check go=whoa.
Dismount and set him free ;-)

Good session, long play online and short ridden to build our relationship in the saddle more again. He was very good and always willing to please but I'm glad I know how to get his energy down with play as he's a very big boy with TONS of energy, very powerful boy now ;-)


Solly online 45':
Friendly and then groom.
Saddle and cinch at liberty w/Solly and Holly having fun running around together ;-)
Start with some yo-yo's.
Circling on the move then fluidly onto multiple jumps.
Squeeze over low barrel jump and then sidepass away and towards around it when upright.
Jump 3' jump first time and then go into arena.


Solly/Ridden:
Mount, LF and quickly RtR with w/t transitions and some point to points.
20m circles in trot using quarter markers for point to points then doing full circles with stops at X, do this on both 20m circles of one side of the arena.
Then put those circles together for fig 8's at trot with walk transitions at X.
Clover leaf in trot, L&R...went better today and will continue to work on this pattern.
Point to point in canter along one long side of the arena. Then put in a point to point along two sides of the arena with a short trot at the corner as Solly thought we were going to stop ;-) He did well to take up the challenge and he was soft, calm, relaxed, confident and willing and here are some pictures from today...

Yo-yo Z5 to an obstacle

Sidling to a mounting block

Mounted and relaxed

Stormy with his good LF

Walking around mounting block..and Mark ;-)

Stop and backup at the mounting barrel

Solly doing some nice Liberty sideways

Holly and Stormy playing whilst I was cinching Solly ;-)

Holly showing her WILD side ;-)

Solly enjoying his jumping

More jumps

Squeeze over barrels

Another squeeze over barrels

Sideways around the upright barrels, at the end he DHQ
and sideways towards me ;-)

Jump upright 3' barrels, first time ;-)

Nice ridden work, trot better impulsion now

Freestyle clover leaf

CANTER ;-)

CANTER ;-)

CANTER ;-))

Dismount

Partnership ;-))

Friday 17th September

Went down to the horses at about 1pm today, the weather is okay, not too windy and not too rainy! lol. I do an hour of ragworting and then Solly comes over and looks at me with that 'play with me mummy' look. It's so sweet that he comes over to get me to play so I squeeze him at liberty into the arena and then go and get the saddle, grooming kit, reins etc and this is our session.

Online 45':
Extreme friendly in all zones and then backup from the tail. I move to each side from Z5 and friendly toss the rope over his head, he's great with all these games.

I then ask him from Z1 to move his forehand away from me, toss the rope over his head and when Z5 comes to me I ask for a DHQ from Z5 making a nice spin online. I do this both ways a couple of times each way. He's much better at keeping it a spin now, before he used to move forwards and away as he didn't understand the energy I was using, I also focussed more where my energy was going to help him more ;-)

After a break and some scratches I asked him to do some Rolling Rock. This maneuver is where you ask for a backup from Z1 for a few fluid steps, then turn the FQ's left and do a few steps sideways away and then DHQ's and move horse backwards again, turn the FQ's the other way and ask for sideways away that side, DHQ's and backup again. I did this twice on each maneuver and he was pretty fluid and I was using no more than ph1, a suggestion and a ton of focus ;-))

I give him LOTS of friendly game after this and then we move onto some circling game. He does lots of trotting circles on the move and then I ask him to canter and do multiple jumps. He's getting really good at this, in fact I should actually make the jumps a bit higher now. I have 3 jumps on a circle where he is about 30' away from me on the 45' line. He is actually LOOKING FOR the jumps now and the rope is slack, he stays in canter the whole time and he looks SO pleased with himself when I DHQ's and give him a hug.

After this I ask him to squeeze over the barrels (one upright, one down, one upright configuration) and he does that beautifully, I also ask him to jump TOWARDS me in a yo-yo style and he takes a couple of attempts at this then does it beautifully...I realise I've actually not done this consistently with him so that will be on the adgenda now. I then put them all upright in a row and sidepass him away from me one side, I stand still and then I DHQ's at the top of the barrels and then sidepass him towards me the other way. He's pretty smart with this now and I use it to let him 'see' the jump as it's bigger now. I then back him up away from the jump and ask him to jump the now 3' upright barrels and he does it first time ;-)) YEEHAA. I swiftly turn away and just take him to the arena so that I can't be tempted to ask him to do it again the other way and blow it. lol

Again he looks SO pleased with himself and it's lovely to see him growing in confidence with everything we're doing now. I think our partnership is really blossoming ;-)

Solly 'thinking' about jumping towards me

Solly figuring out how to jumps towards me ;-))

In the arena I groom him and saddle him up. I then get him ready to cinch more with some liberty Stick 2 Me w/t/canter circles around me in a corner and on his hard side (circles going to the left) he leaves me momentarily, gets to the other corner 40m away from me. I call him, he turns and I ask him to come back to me at a trot which he does beautifully BUT not only does he come to me he see's a jump slightly off the track to me, goes to it and jumps it and then comes to me in trot!!! WOW, he seems to finally be enjoying himself now, he's more extroverted at liberty but he's using his brain to have his own FUN whilst doing as I ask...one smart cookie ;-))


Ridden:
I use my finesse reins (ones with little clips on them for the bit) with my halter today so that I can be more refined with the halter work (lighter than the 22' line made into reins and wanting to work with halter more before more bridle work).

I mount and start with RtR at walk to get him warmed up and check his impulsion and balance. He goes quite slowly so I use some point to points on the top two corners and after only 4 of those he offers to trot and I take it. We do some more point to points with the trot and then start on the RtR again. I then make some variety by asking him to trot the circle, he drops a bit to the inside of the circle SO I help him a bit by stopping at each quarter of the circle (X in the middle and then at the three letter at one end of the 20x40 arena). This really helps him focus on the quarters that make up the circle and when he anticipates we're going to stop I ask him to do more and then finally the full circle again. It works a treat and so then I ask him to go to the other end of the school and do the same with the 20m circle that end. Eventually I then put the two together with only a stop at X to change the direction and then build on this so that it's a fig 8 in trot with a walk transition at X to change the direction. It was a lot of fun to build up this pattern and it helped us get more in tune with each other, more focussed and more balanced.

After a break in the centre of the main school (40x40m) I then change the pattern and start doing some clover leaf. We've not done this for ages so it takes a couple of circuits for him to get focussed again but it's good, once it's better I stop at X, rest and then go off in the other direction, which he gets straight away, clever boy ;-)

It's all going SO well I decide to put in some canter point to points along the top fence line. He goes from walk to canter no problem and does the whole 40m before me dropping my reins to a stop at the corner. The new sized saddle really seems to have helped him and I do 6 canter point to points and then stop on a very very good note. I will build this up now so that we start doing two sides of the arena before stopping.

Really enjoyed today's session. Solly was very attentive, focussed and calm and a pleasure to be with.

Wednesday 15th September

Today started with rain so at 9am I phone my local lady who has an indoor arena and booked it for two hours from 12 - 2pm. So I get my scates on and walk with Mark down to the horses field to get Tara and Solly. I then saddle them both, put my riding hat on and ride Tara back to the house whilst ponying Solly.

home w/Tara and Solly

At home I unsaddle them both and put them into the paddock next to the house and then put the equipment and provisions in the car too. I grab some breakfast and my friend Allison comes up at about 10.30...perfect. Mark gets the car and trailer down to the spot we load the horses and Allison and I walk Tara and Solly down there and load them up and off we go ;-)

It's only a short half hour drive to the local indoor school and it's pretty cheap at only £15 per hour (no matter how many horse/people in there! ;-) We arrive with a bit of time and find it empty SO we get our equipment out and set up some obstacles. They have loads of fun things to play with here, barrels small and large, jumps of all sizes, a ball, some cones and poles so it's fun to have a few things out to focus on.

Although I'm helping/teaching Allison on Tara this session is also mainly about me having somewhere to do a good riding session rather than be at home in the rain, soggy/wet/skiddy ground with wind and other distractions. Here's what I did with Solly today:

Online, 22':
I start with some touch things with your nose. I used this first to get him settled and relaxed in the arena as it's been some time since we'd been here. He puts his nose on everything I ask, a cone, a barrel, upright of the jump wing, corner of arena, mirror at one end of arena, dressage letters in the ground, barrel on skirts of arena etc. He's very relaxed and very focussed today.

I then go to more games to ask for obedience and impulsion w/relaxation. He does some fabulous moving circles, jumps, jumps on a fig 8, fig 8's in trot and some great yo-yo's too. I then set him free at liberty and whilst instructing Allison he follows me about when I ask him, he stands still adn doesn't move when I ask him and he generally does a marvellous job of being my partner today ;-)

I then play at liberty, over jumps squeeze style, stick 2 me w/t/c/h/backup and then some liberty circles to the right but looses his concentration to the left but comes back to me after I call him ;-)

Then I saddle and cinch him up and mount. Allison is giving Tara a rest from circling game and squeeze/jumps which they both did very well on and watches me warm Solly up.

Ridden/Freestyle:
I ask him to just RtR and get a seat/leg connection by asking him to do transitions w/h/bk and then w/t/w/bkup. Then I put in some small circles to COD or keep in direction but seeing if my 'eyes/bellybutton/leg' is working. It gets better and better and I hardly have to touch the rein let alone take my hand off the front of the saddle ;-)) SO then I rest him for a bit and then go into some t/c transitions. I know he stops after a short while cantering and I've been giving him the benefit of the doubt that he may be unbalanced BUT whilst on this long side of the arena I feel him want to come down to trot and I just ask him for a bit more this time and he gives it to me nicely, at one point he offered to canter more which is cool. I think this is just now a process of asking him for a bit more each time and we'll get canter for longer and longer.

Ridden/Finesse:
After a good freestyle session I move on to more finesse things. I ask him to have good impulsion and then take up the reins for a nice contact and we work on some transitions, circles, serpentines, leg yields on a circle and leg yields along the long side of the arena from the quarter line. He is very light, connected and feels very much on his HQ's...in fact it feels GREAT. My position is good, I'm moving with him and it all feels very very fluid. Fantastic ;-)) We even pop over a few jumps for fun and we do it all together more and it feels lovely.

So I give him a big rest and my friend rides Tara. Just teaching her the basic's of keeping on the rail and how to use phases with the eyes, bellybutton, leg, rein technique. She does a good job and although Tara is a bit worried about a couple of the corners she tries her little heart out for Allison. It was lovely to see them get more bonded and more of a trusting relationship today. Allison seems much more balanced and understanding of how to maneuver Tara to the left and right today which is great. Only thing that'll make this better is practise so she's doing a grand job. Whilst teaching her I mount Solly again and just stay in the central piece of the arena, this not only helps me not have to run around shouting instructions in the big arena, it teaches Solly to move, stop, halt, turn and wait with me whilst I'm teaching and he does a grand job of it ;-)

Both horses did very well today, this was (as I've just realised) Tara's FIRST time in a large indoor arena and she did very well, Allison helped her enormously by being a good leader and they had fun. Solly was a complete STAR, he did all that I asked and more, he was light, attentive, focussed, balanced, flexible, relaxed and with great impulsion. He didn't once question my 'ask' or throw a strop. He was perfect ;-))

Solly and I watching Allison w/Tara ;-)

Tuesday 14th September

Did an hour of ragworting today, groomed Solly and Stormy and then played with Solly. He did a great yo-yo out to about 35' of the 45' rope but today he did it with a lovely attitude and with nice ears...he also came in on a ph1 which was lovely.

I then asked him to circle at a trot, put in as many jumps as I asked all from about 30' away with some COD's thrown in for fun. He did it all without me doing much at all ;-) He also did a jump/stop and sidepassed over the jump to get off it...he's been licking and chewing on this on I can tell. lol

Next I went and saddled him and went into the large area where he sidepassed over the white barrel from a distance, with only a ph1-2 and with a good attitude again...he must have realised I love him more with his ears forward ;-)

Did some fabulous fig 8's at trot and I hardly moved at all!!! can't believe this, today has been a very light day with a horse with a good attitude....fabulous. I make sure his girth is done up well and prepare to mount and before I know it the heavens have opened and the rain is hard and freezing. I mount anyway and start doing some warm up walk/halt transitions but poor Solly isn't impressed at all with the weather, he hardly wants to move at all apart from trying to put his lovely butt to the wind and rain. I try to ride him for about 5 mins but it's not working well so give up trying, dismount, unsaddle and set him free, put the tack away and jump in the car, get rid of the ragwort and go home for tea and popcorn and a good movie! ;-(

Try again tomorrow ;-)

Thursday 9th September

Beautiful day today so off out to play with Solly ;-) Here's what we did together:


Online 45':

Catch me was good today and using the 45' line we played stick 2 me down to the flat area of the field, w/t/bkups...got his backup better as he was being a bit sluggish. Then I went to driving with one rein in Z5, tossing the rope over his head for change of rein...all went well, he is much better about energy going towards his Z1 from Z5 now ;-) I then do one rein Z5 weaving and keep the rein on one side down the weave, toss it over his head at the end and then drive him back the other way. This was fun, he 'got it' after just two circuits. We then go to the roundpen.


Liberty:

Stick 2 me w/t/bkups go very well in here today. I then ask for some sideways, DHQ, move FQ's and sideways on other side in one fluid move ;-) nice game this one. I then practise his DHQ and move FQ on a circle for lightness. Then onto come circles and I am much more specific about maintaining canter today and he does pretty well, much harder for him clockwise but working on those more and more now. I put in some nice smooth COD's and that is working much better now too. Forgot spins but the COD's were important today ;-)

After a short break I then ask him to stick to me, with me in Z3 w/t/c and we do this without worrying about bumping into each other or me worrying about him kicking out! he's got this nice now ;-) So stopping on a good note I halter him up again (on the 45' line) and ask him to canter squeeze out of the gateway a couple of times.


Online 45' in field:

On the long line now I ask him to stretch himself in moving circles and multiple jumps, which today he did non-stop in canter with at least 4 consecutive jumps!! yeehaa! Then I ask him to squeeze over the barrels (one upright, one down, one upright in a squeeze) and then put the middle on up for one 3' barrel jump which he did the second time I asked...he seems to prefer to do this high jump from almost a standstill, going at it from a trot or canter just seems to scare him!! interesting.


Riding in arena:

So, I saddle and cinch with some sideways L&R over small barrel ;0) fig 8's with trot and canter w/SLC's and FLC's ;-)) Today I am using Holly's saddle. I seem to remember trying Sol in the Wintec Wide XXXXW gullet, then the WW in the XXW gullet but NEVER the middle XXXW which is what Holly is now in...SO, time to try it out and guess what I think this is the one for him! but will try it out regularly next week for a full report on what he likes best.

We started off with transitions, lots of them....w/h...w/t...t/h. Then fig 8's with some leg yield on the circle to encourage relaxation and then leg yields from the quarter line to the fence line to help with flexibility. All going well so far ;-)

I then go for w/t/canter transitions and Sol is 'offering' to canter today...I watch his ears, they go back in a search to see what the saddle is going to give him (pain/discomfort) and then very quickly his ears go forward again, this is HUGE for him in the canter!! and he ends up giving me 3 very nice canters without a thought of buck or head down or worry!! I hope this lasts and that maybe now I've sorted his back out for good and that we can build up our canter transitions until we finally get a full arena's worth ;-)) I let him stop himself at the mounting block and jump off to give him a treat and a hug for being so good. I then set him free back in his herd.

I then get Tara to catch me, do some warming up, saddle her and ride her to the house for my friend Allison to groom/ride back later this afternoon ;-) Good day today, had a lot of fun and feeling very relaxed and good. Off for weekend teaching in Dumfries & Galloway but then back for a full week of play/riding my own horses again...oh and the dreaded Ragworting!! ;-(

Wednesday 8th September

Did little bits with Solly today as out helping/teaching my friend to take care and ride Tara for me. One thing Solly did very well today was stand still whilst being ground tied, he did a great job of this several times during the session. He also did some nice riding although I'd not played as much as normal with him and then he did some liberty circles too ;-) Will try to do more with him tomorrow before friend comes over to play/groom/ride Tara.

Monday 6th September

Very very VERY windy today so I sort out some more of the electric fencing in new paddocks and then go down to see what the horses are doing. One of my blue tarps had flown into the fence so I picked that up and tied it to the fence near the arena....thought about putting it away BUT it's great desensitization for the horses as long as it doesn't blow away over the farmers fields next door...sure his cattle and sheep wouldn't appreciate it! lol

I decide that it's too windy to ride Solly, he gets sceptical about riding near trees etc when it's not even windy SO groundwork will be the order of the day and I look at the roundpen and decide on liberty today ;-) We've not been doing much liberty so it will be a nice change...nice shortish session, keep it sweet and fun and that's exactly what we do.

I start off with Stick 2 Me w/t/bkup's and then also Stick 2 Me weaving around the 6 posts I'd put up for just this game ;-) He sticks to me like glue and we end in the centre of the circle for a treat. Next game up is some xtreme friendly game, all zones and when back in Z5 ask for DHQ's from back there (preparing for spinning), does this lightly and nicely, I make sure friendly game is still okay from back there and it is.

I then ask for some sideways along the fence and put in some DHQ's and move the FQ's so that I go from sideways to the left to sideways to the right in two very easy maneuvers. I like doing this as it gets him more aware of being on his HQ's and light on his FQ's and also spices up the sideways game a bit more. Again I finish off with him in the centre for a treat.

Then we go to some circling, he does some nice w/t/c/t transitions for me and then I ask for more canter and leave him out there for a while before asking for trot again. Once his trot is even and calm I ask for a COD and then PUSH his FQ's out on the way out of the COD for a spin ;-)

They aren't nice tight spins and I ask very quietly without too much fuss so he's really doing a small circle spin BUT it's a beginning and something he can lick and chew on for a day or two before I try again! ;-)

Ask him out of pen and do some liberty jumps before sending him off back to the herd.

I then ask Tara to catch me, play with her and saddle her to ride back to the house. My friend Allison, who lives here on the estate, is taking over her charge for a while. I will show her how to take care of a horse (grooming, poo picking, rugs, feeding, playing and riding) and hopefully Tara then will have someone giving her some much needed TLC and exercise daily. I can still do things with her too, she will still be mainly with the herd, but Allison will be her main carer from now on until she gets her own horse. I know that Tara is a good, steady, calm horse who will give Allison confidence and horse owner skills that will prepare her for later on.

Solly out on his close liberty circles

Saturday 4th September

Went out to be with horses today and Mark to have another session on Holly. Whilst Mark played/saddled/cinched Holly I played with Stormy (and whilst I did this Solly stayed right next to the arena waiting his turn dozing!! ahh). Here's what I did with Stormy:

Online/22':

Stick 2 me w/t/bk. Moving circles (doing much better with keeping gait, staying in direction now), popped in some COD's too. Did some really light good yo-yo's and then went into jumping multiple jumps whilst on moving circles. He did very well with these and put some extra effort in to jumping without knocking all the obstacles down ;-) Went to working on circling with just one jump and asked him to do the jump 4 times without stopping, changing gait or changing direction. He slowed down a lot by jump 3 but he did very well to not stop on the circle ;-) Next I asked him to sidepass over the 3 high tyre jump to the L&R and he did this with extreme care and lightness.


Saddling/Cinching:

I groomed and saddled him and then put him to circling, COD's at trot and canter and then asked him to really canter as fast as he could making sure there was no bucks in his saddling/cinching today....no bucks ;-)


Mounting:

Making a game out of mounting again. I stand on a small barrel and ask him to sidle over on one side, he does this fabulously as we've done it since he was about 2 yrs old (he's now 7). I then drive his HQ's away and ask him to sidle up on the other side. Each time he does it I stand playing the friendly game for a while, I do this at least 6 times each side and then I put in a LF each side to make sure that is in place too.

I'm feeling a bit braver today so I put my foot into the stirrup and bounce up and down a few times each side and then bounce up and down and put my hip into the saddle a few times too. I ask for LF again each side and then when I bounce up and down this time I put my leg over the saddle and wait, leg off, hip into saddle, bounce down, back up and sit in saddle again. I do this 3 times on each side and it feels good to be sitting on him again. He is as quiet as anything and giving me LF each time I get on him. It reminds me of when we backed him when he was 4 ;-)

So after this good session I set him free and he plays Stick 2 Me at liberty out of the arena and into the field and I treat him to some herb treats. I then ask Solly to catch me which he does with pleasure and at liberty I put him into the arena and walk him around a bit. Whilst he's standing at liberty with me I give Mark some attention on his circling/fig 8's with Holly. I ask him to try to do some fig 8's in freestyle. I then hop on Holly to demonstrate to Mark what he should be looking for with her and then set him back on her to experiment with circles and fig 8's.

I play with Solly to warm him up and then groom, saddle/brilde and cinch whilst Mark is riding out in walk around the field.

Our session is okay but I would love to get some tuition in finesse more now as I often feel I need a bit more information about how to ask Solly for the best results. He did some nice fig 8's (although the bottom end of the arena was a bit worrying for him and he scooted sideways a bit so we didn't go back there today!) and we tried some leg yields but I felt I was asking all the wrong questions in all the wrong way for him SO hope my recent purchase of the Karen Rohlf dvd set will help me to sort out more lateral maneuvers soon ;-O Anyway, Mark got a couple of nice pic's for the blog whilst I wasn't looking.

a bit hollow backed but trying really hard to get 'on the bit'...
nice soft reins where he 'gave' to me nicely ;-)

again, trying hard for me and getting a bit more balanced and together ;-)

Friday 3rd September

Spent most of the day running around but went out after 4pm to see horses and see if Solly was up for a play/ride. Yes he was, he came over straight away for some fussing, scratches and a treat ;-)

I did the usual play'prep before saddling:
Friendly game, yo-yo's, porcupine sideways, sideways over barrel and towards over barrel, circling w/t/c/moving and with jumps. Then some liberty of the same stuff, great circles at liberty today with a really engaged trot and his stick to me was very good too.

I then saddled and bridled him, the bridle had the white plastic french link in it as I wanted to check it for him again. After cinching I sidled him up to a mounting block and got on.

I did some freestyle transitions to make sure he was listening to me and being obedient and then did some turns to see if he was flexible and then I started to bring in the reins to more and more concentrate...I do this slowly so that he can flex with me rather than against me ;-)

He did very well but I found he was playing and moving his mouth around a LOT with this bit and he didn't settle with it, I think maybe it's too light in his mouth SO I voted to put the original sweet iron, loose ring, french link back in that I was happy with before using the PNH Confidence snaffle (which worked well but was heavy and I found he lent on it a bit too much after he'd found how to 'go onto the bit' well !!).

So, we had a great session with the french link. He was doing nice w/t and then bk/t transitions, then we were flexing more and doing some 20m circle fig 8's with some lovely bends and his head in a nice position naturally. Mark took a couple of pic's of us today when he was out walking the dogs so I think the french link will be staying in the bridle for now....we're both happy with it so why change it ;-)

Nicely 'on the bit' although he needs to start working from his HQ's more now

Flexion getting better and lighter as we go

Lost the contact a bit here but impulsion okay...
it's all such a balance between impulsion, flexion, lightness and patterns ;-)

ending on a nice backup...he even offered up some canter today ;-)

Wednesday 1st September

Already September, can't believe how fast this year is going and it's a good time to reflect on all that I've done with the horses:

Fortune: is still here this year, her lameness hasn't got any worse and she's still in good shape, not loosing weight and although toppled from 2nd in command to near the bottom is still an integral part of the herd and enjoys her time with her sister Tara more and with us too.

Fortune enjoying a good scratch on her belly ;-)

Stormy: Although he got scared by the cows and I was bucked off he's had a pretty quiet 2010. He's matured beautifully and before the cow incident we'd had a wonderful hack out on our own and he also trailered wonderfully from our old home to our new one. He's becoming very playful and I know over Winter when I have more time I must play with him more and then put a purpose to that play. Hopefully I should be able to buy him a harness and we can start the process of logging with him ;-)

Stormy showing how he takes the electric polyposts down...
from the bottom of the post!! even when the electric is on - naughty boy ;-)

Holly:
She did well to walk the whole 4 hours from our old home to our new home, even though she goes into the trailer well she has had trouble shifting her weight onto her right hip (which was broken when she was a baby) but the walk did her good. She has had plenty of play and riding before we moved in May but since being here Mark's arthritis on his left hip played up badly and she's been left to keep herself fit up and down our field hill daily. I have ridden her a couple of times and Mark has now had a resurfacing hip operation and has no arthritis pain at all and has started riding again...yeehaa! We have noticed how well Holly is doing in her general health and how good her muscles are doing SO we've checked her saddle size and have put the Wintec saddle up a gullet, she is now on an XXXW gullet...not bad for a horse that suffered chronic grass sickness when she was younger ;-)

Tara:
Well she did very well at the beginning of the year but since being at our new place with 7 acres she has ballooned up rather a lot!! eek. I have tried muzzles but she doesn't eat with them on and she cannot defend herself when in season against the boys or herd leader Holly. I've tried putting her in a seperate round pen but again her herd is taken away from her and she gets grumpy and very unhappy, also with our new field there is only one source of water (small stream) and I cannot take some of that stream without making it harder for the other horses to drink!! I've not been able to ride her as often as I would like but hey ho...she's always been this way and I'd rather she was happy in the herd and not seperated or bullied. I know she'll loose the weight over winter and that's as nature meant it to be. Apart from that though she's extremely good, light to ride, pretty darn fit and a happy camper. She now often comes over to me for scratches or hugs and I love that from her ;-)

Tara doing something very unusual...
FOLLOWING Solly about the large field!! she must be in love ;-)

Solly:
Well Solly has done very well. I've concentrated most of my time on him this year (when I'm not out and about teaching horsemanship to my students) and it's beginning to really show. Our partnership is much much better, he did superbly in a demo of horsemanship in Brechin this year, trailer loads like a dream and has finally 'got' the essense of freestyle riding. He's becomming lighter off my leg and this has affected his finesse work for the better too. We're getting to grips with online and liberty canter work and long reining together and this too has affected our ridden work for the better. Slowly he's relaxing more and more with the canter work as I'm taking loads of time for him to get more and more balanced in himself and more and more confident in me. He's now jumping online 3' upright barrels and taking on board more lateral maneuvers online and ridden. Really loving the journey with him and thinking that Level 4 online and liberty next year should be more of a reality.

Me:
Well, my confidence went a bit with big Stormy after our fall but I'm starting him again like he was a youngster and that will help both our confidences so that we can continue our journey through the Winter and next year. My body is slowly getting straighter and more balanced and this is reflected in my better ridden work with Solly and Holly. My teaching is getting better and better and a lot of my students are passing Parelli auditions which is great to see. I feel I'm getting more of an understanding of finesse work, bringing in bits of teaching from other teachers but also some of what I knew before from my BHS days but using that info in a more natural way.

SO, that's my years reflections so far. The next couple of months I will hopefully get some good arena work done with Solly, maybe trailer him to a friends yard or an indoor arena for a good surface. Stormy will be handled more as my teaching trailers off for the year and Holly will have Mark back riding her so that he and I can pop out hacking to the local village for a bit of fun...look forward to that.

Meanwhile TODAY we went down to the field to see how Holly would do with Mark on her back again. Yesterday it was calm, hot and peaceful but we felt that she was a bit tense and high headed. We thought it may be because now Mark has a new hip he is no longer crooked in the saddle and it's all new again for her BUT I also thought it may be because she's muscled up well this year her saddle gullet may need changing...and so it did. She has been wearing the Wintec Wide with the XXW gullet but now she's an XXW in herself and because we put 2xshims up front to keep the saddle in a more balanced position I change the gullet to the middle XXXW one. She seems much more relaxed today and this could have helped enormously...also Mark was much more relaxed today too ;-) Here are some piccie's of the hour or so we spent down in the arena with Holly:

Mark just working on some walking freestyle with some
Ride the Rail, relaxing Holly into being worked
andgetting his legs into a better position now

Holly's trot is looking good, relaxed, calm, alert and light....
Mark's not bad either ;-)

More relaxed and Mark's legs easing into better position

Mark having a lesson in Finesse...
trying out the suspension rein and inside leg for better circles/turns...
creating a more balanced turn with relaxation.

Showing that suspension rein and inside leg (even without a bit ;-).
Holly finds this helps her do better maneuvers ie. fig 8's
and serpentines. Her rib cage to the left is very stiff
and this helps her find a wayto move the ribs overto create
an arc in her body to follow the circle ;-)

Me riding Holly showing how to help her even more going to the left
on circles I really bring the suspension rein up
and ask herto pop her ribs over to the right for me ;-)

Notice now how she's powering forward from her HQ's
and tracking up much better now due to her using her back
and HQ's better from me helping her with the suspension rein.
She really floats when she does this ;-)