February 2011

Have just put up my On line Horse Agility test for Feb, look at 'Our Journey' list below on the right and go to 1b) HORSE AGILITY

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Monday 28th February

Had a morning picking up more hay and so late this afternoon I decided to just take Solly out for a mosey and graze. It's been three days since going out with Sol and the last time was a bit worrying for him when he took flight away from a field of cattle and being away from the herd. He's been looking at me all weekend with those 'take me out and play' looks he does but I decide to take it easy today and not push any buttons, get our connection back and keep his confidence.

As soon as I'd taken him out there appeared a lady walker along the track outside out house....it's a very popular route but we've not seen many people recently and this totally took Solly by surprise (again glad I wasn't riding him) as he stood bolt upright, head in the air, neck looking like a giraffe and tried to spin around back for the herd. I calmly asked him to just face me and take a few steps backwards, which he did. I spoke to the lady and Solly started to relax and we just hung around in that spot for a while relaxing until I felt he was okay to move off.

I then looked for a good stone in the distance to sit on and headed for it without worrying about what Solly was doing. Got to the stone, I sat down and left him to do what he wanted...after a while he grazed and was okay. Whilst sitting down I looked for the next stone I could sit on and when it felt good I just got up and started walking to the next stone. We did this about 8 times, finding good stone seats and grazing for Solly. By about the 4th stone when I stood up to move off Solly was 'with me' and I didn't have a boulder on the end of my rope anymore! lol. He stayed with me, at my pace, when I went, he came ;-)

He started to relax more and so I took this 'game of grazing' up the forest track and we stopped at all the places he finds it hard to ride past. I did not move to the next spot until he was visibly relaxed and had grazed a bit.

Grazing spot a quarter of the way up the forest track,
keeping off track for a change and asking him to put his feet
where he thinks it might be worrying!

Solly watching out for wolves, mountain lions and the
fearsome red squirrel ;-)

Made it to the top of the ride, phew! lol

The way back down was good, I kept to the grazing every so often policy so that it wasn't about rushing home again. He did very well. Came out a bit spooky and very herd sweet but went home with our connection working better and a bit more focus.

Sunday 27th February

Good sunny, warm day again so taking advantage of the weather Mark and I went out to repeat exactly the ride we did yesterday. We did this to help be consistent for Holly who was a bit RB in places yesterday. Today she was calm, focussed and happy to be out ;-)) Even the cattle didn't bother us today, they were all together again in the 3rd field along but not at the gateway!! what a relief ;-)

Here are some pic's from our hack:

Calm after taking Holly up the hill for her first canter of the ride,
she's nice and calm after the canter today ;-)

Mark and Holly calmly leading the way to the village

Tara and me trotting over the wooden bridge

Me and Tara having a nice balanced canter today,
finally getting my position better for the horses and
funnily enough leaning backwards isn't balanced for any of ours!

Enjoying the balanced canter now ;-)
need to take this new balance to Solly now when riding now

Mark coming over the wooden bridge on way home

Mark and Holly having one of their great calm canters
up past our Summer grazing

Saturday 26th February

Dry, clear and sunny is how today has been, often quite hot during midday and we rode out, Mark and I, together. Mark and his Holly and me and my Tara. I chose Tara today as I knew there would be a bit of worry around the cattle moving and being close to the gate. Yesterday all the cattle were in the new field, this morning the mummy cattle were in the winter field as was normal and the older calves (maybe yearlings) were in the new field SO we had our work cut out for us going through that lot. They were all converging at the gate so as to be close to each other and we had to get the mummy's out of the way first, get through the gate whilst trying to get the youngsters away the other side. THIS is why I chose Tara as although both horses do not particularly like being surrounded by cattle they are both more trusting in this sort of situation and that would make it easier to handle for us.

It was much easier moving all those cattle with two of us, I would not like to have to do that on my own with a horse (or dog for that matter) and probably won't be going that way on my own for now. Soon the horses will be back in their Summer grazing and this is beyond where the cattle are and so we'll be able to ride to the village and back without the bother of cattle ALTHOUGH I will have trouble getting to ride back to the house which is a bit of a shame ;-(

Apart from that the ride went very well, Holly was a bit emotionally sweaty and Mark allowed her to let off some steam with a couple of good canters. At the shop they got an apple and carrot each and then a very peaceful ride home with some nice w/t/c from both horses.

The cattle were again at the gateway together and it felt like we were surrounded as there is a right angled corner this side of the gate with the youngsters and the other side is open so cattle can mill around the gate and fence line for 45 degrees....Tara was not at all sure of any of it BUT I kept her safe and she settled well after getting past the middle of the 2nd field. Luckily the cattle all want to be together so at least they didn't try to follow us like they normally do (got to find something good in that sort of situation! ;-)

Forgot my camera today but Mark remembered his so here are two pics of me and my Tara having a couple of canters along the hack out. She did fabulously today.

Friday 25th February

Today felt like Spring, it had been raining lightly some of the night but the day opened up to clearer skies and some sunshine. Went and got Solly early and gave him a good long groom. He was filthy but luckily dry enough to get most of the mud off and make him look a bit more like the white horse he is ;-)

I let him graze about and then saddled him in the hope that later on I may ride him home. My plan today was to take him down to the Summer grazing field and sort out some of the electric fencing insulators, put up an electric fence ready for them returning at the end of March and to play/ride in the field and then ride home. Luckily I always have a plan B up my sleeve...here's what happened.....


.....firstly walking Solly down the track all tacked up toward the cattle field was good. I let him graze a bit in places but not too much and we did LOTS of quick transitions bk/t/bk/t and then w/t/w/t to get us connected. He didn't even notice the tractor part on the side of the road today which was great and we got down to the cattle field. This morning when I walked the dogs here the cattle were all up the top of the field but the farmer had been to feed them and I presumed they were probably down the hill at the bottom of the field now with big full bellies! There wasn't a cow to be seen in the field and we walked through it well, connected and relaxed. Solly did try to smell ALL the cow pat's on the track and I still took that he was wary of being in a field where there were big animals grazing so I kept an eye on his relaxation.

We got half way across the field and there was the small sheep feeder he'd seen and touched before on the track and the big red cattle feeder, no cattle around at all and so an opportunity to play ;-) He did marvellously, checking it out all over in a calm manner.

Checking out cattle feeder slowly and calmly

Making sure the corner was safe ;-)

Checking out the middle section

Then the sides...he really took his time and I just waited with him

He even checked underneath to see if anything was there too ;-))

After he was satisfied there was nothing untoward about the feeder he moved off and I went with him, up the incline towards the next gate towards the Summer grazing. Just at the gate I could see some sheep the other side, thought maybe they'd been put there to just graze the open field for a while and started to open the gate!!!! me and Solly heard it at the same time, a lowing cow!! EEK. No wonder there weren't any cattle in the previous field, the farmer has put them in the next field along...next to our summer grazing. At least this will be good to get horses used to them more if they're in the next field BUT...

...to get to our field we have to get through the cattle and the track here isn't like the other field. Other field has a track in the middle of the field, you can move about and 'escape' off the track if necessary. This field has the track open on one side and a huge high dry stone wall on the other. There was NO way I was going into the field with the cattle still at the top of the field as we may get surrounded by 35+ cattle and backed up onto the wall...not a nice scenario SO, I backed out through the gateway again and decided to execute Plan B.

Solly trying to get the unusual smell of cattle into his palate...
he really curls his top lip when flehming something new and unusual

Looking over the gate and wondering how the cattle got from the field
we were in to this other one....they were in this field yesterday!? ;)

Plan B took on the form of playing in the field we were in, abandoning going to the summer grazing and just seeing what we could do here and now with maybe a ride back from here to the house...fine ;-)

We went along the wall a bit away from the fence but now we couldn't see the cattle at all, the dry stone wall is very high at this point. I'd put his stirrups down and made some reins with the 22' line ready to mount and ride hom. We played around on the hill and did some nice yo-yos and started on circles. Solly seemed relaxed, lowering his head sometimes and doing as requested in walk. I then upped it a bit as thought 'well I need to see what his trot and canter are like in circles before riding him' so asked him to trot a circle. It still seemed good, working on more relaxation and then before I knew it BOOM...........................he turned and ran off!! ;-(

I stayed calm (all gates in the field were closed) and called to him but he trotted back up the track towards home and at the last turning he went into a canter and went to the gateway home. When he couldn't see me I ran after him and found him waiting by the gate but not calm, as I got closer I asked him to DHQ and come to me but he couldn't do it and the closer I got the more it seemed he was looking for a way back to the herd, he was starting to go down the fence line and I knew if I followed him he'd just keep in front of me the whole way down SO quick thinking I just went towards the gate and made a big noise of opening it and this caught his attention and he came over to me and relaxed.

Poor lad, once he got to me he went RBint and was 'out of it' for a few mins there, he stayed very close to me like a child with a 'blankey' and I just stayed with him until he started to come back to me.

RBint mode ;(

Still RBint...he looks so 'sad' when like this,
his whole body shrinks and goes SAD ;-(

Slowly coming out of RBint mode but still not truly connected back to me...
his eyes still look sunken and sad, heavy upperlid like he's fighting to keep
his upper eyelid open ;(

Once I got a bit of 'connection' back with Sol I walked with him back up the field towards where he ran off, didn't go the whole way back but played around in the field until more confident and more connected. He put his foot onto a stone which was good, he tries so hard to please dear lad. Then we walked back home together and I only asked some stick 2 me from him to make sure our harmony was still there.

Looking a bit better, bit more connected and able to perform a small request
but the eyes say it all don't they

SO, what worried him? well thinking about it, it was the 'new things and environments' once again that caught us out. He spooks at things that are quick but new things and environments have him worry for longer and longer until he can't cope. He can walk nicely and graze even when turning introverted so it's hard to spot, it only came out when I asked him to go into a higher gait (trot) and that was the last straw that had him flee. Once again my task for this year is to take him to new places and have his worrying new 'things and environments' really sorted out more this year!! Hope it works, quite a tricky issue as he doesn't show signs of being upset until it's too late but hopefully (a) I'll get even better at reading his subtle, subtle signs and (b) he'll trust me more and more so that this won't be an issue anymore. Just SO GLAD I didn't mount up and ride today!!

Wednesday 23rd February

I didn't get out until late today and it was very grey and uninviting but Solly looked at me with his 'what we going to do today mum' look and I took him for a walk down the track, which is mostly green/muddy now...yeehaa. We took in lots of undemanding time, grazing spots and stick to me as we went and enjoying each others company. Half way along we got to see the cattle, last time the cattle were down the bottom of a hill in their field, hard to see and moseying about. We also came across a sheep feeder which Solly was pretty good at putting his nose on and didn't want to take it off once he realised there was feed in it! lol.





We then did some squeezes between me and the wall and then the wall and some hillocks....the ground was pretty squishy here and he did superbly with his bravery.




Today the cattle were very close to the gate and laying down snoozing or generally chilling out after their morning feed. I took no notice of the cattle and moseyed down to the gate, stopping regularly so that Solly could graze and take the cattle in with his eyes in a calm, slow manner. He did very well.

At the gate I asked him to do some yo-yo's with me sitting on the gate, very very light feel down the rope was all I used and he was very focussed and happy. After seeing the cattle he seemed to be getting a smell of them too. lol.





SO, we went into the field (hard for me as it's ME that has a worry about cattle!) and we played...some circles with COD's, yo-yo's on the circle (w/h/bkup/w) and generally just being okay in the company of the cows. They were pretty close too. Solly was a champ...I was using friendly and x.friendly all the time and then doing yo-yo's at the cattle and they moving forward and back too...was funny to see them doing yo-yo's and Solly thought that was fascinating ;-)

I asked him to do some moving circles, moving very slowly and not far and as he got into them he started to relax and lower his head more and more.





So, all went well and we just moseyed back together, plenty of grazing spots and some squeeze game over some logs and fallen branches. Solly was very chilled and seemed just happy to be out and finding something to eat ;-)





Right before home we found some more natural obstacles...ditch and water which we played with for a while..he was worried about the water at first, nice to drink but then big jumps over it so I stayed with it playing about and then he just walked through it like it was his idea all along ;-)

A good hour out, building on our relationship all the time ;-)

Tuesday 22nd February

Had to post a letter today so decided to just ride Tara to the village and see how the track is looking. I realised that the snow is mostly gone off the track and a lot of fields apart from the large area where we live and on top of big hills or mountains. This is our adventure today.

Caught me well, groomed and saddled up...she's lost weight which is great as she started winter a bit too large for comfort. I walked her the first 100 yards, letting her saddle get in the right position and making sure she was responsive, relaxed and was connected with me whilst on the ground.

Mounting was super as always with Tara, she sidles up to anything for me to mount and stands totally still until I ask her to move off. The first part of the track had a bit of snow on it and she seemed a bit hesitant to walk over the long track that had thick ice on it last time she came down here so I let her go off track onto the grassland and let her find her own pathway, as long as she stayed in the direction I asked for and in the gait I requested (walk for now) then the rest was up to her, that's the partnership.

We got near to the first metal gate and the cattle field, the cattle were near to this gate and Tara's head was high and she was 'on her toes' a bit SO we played around with approach and retreat and also friendly game with the training stick and string in the saddle. When she was listening to me and a bit more relaxed I got off and opened the gate and went into the field. Tara was not sure about going into the field but she's such a trusting horse and I knew I must help her be brave about this SO I just led her from Z2, touching her shoulder and breathing with her to help her connect again with me. I kept playing the friendly game taking it up to extreme friendly game now and then to help her keep with me.

The cattle moved towards us...they're SO curious. I turned towards them and whipped the ground a couple of times, they stopped and Tara and I continued on our way. The cattle were following us, some of the more curious youngsters trotting up to us and Tara was getting in a bit of a fuss SO I slowly turned towards the cattle, keeping Tara near me and with me and then walked towards them calmly but decisevely playing the extreme friendly game. They didn't move....but then as I got closer and closer their Freeze became a Flee and they all turned in an instant and ran off back down the hill a bit. I continued the friendly game, turned around, kept Tara with me at her shoulder, rubbed on her and walked through the field as if nothing had happened. I think I just got some Savvy Points from Tara for this today ;-) felt good.

Through 2nd gate and I remounted and rode to the third gate which we opened/closed whilst mounted. From here the snow basically dissapeared. Bit muddy but where it was good we trotted. I could hear a farmer on a quad bike and a tractor but could see in the distance that they were in fields feeding their sheep. Tara noticed some sheep being moved from one field to another and we stopped, had a look, relaxed and carried on nicely. All the way to the village she was really looking at things, bushes, stones in the road, sheep etc and re-aquainting herself with the route.

At the shop she was perfect, tied up to the nearby tree branch she just stood and waited and enchanted the whole ladies tea morning group ;-)) I bought her an apple and a carrot and then we were off back home. This time we took a short cut just in the village and went around the village green making sure to keep to the edges so as not to make messy hoofprints anywhere they play on the green. She trotted this part beautifully and then gave me a superb canter back to the track home.

Everything very smooth on the way home, her gaits are usually a bit quicker and it was a nice ride. Back at the cattle field the farmer had fed them at the bottom of the hill so not a sign of them anywhere BUT Tara was on her toes a bit. I was riding her knowing the cattle had gone and when she changed gait (walk to trot or trot to canter) I circled her where I could off the track to help her relax and come back to the gait I asked for. I also worked for quite a while on circles and fig 8's whilst doing extreme friendly ridden as Tara was going faster when I was doing this in this field and I made sure I worked on it with her to help her know it was just X.friendly game and not meaning to go faster. We left it on a good note where she realised that if she stopped with the X.FR then it stopped and then moved it on a notch so that she could try to walk or trot relaxed with X.FR and not stop! more play to be done as we go me thinks but left it on a very good note.

I also played this FR game in the next part of the track so that it's not about that cattle field ;-)

Saturday 19th February

We had 3" of snow last night and it was still falling this morning...ended up with just over 4" and it stopped by noon. SO, no consistency with following up on yesterdays play session in new field today as the mud underneath the snow was slippery before the snow, now the whole lot is pretty unpredictable and I don't want any accidents so once again it's just a matter of waiting until it all goes again before being able to get out and about to play wherever I can. My brain keeps wishing for an indoor arena, or even a good grounded, well drained outdoor with good footing would be good!

Anyway, I went out to see how they were all doing in the afternoon (saw them at breakfast and they were all okay but will rug them all tonight in case it gets very cold as they're all wet now) and they were all in paddock 3. Paddock three is the furthest from the food and water so they don't always go in there, there is also a bit of a boggy/muddy bit to get through before hard standing again so this has been putting them off a bit BUT when there's snow and they're hungry they'll go in there to find food as it's the one with something left in places, the other two paddocks are mostly mud now.

SO, out I go thinking I'll just spend some undemanding time with them and hang out but Holly was a bit restless, pushing Fortune and Solly around which in turn got Solly pushing Fortune around. Tara, the clever cob that she is, was in paddock 2 keeping out of all the pushing games.

They were still when I got in and I just tried to hang out with Solly BUT he had a dominant biting game going on which was probably a bit of the game he was playing with Stormy today and I just happened to come in at the bottom of the herd in time to get a bit of teeth dominance!

I used the normal technique of flapping about like a chicken or pretending to brush a hair off my jacket to cause commotion to keep him from biting me but he was very very persistent. So I took a step back and just played about with trying to move his feet a bit, this is at liberty! could I move his hq's and then his fq's for a draw towards me? NO. Could I ask his fq's over towards me for a draw? NO. I could see this was a good game of his so I decided that I would run about like a banshee all around him and in front of him to the left and right....this certainly unstuck his feet!...he must have thought about keeping me in his eyesight in case I did something strange! lol.

His draw suddenly became better, I just thought it and he came. The biting bit still there though a bit. I tried to stroke his face and his head was up and defensive like he was dealing with Stormy's big moosh, I just went slowly and consistently until he allowed me to stroke his nose ;-) Then I tried to hug him and he was very quick in realising he could almost bite me in this position so I did my best in holding the hug and staying really close to him and his upper neck, this way he actually physically couldn't turn to bite me! lol. It took a couple of tries but in the end he gave up trying to bite me and when I hugged him he just put his head down and relaxed...phew. lol

We sort of came to an understanding that biting wasn't good and so I thought I'd give his mind something to do...what did I do???? I set about making a snowman. They were fascinated. They all stopped what they were doing and watched intently. I made the snowman and Holly checked it out first and then she realised that with my snowball rolling on the ground I had left a clear grass/moss pathway where she may find something to eat and she forgot the snowman and grazed. lol

Next up was Solly, he was a bit snorty whilst I made the man but he came up really quickly and touched it with his nose a few times and walked about it a bit.



Then came Stormy...he sniffed Solly and then the snowman and he was fascinated with it and wanted to play with it...




...first he knocked the head part off and he sniffed about that part and then he had great fun just pawing at the bottom part until it was gone back into the ground ;-)) lol



Well at least it gave them something to do apart from fighting each other or biting me! ;-)

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This evening after we'd done their hay and dinner I worked on getting my connection back with Solly as it was in my mind all day that this biting malarkie isn't how I want it to end tonight. SO, I started with just being with him and used Ingela Larsson Smiths Herd Leader dynamic's on him. These are that the phases aren't something you apply and up and up and up until the horse moves, they are 'thought, energy, tap' then back off and try again. Using this principle I managed to stroke his face and hug him without him biting me. Then the test of whether this would work on the draw/drive (yo-yo's). I stood away from him, put the thought 'come to me' in my mind, brought some forward energy to the thought and put my body into a draw positioin.

He thought and thought about it, didn't move straight away so instead of upping the pressure or phases I just stopped for a second and repeated my request. I found that by doing these three mind requests repeatedly with small intervals inbetween worked well, he started to come to me, eyes bright and ears forward ;-) he got a treat.

Now for the drive backwards. I used the same principle of 'thought, energy, tap' (if neccessary, and quick in and out, not pressured or naggingly) and put my two fingers up and only wiggled my fingers twice before starting the process again and then again..he watched fascinated and then backed up beautifully ;-) I surprised him by walking up to him and gave him a treat.

I did this process twice and his draw/drive was wonderful...our connection is back and I was so pleased I took this time out to do this before saying nite nite to him.

Thursday 18th February

A bit misty but mild and grey today SO opportunity for some online fun. This year my objective was to not only try out for our Level 4 Online and Liberty auditions BUT to get Solly out and about more. I know he can often 'loose' our focus in new places, with new things and with new learning. I've also been doing the 7 day plan of taking him out and getting calmness and relaxation by repeating our online and riding places in a very consistent way BUT to have him go out regularly to maybe new places then I have to change our strategy now.

So, my plan for the next month is to take Solly online to as many new places around the estate as possible, this includes the fields he's been in last year as now after a few months away from them they will be 'new environments' again ;-)

Today I decided that we would walk whilst playing down the track towards the cattle field. We have a field that I can play in next to theirs and I put up a round pen there ages ago in case I decided to play in it.

Firstly go and ask Sol to catch me out of his field. Well he was right by the gateway, butt towards me and he turned and I opened the gate and he came into our garden very nicely. I followed him in Z5 up to where he wanted to stop, which was up a bank to eat some nice grass there and whilst his mouth was full of grass I haltered him and he was relaxed and willing for me.

We then went together out into the grassland area infront of the house and we played some friendly, stick 2 me and sideways to begin our session with relaxation and willing obedience. He did very well and tried to focus on me as much as he could. I took him to a field gate and let him graze, this was a new place to graze so hopefully he'll like it here more. Then we went back on the track a bit and around the forest fencing mostly doing the circling game on the move with some COD's now and then. He was soft and willing but did keep an eye on the forest for wildlife and the horses up in the paddocks. That was fine, he still stayed with me and the games so it was good.

Going down the track towards the field we would play in I made sure he was doing good stick 2 me transitions (h/w/t/bkup) as we've not been down this track together since the beginning of Winter when they all came up to the house. He was looking around with a slight high head but mostly out of curiosity rather than fear really. I made sure that any natural obstacle was used to keep him having fun whilst focussing on the task and on where his feet were going.




Once we got over the brow of a small hill he snorted a couple of times and I realised he was looking at the tractor bucket on the side of the track. I'm used to seeing this as I walk the dogs this way often but he'd not seen this track with that bucket on it ever SO we walked by it at a distance, then walked back the other way making sure he saw it with both eyes. He was calm but curious and when we turned the second time he made a beeline towards it and sniffed it ;-)) what a good boy.


He then spotted the livestock in the field down the way, some cattle and sheep. Again he seemed curious rather than worried and the high head was really just getting his eyes into focus for something in the distance. I decided this was a good spot to play with for him, the tractor bucket and also a high bank behind it for him to jump up/down. SO, we played circles, around the bucket (fab) and then he decided he wanted more of the 18' rope to circle using the bank ;-)







Once I knew he was okay with where he was, calm, relaxed, willingly obedience, some impulsion for the bank jump and also arcing around me nicely with flexibility whilst on the circles I asked him to stop and graze with me for a while. The field I wanted to go into is right in front of this spot so we walked together into the field doing some squeeze games through the wooden gate and also electric gateway too. He was calm but his focus was taken a bit by the farmer's tractor way below us feeding the cattle and sheep. I just kept my focus on the games we were playing.

We went together to the roundpen and I walked around the outside of it making the posts upright and strong again and he grazed and walked beside me. Then into the pen. I kept him on the 18' rope and played some games. I played games to try to keep his focus, he was looking a LOT up into the forest above us and below us to the tractor, cattle and sheep but I just kept playing and stopping when he tried his hardest to be good.

We played some nice sideways, let him graze when he actually gave me some steps of true sideways rather than the HQ drag sort he does when not focussed!

DHQ and move FQ, again grazing when he actually stepped under and over with these two properly without leaking forwards!

Backups, grazing and relaxing when he did straight backups and drew with impulsion at a trot ;-)

Circling. He actually did some really nice circles, I realised he wanted to move his feet so I let him and he did some nice transitions (w/t/c) with me just thinking them (cool) and he got to relax with me when he did them in a nice outline and with relaxation (working on this more and realise I've not really done enough circles in canter for him to know how to relax with them...he'll need a LOT so building up to that slowly for him ;-)

Then we did something for fun, to try it out. It actually happened because my focus was fab today and he really tried and really it was his idea. I asked him to go onto a circle from halt into a canter..didn't really think it would happen as we'd not done these before BUT he DID IT. I dhq after just half a circle to praise him for his huge effort and let him relax and graze. We did this three times and he did them h/c transitions beautifully. SO I let him rest a LOT.

Now it was strange at this point as he had offered the transition but maybe he was trying so hard with the new place as well that it wore him out....he stood next to me with head completely lowered, eyes a bit stary and not licking like he often does when he's done something good and fun. He had gone INTROVERTED (RBint) and all I could do was wait with him. I moved back away from him a step and he shuffled closer to me almost wanting to be near me for comfort and safety and like a kid who needed to hold his mum's skirt in a strange place. I just waited and after about 3 mins he was okay to raise his head, lower it again and graze...knew he was alright then.

This really showed me just how he tries his big heart out for me and shows relaxation, focus and calmness but that the new place and new thing was just one thing too many for him today. I'm sure tomorrow he'll do the transitions without going RBint. It also showed that I have been right to not do too much with him in new environment and never really new stuff...one new thing at a time, either place OR thing OR new task not more than one at a time. Sometimes you need to go too far to find the horses pace for things so although a bit of a sad moment it was a good moment for me to see his learning skills at present. 3 years ago he couldn't do one new thing (ie. new environment) let alone a new environment and a new thing. I know with the new training regime that new environment will not be a problem and then we can work on new environment and new thing better. This will help us more and more on hacking out and also the Horse Agility competitions I hope to attend this year with Solly ;-)



On the way back home he did some nice stick 2 me with some good very slow walk which was fun. He also did circles on the move whilst I walked on the track which was fun as he went over the track up the hill on my right and down a hill on the left ;-) Also just before getting on the last bit home I sidetracked up to the right which has been our walk/riding track into the forest a week or so ago and he did marvelous stick 2 me w/t/w/h/bk/t/h/t all the way to the yellow forest sign. Then we went home, he got some treats for being a good boy and hopefully we'll do some more fun things over the weekend.

Tuesday 15th February

Today is dry with a slight breeze, the rain yesterday and the day before has cleared most of the snow and ice and I wanted to play with my new toy....a HOOP. Mark bought this for me from the Horse Agility site and I know as a HA member this may come up in some of the live and online tests SO, here is my opportunity to see how the horses take to it. First up was Solly, he was cool, calm and very focussed and after the initial going through the arch, making sure he's picking feet up by playing yo-yo's through it and then yo-yo's with the hoop on the lowest height we decided to just go for the jump....he was great online and at liberty.

Next up was Stormy, he was watching whilst I played with Solly and I thought it would be good to try him with it too, although I think for him a bigger arch/hoop is going to be necessary! lol. He did very ell, calm and focussed online and at liberty but was more interested in the grass in the garden. lol.

Finally I brought out Tara to see how she would take to it. I played different games with her. As she's more introverted (the boys are often more extroverted) I made sure she was happy about going slowly through the arch and then made sure she was okay with the bottom part of the hoop on it's own on her legs and back in case it came off if she knocked it. She was fine once she knew it wasn't going to eat her. SO, back to playing around the arch, yo-yo's through it and then the hoop. Firstly she just walked really slowly over the jump/hoop which for her is great. She didn't knock it or break it off so fine. I just needed to help her find some impulsion to actually JUMP it. lol. SO we go to liberty and I really build my energy up inside me, go away from the jump a long way (she needs a long runway! lol) and off we go....she did a fab jump too, very proud of her.

The whole session with the three horses was about an hour and it went so well because of the partnerships I have with these horses and all the time spent training them and working on our relationships.

As always we have pictures of the session SO enjoy these:

The arch up and ready to play with

The arch with the lowest hoop setting

The arch with a high hoop setting

Letting Solly squeeze through arch online -
quietly and with a loose rope

Repeating the squeeze until completely relaxed about it all

Then adding the low hoop, walking through
again looking for relaxation and focus

Doing some yo-yo's and making sure he's okay with his feet and the
hoop - keeping his focus and looking where he's going whatever I ask

Now with the same relaxation and focus we go to Liberty ;-)
again keeping it slow at first to keep his confidence

Now asking for a bit more energy

and now asking for the energy, focus, relaxation
and a higher hoop making it an actual jump

and again with more confidence ;-)

Now Stormy, letting him sniff the arch and get used to it

Leading him through the lowest hoop for confidence

Now at liberty..he does a good job although the arch is probably
too small for a higher jump with him so left it on this good note ;-)

Finally Tara. Getting her used to the arch, forward through it
playing yo-yo's with it and going really slowly for her

Now asking her to follow me through the hoop at it's lowest height

Then at Liberty...she steps through it with slow deliberation
her way of sussing something out thoroughly ;-)

Then I help to build her 'energy' and impulsion UP

YEEHAA...she jumps it nicely, knees up nicely and ears forward ;-))
FANTASTIC

Saturday 12th February

We still have some snow and ice about but we needed some more wood SO we decided to have a 1st today...Stormy's 1st ever proper logging session ;-)

I've asked Stormy to pull tyres before with a rope around his shoulders and we've put him into harness before to train but today it was time to put those two elements together.

Mark went up the track in the car and I brought Stormy up behind making sure to put in some games along the way. He was a bit distracted by being away from the herd but some circling, sideways and yo-yo games helped him focus a bit more on me and where he was putting those big feet. lol

Before we got to where the car was Mark had started the chainsaw and was cutting some windfall's into smaller pieces and although Storm is used to the chainsaw, he's not used to it half way up the forest!! how interesting!! So, we play more games, approach and retreat and generally get his focus back on what we're doing rather than the noise. He settles well and I then move further up the hill towards where the car is.

At the top Stormy seems okay with the chainsaw noise when at standstill SO I start walking past where Mark is cutting tree trunks, back and forward, back and forward until Stomy lowers his head and sighs with relaxation. He learns quickly. When we stand still I play the porcupine game for him to lower his head often and he gets this one quickly as I always play this with him.

Stormy getting okay with the chainsaw noise ;-)
we know he's okay when he goes back to eating. lol

Next, whilst Mark is still cutting, I put a 22' line around his shoulders (clasped in my hand at the end so that I can release it if anything worries him) and the clip end around a small branch. He pulls this nicely to the trailer.

Once relaxed I ask him to lower his head again to put the chest collar on him ready to pull some serious logs. He does this nicely and then I take him to his first every log and back him up into position. The games I use mostly with logging are: driving game DHQ and forwards, yo-yo and sideways from Zones 1, 3 and 5. So, he gets into position well and we hook up. Mark holds his head and is the horse lead position and I am in Z5 as the harness hook-up position. We still haven't got chains for the end of the harness so we have ropes without a swingle tree, this takes a lot of leadership and trust with the horse as the ropes do have slight contact with his legs but Stormy is okay with them after a few turns.

I was very proud of Stormy today, he was a bit on his toes to start with, controllable but a bit of energy there, he tried to trot with the logs but he soon settled down to his new job and after the 8 logs he did he was in a good routine and looking where he was going. Stopped on a very good note and he looked very pleased with himself.

Here's some pic's of Stormy' Logging Debut:

1st real log...doing well

One of the bigger logs, uphill too ;-)

Showing off with two smaller logs together

Stormy pulling past our 4x4,
now you can see how big he actually is ;-)

Mark and Stormy, logging team together ;-))

Tuesday 8th February

Well the weekend was fun taking Solly and Stormy out but yesterday it snowed again and we have about 4" of crusty snow now and it's been on/off cold. I managed to get all three paddocks around the house clean of poop today, keeping me warm and fit, but no play or riding until it's a bit nicer on the tracks. Hopefully back to playing and riding out soon ;-)

Sunday 6th February

Dry, cold day today but fair enough to take Solly out for a quick ride up the forest track. Mark came out to keep me company with Stormy too and this worked out a great way of giving Solly some confidence about going up the track without stopping! Here's the pictures from the ride out:

Mark getting Stormy ready with the bareback pad.

Mark mounted and ready to go ;-)

Mark and Stormy having some fun on the grassland

Stormy taking everything in his stride..not bad for a 7yr old ;-)

Enjoying being out and about together

Mark and Stormy walking about as I play games with Solly

Trotting circles, even up and down ditches...
look where you're going Solly ;-)

Being focussed and specific...put your foot on the stone ;-)

Riding...we got to the top without one stop...yeehaa ;-)

Nice calm circles and fig 8's...asking for turns helps relax his body
and arc around my inside leg. If he can't arc then he's not relaxed and
then I do something to help him achieve relaxation ;-)

Doing some different things like going up a bank...

...and down the bank, stretches our comfort zones each time we're out,
this keeps everything continually growing and refining

Near the bottom again, sideways over the metal drain,
have just started asking for Solly to sidepass over things ridden

Trotting nicely to Mark, both relaxed, calm and having fun ;-)

Good circles and DHQ's on the grassland again,
very focussed and achieving relaxation at every step

Me and the 'boys' after our ride out together ;-))

Mark with his two big beauties Stormy and Holly

Alpha mare Holly and Dominant 1st male Stormy
re-bonding after our ride out today

Thursday 3rd February

Well last night we had about 3" of snow fall and it's snowy/muddy in the horses paddocks. SO, no play/riding today but poo picked as much as I could see.

I also put together a Horse Agility course as HA have just opened up their 'Online' competitions, this is where you can stay at home, set up a course as similar as the one asked for, video yourself and horse doing the course and then putting it on YouTube for assessment by HA judges. A great way to get into HA before going to competitions and also for those that have non-loadable horses or no trailer to travel with.

SO, there I was setting up the course for February and it starts to snow again. The course is up and waiting for practise, just hope I can find all the obstacles once the snow stops! lol ;-)

The view from just behond our house,
before the second flurry of snow

The dogs on our morning walk, this is the highest point
of the track where I've been walking/riding Solly

Tuesday 2nd February

Today is wet and windy and I need to work on taking a bit of fencing down from the paddocks to make it easier for the horses to move between the three area's SO no play/riding today BUT I did take pictures of the whole forest hack that Solly and I have been trying out whilst walking the dogs this morning so that you can see exactly where we're going and why Solly is a bit worried by certain bits...see if you can see the scary bits too, looking at it from the horses perspective ;-)

When helping Solly to overcome his fears and trust me as a leader on-line and ridden I broke the ride up into sections, working in a section online until calm and then retreating and repeating until it felt good, then the next time we'd do the good section and push into the next section and retreat and repeat until good again. Following this program online we did the whole track nicely. I'm now following this pattern ridden and will take each section as it comes making sure I retreat, approach, retreat and repeat everything until we're both happy about riding the whole thing. If he gets worried and I feel that repeating and stopping is not a habit I need him to learn then I'll dismount and lead him carefully through his threshold and then try to ride him back down to where he had a worry, turn him and try to ride past the threshold a 2nd time. Often we can go back down the track a lot to be able to approach a new bit of track well but it's all in the plan of keeping our confidence and working into each comfort zone carefully, retreating and repeating as often as necessary ;-)

SECTION 1
pics 1-3
(upward & onward)

1) The track from the house -
not scary, just a steep bit where he has to look where he's going
straight onto the grassland there where we play online

2) The stone mounting block -
grassland behind us, house to the left and the forest track in front of us,
the first focus (forestry sign) is just out of view on the left

3) The forestry sign -
Solly is usually okay to here and will often trot here with confidence ;-)

SECTION 2
pic's 4-8

4) Past the forestry track -
He's not bad here, it's nicely open but he has a worry about
tracks that dissapear and you can see where this track goes
around a corner it 'dissapears!' The nice open section on the
right here is good for our fig 8's and serpentines up and down
until he's more settled and calm.

5) The first squeeze -
he sometimes puts a stop in here, the deer fence on the left is closing in
and the fallen tree clutter is closing in on the right

6) The first fallen tree -
Still with it's branches on this tree could hold a lot of 'monsters'
and I will make sure Solly looks at the tree as we pass it so that he can see
there's no monsters behind it hiding out. The stone in the front also has him
looking seriously in case it jumps up and runs off like a rabbit

7) The scary cut trees -
On the left again the deer fence is close to the track and on the right there are
some cut fallen trees, it's opened up the space nicely but the lighter bits
where it's been cut looks strange and they're not ground level so hide whatever
monsters are hiding behind it well

8) Cut trees -
a close up view of what we see when getting close to the cut trees,
the mounds of branch debis to left and right of the cut trunks and the trunks
themselves staring out at us from the forest.

SECTION 3

pic's 9-12

9) Big Squeeze -
this section is very close feeling, the deer fence on the left and trees and
debis to the right. Sol has a bit of difficulty here still but we're
working on it, again the track 'dissapears' infront of us !

10) Hidden track -
this section worried Solly, the squeeze of fence and fallen trees and the path
dissapearing to the right. There is quite a lot of branch debis up at this point and
probably lots of wildlife I can't see but he can sense hanging around

11) Double tracks -
track to the right goes into the forest itself, not passable due to fallen trees
so not a riding option but the left fork is the one I take
(sorry pic out of focus!)

12) Scary tree trunks -
the track to the right has some scary fallen tree trunks and Solly spooked at this
pile the other day. This is the highest point of our ride out and where, at the moment, I'm
asking Solly to take me.

SECTION 4
pic's 13-17

13) The last section -
Here we have a squeeze over and down a hill, gorse on the right,
close deer fence on the left and then...

14)...the track that dissapears around the corner to the left
rabbits hide out in the gorse bushes and at the opening bit there
are often deer on the grassy bit or just in the shade of the trees to the right

15) Dark uphill bit -
Deer fence right up against the track on the left here, the gorse gives way
to a little clear opening, again the track dissapears

16) phew...open space -
We've not ridden this bit yet, have walked it online a few times
so hoping that he'll be able to relax and regain his composure after the
'gorse tunnel' where the road goes down and then up again.

17) Open space -
the whole of the right side of the track is open space, deer are sometimes
seen in the trees to the right here but by after morning they're usually hiding
deep in the forest.


SECTION 4
pic's 18-33
(homeward bound)

18) Back towards the forest -
deer fence now on right and opening on left, track dissapears but so nice
and open that the feeling is very much open and non-threatening

19) Gorse tunnel -
now on the left and the deer fence corner post on the right,
bit of a squeeze and not much room for play apart from DHQ's, turn FQ's
or backup. Try not to let Solly rush this section when we do it.

20) End of gorse -
this section feels tight and try not to worry about what's
hiding in the bushes here!

21) Hill -
the road to the top of the hill is okay, nice trot/canter bit later on hopefully
just have to sing loudly to make sure any deer at top dissapear before we pop
our heads over the hill brow ;-)

22) X-roads -
this is back where the other forest track went off to the left.
Quite a bit of debis and coming back to the hard squeeze section.

23) Hard squeeze section -
fence on right, debris and tree trunks on left this time and going down a hill
the whole way so balance is totally different. At least he can see the way home
so the whole way down we play games of fig 8's and serpentines going
up and down, forwards and back up again to regain focus and stop any rushing
towards home. This is also where I put in some shoulders-in and leg yields.

24) Scary trees -
you can see there could be absolutely any 'monster' hiding in these trees.
I could come and tidy them all up but I want Solly to master his worry
bout being out andabout in such places so that these sorts of
things become no worry at all to him ;-)

25) Last hill down -
often Solly relaxes here, he's getting used to it going down hill
but he starts to trot a bit without me asking so I put in those
fig 8's and serpentines again, the space is large enough now to allow
us to do quite big patterns and the patterns help to focus and slow him
without me having to ask to slow with the reins so much.

I don't wantto discourage him from a faster gait but want him
controllable so the patterns allow him to decide to slow himself
because of the nature of the circles we do and hopefully his
calm trot will be there when I ask it from him later on ;-)

26) Scary tree trunks -
see, they're scary sticking out at the track like this. They actually don't worry
Solly too much, it's the piles of branch debris that have him thinking sometimes!

27) Homeward bound -
Easy-ish part of the track, it feels more open and clear here

28) Fig 8/Serpentine area -
this is where we've been doing LOTS of these patterns, the space is open
and clear and we can go from small patterns to bigger ones and also take
the patterns down the hill if he's worried and up the hill when he's calmer so
approach and retreat helping him with the up part of the journey

29) Metal drain pipe -
we've used this online for going over, putting different feet over
and sidepassing over and when going home I often go off track to
include walking over it so that his focus is on something closer to us
rather than the open grassland below.

30) Forest track - yeehaa
Solly and I both know that this is the last section of the forest track from
this sign and often when we've got down to the bottom I'll ask him to trot
back up to this sign before finally leaving the track and going back to the
grassland.

31) Last corner -
this last piece brings us once more to the standing stone which is literally
just past our Retriever dog in this piccie. I try not to let him rush this and if
he feels 'on his toes' I will put in a back up, leg yield or shoulder-in to regain
composure.

32) Grassland -
I use this piece again to put in some patterns of fig 8, serpentines,
DHQ and move FQ's as he can see home and the herd from here and
will try to trot home before I ask for it. Doing the patterns really brings
him 'back' to my focus and helps me to get the patterns better.

33) Home -
again I put in some backups here to relax Solly and then ask for trot
if he's calm and focussed on me. I've luckily not met anyone on the track
yet as it's an access route for walkers, bikers and also the tractors and quad bikes of the farmers here. Hopefully we'll not meet any until Solly is totally cool about the whole riding out thing, he's okay with most things but gets startled when something just 'pops up' on the track or over a hill that he's not expecting!

Tuesday 1st February

DAY 3 of taking Solly out for play/ride on grassland and forest track.

We did the same as the last two days, playing on the grassland, mounting on stone and going up track. The first section (stone to forest sign) was a breeze, he is okay with this and it was nice to feel him so confident. As soon as we got to the sign we turned in a nice circle and headed straight back to the stone. At the stone I asked him to go around it and then straight back UP the track to see if we could get a bit further up the track. I was hoping to the top of the hill but he managed half way to that which was pretty good.

He didn't want to go further forward so I jumped off and lead him further up, making sure we played some games along the way. At the top I turned around and walked back about half way between the top and where he stopped, jumped on a small stone and remounted and rode him back down a bit. He was a little worried (high headed and breathing fast) so I played lots of fig 8's and serpentines all the way down. If he tried to rush going down I'd turn him and go up..if he couldn't go up then I'd turn him slightly down and then back up when moving. This was a great game. We got back to where he stopped playing this and then we played it going back up again and because of the games he really didn't notice we were going back up.

I can see why the track is worrying him at the point he stopped. The whole area gets smaller with a fence on the left which has a hill going up behind it (squeeze) and on the right there are fallen trees all hiding monsters in them and some cut logs and mounds of tree branches from tree felling which also hide monsters. The hill on the right dissapears too and has quite a few deer running around on it SO there's plenty to be high headed about, it was also a bit windy today BUT he did brilliantly.

We managed to get to the top, he tried to rush the squeeze bit but I just calmed him down and relaxed and put in some very small serpentines along the track to re-focus him. At the top the track goes down, hill banks change sides (ie. going down on the left and high with gorse on the right) and around to an open bit (which you can't see until you walk it) there is also another track to the right actually going into the forest. We turned and he had a very small, quick sideways spook at something SO I jumped off quickly and just played around with some falling leaf patterns, backups and walking back/forwards over a log or two. He calmed nicely and I walked him back a bit in-hand...until I heard him relax again.

At this point I remounted and did LOTS of fig 8's and serpentines up and down the track and a couple of time through the first squeeze, for ages we were out, he got a bit sweaty but I wasn't going to leave it until he really felt more relaxed and went up into the squeeze bit without rushing it. It worked and as soon as he was calmer I turned for home.

So that he didn't get ahead of himself I put in some fig 8's when he felt a bit rushed and as it was downhill the whole way this was a good way of slowing him down without making him feel wrong for going faster ;-)

At the bottom I let him go around the stone mounting block and then straight up focussing on going as far as the yellow forest sign again....he put in a nice trot the whole way which was fabulous...we turned and walked back to the stone where I let him graze a bit.

Coming back across the grassland he was a bit rushed again SO fig 8's and serpentines the whole way, going back where we'd come from now and then so that rushing for home wasn't an issue.

So today we pushed our comfort zone a bit further out and managed to stay there until we were both happy about the calm result ;-))