Sunday 26th February
Grey and drizzly but with patches of dry during the day. We decide to take the horses for a run down at the big Summer field today, they really want to stretch their legs and get their teeth into something green. There's not much grazing there yet but to let them run will make me happy ;)
and BOY do they RUN...well three of them did,
Tara did run down the hill but then realised that was enough for one day ;)
Whilst down there I fixed the last bit of fencing on the arena's and then Solly wanted to be with me so we played a bit at liberty.
We have left them down in the big field as it just felt wrong to bring them back at the moment, there's something there for them to nibble on and keep the grass down before Spring, we'll also bring feed and hay down later on with Holly's rug but unless it snows I can't bear them in a mud patch behind our house without anywhere to run and where we have to graze them in-hand to give them a bit of grass under their feet. We'll bring them back if the weather turns bad again (ie. snow) but maybe, just maybe they may be back in the big field for this year. SO much easier and more fun for training for me too!! ;-)))
and tonight they were all calm and
enjoyed some hay together ;-)
Friday 24th February
Golly gosh, it's Friday again. The sun is shining and it's almost warm up here. I decide to abandon poo picking in favour of taking Tara out again along a couple of tracks to see how her cough is going and to help bring her fitness up a bit. At the top of the hill behind the house we stopped quickly for some grazing and I spotted this beautiful heart shaped lichen...
The ride was nice, she trotted and cantered nicely...she did cough twice but not with any heaviness or too BIG, we took it slowly . At the bottom of the hill Solly nickered to her in welcome and we stood by the paddock with him for a while, then trotted back around the paddock to home ;) A nice ride out
After our ride out I trimmed Tara's hooves and then had a small lunch. I then went and groomed the very muddy Solly. Luckily the mud today was dry and easy to groom off but I think I probably swallowed quite a bit of mud dust myself. After a good grooming I took Solly out for some grazing interspursed with some play. He did some lovely games, slow to start but once on a nice patch of grass that was pretty flat he gave me some beautifully relaxed, head on the floor circles to L&R. On the way back we played S2M transitions which became SO light it was fab and fun doing them and then just before our last grazing session he did some great sideways away and towards L&R ;-) I also did some hindquarter yields and forehand yields very very slowly as I wanted to be very specific about pivoting as much as possible, again he did very well but I realise I need to keep it very slow for him to pivot better. Good learning for both of us!
Next Stormy came up and I haltered him and groomed him outside the field. He was EXTREMELY muddy but again it was not too bad to groom now that it's dry. He wanted so much to go graze but I asked him to 'stay with me' whilst I groomed him so he had to do his best to stand still and behave for me, which he did very well doing. Grazing and play went well with him too. He stood on a rock, sideways away and towards, some circling with extreme friendly game going on at the same time. He also did another fabulous jump over the small burn....he picks his front legs up so beautifully, so proud of him. It looked so good that one time before they go back to the big field I should saddle him and ride that jump.
Friendly game with a rock! lol
My beautiful big boy ;)
Checking the burn before.....
...jumping it beautifully ;)
So now that the boys were done and Tara was done this morning I ask Holly to catch me for haltering and she was very ready to come out and play with me today. I didn't ask too much from her today play-wise, this was more about grazing for her but she put in some nice sideways away and did a good sideways towards. She's not overly practised on sideways towards and she was sticky coming to her left but she got it and learned something good today ;)
Mark's gorgeous Holly
Then I walked the dogs and got the hay together for the horses (soaked hay net for Tara) and their feed. I was a very busy girl today and it felt very good playing and grooming all 4 of our babies and managing a ride and trimming Tara's hooves too!! phew...time for a sit down and dinner for us humans now ;))
Tara sharing her pony nuts with little Rusty
Thursday 23rd February
Still a bit windy today but kept to yesterdays routine...brought Tara out of paddock into garden to graze, have her b'fast and a small haynet of soaked hay a little later on. Saw Holly once again leave some of her b'fast for Stormy...she knows how to keep him sweet ;-)
Holly and Stormy contentedly eating together,
herd leader and dominant 2nd
Then in the early afternoon I groomed and saddled Tara. I wanted to see how she was going today and if that cough of hers was getting worse or better. She really enjoyed her groom as her winter coat is really shedding now. I also decided to have a play around with the shimming of her saddle. Most of last year we had two shims at the front of the saddle, the two overlapping so as to be like steps rather than a bulk of two shims together. This worked for quite a while but then I noticed that the saddle in the middle was gapping. This may be due to posture on her part or that she's getting slightly dipped backed due to her age (she is 18 this year).
So, with all that in mind I started at the end of last year to use just one shim up front to help me get onto my balance point. Again later I noticed a bit of a gap in the middle of the saddle so recently I started riding the saddle without any shims (just like normal people do) BUT the other day when going to the village on an hours hack I really noticed how uncomfortable this made me, how much more tipped forward I felt and how it made my inner thighs, lower back and seat bones ache. Having been taught how to get on my balance point and how to shim to help get that with 'normal' saddles I felt I had to try to get the best for Tara but also for me!! what to do?
Well today I put a shim underneath the saddle and one at the front, they overlap about 1.5" in the middle which is the lowest part of her back and then I rode in it. The whole saddle now sits nicely on the padding, she seemed very comfy in it and I found my balance point again. I'm hoping this will be good for us both for this year but it really makes you realise how much things can change and how we need to adjust things regularly to keep up with those changes. She may get better posture this year and I can re-adjust the shims accordingly but I'll make sure I check every time I ride.
New position of shims for Tara
Well after all that shimming and saddling I mounted and we went for a very short (5 min) trek down the track here. We went in walk and then when she felt good I asked for 10 step transitions from walk to trot all the way down the track to the first gateway. She had a couple of snorts, grazed but no coughing!!! On the way back she offered trot and a couple of lovely canters and when walking the last bit NO COUGHING!!! yeehaaa. Will keep her on garden/grass and soaked hay until she's back in big field (where no hay needed) so as to give her no more bother with hay dust/spores. Hated her even remotely thinking of being ill! Love my big girl ;)
Afternoon we grazed all 4 again...and Mark then I groomed our dirty, muddy white horses
Well today I put a shim underneath the saddle and one at the front, they overlap about 1.5" in the middle which is the lowest part of her back and then I rode in it. The whole saddle now sits nicely on the padding, she seemed very comfy in it and I found my balance point again. I'm hoping this will be good for us both for this year but it really makes you realise how much things can change and how we need to adjust things regularly to keep up with those changes. She may get better posture this year and I can re-adjust the shims accordingly but I'll make sure I check every time I ride.
New position of shims for Tara
and with the saddle on top
(pic not straight, want' tipping downwards at front!)
Well after all that shimming and saddling I mounted and we went for a very short (5 min) trek down the track here. We went in walk and then when she felt good I asked for 10 step transitions from walk to trot all the way down the track to the first gateway. She had a couple of snorts, grazed but no coughing!!! On the way back she offered trot and a couple of lovely canters and when walking the last bit NO COUGHING!!! yeehaaa. Will keep her on garden/grass and soaked hay until she's back in big field (where no hay needed) so as to give her no more bother with hay dust/spores. Hated her even remotely thinking of being ill! Love my big girl ;)
Afternoon we grazed all 4 again...and Mark then I groomed our dirty, muddy white horses
Mark is there somewhere between these to happy grazers! lol
Wednesday 22nd February
Today is very cold, quite windy with spates of drizzly rain. By the afternoon it had all eased off and the temperature was pretty mild. Because of Tara's coughing episodes (yesterday and Monday) I decide to bring her out of the paddocks and put up a pen for her on some grass that is growing in our back garden. I feed her normal speedi-beet mix and let her graze on her little patch.
Late afternoon we take the herd for grazing again and I ride Tara whilst ponying Solly again. She doesn't cough once but am just poodling about with her. At evening meal time I put her back in her pen and give her the normal feed with a haynet of soaked hay. I managed to soak the hay in the small stream outside out garden here ;0) She wasn't sure about it at first but started munching on it nicely. Hopefully when she goes back into the paddocks for night time the rest of the herd would have eaten the dry hay and Tara will have a full belly to not be tempted anyway ;-))
I will isolate tara again tomorrow and for as long as I can during the day, they go back to the big summer field soon where she won't be bothered by hay spores there ;)
Solly and Tara squeezed through the paddock gate,
waiting for me to close the gates ;)
waiting for me to close the gates ;)
Waiting for me and the gate
Grazing my babies
Tara eating her soaked hay in her grazing pen ;)
Tuesday 21st February
Good day today, up early, walked dogs, fed horses, poo picked and let Mark have a nice long lie in ;)
I groomed Tara and saddled up and then rode her to the village for some supplies and treats for her. It was a nice relaxed ride but she had a few coughing episodes, usually after short bursts of trot. I think she may have hay dust up her nose, in her lungs ;(
Afternoon and Mark and I take the horses for some grooming, whilst out I groom Solly who has tons of dried mud all over him..nice grooming session.
Friday 17th February
Not much doing today, did a real good tidy up of poo in paddock one today, the hill was the hardest part but feels good to have done such a thorough job at last. Weather is cool and grey, looks like it will rain later on and we had to go into town for some shopping SO, when we got back we took the herd out for some grazing as they didn't have any yesterday. They enjoyed the grazing and from today I asked Mark to give them less hay...well mostly Tara to have less hay as whilst I was poo picking for over an hour today the top three were in paddock three lazing, sleeping and having a snooze and what was Tara doing?????....scoffing as much hay that was left as she could so that when the other three came back to eat some a LOT had gone!!!!
Whilst grazing my two together (they're like a couple of the 7 dwarves!!! my two being Grumpy and Sleepy) I noticed that Solly regularly tried to move her away from his spot, ears back and challenging. She was very much ears back today and I think she's come into season and she's always a bit grumpy around the boys at this time ;( poor lass...never mind, hopefully take her for a solo ride again to the big field for some 'us' time and exercise over weekend ;)
She needs to eat less before going back to the big field and this year whenever I'm at home she is going to be at the house during the 10hrs daylight and taking me to the big field twice a day when Mark walks the dogs...will be fun to exercise together ;)
Grazing out with grumpy and sleepy! lol
Mark had dozy and happy! lol ;)
Thursday 16th February
Chilly and a little windy today but out again whilst the days are nice. First out was Holly and we did a nice routine again of playing the games with some lightness and working on thought/energy/body cue and then onto the new stuff with some nice circles and circling moving the hindquarters over for a while. Then the sticky one with circles and asking for straightness on them. Her right side is becomming slowly easier to work with but I'm still working on helping her with the friendly game on the move and moving her barrel over to the outside rather than her rushing off into trot from worrying about it. This seems quite emotional for her, not just physical but I know once we get through the physical barrier she's got then the emotional one will become better too.
She does really well and we end on a good note with some grazing which she really enjoys; ) I put her back into the field and she gets a treat for being so good too. Then I ask Solly to join me and he's very happy to do so. Once out of the field I groom him and then play some games over a big area of the grassland. His circling is good, light and once worked jumping over the burn his back legs aren't so lazy! lol. Backing up is on a thought which is great and squeezing through and around things is super. I ask him to put his two front feet onto a small boulder and he has a bit of trouble with it, telling me it is hard, slippery or just too small!!! I gently insist that he tries and he does a few until at last he does it and stays on it until I ask for him to back off it. I don't want him to get an issue with standing on things so this was a good test ;)
Next I bring him back to the paddock, let him graze whilst I saddle him up and then I mount and play similar games in the saddle. I can't do too much trot work as the ground is VERY uneven, full of high tussocky mole hills, stones and holes so it's really just a matter of playing at walk with circles, fig 8's (for suppleness and flexibility), transitions w/h/bkups (which are fab) and then some short spates of trot on the track. He was light, willing and a good boy even though we had some new things today ie. windy weather and two men on our roof doing some roofing!!! I didn't press my luck and ended on a good note, we didn't ride very far but it was more about relaxation, obedience, impulsion and flexibility in the saddle today than going miles ;)
Wednesday 15th February
At the field I rearranged the top gateway so that the electric fence was further down this year to try to get the horses away from the muddy patch that they have created going along the fence. This will hopefully rest this patch a bit this year.
I then got all the top electric posts and put in all the fences we'll need for when the herd go back into this field in Springtime. I like to take away almost half of the field so that they don't gorge themselves at the beginning, it also gives us grazing patches that we can open up later on when the first lot gets depleted and then I take it away again in the Summer flush and eek it out again to them during Autumn so that the big field actually gives us good grazing for 9 months of the year without getting too drained by our lot. Hopefully too it will stop them getting too fat or too quckly or not at all if possible!!! lol
I put Tara in the roundpen whilst I did this and she was happily finding something to eat (she always does! lol) In the end I put up enough fencing for a large roundpen, a good sized dressage arena and two large areas where hopefully I can get a jumping course going with some area for long lining. I will take down some more polyposts and white tape and the last corner arena will be set up for Horse Agility. So far it's all looking good.
The field itself needs a few more weeks of rest to start growing some grass and to help it dry out where it has been flooded during the winter but generally it's looking good and I know the horses will be over the moon to be back here soon. After all the work I gathered my stuff back up (rucksack) and haltered Tara and we went up the hill together ready to ride back home. Coming up the hill I was quite tired so I taught Tara to help pull me up (she's so clever)...I got into Z5, took hold of her tail gently and asked her to walk on, she wondered what I was doing to start with but then got the hang of it and pulled me up the hill with her tail....I love this horse ;) The ride home was happy and eager and she loved the fact that the other three were waiting for her at the closest fenceline and this made her day that they'd missed her as much as she'd missed them.
After a short break and a cup of tea for me Mark and I took the herd out for 3/4 of an hour grazing ;)
Eager to go grazing...
...quietly grazing together, Solly came in for a pet...
...and happy to go back to the field for dinner ;)
with all this grazing their doing...well done ;)
Monday 13th February
Nice sunny day and continuing some work that I'm doing with Holly and Stormy. Holly needs more to up her friendly game so we're working on 'friendly game on the move' and also working on more straightness on circles (straightness training) as she is very stiff on her right side and finds it hard to bend that way making her not flexible and therefore not straight!
When I go to get Holly though she's laying down right next to Stormy and it was lovely to see her relaxing so totally with her beau ;)
After Holly had got up I went out and worked on some games and most of all those two mentioned above. Today she really started to work on getting her right side flexible which means we've been working her left side muscles nicely enough for her to have them stretch a bit more than before for her. The right side slowly working on becomming stronger. I will try my best to keep this up through Feb/March to help her with this problem and her friendly game on the move improved too. I then gave her one more new thing to do and that was close circles moving the hindquarters more off the circle. She was actually very good at this and seemed to find it easy, it is something I try to do with her in the saddle when I ride her, she is such a sweet horse and I love playing with her and riding her ;)
Just as I was finishing playing with Holly Mark came out and he gave her some good grazing time which was a fab reward for her efforts with our play and I went and got Stormy and played with him too. For Stormy, he needs more precision in his work (ie. when asking for DHQ he should not be moving his FQ's!!) so I was quite particular with him today without being critical hopefully! He also needs some lightness off the halter/rope so I worked on those two things whilst playing the games, it all went very well and here's some pic's of us that Mark took for me.
Now from the last pic, at neutral, I lift my body energyand he
spots it straight away and his ears come forward ready to start walking to me ;-)
spots it straight away and his ears come forward ready to start walking to me ;-)
Sunday 12th February
Blue skies today and I feel 'good' so out to poo pick paddocks 1 and three (about 14 barrow loads) and groomed all 4 horses intensley (don't know why as by afternoon they were all muddy again...all starting to moult winter coats a bit so understand!). Then Mark and I halter them and take them out for grazing...as we walked to paddock 3 we looked up and saw this criss-cross in the sky. I thought it was the Scottish Saltire flag to start with but there's a third stripe making that intreguing triangle shape in the middle!!
So, below, some piccie's from our grazing session today ;)
Riding Tara and circling asking Solly to move his forehand away from us...
this is good as Tara can be intimidated by him as he's above her in the herd dymanics.
Spring is coming ;)
leaving Solly with Mark. Mark did superbly with three horses whilst I was gone ;)
Saturday 11th February
Pretty cold today but sun tried to come out and it was positively warm for a couple of hours this afternoon. I spent a while poo picking paddock one again, only one I seem to be able to keep clean at the moment but it's the one they eat in so that's good. Just before finishing poo picking the herd (well three of them) decided to run fast from paddock 3, over two wooden bridges, over ground that is potholed and rough with slippery mud on surface and hard mud underneath and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why? Maybe they all realised that Tara was with me slowly eating her way through the left over hay and thought they'd better come and claim some? lol. Silly billies.
The herd of three running to paddock 1
when Stormy gets serious, believe me, you MOVE! lol
After a quick lunch I decided to put the horses out to graze a bit. Mark has a sore back today so I put Holly and Stormy in an electric fenced paddock outside the garden gate and left them to it. Tara went into an electric roundpen near them and grazed away and Solly stayed with me where I groomed him and then played a bit with him ;-)
The neck rope has introduced a new dimension for me. Love liberty and we enjoy that very much but have found myself being not so light when I have halter/rope and this way helps me to analyse my hand/rope holding without being able to wiggle as wiggling around his neck isn't as effective as wiggling on his nose. I've found that, like at liberty, I have to use my THOUGHT/ENERGY properly and hopefully this will make my rope handling more refined thougth re-shaping my brain/hand actions ;)
The neck rope has introduced a new dimension for me. Love liberty and we enjoy that very much but have found myself being not so light when I have halter/rope and this way helps me to analyse my hand/rope holding without being able to wiggle as wiggling around his neck isn't as effective as wiggling on his nose. I've found that, like at liberty, I have to use my THOUGHT/ENERGY properly and hopefully this will make my rope handling more refined thougth re-shaping my brain/hand actions ;)
Today was just about working with space and direction with Solly today with thought and quick lead phases. It was fun and showed me things I can work on even though not in the big play field at moment.
was sticking it into my personal bubble space
What I call being straight on a circle ;-)
not easy at all as ground VERY ROUGH and slighty uphill too...
He's a clever boy who, when asked nicely, will try his heart out ;)
After some grazing Solly went into the single roundpen and I took Tara out. I gave her a big groom as she was very muddy and she grazed happily. I then mounted her bareback and moseyed around the roundpens letting her graze. I get the feeling Tara wants, and misses, our 'together alone' time. May sort that out in next couple of days and maybe take her down to the big field with me to figure out this years arena/pens ;)
Unfortunately just when I was thinking about getting Stormy and/or Holly out for a grooming/play session there was some clay pigeon shooting behind our house and the two big babies got a bit worried, running about SO I put them back into their paddocks where they ran to the outtermost paddock and stuck together as far away from the noise as they could get and I went inside to be with the dogs who were rather worried too ;( Hey ho, at least I got some play in ;)
Tuesday 7th February
Take horses out again, this is beginning to be a good habit. Mark w/Storm and Holly online which is now creating a good habit of them being either side of him and following him which will be good training for when he starts riding/leading them. And today I go out a bit earlier, groom, saddle and play with Solly and then spend the entire hour on him instead of Tara. This gives Tara a break and also gets Solly used to being saddled/ridden more again and also as I've done most of the grazing work off Tara, she's good at being a lead but not so good at leading so this is good to get her used to flapping ropes and that a twist of the rope means sidepass not backup.
It has also helped with Solly as every now and again I give directional aids which are usually either walk on/breath out/halt/graze or move forehand over quarter of a circle, or move hindquarters over quarter of a circle. SO although this gives us lots of undemanding time together, it's also good with some quality commands with plenty of rewards ;-) lol
Me and Solly helping Tara be better at leading from the saddle
Mark and his babies getting more synchronised ;)
Monday 6th February
Monday 6th February
Snow still on the ground but it's steadily going. Mark and I again took the herd in-hand grazing. Again I rode Tara out and rode Solly back...enjoying this grazing lark ;))
Sunday 5th February
Although snowy Mark and I take the herd for in-hand grazing. It was a good hour of us moseying around with them, Mark walking with Holly & Stormy and me riding Tara bareback out and Solly back in ;-)
Sidling Solly up to Tara for my horse-switch ;)
Mark with his beauties
Friday 3rd February
Cold, blue skies and sunshine and actually it was quite warm around 12-3 today and I managed to get out with the horses from 12 noon...yeehaa. They were all sunning themselves in the top third paddock behind the house and I took my equipment over to the far gate to see who wanted to play today...first up was Solly. He very much wanted to be with me and I stood and groomed him whilst we got connected and then we did some very nice haltering.
We then went out onto the grassland in front of the house on the 22' feather light line and I just had the plan to take him around the area, over the stream and play as many games as I could whilst wandering around. That loose plan worked well. We grazed and played friendly at good points, squeezed over the burn a few times whilst doing circles too and L&R too. Then we squeezed down the hillock and into/over the frozen burn there which was good. On the way back we did some sideways L&R along the track and whenever we were walking forwards we did some nice S2M transitions (w/h/bk/w/t/w/h/bk ;-)
Solly was very connected, light and willing so that by the time we got back to the paddock I decided to saddle him and take him out again doing a similar thing but with him getting used to the saddle again. All the in-hand walking/grazing has prepared him for this, got him used to the area, bareback pad and playing around whilst grazing. I took these principles out with me again to play with the saddle on. He did so well that at the bottom of the grassland I mounted and then rode him back. FIRST saddled ride this year on Solly ;-))
Riding was nice too, used exactly the same games as we played online, lots of friendly/grazing moments, shoulder-in along the track, backups whenever felt soft and good, small circles just before the paddock to help him connect with me and not the horses in the field...then up to the house for a treat from Mark who was watching and back to the paddock...we did it all in walk apart from the last 20' where we did a nice slow trot to the gate. Nice, connected, light and relaxed ride out ;-))
Solly jumping the burn
After that lovely session I asked Stormy if he wanted to come out and play and he most definitely did. He haltered very well, lowering his head for me and relaxing his head towards me nicely. I groom him to get him clean and to get some connection before we go off and then lead him out of the paddock. He is very 'with me' and light on the 22' line but he's quite interested in grazing as this is what he's used to doing when out here. I remind him to stay connected and remember to give him grazing for rewards so that we both get what we want out of this session ;-)
I do a similar walk as I did with Solly, over the burn a few times, down the hillock into the icey burn and back doing some circles and sideways along the way and S2M. He starts getting very connected to me and his w/t/w/h/bk up transitions are very light and soft. I think he had as much fun as I did and went back to the field happy with a bit of grass in his belly too ;-))
I do a similar walk as I did with Solly, over the burn a few times, down the hillock into the icey burn and back doing some circles and sideways along the way and S2M. He starts getting very connected to me and his w/t/w/h/bk up transitions are very light and soft. I think he had as much fun as I did and went back to the field happy with a bit of grass in his belly too ;-))
Big Stormy jumping the burn ;-)
and again...lol
Checking out the ice on the burn....
...and going over it and up the hillock beautifully once he was okay about it all
Standing at the top of the hillock having a think about it all
and then coming down the other way without a worry ;0)
worrying about his legs or under his belly ;-)
Stormy had fun and our connection was very good, he stopped worrying about the herd in the paddock, stopped worrying about being on his own without them and really started to concentrate on my energy, where I was going and what I was asking for. He's such a good boy. I hope to be able to continue these short play sessions and hopefully ride him back like I am Solly.
Thursday 2nd February
Today is cold but blue skies and sunshine make it seem warmer. I poo pick one paddock this morning (regularly doing this by hand at moment to keep me fitter! lol) and in afternoon I go and find the horses lazing about.
Solly and Holly laying down with Stormy and Tara watching over them,
all enjoying the sunshine
all enjoying the sunshine
I went and haltered Stormy and Holly and brought them around to the front of the house where, this morning, I put up an electric fence so that they could get some grazing. I then went and got Solly and Tara and gave them a groom, put a bareback pad on Solly (friendly game with it more than anything and to get him accustomed more to cinching) and mounted Tara bareback and then grazed them next to the other two in the pen. This helps me to be able to graze all 4 horses quicker if Mark is busy elsewhere. Holly and Stormy ran around the pen for a while but then settled down. I think having the other two near helped, all just adjustements to a new situation/environment.
After about a quarter of a hour Mark came out and he haltered up his two horses and we all moseyed over to the big area of grass to the right of the above piccie. He kept his two online today. I think this really helps Holly relax whilst out as she can release her leadership of the herd for a while when Mark is in charge of the halters ;-) It is also a good opportunity for Mark to play now and then whilst grazing, especially asking Stormy to move his HQ's or FQ's, slow down, yo-yo etc. All good stuff.
It was VERY VERY cold out and I forgot my gloves so after about 40 mins I decide that it's time to go home, my fingers were frozen and not working as well as normal. Mark decides that maybe he can ride Holly back and pony Stormy. We had a nice play around with that scenario last year in the arena so Mark and the horses had done it before. He found a stone, made reins with Holly's 12' line and jumped on bareback.
Now, he's not done this for a while, not ridden Holly for about 2 months but it was lovely to watch. Holly was perfect, didn't rush off, kept him safe and Stormy followed her like a puppy ;-)) I followed on riding Tara and ponying Solly. This is the first time we've done this out together and hopefully, maybe, we can actually take all 4 out on hacks this year when we go out. It will be good for the two boys to pony from the girls as the girls are more experienced on more hacks and the boys will learn and feel safe doing some different rides out being in the company of their girlies ;-)) should be fun.
It was VERY VERY cold out and I forgot my gloves so after about 40 mins I decide that it's time to go home, my fingers were frozen and not working as well as normal. Mark decides that maybe he can ride Holly back and pony Stormy. We had a nice play around with that scenario last year in the arena so Mark and the horses had done it before. He found a stone, made reins with Holly's 12' line and jumped on bareback.
Now, he's not done this for a while, not ridden Holly for about 2 months but it was lovely to watch. Holly was perfect, didn't rush off, kept him safe and Stormy followed her like a puppy ;-)) I followed on riding Tara and ponying Solly. This is the first time we've done this out together and hopefully, maybe, we can actually take all 4 out on hacks this year when we go out. It will be good for the two boys to pony from the girls as the girls are more experienced on more hacks and the boys will learn and feel safe doing some different rides out being in the company of their girlies ;-)) should be fun.
Mark and his beauties nearly home,
so well behaved...fab
What I liked more than anything was (1) Mark's horses were so well behaved and knew exactly what to do and (2) My two were calm and connnected to me and even though Mark and the herd leaders were quite a way away (taking piccie's of them meant my two could graze for a bit longer) they were calm and with me which felt good.
Just after negotiating the stream I got Solly to sidle over and I slid over to his back ready to ride back on him but as I was trying to get Tara's reins back into a 12' line my fingers fumbled the line and I dropped Tara's rope. This meant that she was loose and I was riding Solly. I asked Solly to move over towards her so that I could get the reins back but Tara moved too and my fingers were SO cold that moving them properly was becomming a problem SO I jumped off Solly and just walked back with them in-hand. Not a problem, missed the riding part but slid from one horse to another which was good for today ;-) Apart from the freezing cold it was a lovely hour out with the horses.
Just after negotiating the stream I got Solly to sidle over and I slid over to his back ready to ride back on him but as I was trying to get Tara's reins back into a 12' line my fingers fumbled the line and I dropped Tara's rope. This meant that she was loose and I was riding Solly. I asked Solly to move over towards her so that I could get the reins back but Tara moved too and my fingers were SO cold that moving them properly was becomming a problem SO I jumped off Solly and just walked back with them in-hand. Not a problem, missed the riding part but slid from one horse to another which was good for today ;-) Apart from the freezing cold it was a lovely hour out with the horses.
Wednesday 1st February
WhooWhoo...it's Feb already ;) Last night I decided that two months off is enough for the horses (and me) and if the weather is good then I shall be out doing whatever I can with some training, hopefully with Solly but also with Stormy as the boys are the ones that need more input SO, on that note, today I manage to get out and go ask Solly to catch me for some play on the grassland infront of the house and he was very happy to do so.
First Stormy wanted everyone to know that is it HIS bridge...lol
I've been spending some afternoons recently getting Solly's haltering better. It's been good for quite a while but the last few months he's been putting in some negative behaviours, tossing his head, being awkward to halter, trying to bite me etc. I know these are his way of playing and getting the lead status from me and I let it go on too long but have now got it back to nice, calm, happy haltering and will continue to do this. I may have to do the play sessions of haltering (where I'm not actually taking him out or using the halter, just haltering and unhaltering and going off!) with Solly as he is a very playful horse by nature and if I don't do this then bad habits kick in quickly when he knows I've not got the time to take to keep it good...he's way too clever and knows exactly what he can do to win the alpha-games ;))
Anyway, today, haltering was very good, calm, slow and easy. I took the 12' line and we squeezed out of the gateway and backed up past the trailer. I've written a list of things to go over to check we're all system go for riding later on, basically go back to the beginning, haltering, stick 2 me in walk with tons of transitions and play the 7 games in walk being specific about where feet are, is there a connection between us, are we both happy and relaxed and if so can we move on easily and keep it fun.
So we start off with S2M, going down the track and onto the grassland and we mosey together putting in some w/h/bkups along the way. Half way down the field there's a lovely little stream/pond with bank and I asked Solly to cross the stream before the pond and then we could play at the pond area.
Solly standing across the stream taking in the scenery
I ask Solly to draw towards me slowly
which he does very well and decides he needs a drink ;)
which he does very well and decides he needs a drink ;)
And then calmly he crosses the stream to be with me on the other side...cool
We then wander over the other side of the grassland and we put in some nice walking circles with some very smooth changes of direction. Must admit he did very well, walking over this very very rough land with stones, holes and spates of rough grazing all over is extremely hard, he even put in a couple of bits of trot for me.
When we came to the quad bike track I asked for sideways 10' away L&R which was good, he had a bit of 'trying to sneak forward' when going to the right but generally pretty good for a horse that's had some time off.
Then I see a nice piece of tall grass, it was hard to see but from 20' away (using the light weight 22' line) I asked if he could go to the grass and when there he could graze...he did it beautifully.
Solly stopped and grazing the tall tuft of grass...you can just see it ;)
Then we had some more circling fun as just up from that grass is a small gully lane, looks like where a truck has been or a river flowed, so Solly had some good slow, walk, exercise down into the dip and back up again...great for his muscles.
Solly going down into the gully...
...and then back up out of the gully ;)
And for fun he stood on a small stone when I asked him if he could. He seemed to be enjoying himself, not worried about the herd, totally connected to me, relaxed and willing.
Standing on small stone
So after the small stone we did some more S2M up to the large mounting block stone and he was very willing to stand on that with his front feet too ;))
Solly standing on mounting block stone ;)
I then sat on the stone for a while and let him graze as a reward for being so good today. I think, like me, he was missing playing but it really does have to be good ground up here as there is so much more to contend with over this rough patch that if it was too hard or too soft then that would just be too much to cope with and I really don't want any lameness due to me being impatient with training. I would think that the herd will be back in their main field by 1st April so not long to go and it's good to just be pottering around with them rather than nothing ;)
SO, then moseying back towards home and the paddocks, there again is the small stream (very small little burn at this point) and Solly jumps it 3 times...pics not great but show he did do them.
2nd jump...
...and 3rd jump
Well it wasn't the fastest, biggest, yeehaa play session BUT it was a very good start again after 2 months off and I was very pleased with Solly's lightness, willingness, calmness and he remembered everything I asked of him.
