Saturday 1st December
I totally forgot it was the 1st of Decemeber (Happy Month everybody) and put today's pics up here already...hey ho, change to Decemeber new blog set up tomorrow. For now here are the pics from today. We started off today with our Weekend Challenges with Solly and Stormy. Then Stormy looked a bit uneven so Mark changed to Holly. We then did some WC's with those two and then Mark went and did some fab liberty with Holly in the square arena and then in the whole 7 acre field (not once did she leave him ;) and I played with some long reining in a trial of a Dr Cooks bitless bridle and then we rode around the round pen in it too. I am going to move the nose band up a notch tomorrow and give it another go. Solly didn't baulk at it and we still had stop/go/left/right/leg yields/shoulder-in/haunches-in but it all needs refining and more work on it...so fingers crossed we'll see how it goes tomorrow. For now here's the pics'...enjoy :)
Sidepass away over pole and small cone
Fig 8's w/Stormy
Holly liberty jumping again ;))
of nice moments with it and some collection
but need to have more tries to see if it works consistently ;)
Friday 30th November
Out around midday, it's cold, frosty and the ground is v.very hard. First up to see what I'm up to today is the beautiful Holly. I give her some scratches and she hangs around with me so I halter her up and put the 45' line on and we have a short play session.
HOLLY:
She's never been on the 45' so this is fun for her, she did some fab sidepassing, backing up and with the circles she got a bit sceptical about the end of the 45' moving about as we did moving circles, she is so sensitive that everytime she saw the end move she changed directions! lol. SO, I changed her direction back and asked her to stay in the direction I put her in. She got a bit worried and then more alpha and when she does this she kicks up her heels a bit, goes into canter and usually on a 22' line she finds it hard to maintain and stops...this time when she did it I let the 45' out more to give her space and she settles with the new, larger and improved circles! lol. Got her ;)
We then went and did a slower task and I asked her to sidepass over a L shaped jump with plenty of dhq's around the middle of the L....she did it fabulously well, she's so clever and really knows where her feet are.
She also did a small jump, fig 8's and whilst circling I helped the curvature of her body on the circle by being behind her and asking her ribcage/barrel to scoot to the outside more...fab, worked nicely without upsetting her....like Z5 driving on a circle with a nice shape.
We stopped on a good note and I walked her back S2M to the herd where I took her halter off, gave her a herbal treat and I moved off before she could. She then trotted off and Stormy trotted off with her for an update on what we did! lol. I wanted to play with Stormy next so I called him, rustled my pocket and once he thought about it treats became more interesting than Holly (he knew she was okay). He came running over and once his head was down, halter part way on I gave him a treat for coming to me so nicely.
STORMY:
Started off with some obedient backups, he was a bit high headed, not played with him for over a week so I wanted to start slow but determined. I asked him for something new today, backing up whilst I zigzagged about the field. All he had to do is not try to move away, keep watching my belly button and walk backwards whilst I walked all over the place. It took a while, I had to DHQ's a few times to set him up straight again BUT he managed to figure out what I was asking, got the cooperation I was looking for with the relaxation he needed too ;) Fab.
Next we walked together with the S2M transitions, w/h/bkup/w/h/bkup to the cones. I then ask him for some circles, COD's, weave and fig 8's around the cones. He tries to run off to the herd a couple of times but I ask him to concentrate on what we were doing, worked at a smaller distance and once he was behaving nicely I allowed the rope out more. It was fun and he really started to concentrate more.
After a break we did some brain work....slow, thinking stuff....and he sidled over a pole with his front and back right feet ;) He then also backed off it slowly keeping the pole under him the whole way. Cool.
HOLLY:
She's never been on the 45' so this is fun for her, she did some fab sidepassing, backing up and with the circles she got a bit sceptical about the end of the 45' moving about as we did moving circles, she is so sensitive that everytime she saw the end move she changed directions! lol. SO, I changed her direction back and asked her to stay in the direction I put her in. She got a bit worried and then more alpha and when she does this she kicks up her heels a bit, goes into canter and usually on a 22' line she finds it hard to maintain and stops...this time when she did it I let the 45' out more to give her space and she settles with the new, larger and improved circles! lol. Got her ;)
We then went and did a slower task and I asked her to sidepass over a L shaped jump with plenty of dhq's around the middle of the L....she did it fabulously well, she's so clever and really knows where her feet are.
She also did a small jump, fig 8's and whilst circling I helped the curvature of her body on the circle by being behind her and asking her ribcage/barrel to scoot to the outside more...fab, worked nicely without upsetting her....like Z5 driving on a circle with a nice shape.
We stopped on a good note and I walked her back S2M to the herd where I took her halter off, gave her a herbal treat and I moved off before she could. She then trotted off and Stormy trotted off with her for an update on what we did! lol. I wanted to play with Stormy next so I called him, rustled my pocket and once he thought about it treats became more interesting than Holly (he knew she was okay). He came running over and once his head was down, halter part way on I gave him a treat for coming to me so nicely.
STORMY:
Started off with some obedient backups, he was a bit high headed, not played with him for over a week so I wanted to start slow but determined. I asked him for something new today, backing up whilst I zigzagged about the field. All he had to do is not try to move away, keep watching my belly button and walk backwards whilst I walked all over the place. It took a while, I had to DHQ's a few times to set him up straight again BUT he managed to figure out what I was asking, got the cooperation I was looking for with the relaxation he needed too ;) Fab.
Next we walked together with the S2M transitions, w/h/bkup/w/h/bkup to the cones. I then ask him for some circles, COD's, weave and fig 8's around the cones. He tries to run off to the herd a couple of times but I ask him to concentrate on what we were doing, worked at a smaller distance and once he was behaving nicely I allowed the rope out more. It was fun and he really started to concentrate more.
After a break we did some brain work....slow, thinking stuff....and he sidled over a pole with his front and back right feet ;) He then also backed off it slowly keeping the pole under him the whole way. Cool.
To end the session we did some moving circles in trot with some COD's and a small jump. Walked him back to the herd S2M style with plenty of backups and treated him when I took his halter off before leaving him with the herd. FUN ;)
SOLLY:Solly was watching me with Holly and Stormy and now he was very happy to come and claim me back as his. He's such a cute boy. He did a nice bow for me to start with which got him a treat and then we went and played S2M all the way to the cones with w/t/h/bk/t/bk/w/t/bk's ;) He started off a bit sluggish but got better quickly. Not asking for too much trot too fast as the ground too hard, want to warm him up and cool him down well today.
SO, we play with backups then circles with cod's, weave, fig 8's and some weave with leg yields using the driving game too around the cones. Fab play, not too much but enough to get that relaxation, obedience, impulsion and flexibility going nicely thank you ;)
Resting I ask him to sidle over the pole like Stormy did and he obliged nicely...he even backed off it nicely too but I went really, really slowly ;)
Next we did the L shaped jump sidepass which Holly did, a bit harder for Solly so we did it twice to reinforce it...2nd time much easier for him. Then we went back to some moving circles, a very small jump and stopped near a cone which I then asked him to sidepass over...he's never had the courage to do this before as the cones are just about up to the height of his belly BUT somehow today he managed to coordinate himself where the cone was right behind his front legs where his chest is a wee bit higher and he did it...very clever boy ;) big praise and a treat for trying that one for me ;)
SO, on that good note I saddle, cinch and mount him and do some work in the round pen. We're using the scrawbrig bridle today and all going well we open the pen up and work on the other 'open round pen' which has no fencing on it, just poly poles. It was a lot of fun as we could circle around it, weave or fig 8 around it too and we did some nice weaving with leg yields.
Then in the big field we did some nice trotting leg yields, walking shoulders-in and walk haunches-in ;) Very nice session, no sweat on him today, nothing too fast, cooperation was great and he followed me about at liberty whilst I put tack away and went towards Tara. I asked Solly to bow again for me and he got a final treat and then I set him free back to the herd.
SOLLY:Solly was watching me with Holly and Stormy and now he was very happy to come and claim me back as his. He's such a cute boy. He did a nice bow for me to start with which got him a treat and then we went and played S2M all the way to the cones with w/t/h/bk/t/bk/w/t/bk's ;) He started off a bit sluggish but got better quickly. Not asking for too much trot too fast as the ground too hard, want to warm him up and cool him down well today.
SO, we play with backups then circles with cod's, weave, fig 8's and some weave with leg yields using the driving game too around the cones. Fab play, not too much but enough to get that relaxation, obedience, impulsion and flexibility going nicely thank you ;)
Resting I ask him to sidle over the pole like Stormy did and he obliged nicely...he even backed off it nicely too but I went really, really slowly ;)
Next we did the L shaped jump sidepass which Holly did, a bit harder for Solly so we did it twice to reinforce it...2nd time much easier for him. Then we went back to some moving circles, a very small jump and stopped near a cone which I then asked him to sidepass over...he's never had the courage to do this before as the cones are just about up to the height of his belly BUT somehow today he managed to coordinate himself where the cone was right behind his front legs where his chest is a wee bit higher and he did it...very clever boy ;) big praise and a treat for trying that one for me ;)
SO, on that good note I saddle, cinch and mount him and do some work in the round pen. We're using the scrawbrig bridle today and all going well we open the pen up and work on the other 'open round pen' which has no fencing on it, just poly poles. It was a lot of fun as we could circle around it, weave or fig 8 around it too and we did some nice weaving with leg yields.
Then in the big field we did some nice trotting leg yields, walking shoulders-in and walk haunches-in ;) Very nice session, no sweat on him today, nothing too fast, cooperation was great and he followed me about at liberty whilst I put tack away and went towards Tara. I asked Solly to bow again for me and he got a final treat and then I set him free back to the herd.
My beautiful hairy Solly,
winter coat now coming in very nicely ;)
Thursday 29th November
winter coat now coming in very nicely ;)
Thursday 29th November
Out to horses early today so that I had the time to connect back up with Solly and not rush about it. We needed some time to get back out harmony and it was good today finding that again with him. He caught me well to start with and we went through a lot of tasks to see how things were going and to find out what we needed to work on. The ground was hard-ish today so we just had to take our time with that and then Solly had some attitude so we took our time working on that.
His Relaxation was good, too good really as our Impulsion was missing. I gave him the benefit of the doubt to start with due to the ground but then insisted on trot, please...thank you ;) His Willing Obedience was pretty good, even working on the 45' line so we really just needed to work on his impulsion with circles to help with that and flexibility. It took a while but we got there.
We then went and did some nice new tasks with 7 cones placed in a circle for the weave with poles from the cones towards the centre of the circle and two jumps set up for fig 8 jumping...fun ;) We had good fun with the circle set up doing circles, weaves, cod's and mixing it all up and all of it in trot.
I was taking plenty of stop times and also had a camera set up in the corner of the arena so hopefully got some of it filmed for prosperity ;)
Now we were working really nicely together I saddled him up and mounted. We did a couple of short video's ridden too, sideways along a fence line and circle/weaves with turns and leg yields. It was a nice day out there and we managed to stay warm and cosy too. I put Solly's lightweight rug on tonight as he was just slightly sweaty between his front legs and around his neck. Hopefully out to do some more bonding tomorrow ;))
His Relaxation was good, too good really as our Impulsion was missing. I gave him the benefit of the doubt to start with due to the ground but then insisted on trot, please...thank you ;) His Willing Obedience was pretty good, even working on the 45' line so we really just needed to work on his impulsion with circles to help with that and flexibility. It took a while but we got there.
We then went and did some nice new tasks with 7 cones placed in a circle for the weave with poles from the cones towards the centre of the circle and two jumps set up for fig 8 jumping...fun ;) We had good fun with the circle set up doing circles, weaves, cod's and mixing it all up and all of it in trot.
I was taking plenty of stop times and also had a camera set up in the corner of the arena so hopefully got some of it filmed for prosperity ;)
Now we were working really nicely together I saddled him up and mounted. We did a couple of short video's ridden too, sideways along a fence line and circle/weaves with turns and leg yields. It was a nice day out there and we managed to stay warm and cosy too. I put Solly's lightweight rug on tonight as he was just slightly sweaty between his front legs and around his neck. Hopefully out to do some more bonding tomorrow ;))
Wednesday 28th November
Having been away teaching for 6 days I've not seen the herd apart from quickly last night at feeding time and they all need playing with, my strong connection isn't as strong today. I've missed them all badly but my teaching season is over for this year now and I can enjoy being with them from now to mid-March/April time doing the horsey chores of feeding, poo picking and generally hanging out with them, giving them time off from training and just enjoying each others company ;)
Today I managed to get out a bit early to again hang out with them, connect, put up fences, re-arrange some stuff and have a quick ride on Tara. SO, to that end I go down and fix the arena fencing. The square arena fence was totally down so that went back up, nice to have just one arena if nothing else. I then put the two round pen arena posts back up but took the fencing line off them so that we can use the shape but also make it fun with weaving and fig 8's etc around the posts that are up. I also put a set of 6 cones inside each open round pen to have fun with those too ;)
The horses all came up and had some fussing whilst I did this and then before I knew it it was nearly dinner time SO I asked Tara to catch me, which she did nicely, I put her halter/reins on and jumped on her bareback. I left the reins on her withers and we rode bareback and basically bridleless to the round pens where we did a circuit of both in a fig 8 in walk, then in trot and then we weaved around one in trot. Tara could only do the weave between each 2 posts, going between each was just too tight for her but we had fun doing the weave together.
We then rode back towards the herd, doing a nice fig 8 without reins around two jumps and then trotted back to herd and up the hill to her night time paddock. Not much, but really enjoyed being with them in their field and tomorrow hopefully I'll get to do something with the boys ;)
Sunday 18th November
Very cold this morning, frost on the car and grasses outside....bruggghhhh. Go out to see horses around 1pm today and here's some pics from the day ;)
ONLINE CHALLENGES:
CHALLENGE 1:
Trotting poles on a circle in trot, Stormy does fab
Back up between 2 flags, turn horse to the right...
Fig 8 going over two poles ;)
Solly and I have done this before and also
fig 8's using jumps this way but it was good
to know he remembers it well ;)
and GO Stormy ;)
CHALLENGE 4:
Walk together through archway hoop...
Good job Stormy but please pick your feet up and
don't crush my hoop again!! ;)
Jump hoop at liberty ;)
Solly does it very well twice but Stormy
runs off to be with Holly as there is a pony and cart
along the road which they can see and Holly wanted
him close by...so he went to be with her!!
Not a good time for a liberty challenge ;)
Whilst Mark went and caught Stormy again I played with Solly ;)
Liberty yo-yo's using the arch/hoop
 |
| Fig 8's... like to keep the games but change the ideas behind them SO with that in mind we did trotting fig 8's with the cones really really close together ;)) |
Back up and draw over pole between two barrels...
BIG SQUEEZE here ;)
RIDING FUN:
we're using this pattern/game as his comfort zone now,
he can stand still in between doing things in this position...
he's doing it quicker and quicker now ;)
good first time, 2nd time jumped the pole like it was a jump,
this is the 3rd time, better, slower, more focussed and
not worried with it all ;)
Stormy and Mark doing a GREAT ridden arena session
today, hardly any mischief from Stormy today! lol
BIG trot again, tracking up nicely
Saturday 17th November
Chilly and on/off frosts this week but today is cold but fair so out we go to the horses for some fun. Weekend Challenges first between Mark/Stormy and Me/Solly and then riding and some liberty too. Here's the pictures:
and stayed on him whilst he got up BUT I forgot to
put the video camera on properly!!! duh ;(
...and stops work too ;)
Rode all the way into the arena and to the back of the car...
he knows where the treats are...clever boy ;))
CHALLENGE FUN:
Challenge 1:
Circle with two sets of two poles in V shape...
Solly jumped them at first...
...but then figured out where to trot without having to jump ;)
Stormy did a good job too
Challenge 2:
Back up over pole, sidepass between poles then draw over pole
Stormy does a fab job of all parts of this challenge
just missed the last part of the draw over pole there but good otherwise
Solly did very well considering things around or under his
feet is his bug-bear issue...it was good to challenge this issue more
Sidepass between poles from distance was great ;)
last part of draw just like Stormy
Challenge 3:
Sidepass over jump to the pedastal.
(Did think about asking horses to step up to
pedastal sideways but think this is acutally
physically impossible for them, so just sidepass is good)
Stormy does it great
Sidepass around drainage jump
(Mark does it by going around with Stormy)
Solly and I do it with me standing.....
Half circle around to jump and then jump towards and halt ;)
to finish on a very good note ;)
Good boy Stormy
RIDDEN FUN
Me and Solly using our new scrawbrig bitless bridle...
well not actually new but using the leather upper part of
normal bridle with the lower part of the scrawbrig as the
scrawbrig although a 'full' size just wasn't long enough in
the head part and the forehead band was too small...
putting both together sorts out any tightness problems ;)
Keep the challenge of sidling over a pole going well,
only took a minute this 2nd time ;)
And this time only a few seconds ;))
Solly in his half leather, half webbing scrawbrig bitless bridle ;)
ONLINE w/HOLLY:
Backing up over pole
LIBERTY FUN:
Fig 8's at liberty ;))
Holly being Holly ;)) lol
More liberty sidepass away ;)
Mark rewarding Holly for her nice play session
Me and Tara, just setting off back up the hill
to her night time paddock and some dinner ;)
Wednesday 14th November
Went down to field and did quite a lot of poo-picking. Has to be done and a wet, chilly, dull day is the best ones to do it on. The horses were all together and not looking like they wanted to play so I didn't feel we needed to which was good. We did have a pretty visitor to the field, he was following his doe's but the fence was too high to jump at the side, he got out where he got in later on ;)
After poo-picking the herd were gathering together to go up to the to as dinner was only half an hour away BUT little Tara was down the hillock and she came to catch me, have some fussing and I haltered her and jumped on her bareback from the fence and then instead of just going to the top as we normally do I took her to the back gateway, out of the field and up the neighbouring field, along the top, behind the forest and into her top night time paddock from the top gateway....it was fun and think she enjoyed it too ;)
Going the long way round to the paddock tonight,
we went into two other fields and then back home
for the herds dinner time ;)
Sunday 11th November
WEEKEND CHALLENGES ONLINE
Challenge 1:
Touch it with nose at the trot
(Solly did it very well as been testing this the last two
days...Stormy did it pretty well for only doing it once ;)
Challenge 2:
Backup next to a pole and then sidle over it with
one front and one back foot...Stormy 10 out of 10 ;)
Solly does the back up fabulously...
..and sidles perfectly too ;)) clever boy
Squeeze jump over barrels then draw in trot back to you.
Solly skipped around the jump twice?? not sure what that
was all about BUT then was great ;)
his front feet here...fab
Sidepass around the drainage pipes...
....Stormy and Mark rock ;))
Solly's go, and....
...all goes well...
...and I don't move my feet at all!! ;)) fab
Challenge 5:
Stand in front of jump, half circle horse to other side of jump...
...ask horse to jump towards you...
Solly is amazing and does me proud
pretty good for a first attempt and amazed at their communication ;)
RIDING STORMY
A few pics of Mark and Stormy getting their riding better, their seat/leg/hand communication is really looking better and their balance together is much better. Stormy is not an easy horse to ride being a BIG youngster but he's slowly getting there with more positive and regular riding. If we can get this better in the arena and then in the field then he will be more reliable and happy out hacking ;)
Me and Stormy...I'm attempting more freestyle riding this week with Stormy (that's riding more and more with a loose rein). I want him to take more responsibility now so that I can ride from my seat/leg/hand connection and he can think about staying in direction, gait and look where he's going more. I feel that it's time for him to do this and know that once he gets the hang of it then he'll be more inclined to listen harder and thereby be more responsible for what I'm asking him to do with me ;)
I just started doing a figure of 8 around the two cones and stayed on that pattern until he started to listen to my seat/leg/hands but I don't use the reins in a concentrated way, there is slack in them and I only use them if he really doesn't listen to my seat/leg aids. It takes him a while but suddenly he starts doing the fig 8 pattern more from my lighter aids.....we leave it on a good note and will try this again next time we ride.
RIDING SOLLY
Here are a few pics of me doing some bits with Solly....he's going well but the ground was pretty slippery so no canter and only a few small jumps, this work out is just mainly some general riding to keep us warmed up and not really going to progress much now until next year, end of Autumn and Winter is to keep ticking over. We did do some nice shoulder-in and haunches-in around the arena and slowly they're getting smoother and smoother.
and one back hoof ridden....so pleased with him, it wasn't easy
but I just gently kept asking him until he felt confident to be
able to keep his feet still ;)
Saturday 10th November
Have been away since Tues but back home last night and looking forward to seeing the herd today. It was a bit drizzly so not sure how much I could do BUT got down there around 12.30pm and Holly came straight over to say hello, followed shortly by big Stormy. Waiting for my catching request next was Solly and we had a nice mutual grooming session and finally I got to within 30' of Tara, squatted down on my haunches and she came over to say hello too ;)
After putting up jumps that were down and fixing the round pens up again I asked Solly to catch me again and I haltered him up and started play on the 22' feather light. Here's what we did:
ONLINE:
1) Friendly - xtreme with stick/string all around him and also tossing rope from Z5. Fab ;)
2) Yoyo - asked him to backup in a nice walk and draw to me in trot in a straight line down a hill...he did it pretty well considering we've not really done much of this. Nice challenge to start.
3) S2M - w/t/bkups with energy to the cones. He started off a bit slack but soon got his energy up and did some very nice bkups/trot/bkup transitions.
4) Touch it - Very fun game we did in walk and for the first time in TROT today too, going around the 6 cones that make up my weave circle game. He did it fantastically, so pleased with him as we often use these cones for weaves and fig 8's but not touch it often so our communication is on top form today ;)
Touch it at trot today ;)
5) Jumps - I ask Solly to squeeze one jump and then we go around the field doing moving circles in trot with COD's thrown in now and 6 jumps on the way...lots of fun, love doing this.
6) COD's - just check out circling cod's outwith too and they're fab still...love that once the rope is over his ears he changes direction on the outside even if it's not fully over his nose...sort that bit out when he's cod ;) He's such a clever boy.
We then mosey on over to the square arena and I groom, saddle and cinch him then mount up.
RIDDEN:
1) Warm up - We just do some LF, DHQ and FQ moves and mosey around the arena warming up. We're using the sidepull today but although he did well in it, it didn't feel so soft or connected today so am not going to use it again.
2) Trot - do quite a few trotting pole exercises and he starts to get more energy and picking his feet up better, putting more ask into my connection to try to get a bit more extension in his trot. This is a very hard one for him and he's better when the ground is not so soft or slippery but he gave it a good try.
3) Lateral moves - We then go onto some lateral moves and on 2 sides of my square arena we do walk shoulder-in's, then turn and go the other way so getting L&R. Then we do the same with haunches-in L&R 2 sides. He does very well and they're both getting a bit better, need to practice more but the foundations are there well....think also he does them better in normal rope halter so will keep to that for now.
4) Leg yielding - We go out of the arena into the main field and do some RtR around the round pens and then take that nice curve off the round pens in to leg yielding across the whole field. He was very good going to the right but a bit stiff going left so I do my best to get myself softer and more flexible that side and try it until it improves a bit....which it did and then we stop on a good note with that.
5) Jumps - Pop over just a couple of jumps today, it's too slippery to do more but he did them slowly and carefully and we enjoyed them.
Had a lovely time with Solly, he does some liberty S2M after I untack him and take him back to the car where the treats are. Then Mark and I feed them dinner and pop home for our own dinner. Lovely to be back and be with the herd again, hopefully if the weather is good we'll do something with them tomorrow too ;)
Monday 5th November
Well today was FAB...managed to get out and spend a great 3hrs with the herd and groomed, played and RODE ALL FOUR of our horses. Didn't do tons but quickly prepared them with play and rode each with the intention of just tweaking some of the bits they did over the weekend and reinforce the good stuff. It went very well and I am so pleased I did this as I'm off teaching for 4 days now and won't get to see them all until the weekend now.
So, here's what I did with each ;)
HOLLY:
Online:
Using the 22' feather light rope. S2M w/t/w/h/bkups from catching place to square area. She is so light and notices everything. My phases are almost invisible with her.
In the arena we did some 22' line touch it with the nose/feet using the small cones which she did very well. Then we went to some fig 8's around the cones which got better as we did it. She's a bit stiff going left to right so took it slowly for her but ended up with some nice trot fig 8's. I like using the same cones for touch it and then fig 8's as it proves it's not a trick and the horses are really listening to what I'm asking rather than just doing things by rote ;)
We then went into some nice smooth circles on the move which included going over the trotting poles. I then groomed her and saddled her up. Today I'm using my regular saddle set up with the new Equipedic pad on all the horses (apart from Tara who I ride bareback).
Ridden:
The saddle and pad feels nicely balanced and Holly seems to like it too. We start with lateral flexion and she's soft, flexing nicely and happy, Then we go onto circles L&R and gently asking her to flex/bend her body, whilst doing this I feel that she's not very rhythmic in her trot, not lame but not rhythmic so we end on a good note and leave it for the day.
STORMY:
Online:
We start our session the same as Holly with some touch it cones, fig 8's onto circles and asking for some HQ moves on the circle...Stormy did this very well indeed. On that good note I groom and saddle him.
Ridden:
LF, DHQ and then forward, forward, forward. He has the tendency to pull to the right so I held the left rein in my hand and held my hand tight onto the side of the saddle. This way I don't pull when he does this but he comes into a solid contact (like being tied to a fence) and he started to realise that this wasn't an option ;)
I then set a pattern up for us to progress with moving his HQ's over in a more refined way SO, I asked him to RtR on two sides of the arena, serpentine around the trotting poles by moving his HQ's around on the bends rather than his forehand. To doo this I put my heel slightly behind the girth, hold the reins in the outide hand, take the inside rein shorter and then lifting it up to create a slight bend in his neck. This works very well for him, it's not fully refined yet but it's progress towards that end. After the serpentines I relax and breath out just before the cone and ask him to 'touch it' to stop...fab ;) We do the pattern three times and he does it so well that I jump off and hug him, take his saddle off and let him go back to Holly with a meadow treat for being such a good boy.
Stormy's LF
SOLLY:
Online:
Same again as the others, touch it, fig 8, circles w/cod's and trotting poles. He really relaxed and ready to ride so I groom and saddle him up ;)
Ridden:
Lovely RtR in w/t and shoulders-in and haunches-in in walk. He's remembering everything so well and getting lighter each time we do it. Then we trot over the trotting poles and he was fab, I moved the poles to a distance of two strides and one foot long, this seems to be a good length for him, not too long but long enough to make him think about his footing and extend just a wee bit.
I then opened up the gateway and we go around the field popping over most of the jumps, trotting around the round pens in a big fig 8 and having a lot of fun together. Really enjoyed our session ;)
TARA:
Online:
We just did some slow, easy basic's so that she didn't trip over her own feet. DHQ and move her FQ's a bit then squeeze under the electric fencing on the round pen that I put her in earlier. She (Solly too) does this really well now and it has helped me with leadership as they think now that I have power over the electric fence as if they try this themselves on the paddock it's actually on and they won't touch it BUT when I ask them to go under it to come in/out of the pen without going to the gate they know it's safe ;)
Ridden:
Today I just jump on her bareback from a mounting block and w/t to the top of the hill to her evening paddock, on the way we stop for a drink from the stream for her and then up to the gateway. Just as I had her settled in her paddock Mark arrived and we gave them their dinner...perfect timing ;))
What a fab day, LOVE playing/riding them all, felt really good and they all did so well.
Sunday 4th November
Another day, albeit very cold, we get to the horses around 1pm. I took Tara down from the paddock to a round pen for a change and when down at the bottom of the field I couldn't find Solly!!! Where was he?
I called and his head popped over the small hill at the bottom of the field....looked SO funny ;)
Peek-A-Boo (for the second day running)
So after the relief of finding him I take Tara to her round pen and he follows like the good good boy that he is, and I put her in one pen and him in the other one where the car is so that I can groom him and make a fuss of him. Today I am playing/riding Solly and Mark is playing/riding Stormy. After grooming them we take them out for todays SUNDAY CHALLENGE session Here are the pics:
CHALLENGE 1:
Back horse next to pole...
Back horse next to pole...
...Draw back along second pole ;)
Mark does a good job backing...
...good with the sidepass at a distance,
not as easy as it looks...
not as easy as it looks...
...Great draw back.
Stand on mounting block and
circle close to...first Solly came too close
thinking I wanted to mount SO had
to make the circle a bit wider ;)
...did it okay 2nd attempt...
tackled it well.
Sit on barrel and trot circle one way,
cod and trot circle the other way ;)
...Mark and Stormy do the challenge
brilliantly too...
brilliantly too...
Sidepass over two cones 6 strides apart,
then sidepass towards back over them again ;)
...Kept a pretty straight line too...
Sidle over a pole so that pole,
Solly is good at this ;)
Another fab fun day of challenges and Mark and I are ready to saddle up and mount for some riding fun. First we ride around the arena doing some RtR and direct rein/indirect rein turns and circles. Solly and I worked in w/t, shoulders-in and walk haunches-in, some circles and trotting poles.
Mark said Stormy was much lighter today but he did have some issues about moving freely forward and not trotting back to the mounting block to stop! Mark handled it well, kept asking him to try harder with his requests and eventually Stormy stopped mucking about.
We stayed in the arena for a short while to get the basic's done and then Solly and I open the fence and we all go out to RtR of the round pens. First we go around seperate pens to keep our independence and then we follow each other playing 'Leap Frog' whilst fig 8'ing ;)
'Leap Frog' is a ridden game where we two or more horses ride single file in walk. The last horse then trots around and past the line up to the front and goes into the lead back to walk. They stay in walk for a while and then the last horse goes out and trots to the front and so it continues. Once good in w/t then it can be done in t/c ;)
Mark and I have fun with this, doing fig 8's and trotting past each other and the horses enjoy it too. We finish on a good note and both horses when unsaddled follow us back to the car for treats. I then ride Tara back up to her top paddock and to give them their dinner ;)
Fab day, really enjoyed it, horses didn't sweat up, all kept relaxed and happy and Stormy is slowly getting more ridden work and getting lighter and more willing.
Mark said Stormy was much lighter today but he did have some issues about moving freely forward and not trotting back to the mounting block to stop! Mark handled it well, kept asking him to try harder with his requests and eventually Stormy stopped mucking about.
We stayed in the arena for a short while to get the basic's done and then Solly and I open the fence and we all go out to RtR of the round pens. First we go around seperate pens to keep our independence and then we follow each other playing 'Leap Frog' whilst fig 8'ing ;)
'Leap Frog' is a ridden game where we two or more horses ride single file in walk. The last horse then trots around and past the line up to the front and goes into the lead back to walk. They stay in walk for a while and then the last horse goes out and trots to the front and so it continues. Once good in w/t then it can be done in t/c ;)
Mark and I have fun with this, doing fig 8's and trotting past each other and the horses enjoy it too. We finish on a good note and both horses when unsaddled follow us back to the car for treats. I then ride Tara back up to her top paddock and to give them their dinner ;)
Fab day, really enjoyed it, horses didn't sweat up, all kept relaxed and happy and Stormy is slowly getting more ridden work and getting lighter and more willing.
Saturday 3rd November
Cold here today but dry when we went out around 1pm (rained half way through our session but stopped and we continued). I went and got Tara out of her paddock and on the way up took pics of the boys...
Now where is that little white horsey today?.....
Ahh, there you are...Peek-A-Boo Solly ;))
I then put Tara into a round pen with Solly for company (he misses her being out in the field) and left them to it for a while. Mark then went and got Stormy and I took Holly (who was following them) and we set about a Saturday Horsemanship Challenge like last week. These really help to use our imaginations and it's fun to challenge our abilities whilst trying to think of things to progress each task, here's some pics from the Challenges:
Challenge 1: Holly touching a cone with nose from 22' away...
....all the way over the end ;)...
...Holly does very well...
....then Stormy and Mark do it....
....well done Stormy too...
...Great turn, he's so light on his feet (Stormy that is!)...
...nice jump back...
....showing off, they do it twice...
...brilliant ;)
Challenge 5: Sidepass over jump from Z1...
...sceptical about going in but trusted me enough to do it nicely...
..Stormy had no problems going onto ice at all...
After that nice challenging warm up we were ready to saddle up and cinch. It was just at this moment that the heavens opened up and we got thoroughly wet. I put my thick jacket over Hollys saddle to stop my seat saver getting soaked and Mark went to the car and got a towel and another jacket for me. Then just as soon as it had started it stopped and we could ride ;)
We rode in the same area but not following each other as we need Stormy to be more independent from Holly. I stood in the centre giving directions on what to do and Mark did it and then he stopped in the centre for a while and watched me as I rode and talked him through what I was doing with Hollly.
Stormy's main riding criteria at the moment is to go forward in a straight line (hopefully one day in freestyle) and to be willingly obedient. It's getting better each time Mark (and I) ride him and today Mark said that Stormy felt much lighter on the reins and the leg...fab.
Hollys main riding criteria at the moment is also to go forward in a straight line but she has trouble with this not due to training (she's extremely light and willing) but due to her being so crooked due to her hip being broken as a baby. When I ride her I often ask for her barrel to move over to the left when doing right circles or being on the right rein, it's something I ask for and leave, ask for and leave a LOT and it's helping her to think more about being straight the more I do it for her. She also did some fabulous leg yielding L&R in trot today :)) Fab. She's so willing and it's a treat to be able to help her strengthen her L&R barrel muscles when I ride.
YEEHAA...BIG TROT ;)
We then let the big two go and I went and asked Solly to come play with me. He was very willing and I brushed him up and then went into the square arena. Then we filmed about 20 mins of lessons for a student of mine that I couldn't get to see recently on a teaching day. Solly was fab and we enjoyed the filming. We did tossing the rope over his head Z1-Z5 w/12' and 22' ropes. Rope around spins Z3-Z5 w/12' and 22' ropes. Leg yielding S2M from Z3 with close to cod's working into circles and cod's in w/t w/12' and 22' ropes. Then we adapted that concept into fig 8's from teaching mode to advanced in w/t with 12' and 22' ropes. Finally we did Touch it with the nose, feet and with 12' and 22' ropes ;)
Really enjoyed this and hope to do more over the winter time
(off) electric fence of the round pen ;)
Friday 2nd November
Raining in the morning so leave Tara in her field paddock rather than bring her here, don't want winter paddocks to become a mud-mess before the horses are officially at the house. Didn't think I'd get down to see the horses today but it started to dry out and then stopped raining and by midday I went down to the field.
I brought Tara out of her paddock and put her into one of the round pens for a change of scenery, I put Solly in with her for company as they were missing each other. Then I went and took Hollys rug off so that she could enjoy the fresh air, then I put back up the round pens and arena that Stormy had pulled down and then I put the jumps back up, moving a couple of them out of the slightly flooded area. After that was all done it was time to play ;)
on the way to the round pen ;0)
SOLLY PLAY:
We went straight onto the 22' feather light line and we did some slow jumps and then went into circling.
Circle left in walk, cod. Circle right in walk, cod.
Circle left in walk, cod outwith. Circle right in walk, cod outwith.
Circle left in trot, cod. Circle right in trot, cod.
Circle left in trot, cod outwith. Circle right in trot, cod without.
All went really well so we did a few fig 8's and then had a game with the 'flood' water in the field. Solly didn't worry about walking in it, he even stopped and took a drink, but he was sceptical about trotting through it. I think this was because he didn't like the cold water splashing up onto his belly. But with a little encouragement he did it and I gave him a big hug for his trying ;)
SOLLY RIDDEN:
Did our usual LF, DHQ, move FQ's and then as in the corner arena to start with we did some RtR in w/t and then over the trotting poles. Next we did some shoulder-in left in walk, shoulder-in right in walk and then the same both ways in trot. Glad that this went well, I'm getting more into the swing of Solly and we're doing it together more.
We then did some lovely haunches-in left and right and I was very happy how well we did this together today ;)
Next we came out of the arena and worked in the big field. Walk and trot around the round pens (which I moved slightly to get away from making a muddy track) and then I asked for 4 strides of canter then back to trot, at X strides of canter the other way and then back to trot and then stop at X and backup. Very nicely done.
After this we went to the open area and had somefun with shoulder-in L&R, haunches in L&R and legyields L&R. Was fun to play around with lateral moves in an open area. I then went to the 6 cones in a circle and had huge fun going around the circular weave asking turns around the cones going to the inside and leg yields going around the cones to the outside L&R...it was a great way of using consistency and variety ;)
So, a bit more fun and I asked Solly to walk through the flood water and then trot over a smaller area and he was fab, no hesitation going in at all.
Riding through water
STORMY PLAY:
So glad I had time to play with Stormy as he really wanted to play today. He kept coming over to where I was with Sollylooking at me and mucking about (ie. pushing over fences, pulling fence posts out etc. lol)
We first played with circles as he always wants to move his feet:
Circle left walk,cod. Circle right walk, cod.
Circle left trot cod. Circle right trot, cod.
Then I decided to teach him to circle/cod outwith and this is where the fun started. He was on the 22' feather light and I just couldn't flick it over his head to turn him outwith the circle!! He was SO good as he didn't stop circling at all, was calm and responsive and I managed to flick the rope over his head when he was in walk and he cod very easily (just like he'd been taught it before...but then our long reining sessions have really helped with this).
I did eventually manage to flick the rope over once on each side and called it quits...will try again over weekend ;)
We next play around with the water and he had no trouble waling and trotting through it to L&R ;))
So glad I had time to play with Stormy as he really wanted to play today. He kept coming over to where I was with Sollylooking at me and mucking about (ie. pushing over fences, pulling fence posts out etc. lol)
We first played with circles as he always wants to move his feet:
Circle left walk,cod. Circle right walk, cod.
Circle left trot cod. Circle right trot, cod.
Then I decided to teach him to circle/cod outwith and this is where the fun started. He was on the 22' feather light and I just couldn't flick it over his head to turn him outwith the circle!! He was SO good as he didn't stop circling at all, was calm and responsive and I managed to flick the rope over his head when he was in walk and he cod very easily (just like he'd been taught it before...but then our long reining sessions have really helped with this).
I did eventually manage to flick the rope over once on each side and called it quits...will try again over weekend ;)
We next play around with the water and he had no trouble waling and trotting through it to L&R ;))
Last but not least I sat on a barrel on it's side, put all the 22' line at my feet and holding just the leather popper at the end I asked Stormy to backup from just me holding up my finger, using thought/energy and he did it fabuously, lightly and with respect...love this big boy ;)
After the boys were back with Holly I rode Tara in trot around the round pens to see how she was moving today. She did great and so I gathered up my belongings and rode her up to the top of the field, put her back into her top paddock and by this time Mark had arrived to feed them dinner. Had a lovely day and so glad it stopped raining so that I could get out and about ;))
Thursday 1st November
WOW, November is here and it's chilly out and about. Definitely thinking of putting thermal trews on under jods at moment and if it feels cold tomorrow then that will be the official thermal day to start winter off.
Brought Tara back up to the house again today, good exercise, she felt a bit more lively again today and each day it gets a bit better. Stayed at house paddock until 3pm and then rode her back to her field paddock for the pm and spent an hour grooming all 4 horses before their dinnertime. Felt good to just 'be' with the herd and hang out with them a bit, lots of hugging going on too, their winter coats all coming in nicely ;)
Riding Tara back to the house, amazing light this morning ;)
Mark ahead of us on the track heading for home
