April 2013

Saturday 27th April

Today was a little chilly/windy but not too bad so Mark and I went out and played with some horses. First Mark played with Stormy online and then saddled him up and cinched him with savvy.

Then he got on Stormy and had a passenger lesson with me playing with him on the 22' feather lights and Mark just sitting there testing and regaining his balance and harmony. Then when things were going well I asked Mark to start using his legs to ask Stormy to do L&R turns and COD's. Went pretty well.

After this I got on Stormy and had a short riding lesson, asking him to move forwards lightly off my legs to go and backup and to be lighter on the reins when turning L&R, I did this by not using the reins constantly but just bumping the reins as a reminder to listen to my outside leg when turning. Worked pretty well and he was listening good today. We had a point where he wanted to stop by the mounting block so I relaxed for about a second and then asked him off again, he went backwards but I gently but persistently reminded him that we were going forward thank you and he did ;) We also did some nice trot today where he was calm and balanced and I managed to do some rising trot. Always been hard to do that because he and I were both unbalanced when he was younger but it's slowly coming together now ;)

A good day so far, Stormy was a gem and it was lovely to ride him again after the Winter. So, on this good note Mark then went and got Holly and groomed her, played and rode her and I went and got Solly and groomed him, played and rode him too. Good sessions, Mark doing w/t/c and jumping Holly and me w/t bit of canter and jumping with Solly with a try of a dressage test in the DA right at the end with the Light Rider Bitless Bridle on. The test was okay but his impulsion was completely naff today. May have to try the test at the beginning of the session rather than the end, it was like he had NO get up and go at all. I'm hoping the grass comes in soon as I know this will help him get some yeehaa for riding. Today he was just TOO slow and cautious....I need to help him be light and energetic but we've not found that 'button' just yet this year.

 

Thursday 25th April

The herd having a YEEHAA :)

 

Tuesday 23rd April

Bit windy today but fair and trying to be nice with some sunny spells. Mark wanted to continue poo picking so we go out together and I get to play/ride Solly. When first down there I put Tara in a round pen and Solly comes and catches me, I get this done straight away as recently the herd have been running up the hill to finish off the hay from the morning feed about this time, so saved myself a long trek! lo.

I start off play gently and know he's not got much motivation at the moment so don't ask for canter at all BUT do start some hill training which will help get him a bit fitter to start with.

Hill training

 Hill training

Next we work on some moving circles which include multiple jumps in both directions. This always helps with Solly's impulsion but again taking it slowly and the jumps really aren't that big at the moment ;)

Nicely taken jump ;)

I then take one jump apart (4 tyres and 4 poles) and set up 4 trotting poles, putting them three footprints apart. I asked him first to squeeze between the poles so that he can get a good look at them, they're not high but it will help him to bring his legs up a bit higher and that will encourage him to work from his hindquarters and get his core muscles fitter and stronger. We do the poles just once in both directions today and will slowly build that up to where he's doing a few during each session. I hope to that once he's got used to them again his head will lower over them in trot to show relaxation with the exercise. Then, once he's got a bit fitter I will slowly bring them a bit further apart to help stretch his trot stride, legs, core and topline ;)

 Going between the trotting poles

 Trotting over the poles nicely to the left

 and again nicely once to the right ;)

We have a little rest and walk over to get him saddled up and then pop into the dressage arena where we do some liberty driving from behind. This is basically liberty long reining where I stand behind just to one side of him and ask him forward in walk and also trot. The more away from his body I am the straighter he becomes doing nice RtR for me, then I move myself towards his tail  more and he bends his head  more to keep me in his eye and his turns become sharper, if I go behind him to the other side he moves his head again to keep me in his view and turns directions SO this is a lot of fun for doing liberty fig 8's and other patterns...I like doing this a lot, shows a good connection, trust and understanding of our communication techniques ;)

 Driving from behind going left

 Driving from behind going right ;)

After our play online and at liberty I mount and ride for about 20 mins. We work on impulsion with tons of transitions, then some corners game to help with independent seat and then some circling for flexibility and finally some lateral work to check our communication. He does some nice shoulders-in, hindquarters-in and leg yields in trot L&R. 

Albeit it was extremely windy we had a good session and I finished with a bareback ride on Tara back up the big hill to get Mark and go home for a cuppa tea and some late lunch ;)

Sunday 21st April

Not too sunny but not that cold so out with the herd today and luckily we missed the showers which came later on. Mark and I got Holly and Solly (The Olly's as I call them) and had a session of play 'Challenges' together first. Then Mark played at libery with Holly and then groomed Stormy big time as he's loosing a TON of moulting hair at the moment. I went on to saddle, play at liberty and ride Solly with some Freestyle and Finesse and testing the Light Rider Bitless Bridle out more today. Here are some pics from our fun day out ;)

Challenge 1: 2 feet on pedastal from 20' away

 Challenge 2: circle around then sidepass obstacle

Challenge 3a: back up into pole box from a distance

 Challenge 3b: sidepass out of pole box from distance

 Challenge 4: trot fig 8's

Challenge 5: trot weave

Challenge 6a: from side ask horse to walk through cones

 Challenge 6b: halt

Challenge 6c: backup through cones

 It was a good challenge session and set our horses up for what we did next, Mark doing some liberty with Holly and me riding Solly ;)

Mark and Holly having a moment together ;)

Me riding Solly

Friday 19th April

Lovely day today, sunshine and warmth all day...yippee ;) Out to horses around 1pm and I start off with some poo picking in the newly put up dressage arena, then I put up all the electric fencing that Stormy so kindly played with yesterday! lol. Then I went and asked Tara and Solly to catch me and brought both of them down to the two round pens. Tara was quite happy to stay in one and graze whilst I played with Solly.

I firstly groomed Sol, he was dirty, dusty and a ton of moulting hair just dying to be taken off him, he stood still at liberty and thoroughly enjoyed all that hair coming out.

Then we did a bit of liberty, checking circles, small and large, walk and trot, waiting for relaxation which was nicely done. Then worked on some yo-yo's back and forth and then a bow. We then went for a roam about out of the round pen on the 22' feather light rope and he did some nice jumps (low and high) whilst out on circles on the move and also COD's in and out of the circle ;)

Next I saddled him and went into the dressage arena and played at liberty again. He circled very nicely and relaxed long and low when in trot. I like to get the saddle settled with him working at liberty as it really allows him to stretch and get used to the feel and weight of the saddle on his back and he can move and flex as he likes.

When he was ready and the girth done up again I put the Light Rider Bitless bridle on and then mounted and rested for a minute. This is our first time in the Dressage Arena this year and it's in a slightly different place so wanted to just take my time with it all today. We did our flight checks (LF, DHQ and move FQ's) and then did a back up and went to RtR in walk.

Now there is one long side of the arena that's fine but the other one was flooded with water at the beginning of the week so I know we will take that side easy so as not to cause damage to the ground of for Solly to slip. So we walk along the good long side and play corners for a couple of minutes bringing it up into trot before then going all the way around.

Solly is a bit under impulsed today, groundwork and ridden but that's fine, taking it nice and slowly at the moment. I then decide to just do the dressage test I've been practicing on Tara with Solly. It's just a pretty easy and nice walk/trot test with some nice moves in it so we just do that. I use concentrated reins with light hands and for a first attempt it wasn't bad. Kept going, circles okay and listening to my aids nicely. Will be nice to improve on that and see if we can find our impulsion.

The actual dressage test is the beginners one for the May competition on Interdressage (www.interdressage.com) which is a 'do at home and get judged' dressage comp and they allow bitless bridled horses to compete so I'm hoping to pop a video in around mid May to see how Solly goes in his first dressage test ;)

Fun day today and great to see/feel that sunshine again.

Saturday 13th April

Weather dry and still so a good day to get out and about with horses  ;)

Mark do a bit of liberty with Holly and then Stormy, in the round pen.

Sidepass together

 Catch me if you can. lol

 Backup at libety ;)

Mark had a quick calming ride on Holly in the HA arena, I rode her quickly to show how small amounts of leg yielding off a circle help her to relax and find the 'bend in her barrel' more and then Mark went off riding her around the field, getting some flexibility with trotting around the big round pens, popping over a couple of low jumps and then having a yeehaa by going in w/t/c up the big hill to the top...the two boys following her all the way! lol. Here are some pics of the fun he had....

Friday 12th April

Managed to get out for two hours with horses today. Went straight down and put Solly and Tara into the corner Horse Agility Arena today, some bits of grazing for them in there but also wanted to be around them whilst I cleaned it up (poo picked). It had about 4 barrow loads of poop in there from last year but all cleaned up now ;)

Tara and Solly in HA arena,
Holly and Stormy just outside ;)

After all that cleaning up I got Solly's saddle and then went and played with him at liberty and online in the HA arena. Tara just carried on grazing quietly which helped set a peaceful area. As with the last couple of days he is slightly lethargic, but then so am I so we could either both be unfit, or he's feeling my own low energy levels. I end up with only half an hour left before they go to the top of the field for their dinner but I saddle up, cinch and then mount up for 20 mins of nice riding.

We do some point to points to help motivation, then some RtR for strength and also w/t transitions for obedience. Then we did two lines of shoulder-in (all still in the rope halter and clip on rope reins) which was a little sticky, my body really not his, but flowed okay and to finish we did a nice, easy, low, calm jump and a quick trot to the gate where I unsaddled, groomed and gave him treats ;) That was quick and fun ;))

After clearing up everything I then ask Tara to catch me, which she did with HUGE enthusiasm (She knows when I have treats that gal of mine) and I halter her up and ride her to the open dressage arena I put up the other day. We went through the w/t dressage test I've been working on for hopefully a video competition on Interdressage. Now that I've practiced it with Tara I know the moves better so hoping to do that with Solly for May....something fun to look forward to. That too was FUN....good day today ;)

Thursday 11th April

Managed to get out to the herd around 12.30 today...determined to get out even though cold but at least not raining. I wanted to play/ride/trim hooves with Solly today so that gave me good motivation to get out there ;)

I also took down a wheel barrow and poo picking tools and first down there I cleaned up both round pens...much better now. I then got Tara into one round pen and brought Solly into the other one just like yesterday.

I groomed him thoroughly first and then played quite a lot at liberty to help him limber up and warm up too. We did all the games to check relaxation, obedience, impulsion and flexibility and although again he was slow he did well and I know that will get better as we both get fitter.

We then did some work online, today I attached both 22' feather lights to his halter and worked with those as (a) one line together and (b) split and thrown over his head as long reins. Then we did some one line work with him circling with COD's in and out of the circle ;)

I then saddled him up and put the saddle back to his old set up (just to see how it went), with saddle pad and wither pad. After he'd warmed up to it I sat on him quickly to discover that he has lost a LOT of muscle on his top line, more than I realised. His saddle is a Wintec Wide and I have it sent on XXXW for him, this is the middle of the three pink gullets that comes with the WW, I usually put the gullets one size larger and pad big underneath and last year this combo worked well. I measured him again with the Wintec Gullet measure and he's gone down a size...he now measures XW only (with muscles he's an XXW) so I took the saddle and pad off and padded him up in the lovely Equipedic thick pad and put an extra wither riser under that to help balance it out. The Equipedic is a very thick memory foam pad and that made up the difference in saddle size without me having to change the gullet ;)

 Solly with normal pad and wither riser.....too big now ;(

With the new saddle set up we play and make sure everything good and I then put the Light Rider bitless bridle on him and mount up. Do our flight checks as normal and then back him up to get away from the mounting block....his backups still nice and light with this bridle so that's a tick for that. We then check disengagements...tick, and then moving the forehand off to walk the rail...tick ;)

Next I just go from one cone to the next with stops for motivation going L&R. Then move that up to going around the rail back to the SAME cone to stop L&R. Then we go to trotting to each cone....and then trotting a whole circuit to the SAME cone. These games work very well for motivation and although it took him a while to 'get' going the whole circuit in trot to be able to stop at the cone, once he got it he nearly flew around in trot to get back to that cone ;) fab.

Whilst going around the circuit he would place himself in front of each cone as he came to it, thinking that was the one we were going to stop at SO we did a few leg yields from the cone circle to the outer edge which was fab...bridle TICK for that too ;)

Solly in Light Rider noseband on his normal leather bridle,
today I use lighter leather reins to help give him very clear
release signals on the chin strap, felt the rope clip on ones a bit heavy

So, after a good ride I dismount, take his tack off, give him a treat and brush his back and then ground tie him and trim his hooves ;) Spent quite a lot of time with him today and at the end of the session he follows me back to the gate to where I put our equipment back, he gets another treat and then he follows me back towards the round pen where Tara is waiting patiently for me to set her free. On the way there was a jump so I asked Solly to jump it at liberty towards me, this is what he did:

 
Does a limbering up 'bow'....

 ...and then jumps it beautifully ;) lol

At the end of the whole session Tara and Solly are both out in the big field and they both come trotting up individually when I ask them and they both know I've got treats for them...love my babies, they really LOVE their treats! lol.

Tuesday 9th April

Well the weather is at least dry today so out with the horses around 2pm. Firstly I put the round pens back up (naughty Stormy! lol), then I place all the poly poles for my dressage arena up. White posts in corners and half way along short/long sides and quarter poles in blue, now up and ready to use, put up the tape to enclose it later in the year. I also put tyres over the corner posts as it took quite a time to set up a near perfect rectangle of 20mx40m so don't want Stormy taking it all down! lol. 

I then went and got Tara and Solly, put Tara in the far round pen and took Solly into the other one. I do this so that if the other two horses get spooked or run off up the hill where we can't see them Solly stays calm knowing his herd lady is in the pen next to us and Tara is so calm and just eats that she's a good calmer for both of us if the other two bog off! lol.

So, my round pen today has 6 cones in it, 4 strides off the fence line and all equally put around the circle. I'm going to play and ride here today as this is my controlled environment getting back to riding dear Solly. 

LIBERTY:

First today we just groom big time, he's very hairy and a bit muddy so a good clean is in order. Then I just do some S2M to get our connection a bit better, he's sticking to me very well so I put some energy out on his inside shoulder to ask him out a bit and then COD and do the same the other side. We then play around with larger circles and transitions which goes nicely. Then I try something new...I ask him, from a distance, to go up to a cone and around it then draw back to me at a trot. He knows instantly what I'm asking for and does it around a couple of different cones and from L&R ;)

Going towards the cone from a distance...

....turning and coming back to me ;)

Does it to the left too ;)

After I can see he's working with relaxation, willingness, impulsion and starting to flex longditudinally and through his barrel then I saddle him and play some more at liberty before putting on his rope halter and clip on reins for mounting.

RIDING:

I start off with his normal flight tests: LF, DHQ and move FQ's. All nice with those, light and willing turns and off we go. I just do freestyle RtR to check we have some forward motion going nicely and then I start asking for freestyle turns off my weight/leg aids...all nice with that too. Then gradually I ask for w/t/h/bkup transitions and turns L&R, COD's L&R and then weaving w/t around RtR and the cones ;)

It's all very basic stuff but after 4 months both of us have to work on getting fitter and don't want to ask too much from him (or me) too early. When I see that all is working well I jump off and change his rope halter/reins for the Light Rider bitless bridle with clip on reins.

Have lowered the nose band just slightly on the advice
from Cynthia of Light Rider, my bridle has it's bit retainer
parts on the inside of the bridle so lowering the noseband a
bit helps to not have that part too close to his cheeks ;)

 Make sure the chin strap is in the right place and
not too loose ;)

 And check the nose band is not too tight, nor too loose

Now again we ride around doing basically all that we did freestyle with the rope halter/reins. He does all his turns and trans really from my thought/energy/body weight aids so that isn't a problem with the bridle on at all. I then start to take up a contact with the reins and take it really slowly. He has a couple of misinterpretations of the pressure asked but soon gets into the hang of it. What I make sure I do is that when I halt I just hold the reins until he's tipped his nose in slightly and then release quickly by dropping the reins...thereby getting a release when he's not bracing or leaning slightly and this will help when I am holding him with a feel for 'collection' he will hopefully think about releasing the brace rather than pushing into the nose band ;)

For a first proper ride in the bridle it's not bad at all. Pretty similar feel at the moment to most of the other bitless bridles I've ridden in (sidepull and scrawbrig) so will see how it goes over the next couple of weeks when I start riding dressage tests. I'm looking for a bridle that will help Solly learn to find collection when his hindquarters are engaged and not hinder him. I also have a Dr Cooks to test too but won't do that one properly until we've had a good few weeks in this one, just to keep him from getting confused ;)

Saturday 6th April

Today I was pretty tired but Mark and I went out to horses an hour before their feed time to have a short play. Solly came up and we decided to just play with him today. I went down the field and Solly came up to me wanting to be with me which was very nice. Went went into the round pen together and had some play after a nice scratching/groom session ;)

LIBERTY

Solly wanted to bow so I asked him to do it for me,
he often likes to do this before a session, almost
like he wants to stretch before working ;)

I'm teaching him to bow low and for a little longer
over time SO my trick here was to put a nice big
treat on the floor in between his hooves which he
nicely took his time over finding...perfect

Then he stands up for me with me on his back

I rub his face and we get connected ;)

Then we start some play:
Asking him at liberty to sidle just his left feet over a pole

Loving his treat time ;)

Then we go to some trotting fig 8's,
seeing where his impulsion is today and
also helping him with some flexibility

Fig 8 fun ;)

Next was some liberty circles,
here I'm being a bit more specific about
where his shoulder could be

Nice liberty circles in trot ;)



Some nice engagement on larger circles too ;)
Oh and the picture is a favorite of me now too as
the snow in the background looks like Solly is
a fabulous UNICORN :) lol



ONLINE

Then we go online and I ask him to squeeze out
of the round pen under the fence line. He's very
polite about not going near electric fencing so
this is more of a trust issue, if he trusts me will he
do as I ask....and he does ;)

Nice disengagement too ;)

Some nice gentle jumps, not high but just
seeing again how his impulsion is today

Another nice slow jump ;)

After this nice liberty and online session Mark decided he wanted to do a passenger lesson on Solly. This is where I play with Solly and he tests his balance and flexibility by sitting on him bareback but not riding, no aids etc SO he mounts and I play gently with Solly. Some circling, changes of direction, fig 8's and backups. Mark does very well and soon gets more flexible with the COD's and enjoys himself.

He then says I should have a go too, so I mount up and just ask Mark to walk with Solly leading him for me. We do forwards, backups, left and right turns and I start to get softer in my back and relax more. I don't often go bareback with Solly, he's much thinner than Tara. lol. But it was fun and I'm glad that I had a go. I will be playing/riding him next time we get to train, now I know he's fine taking my weight after he's lost muscle over winter.

After I put him back to the herd it's time for their dinner so I ask Tara to catch me, put a halter/rope on her and mount her from the fence and ride up the top of the hill.

FREESTYLE RIDE

Dear Tara always helps me get to the top of the hill again ;)

Just before their dinner Solly comes up....

....just to say thanks mum and I love you....
he's so adorable, love him tons ;)

Wednesday 3rd April

Today I want to ride Tara to help her get some flexibility and lightness.


I find it fascinating that when I take Solly down to play/ride the other herd members don't really worry where he's going BUT when I take Tara down (the bottom of the herd) they all come galloping after her! lol ;)

Solly and Holly coming down the hill to find out where
I'm taking Tara! lol. Holly gives Solly her 'out of my space
expression' here! lol ;)

The boys are SO in tune with each other....they both turn
to see where I'm taking Tara....

...then they start walking towards us...look at the
synchronisity of their steps, ears, faces....

....still that harmony of movements, ears intent, heads lowered
slightly with focus, right legs moving forward....Solly just a second
behind but so together...love it ;)

The whole herd come to check out what we're
doing and where Tara is going. lol ;)

Whilst riding this lovely chap kept us company ;)
(shadow means there was SUNSHINE today )

Tara did great, a bit herd bound to start with but then we had a lovely session of w/t/bkup trans, going around the outside of the big round pens and generally just chilling out together, finding relaxation, flexing our bodies and having fun. I used the saddle today with her to make sure that fitted well for Fridays session. I rode her up the top of the hill where Mark was doing some poo picking and I let Tara go and put the equipment on Solly so that he could bring it all back down for me ;)

Solly coming back down the hill

I asked him to come back down with me so that we could do a quick film of a liberty session for a liberty learning group on the Equine Tourism site. It's a fun, non-competative learning group. Here's the video we did today:

Monday 2nd April

Managed to get out with the horses today, bit of play with Stormy and Solly. Stormy was first up and at the round pen fence wanting to be involved with whatever was going on inside the round pen, love his curiosity ;)

At the fence...'pick me' ;)

Sideways over large cone

Touch it with nose ;)

'Was that right mum?' ;)

With Stormy we played all the games and not asked too much, really just getting him back into moving his body around, finding some balance, remembering where his feet are and listening to my requests. He did very well and after I let him off he circled me at liberty, in the big field, in walk and trot L&R.....he did know I had treats on me but he usually goes off back to Holly quickly so this was lovely from him ;)

Next up was Solly.....he saw me giving Stormy a treat and came over to let me know it was 'his turn' for all the fussing, so whilst they were together I asked for some back up from both of them ;)

Then I sent Stormy back to Holly and took Solly into the round pen. Today I wanted to not just get our connection back but to test out two bitless bridles I have on me at the moment. The first is the Australian 'Light Rider' bitless bridle. It's very much like a scrawbrig bitless and I've heard very nice things about it. The other bridle is a 'Dr Cook's leather bitless that a friend has leant me to try out. Now Solly, and all our horses go nicely in just the rope halter/reins BUT I want a bridle that will put the reins in a better place so that our engaged, collected, connected ridden work makes more sense to Solly and so that we can do more dressagey moves with me giving more refined aids. 

I've tried a scrawbrig and a sidepull on him, both okay but not exactly what I'm looking for and it's a hard one as it's a 'feel' I'm looking for in my hands, a feel that he starts to become lighter on his nose not heavier so I just have to try as many bridles as I can...it's also fun trying them and because I teach bitless riding it's also good for me to know what sort of 'feel' each one gives...Solly, patiently, is being my guineapig ;)

LIGHT RIDER BITLESS BRIDLE

  The Light Rider noseband, making sure there is two
fingers room beneath front of noseband ;)

Also making sure there is two fingers room behind his jaw ;)

Start off using Light Rider as a normal headcollar
play some games with two 22' feather light ropes
on the back clip

Then we go to zone 5 driving and a bit of loose long reining
to see if we have stop/start/left/right/backup ;)

Then I put the saddle on and put the reins through the stirrups to do some two rein long  reining/lunging. Now, this is our first time doing this together, but I needed to see/feel how he responded to two reins commands and this is a great way of doing this before riding him in the bridle for the first time....all went very well, he started to relax, lower his head and then take some feel in the reins and then more feel in the reins and STILL go forwards ;) Very pleased with how this session went.

Going well ;)

 Nice that he knew he could go long and low and
find relaxation with the bridle on ;)

Going very well, he understands my requests and
has good forward button, working in walk and trot

Looking good and not fazed by the chinstrap action of this bitless ;)

DR COOK's BITLESS BRIDLE

The Dr Cooks bitless has straps that cross under the horses jaw from the poll to the noseband. Some horses find this, or any, tightening hard to take and I know that Solly is pretty sensitive to things on his head so am taking this slowly and trying it out as more of an experiement. Of course this could be the bridle that he likes, you never know! lol.

Again with this bridle I put it on and play online with him using it as just a halter to start with. I then start using it with loose lunging/long reining to make sure we have good, clear, communication from the reins for stop/start/left/right.

Halter work

Working  on loose lunging/long reining
(note, reins not through stirrups yet)

Connected rein lunging/long reining

All went very well with both bitless bridles. He worked well from both reins in a good connection and didn't back off the pressure when asked to work that way. I felt happier with the Light Rider as I felt he 'liked' it more. He had his ears further back when in the Dr Cooks than when in the Light Rider but he got used to both nicely. The key will be how he 'goes' and 'feels' in his body when I ride him in both. I think for now I will concentrate on the Light Rider and test that fully with riding out and about the field, jumps and then into some lateral/dressage moves and then test that all with the Dr Cooks at another time, so as not to confuse him ;)