Monday 25th November
Sunday 24th November
Today we walked the horses to their new field of winter grazing. They will probably spend a lot of the winter down there, it's by the entrance to the estate, but we will bring them back regularly when deep snow is forecast so that we can feed them easier from the home paddocks ;
It was lovely taking them down, they were all relaxed, calm and attentive and had just had their breakfasts and some hay so weren't desperate for grazing or snatching at grass the whole way. Enjoyed the walk down with them and also the walk around the field whilst we asked them to follow us so that we could show them the field perimeter, water and trees :)
Think they like the field and the size of it, also it's flatter than the home paddocks so they can stretch their legs more and I hope to put up a round pen of sorts so that I can continue some liberty play when it's not too cold or snowy ;)
Here are the pics from their walk over to the field and in the field...enjoy ;)
It was lovely taking them down, they were all relaxed, calm and attentive and had just had their breakfasts and some hay so weren't desperate for grazing or snatching at grass the whole way. Enjoyed the walk down with them and also the walk around the field whilst we asked them to follow us so that we could show them the field perimeter, water and trees :)
Think they like the field and the size of it, also it's flatter than the home paddocks so they can stretch their legs more and I hope to put up a round pen of sorts so that I can continue some liberty play when it's not too cold or snowy ;)
Here are the pics from their walk over to the field and in the field...enjoy ;)
Sunday 17th November
It's getting colder here every day so took this opportunity for Mark and me to play/ride with the two big beasties ;) I started off playing then riding Stormy and Mark did the same with Holly. Afterwards I ended up riding Holly and he Stormy and we did some nice side-by-side drilling sort of stuff around the arena. Want both horses to get used to being ridden next to other horses so this was good for them and fun for us too ;)
Stormy: backing up ;)
Me on Stormy with Holly ;)
Mark on Stormy with Holly ;) ;)
Saturday 16th November
Saturday 16th November
Day not too cold so out to play/ride Tara a bit and then Solly ;)
Saturday 9th November
Very, very cold today BUT dry and still SO out with horses and Mark today ;)
I played and rode Stormy, Mark played and rode Holly and then I played and rode Solly...fun, fun, fun ;)
Here's some pictures from the day:
I played and rode Stormy, Mark played and rode Holly and then I played and rode Solly...fun, fun, fun ;)
Here's some pictures from the day:
Me riding Stormy
Me playing and riding Solly
around the whole flat part of field ;)
Walking through the iced surface from the flood water ;)
Mark playing then riding Holly ;)
with walk, trot and canter ;)
Friday 8th November
Dry beginning of day so out at 11am to see horses ;) Decided to do the same as yesterday with Solly to impress onto him how easy it is to play and then ride the whole way around the flat part of the field.
All went well with playing online, through water, travelling circles, multiple jumps, changes of direction, w/t/c and some lovely fig 8's and standing on pedestal BUT Stormy came along for the fun of it too, at liberty, and I played with him when I was giving Solly a reward/rest ;)
Riding Solly today was good, again in the rope halter/clip on reins for a change and we rode around the field, did a few jumps...some from a standstill with levade ;) Around the cones and arena's, some jumps and down into the 'scary corner' hillock with a lovely, calm canter up the hill out of it...fab.
Also did some turns on forehand and hq's with head straight and then some shoulders and haunches-in too ;) Love my boy.
Here's some pics from the day:
All went well with playing online, through water, travelling circles, multiple jumps, changes of direction, w/t/c and some lovely fig 8's and standing on pedestal BUT Stormy came along for the fun of it too, at liberty, and I played with him when I was giving Solly a reward/rest ;)
Riding Solly today was good, again in the rope halter/clip on reins for a change and we rode around the field, did a few jumps...some from a standstill with levade ;) Around the cones and arena's, some jumps and down into the 'scary corner' hillock with a lovely, calm canter up the hill out of it...fab.
Also did some turns on forehand and hq's with head straight and then some shoulders and haunches-in too ;) Love my boy.
Here's some pics from the day:
to ask Solly to stand and wait where we had been doing the fig 8's ;)
'Scary Corner' in the dip/hillock, Stormy decides to try to catch
my attention by putting a foot on the pedestal...even that far away!!!
Well he caught my attention but I wasn't going to be sidetracked by him
whilst playing with Solly so I said thank you to him and then ignored
him...he realised no one was going to run over and give him a treat,
so he stepped off and came over to where I was playing with Solly and
then proceeded to follow us all around the field whilst we played circles ;) lol
He's certainly a CHARACTER!!
places around the field ;)
and then walked it all repairing it together ;)
to help settle saddle and to be able to do the girth up in three
settings so that it doesn't hurt or worry him ;)
I LOVE that he can stop and jump from a standstill sensibly ;)
stop before it. 2 feet on it. back off it. 4 feet on it. walk over it ;)
LOVELY DAY
Thursday 7th November
Monday 4th November
Needed 4 large 4x4 tyres up the top of the field today, these will go into our empty feeding shed at the top when winter comes and the horses move to the house paddocks. The tyres stop the shed flying off in strong winds SO we played with Stormy online and then on long reins. Then we put him in the simple breast harness and played some more until he was ready to be hooked onto the swingle tree and the tyres, two at a time.
And he went up the hill twice for us. First time no problem at all, nice and calm and thinking about work. Mark let him think a couple of times about the pulling, the tyres aren't light weight and it's been about a year since he's done any harness work so no problems giving him the time to get his breath back ;)
The 2nd time the other three members of the herd wanted a gallop and Stormy wanted to be with them as Beta horse BUT Mark did a fabulous job of allowing him to move his feet on a circle and calming him to continue the job at hand....video's of both at the bottom of this day's pic's ;)
And he went up the hill twice for us. First time no problem at all, nice and calm and thinking about work. Mark let him think a couple of times about the pulling, the tyres aren't light weight and it's been about a year since he's done any harness work so no problems giving him the time to get his breath back ;)
The 2nd time the other three members of the herd wanted a gallop and Stormy wanted to be with them as Beta horse BUT Mark did a fabulous job of allowing him to move his feet on a circle and calming him to continue the job at hand....video's of both at the bottom of this day's pic's ;)
Stormy take 1: pulling tyres
Stormy take 2: pulling two more tyres up hill ;)
Friday 1st November
Wanted to ride but Solly (well all of the horses) was soaking wet and filthy dirty! ;( BUT played with him online and at liberty instead and had a fun time albeit we got wet when it rained again.
Solly learning to weave towards at liberty ;)
