Thursday 25th February
Glad that I've been getting out when I can with the horses as it looks pretty bleak for the next week at least.....we have SNOW again (about 10" so far and still falling) and all I can do is help feed and water the horses, keep the dogs walked and amused and just sit by the log stove and keep warm and dry ;-)
Sunday 21st February
1) Solly Online:
I played all the usual games, got a wonderful sideways over the big blue barrel to the left and he actually did it to the right too which was great. Really much more positive about where he puts his feet and how to not go forward when doing it ;-) So this is a HUGE accomplishment for us, it's taken 2 years to achieve this and to do it whilst keeping Solly's confidence feels great.
He also did some nice circling at trot and then some jumping. I am hoping that this year he will master multiple jumps and ones closer together ie. the bounce but to start getting toward this I am asking him to jump two that have a one or two strides in between so that he gets used to that first. Then I will decrease the space in between so that he can figure out how to do the 'bounce'. Should be fun ;-)
2) Solly Ridden:
Sol does one of his 'bows' so I jump up on him bareback and with the 22' line and decide to take this opportunity to do some 1 rein riding around the top of the big field. We have some cones up here, out of the big arena and I use these to focus us on the weave pattern. It's fun 1 rein riding, I love that he's fine with the rope being tossed over his head a lot. After doing the weave well in trot we head for the pedastal and he puts two feet straight up on it. He seems to be worried about the change of balance for all 4 feet but I ask him nicely and after a while he puts all 4 feet up ;-) He's such a clever boy.
After this I take him over and saddle/cinch him and mount after doing a nice sidle to a barrel for me to get on.
Today he seems happy to be out in the large field, his trot is more forward going and it's nice to 'post' to.
We start in Freestyle and do a few fig 8's around obstacles, some circling around a barrel and then the trotting poles. He's really learning to pick those feet up nicely and he didn't try to jump over the poles today so it's making more sense to him.
I then take him slowly in walk down to the bottom of the field. He is still sceptical of going down there but he does well and we fig 8 around the log jumps there to focus us before trotting all the way back up. He is forward going on the way back and we do some nice small serpentines in Finesse to keep his focus on me and again this works well and at the top he keeps the trot going well up into a backup which was soft and light.
Really enjoyed today's play, everything is moving onwards in a possitive and progressive manner and I hope to spend this week bringing his confidence up in the whole field so that we can start venturing out on hacks again soon ;-)
Here too are some pics of Mark playing with Stormy today:
Showing off that he can move the tyre about with his toe! lol
Oh, okay...if you do it too dad then I'll copy you! lol
Wonderful full sidepass over the barrel..not bad for a big horsey ;-)
Working on that fig 8 in walk...he's such a clever LBext and loves his playtimes ;-)Saturday 20th February
Chilly day and the ground is very hard but the sun is out so we wrap up warm and head on out. It's been a week since playing with the horses as other things have kept me busy this week so they've all had a nice rest and today it's time to play ;-)
Here's what we did:
1) Solly Liberty:
I go into the field and just casually sit on the small white barrel as Solly was standing sleeping, leg cocked. It didn't take long for him to wake up and be curious enough to catch me ;-)
I play LOTS of friendly game with him w/hands and CS/SS. He's been rolling again so I take this opportunity to groom him with my hands to get some dried mud off him...what is it with white geldings and mud! lol.
So sitting there I think 'will he play the circling game out here in the big field'. All the time we've been doing well with this it's been in the large 60x40m arena but I've not tried it in the 1 acre field yet. I ask him to try for me at walk and he does 4 nice laps L&R which was lovely. I then halter him and do some online stuff.
2) Solly Online:
I start with sideways over the small white barrel. Without much thought he does it L&R today and it really felt good, like he was LB and not worried about it like he used to be.
We then play around with squeeze narrow jumps which goes well, and then standing on the pedastal with me in Z5/4. This was okay but needs some work on it before going back to longreining.
For fun I then go up to a large blue barrel to see if Sol was confident enough to contemplate sidewaysing over that! Well he wasn't too confident with going to the left (me in his right eye) BUT he did it very nicely going to the right (me on his left side) and that was a MAJOR breakthrough for him. He did LOTS of licking and chewing on that one and I gave him a long rest and a treat for being so brave ;-)
YEEHAA ;-)We do some nice w/t fig 8's. Will be glad when the ground is better so that we can try out our canter and SLC/FLC's on this pattern again.
Lastly I see if Sol can put his foot into a tyre. He has always had trouble with this but it's definitely been getting better. He does it once and gets out of it well too, just a little catch of the tyre on his heel and he jumps slightly...nothing like he used to do. He won't do it again although he tries his heart out to do it for me SO I help him the second time by putting the rope around his pastern and placing his foot into the tyre...he has no problem with that at all. And then I wiggle the rope to ask him to take his foot out again and help lift his foot clear of the tyre so that it doesn't get stuck on his foot. He does this a couple of times with no opposition at all so hopefully that will make it easier and easier for him to understand how to do it without getting the tyre stuck on his heel when he retracts it ;-)
3) Solly Freestyle:
Again, today I do some bareback and bridleless ridden work. It takes some time to get him to sidle up to the mounting block so I know I have to work at this at liberty more. Once on I ask for LF and DHQ's. His LF is pretty good but his DHQ's are sloppy and he's not crossing his back feet much so I stick with it until he gives me a decent DHQ on both sides. Being particular now is a must and this will help his progression quicker than anything else.
We then do some really nice, light fig 8's at trot. It doesn't take much to turn him and our focus seems very together today. His stops too are pretty nice. We also do some tight weaving around cones and our communication is cool ;-) Sol also gives me a couple of steps of sideways to the L&R but I don't ask too much as we've not done this before.
4) Tara Liberty:
She does a very neat, quick catch of me today and that's fab. We play a bit of stick 2 me and then I halter her up.
5) Tara Online:
Not much online today, some circling and transitions with a COD thrown in. She's very playful today and our session is mostly riding as I promised her and myself that we'd go for a hack.
6) Tara Freestyle:
It wasn't a long hack but it took us down the road, along a track, down by the River Shee, through a gate and into their Summer grazing field. Here we did some transitions w/t/c and had some fun. She is very very light to ride and very in tune with my body language so this is a treat for both of us. Nice to stretch her legs a bit. On the road back we pass our house so I take her saddle off to save me carrying it home again and then I ride her to the top field bareback. Really enjoyed our ride out ;-)
Me playing with Mark's Holly....sideways over the barrel has been worrying for her
so I take it really slowly
Mark and Holly fig 8's at walk
Mark getting the sideways
Mark having fun with Stormy -helping him know where his feet are more
Still working with those big feet! lolTrotting poles to help him learn to pick his feet up better
Sunday 14th February
Chilly day today but nice enough to do something with the horses. Today I want to ride Solly more than anything SO here's my session:
He comes and catches me nicely. Do some stick 2 me w/t/bkup to the arena gate, squeeze through gate and then drive to the saddle. I groom him and then put the saddle on straight away and use our liberty time to do the cinching. We do some nice stick 2 me at liberty and put in some lovely circles at liberty at walk & trot. This was the best trotting circling so far and he did a couple of circles before I called him in to me. I then asked him to go sideways over a fallen cone...this was HUGE as I know he still is a bit sticky online BUT he tried his heart out for me and managed to do it from left to right. I didn't ask the other way, left it on a good note.
Next we played some stick 2 me at trot and then asked for some canter and put that into a liberty circle, so there we have the beginnings of canter circles at liberty. I had to make sure his body was really curving around me and not too close either to help his canter go smoothly.
After a rest I haltered him and got him to sidle to the mounting block for me to mount. I've been doing it always from the right hand side recently as he was sticky on that side and it's getting better now. The ridden session started in the big arena with RtR at trot. He seems a bit better off my leg today...I have put my stirrups back up the hole I lenghthened them to the other day as my inner leg seemed to be rubbing more on the stirrup leather...and anyway his impulsion should not be about where my legs are, it's about the respect he has to move off my leg. I feel better with my stirrups back where they were before so being more relaxed hopefully is helping him to be more obedient about it.
We then do some serpentines but the ground down one section of my arena is FULL of mole hills and being so cold they're like miniature mountains so not much fun...so I turn my attention onto some 20m circles at the better end. These actually go really well and since Solly has 'got' liberty circles now our ridden ones seem to be getting better and better. Yeehaa.
So, we've started on a good note so I go out of the arena and work on the outside rail doing some nice trotting RtR. Then w/t down the hill to the bottom of the field without much trouble today I ask Sol to fig 8 around the jumps again. This really helps us focus and settle in what was once a scary part of the field, away from the herd ;-)
Then I ask him to come up the hill back to the herd and we do some really nice finesse serpentines all the way back across the whole width of the field. Again this really helps focus us and although it would be fun to canter/gallop back up the hill it's not something I am going to encourage him to do until he does it totally calmly and 'with me' rather than 'back to the herd'.
We get back to the top and I use the outside rail of the arena to work on the start of some leg yielding. I do a few both ways and then take him back to the car, dismount and unsaddle. He gets some nice treats for being so good, he seems very relaxed and I'm sure he likes being played/ridden before I do any of the others as when I play with Stormy first it makes the whole herd get their energy up and then Solly is all hyper and silly ;-)
Anyway, just to finish I take him back into the large arena and sidle do some backing up through the weave pattern. First time for this but he gets it okay and we end on a good back up with ears forwards ;-) I next go and stand on the mounting block and ask him to sidle up to me which he does nicely. I decide to put the savvy string around his neck and jump up on him bareback! Not done any bareback with him since July last year and I wasn't sure how much I was going to do today but just did it on the spur of the moment.
He was good, did LF and DHQ nicely. Then we RtR in w/t and then put in some lovely circles around Mark who was watching us. He felt calm, relaxed and responsive. It's so lovely doing all this liberty now, really shows the good foundation I've been working to get with him ;-)
(PS. this evening when I went up when Mark was feeding them Sol did some pretty nice liberty sideways with me in Z1...0nwards & upwards)
Me and Solly bareback and bridleless ;-))Whilst I was playing/riding Solly, Mark played with both Stormy and Holly. He seemed to be doing some nice stuff with them both, trotting poles and jumps with Stormy. Sideways and circling with Holly. Here is a picture of him asking Stormy to put one foot in a tyre ;-) Fun day today had by all.
Oh, and here is a short clip of something Solly got up to at the end of yesterday's session! lol ;-))
Solly's Solo Fun!
Today I was just going to go out and 'be' with the herd, do some poo picking and grooming and generally chill out BUT Stormy had other idea's. He came straight over with that 'play with me mummy' look and so I challenged us together to see if we could do some liberty fun without any online!
Well he was stuck to me like glue. I had to do LOTS of DHQ's and moving his FQ's to keep him from just bursting at the seams with energy and believe me I don't want all 18.2hh of him bursting at the seams with energy by my side when we play stick 2 me! lol.
He does so well so we did some more stick 2 me and then I tried to see if he could contain himself whilst we watched Mark play with Holly over some jumps. He tried so hard and when Mark took a break I asked Stormy to do some jumping at liberty. He did fabulously and he really seems to understand more about jumping now, getting his front feet UP and his hind feet underneath him more ;-)
Stormy liberty jumping
Stormy with more liberty jumping ;-)So then after all this fun I asked Stormy to go, but he really wanted to play more but I didn't have time today. In the end I went into Tara's pen which kept him at bay and he and Solly played together by running around the field like colts and play fighting.
With Tara I decided to start with catching game ;-) went well. Then I asked her to try some liberty spins...yeehaa, they went very well, she was calm, stayed with me and the spins were on the spot ;-)
After a break I then asked her to try some walk libety circles again, they went pretty good, everytime she even thought about moving away I did partial DHQ's and brought her back on the circle. This works really well for her, keeps her confidence in what she's doing.
I then went and rode her for a bit freestyle/bareback to just exercise her in the large field and give her some more freedom. The boys were cantering about and it was a lot of fun with Tara's energy up. When the boys got a bit too boysterous I took Tara into the large arena where Mark was playing with Holly and we did some extreme friendly game whilst watching them.
Chilling out with some friendly game on Tara ;-)
More friendly game in Z5 ;-)Whilst Mark was playing with Holly he thought about doing some liberty...I think Stormy had inspired him. Now they've not done any liberty outside of a roundpen and our jumps are in the big field so he wasn't sure how it was going to go, and Holly was never keen on jumping BUT his Holly stuck to him like glue too and it was lovely to see them playing at liberty at long last ;-) Here is a picture of him with Holly at liberty together....YEEHAA!
Friday 12th February
Blue skies and some sunshine today. Great weather for playing in and again I play with three horses, here's my session.
Stormy, Online/Liberty:
He came and caught me straight off, I thought maybe he wanted a rest today but no he was there first and so I groomed him for the friendly game and then haltered him. I worked on the haltering as he can have quite a high head sometimes so I persist in asking his head down, soft and calm before haltering. Then we do a bit of fig 8's at walk and some weave too, this is okay in walk but he gets quite excited and tries to trot it too early so I slow it right down and when he starts to look 'on his toes' I put in some fig 8's to focus his mind more. This works well.
Then I play some friendly game of tossing the rope over his head from Z2/3 from the L&R and also from Z1. This is good for him as it not only asks him to stop putting his head high it also asks him to stand still! lol. All goes well and so I move on to standing on the pedestal with all 4 feet from a bit of a distance. He tries really hard and it doesn't take too long today ;-)
After all that rope tossing I decide to move it up a step and teach him how to spin online. He really does this well, L&R, and turns towards me beautifully. He's quite a neat little mover for such a huge horse. Giving him a treat now and then works nicely for him, giving him too many makes him a thug!
I decide to stop on a good note and set him free BUT he doesn't want to stop again SO, instead of ignoring it I decide to challenge us and our bond and try out some liberty. I'm in a large 2 acre field here, no round pen and not inside the arena so I wasn't sure if this was going to work ALSO I've not actually done much, if any liberty with Stormy apart from stick 2 me w/t/bkup. Should be a laugh anyway I thought.
Well he totally BLEW MY SOCKS OFF, he did some jumping over the barrels and tyres squeeze style L&R, he jumps badly normally but I must have put a lot of focus and energy into it as he looked like he was having FUN ;-) THEN he did some fig 8's at walk nicely and then (and I still can't believe this one) he did liberty circling at walk.....YEEHAA... I think he must have been watching EVERYTHING I've been doing with Solly recently as he's been hanging over the arena fence, he seems to have learnt by watching! How cool is that ;-))
So then I move onto a little session with Tara.
Tara, Liberty:
I firstly ask her to catch me, she's a bit sluggish but come to me with her ears forward for a change so she gets a good treat for that one. We do a bit of stick 2 me to see how together we are and she puts in some nice w/t and canter which is lovely to get.
Then I try doing some liberty circles. Again this is not something I have EVER done with her as she had a habit of walking off but today we're in her grazing pen, this is about 30' x 60' so she has room to run off still if she wants. Luckily because she is in the pen she appreciates me more for the treats and fussing so that's working for me nicely. I really had to take my energy down and pull it in at my sides so as to almost feel like I was sucking her to my sides (if that makes sense), she was very slow in walk but she did fabulously. She did a couple of circles L&R and didn't try to run off once, she had one sticky spot which I got her back quietly with a partial disengagement and she just 'got it'. FAB, really really chuffed with this as I never thought I'd do this with my Tara.
I then put her on the 22' line and start to teach her how to spin. Now being a RBint/LBint at liberty she usually gets grumpy and runs off but today I set it up for success by using the halter/rope but by leaving it very very loose so like at liberty. I stood in Z4 and moved her FQ's over and used my other hand on her HQ's to move them over to get her face back to me. It worked a treat to the L&R and I did the last one each side with the halter on but the rope off, so she was at liberty but she might not have realised it! lol. Well pleased with this short session so I left it on a good note ;-)
Next came Solly.
Solly, Online/Libety/Freestyle/Finesse:
Well dear Solly must have been watching me with the others as when I was free to ask him to come to me he was there waiting to catch me next. I groomed him and then haltered him and using the 22' line we went to play with fig 8's. He did okay but it has room for improvement. I then go straight to working on those spins online and he does fabulously, the rope very very loose so hopefully after a couple of sessions we'll maybe try it at liberty again.
So next I saddle him as this was to be more of a ridden session, I use some liberty for his cinching and in that session we do some liberty circles at walk and trot and set up some stick 2 me in canter so that they become liberty circles. Does pretty well but needs more confidence to move away from me to get the canter better.
We then try some liberty fig 8's and this actually goes much better than the online session. lol. I then take him to the mounting block and halter him up and ask him to sidle up to the block on the right as I know this is his hard side so we need to do more of it. It takes a couple of times to set it up well but he's a quick learner. We then start the session with RtR and Corners game and he's a bit sticky again SO I take him outside the arena and work on RtR on the outside rail and also put in some fig 8's around a couple of jumps. This works as his trot starts to get better and more even and his bends are more curved which is nice. RtR cornering on the outside is really getting nice now, I don't have much with the reins it's more focus now and that's a HUGE improvement.
For fun we do some weaving around some cones and then I ask to see if he'll go to the bottom of the field. Yesterday he nearly got to the bottom but today after a couple of thresholds he managed to get all the way down. At the bottom there are two log jumps so I used them as a focus and did some fig 8's around them, this really helped settle him well.
We then started up the hill to the top of the field again, like yesterday he was quite eager to get back to the herd so instead of asking him to change gait I put that nice trot energy into some lovely finesse serpentines across the field width using the suspension rein and focus for the turns. He did very well and it was great to feel some impulsion in his legs ;-)
At the top of the field we went straight back into some RtR using jumps and water buckets for turns and small circles. He did much better and it all began to feel like it did before we'd had the break for winter. Great stuff and he got lots of treats for being a good boy after I'd unsaddled him. Just love leaving him after a good session as I know the next one will be better ;-)
Wednesday 10h February
Solly and Stormy, my bestest boys ;-)Glorious sunshine today, cold but sunshine...yeehaa, SO out I go to play with some horses, whoever turns up to be played with.
First it's Stormy who literally tracked me down and asked to be played with ;-) Here's a write up of our session:
Stormy, 22' Line:
Start with sidling up to the large pedastal. He did the left side very well but couldn't stand still on the right so I just kept setting it up well and waiting for him to understand it was about the wait/relax. He got it inthe end.
Then I asked him to trot over the trotting poles and he did this to the L&R quite nicely, it's good that he's picking his feet up more and I must find a way of making the poles a bit higher now to help him pick them up more, maybe pack some earth around each end!
Next we went onto sidepassing over the two barrel jump and hey presto he did it fabulously both ways...told you he was a quick learner, his LBext brain is like a spongue for learning ;-) After a short break we went to circling with the jump in place, working on trying to keep him going after a jump rather than the stop with the squeeze game he's used to. Then I went away from the jump and circled him for 4 laps in trot, again like yesterday working on consistency. Going to the left is not bad but going to the right I had to help him out a bit as he has a tendency to stop behind me sometimes. Cheeky monkey! lol
For a rest I asked him to go to the tyre pedastal from 22' away and then put all 4 feet up on it. Not so much trouble this time but still I could hear his brain working overtime to figure out how to get all 4 large feet onto the ped.
I left our session short and on a good note. I think he would have played more as he followed me about at liberty for quite some time whilst I was working with Tara in the pen....must give him more playtime next time ;-)
Tara, Liberty:
Played friendly with her and picked up her feet from one side. Then I asked for backup from Z5 just with me clicking my fingers, she's pretty cool with this one ;-)
Then I started asking for forward movement and follow the rail at liberty from Z4, she had a bit of trouble so I went back to Z3 and asked her to walk on. Once she got this I kept my energy up but moved my body back towards Z4 again. A little sticky but not bad for a first attempt. I left it on a good note and gave her some treats.
Solly, Liberty/Freestyle:
Start with grooming Solly as the friendly game. Then I went to stick 2 me w/t and then some liberty circles. A bit sticky today as I hadn't done much play before this hard task but that's something to remember for next time. He did do a wonderful backup from me clicking my fingers in Z5 which was cool ;-) I then saddled him and played about with sidling up to the mounting block. He too had some issues about me being on the right so I note that and will do this more later on.
We strat the riding session with RtR and Corners game trying to sort out his impulsion issue, he's a bit sticky today again!! I so some weaving which goes well and his stops are getting much better now.
After a while I decide to actually put my stirrups down one hole, I had put them up after Stoneleigh last year thinking they were too long BUT as soon as I put them down Solly started offereing better walk/trot SO maybe my leg was in a better position for him now! how interesting, will work on the longer stirrups and see how it goes.
We did some nice serpentines and our fig 8's went very well, large 20' circles on each fig 8 and his stops at X were very good and felt he had much more weight on his HQ's at last. I then took him out of the large arena doing a nice gate opening/closing session. We worked on RtR outside the arena and he was much more forward going SO he could be getting bored in the arena.
For a rest spot I ask him to ride onto the tyre pedastal with all 4 feet and that went very well. After that rest I asked him to move down the hill of the field, he had HUGE trouble with this last year but he seems more at ease in this field now as there are hardly any pheasants in the next field and as it's their grazing field at the moment he's got used to roaming around it. Well he did very well and we got 3/4's of the way down the hill and I turned for the top again before any issues came up. He was a bit rushed to get back to the top so I used the suspension rein to do some weaving pattern all the way up to the top, this worked very well. We did some more good trotting session around the arena stopping after each circuit and then stopped on a very good note.
Tuesday 9th February
Nice day today, breezy but bright and clear. Went up to exercise Tara but Stormy came up and wanted to be played with. This is a good chance to update his learning so I took the opportunity to play with him, I then played/rode Tara and lastly I played/rode Solly, phew! ;-) Here is a summary of each session:
Stormy (LBext) Online:
Started off grooming him at liberty, I stood on the large pedestal and moved him around me a bit, then I haltered him and asked him to put two feet on the large pedestal. He has no problem at all doing this. The wooden large pedestal may take his weight but I'm not sure so I just ask him to walk over it and he does that nicely.
Then I ask him to sideways along one side of the arena which he does well and then I ask him to jump a three high tyre jumps. He does most of these a bit lazyish, stepping over rather than jumping, so when he does an actual 'jump' I give him a treat.
After a rest I then ask to see if he'll sideways over the large barrels. I don't think I've asked this of him before and he's a bit sceptical SO I then change the game, I move the two barrels apart so that there's a gap in the centre of the jump. I ask him to squeeze slowly through the gap and stop him with front feet infront of gap and back feet still behind gap, then I ask him to sidepass over the barrel and this makes sense to him and he does it very nicely. Short break again and then I ask him to sidepass back over the barrel so that he's done it from L&R. Great.
I ask him next to do some fig 8's, only at walk firstly but then a bit of trot too. He does well and I don't ask too much with this, he's a big lad and he has to really think about curving his big body around small circles even though I'm using the 22' line. After this I set about asking him to backup through a 4 cone weave, he does this very well and it shows the trust between us ;-)
Circling after a break is next, I only ask 2-3 laps but am peristent in asking for quality of the circles and to keep circling rather than stopping behind me. For a treat then I ask him to stand on the tractor tyre pedestal like last time with all 4 feet. It takes a while and then he just goes and does it like it's no big deal ;-) Clever boy.. I then ask him to try to put one foot into a small tyre, he goes back from it, over it a few times, to the L and to the R but eventually with me being persistent he just pops his foot into the tyre like it was his idea all along! lol
Lastly session I ask him to squeeze over a jump and then circle twice over the jump, this is so that he doesn't start anticipating just doing squeezes over jumps, I need him to think forwards until told otherwise. Then he does a wonderful sideways L&R over the small white barrel. Lots of treats and hugs and then let him loose back with the herd.
The main play idea for Stormy was: Willing Obedience ;-)
Tara (RBint-LBint) Liberty/Freestyle:
As Tara is now in a rectangular pen I decide to start our session at liberty and with a draw for the catching game. It takes a couple of asks but then dear Tara trots confidently over to me and she gets a big treat for this. I then ask her to backup from Z5 using energy and a bit of tail when needing encouragement.
For fun I then try out some spins at liberty. She's pretty good at turning the foreehand but twice goes off rather than moving her HQ's over BUT she comes back pretty quickly in a couple of wonderful canter draws so she gets a treat each time even though it wasn't a spin....a great draw is going to make it a good spin later hopefully.
Then I saddle her and take her out of her pen into the large arena where we work on some RtR, Corners Game, Serpentines and Fig 8's with some SLC's. She does very well and is willing and light.
For fun I take her out of the arena, opening and closing the gateway from horseback. We start with a good trot over to the pedestal and stand on it with all 4 feet. She loves this as she really knows it's time to relax when on there.. Then I ride around the whole field, pop the two log jumps at the bottom and gallop backup the hill to the pedestal again ;-) After a short rest we do some RtR outside of the arena putting in lots of turns, stops and transitions of gaits from w/t/c/bkups.
The main play session idea with Tara was: Willingness and Lightness ;-)
Solly (LBint/LBext) Online/Liberty/Freestyle:
Sol catches me nicely and I halter him to take his rug off. I then give him a groom with my hands and then move swiftly into some games. Firstly the sideways game, over that white barrel. Today it went pretty well and I'm pleased that he seems to be overcoming his unconfidence with things under Z3. I then ask him to jump the single white barrel and he does this very well.
We go into the arena and I take his halter/rope off to work at liberty. Firstly I ask for some Stick 2 me and throw in some circles in one of the corners. He does some really nice walk ones and then some beautiful trotting ones too, I push his bubble out a bit so that the circles are a bit larger and that makes it easier for him to trot ;-) I then move and the game goes back to stick 2 me but then I ask for more circles in a different corner and today he offers some canter which is fab. Lots of rest, praise and some treats for being such a clever lad ;-)
Next we try some spins again, like Tara he gets to where I'm in Z5 and then I'm doing something wrong, putting some energy in the wrong place and he walks/trots away BUT each time he turns a little way out and draws beautifully to me SO I just have to work on this, maybe go back online to verify the full turn more.
Next I saddle him and cinch him in three cinches but at liberty today. Then I halter him, make some reins and mount. We stat with some corners game, working on some impulsion (not so good) and so obedience at stopping the corners (pretty good). Next we do some RtR in w/t which goes well.
Moving onto some circling, I ask Sol to circle around a cone, about 20' away from it, it's a hard thing for him but after some real persistence and consistency he manages to do a couple of nice circles L&R, I stop at the cone each time it goes well for some relaxation.
Then I decide to work on some serpentines. I have cones laid out along the centre of the arena for my guidance as to when/where to turn and use these as stopping points too. It takes a while for the pattern to sink into Sol's mind but then I have to work on his impulsion again. He sometimes really doesn't want to move fast and if I insist with the rope slapping on my back he can swish his tail and do a little jump like the beginnings of a buck. SO, I have to out think him. What I do is reward with a treat the good behaviour. So, when he's done a good part of the serpentine I stop and wait at a cone then LF him and give him a treat. I make sure I don't do the treating in the same place and mix up how long he's out for so that he doesn't make his own patterns. When we've done a few good ones I stop on a good note so that hopefully he'll do serpentines better next time. Not sure if he's being lazy/underimpulsed or if it's about unconfidence with a new pattern. I know what he's like online/liberty, if it's a new pattern it takes a while before his confidence comes up, SO I give him the benefit of the doubt and hope next session has better responses.
Todays session for Solly was about: Impulsion and Obedience.
Sunday 7th February
YEEHAA...today was the first riding session with Solly (or any horse actually) since the 16th of December! and it feels that long since I've been on a horse too. lol
I went out to do some poo picking in the field with Mark and Solly came up to be played with which was lovely. I took him, at liberty, to the large arena and spent some time grooming him, this is a great friendly game for him and he appreciated it. Next I just did some bits for fun:
1) Throw a frizbee and ask him to go to it at liberty and pick it and put it in my hand. He quite enjoyed this, he got a treat every time he did it well ;-)
2) Throw the frizbee and then ask him to put one foot on it, we'd not done this before (I had him in the halter and 12' rope to help direct him) and after a while he really got it and put his whole weight onto his foot on the frizbee. Such a clever boy.
3) Tossing rope over head from Z2/3 and then from Z1
4) Asking for a back up from a hand on the gaskin on one back leg.
5) Asking for a back up from a solid central Z5 without using the tail or anything but energy.
6) Asking for a little bit of the 'bow' again, doing this slowly.
Then I did some warm up with a saddle on and cinched in three cinchings. Worked on sidling up to a mounting block and then mounted. It felt so good to just be in the saddle again and I took everything really slowly. Asked for LF and DHQ and then just very slowly and casually put him on the rail of the large arena. We did some ride the rail at walk and put some DHQ/move FQ's and back onto rail. I did each side in a nice walk and stopped in each corner to help him become straighter and to get some more impulsion in the walk. Once we'd done that a bit I asked him to do it in trot for a short while.
This was really just a warming up session with the riding, didn't ask for much, just some willing obedience and stick to a pattern. It started to drizzle a bit so I opened the arena gate and rode to the car where I dismounted, untacked him, gave him a couple of treats and sent him back to the herd ;-)
Thursday 4th February
Didn't do much today but went out and played with Solly for fun and to show off to Mark ;-)
First I played friendly and into extreme friendly, Solly decided when I asked him to back up to do his 'stretch' and I used the opportunity to play friendly over his back and to sit astride him as he stood up again, then I tossed the rope over his head and played friendly game on his other side to dismount. This is always fun.
I then played some yo-yo's and went into some circling. He was good with his circles but careful not to go too crazy as the snow hides all the lumps and bumps in the field. After a relax together I took off his halter and we went into a liberty session doing some stick 2 me and then into circling in the corner again. He remembered very well what to do and was good going to the right but a bit sticky going to the left (something to work on!).
I then did a quick bridling session to see how well he remembers this, he was a bit mouthy, tried to get most parts of the bridle into his mouth but that was fine, I don't want a robotic horse anyway! lol.
Lastly I asked him to stick to me out of the arena and stand on the large pedastal with all 4 feet....yeehaa. It was a fun short session and Solly seemed to really enjoy it too.
Tuesday 2nd February
Whilst just moseying around Stormy came up and frisked me for some titbits but I wasn't going to give him anything (only had one treat on me and it was to be used for something really good ;-) I decided to play a bit at liberty with him but he decided that if I didn't have anything to eat he was off. I thought he'd been doing this a lot lately and thought too that I needed to do something to change that pattern SO I got him to catch me again by pretending something was in my pocket and I haltered him up.
I started off playing the friendly game and then testing his driving game HQ and FQ 360 degree manoeuver. All pretty good there. I then tested our yo-yo game and that was very good still.
Yo-yo backwards ;-)
Yo-yo draw ;-))So then I decided as he was a bit fidgety to do some circling as he likes this, it gets him moving his feet well and we can test our DHQ's too. Well the first circle was not too good, he went out on the circle and then decided he was going to 'go off' like he does when at liberty and I managed to quickly stop that with a very nifty DHQ and a quick reminder of who's supposed to be the leader here! He stopped very abruptly and I could see the look on his face saying 'wow, how'd ya do that?'. It really got his attention and after that I got some nice circles in walk and then trot. His COD's went well but he still has a tendency to change direction when he feels like it (often because it's easier going to the left and when I ask him to go right he does one circle and then changes back on his own!) but today I did a LOAD of COD's in quick succession and I think he was just glad to circle rather than do all that work of changing so circling was going well when I asked him to stop and rest.
I then decided that to get him playing nicely more I would have to engage his mind more...so I put up a challenge of asking Stormy to put all 4 feet on the tyre pedastal. Now he's only ever put two feet up on anything and I knew it was going to be a real mind test for him to find a way to put all 4 of his large hooves onto the tractor tyre but it was going to be worth it ;-)
Anyway, it took a long time, shuffling about, asking him to stay in the position I asked of him, trying not to move my feet but move his and getting him to understand about moving one foot at a time rather than just walking forward.
This is Stormy with 3 feet on the pedastal ;-) Cool...
then with the other back foot on...really testing where to put his feet ;-)
YEEHAA...first time ever, Stormy's 4 feet on a pedastal ;-))) Very Cool ;-))SO you can imagine where that precious treat went...yup, Stormy won it as this was a very good mental effort on his part and after he did it he was a calm as a lamb...no frisking me, no dancing about, just really chuffed at himself.
So after that I decided to play a bit with Solly too, I was warm enough and there was plenty of time to have a bit of fun. This is what I did with Solly:
Liberty:
Asked Sol to catch me, he did this VERY well today.
Online:
I haltered him and had the 22' line today. I firstly decided to ask for the sideways over the white barrel. He did this actually very well, me in Z1 and him going to the left.
Liberty:
Next we went into the large arena and we played some liberty stick 2 me in w/t/bkup. Got him mentally engaged with me and his energy up too.
I then went to asking for some circling at liberty in the corner of the arena. The first couple of times he just wandered off a bit and so I decided to change my position. Instead of having my body facing the corner I turned around and put my back to it as this is where he gets a bit sticky and can wander off, if the corner fencing was there this would keep him on the circle and I could help him more with keeping with me away from the fence. This worked really really well and he managed 2 great circles at liberty in walk in both directions. Yeehaa. The circles weren't too close and his body was nicely curved around me, he seemed to be relaxed and looked like he knew exactly what to do ;-)
Online:
Lastly I asked him to go over the white barrel sideways going to the right with me in Z1, it's a bit stickier but he did it without any resistance. I will do this 1st and last every time we play from now on to get it better and better. I also did a quick porcupine game for the beginnings of a bow again. I didn't ask for more as I feel that I need to have a treat in my hand ready to help him bow his head and put his weight down but I didn't have any spare treats today. Must remember some for next time, but his effort to move off my hand on his chest today was good so will improve on that each time we play too ;-)
Only a short play but a very productive one and a very pleasant one too. Be glad when the weather is a bit warmer ;-)
I'm off Instructing for a couple of days now and a small private demo on Saturday but I'll try to get to Solly on Friday and see if he's licked and chewed over what we've done today.
