Sunday 31st October
Out around noon today, ground frost gone and sunshine trying hard to come out...at least it wasn't freezing. I leave car at the top of the hill today as we've had quite a lot of rain and getting the car up and down the steepish hill to the bottom gait could be dodgy today SO don't even chance it, just have to walk down to the arena ;-)
I get into field, get saddle and grooming kit and then go and greet the herd who are all grazing nearby. I first greet Tara and give her some scratching on her belly which she loves. Then I greet Stormy who likes having hugs, Holly is down a hillock so I just call out to her and wave which she awknowledges. Then Fortune came over and I cleaned her eyes and gave her some scratching on her belly too ;-) Then I turn and see Solly watching me, I ask him to catch me but he's slow to answer my request SO I just go on my haunches and squat down and he comes right over. I give him some rubbing to get some mud off and then some scratching on his belly and then halter him up. It was a nice catch ;-)
On the 22' line I play Stick 2 Me w/t/h/bkup and really try to get him connected with my thought/energy and only tap him if he doesn't respond at all, I also ask that when he's next to me he lowers his head in walk and also a bit lower in backup too. He gets connected really quickly, this is a good game for him as he loves that mental connection.
We reach the arena, which now has long long polypoles around it so that I can play liberty better. Solly had a habit of just jumping out of it and now that I'm not using pressure to ask him to go he will stay in the arena better but the habit, unfortunately, has been made, so I will try to unmake it.
In the arena I put Sol's halter around his neck loosely and work with the 22' from that. Stick 2 Me w/t/bkup again is good and then I ask for circles in w/t/c, this goes well too, I ask that he doesn't stick his ribs or shoulder into my space and this helps him get a better 'banana' shape on the circle.
Next we work on extreme friendly game. Firstly at a standstill, I am using my new training stick which is lighter, easier to use, shorter and more fun than the carrot stick and Solly is fine with me doing ex fr nearby and did very well with me at more of a distance. Then I started skipping about doing ex fr and that was MUCH better than the other day ;-) I could go in any zone and skip and flog the ground or touch him with the string and all okay.
Then I go to the 45' line on the halter and ask for w/t/c using the friendly game, sometimes using it to stop and other times using it whilst keeping my energy up so that Solly stays in motion...gosh I'm unfit, I was puffing and panting! lol. BUT Solly did very well with my high body energy and realised that it was just the fr game ;-)
When I asked him to draw in I am starting to ask for a 'shoulder draw'' rather than a dhq. I'm doing this as I realise, from watching Ingela Larsson Smith, that I want him to stay engaged rather than disengage him all the time, engagement really keeps his power and energy on the turn and can lead to some pretty cool things like his FLC's at canter.
All is going well so I decide to try to do some liberty the Ingela Larsson Smith way. This way is to really connect mentally, trust he will do everything I ask (he has the time line though!) and shape the air around him rather than telling him to move his body. Trying to keep it positive and claiming space under his feet, mentally seeing what I want and the area I'm asking him to stay in is a muscle memory I'm practising. It started off with him worrying about my fr game but I sorted that out as quickly as possible by just staying with him and he stopped being unconfident and was okay.
We did some stick to me w/t/bkups with me in Z3 and that went okay, he moved away more than 12' and was a little unconfident there and he walked then trotted off, I stayed with him in z4/5, not driving him or following him just being with him, our personal bubbles together attached. He was okay with me in that area and I managed to get him off the fence in a nice curve and I felt attached to him again ;-) I stayed with it more and played the fr game then he looked at me and I drew him to me in a shoulder draw. Cool. Every time he did something really nice I told him how good and clever he was and this bonding helped his confidence grow.
I then asked him to stick to me with me in Z3 again, trotting around and then asking for more space around me as he was pretty close. He moved out a bit and it looked good and then he got a bit unconfident and cantered off a bit, I stayed with him again as best I could, not worrying about where he was going (I knew he wouldn't jump out so that kept me cool) just keeping the mental connection. I go into trot at one end of the 40x20 arena and he beautifully canters around me in a good 20m circle, I then trot and bring my energy down but keep the connection and he keeps cantering but a nice slow one this time and the circle starts to get smaller and smaller and then he just looks at me and draws to me ;-) very cool.
With this good connection going, after a break with some undemanding time, I move to Z4/5 and ask him to play stick to me from this area in walk. He goes off and we walk the rail together and then I move more and more towards his tail and he moves off the rail in a very nice arc. With this going well I start to shape the space around him more by going towards his tail for a turn and then past his tail to the other side for a turn the other way and we start doing fig 8's at liberty with me in Z5!!! How cool is that. I am so chuffed but keep going....I next ask for the same thing but this time in trot and he does it. FAB. I must say that all the long reining we've been doing has probably helped this connection enormously and he seems to understand what I'm asking for from Z5 and he was very calm and relaxed about it all ;-))
Great ground work today. I'm over the moon about how it's progressing.
We rest for a while, I groom him and then saddle him up and put him back on the halter/22' line. To play whilst cinching him I ask for canter circles and I work on moving the space around his ribs to get him in a better arc around me and this method of asking about the space near him rather than moving your body NOW sort of thing really works well for Solly, he hates people being inpolite with him and often takes it personally and can kick out sometimes. This method is less dominant for him and it's more polite ;-)
I mount up and go through some preliminaries: LF, DHQ, move FQ and then w/t lightly from my leg. He's a bit sluggish today so I spend some time working on him being lighter to my leg and then work on the same with trot which goes well. Next we do some fig's 8 with the whole arena (2 x 20m circles joined at X) and this goes well. I work on figuring out where to put my body and legs (inside and out) for the best result of him circling almost freestyle without me having to micromanage his head. I only have to bring the suspension rein up a couple of times to ask him to arc around my inside leg more. His trot improves whilst doing this too.
We do a bit of RtR in walk next, always working on improving the walk and he does well although a little sluggish to start with. I then take the good walk and put it through a couple of serpentines and that sharpens it all up even more ;-)
After a short break we then work on just 20m circles, first to the right and again I'm looking for a good bend, keeping the trot nice and strong and not loosing the circle at X. It takes a few rounds until I'm satisfied that he is holding up his responsibilities well and we stop at X for a break. Then I do exactly the same thing going to the left and again it takes a few rounds before he does it without corrections. We stop at X again and relax for a while.
For a bit of fun and to help his confidence I then take him outside the arena, do a small 2 high tyre jump and then play Point 2 Point with cones around the lower part of the arena. We work on about a third of the field and he wants to stay closish to the herd so we do that but keep playing with point 2 point and slowly build from walk to trot. I'm looking for focus/obedience and relaxation with this and if possible the impulsion and flexibility if he's up to it ;-) He does pretty well and when he's relaxed and paying attention to me rather than the herd then I head him for the arena again and pop two jumps on the way there. The jumps are very good and it helps split the ground up for him so that he doesn't get impulsive back to his 'safety net' of the arena.
It was a very good day, groundwork and ridden progressing at a good rate and I hope to be able to do this more and more now that work is slowing down towards the Winter. I have a couple of days at home this week and we'll see how we progress with the liberty work and riding out more ;-)
Holly and Stormy dozing outside the high fenced arena...looks like they got bored watching our session. lol
The view to the side gate into the field from the forest hill I had to climb to the car tonight! PHEW
Saturday 30th October
Today Mark and I decide to ride to the village together...riding. This is the first time Mark has ridden on a hack since May and it was fab to be out together. Because Holly has a bit of a swollen back leg Mark takes Stormy out and I take solid, confident giving Tara. I was going to take Solly BUT it's not wise to take two unconfident horses out on a hack together, Tara will give the much less experienced Stormy some confidence and that's most important.
So, on that note M ark and I go to the field with saddles and ask our horses to catch us, no problem there. Stormy (and Solly) are absolutely FILTHY, they look like they've ben rolling in mud for the last few nights, since they got back to the big field. At least Tara always looks pretty clean ;-) We groom and saddle up and then play with our mounts to make sure there is relaxation, willing obedience, impulsion without impulsiveness and some flexibility. All going well so we mount up and ride w/t/c up the top of the hill to the Cateran Trail to go to the village. Today we need to send a parcel off and get those all important apples and carrots for the horses ;-)
Here, in pictures, is our hack out.
Mark and Stormy...no problem with water, quick goodbye's to the herd too
Stormy checking out EVERYTHING which is good,Mark being a good leader by allowing it
but staying focused on the task at hand ;-)
Stormy is SO cool about water, it's like his second home ;-)
Tara and I on the way home ;-)
Mark and Stormy enjoying a good strong trot 
Mark and Stormy enjoying a fabulous canter ;-) YEEHAA !!!
On the home stretch, at the back gate of the field ;-)Today was a good day, Tara got up a bit of speed to keep in front of Stormy but she also was a great influence on him, keeping his feet going in the right direction. Stormy was well behaved and did everything asked of him including w/t/c/h/backup and stand still whilst Mark did the post and got the fruit/veg for them to munch on. Both horses were a joy to be with ;-))
After we got back Solly wanted to play so he caught me and I put him in the arena. I then groomedhim, the mud on him was dry and it came off as dust EVERYWHERE! lol. He was getting clean but I was getting dirtier. lol
But after that I put the headcollar around his neck (so I don't have 'control' on his head) and tried some friendly game at a standstill, walk and trot, using the FR for stop but also using the FR with Solly in motion. It went pretty well, he had a bit of an unconfident moment with me at about 12' out coming into him but he soon realised it was just the FR game ;-)
I then tried some FR game with him at standstill but me skipping ointoo him and using the stick and string a lot, again a bit unconfident at 12' away but soon realised it was FR and stood looking at me like I was mad! lol
Next I took his halter off and did some close-up liberty, me in Z1 then Z2, 3, 4 and then 5....I slowly moved back. I asked for stick 2 me from Z1-2 and this went well, using Ingela's 'Thought, Energy, Tap' concepts. Worked well, his stick 2 me is usually on thoguht/energy anyway ;-)
When I got to Z4-5 I asked for forward motion and then on the fence like a RtR and then moved towards the rail to ask him off it and once this working well we did a few slow fig 8's (at liberty in Z5) ;-)) This went very well and it was amazing how it worked on Thought/Energy concepts wihtout any thought about making him do it or worrying that he was going to run off. Fab. When he got a bit faster I just went with him and at one point I took his tail gently in my hands and thought about stopping/backing up and HE DID IT! WOW.
After such a good session I spent some undemanding time and hugged him, such a good session and I have to try out Ingela's concepts more and more to be able to write about how the results go with Solly. Should be interesting stuff, hopefully do more tomorrow when my new 'higher fenced' round pen is up and ready ;-)
Thursday 28th October
Well just back from a 6 day course of Foundation and Advancement with fab horsemanship instructor Ingela Larsson Smith. HUGE new concepts about where to go with my horsemanship and teaching. I am going to test, try and figure them all out, get them into my motor skills and then I'll be able to talk about them more BUT for now my main concept is to be a better lead horse for my horses.
Lead horses are not dominant, the share space and initiate idea's. With Solly today I tried some liberty with this idea but he still felt me being dominant and jumped the arena to be with the herd SO I have to really change my intent and make my internal phases the same as my external phases.
When I put him back online I went back to basic's. Could I ask him to stick 2 me in walk, trot, backup with just my thought and energy? yes I could ;-)
Could I ask for a close up circle online with relaxation in walk (head down)? yes I could ;-)
Could I ask for a close up circle online with relaxation in trot (head down)? NOPE ;-(
SO, I just asked him to try for me in a lead mare way (no dominance, no phases 1,2,3,4...4...4...FOUR) more with phases....thought, energy, touch, release...thought, energy, touch, release etc. It worked really well and within seconds he was quietly trotting around me, hand on his neck stroking him and him relaxed, blowing out and his shoulder not pushing into my space....COOL.
I will test the concepts Ingela gave all of us and write more on here as it goes. At the clinic the students were at liberty in Z4/5 doing weaving and fig 8's ;-) Also long lining which was fascinating and something I've been wanting to improve on for ages.
I can now see a way forward in my horsemanship and can't wait to talk about the 'True Connection' I will hopefully see happening between me and my horses ;-)
Tuesday 19th October
Today as the horses are up at the house I took the opportunity to play/groom Tara and then saddle/cinch and go to the village for some shopping and a couple of apples for me and Tara ;-) We did the whole ride in an hour which is good and I sweat rugged her when we returned and gave her some treats. I then trimmed her hooves.
Later on I played with Solly outside the field and then trimmed his hooves again as they grow very long at the front and need keeping in check. I will also be away for a week now, going down to Worcester to spectate at Ingela Larsson Smith's 6 day Foundation/Advanced course so leaving my two babies with good feet makes me feel better.
Great piccie to leave you for a week...Solly and Stormy sticking their tongues out at each other...
BOYS ;-)
Sunday 17th October
What do a blue bulldog, a blow up baseball bat and a balloon have in common??? A HORSEY PLAYDAY that's what ;-))
Nice weather today SO Mark and I decide to have a playday party in our arena with Solly and Stormy, we had LOTS of toys to play with and here are some pictures from the day:
Solly is a bit overwhelmed with all the toys so takes a stretch/bow to help him lumber up
Solly meets his first fluffy pink pig...
...and smartly takes him off his pedastal ;-)
Pretty good with the unpredictable ball
Even bouncing it off his body ;-)
He was a bit sceptical of my fluffy 'snake' carrot stick ;-)
Playing the driving game with our new floppy carrot stick
How about a blow up baseball bat?...
...again a bit sceptical about it
Once he was okay with it he was quite happy to stand on it. lol
eek...scary unpredictable balloons....he squeezed okay through them and also
did a nice sideways along the fence too ;-)
Using the soft toys as obstacles....fig 8's with a Blue bulldog and a grey elephant
Weaves between the soft toys ;-)
'Touch it' with the blue bulldog
Friendly game with soft toys:
blue bulldog/grey elephant/brown teddy bear/pink pig
blue bulldog/grey elephant/brown teddy bear/pink pig
He moved to look at them and they all fell off except the blue bulldog. lol
'Touch it' with the feet on the umbrella ;-)
Solly looks pretty good as a cowboy ;-)
A moment of togetherness ;-)
Stormy enjoying eating piggy
Stormy enjoying eating and transporting grey elephant ;-)
Stormy also enjoying eating blue bulldog ;-)) lol
Stormy doing great by putting his head into the hoolahoop...
...waits for Mark to put it over his ears....
...and hey presto it's Stormy's new necklace ;-)
Stormy trying to eat the ball. lol
Not worried by anything, the fluffy snake was taken in Stormy's stride ;-)
Blowup baseball bat, not a problem to rub himand play the driving game with ;-)
ooh, another play with the grey elephant whilst moving it around the arena ;-)
Today was a LOT of fun, lots of friendly game with LOTS of toys and also finding our energy to play the driving game without using our 'tools' as the tools had very little effect like the carrot stick....the fluffy snake and the blowup baseball bat both were flimsy. It was great to see how the two boys would take to the coloured soft toys, the balloons and other items. They both did very well, Solly the Sceptic was good, tried very hard for me and was willing to trust me when I asked him to put a bit more effort into some things. Stormy was a complete cool dude...didn't worry about ANYTHING, didn't bat an eyelid at all the new things and his curiosity was great in allowing him to play with the toys.
Saturday 16th October
Good, dry day today so we took all 5 back to the large playfield field so that we could play/ride them, they will be in here the whole weekend and then back up to the house for next week whilst I go away down South for a week.
Our friend Ally was with us and we all went down and played and rode. Ally with Tara, Mark with Stormy (as Holly has a slight swelling in her off hind leg) and me with Solly. We had a few firsts too...Ally got ridden trot with Tara, Mark got the first ever ridden jump with Stormy and I did a small round of 6 jumps one after the other with Solly, good fun for all of us ;-))
This is what Solly and I did today:
22 line:
After usual bonding/friendly stuff we started work on circles in w/t/c making sure we were good with impulsion, relaxation, flexibility and obedience. All working well so we went onto some jumping to see quickly we could ask for that. He did fabulously and even did the barrels in a squeeze from a standstill so he was very ready to move on.
I then asked him to go to the low two tyre high jump and jump/stop and sideways towards me. The first try he went over the jump but the second one he did it! WOW, so cool that he's doing this now.
We then went to fig 8's in w/t/c and got a couple of FLC's and we stopped one a good note.
I then wanted to do some long reining BUT I'd left my 45' rope in my work car SO I decided to wrap the 22' line around him in short long reins and kept them on his butt...this was just so that the reins didn't get caught under his back feet and also to give me the chance to NOT use them. I wanted to try to test out some liberty style Z5 driving weave pattern with the rope there as a safety net. I used the rope a few times but once Solly had 'got' the weave pattern he was moving around the cones more from my energy and where I was positioned behind him...I was always on the inside of the curve in Z5 and used this position to keep him looking at me and then when I changed sides behind him he came looking for me with his other eye, this in itself helped to start the next turn for the weave pattern. Will try to do this again as I think this would look pretty nice completely at liberty ;-)
Ridden:
Normal flight tests, LF, Indirect/Direct reins. Then start off straight away with the weave pattern, I used the suspension rein for the inside bend but made sure I used my outside leg to keep his outside from swinging too far out. Loved the feeling of swinging around the cones and the lightness of his forehand from the suspension rein.
I then used the same pattern and cones to extend the straight lines through the cones making it into a serpentine pattern. These went very well too. Using the same technique I took this concept out and went around, inbetween the jumps. This helped to keep him focussed on me but also helped to move his feet further from the arena fence without him getting unconfident like he can do. Once working well on that we did some Point 2 Points, firstly going to the furthest cone in the field, he stopped and thought about it once but then trusted me to get him there in one piece! lol. Once at the cone he really lowered his head, touched the cone and relaxed ;-)
I then set my sights on the next cone and he went to that one too. Then a third cone, a barrel and a forth cone. He did SO well away from the herd today, really listening to me and I was unwavering in my focus.
Back at the arena fence I watched as Mark helped my friend Ally riding Tara and Solly and I did some really nice sideways without a fence L&R ;-) Solly had a nice rest and then we went and did my 'jump course'. I've been building up to where Solly and I can do more than one jump in a row, like a course of jumps, he does fabulously with this online now SO today was the test of whether we could do it ridden....YUP, we did it, about 6 jumps at first and then a rest and 4 more afterwards with a nice canter back to the arena to finish. I was VERY proud of him.
Next on the jump agenda is to try to get him happy about bounce jumps and jumps with two or three strides between them....online first and then ridden ;-) All progressing very well.
All in all a good day and I was SO proud of Mark and Stormy with their first ridden jump...very cool...here are some pics from the day ;-)
Our friend Ally was with us and we all went down and played and rode. Ally with Tara, Mark with Stormy (as Holly has a slight swelling in her off hind leg) and me with Solly. We had a few firsts too...Ally got ridden trot with Tara, Mark got the first ever ridden jump with Stormy and I did a small round of 6 jumps one after the other with Solly, good fun for all of us ;-))
This is what Solly and I did today:
22 line:
After usual bonding/friendly stuff we started work on circles in w/t/c making sure we were good with impulsion, relaxation, flexibility and obedience. All working well so we went onto some jumping to see quickly we could ask for that. He did fabulously and even did the barrels in a squeeze from a standstill so he was very ready to move on.
I then asked him to go to the low two tyre high jump and jump/stop and sideways towards me. The first try he went over the jump but the second one he did it! WOW, so cool that he's doing this now.
We then went to fig 8's in w/t/c and got a couple of FLC's and we stopped one a good note.
I then wanted to do some long reining BUT I'd left my 45' rope in my work car SO I decided to wrap the 22' line around him in short long reins and kept them on his butt...this was just so that the reins didn't get caught under his back feet and also to give me the chance to NOT use them. I wanted to try to test out some liberty style Z5 driving weave pattern with the rope there as a safety net. I used the rope a few times but once Solly had 'got' the weave pattern he was moving around the cones more from my energy and where I was positioned behind him...I was always on the inside of the curve in Z5 and used this position to keep him looking at me and then when I changed sides behind him he came looking for me with his other eye, this in itself helped to start the next turn for the weave pattern. Will try to do this again as I think this would look pretty nice completely at liberty ;-)
Ridden:
Normal flight tests, LF, Indirect/Direct reins. Then start off straight away with the weave pattern, I used the suspension rein for the inside bend but made sure I used my outside leg to keep his outside from swinging too far out. Loved the feeling of swinging around the cones and the lightness of his forehand from the suspension rein.
I then used the same pattern and cones to extend the straight lines through the cones making it into a serpentine pattern. These went very well too. Using the same technique I took this concept out and went around, inbetween the jumps. This helped to keep him focussed on me but also helped to move his feet further from the arena fence without him getting unconfident like he can do. Once working well on that we did some Point 2 Points, firstly going to the furthest cone in the field, he stopped and thought about it once but then trusted me to get him there in one piece! lol. Once at the cone he really lowered his head, touched the cone and relaxed ;-)
I then set my sights on the next cone and he went to that one too. Then a third cone, a barrel and a forth cone. He did SO well away from the herd today, really listening to me and I was unwavering in my focus.
Back at the arena fence I watched as Mark helped my friend Ally riding Tara and Solly and I did some really nice sideways without a fence L&R ;-) Solly had a nice rest and then we went and did my 'jump course'. I've been building up to where Solly and I can do more than one jump in a row, like a course of jumps, he does fabulously with this online now SO today was the test of whether we could do it ridden....YUP, we did it, about 6 jumps at first and then a rest and 4 more afterwards with a nice canter back to the arena to finish. I was VERY proud of him.
Next on the jump agenda is to try to get him happy about bounce jumps and jumps with two or three strides between them....online first and then ridden ;-) All progressing very well.
All in all a good day and I was SO proud of Mark and Stormy with their first ridden jump...very cool...here are some pics from the day ;-)
Sideways
Jump 1
Jump 2
Jump 3
Jump 4
Jump 5
Me w/Solly & friend Ally w/Tara
Stormy's FIRST ever jump with a rider :-)) COOLWednesday 13th October
Out to Tara by 12 noon today, she's lying down (all of them are) so I just sit near her and then I go and sit up against her outside shoulder and close my eyes. We stay like that for quite a while and it's really nice that she stayed down as often she gets up to watch over me if I'm on the floor.When she rolls and then gets up she comes to nuzzle my hand and then it's time for me to poo pick. I brought down a mineral lick and put it in a feed bucket today so that she doesn't miss out on any minerals or salt whilst I'm riding her so much, she goes and licks on this while I clean her field.
Tara lying down in her paddock, great view she has whilst dozing ;-)So, she comes and catches me and I halter, play and saddle her within 15 mins. I then mount and take her to the village shop for apples...she really likes this and today she got one and then the core from the one that I had, she waited so patiently for it too which was lovely.
I asked her to actually 'walk' out today, not the slow, blubbering walk (and trot too) that she usually gives me, to actually MOVE her butt and swagger ;-) It worked well and after a while she had found a good rhythm and I didn't accept her slow, almost asleep, autopilot walk anymore. It was fun getting there and it also allowed me to do some rising trot, her trot is usually great for sitting trot but not fast enough to rise to BUT today it was. lol. I found that after my osteopath appointment last Monday I can use my hips more, my left one was stiff after the accident with Stormy but now it's free of pain and I have to remind myself to use it properly now. I also found that the reason my feet ALWAYS flap about in and out in rising trot is because I have my weight in my toes!! eek. When I finally got my rising trot going better, my weight in my knee and heel this almost stopped entirely. Gosh I haven't been watching my riding since doing Freestyle but am very aware of it all now when doing Finesse....shouldn't be any different really!!
Anyway, our ride out was good, we both lost some weight hopefully and I put a sweat rug on her to make sure she didn't catch a chill again.
Next was Solly. He caught me good and we did some nice play before saddling. Good play was to sidepass over and towards a rock, circling including a 2' high step up/down jump and yo-yo's and circling with me SITTING on a rock and he did a great COD with me doing this too!! cool ;-)
Sideways over (and towards afterwards) with a stone
When I'd saddled and was getting relaxation whilst cinching my friend, kids and dog popped over the horizon and came towards us and Solly almost jumped out of his SKIN....he snorted like a dragon and put in a buck (SO glad I wasn't riding him at the time!) so I just put him into some backup and then back onto the circling/leg yields we were doing until he regained his composure. He is SO sensitive to anything unusual, anything coming from what seems NOWHERE.
He was ready to ride and I mounted and did some circles, fig 8's and serpentines whilst my friend just watched. He seemed fine. I then took him down the first hill to take him home again like yesterday. At the bottom of the hill he napped and napped and napped. Nothing worked in the saddle SO I got off and circled him L&R up the hill to where he could see okay. I then got ready to re-mount him and my friend came over the brow of the hill again towards us. All good desensitization for him. She kept walking and I just kept Solly focussed and mounted and then followed her with the kids and dog so that whatever was worrying him then became curiosity ;-)
After an emotional start the ride was nice, he was a bit dominant with his head when I asked him to stop and put in two steps of backup now and then (tossing head, stamping foot) but I just kept doing it in a nice calm manner. At the hill to our house I sat and talked to my friend for a while and he was a bit dominant with his head/foot again SO I just sat there until he relaxed...think he was thinking it was time to get to the house for his carrot so didn't give him one until I had my tea and biscuits which Mark made for me. Going home was good, he was calm although very sweaty from all his emotions SO sweat rugged him too ;-)
I asked her to actually 'walk' out today, not the slow, blubbering walk (and trot too) that she usually gives me, to actually MOVE her butt and swagger ;-) It worked well and after a while she had found a good rhythm and I didn't accept her slow, almost asleep, autopilot walk anymore. It was fun getting there and it also allowed me to do some rising trot, her trot is usually great for sitting trot but not fast enough to rise to BUT today it was. lol. I found that after my osteopath appointment last Monday I can use my hips more, my left one was stiff after the accident with Stormy but now it's free of pain and I have to remind myself to use it properly now. I also found that the reason my feet ALWAYS flap about in and out in rising trot is because I have my weight in my toes!! eek. When I finally got my rising trot going better, my weight in my knee and heel this almost stopped entirely. Gosh I haven't been watching my riding since doing Freestyle but am very aware of it all now when doing Finesse....shouldn't be any different really!!
Anyway, our ride out was good, we both lost some weight hopefully and I put a sweat rug on her to make sure she didn't catch a chill again.
Next was Solly. He caught me good and we did some nice play before saddling. Good play was to sidepass over and towards a rock, circling including a 2' high step up/down jump and yo-yo's and circling with me SITTING on a rock and he did a great COD with me doing this too!! cool ;-)
Sideways over (and towards afterwards) with a stoneWhen I'd saddled and was getting relaxation whilst cinching my friend, kids and dog popped over the horizon and came towards us and Solly almost jumped out of his SKIN....he snorted like a dragon and put in a buck (SO glad I wasn't riding him at the time!) so I just put him into some backup and then back onto the circling/leg yields we were doing until he regained his composure. He is SO sensitive to anything unusual, anything coming from what seems NOWHERE.
He was ready to ride and I mounted and did some circles, fig 8's and serpentines whilst my friend just watched. He seemed fine. I then took him down the first hill to take him home again like yesterday. At the bottom of the hill he napped and napped and napped. Nothing worked in the saddle SO I got off and circled him L&R up the hill to where he could see okay. I then got ready to re-mount him and my friend came over the brow of the hill again towards us. All good desensitization for him. She kept walking and I just kept Solly focussed and mounted and then followed her with the kids and dog so that whatever was worrying him then became curiosity ;-)
After an emotional start the ride was nice, he was a bit dominant with his head when I asked him to stop and put in two steps of backup now and then (tossing head, stamping foot) but I just kept doing it in a nice calm manner. At the hill to our house I sat and talked to my friend for a while and he was a bit dominant with his head/foot again SO I just sat there until he relaxed...think he was thinking it was time to get to the house for his carrot so didn't give him one until I had my tea and biscuits which Mark made for me. Going home was good, he was calm although very sweaty from all his emotions SO sweat rugged him too ;-)
Solly and Tara in their sweat rugs ;-)Tuesday 12th October
Got out with Tara at about 2 today, played quickly and then saddled and rode to the village shop for some good exercise..oh and some electricity and a couple of apples. Tara did very well and we manged some good walk, trot and canter and she got up a good sweat which hopefully means she'll be loosing some weight. Back at her paddock I groomed her and put her sweat rug on to make sure she doesn't catch a chill. Really enjoyed our ride today, think she did too ;-)
I then asked Solly to catch me and as it was getting later I decided that I would play with him to get our Relaxation, Willing Obedience, Impulsion and Flexibility in the quickest way I know how.
Well for relaxation we used friendly. For obedience I used yo-yo's and also circling which helped for impulsion too. I then saddled him and I used close circles with leg yields for flexibility. All goes well and so I mount (never mounted or ridden Solly so quickly). Did some circles again asking for all the specifications as on the ground and then we did some fig 8's and serpentines.
All going well I decided to ride to the house, this involves going down the hill we cantered up the other day and then up an incline up to the track. He went down the hill fine but was a bit hesitant to go up the next hill SO instead of stopping ALL the time I encouraged him to keep moving and then turned him left/right/left/right in small serpentines over the track and before we knew it we were up the hill without a tantrum! ;-)) This tecnique worked very well, kept his mind off trying to worry about not going up or trying to outwhit me with his Left brainedness ;-)
Well all along the track he listened to my wishes, I praised him lots and stroked and patted his neck to let him know we were doing this together and we managed to get to the house with some nice trot. He received his carrot with relish and then we turned and went back to the field with some nice trot along the way and a short canter up the last hill ;-) Good ride out and a lovely day, albeit rather chilly.
Monday 11th October
Went and got myself sorted with my Osteopath this morning and now feeling a bit straighter in my left leg so that when I got home I had a cup of tea and then straight out to see the horses. I poo picked Tara's paddock and made sure she had plenty of water and then called to Solly and he came over to nuzzle me which was cute.
I asked him to follow me at liberty until we got to an open space and then I haltered him, again not haltering him until he was calm with his mouth and not tossing his nose up as soon as I'd put it on him.
I then played some friendly game from me standing high on a rock, DHQ, moved his FQ's and then friendly the other side too ;-)
Next we did some yo-yo's with my new refinement working well (just thinking of what I want as a ph1), and then we did some nice circling to the L&R in trot around the stones, there was a nice stone to go over and a small bank to go up/down too which was nice, he really had to look where he was going.
It was short and sweet and he showed me nice relaxation, obedience and impulsion SO I took him out of the field and groomed him and put his saddle on. Cinching play involved circling in w/t/c L&R and then some closer circles with some sideways on the circle with him quickly lowering his head in relaxation. I stopped as soon as he lowered his head gave him a rest and then did it the other way, he does some very quick lowering of his head going this way (to the right) and blowing out too. I make sure I stretch/lower my own body and blow out LOTs too as he's quite the mimic and this helps him understand what I'm looking for ;-)
Then I mount off a rock and stand still for a while before doing LF's. He's very relaxed so I just run through some things like yesterday: friendly with stick (using a schooling whip now as lighter to carry and more refined in where I tap him and not so hard as the CS), then circling around the car using some leg yields on the circle for relaxation and obedience. Next I move out more to do some fig 8's and then serpentines, I stop him on the top of the hill that yesterday we cantered up and I let him have a good long look around.
I then ask him to go down the hill, instead of going down like we did yesterday I take a left turn following a sheep track on the hill, through an old Scottish house that is just a ruin now (lots of these things around Scotland....4 walls and mud floors, just a place to sleep really) and then out the other side. He didn't feel like he wanted to go up the hill at this point so I asked him to go around the hill and onto the top that way, he had no problem with that. He seems to not take easily to a roadway that dissapears (ie. round a corner or hill where it looks like it stops because he cannot see where it goes! lol).
At the top of this small hill he walks towards the pathway and I ask him to turn right up another hill which he trotted quickly up....didn't feel he wanted to canter so I took what he offered ;-) We stood and looked at the scenery for a while and then I asked him back down the hill and back towards the car, along the track he was good and then at the bottom of the last hill I asked him to canter up like we did yesterday and he did that very very well.
As he was aiming for the car, like this was the main issue I quietly asked him to do some fig 8's in collection where I tried to use my outside rein and inside leg, with outside leg supporting only...ie/not to use my inside rein and after a couple of tries he really started to get this....so did I! lol. It was a nice 1 hour together and it felt good to be able to play quickly but well, get on and ride and have fun doing it ;-)
After letting him go I went and got Tara to catch me and then I went for a ride bareback with her to help her get some exercise. Lovely day.
Our shadow following us everywhere today...nice to see the Autumnal sun shining ;-)
Sunday 10th October
Good day today, got up early and went and rode Tara bareback around some fields for 35 mins...a good start to her new riding regime to help her loose some weight. She did very well, although big she has plenty of gumption and willingness and seemed to really enjoy being out checking out some new places to ride ;-)
In the afternoon Mark and I went down to the horses again, he groomed Stormy, Holly and Fortune and put an ice pack on Holly's back right leg as it has been a bit swollen the last couple of days - so not rideable at the moment.
But I go and poo pick Tara's paddock (she's separated for her to loose weight) , groomed her and then Solly came and caught me. He was in a bit of a naughty mood, was trying to bite me and didn't stand still for haltering well SO I stayed with working on haltering. I went to put it on, he either bit it or when I put the noseband on he tossed his head up. I kept just taking it off and asking him to put his head down softly until at last he stopped playing about or bracing and let me put the halter on nicely ;0)
After this I went straight to asking him for some backup and yo-yo's. I decided everything was going to be at a nice ph1, from my thoughts and from his willingness and with that thought in mind we started playing. I used a long long LONG ph1 and then went to a ph4 twice and then he was doing stuff willlingly on my thoughts or light ph1. This was the start of a good day for me and Solly.
My idea for the day was to play in the field then out of the field in the next field and then ride. I knew riding in a new place may be hard for him but with all the work we've been putting in I was going to give it a good try and stay positive.
Anyway, I think the pictures tell a better story than I will, so here they are:
He started off by giving me a 'bow' so I played extreme friendly on his back
In the afternoon Mark and I went down to the horses again, he groomed Stormy, Holly and Fortune and put an ice pack on Holly's back right leg as it has been a bit swollen the last couple of days - so not rideable at the moment.
But I go and poo pick Tara's paddock (she's separated for her to loose weight) , groomed her and then Solly came and caught me. He was in a bit of a naughty mood, was trying to bite me and didn't stand still for haltering well SO I stayed with working on haltering. I went to put it on, he either bit it or when I put the noseband on he tossed his head up. I kept just taking it off and asking him to put his head down softly until at last he stopped playing about or bracing and let me put the halter on nicely ;0)
After this I went straight to asking him for some backup and yo-yo's. I decided everything was going to be at a nice ph1, from my thoughts and from his willingness and with that thought in mind we started playing. I used a long long LONG ph1 and then went to a ph4 twice and then he was doing stuff willlingly on my thoughts or light ph1. This was the start of a good day for me and Solly.
My idea for the day was to play in the field then out of the field in the next field and then ride. I knew riding in a new place may be hard for him but with all the work we've been putting in I was going to give it a good try and stay positive.
Anyway, I think the pictures tell a better story than I will, so here they are:
He started off by giving me a 'bow' so I played extreme friendly on his back 
Then he did some nice circling on undulating ground
Next it was two feet on a stone pedastal
OOH, and then all 4 feet on a stone pedastal ;-)
Yo-yo's from a different perspective, fun to use the natural surroundings
circling from a new perspective too...
...oh and look where you're going 
touch the stone with your foot from a distance
clever boy...two feet on the stone
now he's a willingly obedient fun boy to be with ;-)after this shot I trimmed his hooves then I groomed him, saddled him and played with him in the field next to their grazing. He was attentive, looking around to see where he was but always obedient. It was also good to play circling with him to let him feel the rough ground and to look where hes going but also to get him on some of the hilly ground to get him more on his HQ's. I then mounted and here are the next set of pictures:
Walk and trot circles where the car was parked,
using something familiar to help him become
more confident in his new surroundings.
using something familiar to help him become
more confident in his new surroundings.
Making those circles bigger and bigger using leg yields and fig 8's
Good to see Solly gain confidence in the new field.I made sure I did the same patterns and exercises
we usually do in an arena to help settle him.
Best pic of the day....us cantering up a hill in a BIG open field ;-))We did this three times, first two times he had trouble
going down the hill but the third time he did both ways
fabulously...I got better too ;-)
Me and my good boyHad a good, fun, exciting day
I will continue riding out in the fields to encourage
Solly's & my confidence in each other ;-)
Saturday 9th October
Today is the day our horses move fields. The 7 acre field that they've been in most of the year is now going to be rested except for maybe some play/riding sessions. I have reduced my 40x40m arena to a 40x20m arena and the roundpen is down too. The jumps and cones are still in the field so there is plenty to play with.
The horses moved up this morning with me who took Solly and Fortune, Mark who had Holly and Stormy, and our friend Allison who took Tara. They all behaved pretty well and for the am they came up and investigated the paddock near our house. Tara was in a small pen inside the paddock as there is plenty of grazing in it and this is her opportunity for her winter diet to begin ;-)
After their dinner at 5pm me, Mark and Allison took them down to their Autumn/Winter 3 acre field just near the house. All the electric is on and working, grass around tape has been cut back and Tara has a nice pen with part of a stream running through it to keep her off the grass ;-)
All went well, they were all pleased to see grazing and Holly led Solly, Stormy and Fortune around the perimeter at a sharp trot and canter and then they settled quickly on the good grass near the stream. Allison took Tara to her pen and I took the wheel barrow and poo picker down there too as this part will have to be kept very clean for Tara.
It felt good to move them, the time was right and we love having them a bit closer to us although this means I won't have the play/riding area right near BUT it'll be a great opportunity now to play/saddle quicker and walk/ride down to the play area for some fun ;-)
Solly, Fortune & Tara with me and Allison in one of the home paddocks ;-)
Monday 4th October
I went down in the afternoon to the field. 4 of the horses were in the large arena....Stormy pulled up a polypost to let them all in, only sceptical Tara wasn't in the arena!! So I turn off the electric and put the post back up and then one by one I set the out of the arena back into the grazing field except Solly.
I ask Solly to stand whilst I groom him as he's a little muddy and then I ask him to start some play with sideways along the fence which he does okay. Then he decides he wants to run around so I let him, I just stay in neutral and wait. He gets a bit over zealous and almost gallops up the fence line....then he turns and I ask him to DHQ but he just gallops off again and at the end quietly jumps the electric fencing and runs fast back to the herd who are grazing at the end of the field. As soon as he gets to them he stops calmly and simply drops his head to graze. Little monster! Lol.
I sort out the tyre jump in the centre of the arena so that I can set it up for canter FLC's over it at a later date, pick up my halter, 22' rope and CS/SS and saunter off to ask Solly to catch me again. He does so very nicely and I halter him and then play friendly game again with him.
Next I ask for yo-yo and it's SO light back and forwards, good start. Then I ask him to try some Z5 driving w/one rein at walk with me tossing the rope over his head now and then. This gets better as we go along and something we should work on more every day.
After a short break and some itchy spots scratched we start working on moving circles. Here I ask him to do trot/canter/trot/canter transitions with COD's when he breaks gait. His canter circles are getting better each time and I end circles with him stopping at the large tractor tyre. Wasn't sure if he was going to just jump it but he didn't SO we work on this obstacle now as he stopped at it. I ask him to face one way and place him back towards the tyre every time he moves. All I want him to do is to 'try' to move towards it, jump it or put a foot on/in it. He has real trouble with it again (another thing to keep trying each day!) so I ask really slowly but don't give up on just a try from him. In the end he manages to put his hoof on the tyre edge and I accept this and let him rest. I then put the SS/CS around his foot and ask him to let me 'place' his foot in the tyre which he does beautifully. I do this with both front feet and I leave it when he's actually managing to take his foot out himself, nicely and without getting his heel caught on the tyre wall (which is what he's worried about).
I then ask him to circle around me in canter whilst I stand on the pedastal. Then he wants to come onto the pedastal so I let him with just his front feet. I stroke him and fuss him and then I get down and ask him to DHQ's whilst his front feet are still on the pedastal. He has to really think about this but manages it both ways with only one step off each way ;-) Next try is all four feet on the ped which he does really well and waits for the next thing with calmness.
Our next game is circling all 5 jumps and I keep at it until he actually does all 5 without missing any of them. It's great to see him actually 'seeking' out the jumps and doing a great job enjoying his jumping now ;-)
I then go into the arena where I groom him quickly again and then saddle and cinch him up with a few games. He does a very good sideways over the small barrel and also jumping the tyres. So all cinched up I get onto the mounting block and he sidles over and I mount. First thing we LF then DHQ and FQ's. Today is the 2nd day that I am using a dressage whip rather than the cumbersome CS whilst riding. I've played LOTS of friendly game with it on him, from the ground and when mounted and made sure he's okay with the swishing noise it can make. I find it nice, light to use and love the fact that I can play the friendly game with it on his shoulder as I ride without moving too much in the saddle ;-)
SO, preliminaries first and we do RtR in walk, cod and go the other way too. We then start on some 20m circles in trot and I stay on that until he's circling better. I then go to some 20m fig 8's and put in some 10m circles and suspension rein when he looses his flexibility on the circles.
Every now and then I let Solly have a loose rein so that he's able to relax and not work too hard. Our next task is to try some shoulder-in. I start it off from a walk/10m circle and then try to do the maneuver. Solly tries really hard and even though I don't think he's getting a good shoulder-in I let him straighten and then loosen the rein after just a few steps, rewarding him for the try. I keep trying for a few steps at each corner and try it on both reins and then stop on a good note.
I let him rest at walk for a while and then have a bit of fun with the jump in the centre of the arena. I just trot a circle, jump the jump and then circle in the other direction after the jump. I'm hoping he gets the pattern so that we can try FLC's in canter at a later date. He takes a couple of rounds to 'get' the pattern but is okay after a few tries.
We rest for a while and then go to working on our canter. Today I ask him from before a corner to canter, I use the suspension rein to hold him more in balance which helps him from dropping his shoulder on the inside and with my legs asking to keep the impulsion I ask him to keep the canter for a whole side of the arena. When I feel him going to slow down I ask him for more and we almost get a side of the arena. I do this a couple of times and leave it on a good canter note. I will extend our canter more and more until eventually we can canter the whole of the arena. I will also start asking for canter on a 20m circle once we have more impulsion on the canter.
WOW, we did a whole lot in the arena today and I was going to leave it there BUT decided to open the arena and go and ride in the fie ld to improve our field riding more. He's happy about being out in the field and he trots around well and we pop over a jump. I put some point 2 point into action, between the round pen and the opposite corner of the field where the mares are grazing. After just three of these he knows the pattern and his trot improves beautifully. One the way back to the arena we do the three high tyre jump and he comes out of that in canter back to the arena gate. Great training session today, really enjoyed the riding and felt more balanced and relaxed today.
After letting him loose we went over the tarpaulin at liberty together and then I went and asked Tara to catch me. I play quickly with her, saddle and cinch her up and then ride her at trot for half an hour doing point 2 points with 4 cones at the corners of the field. This is just mainly for exercise as she needs to loose weight. Today Tara is light, she works well from my body weight and very little on the reins and she has good impulsion today. It's fun to ride her.
Tara and her new French Collar for her harnessher logging will be more comfortable now ;-)
Saturday 2nd October
