Summer Solstice: January 2011

Monday 31st January

Last day of January and it was very grey today, wasn't sure if it was going to rain or snow but luckily it's held out and just decided to be grey. We did some shopping this morning but got home about 1pm......Solly time ;-)

I whistled to him, to see if I can set a cue for him to come to me from a distance, Stormy came...he knows the whistle and whilst I gave him a treat for being a good boy Solly realised if he came too he'd get a treat!!! clever boy...he came nicely and then I haltered him in the soft hackamore like yesterday and took him out of the field. I groomed and saddled him just like yesterday too and then took him out to the grassland for a small play, here's what we did:

1) Stick 2 Me: walk/trot/halt/backups and combinations of those 4. He was pretty light and responsive and we walked all the way down to a gateway and grazed for a bit. Going to the gateway extends his comfort zone on the grassland a bit more which was good.

2) Sideways: I asked him to go sideway L&R with a nice change of direction in the middle along the track on the grassland. He still has a bit of a tendency to shuffle forwards but I made sure that when we stopped it was always on a good sideway step without the forwards. I try not to get too demanding when things are exactly what I want but I do try to keep just doing the manoeuvre until I see and feel it going better, more relaxed, more in tune with me and then he usually does a few good steps where we stop and rest ;-)

3) Circling: we do these on the move and it's harder for him as the hackamore lead rope is only a 12' one so he has to really look where he's going and arc around me to keep his balance. He does it very well in walk and he puts in a couple of lovely COD's too. We try for a trot but the ground is just too rough with tussocks of grass on old mole hills....like moorland really so I don't push it.

4) Squeezes: I use a wide ditch for squeezes and he does them very calmly, down into and up out of the ditch nicely.

5) Riding: YEEHAA....2nd day in a row for riding and I'm very keen to keep the positive pattern going with Solly for the next few days, and then extend our riding area a bit more and help us both get back into hacking out when the ice goes from the main track.

SO, at the mounting block 'stone' he sidles up nicely for me to get on and he gets to graze a bit whilst I sort out my lead rope. I don't tie my lead rope to my saddle anymore (like pnh do) as I've found this to be a bit dangerous if you're wanting to do an emergency dismount...you just can't get the rope off quickly enough and in a wide open space I think it's better to get the lead rope and get off quickly rather than just jumping off and letting the horse go....SO, what I've been doing is leaving a bit of length of velcro off my saddle pad fixing at the front and tucking the rope (doubled over) under these, so you double the rope over and then tuck the middle bit under the first pad fixing, over the withers and then tuck end under other side velcro. I do keep an eye on it so that it doesn't slip out but this feels much safer to get out in a quick decision moment!!

I then ask Sol to walk on around the mounting block and onto the slight hill of the forest track...just like yesterday. He had a bit of a stubborn moment (well it lasted about 5 mins) where he just WOULDN'T go forward and sometimes when this happens I will get off and lead him a bit then remount but today I was determined NOT to get off. He needs to learn to trust me in the saddle. SO, I just sat there. When he thought about moving left or right to turn and go back I just re-directed his head forwards and sat there again. My try's to get him forward didn't work and trying to use the end of the rope on me and his flanks just causes him to swish his tail, head toss and I know there's a buck waiting SO, again I just wait. I slap my thigh and put my energy in a forward feel and wait.

After a while I sit and just ask him to lateral flex L&R, one after the other a few times and then ask again to put in a step of forward motion. I also make sure I have a fixed picture in my mind of where we're going to ride to.....soon he takes just one step and I reward him a lot, praise him and then ask again. After about 2 steps and he's just about past the field where the horses are he decides to just walk on, slowly to start with but with the picture in my mind of where we're going (about a quarter of the way up the track to the tree felling sign) he starts to go nicely ;-) phew! lol

We get to the sign, I arc around to the right, go over some rough ground, over a metal drainage pipe and focus on the mounting block back down....he sighs, relaxes and takes it all in his stride.

When we get down to the mounting block I take him back onto the grassland and do exactly what we did yesterday, lots of moving fig 8's and then some DHQ's/move FQ's over and NO straight lines, just keeping his focus on what we're doing together. He was great.

Just before going back home I gently turn him back the way we had come and do the fig 8's and all the way back to the mounting block!! At the mounting block I just ask him to walk up the forest track again! he thinks about it for a while and then walks nicely up the track. We get to just past the forestry sign and he has a HUGE threshold again, I ask for forwards for a while but sense this is more of a worry than a stubborn-ness SO I jump off and lead him up the track and then off the track into the forest where he jumps three nice fallen tree logs and we see 3 deer in the forest, he doesn't balk at them and I take no notice of them...this could have been what made him have a threshold though. Back out of the forest and onto the track again and I put him into a ditch and remount.

Swiftly back down the track again. I keep his focus by doing some leg yields across the track and some partial shoulders-in L&R. When I feel his head/neck moving nicely with the suspension rein I know he's relaxing more and his leg yields become easier. Down at the bottom at the mounting block again I let him go around the block and have a graze for being so good. Making it twice we've done the forest track today BUT I decide after resting for a bit that we should keep going and I fix my focus on the forestry sign again. He balks once but then goes nicely up the track and we manage to trot most of it with relaxation and togetherness ;-)) YEEHAA.

Final trip down the track, back onto the grassland, more fig 8's and some straight bits and grazing this time and then we gently and very calmly head for home. This was a very good session and I'm so glad we had time to do the ride a few times. This will really help Solly get to grips with just going out and being a good hacking horse ;-) He got a few carrots at home to reward him...he loves his rewards.

Sunday 30thJanuary

Very cold today and small flutter of snow BUT it all calms down and when I woke up this morning I said 'Today I am going to ride Solly'!

So, I go out and he catches me very quickly and is keen to be with me which is lovely ;-) I halter him up with the rope hackamore and play from the start....squeezing out of the gateways, over a tarp with logs on it by the trailer, sideways along the fence and halt whilst I groom and saddle up.

He plays around with the rope a LOT whilst I'm grooming him so I know he needs playing with before I sit on him. SO, after saddling I take him off on our normal walk route and do plenty of Stick 2 Me transitions, sideways, circling on the move, DHQ's and moving FQ's a lot to get and keep his focus.

He does well and when I get to the big stone mounting block (which he put his front feet on the other day) I stand on it and circle him a bit more before sidling him up to it, check his girth and get on ;-)

He can't stand still and I know our relationship from the saddle needs some working on since not riding for over 2 months so I don't rush anything. I start by working on some lateral flexions L&R and then some DHQ' and smoothly moving his FQ's and walking on. These three things help him to move his feet on my terms and get re-focussed on me.

When I feel he's softer and listening to me I face him up the forest track and ask him to walk on. He has a sticky foot moment and tries to turn around but I ask him to face forwards and think about moving forward. He tries slightly to move backwards, which is something he does to avoid doing what I ask, SO I ask him forward but to the left, then to the right and soon his feet are unstuck and he's going forward before he knows it. I keep my focus forwards and he follows it nicely. He isn't totally settled, looking all around him and head up a bit BUT I keep my focus still and put in some backups and leg yields to keep our connection.

All goes well, we get half way up the track and I turn him and walk back (he had about three thresholds and I turn after the third one on a good note), he speeds up a bit so I put in some backups, serpentines and partial shoulders-in to keep him focussing on his feet and me. These work very very well and I'm very relaxed on him.

Back at the mounting block we go onto the open grassland and Solly gets a bit restless again so I ask him to do lots of moving fig 8's, I ask Solly to arc around my inside leg a lot and when he relaxes we go forward a bit and then back into fig 8's until relaxed again. We do this all the way back with some very nice backups along the way.

The open grassland area

Once at home I dismount and think about putting him back in the field BUT I quickly reflect that the track home was where he got a bit restless and if I stopped now this may become a habit!!! SO, I do the best thing for both of us and take him back in-hand back onto the grassland and play some more, up the forest track (further than we went before, playing all the way) and then I remount.

He was a little tense coming back down but I was quite relaxed and felt good about coming out again, actually I think this is something I should do often, go out, play, ride, come back and do it again and again and again until both of us are totally relaxed and calm going out up the forest track!! now there's a good plan ;-))

So, coming down I play the same ridden games, backups, serpentines, partial shoulders-in and blowing out a LOT to help him relax. He baulks quickly at one fallen tree but I keep it together and just pass it and carry on...phew! lol

Again on the flatter grassland I do fig 8''s using DHQ's, move the FQ's and walking on and this technique done a LOT really relaxes him and he starts to blow out. At one point I stop in the middle of the space and stop....he stands totally still and I know that now he is calm and relaxed, he grazes for a while and then we move off at a walk and go home without him jogging ;-))

Walking around the open grassland

DHQ's...

...DHQ's until relaxed...

Relaxed, standing still and able to graze without moving ;-))

Well I wasn't sure if riding were going to happen today, the ground was very hard but I'm SO glad I did it, it felt good, we worked through our unconfidences and came out calm, confident and with a plan to further our ridden communication. Fab day ;-))
~

Saturday 29th January

January's almost over....seemed like a long month but now it's nearly over it's seems to have flown by. Today I had a few things to do in the house and then I had to trim Fortunes hooves. She didn't take too long and whilst I did this Mark poo picked the field (best hubby in the world ;-)

I had time before 3pm to play with Solly so gathered him up and took him out. I decided for a change to not go for a walk but to have a bit of fun at liberty in my roundpen in our paddock.

Today I used my new 12' rope (seems longer which is nice), it hasn't got a clip on it, just a loop like the 22' feather light long reining ones from PNH but a regular thickness one. I bought this as I have been having good results with Solly without the clip and felt that this was a good way to refine all that we've been doing without the heavy clip. I love it ;-)

SO, what did we do in the pen today, just a short session but fun:

1) Backed up through the gateways. He did very well and I only used ph1 but didn't ask him to rush so there was no rushing to get him through and by giving him time he just took one step at a time nicely. All the ground going into the field and pen is uphill so I think this really helped him to think about where he was putting his feet and do it carefully.

2) Solly decided that he needed to stretch and do a quick warm up, this involved him stretching out and then licking/chewing and farting! lol.

Solly limbering up!

and then limbering out ;-) lol

3) Started today with some Stick 2 Me around the pen and on our first back up he was a bit sticky So I gently and slowly asked for a half circle of back up, making sure to stop and ask for hi HQ's over towards me any time he got close to the fence with his butt...he did well and he then found it much easier to go forwards ;-)

4) Next we did some fig 8's. We've not done any of these for a while, especially at liberty so I just thought it would be fun to see what he did. Started at walk and we had no cones or anything but he did them wonderfully. Couldn't quite believe it actually!

The draw, fig 8 at walk

The redirect, fig 8 at walk ;-)

This went so well that I thought I challenge us more by trying it at trot. He did very well, a bit close at the end but certainly drawing well and re-directing well too ;-))

The draw, fig 8 at trot

5) At the end of the fig 8's instead of stopping and relaxing I asked him to go straight into some circles, walk at first and then trot and also half a lap of canter ;-) Nice to see him stretching out a bit and he did marvellously with the uneven ground and slight hill.

Circling at trot ;-)

Last but not least we haltered up again and did 4 nice squeezes with the pen gateway and played Stick 2 Me out of the field and back to the herd. Here is a picture of Solly with his new 12' looped rope ;-)

Friday 28th January

Went and collected some more wood today so didn't have much time to do with the horses BUT I wanted to ride out to see if the track was decent at our Summer field. About 11 days ago we went there with our car and couldn't get back up the hill due to an immense amount of ice on a dodgy corner of the track up. It's been there ever since and we've been waiting for a bit of a thaw to drive it out again! SO, today I decided that now Tara's feet have been nicely trimmed she was up for the job of hacking there to see what the track looked like.

I haltered her and saddled her and then went off slowly down the track and often off track as the bit near our house is thick ice still...but she did very well. Where there was a bit of snow she was a bit reluctant to walk on it so I got off and lead her so that she knew it was safe. She followed beautifully.

At the first gate I got back on her and rode her a little way...now this is a field that has cattle in it, mostly Highlands with beautiful big horns!! eek. I'm not too worried if they stay away but Tara (and me) don't particularly like them following us or coming close and we both know that if we run they'll follow out of curiosity. So, off we ride and around the first corner they are there at their feeder!! eek. I ignore them but they start to walk towards us and Tara's head goes right up and she feels like a Lusitano under me. I halt her, relax and jump off as then I can help her be braver. I luckily remembered to bring my carrot stick/string with me so I played quite a bit of friendly game with her, over her and then extreme friendly game whilst still walking on.

The cattle still came towards us, the youngsters trotting in enthusiasm and so I had to take charge of the situation. I halted Tara and played extreme friendly game at the cattle, they stood still (I was hoping they'd run off) and my plan of them moving from energy didn't work so I walked towards them with plenty of energy and they then turned and trotted off a little way...phew ;-) Tara and I walked on a bit, but they started to come after us and Tara wasn't happy about them being behind her so to protect my herd of two I turned, faced the cattle and trotted very energetically at them whilst slapping the string on the CS wildly and with plenty of noise...they turned, but only when I was quite close to them and Tara and I managed to make next gateway without incident! another phew!!

At the gate I mounted again and we went down the hill checking the track for ice and slippery bits. When down at the car I knew most of the ice had melted and that we could get the car out again SO, quickly off back home to get Mark and the dogs to walk to the car and bring it back home.

The ride home was good, Tara put in some nice trot, even over uneven ground which was nice and although the cattle again tried to get close to us I just whipped the ground, went towards them a little bit and Tara knew I'd take care of her. Hopefully one day I'll be able to do this in the saddle and Tara will trust me to keep her safe, at the moment riding through cattle on her own just worries her...she loves it when Holly is with us as Holly will actually run at them and chase them off for dear Tara. lol.

But anyway, a good short hack out, got car back and Tara worked through a few issues with the cattle ;-))

Thursday 27th January

Today has been great. It's dawned on me that finally I'm putting all that I've learned in my horsemanship into practise whilst keeping me and Solly comfortable, stretching our comfort zone, sticking to a plan but changing it when necessary and also to have FUN.

Most of the time I've been moaning about not having round pen's, not having an arena or flat place to play during the winter BUT I got to thinking last night about WHY have I learnt all I've learnt with my horsemanship.....I mean, what's it all about anyway???

Well I realised that what I'm doing by taking Solly out in-hand, working on the games and techniques out on the track IS why I'm doing it. We've done a lot of play in round pens and arena's but this is what it's all about...getting out and about, keeping our confidence in strange places and taking that from the ground into riding. I'm actually looking forward to riding Solly again and hopefully that will be really soon now ;-)

SO, back to today....what did we get up to?

Firstly I asked him to catch me and he did this nicely and I lead him out of the field in Z2 with a very loose 22' feather light line on his halter. At the gate I asked him to stop and wait, I opened the gate, went through it and then invited him through it, as he got through it I asked him to DHQ with my back to his shoulder and touching his HQ's with my fingertips. I then fastened the gate. We've only done gateways this way the last two sessions and he's got it nicely.

Next I take him onto the open grassland where we've been playing and do some nice Stick 2 Me transitions h/w/t/w/h and then after some grazing I put him onto moving circles. Today I ask for more relaxation by pushing my energy at his Z3 and asking him to arc around me. This was very good and I'm glad I did it as a small tractor came along the track whilst we were doing this. His head came up and he was distracted but I just kept my focus on 'we're circling together' and only once did he stop so I backed him up a bit and then resumed circles. He was keeping an ear on the tractor BUT he did his circles with COD's quite well considering.

Once the tractor had gone I circled him on the move to the forest track and I was going to stand on the very large rock there to circle him but decided to see if he'd stand on it instead. He had a few goes and I used lots of release every time he tried and then he just got up on it like it was his idea all along ;-)

Big Pedastal ;-)

I then lead him from Z2, doing Stick 2 Me's again, up the forest track and I made sure we did some weaving on/off the track to make sure he was moving away and towards my energy/body, which he did very well with. I then used the 'sniff things' task whilst walking about, it kept our focus together.

'Sniff' the sign ;-)

Next, instead of just walking up the track I decided to walk into the forest and see what obstacles we could find there. Firstly there were a few deer in there that ran off and Solly's head came up a bit but he didn't stop or seem too worried which was fab. My focus was very strong today and it was great to see him taking care of his feet through some trecherous logs and windfalls all over the place. At one log I put quite a bit of energy in my 'feel' and he jumped the log...this was with a camera on me, no cs/ss and with a loose 22' feather light rope! cool ;0)

Solly really looking where he was going,
walking over quite big logs and through rough terrain

Jumping over logs in the forest,
very balanced and calm today ;-)

Moving out of the forest, me in Z2/3 we stop with a log under Z3, he's really listening to my every intention and it feels really good to have this connection with him. At the top of the track we rest and I let him graze for being such a good boy. I then connect the 2nd 22' line on his halter and I practise a manoeuvre that Ingela Larsson Smith showed me at her clinic last year....to have the long reins, outside one over the back/withers of the horse and DHQ's from the outside. This is quite a difficult move but Solly and I have tried it a couple of times before. He seems to 'get it' well with me on his right and him turning his head to the left and DHQ's towards me. BUT he has a bit of bother doing it the other side...this is the side he has trouble with circling and arcing nicely around me so I knew I'd have to be patient.

My patience paid off, eventually what I did was to actually put my arm over his back and do a DHQ as if I was riding him, this he understood and then I just made the rope longer and longer until I was standing normally again. I will test this a few times when we go out again to reinforce the pattern.

So, on the way home, long reins in hands, me in Z3 he went down the track and we did transitions of slow walk/fast walk/slow walk/halt etc. I used my energy and some verbal cues I've taught him and I didn't touch the lines at all! great. Also whilst walking I asked him to flex his head/neck towards me and try to step under a bit in the start of a shoulder-in in-hand. Then I used the slight DHQ I'd just taught him to do it on the outside side too. Just the beginnings of a shoulder-in but it was a good start.

Long reining Solly from Z3

At the open grassland again I took the reins over his back and stood in Z5 to long rein him home. He did nice transitions w/t/w/h/bkup's and also we started some sideways from Z5 and Z3, he got a bit confused but I just waited and as soon as he 'got it' I relaxed and let him take a mouthful of grass ;-)

This was a very good session, calm, focussed and confident for both of us ;-))

Wednesday 26th January

For some reason today just didn't have enough hours in it for me to play with Solly BUT I did trim all Tara's hooves which really needed doing and they look fab again now ;-) I hope to get out with Solly again tomorrow.

Tuesday 25th January

Well today we made a breakthrough...well I did anyway! lol. I have been a bit concerned about Solly and my relationship, thinking the 2 months off has put it all back a bit BUT when I ask for a bit more effort from him with a ph4 he has been getting a bit annoyed with me and also worried SO, I thought and thought about it all and last night I had a light bulb moment....if I am asking for lightness then why am I not giving lightness at all times? I always tell my students that lightness only comes from lightness and if the horse is shown it they will find it and want to keep it!!!

Well I've not been hard on Solly but after our quite intense 3 years together maybe the big thick rope with heavy brass snap on it and the carrot stick with string on it is just TOO much now!! how can I refine my actual tools??? I decided that I would use the lightest of lightest tools I could and this meant NO stick, NO string and only using the 22' feather light rope looped onto the headcollar without any clip device so there was only string on string!!! would this work or was it a disaster waiting to happen?

Actually even from the very beginning it was lovely. There was no brace, no tension, no pulling and Solly listened to my every wish and I made sure after asking for something I gave him the TIME to do it without trying to rushing him. It was almost like being at liberty but with a nice safety line. The 22' feather light line is very light but effective. I quite liked it being without a clip as there was nothing harsh about it at all.

I saddled him for our walk out today just so he gets used to it on again.

We went on our usual walk out in hand, me in Z2/3 and Solly doing nice Stick 2 Me's with w/t/backups along the whole track. Going up the hill he grazed a bit with me sitting on a rock so that he got used to being near/in the forest more and then he did some nice squeezes over the 2 logs. At the top of the track we stopped and did some Z3 facing squeeze/yo-yo's along a fenceline from about 20' away and I was very pleased with his light responses.

I had brought along the other 22' feather light line so before coming back down the hill towards home I fixed this on the other side of his halter and long reined him most of the way home. Along the track I stayed in Z3 as he was a bit high headed about going back in front but at the bottom I was in Z5 and the lines were lovely and long so I felt very safe way back behind him. He did some great turns to the L&R and circles with COD's to the outside of the circle and then some w/t/backups with me in Z5 all the way home ;-)

SO glad I tried this option and will do it again tomorrow if I have time after trimming some more hooves ;-)

Solly standing quietly waiting to go out,
the 22' feather light string on his head almost unnoticeable ;-)

Managing to trot some moving circles over the rough terrain

Grazing peacefully whilst I sat on a rock and waited patiently

Long reining Solly from Z3/4

Long reining from Z5 ;-)

Monday 24th January

Chilly day and I had some chores to do early on, but when I got home I put together a small round pen in the 3rd paddock behind the house. The horses don't use this paddock much as there is a 7.5' boggy bit of land between this and the next, well used, paddock (hopefully make a bridge for it for next year so they can get across safely!) So, hopefully the pen won't be pulled down by Stormy investigating things. lol

Anyway, after putting the pen up I went and asked Solly to catch me, he was okay with this today and we've been working on haltering with a very low head and he did this well too. We play Stick 2 Me from the field, around the front of the house and to the 3rd paddock and he's listening pretty well, nice responses and not too much taking his attention away.

Into the round pen we go and I decide to just take it right from the beginning and just play the 7 games with him online to start with.

Friendly...not a problem, he's relaxed and calm and happy.

Porcupine...His DHQ is okay, a bit of forward movement so I slow it RIGHT down and reward him for every single step he does well. FQ moves are great and again I keep it slow and reward often. His back up is good from the chest too.

Driving...very good, same issues as with the last game but by taking it slowly we got some nice results.

Yo-yo...he did GREAT with this.

Sideways...again forward movement happening so again slowed it down and gave him plenty of reward for good movement. We did sideways away then sideways towards both ways. Very pleased with this.

Squeeze....just asked him to squeeze between me and the round pen fence. He did a nice job of staying straight and turning without too much drifting forward. Only did a couple of these, just testing responses.

Circling...I only had a 12' line but he did very well with this, nice slow walk, calm and responsive. He did very wonderful COD's both ways too ;-)

Everything was going SO well that I decided to take his halter off and see how our Liberty was going after such a long break. We started with a session of Stick 2 Me and Solly did superbly with walk/halt/walk/trot/halt/backups ;-) I do love playing Stick 2 Me.....again he did two great COD's at close range during this.

Next I just asked for a couple of liberty laps of circling. He does walk nicely, trot when I asked went well and back to walk went well too. COD's both way fab ;-))

Good session, will take it forward each day if I can and get back to where we were before Xmas asap.

When I let him go he ran back to the herd, jumped the 7.5' bog into the other field and started playing with Stormy BIG time...I think the mares have come back into season and the boys think it's Spring time! lol ;-)

Sunday 23rd January

Another dry day today so we got a lot done. Firstly poo picking in the paddocks, went pretty quickly. Then Mark trimmed Hollys hooves and I did another quick trim on Solly's hooves. Both horses are getting their barefoot trims back in order now ;-)

I then took a couple of pictures of the wooden sled I made so that I remember how it was made, typical that I made it when the snow was just going and I may not be able to use it this winter BUT hopefully next winter I can get it out straight away and see how it goes ;-)

Then after a cup of tea and a sit down I decided to just take Tara out for a short/quick hack up the forest track to the moor and back. I also decided that I would take her hackamore off on the way home and ride bareback and bridleless. I made sure she had a string around her neck and I took my short training stick as I knew she would be a bit sluggish in manoevres after so much time off and although her hackamore was on I didn't touch it once and took it off for the ride home ;-)

On the way up I did a THOUSAND transitions, walk/halt/backup and then walk/trot/halt/backup to get her responding to me a bit lighter. I also did some sideways off the track, sideways back onto the track to see if she was listening to my leg aid, it took a few attempts but much better after a few of these. Then towards the top I asked her to DHQ's 180' to the left and then 180' back again and then walk on for a while. Then stop and do a DHQ 180' to the right and then 180' back again. She tried a few times to squirt forwards but we got better as we tried all these things out again.

Coming back off the hill she was lighter and more responsive but then when she got in sight of home she wanted to just run off without listening SO I let her go a little way her way and then asked her to slow, stop and back up and did this a few times so that we were communication better and she wasn't just running to the herd.

All in all it was a GREAT first ride out this year and to do it all bareback and bridleless was fun ;-)

Saturday 22nd January

The sun rose and started to get really warm and Mark and I decided it was a fab day to take a couple of horses out for a walk SO he got Holly and I got Solly and we went out for a while. Here are the pictures from today:

Solly looking at the beautiful view

Solly relaxed and listening to my energy with Stick 2 Me

Me and Solly actually trotting together up the track.....phew!

Solly reading my energy and jumping the logs beautifully

A nice 'together' moment ;-)

Again, a nice 'together' moment ;-)

Sol decides HE wants to carry the stick/string ;-) lol

Some Z5 driving...actually more like some Z5 passenger lesson ;-) cool.

Z5 driving/passenger...just asking him to be braver about going in front of me

Walking over logs together, he's really listening to my energy here
and we stopped with front legs over pole, Z3 over pole and Z5 just over pole too ;-)

That release from over the poles, he really shows his tongue
when he's had to think his way over stuff ;-)

Down through a ditch and jump up the opposite bank

Back at home, whilst the herd are cantering around being daft
I ask Solly to stand on a stone pedastal ;-)

Mark asking Holly to sidle up to a mounting stone ;-)

Mark enjoying a bareback ride on Holly

Holly showing that she can jump out of ditches too....yeehaa!!

and nothing to do with the walk out BUT Tara showed me today why she's
such a perfect Level 3 girl...she's been pooing on or next to
the poo piles in our paddocks...now that's one clever horsey. Love her to bits ;-))

Friday 21st January

2nd day out walking with Solly, the ground is a little bit softer today so I ask for a few more games to try to get some leadership/respect back into our relationship. He does very well and we walk around the open grassland opposite our house and then up the hill and by the forest where I normally walk the dogs. Here's some pictures of our walk out:

grazing is most important but going over the drainage pipe goes well

Sideways over the drainage pipe started off a bit sticky but got better ;-)

Walking over logs in the forest went well too, he even jumped it once ;-)

Lots of licking and chewing over these two close logs...
he didn't jump it like I thought he might if worried but navigated over it
in walk, calmly, one log at a time ;-)

There's that licking and chewing again as I asked him, one step at a time,
to come over and then back up over the two logs...clever boy ;-)

Stopping with one log in front of him and one log under him ;0)
He just checks to make sure no scary deer are coming to grab him from behind. lol

The final back up which he does very well,
they're not small poles either so really picking his feet up

and rest after all his effort ;-)

Putting one foot on a stone pedastal

Having a good scratch on this post...he got a bit sweaty playing

Good stand on a big stone with two feet for a finale ;-)

At the gate home...phew, was a good session

Thursday 20th January

It's been ages since I did anything with dear Solly and today after all the paddock cleaning I've been doing was the day to start things off again. We only did a short walk but it was just nice to connect again online. He got to graze a bit and I got to see if our communication is still there.

Well it was slow but okay for a first session this year. He did some nice backups from Z1 and also from Z3 with me facing his side. He did some nice Stick 2 Me walk and backups too. Coming back he did some really good sideways L&R which was lovely.

Am hoping to be able to walk him out and about everyday for a while now, get to some different places online and maybe play around the forest, check to see if he's okay with branches around his feet, do small jumps etc but really just taking it slowly, grazing for treats and building our bond up again.

Solly with his fancy rhythm beads
which our friend Dorothy bought us for Xmas

Coming back home from our walk

Cheeky boy ;-)

Wednesday 19th January

Today I think the boys thought that spring had come early OR they're just happy to have solid ground underneath their hooves again....here they are playing ;-)

Tuesday 18th January

We have at last some greenery around us again, still some nasty ice on the track outside our house but I can hopefully get some online play in soon now that we can see the ground more ;-)

All I have done for the last couple of weeks is ask Solly to pick up his bowl as a new thing to do. He's always wanting to pick things up or just generally put them in his mouth so putting a cue to it hopefully will give him something to do and also discourage him from doing this when no cue there asking for it ;-)

The last week has been going very well but today was special. I had been taking some rugs off and Solly had wandered off from his first hay pile where his feed bowl was so when I went back there I decided to try something new. I stood at the bowl and gave the click/cue for him to pick up his bowl...his head came up and he looked at me with interest. I gave the cue again and he turned towards me and slowly walked over to where I was (about 25' away) and nosed my hand (probably thinking he'd get his treat for just coming over. lol) but I just repeated the cue and he picked up the bowl, held it and waited for me to say 'good boy' before releasing it into my hand and my other hand gave him his well earned treat.

I hope to progress this task so that I can maybe throw something (like a frisbee) and he'd fetch it and bring it back to me but one step at a time and keeping it fun will help him from getting bored with it ;-) very proud of his progress so far and it's given us a short and fruitful play session which he really seems to enjoy.

Monday 10th January

Not much going on still BUT when I put up new salt/mineral licks today the horses were very interested in the large paper bag I brought them in!! SO, with their interest up I let them interact with it at liberty and this is what they did...

Solly was up first, sniffing and thinking about it...NOSE...

...then his NECK, lots of pushing it about on the snow...

...MAYBE THE FEET....
he put more effort in and managed to stand on it, with confidence...

...then Stormy wanted to see what all the fuss was about...
NOSE...

...NECK, he really was trying to figure out what it was for!...

...his, MAYBE THE FEET, involved him standing on it
and scraping it backwards underneath him.lol...

...Then Holly, herd leader, took a sniff at it and
realised there was nothing in it very quickly and moved back to her hay. lol...

...Even Fortune had some fun with it and she is the only one
that really took it into her mouth and played with it...

...Finally dear Tara took a little look and feel in of it
but wasn't impressed so went back to snoozing in the sunshine ;-)

They all had a play with it and it was interesting to see the order in which they came to see it and what each one did with it.

On another note with our paddocks at the moment, going from paddock one to paddock two there is a small stream (sometimes bigger due to thawing of snow from the hill behind us) that they've all manged to figure out how to cross safely now ;-) Here is a piccie of Holly doing just that...

Sunday 9th January

Our two boys eating together...ahh ;-)

Well a HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone who reads this blog, I hope it is a prosperous and progressive one for you all. On that note we've not done much with our horses for the last few weeks, snow on snow and ice has been a problem this year so they've all had a well earned rest and no play really. The only thing we manage to do is do some logging with Tara, hopefully before the end of the year Stormy will have had a go too ;-)) So, on that note, here is today's logging session with our dear Tara.