April 2011

Tuesday 26th April

Got to horses late today as had a visitor so decided to just stick to play/riding with Solly and do more with Stormy on the weekend, the next few day I'm out teaching so the weekend it will have to be.

SO, to Solly...what to try out today? Well he did a fabulous sidepass over one of the tyre/pole jumps and that was very cool. We then went to doing some circling with some jumps thrown in, he did the double bounce jump beautifully again ;)

Then I went to try some more canter on his circles but he was very unimpressed with trying that one much so I didn't push it. Will try it again another day. Instead I went over and groomed and saddled him and then played and cinched him. Then I asked Sol to put the bridle on with the polyurethene/plastic french link bit in. He really didn't want to and clenched his mouth so I just played with it and asked him NOT to put it in his mouth but he really didn't want to play ball with this. So to help him out I put a treat in my hand and asked him to take the bit to get the treat...he did this and was okay so off to mount we went ;-)

I put the rope halter with reins over the bridle so that I could ride with that and let him get used to the bit again without me using it for now. He was okay but a bit short striding and under-impulsed but I just got on with working on our transitions and it got a bit better. So then I slowly took up both reins and went from working with the halter to working on the bit.

Everything changed!! He started chomping on the bit with his tushes and then pulling his head down and overbent, then he started not wanting to go forward again so I waited and tried again, then again....he just wasn't happy ;-(

I then dismounted and took the bridle/bit off and put my sidepull bridle on..again putting the halter/reins over the top just incase. So off we go again, working on impulsion which wasn't too bad but he had trouble understanding left and right a bit and when I looked at how the sidepull was working it really didn't release the pressure well or as quickly as I would like SO, again, off it came and back to the rope halter and reins.

With just the rope halter and reins he did brillaintly. Impulsion good, stop to trot fast, walk to canter nearly there and his canter was free, happy and off a phase 1 off my legs. I was very happy and so was he, which is more important ;-) Next we did canter/trot/canter to a point on the long side of the arena and then in trot a leg yield across the arena to a cone where we stopped and rested. Then back the other way with the same thing. He did this 4 times and then we did some lovely fig 8's in trot and I was so happy that he was listening and going well that I stopped on a good note and praised him lots. We walked to the car, I untacked him and I gave him some more treats for being such a patient, good boy ;-)

So, we tried but I'm not happy about putting the bit back in his mouth, he works much much better without it so why change it? lol

Monday 25th April

Lovely long weekend with the horses and today Mark came out and play/rode with me too...Love Bank Holiday Weekends ;-)

We decided that we wanted a nice casual hack out, Mark on Holly, me with Tara. When I got there though Solly trotted over to me with a wonderful happy face and wanted to play SO I couldn't refuse that great welcome ;)



I played some sideways away and towards with a bit more distance now. Backing up and drawing was great (using halter and 22' featherlite line) and then into some circling, asking more and more for canter now and when he forgets his gait we do a COD and ask for more impulsion the other way. Going well but could be improved. May have to use some treats for some motivational help. lol.

Then we played some S2M w/t/bkups and around to the jumping course again. Today I put the two jumps by the fenceline together as a bounce (this is where the horse jumps one jump, puts it's front feet down, back feet down and pushes over the second fence straight away...a bounce in and straight out). I know that Solly is now able to do this mentally, emotionally and physically and as he now looks more and more where he's going I want to just try it and see if he can figure it out.

Well he just does it, first time and a second time and a third time...no bother at all ;-) Clever boy.

Jump in...

...front legs in, back legs in and...

...push off and over second part...THE BOUNCE ;-)

So pleased with this and a great place to end play today. I take him to have a treat and then back to the herd and let him off. He follows me for a while which is lovely and I give him a hug and release him from our connection and he wanders off as I go and ask Tara to catch me.

I do some play with Tara, quick sideways away/towards, circles, yo-yo's and then saddle and put her hackamore on ready to ride out. I then get Stormy and mount Tara and show Mark how I pony Storm from Tara and also how to hold the training arm to help him turn and move on without loosing the reins or lead rope. lol. Then Mark has his second go with ponying Storm from Holly and it goes a bit better today. Will only get better and better with practise ;-)

Holly and Mark ponying Storm

Looking much better today ;-)

Then it's time for our hack out, Holly and Tara trot/canter up the big hill and we're soon out on the trail towards the village. Today we decide to go past the village off road and towards a lovely little loch we know by a holiday cottage. It was beautiful weather, Tara did very well keeping it together past some rambunctious young black cattle (I think they thought she was one of them out on the razzle) and we all had a nice break by the loch before heading for home.

Me and Tara enjoying the weather and our ride out

Mark with the horses by the lochside

Mark and Holly chilling out before heading for home

Me and Tara hanging out before heading home ;-)

Lovely nice, calm, warm ride out and managed to get to the village shop for carrots and apples for the horses and ice creams for Me and Mark ;-) yummy.

When we got home after some lovely canter work from Holly and Tara the two boys were over joyed to see us and gave us a lovely welcome back with whinneys and running to the fence.

Solly's welcome home, how beautiful he moves when he's inspired to


and the big Stormster, fabulously light and looking
very fit with a stunning canter and trot to welcome us home ;-)

Sunday 24th April

Well today was a lot of fun, Mark and I went down to the horses field around 11.30am and spent about 4 hours with the herd, here's what we did in pictures:

Playing with Solly....
stopping over jumps and sidepassing off them ;-)

Jump/stop again ;-)

Jump/Stop/Sidepass ;-)

Multiple jumps ready for riding them

Bringing Tara into arena to keep Sol company
whilst playing w/Stormy

Tara figures out cone fun for itchy spot on her belly. lol
How clever is she? ;-)

Mark and Stormy
getting him to use his feet better and
get his impulsion up for more confidence
and willing obedience

Getting better each time ;-)

Backing over poles and back again
is also fab for his brain/feet connection

Again backing over poles with a tarp included too ;-))

Stormy doing what he was made to do...Pulling ;-)

These two tyres he's pulling are for putting his feed bowl into,
he pushes each one around and they roll down the steep hill...
now he knows that he can pull them back up the hill when he does it ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Newton-Carter 2011 Easter Clear Round Jumping Comp
(just for fun we did this round of jumps
all poshed up and everything. lol)

Shelley NC and Solly
starting out getting some impulsion going
for the clear round jumping class ;-)

Jump 1: off they go, eager and balanced

Jump 2: little under-impulsed but horse pulls it off well

Jump 3: going better now and good straight line for next jump

Jump 4: clear again...going well

Jump 5: a flying end to a good clear round

Shelley NC and Solly win the clear round class for Easter 2011 ;-)) lol

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the rest of the day! lol

Mark has a little ride on Solly

Trys a jump with him too...not bad ;-)

Mark then plays with Holly,
back up and draw with a pole

Squeeze through a very very narrow gap ;-)

Riding Holly to settle her before their first try ponying Stormy ;-)

Using weaving to help focus her mind more

Over the tarp whilst calm

Xtreme friendly game from the saddle,
to make sure Holly doesn't get upset with ropes etc when ridden

Ponying 1: Stormy and Holly are the herd's top horses
(Holly herd leader, Stormy dominant 1st below her)
so they have some herd dynamics going on when ponying,
BUT Mark has to settle them to accept him as leader so that
they ride/follow well ;-)

Mark does lots of inside turns to help Stormy learn to
stay beside them rather than following or pulling behind them

Stormy following/pulling behind...he'll get there,
he's staying behind the herd leader

Stormy slowly understanding that he needs to keep up with Mark
& Holly rather than pulling behind ;-)

And into trot....Stormy listening more to Mark now rather than Holly ;-)

Ponying getting better, Storm in a better position now

A good loose rope on Stormy ;-)

A great end to a good day ;-)

Saturday 23rd April

Today started off grey and stayed that way most of the day. We went out to play/ride and Mark did some nice circling, sideways and stick 2 me with Stormy and trimmed his bad front foot BUT the rain just didn't want to play ball today. I managed to get my 'Liberty Grooming' on film but the rain was just too nasty to continue with play or riding and we bolted for home in the car and spent the day watching a movie with tea and biscuits. lol.

The Liberty Grooming video is on this url:
http://horsesavvy1.blogspot.com/search/label/4%29%20Stage%204%20video%27s%20%28More%20Skilled%29

Check it out and try it out ;-)

Sideways w/Stormy and Mark

Friday 22nd April

Bit under the weather today so had some R'n'R at home before going out with Mark to see the horses a few hours early than their dinner time. Mark did a load of poo picking on the flat part of the field whilst I slowly went around and groomed all FIVE of our babies ;-)

It was very lovely to hang out with them and they all just stood at liberty waiting for all their itchy spots to be scratched and a lot of rubber curry combing out of almost the ending of their winter coats. Loads of hair scattering the field for birds nests now. lol.

When I first went into the field to groom Stormy came straight over and wanted to know what I was doing and the girls were nearby but casually grazing. Solly was half way up the hill and he kept looking at me and I said hello as I always do and then ignored him. He came cantering down the hill to be with me and it was almost like he said 'ME, ME, Me first...I need grooming, you're MY human'! lol. So, I groomed him first and he was very happy about that, stood at liberty totally still (ours do this all the time now) and when I went to walk away he followed me ;-)

I then set up my small mounting block (beer crate) and stood on it and groomed his upper body from the block...I didn't move but I asked him to move around me for grooming / forward, L&R and backup...very cool ;-)

I said to him that he could go back to grazing but he WANTED to be with ME!! how cool..he wanted to play and hang out a bit SO we did.

Then we went and played a bit, asked him to Stick 2 Me in w/t/bk up...fab. Then I asked him to bk from tail and do slow liberty spins...fab. Next we did some stick 2 me with him going over multiple jumps at liberty....xcellent. A short scratch break and then I asked him to do liberty circles in trot at about 15' away (I was standing by the barrel jump so that helped keep him out on a slightly bigger circle....BRILLIANT ;-)) he did the circles twice in each direction and at the end of each circle I asked him to jump the barrels towards me and stop...fab. Then I said he could leave but he wanted to stay a bit so I then got my energy up and asked him to do the double canter stride jump and as he got to the centre of the jumps I slowed down and extended my arm/hand in a gesture of freedom for him, he jumped the last jump and then continued back to where the girls were grazing, set free and happy to have played with his human ;-))

It was a totally spontaneous session, short but sweet and it was great to touch in with him at liberty after a couple of days away teaching. Love this boy, he's really connected and happy now.

Tuesday 19th April (pm)

Very good day today, Tara took me down to the field as she was at the house and that was a very good, fun exercise. When at the field Solly was half way down so I keep Tara to me with the halter/rope and Solly came and caught me, I put the stick/string around his neck and he followed me to the arena and then popped straight in when I opened the gateway, Tara came too. I left them both grazing in the arena while I sorted out saddles etc.

I went and groomed both of them and then asked both of them to catch me. Solly came straight over and then I asked Tara. She's a bit sticky when another horse is around as she's bottom of the herd but I made sure she knew I was leader and she was welcome and she got really close to Solly. I then let her go and graze and haltered up Sol.

Everything went well today and I was very pleased with what we did, here's a quick run down of it all:

1) Xt. friendly - fabulous, he doesn't worry at all, all zones, all strengths, helicopters too.

2) YoYo - back to the whole 22' featherlight string and at the end ears forward and a great draw at trot with ears forward too ;-)

3) Sideways - away great, not a problem and with a nice look on his face too, he really likes the featherlite lines.

4) Fig 8's - w/t and a bit of canter. A bit sticky on canter so go into circles to help him relax and get some rhythm.

5) Long reining - this was fab today. Started out with w/t with outside rein over his back, doing some nice fig 8's and weave without using the reins, just going behind his back and grabbing his glance with his eye to change direction or curve the other way. Fab stuff. Then went to work with outside rein along his side and behind his butt, above hocks and this worked very well and did quite a few canters, he had one buck but after that realised it wasn't a worry and just did well. We tried a few canter SLC's with fig 8's but need to work on those a bit more for smooth transitions. I stayed well in Z4-5. Very happy with this session though and progress made nicely ;-)

6) Jumps, still on 22' featherlite - did multiple jumps again with hardly any phases, just fun and enthusiasm. I also put the double jump as a single canter stride (it was 2 yesterday) and he just did it beautifully to the L&R...very proud of him for this, his canter stride was calm, focussed and lovely to watch.

7) Jump/stop/sidepass off - he did a couple of small jumps doing this and then a sidepass towards off one too. THEN he tried, and did well, a jump/stop/sidepass with the two laying down barrels!!! YEEHAA...a first for this, not only the big jump/stop with such precision and focus but the sidepass away over it was fab...not done any barrel sidepassing for months and very very pleased with his calmness today ;-))




8) Saddle and bridle/bit - start with some slow walk RtR and P2P's but his impulsion was very low so tapped him a few times but not any better. After a while we managed to get some trot P2P's but it wasn't what we had before SO made the decision to try out the halter with the finesse reins and change the dressage whip to the short training arm and HEY PRESTO....our impulsion came back!! funny that. May have to try to do finesse with the hackamore!

I know it's been a year since bitting him but I felt I was going backwards with our relationship when he didn't want to go forward. A year ago it felt like we were doing okay with the impulsion/riding/bitted BUT maybe it wasn't, not like when we've been doing freestyle...and I did actually use the halter/reins in a concentrated way for quite some of the time and he was fine with connection!! I think I have to take that feedback and maybe try an english hackamore, see how that works for him....I'd hate to upset him now as we've got such a lovely relationship and if he's happier without the bit then I have to find a way to help him be connected and collected in another way ;-) that's my mission now for him.

9) Riding with hackamore - well the impulsion was back and we did some really LOVELY CANTER around two sides of the school in P2P's, almost w/c transitions too and also figured out that his ears go forward and focussed, calm and happy when I sit with my bum back but my upper body FORWARD with the strides...another great bit of feedback today. He was a happy bunny at long last!

10) Ridden Jumps - decided to take him out of the arena and he had sticky feet for a while but realised it was safe quickly so did some of the jumps...4 in a row twice, the barrels too. It was a lot of fun and I was just trying to stay with him, not tip forward or go off the saddle early and also was aware of keeping my elbows in more. Not sure what it looked like but it felt pretty darn good ;)

What a great day, two big BFO's with the canter position and bridle/bit and also fun jumping again. Thanks Solly, you're a STAR.

Tuesday 19th April (am)

Well today was the start of our new pattern for Tara. Now that we've stopped giving hay to the horses (yeehaa) I can now walk down to the field with Mark to walk the dogs, give the horses their speedi-beet, alfalfa and pony nuts (not very much at all) and then RIDE Tara back to the house with Mark walking the dogs. THEN, when I want to return to the field to play/ride Solly or any of the others I can Ride Tara back to the field, keep her in the arena, do my play/ride and then Ride Tara back to the house (or leave her there if the session goes on longer) to then be able to walk back to the house with Mark walking the dogs in the pm....FAB. Means I don't have to use petrol and the car and Tara gets exercised at least twice but up to four times in the days I'm here playing with the horses! Xcellent ;-))

Here are the pic's from this mornings ride back to the house.

Monday 18th April

Get into field late today but Solly comes and catches me straight away and I take him with the training arm and string into the arena and let him graze whilst I do the same with Tara. Both in the arena and ask Sol to catch me again for grooming and then the same with Tara ;-)




Then I put Sol's halter on with one 22' featherlight line and whilst he grazes I play the Xtreme friendly game in all zones, no problems with that at all. Then I ask for some focus and do a very nice yoyo back to 20' and stop immediately his ears come forward. I work on this very softly and take what he offers and the ears slowly come forward nicely.




Then I move his HQ's and FQ's a full circle...going nicely with that too. Next I ask him to do some close circles and as he's circling I ask him to move his HQ's underneath him for one step and then move on forward again for a bit. I ask this a few times and it helps to bring his HQ's more underneath him and his head and body in a nice arc around me.

After this I ask for close circles with me moving his FQ's around but whilst he's still moving forward. He did this very well so we stopped quickly and I rewarded him with a rest.

Now we went to circles in w/t/c to the L&R and I helped him do more canter circles working on asking him to keep more energy going and try to relax whilst doing it...he kept the canter quite well I thought so rested him for his effort. So then back to normal circles with some COD's thrown in to keep him interested and then moving around I ask him to maintain gait and look where he's going and to trot and canter over the tarp...trot is fine as the poles are in good places for that and he gets a good attempt at canter a couple of times without stumbling over the poles ;-) again we rest for good tries.

So some slower games and back to sidepassing over the tarp and the poles that are holding it down. He had slightly sticky back feet but with encouragement he managed a good sidepass and I praised him lots for that effort.

So, after some grazing I take Solly out of the arena to test his jumping again today. Multiple jumps on first left circles and then right circles with me moving about between the jump course. He does 8 jumps to the left and then to the right and he does them all without stopping ;-) Fab. Very proud of that. The 2 canter stride jump is easy for him now so I will test him out with a one strider soon and then a bounce!! He's doing so well with his jumps and really looks for them, paces himself and gives each one his best shot.

We rest for a long time and I then take the halter off and he follows me about for a bit. I test out his liberty here in the big field and ask him to do some multiple jumps at liberty!!! HE does them beautifully and goes over them skillfully to the L&R with some COD's thrown in to help keep him on the course. He doesn't even think of going off to the herd, xcellent.

Another rest and then just before I take him back to the herd I ask him to try some liberty circles to the L&R in walk and then in trot. The walk circles are close ones but the trot ones are about 10m away and they were nice, relaxed and focussed. Haven't tried those for a while but he remembers them well.

Whilst I have time I play with Tara who is still in the arena, she catches me well and after she put her front feet in the tractor tyre at liberty I put the halter and featherlight 22' on her. We start with some sideways and then leg yielding across the arena with me in Z4 to the L&R...she's good at this sort of thing due to her driving skills. Next we do some circling game with COD's in w/t/c and I ask her when trotting to try to release the brace in her ribs which she is starting to understand more now.




Then I put a bareback pad on her and tie the 22' lines to make reins and we work on the ingredients of the circles that we started last time we rode together in the arena. Instead of doing the whole circle, especially to the left as she has a strong brace in her neck/shoulder/ribs this way, I ask her to walk forward, try to bend a BIT to either L or R and go straight when she trys' or gets some arc. I do this more to the left but still do it to the right as well and she starts to understand and does some nice small arcs both ways ;-)

Finally I ride her out of the arena and back to the herd where I sit on her whilst she grazes near Solly. When 6 o'clock comes I know Mark will be at the top of the field waiting to feed them dinner so I take Tara around to the bottom of the hill and trot/canter up it with the herd following up as they too realise the time. Tara does a great job of bringing me back up the hill and this was a good plan of mine to have her in the arena to start with...saved me walking up it on my own ;-)) lol.

Last pic of the day of Mark and Stormy after feeding time at the top of the hill. My handsome boys ;-)

Thursday 14th April

Had to go out and about today sorting out getting our car to the mechanic's as it's not running right and a bit of a worry SO not much time left for horse-play BUT went out before evening feed with a plan to play/long rein Solly. You know what they say about plans! lol '-) SO here's what happened.

Into field I could see Holly grazing quietly by the arena, as I walked further into the field I could also see Tara quietly grazing too but a distance from Holly. The others? nowhere to be seen!! I keep walking into the arena and look up the hill to the higher ground where we normally feed them and the stream is and there the other three are, Stormy, Solly and Fortune grazing without a care in the world...fab stuff. They didn't notice me at all.

I gather up my rubber grooming brush and mane/tail brush and think about asking Solly to come down and catch me BUT as I do this Tara quietly comes over and stands with me ;-) How COOL is she. I know she wants grooming and she's already enjoying her belly scratches this early in the season SO I ask her to come with me, leading by her chin, and open the arena gateway and in she pops.

I then groom her for a while and get her totally relaxed and happy, I then take her into the main arena area by squeezing her through the electric fence gateway and just play around with some Stick 2 Me, w/t/bck/w/t/bk/h....w/t/c/h...t/w/t/w/h...all at liberty. She's fab at this game and as a RBint (who goes LBint when confident but is such a centered girl that she's always fab to play/ride...always try's her heart out to please and loves being with me now which is a lovely feeling). We then play around at liberty with the tarp, can she walk over it, can she trot over it, can she trot/halt/trot over it ;-)

So after a break (and our breaks are long and calm for her to really get some reward, release and motivation for the next game), I play with some fig 8's, still at liberty and she does a good one but feels it necessary to wander off to the corner of the arena...I wait and as she looks back at me I ask her to draw and she comes back at a trot ;-). We do some more Stick 2 Me's as she is happiest close to me and then go back to the fig 8's but I make sure my focus and draw are much much better this time. She does three good ones and I draw her to me at a trot again and this goes very well. Again lots of resting and relaxing together.

I then mount up bareback with only a neck string and a short training arm on me so it's bareback and bridleless today! lol. She sidles over to my mounting block beautifully as always and we just rest out for a while before starting anything ridden.

I start with some quiet RtR in walk first. She does very well, very focussed and listening to every little thing I ask of her so I take RtR up to trot which goes very well too. We stop and rest for a reward.

Next we go to do some weaves the length of the whole arena and she's marvellous, very very soft light phases. Fab. Again rest at the end of the weave for a while to reward her.

I then think that maybe trying some very large fig 8's incorporating the whole of the large arena. I have a cone at X (the centre) so use this as our focus to stop at and reward every fig 8 we do well together. We do some nice walk fig 8's and bits of trot but I want to find out how bad our canter is as the fig 8 will be our pattern for SLC & FLC's in canter later on, in freestyle SO how bad are they??? not good is all I'll say. She was very braced going on left circles, her ribs really braced and not flicking through to arc around my inside leg. Her right circles weren't so bad but they need work SO, we work on them from walk upwards.

I first ask her to just walk 4 large semi-circles from X at the centre , to the cone at the outer edge of one circle, then back to X (that's two semi-circles), THEN do the other side circle broken down into two semi-circles. She does well with this as we have a closer focus. We do this at walk and then trot.

Next I ask for trot and put the two semi-circles together to make a circle on end, stop at X, then the circle at the other end, making a fig 8 with breaks. She finds it hard to focus on the full circle SO instead of trying it totally at freestyle I use the neck string more to help her. Now the neck string is still freestyle BUT I used it in a finesse way...ie. constant feel on the string on her neck so that she 'got' left/right turns, stops and forward. Then I put in some 'suspension' rein (even on the neck string ;-) and this really worked. I crunched my body up and pushed MY RIBS out to the outside of the circle, put in a sort of suspension rein on the neck string and pushed my inside leg on her ribs with a rhythmic pulse of her trot...SHE GOT IT!!! yeehaa.

I did the circle to the left about 6 times, stopping for long rests at X and each time it got better, me using less and less finesse or training arm to shape her body. When we did a very good one we stopped for ages whilst I praised her. Then we went and did some right circles the same way and she got these within two circles.

Finally I put one full fig 8, in trot, with some 'feel' on the string and my heel in her ribs and YEEHAA, she did a beautiful (albeit not perfect) fig 8, in trot, with arc in both sides of her. At X I JUMPED OFF QUICKLY to praise her and to let her do absolutely nothing but think about what we'd done. I walked to the mounting block to sit down, she followed me and we stayed there together for AGES and it felt SO good. My big girl learning something new, how fab is that ;-))

I will try to teach, reinforce and refine the fig 8's at trot freestyle (bareback and bridleless as then I cannot micro-manage her) and hopefully try it in canter once our trot is superb. Watch this space. lol.

I released her from our 'connection' so that she could graze and I went and groomed Stormy and then just before their dinner time I haltered Tara up, jumped on her bareback and trotted to the top of the hill to help feed them their hay and dinner. Good day.

Tara resting at X with just the neck string to guide us ;)

Tara resting with me after our session

Wednesday 13th April

Today isn't too hot nor too cold so off out to be with Solly all day today (well at least 4 hours ;-)

I started with taking our equipment to the arena and Solly followed me beautifully all the way, waited to be squeezed into the arena and then grazed calmly whilst I sorted out some banners on the fence. I put the banners on the fence to remind me everytime I play of what I'm looking for when playing ie. Relaxation/Obedience/Impulsion/Flexibility.

I then groom Sol and halter and put him on the 45' line and then we go and PLAY ;-)

Start out with some yo-yo's to see where our respect and connection is, he's not bad until about 22' and then he forgets that we're on the 45' so I work on getting this better by rewarding the good tries but asking for more and more and if necessary running in at him for him to move backwards and not just stop and stand there. I stop backing him when he does it for about 40' with a nice attitude, no stops, not bothered about him being slow, that's fine.

Next I work on some circles for impulsion and move into fig 8's for obedience and flexibility. He's a bit stiff going to the right so has difficulty getting over at X on the fig 8's for the COD but we work on it slowly, again rewarding and stopping on a good note and building it from there...this is our first real play session since Winter so I'm not going to be critical, just help him to achieve where we left off last year ;-)

After a few tries his fig 8's in trot get much better, bigger circles, using more of the 45' which is good. We then try some fig 8's in canter and although not perfect and doing SLC's at X he's obedient but not very flexible. Will work on that as we go.

Just for fun I ask him to sidepass over to the large tractor tyre, he has trouble even looking at this, must seem a BIG TRAP to get his feet caught in but I ask him to try to be brave about looking in it or even putting a foot on it, this is what he did...

...NOSE...

...NECK...

...MAYBE THE FEET!!!

He actually jumped the tyre beautifully, really put his weight back on his HQ's and thought about where he was putting his front feet...can't complain about that, this is his solution to the puzzle and he did it calmly, thoughtfully and with grace.

Next I went to the tarp and asked him to walk/trot/canter over the tarp...walk was fine, trot fine but he had trouble keeping gait with canter, he went down to trot (probably realised the poles holding it down were further than a stride apart) but after some thought he managed to canter over it both L&R and realised he didn't have to jump the poles holding it down, just arrange his feet neatly over them without knocking them!!! clever boy ;-)

For a change then we went and had some fun with weaving at a distance, to start with he was a bit impulsive and I couldn't keep up with his trot through the cones so I went back into walk and got the pattern good with that and then tried it at trot and he did marvellously, at a distance, kept gait and kept the pattern without me asking too much. Fab.

So after a short break I then go to asking him for a sidepass over the tarp, poles and all!!! well, I've never asked him to do this before and he has to really think about what I'm asking but after much thought he realises what I'm asking, to sidepass over tarp and sidle over the poles either side holding it down!! he did this both ways and had lots of licking and chewing going on afterwards.

We had a long rest after the tarp fun but next up was to get out of the arena into the large field and test out the jumps I'd put up a couple of days ago. Well Solly had no trouble at all, he really seems to enjoy his jumping now, does them beautifully and jumps anything in front of him, even looks for the jumps now as I was still on the 45' line and not close to most of the jumps. One of the jumps is a double with two canter strides in between, we worked on those last year and he remembered what to do, it was lovely to watch him working it out ;-) Even the single barrel jump was taken in his stride.




Big rest and some grazing for this effort and then I worked on long reining with the 45' line from Z5, just the one rein and I tossed it over his head from Z5 to do a very nice, neat weave around the field, keeping him flexible to both L&R by staying quite close to his HQ's and asking for a bit of an arc (almost partial DHQ) on side the rein was in. Very pleased how well this went, how my rope tossing is getting better from Z5 and the movement didn't stop Solly walking about either ;-)

Another big rest while I groomed his back and saddled him up, put him onto the 22' line and into the arena again to settle the saddle and cinch up. We play with trotting over the tarp again and getting his impulsion up with circling, fig 8's and COD's. Impulsion got better and so did his flexibiliy and obedience. Great.



So I mount up and start with some RtR and P2P(Ride the Rail & Point 2 Point) at walk. His walk was very slow but I just let him go at his own speed and RtR on three sides of the arena, stopping at the corners of one short side, turning and going back the other way. He soon realised that there was stops and grazing after three sides, clever boy. SO using this pattern we went up into trot. Again he was slow but I asked for more and really put my core energy into it and he followed suit. We rested at the corners regularly and when he did very well he got to stop for longer.

To stop us from getting bored or drilling P2P I then asked for some freestyle weaves down the centre line and he did brilliantly, really listening to my energy and focus, we did about 6 of these in trot and then stopped for a rest. Next we went to trying out some circles around a cone. He had a bit of trouble staying on the circle, I made the circle larger for him and after a while he got it nicely. Stopped at the centre by the cone and he licked and chewed. Then asked him for it the other way and he just got it first time, we did 2 circles and then stopped at the centre again for a reward ;-)

On a good note then we started some P2P, RtR canter work. I wasn't worried if he changed gait as long as he stayed in direction and tried hard for me. To start with he changed canter to trot a few times on the P2P but it got better and on the last one he managed to only change gait once but came back up into canter pretty quickly when I asked him to. Great place to end the session, so we did. I dismounted, took saddle off and groomed him and then whilst he ate a haynet I trimmed his feet ;-) Fab day

Solly playing with the 45' rope...he often needs something to
chew when mulling over something new he's just learned ;-)

Tuesday 12th April

Managed to start off the day early today, went to the field, groomed Solly and Tara and then asked Tara to accompany me back to the house. I rode her bareback and it was a nice ride back ;-) I then let her graze our garden for a treat whilst I had a cuppa tea and then I harnessed her so that we could collect the three long logs from the paddock that have been waiting for ages to be brought up...now that it's dry Tara will have no slipping problems as they're down a small hill.

Today we used her NEW full French Collar and our SWINGLE tree to help keep the traces and chains from brushing her lower back legs. It worked a treat and think the full collar has helped her to not get sore shoulders from pulling in a breast collar. She was a star ;-)) I then let her graze for quite a while and trimmed her feet before riding her back to the field...good day w/my big girl.

First and second logs up the hill, no problem

Third log was much heavier so took it first to the other
side of the field and got her to pull it up a smaller hill...
really putting her shoulders into the pull here ;-)

Bringing it home to the garden for us...a STAR ;-)

Monday 11th April

Had the intention of bringing Tara back to the house for some logging today BUT went down to the field, groomed ALL 5 horses, which at the moment is not a quick task due to masses of moulting winter coats, then put in two fence posts with a 12lb sledge hammer, moved ALL the Horse Agility cones and tyres so that all the tyres and poles are outside the arena made into 7 jumps and the cones are down the centre lines (long way and short way) for fig 8's and weaves with finesse and freestyle riding with Solly.

Hopefully that will be it for moving equipment this month...I'm totally tuckered, hense Tara did not come back to the house, I did not do the logging and I am now going to park myself on the sofa with a cuppa tea and have a rest...phew ;-)

Saturday 10th April

Today started off a bit cloudy and grey but soon turned into a stunningly beautiful sunny day ;-) Mark and I went down to the horses around 1pm, I put up all the Horse Agility obstacles and Mark filmed my OLHA online April test, which went very smoothly indeed. To see this go to the HORSE AGILITY section on the right hand panel of this site. Mark also played around with the obstacles with Stormy, today he was much more aware of his feet and picked them up and didn't stumble at all.

I then saddled Solly up and rode him in the arena. Started slowly at a walk with some point 2 points and corners game and soon he put in some nice effort with his trot and we also did some canter which felt much more balanced today.

We also had fun by doing a FIRST of riding over the tarp and going through the narrow 'road work' site of tyres and cones. Fun day.

Mark then had a short ride on Solly too and he quite liked my pure wool seat saver ;-) Here are some pic's from today:

Sol's beautiful power trot

Getting more balanced when turning

Canter getting smoother but still need him on his HQ's more,
something to work on this year ;-)

My canter position is getting better with practice

FIRST time riding over the tarp ;-)

and backing up off the tarp ;-)

Going through 'road work' narrow gap ridden...

...turn on the HQ's...

...back through narrow gap...no worries ;-)

Mark having fun with Solly

Mark cantering Solly

It was a fun day and so hot, didn't do too much but enough to be a good start for arena work with Solly for this year and I'm looking forward to getting the HA obstacles down and putting up a jumping course for us to play with ;-)

Saturday 9th April

Had a LOT of fun today and the sun shone the whole day which was absolute bliss. I played w/Solly and Stormy a bit and then onto Tara who I then rode out for a 4 hour hack. Mark played with Stormy and then Holly and rode Holly out on the hack with me. Most of today is in picture's, so here they are.

PLAY w/SOLLY:
After a year without any ball playing Solly is now quite confident about it and touched it with his nose straight away ;-)



Then we got 'touch it' with his leg/feet and he started to push it around with confidence...great stuff. He did quite a bit of this and wasn't afraid like before.



With great confidence he actually put his foot on it and stayed there for a couple of seconds and then calmly and with LB thought he brought his foot back to the floor....no panic, no jumping around, just fun ;-) I think it also helped that the ball was slightly deflated so it wasn't so bouncy and putting his foot on it was a fun thing to do ;-)

Next we went onto touching the scary new road signs which he did with confidence too ;-)

Not a problem with this puppy either ;-)

Now for a good test!!! put your back feet into the bicycle tyre? We've been working on this one and I've found that if I just do it once with clarity and calmness he will do it fine. If I repeat it he can often be a bit sticky. So we practise but make sure we do it once then go and do something different and come back often so that it's a 'new task' each time.


Then walking through the narrow gap that represents road works he has absolutely no problems with at all...he's becomming a very centred, calm, obedient boy and it's a pleasure to play with him more and more ;-)



PLAY w/STORMY:

Mark plays with Stormy this morning (I have a small play with him too ;-) and he does brilliantly. Mark wants Storm to learn to pick his feet up more, to be more aware of his feet and to use them better and more efficiently.


First port of call is to put two feet on the pedastal (unfortunately we don't allow him to do all 4 feet on this one as he will break it! lol). He has no problems with placing feet really which is good.




Next is to see if he can go through an 'S' bend..this is set up for Solly and Stormy really had to bend and lift his feet up, he knocked some of the poles but for a big horse in a small space he did very well.

Foot awareness again...can he sidle over a pole....

....or even sidle over two poles in succession ;-)

Then for some more impulsion whilst watching his feet. He was good with his front legs, always clears jumps with those BUT his back legs/feet are lazy and he brought the pole down a couple of times to start with.

No problems at all going through tight spaces ;-)

My try at asking Stormy to jump clearer with his back feet...
I ask for a LOT of impulsion towards the jump...

....continue the energy over the jump for him to clear it with all 4 feet...

...and then make sure the energy is STILL there after the jump
and focus forwards ;-)

Placing feet again not a problem when a the focus is good and clear ;-)
but where did Mark go??? lol

Oh, yes, there he is...he was hiding behind Stormy.
Now Mark is 6'2" tall and he was standing upright beside Stormy shoulder
in the previous picture!!! eek ;-) lol

My three beautiful boys together ;-)

Mark and Stormy at Liberty...Stormy loves being played with.

Stormy's DHQ's at Liberty ;-)

Mark and I have a lot of fun playing with Storm, he's pretty light, good with his feet once he's focussing better and really enjoys playing with us humans.




PLAY/RIDE w/TARA:

Riding Tara today was a decision to just go out and have some fun, no real training, just connecting with my bestest partner, stretching our legs and having a laugh ;-)


Tara 'touching' ball with her nose...she's not very playful but she can sniff and kick the ball about, just doesn't really see the point in it! lol.

Tara backing over two poles... with straightness...

...she's such a cool horsey ;-)

Being brave and touching road signs ;-)

For fun we trot through the narrow 'road works' track ;-)

Off on the hack out, slowly going up the hills in the village
ducking under very low hanging branches ;-)

At the top of the hills there is moorland and it was beautiful today
with the sunshine throwing shadows everywhere.

Slowly coming down off the hillside through beautiful heather

Going over some unusual obstacles ;-)

Trotting and cantering over the moorland...
Tara was very willing today and we had fun together ;-)

More hills coming down

Showing off....trotting down the village road arms crossed
Tara didn't put a foot wrong ;-)

Last canter up the hill alongside our grazing field ;-)
Tara did fabulously on the 4 hours

PLAY/RIDE w/HOLLY:

Mark doing some backup's with dearest Holly

Mark and Holly in harmony and enjoying a relaxed,
calm canter up the grazing field hill ;-)

Mark doing his 'Dances with Wolves' impersonation
up on the village hills ;-) lol

The moorland is pretty stunning, lots of trees and heather,
natural obstacles and varied terrain ;-)

Mark and Holly, again in harmony...their best jump ever ;-)) fabulous

Mark and Holly having a short rest half way down the village hills

Mark and the girls enjoying a well earned rest
3/4's of the way around our hack at the village shop ;-))

Home, untacked and groomed, Holly goes straight to the
'Scratching Post' we put into their field and has a good old scrach ;-)

Thursday 7th April

Well today I had a Plan A, Plan B and managed Plan C! lol.

PLAN A:
All set up and ready to trailer Solly to a friends yard where we could play and ride and then trailer home. Wanting to make sure we're all ticketyboo with trailering before going to Easterton Farm for our first Horse Agility Live Event ;-) BUT, our 4x4 was not sounding right, like it was running on only 3 pistons or the fuel injections weren't working properly SO, I abandoned trailering Sol in favour of getting the car to our mechanic to see if he can fix it and get it right for the HA event on the 16th.

I had already brought Solly up to the house, he was a bit introverted with sticky feet coming down but did very well, even through the cattle field. At home e was okay in the garden when I was there with him but he missed his herd and went very Right Brained when I went into the house to have breakfast. He was grazing very quickly and then started cantering up and down the garden so I put him back online and he calmed down but he wasn't happy on his own.


So I calmly took him back to his herd. Along the track I asked him to DHQ's and put me on either side regularly and also walked in Z3 and asked him gently to move his shoulder, neck or ribs over as we walked...he did this with a fabulously light ph1 and I knew we weere connnected nicely.




PLAN B:
Take car into mechanic to see if he can hear what's wrong with car....he says it's definitely 'odd' and has kept it at the garage to try to figure out what it is...hope it's not expensive. SO, big car at menders and no trailering for now...so, next plan for today.


PLAN C:
Go and set up my OLHA course (On Line Horse Agility) and have some fun with the obstacles ;-)

Managed to get to horses field about 3pm today, weather good, a bit breezy but dry and clear...so at about 3pm I went down to the field and did just this.

It took quite a time to set the flags, curtain, bunting, tarp and banners up and the whole time I was doing this Stormy was watching so thought that we could have some fun doing the course but when I went and asked him to catch me he walked off. I crouched down and he came back twice but then wanted to go off and he cantered off taking Holly with him up the hill and there was no way today that I was going to play that little game of his SO I ignored him and went up the hill to fuss Tara.

Tara enjoyed her scratches and whilst I did this Solly watched me intently. When I asked him to catch me he did it with a lovely look on his face ;-) I knew we'd not playe for a while so I wanted to take it easy with him. I started with lots of friendly game, grooming him with my fingers to help get his winter coat out and then I asked him to follow me down the hill...I started walking and he came slowly behind me. I zig-zagged up and down the hill and slowly he started to get closer and faster towards me ;-)

It took about 10 mins but we got down to the bottom of the hill and we worked on sideways and circles. His circles were very sticky and we did lots of COD's and worked on him staying in trot, it took a while but I just stuck at it and went between stationary and moving circles to keep us moving towards the arena. His sideways was pretty good, along the arena fence and over bits of wood in the field.

I also worked on 'touch it' with his nose on some tyres, on the scratching post and me when I asked him to do a fast draw. Everything going pretty well, he's pretty RELAXED, his OBEDIENCE was more and more willing, his IMPULSION got better the whole time and he was starting to be more FLEXIBLE, arcing around me in the circles and squeezes.

SO, now was the time to ask for more. The wind was up a bit and the 'curtain' and 'flags & bunting' were flapping like crazy and to get into the arena we had to go past the flags & bunting so I played outside the arena with squeezing past them at walk and trot with relaxation. He was fab with this. I then moved the game on a bit, opened the arena gate and asked him to squeeze in right past the flapping flags and he was fine with that too ;-)





Next we went around the arena sniffing objects, touching the cones with his nose and seeing if anything worried him and then I went back and went around the HA test in reverse order. First we sniffed the joined 'sacks' that will go over his back later on, they have old hay in them and the smell was good to him, he tried to nibble one of them so he wasn't worried by them.


Then we went over the jump and I asked him to do this on a circle twice in one direction, do a lovely COD and then twice in the other direction. Onto the 'S' bend where he follows me into a corridor, a left turn and then a right turn without knocking the poles on the ground that make the 'S' shape. He knocked one pole and it was my fault as I'd directed him a bit crooked ;)

The middle section of the HA test is a 'paces test' and he did this bit very well. I've set out three cones A, B, C and we have to trot fast A to C, turn in trot at the end and then walk very slowly back to B and stop for 10 seconds and then walk fast back to A. Great stuff.

Next obstacle is the curtain and he does this superbly, I do it as a squeeze game, first through one way, turn, stop and wait and then back. I ask first for walk and then in trot and also some stops right under the curtain (which by this time is flapping parellel to the ground with the wind! lol) and he does it without a problem.





After the curtain is 'back feet in hulahoop' (remember I'm testing this in reverse order to keep it fresh for Sol and he doesn't really have much trouble with it, I have to direct and redirect a couple of times but he doesn't seem 'scared' any more of doing it he just needs more practise with it. I was very pleased with his effort and rewarded him by being totally still for ages each time he did it. These tests are really helping us to do more of those things that I've been avoiding, ie. feet in a hulahoop! lol.

Then we went through the narrow gap made up 0f barrels, planks of wood and a ton of old car tyres and he just follows me without a problem, I ask him to follow me through it twice and then we move onto the tarp. This months HA asks for the horse standing on the tarp with handler outwith the tarp so I do this, ask him to stand on it, move off it, turn and go back on the other way and stop. The ends of the tarp are held down with poles and I ask him to move over one pole with his front feet and then back up again and this represents one of the tasks (just need to bring an extra pole down for the video'ing).


Just before going back past/through the 'scary corner' of flags and bunting I ask Solly to 'touch' with his nose my new banners that have made it down to the field. I may keep them here as a reminder of what I'm looking for when training my horses BUT I may also take them to students places to help remind them of the qualities to look for to when having a lesson. Solly thought they were cool which was nice ;-)






Really enjoyed this session, Solly is really such a good boy and I will probably film this soon but prefereably with a little less wind ;-))

Tuesday 5th April

Just back from a few days away teaching in Aberdeenshire to a lovely email from Vanessa Bee and OLHA (On Line Horse Agility), Solly and I WON the on line videoed test and came SEVENTH in the liberty video test. I'm SO proud of Solly, he's such a fab horse that tries so hard to please whilst having fun, he's super cool.

If you want to see the video tests just go to the left hand side of this blog, down to 'Our Journey' and click on 1b) HORSE AGILITY button ;-)