Thursday 30th June
Back from a couple of days away teaching in the Borders and today was spent mostly on paper/office work, catching up on emails, pricing jobs, mailing friends and answering questions/queries and also shopping! ;-( BUT I rode Tara this am up the hill and back, reaquainted myself with her and spent some time with her moving her about with grazing etc.
I got to see the rest of the herd at about 5.30pm when I rode Tara to the field when Mark walked the dogs to see and feed the herd their dinner. Tara helped me go down the field and back up after fixing an inner electric fence and the whole herd was very keen to see Tara...she did some lovely whinney's to them too which is quite rare, she's not that demonstrative really. Holly then Stormy came and saw her quickly and then Fortune passed by but Solly followed her and me all around the field. They put nostrils together, squealed together, nuzzled and groomed each others withers and sides. I think they really really miss each other and are in love and it's lovely to see Tara get so much attention....they all miss her.
I got to see the rest of the herd at about 5.30pm when I rode Tara to the field when Mark walked the dogs to see and feed the herd their dinner. Tara helped me go down the field and back up after fixing an inner electric fence and the whole herd was very keen to see Tara...she did some lovely whinney's to them too which is quite rare, she's not that demonstrative really. Holly then Stormy came and saw her quickly and then Fortune passed by but Solly followed her and me all around the field. They put nostrils together, squealed together, nuzzled and groomed each others withers and sides. I think they really really miss each other and are in love and it's lovely to see Tara get so much attention....they all miss her.
Tomorrow I will take her down there for some special time with Solly while I play/groom Stormy and then hopefully, if the weather stays nice for me, I'll play/ride Solly ;-)
just me being like a little kid on 'my little pony' ;-)
Monday 27th June
Again there is a sky looking quite dark and foreboding so I catch Tara and go to the field to play/ride Solly. Tara has already been down to the field once today on our morning ride to the horses with Mark and the dogs ;-) She's getting slimmer but more than that she is getting fitter and it's great to ride her now.
SO, down in the field I put Tara in a small area, bring the boys into the main arena to graze and then groom them at liberty. I then ask Solly to catch me, which he is doing SUPERBLY with me playing extreme friendly game, he comes at walk or trot with ears forward with this now ;-)) Fab. Stormy does it now too ;-))
SO, down in the field I put Tara in a small area, bring the boys into the main arena to graze and then groom them at liberty. I then ask Solly to catch me, which he is doing SUPERBLY with me playing extreme friendly game, he comes at walk or trot with ears forward with this now ;-)) Fab. Stormy does it now too ;-))
Solly catching me
I then ask Solly to halter and with him on the 22' featherlight line we play with some yo-yo's, sidepass over and towards using a small barrel and then onto some circle transitions w/cod's and fig 8's. I then work on the first of my Karen Rohlf exercises, which is walking a circle with ENGAGED HQ's. Solly sort of gets it but I know I will have to keep the pattern up for him to really 'get it' and then I can start on the next exercisse. I'm pleased with how he took the first one though ;-) He does all of this willingly and with a nice expression so I take him into the roundpen for a bit of liberty. Today I just stay in Z5 and ask him to walk forward, I use this as a sort of Z5 passenger lesson on the ground to get a good 'connection' going. Once we've got that I then ask him to fig 8 around the two cones with me still in Z5. I really have to concentrate on my focus and NOT look at him, the focus is like when riding fig 8's, on the circle ahead and with my whole body arc'd the way I want his body arcing...he gets it well and we end on a good stop and back up from the tail at X.
Solly walking at Liberty and me in Z5 ;-)
Back into the arena I saddle him and then we go into the HA arena (bigger than main arena) for a change and we play around with some obstacles, weaving, circling, jump or two until he's cinched up nicely. I then mount from the pedastal and we play around with some LF, DHQ's and circling around some obstacles. I know that he may be a bit sceptical in the HA arena riding as we've not done this before but I just take it that he's okay and work on building up his confidence staying close to obstacles, circling around the tarp, the poles, weaving around the cones...before we know it we're riding all around the area and I start doing some transitions Riding the Rail.
I use the transitions very quickly as this helps to build up his impulsion from very slow to more willing without him being nagged. I start with h/w/h/w, then go to w/t/w/t and then to h/t/h/t and finally some w/c/w/c. I make sure the transitions to begin with are quick and light, I'm looking for willingness to respond to the lightest ask and for the transitions to be clear, neat and with some energy in them. It works nicely.
Next we just play about for a while walking over the tarp, going through the HA June course ridden and taking a rest. Then I start working on one side of the arena and ask Solly to start being more flexible to the L&R by asking for some circles to the L, getting him more curved and once curved then going straight a bit and then going to the R. Once he is more flexible I ask him to try some fig 8's. All the time I work on the riding part I always set him up with what I want and make it more and more loose reined as we go and then back to concentrated reins so that he gets to work in both Freestyle and Finesse each time we ride.
I then take him out of the HA arena and into the main field, mount him from the rolled harrow and walk/trot the outside arena rail until we're at the bottom of the big hill. I ask him to go up the hill, he hesitates for a second and then goes up in a very nice strong bold walk and some trot. He goes out of eye range from the herd but he's okay and with me still so I do a half circle at the top and come back down nice and slowly ;-)) He's fine with this and at the bottom I ask him to circle L then R and then fig 8 again as we did before in the arena. He did so well today that I decide to leave it there, we've done a few hours of work today and I dismount, unsaddle him, give him some treats, a quick rub down and set him back with the herd. I then get Stormy out of the arena back to the herd too and then go and fetch Tara for her to take me back home again. PHEW...I seem to be doing more and more riding nowadays!! yeehaa ;-))
I use the transitions very quickly as this helps to build up his impulsion from very slow to more willing without him being nagged. I start with h/w/h/w, then go to w/t/w/t and then to h/t/h/t and finally some w/c/w/c. I make sure the transitions to begin with are quick and light, I'm looking for willingness to respond to the lightest ask and for the transitions to be clear, neat and with some energy in them. It works nicely.
Next we just play about for a while walking over the tarp, going through the HA June course ridden and taking a rest. Then I start working on one side of the arena and ask Solly to start being more flexible to the L&R by asking for some circles to the L, getting him more curved and once curved then going straight a bit and then going to the R. Once he is more flexible I ask him to try some fig 8's. All the time I work on the riding part I always set him up with what I want and make it more and more loose reined as we go and then back to concentrated reins so that he gets to work in both Freestyle and Finesse each time we ride.
I then take him out of the HA arena and into the main field, mount him from the rolled harrow and walk/trot the outside arena rail until we're at the bottom of the big hill. I ask him to go up the hill, he hesitates for a second and then goes up in a very nice strong bold walk and some trot. He goes out of eye range from the herd but he's okay and with me still so I do a half circle at the top and come back down nice and slowly ;-)) He's fine with this and at the bottom I ask him to circle L then R and then fig 8 again as we did before in the arena. He did so well today that I decide to leave it there, we've done a few hours of work today and I dismount, unsaddle him, give him some treats, a quick rub down and set him back with the herd. I then get Stormy out of the arena back to the herd too and then go and fetch Tara for her to take me back home again. PHEW...I seem to be doing more and more riding nowadays!! yeehaa ;-))
Saturday 25th June
Know it's going to rain today SO out we go quickly to get some more L4 liberty done. Mark films it for me and later I edit it, put it on YouTube and submit it to PNH for my audition. I've passed most of the Liberty but had a couple of resubmits which hopefully are done now...just have to wait patiently to see if I've passed, fingerscrossed ;-)
I've been making good use of Tara as she is now my main transport to and from the grazing field, here is a piccie of me and her out and about one morning....I wanted to send this to my vet who did Tara's passport a few years ago...they tried to insist she was Black, but I insisted she was BROWN and in this piccie you can really see she is brown ;-))
I've been making good use of Tara as she is now my main transport to and from the grazing field, here is a piccie of me and her out and about one morning....I wanted to send this to my vet who did Tara's passport a few years ago...they tried to insist she was Black, but I insisted she was BROWN and in this piccie you can really see she is brown ;-))
Friday 24th June
Rode Tara twice today, once when Mark walked dogs to feed horses and then back to the horses as transport to play with Solly and Stormy. Today we managed to film all our OLHA (On Line Horse Agility) tests. I had practised them a couple of days ago and once before that but don't like to over practise things as then it leads to both boys trying out different things with the obstacles due to overactive minds! lol.
So, first up was Solly's online test, we've been moved up to Class 2, which is for horse/human combo's with more than 12 league points. There were bits of walk, trot, stops, backups, walking with a flag, weaving at trot, a jump, the 'S' bend made out of poles and hula hoop stuff. Solly did very well and I was pleased with his first attempt and left it at that.
We then went around it with Class 3, which is the whole test at Liberty. We only had to do it in walk and again Solly did a very nice job and I just did it once, no practise tries today ;-)
Then I put Solly in the arena to graze and I did the Class 1, horses under 12 league points, for the starter walk test with Stormy. We have practised the test a couple of times a few days ago but I decided to make sure certain things were in place: jump, weaving, front feet in hula hoop and 'S' bend, then we filmed it. To be honest I should have realised that once Stormy has practised something a couple of times, leave it for a day and then just film it as he has a superb memory and does everything first time great, the practise on the day was unnecessary and made him 'rethink' some things which made the 'S' bend not so good, the jump lazy the hula hoop lazy too......at least it made me realise this more so. I must remember to not take him as a doughnut brain, he is very very clever and I don't give him enough credit for that. BUT we filmed his first attempt with the course and then left it, warts and all. I love that he tries so hard for me and enjoys every second of our time together. Next month I will practise it a couple of times only, leave a day and then just film it and I think we'll do much better this way ;-)
If you want to see the video's of these three June OLHA classes, then go to the HORSE AGILITY section on the menu bar of this blog. Enjoy
Tuesday 22nd June
A lovely dry day and a very full fun one too ;-)
1) Rode Tara in morning with Mark walking dogs, went to horses field and they all came up to see Tara which was lovely
2) Rode Tara to the field and let her graze in a paddock whilst I played/rode with other horses.
3) Played with Solly. Went through our OLHA Online and Liberty tests and did some practise with sticky bits and left that on a very good note. We also played more friendly game and approach and retreat with the flag as I would love to be able to ride Sol carrying a flag, he's still a bit sceptical but tries his best with it all for me.
4) Trimmed Sollys feet and he did well at standing still for me with just ground tying ;-)
5) Played with Stormy and we worked on his OLHA Online test first, he did exceptionally well and I think he really remembered our last session a few days ago...he's a very clever boy. I then played with him on the 22' featherlite with some circles in w/t and asking him for more curve in his circles ;-) and then some flag desensitization too...not that he really needs it, he's great with flags.
6) Played with Solly in the roundpen. I was looking to improve our last two tasks for our L4 audition. We need to get my neutral better (ie. I need to trust that Solly WILL do as he's told and not interfere until he doesnt! lol), get his canter/flc's in order and trotting fig 8's without stopping. I got his impulsion up nicely and then we practised the tasks...he did them both superbly and I think we'll try to film them on Saturday ;-))
7) Ride Solly in the arena, firstly some warm up on a loose rein, some walk, turns, circles. Then we go into more concentrated reins and work on good impulsion (getting better), circles (very nice and working on body cues which is great), transitions (helped with impulsion but also works on his mental connection to me). All going well and we try out some serpentines with canter, trot, canter (slc's) and he needs some more time to figure out what pattern it is BUT he did try his heart out for me and that was fantastic ;-)
It was a lovely ride and I decided to do it all in the rope halter and clip on reins which always works well and feels good (decided not to try the scrawbrig anymore, why try to change something that's working fine!!) Rope halter or hackamore for me and Sol ;-))
8) I then rode Tara back home and flaked out with a large cup of tea and a couple of delicious doughnuts that Mark got at the shops today...yeehaa. lol
2) Rode Tara to the field and let her graze in a paddock whilst I played/rode with other horses.
3) Played with Solly. Went through our OLHA Online and Liberty tests and did some practise with sticky bits and left that on a very good note. We also played more friendly game and approach and retreat with the flag as I would love to be able to ride Sol carrying a flag, he's still a bit sceptical but tries his best with it all for me.
4) Trimmed Sollys feet and he did well at standing still for me with just ground tying ;-)
5) Played with Stormy and we worked on his OLHA Online test first, he did exceptionally well and I think he really remembered our last session a few days ago...he's a very clever boy. I then played with him on the 22' featherlite with some circles in w/t and asking him for more curve in his circles ;-) and then some flag desensitization too...not that he really needs it, he's great with flags.
6) Played with Solly in the roundpen. I was looking to improve our last two tasks for our L4 audition. We need to get my neutral better (ie. I need to trust that Solly WILL do as he's told and not interfere until he doesnt! lol), get his canter/flc's in order and trotting fig 8's without stopping. I got his impulsion up nicely and then we practised the tasks...he did them both superbly and I think we'll try to film them on Saturday ;-))
7) Ride Solly in the arena, firstly some warm up on a loose rein, some walk, turns, circles. Then we go into more concentrated reins and work on good impulsion (getting better), circles (very nice and working on body cues which is great), transitions (helped with impulsion but also works on his mental connection to me). All going well and we try out some serpentines with canter, trot, canter (slc's) and he needs some more time to figure out what pattern it is BUT he did try his heart out for me and that was fantastic ;-)
It was a lovely ride and I decided to do it all in the rope halter and clip on reins which always works well and feels good (decided not to try the scrawbrig anymore, why try to change something that's working fine!!) Rope halter or hackamore for me and Sol ;-))
8) I then rode Tara back home and flaked out with a large cup of tea and a couple of delicious doughnuts that Mark got at the shops today...yeehaa. lol
Sunday 19th June
Gorgeous sunny day today, can't quite believe it so grab our stuff and out we go. I ride Tara down to the horses field with saddle and everything. Got to the field and put her into the small grazing paddock with Solly so that they could have some kisses and cuddles ;-)
I then put Stormy and Solly into the main arena for grazing and sort out my roundpen. Decided that the 'picadero' of 35'4" square was just too small so opted for a big 50' arena and will try this out with Solly on Tues/Wed to get our Circling, FLC's and fig 8's at trot at Liberty for our L4 audition ;-)
Stormy and Solly grazing in an idyllic setting ;-)
So, back to today. Stormy came and caught me nicely so I haltered him and went into the HA arena and practised our HA a couple of times. He did very well on everything (tarp, backing thru poles, stop and thru barrels, front feet over a pole and back, walking with a flag, weave at walk, jump, front feet in hulahoop BUT had trouble with two issues (1) the 'S' bend...he is just TOO big so I make the 's' bend a bit bigger and really ask him to SLOW it all down, one step at a time and to really DHQ's properly. He then got the hang of it! & (2) Picking up his feet. We had this problem a lot as he didn't pick his feet when he was younger (from between 18months to 3 yrs due to a broken pedal bone which took it's time mending but is good now) and now he knows his own weight SO I put the word 'lift' to it and also a small slap with the popper on the end of my rope to catch his attention to what I was asking and he slowly got the hang of this...will practise more before filming though ;-) After a good practise round I let him off out into the main grazing area again.
I then went to catch Solly and he was catching me before I even thought about it!! How cool is he ;-) I halterd him and we did once around the HA course with the bits he needs to do ie/ trot the weave, trot onto tarp, flag next to him when walking and all 4 feet pick up after hulahoop stand. All went well and so I gave him lots of hugs and set him back into the main grazing area with Stormy.
Mark had got Holly settled, played with and starting to saddle so I went and got Tara to catch me and we went out for a rather long ride. Beautful weather and lovely to be out with Mark and the horses but my hip/leg/butt was a bit sore from so long a ride...made up a bit with an ice cream at the village shop and some apples and carrots for the horses but next time I think I'll do a shorter ride so as not to aggrevate my injury...trying to build the muscles back up slowly. Here are some piccie's from the ride out:
Me and Tara, first break on the village green
Mark and Holly crossing a stream
Mark and Holly having way too much fun
Me and Tara and the wonderful horsey gates
they put into this part of the track...
...Gate opened...
...gateway navigated well...
...yeehaa, gateway accomplished ;-)
Walking back the last bit together
as we were both tired ;-)
Friday 17th June
Thursday 16th June
Tara and I riding home this am
Riding down a steep hill
The herd without Tara:
Girl/Boy/Boy/Girl
Holly/Stormy/Solly/Fortune
Solly and his beloved Fortune
Stormy and his beloved Holly
Thursday 9th June
Riding Tara and leading Solly from her
Nice ride back to the field ;-)
Solly gets his 'ladies' back ;-)
Wednesday 8th June
Tuesday 7th June
they put into this part of the track...
...Gate opened...
...gateway navigated well...
as we were both tired ;-)
Friday 17th June
Well Tara spent a quiet night in the home paddocks on her own and her girth is already shrinking a bit. I'm now weight taping her daily to see if any difference is happening.
I got up early with Mark and whilst he was walking the dogs I poo picked the paddock and had a gentle bareback ride up the hill behind the house to exercise Tara and my own back, it was very pleasant and on the way back we met up with Mark coming home which was nice.
At around 11am I put Tara's pad back on and we trekked down to the horses field using the 10 step w/t transitions the whole way and Tara was lively and happy to be going back to the field for a while. When there Stormy greeted us at the lower gate and I put him and Tara into the HA arena whilst I went and opened another gate to let the enthusiastic Solly in. Solly went straight over to Tara in a beautifully gliding trot and they had a big hello session together, snorthing, squealing and happy to see each other ;-)) ahh.
I then put the boys into the main arena to graze as normal and Tara in the small section south of the arena where we park our car, it's small enough to give her somewhere to find some nibbles but also small enough to not have much at all ;-))
I then went about setting up the June OLHA course in the HA arena. All pretty simple this month but I have to remember that Stormy is in Class 1 (walk around course), Solly is in Class 2 (some walk, some trot with more instructions) and Solly is also going to be trying Class 3 (liberty in walk). But the main layout is the same thank goodness.
I then went and got Solly to catch me and we tested the course in walk to find any snags that may need working on. He actually went around pretty nicely and so we tried it at liberty (just his headcollar on for now) and again he did pretty well BUT then the weather started turning bad, raining and generally soaking things so I put Solly back in the arena to graze for a reward and went and set up my picadero (small square arena) for us to try some circling t/c/t with cod's and flc!
When the weather had a small break I brought Solly into the picadero and he did pretty well in the square, not so rushed and not so tipped to the inside with his body like a motorbiker racing around a wall of death! lol. I do think though that I should try making it about 5' larger on each side as I think 35'4" is just a wee bit too small...so will try it a bit larger and see what happens. He did some nice circles in w/t/c/t/c/t and a few nice cod's with a couple of flc's but I would like to see him a bit more relaxed with some more concentration on what he's doing so that he doesn't rush it all. I stopped on a good note where his flc was good and then he did a few trotting fig 8's without stopping and me doing more in neutral...phew ;-) it was a good session.
I then let the boys back in the main field, put Tara's bareback pad back on (albeit soaking wet) and headed back towards home where Tara will spend another night here with us. I think the herd was more peaceful tonight when Mark went to feed them, they now know that Tara is still around but staying at the house for her own good. At dinner time I went out to see Tara, poo pick again and give her a carrot and one minute of grazing outside the paddock before trimming her front feet and saying goodnight to her. I will go and visit her again quickly before going to bed ;-) I quite like her being at home, reminds me of when we first got her and she was our first and only horse...really brings a special bond between rider/horse when they're at home and you ride them every day to get around. I think Tara also likes being 'worked' and having something to do, helping me to get to the horses every day is a nice way of helping her loose weight, giving her and myself exercise and giving her something to do everyday that is positive and fun ;-)
I got up early with Mark and whilst he was walking the dogs I poo picked the paddock and had a gentle bareback ride up the hill behind the house to exercise Tara and my own back, it was very pleasant and on the way back we met up with Mark coming home which was nice.
At around 11am I put Tara's pad back on and we trekked down to the horses field using the 10 step w/t transitions the whole way and Tara was lively and happy to be going back to the field for a while. When there Stormy greeted us at the lower gate and I put him and Tara into the HA arena whilst I went and opened another gate to let the enthusiastic Solly in. Solly went straight over to Tara in a beautifully gliding trot and they had a big hello session together, snorthing, squealing and happy to see each other ;-)) ahh.
I then put the boys into the main arena to graze as normal and Tara in the small section south of the arena where we park our car, it's small enough to give her somewhere to find some nibbles but also small enough to not have much at all ;-))
I then went about setting up the June OLHA course in the HA arena. All pretty simple this month but I have to remember that Stormy is in Class 1 (walk around course), Solly is in Class 2 (some walk, some trot with more instructions) and Solly is also going to be trying Class 3 (liberty in walk). But the main layout is the same thank goodness.
I then went and got Solly to catch me and we tested the course in walk to find any snags that may need working on. He actually went around pretty nicely and so we tried it at liberty (just his headcollar on for now) and again he did pretty well BUT then the weather started turning bad, raining and generally soaking things so I put Solly back in the arena to graze for a reward and went and set up my picadero (small square arena) for us to try some circling t/c/t with cod's and flc!
When the weather had a small break I brought Solly into the picadero and he did pretty well in the square, not so rushed and not so tipped to the inside with his body like a motorbiker racing around a wall of death! lol. I do think though that I should try making it about 5' larger on each side as I think 35'4" is just a wee bit too small...so will try it a bit larger and see what happens. He did some nice circles in w/t/c/t/c/t and a few nice cod's with a couple of flc's but I would like to see him a bit more relaxed with some more concentration on what he's doing so that he doesn't rush it all. I stopped on a good note where his flc was good and then he did a few trotting fig 8's without stopping and me doing more in neutral...phew ;-) it was a good session.
I then let the boys back in the main field, put Tara's bareback pad back on (albeit soaking wet) and headed back towards home where Tara will spend another night here with us. I think the herd was more peaceful tonight when Mark went to feed them, they now know that Tara is still around but staying at the house for her own good. At dinner time I went out to see Tara, poo pick again and give her a carrot and one minute of grazing outside the paddock before trimming her front feet and saying goodnight to her. I will go and visit her again quickly before going to bed ;-) I quite like her being at home, reminds me of when we first got her and she was our first and only horse...really brings a special bond between rider/horse when they're at home and you ride them every day to get around. I think Tara also likes being 'worked' and having something to do, helping me to get to the horses every day is a nice way of helping her loose weight, giving her and myself exercise and giving her something to do everyday that is positive and fun ;-)
Thursday 16th June
Having been away teaching for two days and then an osteopath appointment yesterday this is the first day in 3 days that I've had a chance to even see the herd and we are blessed with sunshine today to mark the occasion ;-)
I get up early to walk the dogs with Mark this morning, me taking it easy as dont' want to upset my osteo's good work on my left leg. When there Mark gets the horses breakfast together and I ask Tara to catch me. She comes for some good ole' scratching as the midges are biting this am. I halter her and take her out of the field and she has a small feed whilst waiting for us to finish feeding the herd. I then put a bareback pad on her and we walk back to the house with Mark and the dogs.
I make sure my leg is okay but I try to bring some order to our trek back by doing some transitions w/t/w/t with ten strides of each. This helps her get more life into her and also helps to bring our thought/energy connection together. I also work on doing these transitions with a more concentrated rein, one hand on the reins and seeing if we can w/t/w/t together without me moving my hand from the reins, without pulling back slightly to go/stop and without pushing forward to go/stop....so my hand was completely still and Tara was w/t/w/t from just my thought/energy connection (my phases 1 & 2 ;-) It was very cool and really proved to me that there was that bond. I now know that this is possible more and I will be testing this connection with Solly more now.
About 11am I ride Tara back to the field, put her in a small paddock, put Solly and Stormy into the arena for their grazing and move ALL the obstacles to the new HA arena Mark and I set up so that I don't have to keep moving equipment so much. I also put together a picadero (35.4'x35.4') square arena for working Solly in at liberty, will be interesting to see how the circling goes and he rushes a bit in a roundpen and Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling finds the picadero very good for lots of work online and ridden.
When I finished all this moving stuff about I put the boys back out into the main field and ride Tara back to the house. Later on I will ride her back to the field for the night but it means that she's had 4miles of w/t hacking today rather than nothing at all and she needs the exercise, I need the riding and it keeps me from using the car to the horses which is good ;-)
(Actually I rode her back to the herd field and then rode her back to the house and have decided to keep her, for now, in the house paddock so that I can ride her more often and try to get her fit again, the 3.5acres she is in with the herd is just TOO big for her and she's unhealthily tubby! ;-( )
Here are a couple of pic's from earlier today:
I get up early to walk the dogs with Mark this morning, me taking it easy as dont' want to upset my osteo's good work on my left leg. When there Mark gets the horses breakfast together and I ask Tara to catch me. She comes for some good ole' scratching as the midges are biting this am. I halter her and take her out of the field and she has a small feed whilst waiting for us to finish feeding the herd. I then put a bareback pad on her and we walk back to the house with Mark and the dogs.
I make sure my leg is okay but I try to bring some order to our trek back by doing some transitions w/t/w/t with ten strides of each. This helps her get more life into her and also helps to bring our thought/energy connection together. I also work on doing these transitions with a more concentrated rein, one hand on the reins and seeing if we can w/t/w/t together without me moving my hand from the reins, without pulling back slightly to go/stop and without pushing forward to go/stop....so my hand was completely still and Tara was w/t/w/t from just my thought/energy connection (my phases 1 & 2 ;-) It was very cool and really proved to me that there was that bond. I now know that this is possible more and I will be testing this connection with Solly more now.
About 11am I ride Tara back to the field, put her in a small paddock, put Solly and Stormy into the arena for their grazing and move ALL the obstacles to the new HA arena Mark and I set up so that I don't have to keep moving equipment so much. I also put together a picadero (35.4'x35.4') square arena for working Solly in at liberty, will be interesting to see how the circling goes and he rushes a bit in a roundpen and Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling finds the picadero very good for lots of work online and ridden.
When I finished all this moving stuff about I put the boys back out into the main field and ride Tara back to the house. Later on I will ride her back to the field for the night but it means that she's had 4miles of w/t hacking today rather than nothing at all and she needs the exercise, I need the riding and it keeps me from using the car to the horses which is good ;-)
(Actually I rode her back to the herd field and then rode her back to the house and have decided to keep her, for now, in the house paddock so that I can ride her more often and try to get her fit again, the 3.5acres she is in with the herd is just TOO big for her and she's unhealthily tubby! ;-( )
Here are a couple of pic's from earlier today:
Girl/Boy/Boy/Girl
Holly/Stormy/Solly/Fortune
Friday 10th June
Had a few things to do this morning and the afternoon was taken up with de-fencing a field we don't use, as it's just too boggy, and putting the electric fencing into the big grazing field. We quardened off each side of the arena back to the main fence in two big arcs to take away some grazing. Hopefully this will keep the horses fit and trim and also keep some land back so that hopefully we get a bit of grass growth that they can then eat in Autumn ;-)
Whilst we did all this fencing the two boys, Stormy and Solly, followed us around the whole time, checking what we were doing and keeping us company...very cool boys ;-)
Today I was also invited by Vanessa Bee to be a HAAT (Horse Agility Accredited Trainer) and I accepted ;-) Very happy that my horsemanship is going in a great direction and hope to help other people get into the fast growing sport of HORSE AGILITY. To find out more about HA go to www.thehorseagilityclub.com there are events to go to and the ever popular OLHA (on line horse agility) where you set up the course and video at home ;-) Me and Solly have been doing this, check out the Horse Agility button on the right side menu bar.
Whilst we did all this fencing the two boys, Stormy and Solly, followed us around the whole time, checking what we were doing and keeping us company...very cool boys ;-)
Today I was also invited by Vanessa Bee to be a HAAT (Horse Agility Accredited Trainer) and I accepted ;-) Very happy that my horsemanship is going in a great direction and hope to help other people get into the fast growing sport of HORSE AGILITY. To find out more about HA go to www.thehorseagilityclub.com there are events to go to and the ever popular OLHA (on line horse agility) where you set up the course and video at home ;-) Me and Solly have been doing this, check out the Horse Agility button on the right side menu bar.
Thursday 9th June
Today Mark and I brought Tara and Solly up to the house for a change. Mark rode Tara back bareback and we put them into our winter paddock while we had breakfast. Tara has been up here before on her own so it's nothing new but dear Solly decided to get a bit extroverted and trot around the perimeter. Tara helped him calm down and it's been a while since he's been out of the main grazing field so I didn't worry too much, knew some play would calm him down to so I went out as soon as possible to play with him.
He had trouble listening to my requests at first so I used lots of backup/sideways/circles and asked him to do a couple of jumps. He was very much wanting to stay with Tara so I used her as the comfort zone and when he did something nice and obediently then we wandered back to Tara and he got to stand still. This worked very well.
The main reason I bought him down to the house though was to do some trailer loading as it's been about 6 months since we did any!! eek. I wish our trailer was in the play field but hey, it's not so that's that and I needed to show some leadership today to help him become relaxed, willingly obedient and his whoa to equal his go.
In the end he did some very nice trailer loading on the 45' line starting from side of the car and Sol going around into the trailer off a circle. Then he did a very very nice trailer load with long reins and eventually (after I put Tara into the trailer at liberty first) he did a very nice liberty trailer load with Stick 2 Me, then he backed out nicely and I put him back in again....very nice ;-)
It was hard for him, I think he thought he was being taken away from the herd but Tara went so nicely into the trailer that he found his comfort zone in the trailer. I must make a mental note to try to do this again and again, even if it's only once a week, trekking the two up from the field isn't THAT bad, just needs me to be organised and focussed on doing it. Here's a couple of pic's when taking them home to their field for dinner and to be back in the herd, they rode/pony'd very well together...at least they remembered that! lol
He had trouble listening to my requests at first so I used lots of backup/sideways/circles and asked him to do a couple of jumps. He was very much wanting to stay with Tara so I used her as the comfort zone and when he did something nice and obediently then we wandered back to Tara and he got to stand still. This worked very well.
The main reason I bought him down to the house though was to do some trailer loading as it's been about 6 months since we did any!! eek. I wish our trailer was in the play field but hey, it's not so that's that and I needed to show some leadership today to help him become relaxed, willingly obedient and his whoa to equal his go.
In the end he did some very nice trailer loading on the 45' line starting from side of the car and Sol going around into the trailer off a circle. Then he did a very very nice trailer load with long reins and eventually (after I put Tara into the trailer at liberty first) he did a very nice liberty trailer load with Stick 2 Me, then he backed out nicely and I put him back in again....very nice ;-)
It was hard for him, I think he thought he was being taken away from the herd but Tara went so nicely into the trailer that he found his comfort zone in the trailer. I must make a mental note to try to do this again and again, even if it's only once a week, trekking the two up from the field isn't THAT bad, just needs me to be organised and focussed on doing it. Here's a couple of pic's when taking them home to their field for dinner and to be back in the herd, they rode/pony'd very well together...at least they remembered that! lol
Wednesday 8th June
Tuesday 7th June
I've been away teaching and it's been 5 days since last I played with the horses ;-( Today is a good day and I manage to get out for about 3 hours. This is what I did:
Asked Sol and Storm to come into the arena for grazing, I then groomed them both and got a hands on connection.
Asked Sol to catch me and let me halter him, which he did okay after I let him play with the equipment a bit. He's been missing me and I need to get our 'connection' back so being friendly and letting him have a say in our conversation is always the best way back to our partnership.
Played around with some Stick 2 Me on and took him out of the arena on the 45' line. We then played around with our L4 audition tasks. Extreme friendly in all zones, tossing 45' rope over head from Z5 and then backing from the tail with as little pressure on the tail as possible. He was a bit sticky with this one and we tried a few times but then I remembered that maybe he needed some incentive (typical LBint that's been left to his own devices for a while! lol). SO, I went and got some treats and put them in my pocket and BINGO he found his motivation ;-))
Then I DHQ's from Z5, backed him up and started on the circling section. In this section I am trying to put together some transitions on the circle, put in some moving circles, multiple jumps and then into fig 8's where we do them using jumps too, first in trot and then in canter with FLC's. He did well with most of this, a bit underimpulsed to start with and very much not wanting to do canter to the right but we worked on it for a while and started getting some really energetic canter which was lovely to see. He did a couple of FLC's on the fig 8's and we stopped for a nice rest on a good note.
I let him graze for a while and then asked him to do some moving circles up to the pedastal (which Mark has fixed up for us as the old one's top was getting wet and rotten). He's not done any pedastal work for a while so we just played around with it. Made sure he was okay with the new top, asked him to go to it, on it, go over it, stop on it and a lot of other variations so that it became something of a comfort zone for him.
Two front feet on Asked Sol and Storm to come into the arena for grazing, I then groomed them both and got a hands on connection.
Asked Sol to catch me and let me halter him, which he did okay after I let him play with the equipment a bit. He's been missing me and I need to get our 'connection' back so being friendly and letting him have a say in our conversation is always the best way back to our partnership.
Played around with some Stick 2 Me on and took him out of the arena on the 45' line. We then played around with our L4 audition tasks. Extreme friendly in all zones, tossing 45' rope over head from Z5 and then backing from the tail with as little pressure on the tail as possible. He was a bit sticky with this one and we tried a few times but then I remembered that maybe he needed some incentive (typical LBint that's been left to his own devices for a while! lol). SO, I went and got some treats and put them in my pocket and BINGO he found his motivation ;-))
Then I DHQ's from Z5, backed him up and started on the circling section. In this section I am trying to put together some transitions on the circle, put in some moving circles, multiple jumps and then into fig 8's where we do them using jumps too, first in trot and then in canter with FLC's. He did well with most of this, a bit underimpulsed to start with and very much not wanting to do canter to the right but we worked on it for a while and started getting some really energetic canter which was lovely to see. He did a couple of FLC's on the fig 8's and we stopped for a nice rest on a good note.
I let him graze for a while and then asked him to do some moving circles up to the pedastal (which Mark has fixed up for us as the old one's top was getting wet and rotten). He's not done any pedastal work for a while so we just played around with it. Made sure he was okay with the new top, asked him to go to it, on it, go over it, stop on it and a lot of other variations so that it became something of a comfort zone for him.
Back feet left on, grazing too good to resist ;-)
Again I let him graze and then circled back to the fig 8 jumps, stopped and changed the 45' line for two 22' featherlites for some longreining.
Longreining first we did w/t/bkups, then some circles with me in Z3, cod's on the circle to the outside L&R and then weaving through cones w/t and then onto the pedastal all 4 feet ;-) Not bad and he tried really hard for me.
Over the pedastal and then some leg yields L&R with some Z4 dhq's and then a bit of long reining canter on the circle. He did very well and I can see where and how we need to sharpen it all up a bit but it's only the first day of our holiday to test and task this out so it's looking good so far. We left it on a very good note with our 'connection' well and truly in place.
Longreining first we did w/t/bkups, then some circles with me in Z3, cod's on the circle to the outside L&R and then weaving through cones w/t and then onto the pedastal all 4 feet ;-) Not bad and he tried really hard for me.
Over the pedastal and then some leg yields L&R with some Z4 dhq's and then a bit of long reining canter on the circle. He did very well and I can see where and how we need to sharpen it all up a bit but it's only the first day of our holiday to test and task this out so it's looking good so far. We left it on a very good note with our 'connection' well and truly in place.
have an interesting conversation about size and who's boss ;-))
Thursday 2nd June
One day at home between teaching and go out around noon to see the herd. The sun is shining and they're were all lazing about, laying down or hanging together enjoying the warmth of the day. As I brought the car to the arena Stormy was already up and at the arena fence looking expectantly at me to get in ;-) Solly was flat out snoring. lol. By the time I was bringing Stormy into the arena for grazing Solly was up and trotting to the arena gate ;-))
I let them graze and groom them at liberty slowly and making a bit fuss of them both. I then ask Solly to catch me and put him in the halter with the 45' line on it. I then play some xtreme friendly, yo-yo's to 40' and working on draw at trot (which he does but not the whole way!). Then I do some sideways over and towards a small barrel which went well. After this we did lots of circles, transitions (w/t/c/t/w/h/bk) and cod's in trot and canter ;-)
Going well so we go out into the field and play around with some of the L4 tasks we've been working on; multiple jumps at a distance, t/c and back from tail, fig 8's w/jumps and weave at a distance. Went well but I didn't do too much as I didn't want to run around after having a good osteo session yesterday.
We went back into the arena and I let him graze whilst I sat and had some lunch. I then saddle him and cinch him and then put him in the scrawbrig bitless bridle....just wanted to give it a better go with some consistency for Solly.
Firstly I just walked about on a loose rein and did some freestyle turns and made sure that my thought/energy/leg/rein work was going well and more and more with lightness. Then, as we went along, I put some friendly game with the reins and took them up more whilst asking Solly to 'push' into the bridle and give me some energy from his HQ's. It took a while but he started to give me more energy ;-)
I then put in some circles and asked him to flex his ribs more and more (and I actually could do it more myself after my osteo appointment! ;-) All going well so far, not easy but working well.
After all this fun I let him walk around on a loose rein often as a reward and then take the collection back up as I ask for a better stride and his head comes up. Next I get some collection and on the long side of the arena I ask for some BIG trot down the side without going into canter. It takes a couple of tries and he offers canter which I take but ask him back to trot and then it really felt like he was working more and me less and that he was 'floating' more...that means that he must have been working from his HQ's more and lifting his back. Fab ;-) We stop on a good note, give him some treats when unsaddling and quickly put the mustang roll back on his feet and then let him off back to the herd with Stormy following on behind.
Really enjoyed this session and will try to do more next week when I'm on holiday to see if my findings are still there with consistent work. I'll also ask Mark to photograph my session to see if he's actually looking as good as I think it feels! lol ;-))
