Sunday 29th July
Well nearly the end of the month and the next few days I'll be away teaching in Aberdeenshire SO Mark and I have made good use of the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it with the herd. Today we went down early and took Tara and Holly out for a lovely hack to the village. We got some treats at the village shop, got warm with the sun and also chilly and wet with a downpour where we hid from most of it under a tree! lol. Nice and dry by the time we got home though and the horses enjoyed themselves too with some nice canter, trot and a lot of good walk. Here's some pics from the day:
Stormy being a bit silly at first when we took the girls out but then
realisedhe had Solly to play and graze with ;)
Me and my Tara having a nice canter along the track
fabulous flowers, grasses and herbs along the tracks ;)
whilst heavy rain fell
She's a curious girl ;)
Holly in a nice fast walk along here ;)
Saturday 28th July
Weather pretty good so off out early to horses. First we had to photograph Solly and me with all the rosettes we won in the Horse Agility 'Summer of Sport' challenge competition this month. Solly and I won a green special rosette for coming 5th in the Advanced Horse On line test, the yellow rosette for coming 3rd in the Liberty test, the bronze rosette for coming 3rd overall in the Liberty which came with the fab bronze medal for me too and last but not least we got the multicoloured Equine Tourism Good Horsemanship award too ;))
Solly enjoing his photo-shoot ;)
Next I brought my two down from the paddock and into the arena area with the other two and taught Tara to duck under the electric fencing to enter the round pen...there is no electricity in it but it is a test of trust between us for her to do this as she is sceptical and wise to the electric fence...she was also at liberty ;)
SO, my next task was to groom Stormy up, fly spray him and then play with him online for a while and Mark played with Holly at liberty for a while in the dressage arena. Today he decided to try to establish a good S2M on circles with Holly so that he can start applying this to actually circling at liberty. It was a good start and it was nice to see them trying something new for them.
I then took Stormy out in new bridle and 2x22' feather light ropes for some long reining. I like long reining as it helps him 'get' the rein action that will be used when riding but without the rider interference on his back to start with. We had a very good session and he was doing some nice weaves and fig 8's and some nice trot work.
After this Mark saddled Stormy and rode him in walk, trot and a bit of canter and I instructed him more on how to ride with 'connection' with the reins and a good 'feel'. Mark Rashid calls this working with 'Meaningful Resistance' and this was really Mark's first try at this since getting his own horses 12 yrs ago. Stormy goes well with a good contact as it helps him and the rider be focussed together. Mark did a great job and they looked good together.
as it helped him balance and not bump on Stormy's back through
the sheer movement of Stormy when cantering ;)
After Mark's riding session I play and saddle Solly and then ride him. He didn't need much playing with, he was very up for being ridden and I checked all the basic's in play and then the flight checks when mounted....all great.
I then went and mounted Stormy as I wanted to test the new bridle and see how it 'felt' to ride him. With the NH hackamore the weight and feel is below the chin and this seemed to make Stormy heavy on the forehand and just felt wrong for him so this bridle felt really good to ride in. He 'gets' the requests and he felt very good to ride properly again after such a long time. We did about 15 mins in walk and trot and it was good.
Everything going great so we take Tara out of the round pen and put her and Holly in the main grazing area and then take the two big boys out for a walk/hack along to the river towards the village. I decide to walk Solly out but ride back and Mark rode the whole way on Stormy. Sometimes I went first, sometimes Stormy went first and they really ride out together well, no fussing, good buddies and fun ;)
left brained horses a reason for going anywhere! lol
Storm and Mark by the river where grazing
is fab...so Stormy said ;)
before I mount up
up the last hillock towards the home gate...fab ;)
Best ride out with him ever....connection really going well
Right at the end of the fun day with the horses I went down and collected dear Tara from the bottom of the field, haltered her, put clip on rope reins on the halter, jumped on her bareback and rode her up the hill to the paddock where Solly waited patiently for her return...it was fab, Holly and Stormy had come down to collect her and we cantered/galloped with them at least half way up the hill...she's a tryer that Tara ;) And here's the fun piccie of us doing it ;))
Friday 27th July
Had a quiet day at home today but spent a bit of time this pm with Solly and Tara, grooming, fly spraying and scratching them. All good bonding stuff. Going to spend the weekend with the herd and Mark so today was a bit of time off, my back is also healing after two very powerful Reiki sessions and so hopefully the weekend will be practically pain free ;)
Tara and Solly get some more grazing this pm in their
restricted pasture management paddock.
They're both looking much better and fitter for it too ;)
Wednesday 25th July
Bad back still but walking has been helping SO today I spend an hour or so of undemanding time with the herd. Bring Sol and Tara out of their paddock too be with Hol and Storm and I just walk around, fly spray them and put some electric fencing back up which Stormy pulled out sometime today ;)
It was nice to just be with the horses and I jumped on Tara bareback to get back up the hill in time for their dinner ;) Lovely, peaceful, lazy day
It was nice to just be with the horses and I jumped on Tara bareback to get back up the hill in time for their dinner ;) Lovely, peaceful, lazy day
Tuesday 24th July
Back is aching from trimming the horses yesterday and not better from the last time I did trimming about 10 days ago BUT determined to get out today and not waste a good dry day indoors SO dosed myself up with iboprufen and a non-smelling heating balm on bad bits and went out and SO glad I did as managed to groom them all quickly, play with Stormy on the 22' feather light rope, long rein him with two 22' feather lights and the halter and then long rein him with his new 'sidepull' bitless bridle on ;)
THEN I played with Solly and rode him for 20 mins and then rode Tara bareback up the hill back to the paddocks for their dinnertime!! yeehaa. Here are some pic's from today:
Stormy longreining in bridle ;)
through, between, under, over, through and jump ;)
...what a superstar he is :0)
Enjoyed today a lot, bit sore now but it was very worth it...funnily enough riding wasn't too much bother, sitting normally in a chair is! how weird ;)
Monday 23rd July
Bit of a drizzly day but not enough to put me off going down to the horses. I first bring Solly and Tara out of their paddock so that they can graze and be with the other two for a while and then I let them all into the large 'arena field'.
I take Tara straight into the round pen to keep her grazing down and set to trimming her hooves. It was about 2 weeks since doing them before so they didn't need too much but was good to get them before they grow too much ;)
I then let her graze the pen and went and got Solly. I quickly gave him a brush over and then played on the 22' feather light. Firstly we did sideways along a fence, at trot and between squeezes...he did great and first time for ages we've gone into play fast and strong.
Next we play around with circles in w/t with changes of direction in and out of the circling and then we played with fig 8's with a jump in the middle. We then circled ove to the three black 'drainage' pipe jumps. They're not very big but Solly still isn't 100% used to them.
I first ask him to circle around them, then circle and jump one single one. Then I move the tubes into a C shape. I ask him to back into the C, he does this nicely but then kicks the back one and makes himself jump and he scoots forward at a canter! lol...so I ask himback again and reward and relax when he gets a step towards the back one ;)
Then we have fun with circle jumps. I ask him to try to circle around to the back of the C and jump the middle tube...he hesitates and I sidepass him away from the tube. But I ask him to try again on the circle...he hesitates foor a second and then does it nicely....I DHQ and reward his try. I do this three times and then try it the other way....this time he has to walk between the two tubes at the top an dbottom of the C before jumping the centre one..he stops and I sidepass him away again. Second try he walks to the jump and jumps it hesitantly. I reward him each try and then circle him around and ask him to jump it twice in both directions before a stop and this helps reinforce good behaviour.
Lastly I ask him to try to do the two tubes, the top and bottom of the C, which make a nice 'bounce' hump. It takes three attempts for him to be confident to be able to do it and we stop and rest between each try but does it nicely both ways and we stop and walk away from it. Good jumping session.
I then take him into the round pen and trim his hooves and after this I take Stormy, Holly and Solly out of the grazing arena and back into the main grazing area, I take Tara out on a halter and clip on reins, jump on her bareback and ride her up to her paddock, the herd cantering after us ;)
Although I didn't get to ride Solly or Stormy (what I planned to do) but I did do what was necessary and enjoyed my ride on Tara. Hopefully I'll get to play an dride Sol and Storm on the weekend....fingers crossed ;)
I take Tara straight into the round pen to keep her grazing down and set to trimming her hooves. It was about 2 weeks since doing them before so they didn't need too much but was good to get them before they grow too much ;)
I then let her graze the pen and went and got Solly. I quickly gave him a brush over and then played on the 22' feather light. Firstly we did sideways along a fence, at trot and between squeezes...he did great and first time for ages we've gone into play fast and strong.
Next we play around with circles in w/t with changes of direction in and out of the circling and then we played with fig 8's with a jump in the middle. We then circled ove to the three black 'drainage' pipe jumps. They're not very big but Solly still isn't 100% used to them.
I first ask him to circle around them, then circle and jump one single one. Then I move the tubes into a C shape. I ask him to back into the C, he does this nicely but then kicks the back one and makes himself jump and he scoots forward at a canter! lol...so I ask himback again and reward and relax when he gets a step towards the back one ;)
Then we have fun with circle jumps. I ask him to try to circle around to the back of the C and jump the middle tube...he hesitates and I sidepass him away from the tube. But I ask him to try again on the circle...he hesitates foor a second and then does it nicely....I DHQ and reward his try. I do this three times and then try it the other way....this time he has to walk between the two tubes at the top an dbottom of the C before jumping the centre one..he stops and I sidepass him away again. Second try he walks to the jump and jumps it hesitantly. I reward him each try and then circle him around and ask him to jump it twice in both directions before a stop and this helps reinforce good behaviour.
Lastly I ask him to try to do the two tubes, the top and bottom of the C, which make a nice 'bounce' hump. It takes three attempts for him to be confident to be able to do it and we stop and rest between each try but does it nicely both ways and we stop and walk away from it. Good jumping session.
I then take him into the round pen and trim his hooves and after this I take Stormy, Holly and Solly out of the grazing arena and back into the main grazing area, I take Tara out on a halter and clip on reins, jump on her bareback and ride her up to her paddock, the herd cantering after us ;)
Although I didn't get to ride Solly or Stormy (what I planned to do) but I did do what was necessary and enjoyed my ride on Tara. Hopefully I'll get to play an dride Sol and Storm on the weekend....fingers crossed ;)
Sunday 22nd July
A nice, breezy, grey day....just perfect for a hack out and NO FLIES!!! lol. Mark and I venture out around lunchtime and I put Solly and Tara out with the big two for a quick graze together. I then get Solly for a quick photo shoot with him and his new rosette...it's for the 'OLHA, Summer of Sport Challenge Qualifier' from getting 2nd in the Online and Liberty classes in June. We've sent in our July Summer of Sport entries and now waiting for the results to come back...here is the photo of Sol and his Rosette ;)
Mark and I then grab our mounts for a hack out and groom and saddle them both up. Holly and Tara are ready for a ride and we leave the two boys together and get going ;) The breezy weather is just perfect, we got toward the village, make a short detour around the village clockwise from the local green, back to the village shop for carrots, apples and ice creams and then mosey on home...here are some pics from the hack out.
Really enjoyable hack out together and boys were so happy to be together they hadn't sweated up worrying about where we'd gone with the mares at all ;)
Saturday 21st July
Been away working for a
while but a good day today for some fun with own horses and Mark. Mark
had a sidepull bitless bridle made for Stormy to encourage more free
flowing forward going and a higher headset than he's giving in the rope
hackamore arrangement. We went for the sidepull as it's the one bitless
bridle that has no squeezing action so it should still give a nice soft
feel for Stormy but with the reins in a different place than the rope
hackamore which we hope to encourage less weight on his forehand ;) SO,
here are a few pics of how it looks and how he and Mark's first ride in
the field went.
Then it was my turn but the clegs (horseflies) were pretty bad today in
the field SO I decided to just do a liberty play session with Solly in
the round pen. He was light, fun and we did two new things today...(1)
circling at liberty with me sitting on a barrel and (2) circling at
liberty with me standing on the barrel....he did fab, here are some
pic's from the session.
The perfect end to the lovely day was me riding Tara back to the top of the field where her and Solly's paddock are but did it by riding out of the field, up and around the back of the forest at the back of the horses field, along the track and back in the field at the top ;) fab.
Sunday 15th July
Managed to get out and film Solly and my Summer of Sport OLHA challenges online and liberty today ;)
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Friday 13th July
Had a fun day today, Solly and Tara out of the paddock and into the round pen, Stormy and Holly around the pen in the paddock they don't have unless we're there ;) They enjoyed the change and I trimmed Tara's back feet last of all too so a good day had by all.
Playing with Solly was fun, he's still light, willing and fun even though in a restricted paddock most of the time now, I let him graze for a while whilst sorting out some Horse Agility obstacles and then we played online for quite a while. Here are some things we worked on:
Playing with Solly was fun, he's still light, willing and fun even though in a restricted paddock most of the time now, I let him graze for a while whilst sorting out some Horse Agility obstacles and then we played online for quite a while. Here are some things we worked on:
Circles: L&R, COD inside circle in w/t, COD outside circle in w/t. Circle transitions w/t/c. Fig 8's w/t and SLC's (bit too slippery for FLC's today ;) Circles and circles w/COD's with jumps, over jumps, around jumps, stopping at jumps, jump and stop and sidepass ;) Small jumps, wide jumps, high jumps, jumps from w/t/c and out the other side t/c with COD's and back the other way. He and I really flow well and we can do quite a long 'flow play' session without many stops and it's lovely to use more of the field and Solly enjoying himself.
Then I go into the HA arena with Solly and we play around with my new toy....kids 'bubbles'! lol. Thought it would be fun to try something new so bubbles it is. I blow a few down the field and dear Stormy is totally FASCINATED by them, Holly was very unshore, Tara was far enough away to show sceptism but not needing to move her feet. Solly was very sceptical so we did some familiarisation with them and then I tried to walk away and have them blowing infront of him so that we could follow them.....going to take another couple of tubes to convince him they're not killer bubbles though so will work on that later on when more bubble mixture. Here are some pics of the bubbles and horses though:
After that bit of fun I then set up a new 'obstacle' or rather a combination of obstacles as a HA 'lane' to have some fun with Solly. It involved going under, over and between poles, pedastal, barrels and drainage tube. He actually wasn't that impressed and it took 20 mins of me being passively patient for him to become slightly curious about what I was asking him to come through. It worked best if he followed me through as he knows I won't ask anything from him that I wont' do myself but again will have fun playing with this set up for him to become more and more familiar and happy with it all ;)
Last of all I set Solly free with Stormy and Holly and then rode Tara back up the hill to their restricted paddock, Solly and Stormy took this opportunity to play big time together, run off some steam and get back to a game of 'tag' between them! lol.
Monday 9th July
Teaching day cancelled due to huge amounts of rain in Edinburgh but nice and dry and clear and positively nice here at home SO off to the horses around noon. I collect Tara from the paddock, let Solly out to stretch his legs with the other two and we all make our way down to the bottom of the field, I open up the cut off grazing and we all go into the arena part. Solly and Tara go into the round pen for a while and I go and put up the Horse Agility obstacles.
One of the obstacles this montth is 5 hulahoops in a row for horse to trot through without touching...I don't have 5 hulahoops but got inventive and made 5 rings with one of our old hosepipes and some cable ties ;))
So, back to Solly and I groomed him and put some fly spray on but flies are pretty bad today especially the biting clegs (horseflies). But we carry on, the 22' feather light and start with some sideways L&R without a fence, circling, jumping and testing w/t/c ;)
We then go into the HA arena and practice the Online and Liberty courses....it went pretty well and we left it on just one practice on each.
Outside in the large arena again we work on circling trots with COD outside the circle (rather than regular inside the circle towards me COD's). Solly did fab, very smooth turns, not changing gait and we go down the field doing these outside COD's ;) fab
I then saddled and cinched him and I mounted and rode. We did freestyle RtR L&R, nice jumps and a LOVELY canter away from a jump for quite some time before going back to trot....cool. We also tackled the new single drainage pipe jump, he really was sceptical, stopped twice but I let him look at it, then he walked over it once but the second time he caught his foot on it and it moved..he did very well, no spooking but moved front end sideways away from the worrying pipe. I then went away and came back to the jump and Solly realised that just jumping the pipe was easier than getting stuck on it and jumped it very well...we then went away from it and into the Dresage arena for some circling in trot.
Today we did LOTS of trot and it felt great...balanced, light and happy, not a worry about any part of the field and connected together well.
I then put him back in the round pen and went to groom/spray Tara and then trim her front feet. I'll do the back ones tomorrow, just too many flies to do it all today. The clegs were biting bad and huge amounts of them today :(((
I then opened up the main grazing field again, got Tara and Solly haltered up and brought them out of the round pen, jumped on Tara bareback and rode up the hill ponying Solly from her. Holly and Stormy followed at liberty ;) Once at the top, S&T go back into their small grazing paddock and I leave them all there and walk back down to close off the excess grazing again and then go home.
A lovely day, really enjoying riding Solly now with our lovely connection ;)
Sunday 8th July
Been working away again and yesterday yukki rain but today got out early and played/rode horses with Mark...YEEHAA ;) Yesterday we cut the field in half as there is too much grazing for the all, it will also save some for Autumn and we can open it up as needed. Tara and Solly are now in the top smaller paddock together as Tara has been keeping weight off nicely but Solly put on too much so he's in with her to restrict his grazing a bit. Stormy and Holly are on the remainder of the half open to them which they will enjoy ;)
Tara and Solly in small paddock
So, today I had to go in at the top of the field, collect both my horses and work my way down the bottom where the arena's are in the shut off bit. I let Solly make his own way down but took Tara down on the neck rope so that she came to the bottom rather than gorging herself at the top where I can't keep an eye on her...in fact when we got to the bottom I put her and Solly into the roundpen to keep an eye on both ;) lol
Mark then got Holly and trimmed her feet whilst I arranged my jumps in the new closed off area, around the round pen a bit to make more of a cross country jumping course this time. We have some new 'drainage pipe' bits that I'm making use of and that will be fun to play with today. It all took time but I got there, jumps in place, Horse Agility set up ready for play so I went and got Solly and we played around on the 22' feather light before entering the HA arena.
Solly did some nice circles w/t with COD's and fig 8's too. Then we got to the 'new' jump of drainage pipe...well he stood off from it and snorted big time...big mouse that he is! lol. But we played with approach and retreat a lot, don't touch my jump and circle the scary things worked well too ;) Eventually I asked if he would at least try to think about jumping it, he lifted a leg and that was good enough, we retreated and played on circles elsewhere and then came back to it. Once he'd had time to think about it all he jumped the single pipe, two laying together as a wider jump and then the three stacked together very well for me.
Mark then got Holly and trimmed her feet whilst I arranged my jumps in the new closed off area, around the round pen a bit to make more of a cross country jumping course this time. We have some new 'drainage pipe' bits that I'm making use of and that will be fun to play with today. It all took time but I got there, jumps in place, Horse Agility set up ready for play so I went and got Solly and we played around on the 22' feather light before entering the HA arena.
Solly did some nice circles w/t with COD's and fig 8's too. Then we got to the 'new' jump of drainage pipe...well he stood off from it and snorted big time...big mouse that he is! lol. But we played with approach and retreat a lot, don't touch my jump and circle the scary things worked well too ;) Eventually I asked if he would at least try to think about jumping it, he lifted a leg and that was good enough, we retreated and played on circles elsewhere and then came back to it. Once he'd had time to think about it all he jumped the single pipe, two laying together as a wider jump and then the three stacked together very well for me.
After sorting out the 'new' jump we mosey on over to the HA arena and practice this months OLHA online and at liberty. We do it once and then we leave it. Mark has played and saddled up Stormy so I give Solly a break but get his saddle and stuff ready. Mark and Stormy seemed to be having a good time so I took a few pics of their progress.
starting to look less heavy on the forehand for a bit there ;)
Mark finished his session with Stormy and it was my turn to saddle and ride Solly. I love that our play sessions can be shorter now and our ridden ones longer. I mount Solly after all the prep with play and cinching and we start out on RtR around the round pen freestyle. He is light, listening and very connected and a joy to ride. After some RtR L&R we then pop some of the new jumps and I was very pleased with his eagerness even though they're all in different places from our last ride/jumping session ;)) We even put in some circling around Stormy who was grazing nearby! lol.
Lastly Mark haltered Tara for me and I ponyed her off Solly back up to the top of the field, up the steep hill, to put them both back into their smaller paddock. The ride up was smooth and confident and it was a great day out.
Lastly Mark haltered Tara for me and I ponyed her off Solly back up to the top of the field, up the steep hill, to put them both back into their smaller paddock. The ride up was smooth and confident and it was a great day out.
RtR freestyle to the right in trot
Nicely over the first jump
Power jumped the second jump...yeehaa! lol.
trouble with last week but today has a fence
on one side for confidence ;)
Wednesday 4th July
Not a lot of time today to play/ride horses but went out with 2 hours spare to play with Solly but first of all I took the time to groom all of the horses, give them some fly spray under their bellies, necks etc and put some mane and tail conditioner on them as whilst being away all of their manes and tails were a bit dischevelled...much better now.
Solly wanted to hang out with me so we moseyed over to the HA arena and after he'd had a nice graze I haltered him and put him on the 22' feather light rope and we went around the July OLHA course once. Nothing too strenuous, not worried about it being right or prefect but just went around it as a prelim to play outside in the big field.
In the big field next we played with backing up, circles w/inside and outside COD's, fig 8's in w/t and then S2M to the Jumping arena. In the JA we did lots of moving circles which included multiple jumps, COD's w/t/c and rests with plenty of scratches...here's some pics:
After all that jumping fun I let him graze for a while at liberty and then continued at liberty for a while working on jumps towards, circles in w/t/c with COD's and draws w/extreme friendly. Here's the pics from that:
Felt good to just have practice session with plenty of FUN and we both enjoy liberty so this was big fun for both of us. I loved him jumping towards me, the barrel was hard for him, he found it much easier to just go around the jump but eventually, just for me, he did it ;)
I gave him more scratches and some treats and then set him back with Holly & Stormy and walked back up the big hill on my own to get their dinner ready. Midges and black flies were bad at the top but we managed to get through dinner without too much hassle from them...Stormy and Holly had the great idea to groom each other for quite a while which was lovely to see, they really do help each other out those two, our Alpha mare and Beta gelding ;)
I gave him more scratches and some treats and then set him back with Holly & Stormy and walked back up the big hill on my own to get their dinner ready. Midges and black flies were bad at the top but we managed to get through dinner without too much hassle from them...Stormy and Holly had the great idea to groom each other for quite a while which was lovely to see, they really do help each other out those two, our Alpha mare and Beta gelding ;)
Tuesday 3rd July
OMGoodness, it's JULY already...where did the first half of the year go? Also been away for about 10 days teaching now so missed the herd big time. Finished all my paperwork yesterday so out with the herd today.
Went down for a bit yesterday and sorted out the new OLHA course so that was up ready to go and when I got down today the herd of three (Tara up in her own lofty paddock still) came to say hi which was nice. I then asked Solly to follow me at liberty to the HA arena with some S2M transitions w/t/w/h/bk...all went well. Opened up some grazing for Holly and Stormy and put Solly in the HA arena but then H&S ran away up the hill and Solly was pacing the fence line!! silly boy ;(
I called him and he came over, then off again so I called him aggain and he came over and I haltered him and we went and played in the big field near to where he could see the other two up the hill having some water from the stream ;)
Getting to that area I usd backups and sideways L&R to gain his attention, confidence and connection whilst he was thinking more of the other horses than me. At the bottom of the big hill where we started some proper relaxation games we did circles in walk and trot, L&R with COD towards as normal AND COD's away as a new pattern. To do this outward COD I tossed the 22' feather light rope over his head onto his back, over his butt and gently asked for a turn away and he did them in walk and trot and almost got them instantly ;) I think doing the long reining for a few years now has taught him how to accept and follow ropes easily now.
So, with his connetion back now we walked S2M back to the HA arena and then went though the 10 tasks for this months competition. We did it twice and have some more practice to do but hopefully not too much as he's really done most of the tasks before.
After the groundwork I then saddled Solly and dodging the midges and the rain we cinched up in 3 sessions and then I mounted and waited whilst he grazed. Then we rode for an hour or so. Transitions w/t/bkup, L&R, circles 20m, 10m, 5m, serpentines, in the DA and out in the big field, weaves and fig 8's in the big field and w/t up the big hill without one hesitation. FAB
Feeling much more connected to my boy now and looking forward to tomorrow where more connection, lightness and play can continue ;))
