Wednesday 31st October
Already the last day of October, all Hallows eve! Not able to do much work with the horses at moment, very wet and the ground in the field is slippery SO think canter work is now off until next year but we've left it all in a good place. I will hopefully still be able to do some walk/trot work with them and Solly some shoulders-in and haunches-in before the snow comes and they come up to the house.
The daily task of bringing Tara to the house for the daytime is going well, she was a bit more lively today but couldn't ride her as she was just too wet to sit on but it was fun leading her from in front, then next to her and then on the way home we did some leading from behind (what NH people often call Zone 5 driving). We did lots of short fun transitions (h/bk/w/t etc) and she was very light and responsive to my 'thought/energy/body cue/voice cue' requests. She's such a fab horse and we have a lovely partnership.
To help her more with loosing some weight we've put the large paddock back up at the top of the main grazing field, she has a great stream for water and minimum grass as she and Solly grazed there for quite a while during the Summer this year. She can see and interact with the herd over the electric fencing and each day she will come to the house hopefully ridden by me and when I'm away teaching she won't get fatter by being in the whole 7 acres. Sorted ;)
Driving from behind on the track together ;)
Monday 29th October
Riding Tara up to the house daily and taking her back in the afternoon for her dinner. Just giving her some daily exercise as she's put on too much weight and without me being here regularly at moment her exercise is zero. When I'm away next she will stay at the house 24/7 to help control her grass intake and then when I'm back again I'll ride her daily again.
Sunday 28th October
Mark w/Stormy and me w/Solly had a play-challenge day. We alternately challenged each other with online tasks that we then had to do ourselves too. It was a lot of fun and here are the pictures from that session:
Then Mark, and afterwards me, rode Stormy to reinforce the good riding weekend we had last weekend. He went better off lighter cues and is starting to be more confident and willingly obedient about the directions we're giving him....here's some pics:
Then I had a bit of fun riding Solly as a Halloween ghoul....the mask was different as could only see forwards (no down/up/left or right!) but Solly did well with the cape over his butt and we had fun doing it...again, here's some pics:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN :)
Sunday 21st October
On arrival my two beauties were laying down,
with me kneeling down I got this shot of them which
looks like Solly is sitting on Tara's back! lol ;)
Today started off misty and by afternoon was postively hot. We grabbed equipment and went on out to play and ride. First off I groomed Solly and played for a pretty short time at liberty in a round pen. I just wanted to connect with him and make sure he wasn't feeling left out as today is girls day out. Then Mark groomed and saddled Stormy and played with him online and then rode him in the square arena to reinforce the positive lesson from yesterday....I had a lovely short ride on him too, and here's the pics from that session:
right turn with direct rein, left turns with indirect rein ;)
Very pleased with the two sessions with Stormy this weekend, shows how just a little bit of consistency can reap good rewards. He's a good boy but needs some regular work (even just half an hour riding a few times a week) and hope when they're at the house for Winter we'll be able to do that, even in the snow ;)
So, after our Storm session we gather Holly and Tara up and we go for a leisurely hack out together, leaving the boys to play amongst themselves. The hack out was good, Mark was trying out my Equipedic saddle pad on Holly and think she really appreciated it's comfort and memory foam. Going to have to buy him one now! lol. I rode Tara bareback as she is large around the middle again and I know that the saddle/girth is uncomfortable when she's like this, bit like me eating too much and waistbands of jeans ;)
Tara in round pen waiting to be groomed
Holly sporting the fancy equipedic saddle pad ;)
Mark and Holly going over the wooden bridge
Mark way out in front of us, the speck on the grass, mid picture ;)
A very nice hack out, horses not too sweaty today apart from Stormy and Solly who were practically wringing wet at their shoulders/necks etc. They must've been running around like a couple of hooligans. When we got to them they rolled in mud and by the time we left and had given them their dinner they were dry and warm (thank goodness, silly boys!)
The new saddle pad kept Holly sweat minimum and there were no pressure points which we often get using a normal thin saddle pad, also, as when I tried it on Solly...no shimming ;)) Great.
Saturday 20th October
Chilly day but dry and Mark and I get to horses around 12.30pm. I have a new saddle pad I want to try on Solly today so I wanted to connect and play with him before saddling and then cinch him slowly to let him get used to the different feel of the pad. It is an Equipedic pad from the USA, it has a good piece of memory foam in it and felt underneath and I'm hoping this will relieve any pressure points the saddle has been making on back, take away sweating and stop the saddle bridging from my shimming the way I have been, although it's not bad and Solly goes I know there is better for him and this pad may just be the answer. There is a slot for shims if I need to shim in any spot along the length of the saddle so it's looking good.
SO, first thing I do is groom and play with Solly. He needs warming up and we start with some backups and put Z5 by a jump, then turn him, back him up and ask him to jump/stop the jump and the sidepass off it...ALL with me not moving my feet!! ;) fab.
I then saddle him up and play some flexion and relaxation games with him on circles. He goes very well and soon realises that he CAN stretch down and low with this new pad on, he actually goes down, low and blows out a LOT which is great.
Circling
Relaxation
He is going so well I decide to get on board and see how it feels to ride.....well, I can honestly say that it felt great. It felt balanced, I was on my balance point, he seemed to be able to get my weight, butt and leg aids well and move his back around more. His haunches in L&R were very good and smooth today and I know we've been practicing it but today it felt more that he could move his back underneath me without any restrictions ;)) am liking this pad.
Haunches in left (our easier side)
So, we also did a few jumps and I kept checking to make sure it wasn't moving, slipping back or forwards and was still okay at the gullet...thumbs up...think we've just got a new pad! yeehaa ;)
With that sorted I sat on Solly with him not moving an inch whilst Mark had a bit of fun riding Stormy. He'd already had a nice online play session and Mark wants to get Storm's riding better so no better place than the new square arena with the trotting poles. So, off Mark goes, just really wanting Storm to go forward and keep going without stopping, not worried (at moment) about where he goes in the arena but it must be forward until Mark says he can stop at his comfort spot (near to me today;)
Here are some pics of what they did together...by the end Stormy was much softer, taking his responsibilites more seriously and they were looking more balanced and harmonious ;)
Thursday 18th October
Sunny, warm and the day is just inviting me out to play with the horses, so out I go ;) On the walk down to the field I saw a beautiful Fallow deer stag and two Roe deer...lovely. Down to the field and the mares are flat out and the boys are standing nearby looking after them so rather than disturb them I mosey around the field, putting back up the fencing of the round pens and the poles on the jumps (Stormy loves to move the furniture around. lol)
The sunlight catches Solly as he scratches an itch
Then Solly comes on over to me and we mutually groom and then he goes and gets Holly up...then Tara, he's so funny, he actually went over to both and nosed them to get up!! Cheeky boy. He then stayed with me for a while and then ran off to be with the bigg two SO, I go and get a halter and 22' line and ask him to come catch me again...he came well and he haltered nice and smoothly.
So, off to play. Everything well, energy levels okay, can't do too much fast stuff as the ground is quite slippery but his jumping went well today...
Keep practicing the bigger 2'4" jump...
...2nd time he knocks the top pipe off but
he doesn't panic or freak out which was good...
he doesn't panic or freak out which was good...
...so, as it's down I ask him to jump the pipes
as they lay...not a problem ;)
as they lay...not a problem ;)
...and put back up he jumps it nice and cleanly again ;)
With play over I saddle him and work on some ridden work. All goes well, w/t and he puts in a bit of canter after a jump but I ask him down to trot again in case he slips but I like the effort he put into the offer. I then work a bit on some hq-in which is going nicely but for the life of me we have trouble with the shoulder-in now. lol. So I leave it there for a moment and go back to leg yields and fig 8's.
I then decide that maybe we should try the bit/bridle again and see how the lateral moves are working with that. We work with the bit for over 20 mins but to be honest I am just not happy working with it, I try and try but never happy with it and I'm NEVER going to work in the bit/bridle often enough to make that feel any better SO jump off again and put the rope halter and clip on reins back on so that we can have a nice finish to the session today.
It feels so much freer without the bit and I think that apart from maybe trying to find an even better non-pressure hackamore I will not ride in the bit/bridle again...just doesn't seem worth it. The lateral stuff and manoeuvring I do may not be 'correct' according to dressage but it feels right for me and Solly, we understand each other and are both much happier working bitless ;)
Probably the last picture of Solly in a bridle ;)
After a good session I let him back to the herd and he hangs out with Stormy grazing while I take down the fencing of two of the round pens I have up...I realised that I really need some straight bits of fencing to do the lateral moves better and to be able to keep straight...hard to do that on the outside of a round pen. lol.
Just as I'm starting to figure out where to put the fencing (somewhere that doesn't get flooded and that's flatish) the heavens open in a BIG way, it starts to rain, and rain and RAIN...heavily and I realise my coat isn't waterproof!
I manage to get the quare arena up and tkae thejumps out of it that were in that area...my jeans, jacket and even my knickers by this time are totally SOAKING and I keep moving to keep warm. I walk to the top of the field to meet Mark as it's horsey dinner time and he's ther with the car ;)) I an get home quickly and straight into the shower to warm up again..thanks Mark, you're a total star.
Just as I'm starting to figure out where to put the fencing (somewhere that doesn't get flooded and that's flatish) the heavens open in a BIG way, it starts to rain, and rain and RAIN...heavily and I realise my coat isn't waterproof!
I manage to get the quare arena up and tkae thejumps out of it that were in that area...my jeans, jacket and even my knickers by this time are totally SOAKING and I keep moving to keep warm. I walk to the top of the field to meet Mark as it's horsey dinner time and he's ther with the car ;)) I an get home quickly and straight into the shower to warm up again..thanks Mark, you're a total star.
Monday 15th October
Spent a few hours with herd, mostly Solly today. Mark popped down half way to trim Holly's feet and I came back with him as it started to rain and it got very cold...brugghhh. But here is what I did today before coming home early.
The herd were lazing about, I got Tara out, let her romp with the herd again and then she popped herself into a round pen which Stormy had taken the fence down off a bit. I went and put the fence back up and she was in the pen! lol. Solly followed me around, being my shadow whilst I tidied up the fencing but I let he drifted off once I started moving all the jumps around. It was hard to think about moving the jumps as they all work nicely together at the moment, plenty of canter strides between each which encourages Solly to step out after each jump and is improving our canter work BUT I needed to move them as we need some variety between the consistency.
When Mark came down he had Holly in a round pen sorting out her feet and I brought Solly in the same pen to groom him, then we went to play.
Whilst playing, checking out the new jump positions...
...love that he can jump from a standstill ;)
We then went back to the pen and I saddled and cinched him up and we went back out to play with the jumps, some small (about 1'3"), more higher (around the 2' mark) and one about 2'4" tall which is about as high as I want to go for now, think tops would be 2'6" as really want to just keep jumping as a fun thing to do rather than a heavy duty task that puts strain on his legs.
The big jump...nose...
...neck...
...maybe the feet....
now he did this from a standstill again so I know
when he is scepticalof it it's just that he needs more
consistency to get used to it like this ;)
when he is scepticalof it it's just that he needs more
consistency to get used to it like this ;)
Then after Mark finished Hollys feet big Stormy wanted to be played with so Mark obliged and played with him for a while working on circles, sideways away and towards, jumps and trotting poles and generally having a fun play session with him. I was mounted on Solly by this time and had warmed him up but it was good to just sit on him and see that he didn't get antsy or try to move off whilst taking pics of Mark and Stormy together ;)
Stormy doing the 2'4" jump no bother ;)
Trotting poles
Walking through the tractor tyre! lol
Sideways away
Sideways towards
Then Mark let Stormy go and he took a few pics of me riding Solly...
Jump 1 in a three in a row set up ;)
Jump 2 in that set up
First jump again
2nd jump again
3rd jump coming other way (so it's the first one this way around)
2nd jump going other way ;)
Sunday 14th October
Sunday 14th October
Out to horses, grey dull weather but at least dry. Herd was resting when I got there which was nice...the white boys all nice and clean...
But then when they got up they rolled!!! lol. Now Solly was needing a groom ;) I let Tara out of her paddock to romp with the herd, sorted the fencing of the round pens out and then got to grooming all 4 horses in turn (Solly, Holly, Stormy then Tara....who went back into a round pen asap so that she doesn't eat too much ;)
Grubby boy ;)
By the time I had finished grooming the herd and just started playing with Solly Mark came down too. SO, he wanted to trim Stormy's feet so I did Solly at the same time.
Mark on Stormy's last foot to be trimmed,
my good Solly standing ground tied and snoozing
whilst I went to get some water from my backpack ;))
When getting my water from the round pen next to the trimming one I saw that Tara was having a snooze...fully flat on her side and then on her belly. She must have needed a kip...being seperated from the herd just that little bit takes its toll BUT at least she's snoozing and not eating for a while ;) lol
Tara having a good old snooze ;)
So, after trimming horses hooves and getting a bit warmer I have a play with Stormy as he really wanted to play and the opportunity of playing after him being so good standing still with the trimming was a good idea. We had a lot of fun playing with sideways from a distance in Z1, xtreme friendly from Z5, circling with some COD's, jumps (doing a nice 2' jump now) and the one we love which is backup together, me move away, turn on the HQ's and forward a step then back up again. This move helps him really get on his HQ's and light, light, light on his FQ's. He does this move better than all our horses because he's an enthusiastic extrovert with good hq's ;)
Z1 distance sideways
X friendly from Z5
A quiet moment with focus
Slow circles with partial DHQ's
A rest moment again, his rests are short and sweet, being a LBext
he enjoys playing more than stopping but rewards are always there ;)
Turn on the HQ's from Z1...
...finish turn on HQ's...nicely done ;)
At the end of the session I put him to liberty in the large field, he follows me to the car, over the 2' jump at liberty to get his end of session treat ;) He's such a good boy and his jumping is so clean now, no stopping straight after and no hitting the pole! ;)
So, time to get Solly back...after trimming I put him in the round pen with Tara and he was grazing happily there. He caught me nicely and we played a bit with all the games in the field, over jumps, sideways, circling, cod's, moving hq's and fq's and backups. All the ingredients good so I saddle him, ask for a bow to help him stretch and then mount up.
So, time to get Solly back...after trimming I put him in the round pen with Tara and he was grazing happily there. He caught me nicely and we played a bit with all the games in the field, over jumps, sideways, circling, cod's, moving hq's and fq's and backups. All the ingredients good so I saddle him, ask for a bow to help him stretch and then mount up.
His bow with saddle on
He was very under impulsed today but we worked on this together by going over a few small jumps. The ground is very soggy after the two days of rain we've had and I know that his worry about going faster is because he's worried about slipping SO I take his lead and only ask for small things, some small jumps done from a trot and very controlled, no canter after the jumps and then work on isolating his hq's from a standstill (a pivot) and then along a fence line in a haunches in. His HQ's-in goes well to the left but to the right it's still sticky and not just because of him, my left hip has huge trouble getting back and down to help this move, just like it's stickier when asking for right canter leads which is why at the moment I ask for leads around round pens to help him get the lead and for me to learn to get that left hip back a bit more without upsetting Solly doing it ;) Anyway I was very very happy with the haunches-in to the left ;)
Isolating HQ move, pivot with front feet,
called a turn on the forehand ;)
The best pic of haunches in to the left ;)
Friday 12th October
Friday 12th October
Weather here has been rain for over 24hrs....the mob got rugged today as (Holly yesterday eve as she was shivering) as Solly was a bit shaky and Stormy and Tara were cold and showed it by being a bit edgy and spooky.
This is them with their rugs on of the morning of Sat 13th...all dry, calm and happy. Rugs now off Sat am as dry and not too cold this am ;)
Wednesday 10th October
Had a nice bareback bridleless RtR around the round pens in trot with Tara today, she's slowly loosing some weight and our rides the last couple of days has been nice.
BUT riding Solly was FAB today ;)) We did a short play/warm up and then I rode Solly (with my shorter stirrups that I've been doing this week) and it was good.
Firstly we did lots of transitions to get his impulsion up and then we went straight into RtR in walk, right hand pen first, stop at x for literally a second and then left pen and halt at x. Then we did it in trot, again with just a transition down to walk at x and straight back into trot to do the other circle and a long halt at x afterwards. THEN, the test...trot straight into canter right circle all the way around (fine), then at x come to trot and then straight onto the left circle back into trot all thhe way around, halt at x...YEEHAA...he did it. THIS IS HIS FIRST RIDDEN SLC's in a fig 8 pattern ;)))
After this success we go and jump ALL the jumps in the field, he comes out of all of them in canter and really enjoys himself...so did I ;)
Then after a short break we went and worked on our subtle HQ moves, he is literally pivoting and I'm just lifting my rein and putting my weight down on the same side and the same lower leg pushing his HQ's over...works very nicely thank you...SO, putting that together with some forward movement around a round pen we get a couple of nice steps of haunches-in L&R and we repeat it both sides a few times and then we trot off and have another couple of jumps and call it quits whilst I'm smiling from ear to ear.
VERY VERY pleased with all that Solly and I have done today, the weeks work has progressed and started refining too....FAB ;)
BUT riding Solly was FAB today ;)) We did a short play/warm up and then I rode Solly (with my shorter stirrups that I've been doing this week) and it was good.
Firstly we did lots of transitions to get his impulsion up and then we went straight into RtR in walk, right hand pen first, stop at x for literally a second and then left pen and halt at x. Then we did it in trot, again with just a transition down to walk at x and straight back into trot to do the other circle and a long halt at x afterwards. THEN, the test...trot straight into canter right circle all the way around (fine), then at x come to trot and then straight onto the left circle back into trot all thhe way around, halt at x...YEEHAA...he did it. THIS IS HIS FIRST RIDDEN SLC's in a fig 8 pattern ;)))
After this success we go and jump ALL the jumps in the field, he comes out of all of them in canter and really enjoys himself...so did I ;)
Then after a short break we went and worked on our subtle HQ moves, he is literally pivoting and I'm just lifting my rein and putting my weight down on the same side and the same lower leg pushing his HQ's over...works very nicely thank you...SO, putting that together with some forward movement around a round pen we get a couple of nice steps of haunches-in L&R and we repeat it both sides a few times and then we trot off and have another couple of jumps and call it quits whilst I'm smiling from ear to ear.
VERY VERY pleased with all that Solly and I have done today, the weeks work has progressed and started refining too....FAB ;)
Tuesday 9th October
Walked down to horses this afternoon, took Tara out of her little paddock and rode her for a while at trot around the big round pens for some exercise bareback, hardly had to use the reins at all ;)
I wanted to play/ride Solly but the other two had idea's about going to the top of the hill to wait for their dinner (only an hour and a half early) SO, as I was riding Tara I rode her up the hill with them and then drove the naughty three back down the hill again. Tara loves it when we have a purpose. At the bottom of the hill I jumped off Tara and asked Solly to catch me and with Tara in halter/lead rope and the training arm/stick around Sollys neck we all go to the main round pen and I put both my trusty steeds in it whilst I sort out some equipment.
I groom Solly and saddle him up straight away today and then take him out of the pen and play for a while. We play all 7 games around some jumps and then I change my 22' feather light rope for my clip on reins and mount him, do our flight checks and then ride.
We only have about forty five mins for riding so I went straight to the round pens for the RtR w/t/c task that we've been working on. We start at X and halt and then I ask Solly to go around the right hand pen in walk then stop at X. Then to walk around the left pen and then stop at X. We stop at X for his reward which as a LBint will give him incentive to do the circle quickly and so build impulsion.
We then circle the right pen in trot and halt at X. Then circle to the left and halt at X. This halt is slightly longer as he put more effort into it. Lastly I ask him to canter the right pen and halt at X, he goes down to trot about a quarter of a circle early and wasn't thinking of going back up to canter when I asked him SO I just turned him in trot away from the rail and circled back to where he changed gait and then asked him to canter again to X....he does this nicely and realised that he can't just slack off when he feels like it. He gets a nice rest there at X and then we canter the left pen without changing gait...yeehaa ;) Next week we will start to bring these two circles together to have more of a fig 8 w/t/c with just a short break at the centre where we go down a gait and then back up again ;))
I wanted to play/ride Solly but the other two had idea's about going to the top of the hill to wait for their dinner (only an hour and a half early) SO, as I was riding Tara I rode her up the hill with them and then drove the naughty three back down the hill again. Tara loves it when we have a purpose. At the bottom of the hill I jumped off Tara and asked Solly to catch me and with Tara in halter/lead rope and the training arm/stick around Sollys neck we all go to the main round pen and I put both my trusty steeds in it whilst I sort out some equipment.
I groom Solly and saddle him up straight away today and then take him out of the pen and play for a while. We play all 7 games around some jumps and then I change my 22' feather light rope for my clip on reins and mount him, do our flight checks and then ride.
We only have about forty five mins for riding so I went straight to the round pens for the RtR w/t/c task that we've been working on. We start at X and halt and then I ask Solly to go around the right hand pen in walk then stop at X. Then to walk around the left pen and then stop at X. We stop at X for his reward which as a LBint will give him incentive to do the circle quickly and so build impulsion.
We then circle the right pen in trot and halt at X. Then circle to the left and halt at X. This halt is slightly longer as he put more effort into it. Lastly I ask him to canter the right pen and halt at X, he goes down to trot about a quarter of a circle early and wasn't thinking of going back up to canter when I asked him SO I just turned him in trot away from the rail and circled back to where he changed gait and then asked him to canter again to X....he does this nicely and realised that he can't just slack off when he feels like it. He gets a nice rest there at X and then we canter the left pen without changing gait...yeehaa ;) Next week we will start to bring these two circles together to have more of a fig 8 w/t/c with just a short break at the centre where we go down a gait and then back up again ;))
Solly inbetween the round pens
looking very pleased with himself
and his circling...think he realised
today that once he does something
nicely and well we go and do something else ;)
looking very pleased with himself
and his circling...think he realised
today that once he does something
nicely and well we go and do something else ;)
After such a good beginning we go and have some fun jumping some jumps using different gaits and turns in different places and then trot nicely over the trotting poles and back towards the middle of the field again. I love now that we can ride all around the field, where ever we want without a hissy fit ;)
I then go and work with some specific's with Solly. To do a haunches-in manoeuver I need him to be able to move his HQ's over when I ask him. Now we have no problem doing a DHQ from a standstill but I'm now trying to reifine that and ask him to move his HQ's over with his head straight rather than turned towards my foot. We work on this for a while L&R and know that I can ask him to move his HQ's over with my leg and a lifting up of the rein SO the next step now is to ask for this whilst he's moving forward.
I take him around the largest round pen so that the rail can be a guide for us and then ask him to move his HQ's off the rail whilst trying to keep his head/neck/shoulders straight. When he tries to give it to me but has to stop I relax and ask for forwards again. In the end we managed a couple of steps L&R with HQ's over off the rail and then straighened up and forward with loose rein for a reward. We will continue trying this out in small steps to keep his confidence and build it up slowly so that we can get more and more with and then without a rail. Quite exciting to try out something new and really builds on things we can do together.
Once finished our session I let Solly loose with some treats and then I go and get Tara from her pen and ride her bareback with the herd to her paddock and get their dinner ready with Mark ;)
I then go and work with some specific's with Solly. To do a haunches-in manoeuver I need him to be able to move his HQ's over when I ask him. Now we have no problem doing a DHQ from a standstill but I'm now trying to reifine that and ask him to move his HQ's over with his head straight rather than turned towards my foot. We work on this for a while L&R and know that I can ask him to move his HQ's over with my leg and a lifting up of the rein SO the next step now is to ask for this whilst he's moving forward.
I take him around the largest round pen so that the rail can be a guide for us and then ask him to move his HQ's off the rail whilst trying to keep his head/neck/shoulders straight. When he tries to give it to me but has to stop I relax and ask for forwards again. In the end we managed a couple of steps L&R with HQ's over off the rail and then straighened up and forward with loose rein for a reward. We will continue trying this out in small steps to keep his confidence and build it up slowly so that we can get more and more with and then without a rail. Quite exciting to try out something new and really builds on things we can do together.
Once finished our session I let Solly loose with some treats and then I go and get Tara from her pen and ride her bareback with the herd to her paddock and get their dinner ready with Mark ;)
Really enjoyed today's sessions with T&S and feel we're putting a good finish on the year with all the things we've been doing recently.
Sunday 7th October
Bright sunny day today, started chilly but midday is quite warm so off out to the horses we go. Decided yesterday that today was a hacking day and we'd take the girls (Holly and Tara) out for a mosey around the local hills. We get to the field, tack up, play and off out asap. The day was lovely with a nice juicy apple mid way at the village shop which was a nice break.
Holly did very well, paced herself and didn't break a sweat. Tara on the other hand was very sweaty due to a bit of over weightedness and unfitness so I walked part of the way with her to help cool her down. She managed generally okay but the big steep hills are a bit hard for her front legs now ;( Am going to try to exercise her for half an hour to an hour every day I'm home at moment and putting her back into a restricted diet paddock in the big field so that she can stay with the herd but not eat so much...poor dear, but it's for her own good ;)
Here are some nice piccie's from the day out:
These shadows followed us everywhere today ;))
Another rider at the shop today and we all left
together as her horse didn't want to leave ours! lol
Saturday 6th October
A nice sunny day, albeit with a little wind, but DRY :)) Mark and I go out in the afternoon to play/ride the horses. Not sure what we were going to do, thought about going for a hack out but I didn't feel up to it and wanted to ride the boys in a safe environment, today the 'strath' seemed 'noisy' with machinery being used behind and in front of our field and I prefer to hack out in peace and quiet so that I can 'think', especially with the boys. lol. SO, we went to the field with open ideas on what we were going to do and the first thing we see is this......
...lazy bone mares totally oblivious to anything...
the boys were snoozing away too! lol ;)
They soon got up to say hello to us though and I started with a short liberty play session with Solly and thenI left him to graze in the round pen we'd been working in. Mark started with the very eager Stormy today, playing online and at liberty with him first, then I played at liberty with him and after a while, when he wanted to do his own thing, he just jumped out of the round pen beautifully and went to where the car was in another round pen...he thought he deserved a treat for that! lol. Here, in pictures, is the play with Stormy:
STORMY GROUND WORK:
Mark S2M fig 8
Fig 8
Fig 8
Great trotting draw
Connection
Me and Storm connecting
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After Stormy's ground play I went and played with Solly and long reining in the main field area:
SOLLY LONG REINING:
Nice rest together after long reining ;)
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STORMY LONG REINING:
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STORMY RIDDEN BY MARK
YEEHAA ;)
GREAT JUMP :))
ANOTHER GREAT JUMP ;))
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STORMY RIDDEN BY ME
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SOLLY RIDDEN
Higher jumps here and there now ;)
Trotting poles for elevation and impulsion
CANTER CIRCLES....
...STILL CANTERING...
...STILL CANTERING....
...AND OTHER CIRCLE, CANTERING :))
Opening and closing gateways together ;))
The herd coming up after play for their dinner ;)
Friday 5th October
GREAT fun today, Solly has really started to canter the rails of the round pens now with stop at X for a reward. Hopefully before the end of the year there will be canter right, trot through X, canter right around both pens to make fig 8's with SLC's ;) He is also jumping those slightly higher jumps with ease and enjoying it, finding the trotting poles fun and getting to grips with the COD's in trot and SLC's long reining. Going well.
Stormy was good with his long reining and superb with Mark and his jumping. He really likes to do new things, things he enjoys and with some energy and Mark is the right person to ride him this way as he is fab about going with the flow and just sitting there and letting Stormy do his thing ;) Storm's riding is coming along and I rode him with a purpose today, asking him to take note of my seat/legs and the reins and to not push into the circle on my inside leg when he gets a bit energetic in trot. Went well and these short, fun sessions really work for him ;)
Friday 5th October
STORMY
But Stormy and Holly had come to me so I went back to Stormy and he caught me, I put his sidepull bridle on and after grooming him I put a long lunge line and we had some nice circling, fig 8 play and then I put both reins in the sidepull and we worked on some long reining.
We did circles w/t with reins around him and also one rein over his back. He did nice turns to L&R with direct reins and also indirect reins (dhq turns) and halts and backups too and he did them all with a nice attitude. I think he took yesterday off to think more about the lesson the day before (probably what Solly is doing today ;) A good short lesson but want to let him know that I like this attitude today so I take the bridle and reins off and let him free and walk away after a hug. That was a really nice session.
HOLLY
Next to catch me was Holly. Now we've been trying to learn some liberty moves and she's been having a bit of trouble taking requests BUT I'm being very patient, consistent and persistent so today will be our 5th liberty session. We go into the large round pen (like to give her as much room as she needs) and after grooming we play S2M in w/t with backups too. Then, again to keep the consistency, we play S2M in walk with the fig 8 pattern. All good.
Then we go to circles in w/t and she stays a good sticks distance away and we have a nice conversation about where her shoulders and ribs should be when circling and that went very well today. Next we go to playing with fig 's in trot, she does one side well and then runs around the pen but only in trot today. I realise maybe she is saying she needs this much room so I step right back and then ask her to do COD's from left circles to right (goes well) and then a COD the other way (her harder side) and blow me away she does it, slowly at first but with thought and deliberation...we continue and she does these cod's both ways three times, that's three fig 8's inthe large pen...I then ask her to come to me, she comes with a nice confident stride and we share some hugs. Again, this was a lovely session with Holly calm and understanding things much better. Throughout today she has been coming up to me for petting and that is really nice.
SOLLY
As I was putting some equipment away Solly came close to me. I asked him to catch me but he didn't want to come SO I asked again but this time that it was just for grooming, if he'd come to me it would be for grooming and nothing else....he just came straight over with that truth in my mind and heart and we had a lovely liberty grooming session and then I set him free again ;)
TARA
So last up (and in a round pen) was Tara. I went into the pen and asked her to catch me which she did quickly and with a nice look on her face. I gave her a good groom and put a saddle pad on her
Then we went out of the pen, I mounted and then we did some RtR around the round pens. She was going well and I felt like we should be doing something a bit more fun so we rode to the back gate and went through it. I then thought about where we could go and I decided at 10 past 4 that we could hack to the house, catch Mark before he walked the dogs adn then walk back with him for the horses dinner.
It was a lovely hack out, Tara was fresh and willing and I think she enjoyed the change. She also enjoyed some long grass in the paddock whilst waiting for Mark and the dogs. The ride back was with a power horse under me and it was a lovely w/t/c back to the field. Here are a couple of pics from the hack.
Setting out towards home ;)
The long middle track before home
Set off from home towards the field and dinner ;)
Tara looking towards her home field,
near the first gate, only two more to go ;)
Thursday 4th October
near the first gate, only two more to go ;)
Thursday 4th October
A very interesting day today...went down to horses at around 1.30pm and thought I'd play again with Stormy. He wasn't coming to catch me today, tried twice but he wanted to be on his own or with Holly so I let him alone. He may need time to think about what we did yesterday and that's fine ;)
HOLLY
So, the horse that did come in to catch me was Holly and I took this opportunity to play again at liberty with her and to see what she retained from the last play session and what we could do to improve things. We went into the largest round pen (approx 90') as I thought this would give her more freedom and being and extrovert she may need that, I hate to have a horse feel pressure just with my presence in a round pen.
In the pen I put her straight at liberty and we played a bit of S2M w/t/bckups and close cod's. All went well, smoothly and with a nice connection. We then went and played S2M fig 8's where I take her around the pattern and help her move her shoulders over to create that nice rounded arc around the obstacles. Today the obstacles were two red lunge lines so not much to see but good for me to focus on. She does the S2M fig 8's well and we rest for a moment together.
Next I ask for some fig 8's at walk but with her moving on her own more, me standing still more and she managed those well although her shoulders didn't move as well around the obstacles, but we rest and allow her time to think. On that good note I then ask her to do the fig 8's again at walk and then after two rounds I ask for trot, she managed to do the left side of the fig 8 but on the right side she runs off. She does have trouble being on the 'normal' side so is more reluctant to give me her left eye or should I say finds it harder to turn from clockwise to anti-clockwise because of her stiffness on her left side.
As she runs off I ask her to keep going in circles (very large ones! lol) and she's okay with that, a bit of head tossing going on but otherwise she's just cantering and then trotting circles. SO, with that going on I decide that she can do LARGE FIG 8's from the fence line. I have to run back a LOT, back to the fence line behind me before she tries to turn into the circle and when going clockwise to anti-clockwise she usually turns away from me towards the fence.
So, we stay working at it until it becomes a bit more of a pattern for her and she's starting to understand my requests more. Sometimes it's good, other times she runs around and I allow her to run the circle's rather than ask for fig 8's. It's a compromise of her needing to run and me waiting and then when she's calmer I ask for what I want and this works nicely in both our favours. In the end she manages to do one fig 8 nicely and we stop and rest for quite a while.
She was a bit sweaty from emotions so I decide to gently walk around with her stuck to my elbow nicely and
that helps her cool of a bit. Once cool I ask for the fig 8's closer to the obstacles again at walk and then again ask for it at trot...she runs off again at the hard point (right side of fig 8) and we work on the larger cod's from the fence line. It takes a shorter amount of time for her to calm and 'get it' and we rest again...walking together to help her cool off. The cool off periods are quite long as she needs to cool of physically, mentally and emotionally.
I then ask for fig 8's one last time and she does one round in trot without turning her back on me, without her running off and with some emotional collection so I DHQ and ask her to come to me to stop which she does willingly. We rest and I rub on her for quite a while and then I halter her and walk her to the herd playing S2M with w/backups the whole way. She is very connected to me and when I take her halter off and I cut off the connection she just goes to grazing (rather than her usual running off because I can thing! lol). It felt a good place to stop and I hope that next time I bring her in she finds it all easier. Usually with Holly we do the normal stuff that she's good at online and ridden but I wanted to push her comfort zone and help her grow with her liberty work which will help her become more balanced and help me to have a better connection with her (she's Mark's horse so has a deeper connection with him).
SOLLY
Just above where I let Holly go, Solly was waiting for me. He came to catch me and I put his halter on with the 22' feather light and as Tara was there nearby I asked her to come too. I had my small black training stick/string with me and put the string over her neck and brought her down that way with Solly on the otherside of me. I put Tara into the round pen next to the larger one and with her in place the rest of the herd soon came down to the flat plain of the field to keep Solly and I company.
We went into the large round pen to start with and I put Solly at liberty and played about with S2M (bk/w/t, cod's etc). Then I asked him to do some fig 8's and he was okay doing close to ones at walk but then decided he liked what Holly was doing and ran around the inside of the round pen at trot SO I helped him go but asked him for canter. He obliged with the canter but really didn't want to do canter so came down to trot pretty quickly and then I asked him to come back to me which he did quickly and well.
On that note I put him back online with the halter and 22' feather light and proceeded to do some games with that, including some nice fig 8's in w/t and circling w/t/c with cod's in trot ;)
We then went to the two red lunge lines (glad I kept these), as not only do they have lightness but they have length in their favour and I know that when working with canter with Solly and being behind him I need to be as far away as possible because he can buck out if unbalanced when I ask for something like SLC's or FLC's. I have my gloves on and off we go long lining with the line open on the inside and over his back on the outside. He's getting the turns with the indirect (dhq) rein better and better, a bit sticky to start with as this is the first time with these thicker flat lines but he gets there nicely.
We do some nice circles, cod's in trot and canter SLC's twice. He then goes on to do a sticky FLC in canter and I stop and praise him lots. It wasn't pretty, it had a bit of a buck in it (too much on his forehand) but he managed it himself and that's the beginnings of canter FLC's with long lines ;))
On that good note we stop and I get my gear together and halter him up again. There was a lot to carry so Solly carry's the long lines for me....now why didn't I think of that before! lol
Solly carrying the long lines for me
We then go into our normal round pen where the saddle is waiting and I groom him and saddle him up and play with him for a bit to girth him nicely. I then put on the bitless 'scrawbrig' bridle I have. I have had this bridle for a while but never really gave it a chance before so today I will ride in just this.
The Scrawbrig bridle ;)
The Scrawbrig works nicely and I realise (duh) that no matter what I have on Solly's head, if my riding doesn't change from what he's used to (seat connection, freestyle riding on focused thought, energy, body cue) then he'll be okay...and he was. I will ask Mark to photograph us riding with freestyle and finesse on the weekend and I'll then be able to see if he's able to 'connect' with the bridle with finesse.
So, what did we do riding wise? I asked him first to do his LF and then DHQ....all fine there BUT when I asked him to go forward there was a sticky foot moment or two!!! I've noticed more and more that this happens when I work with another horse before him and tomorrow I will come out and work with him first and see if it happens!!!
To get out of the stick foot moment I decide not to go backwards this time but to DHQ's a lot and then put that into a direct FQ move to unstick his feet. I DHQ's on L&R twice and then he went 'oh okay mum, I'll go forward'. lol. He is a one for testing to see if my physical, mental and emotional balance is in place ;) cheeky boy.
Once going forward all was okay. We went out of the round pen (he helped me open and close the gate ;) and over a couple of jumps to help his impulsion. We then went and picked up a post/fence of another round pen that Stormy had helpfully taken down and with me STILL IN THE SADDLE I hooked the electric fencing over my stick/string and walked Solly up to where the post was, grabbed the post and pushed it back as far as I could into the ground...phew....good horsey, he has really come on in this as he is polite around electric fencing but knows that when I have it it is okay to be around as I now don't open the gates for him often with the round pens but lift up a middle section and online and at liberty he can go under it, with it touching him, and he knows he's safe with me doing that for him ;) So, that has helped with that little fencing issue today ;)
Then we went and played with some ridden stuff. Today I wanted to get more from the canter fig 8's. Using the two round pens as a circuit I ask for trot around one then change diagonal and trot around the other, stopping at X (the centre of the two pens) for a rest. Then I asked Solly to start going around the right pen in trot and then ask for canter, I'm working on a smooth, seamless canter up and down transition more and more here. We almost get a full circle and we rest at X again. Then I ask him to go to the left at trot and then ask for canter and we get very close to a circle of canter and stop at X again for a loose rein rest. I stop at X as it's good to have a destination when asking for more of one gait that has been a hard one to get to start with. He is much more balanced and so am I as I feel that asking for a full circle now isn't too much and is a good way to expand on this gait, keeping it fun and giving him a destination helps him keep motivated. It works well. We do this pattern three times, each time getting slightly better and then I stop and rest for a long time to say thank you to him for working so hard.
To have a change I ask Solly to trot around the other two newer round pens (one of which has got Tara in) and he does this nicely, not worried by them being closer to the forest today which is good and then I ask for walk and do some nice shoulder-in's and leg yielding. Making sure our lateral work is still there I then go around the pens and ask for some HQ's yields away from the fence. It's a hard one and we get a bit stuck but I just ask for forward straight when that happens and focus more on where my own body should be for this manoeuvre. In the end we manage a stride of two twice on each rein of HQ yields (or maybe I should say it FELT like we were doing them! lol). Am going to try these again next time we ride and again asking for a bit more than we did the day before but not asking too much so that he stays calm, focused and willing with nice flexibility around my inside leg ;)
As a last thing we briskly trotted back to the shed, over a little jump and I dismounted at the gateway, untacked him and gave him a while with a lick/treat we have that he loves. I groom him and then set him at liberty. At liberty he follows me around whilst I tidy up my equipment and then go back to Tara. I then let Solly free (even though he's at liberty he's connected to me still so I have to cut that connection so that he can go and graze and be with the herd and not with me) and connect with Tara and haltered up I ask her out of the pen and to sidle up to the mounting block where I get on bareback. I then ask her to w/t around the round pens closest to help her shoulders relax and be free whilst riding and finally I w/t her up the big hill back to where the herd are gathering ready for Mark's arrival and their dinner time ;)
A good day had, nicely exhausted, and feeling like I've made good progress with Holly and her liberty and Solly and his long reining and ridden work. Fab ;)
Wednesday 3rd October
Wow wee...it's OCTOBER already and Autumn has started to set in up here. The nights are drawing in, leaves turning their yellows and reds and the long grass outside the house is the colour of hay, also dying as the land gets colder and ready for it's yearly sleep.
We've been preparing for winter by sourcing our winter hay, tidying up the garage/shed to put some of the hay there and general maintenance of the winter paddocks going on in preparation for the herd coming home for winter...around end of December (but before if bad snow ;)
So, today I manage to get out for an hour with the herd to see what they're up to, put up my round pens that Stormy regularly brings the fencing down on (he wants his grazing and he knows how to get it! lol) and then Stormy comes over for a play. In my rucksack today I have brought his sidepull bridle and my two old lunging lines. I decided to give these a go today, good to have fun with old/new equipment with a different mind set AND they're longer than the 22' lines so gives me more room to manoeuvre and keep out of the way with big Stormy. On that note I bridle him up and play online with one line for a while to check out his mood before moving onto long reining.
Stormy in sidepull and one line
Some games under our belt and I move onto some long reining. He's a bit full of himself and I think it's because it's nearly dinner time. The herd are moving about a bit but I keep going. THEN, the herd decides to go up the hill and Stormy just puts in a full blown canter from a walk and instead of fighting with that power and worrying him I let him go, two long red lunging reins flowing out behind him like streamers! lol. I'm SO glad our horses have all done EXTREME FRIENDLY game or this could have been a disaster.
Stormy with long reins ready for some work
At the top of the hill he stops with the herd and waits for me to catch him up. lol. He's a little monster sometimes but can't take it personally, he just needed to run and move his feet.
Once at the top I took the reins back and stroked him to make sure he is calm and ready to continue and then I ask him to do some long reining ;)
We work on the hill where he is happiest, near the herd, and do circles, fig 8's and turns using direct and indirect reins with reins either side of him and also one regular and one over his back. He worked nicely for me in walk and a bit of trot and we took quite a few breaks with lots of praise for him being good. All ended well and finished in time to see Mark and dogs coming to give herd their dinner ;)
Once at the top I took the reins back and stroked him to make sure he is calm and ready to continue and then I ask him to do some long reining ;)
We work on the hill where he is happiest, near the herd, and do circles, fig 8's and turns using direct and indirect reins with reins either side of him and also one regular and one over his back. He worked nicely for me in walk and a bit of trot and we took quite a few breaks with lots of praise for him being good. All ended well and finished in time to see Mark and dogs coming to give herd their dinner ;)
