Sunday 28th July
So I managed to get out with horses today. It's been a while since riding Solly so my main thing will be to ride him. We had a short play session yesterday after they had the day yesterday back home in the big field and all went very well.
Today I first play with him at liberty, draw and drive working well, leaving and coming back to me well too. Then circles, moving circles and all 3 main gaits working well, he sometimes left me to go to the end of the arena where the other herd members were but he came back easily and nicely too ;)
We then worked on playing at liberty around my new flags. I have 6 and I put them on long poles standing in cones. He has no problem with flags now which is great. On that note I saddle him and play online for a while checking his fig 8's in walk and trot and all goes so well I just mount him.
I first play around with backups to trot transitions to create some very nice impulsion and he really showed some fabulous transitions with impulsion and yeehaa which was GREAT :) With that going well I don't over do it or bore him but put in a jump and then start playing at weave and fig 8's ridden around the flags, also some long, deep serpentines, transitions in the flag 'box' using them as a QB style pattern and asking him to halt in the box too..his halts are very good and all transitions working just off energy/breathing and a slight leg cue ;) FAB
On that note I decide to trot through the flag 'alleyway' back and forth. He's fab. Then I decide to trot to the flag alley and then ask for canter, he pushes off into canter beautifully without me having to do much at all ;) FAB AGAIN. Then I ask Mark to make the alley way smaller (from about 6' apart to 4' apart) and ask Solly to trot and canter through that small alley gap ;) He does it without thinking and we end on a couple of jumps and some sideways.
Today was a LOVELY day with my boy, I'm thrilled that he went SO well with the flags about.....think I'll have to buy some more flags ;)
We then worked on playing at liberty around my new flags. I have 6 and I put them on long poles standing in cones. He has no problem with flags now which is great. On that note I saddle him and play online for a while checking his fig 8's in walk and trot and all goes so well I just mount him.
I first play around with backups to trot transitions to create some very nice impulsion and he really showed some fabulous transitions with impulsion and yeehaa which was GREAT :) With that going well I don't over do it or bore him but put in a jump and then start playing at weave and fig 8's ridden around the flags, also some long, deep serpentines, transitions in the flag 'box' using them as a QB style pattern and asking him to halt in the box too..his halts are very good and all transitions working just off energy/breathing and a slight leg cue ;) FAB
On that note I decide to trot through the flag 'alleyway' back and forth. He's fab. Then I decide to trot to the flag alley and then ask for canter, he pushes off into canter beautifully without me having to do much at all ;) FAB AGAIN. Then I ask Mark to make the alley way smaller (from about 6' apart to 4' apart) and ask Solly to trot and canter through that small alley gap ;) He does it without thinking and we end on a couple of jumps and some sideways.
Today was a LOVELY day with my boy, I'm thrilled that he went SO well with the flags about.....think I'll have to buy some more flags ;)
Love my boy
and so light to my leg
Fun teaching him to lead with halter/rope OFF the quad bike ;)
19th July - 26th July
Well we had the horses up to the house all last week as it was SO hot and sunny the water ran dry in the
horses field. They enjoyed the nice longer grass and Tara had a nice
smaller paddock to keep her happy BUT now we've had a nice amount of
rain and they're back in the big field which they love.
Whilst at the house I took some of them for walks, some for a bit of play and some for short rides. Holly was good to ride out but when I got home she assumed that was it but I took her back out again and came across 'sticky' feet in her when going back down the track SO I made a game out of going out for a bit, coming home for a bit, going out for a bit more so that home isn't always where we get to stop ;)
Whilst at the house I took some of them for walks, some for a bit of play and some for short rides. Holly was good to ride out but when I got home she assumed that was it but I took her back out again and came across 'sticky' feet in her when going back down the track SO I made a game out of going out for a bit, coming home for a bit, going out for a bit more so that home isn't always where we get to stop ;)
Solly
wasn't very confident when Holly went out and was a bit unsure when I
played with him and then saddled up so we did some 'particular' work by
the house. With this I kept his confidence by being by the herd but I
asked him to be particular in the work I asked and I just asked him to
move his hq's and fq's individually with only my leg, used my rein to
block any unwanted moves and his hq's were easier to move than his fq's
so we just slowly worked on those two moves. When we got them better I
then asked him to sidepass up and down the house track and then stopped
on a very good note ;)
Some pics from the week...
Some pics from the week...
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Sunday 14th July
Too many horse flies for serious riding today or play SO liberty sessions with Stormy and Holly.
Here are the pictures from the day, you can tell what's going on as I've kept small sequences of pics to show the draw, drive, connection and harmony. Enjoy ;)
Here are the pictures from the day, you can tell what's going on as I've kept small sequences of pics to show the draw, drive, connection and harmony. Enjoy ;)
Saturday 13th July
The sun went in, the breeze came up and it went overcast...YEEHAA, out with Solly to play/ ride and what a FUN time it was...great to test our new large arena too ;)
Some really nice Question Box and Clover Leaf games in walk and trot
Had a nice bouncy step today ;)
Worked on backups to trot to help find some nice impulsion
Had some nice shoulder and haunches-in today too ;)
I felt him back lift a few times and the thousand transitions I was doing
really helped to lighten his forehand :)
really helped to lighten his forehand :)
Canter work involved doing 6 canter strides then going back to trot
and keeping trot until balanced and rhythmic again and then canter 6 strides again ;)
and keeping trot until balanced and rhythmic again and then canter 6 strides again ;)
Instead of trying freestyle canter, which is just not working for Solly,
we work with a nice light rein connection today and his canter really
felt so much better, rounded, not flung out or lost to the wind ;)
we work with a nice light rein connection today and his canter really
felt so much better, rounded, not flung out or lost to the wind ;)
For the first time in ages his canter felt nice to ride ;)
yeehaa to canter work ;)
and another yeehaa with canter...I put in some 'rise up' now and then
in the canter like rising to trot, it seems to help him feel lighter on his back;)
in the canter like rising to trot, it seems to help him feel lighter on his back;)
another 'rise up' moment, think this is really helping him ;)
Jump a round of jumps which he tackles easily with trot and
quite a lot of canter strides after jumps now ;)
quite a lot of canter strides after jumps now ;)
Love how I can change these jumps around from one pole,
two poles, three poles, in height or width, put two together for an
even wider jump....easy to move and love the colours ;)
even wider jump....easy to move and love the colours ;)
Put in some smaller ones between higher ones to keep it fun ;)
We love jumping....have you noticed! lol ;)
Love this piccie ;)
My outfit suits this jump well ;)
This jump was FAB...he came up to it, stopped and then did a levade
(went onto his hind legs slowly) balanced nicely then jumped it ;)
Felt really cool doing it that way, SO focussed and SO Balanced
(went onto his hind legs slowly) balanced nicely then jumped it ;)
Felt really cool doing it that way, SO focussed and SO Balanced
Our moment together after our ride, he's such a sweetie,
think he enjoyed himself today too ;)
think he enjoyed himself today too ;)
Gave him plenty of treats during the day to help motivate
him, he seems to respond so well to this and no grabbing
or demanding treats which is lovely ;)
him, he seems to respond so well to this and no grabbing
or demanding treats which is lovely ;)
ahh....it must be love <3 b="">
Solly now follows the quad bike which is super cool ;)
Thursday 11th July
Managed to wash Holly and Stormy today....think they enjoyed it and felt better getting some grease off their skin, manes and tails. Stormy did go and roll straight afterwards but he's still generally clean ;)
Tara got curious whilst I was doing things with the other horses...almost looks like she's IN the trailer...I think she thought there was food in the empty buckets in there! CUTE :)
Wednesday 10th July
Today the weather was cooler with a nice breeze now and then and this was great as not so many black flies or horse flies today ;)
I invited a young student nearby to come play/ride and she had a good lesson with Tara and Holly.
I then played with Solly online a bit, saddled him up and played at liberty to check his girthing and then put on the Dr Cook's bitless bridle. I've done a couple of sessions with this but wanted to try it when doing a bit more than just going in circles in an arena. SO, today we tested it out nicely.
I invited a young student nearby to come play/ride and she had a good lesson with Tara and Holly.
I then played with Solly online a bit, saddled him up and played at liberty to check his girthing and then put on the Dr Cook's bitless bridle. I've done a couple of sessions with this but wanted to try it when doing a bit more than just going in circles in an arena. SO, today we tested it out nicely.
Firstly we did some walk and trot transitions around the dressage arena, checking I have whoa and go and it went very well today. We then did some clover leaf in trot, first to the right, then to the left and that went very well too. He was really listening to me, light to my seat/leg aids and connecting to the reins well too ;)
Then we went out of the arena and played with weaving around four jumps, sometimes we did a full weave, sometimes we stopped before changing direction through the weave and he stayed in trot the whole time with a nice feel in his gait today.
After a short rest we then went onto doing a few jumps for fun and then took that energy into some shoulders and haunches in, leg yields and then took that into trotting and cantering around the two round pens.
All in all he worked very well, the Dr Cook's worked well, I had good contact and connection with the reins and I really enjoyed the whole session.
Tuesday 9th July
Well it's been glorious weather recently but a tad too hot for me and horses, not to mention a ton of black flies and biting horse flies (clegs here in Scotland) which have made my life a pain due to me tasting too good and they bit me a LOT ;( So, to help me feel that I'm actually getting out with the herd to get my connection back due to being away last week teaching I went down on a mission today.
I took down 4 large water containers, 3 filled with cold water, 1 filled with hot water, a spongue, a water scraper, grooming kit and some horsey shampoo and gave Tara and Solly a wash. It was a lot of fun and it's great to see Solly's mane and tail white again ;) I then sprayed them both liberally with two types of fly spray.
I took down 4 large water containers, 3 filled with cold water, 1 filled with hot water, a spongue, a water scraper, grooming kit and some horsey shampoo and gave Tara and Solly a wash. It was a lot of fun and it's great to see Solly's mane and tail white again ;) I then sprayed them both liberally with two types of fly spray.
Tara by the trailer with all my washing bits in it ;)
Tara: washed, clean, wet
Tara: sun dried and beautiful
Solly: washed, white mane & tail and drying in the sun ;)
Although can't ride at moment, the clegs are just too much for the horses (and me) to concentrate around, they need moving off asap from biting our skins so trying to ride is a bit unsettling and I'll wait until the weather turns a bit and the cleg population diminishes BUT I managed about half an hour of online play with Solly today, mostly jumping but also some sideways away and towards and circling in canter for 2 laps now. Here's some jumping pic's ;)
Start with low jump
Getting more consistent canter and more laps too ;)
Low jump but poles set for a bit of width now ;)
Low still but further away from me ;)
Jump now two poles higher...really stretching now ;)
3 poles more upright....stretch is good
and again, this time more balanced
And lastly at LIBERTY to make sure he's okay with higher jump,
allowing him to find balance more and to allow him to miss it if he
finds it too high just now....guess not, he jumped it beautifully ;)
allowing him to find balance more and to allow him to miss it if he
finds it too high just now....guess not, he jumped it beautifully ;)
