Today I went and played with Sol with the idea to ride more, get some transitions done, see how his turns are coming and generally sort out some sticky bits with him.
It started off strange as the wind was very very strong and he had ideas about jumping about alot so I let him run off steam with the circling game. This helped him, I then backed up to a fence to use that to stop him circling, which it did. He was very aware of where the herd was today so I knew I had to be a strong leader to keep his attention. I made sure his DHQ's and move on the FQ's was good, his LF good and porcupine head down and then went straight to sideways to a fence as I knew this would be good to engage his mind and it worked very well.
Moving on we went and circled with a log, got some stops and foot on the log and then he managed to keep the momentum going and jumped it. Needed more work to jump the log circling to the left but I just kept with it until he did a clean, thought about jump.
Then I took him to the house, saddled him and drove him from Z3 to the playfield. Here I played a lot with circling at trot/canter and also falling leaf which really kept his mind on me. I then showed him the new tractor tyre in the field and asked him to sniff it. He was okay with that but he wasnt' sure about putting a foot on it so I took some time just allowing him to investigate it more.
Then he stood on it and enjoyed the view
Next I took some time out to jump on a fence and teach him how to sidle up for mounting on both sides. I found that he had little to no response to move using the carrot stick so I put that down and used the end of the 22' line instead. This went well and I will repeat this next time we're out to help him remember to sidle over for me to mount from anything, all our horses do this well now after this training.
So, after LF and DHQ's I started Sol circling on the outside of the 100' roundpen at walk/trot and some canter, getting much better and more impulsion now he's getting used to the playfield.
I then started on Point to Point, in trot and later on some canter when he was ready for it. We went all over the field playing this and it was great. He also did a very small jump doing the P2P which was lovely and he flew beautifully over my new trotting poles. FAB.
With the new tractor tyre filled I decided to see if he would stand on it ridden! He was very usure so I took time to just keep his head over the tyre and not allow him to veer off left or right. I didn't push him to get on it but he decided that this was okay after about 5 mins and mounted it with his front feet.
Ridden onto the tractor tyre
I left him standing up there for ages and then backed him off using a very light 9 step back up and then put him back on it. I did this three times and he got straight on each time, clever boy ;-) We then did some figure of eights at trot around things and went out for a long hack up a large hill.
Day was very good, felt we'd done a lot of new things together and didn't get into any tantrums or loose any trust. I did feel that he didn't have a good canter on the right lead so will work on that one with him as we go along. Otherwise he did very well, surprised me with standing on things and our small jump too. Fab.
Today was sunny and it was great to get out into our play field with Sol. I played a little on the ground but today was about riding.
Our first challenge was to ride the rail of the 100' round pen at trot which went well then I decided to do lots of transitions to keep him interested and to try to improve his trot/walk/stop. This went very well and he even did a few steps of nice back up too. We then played a bit of the impulsion game called 'point to point' which helped him get a bit more impulsion about going places. His main problem with impulsion is his unconfidence in new places so this worked well for him.
Canter
Canter point to point
When he woke from his sleep I went out and played with him before our ride out. Games were GOOD, circling much better, got a couple of great snappy departures and had him squeeze over a new log. He's getting better at driving from Z2-3 too. Saddling was good, not a try to bite at all today!
So the ride out was again the small road along fields, he's done the ride a couple of times now but today both he and Holly with Mark decided they didn't want to go! We both gave them time for thresholds but then I got firm with Sol and that worked. We lead the whole way out and a lot of the way back. I also found he was better when I gathered up the reins a bit, not tight or concentrated but like me holding a childs hand to cross the road. So, this is what I did and inbetween I did lots of fluid rein and then dropping the reins for a few strides, changing tactics so that nothing got too one sided.
Mark decided he was going to canter some of the way back and I went with Sol into canter. It was a nice canter but I could feel he wanted to gallop FAST so brought him back gently to a very VERY lovely trot, he was very light and in a great outline, his HQ's really felt underneath him and powerful....GREAT.
He was a bit sweaty on getting home and it was a strange ride out with the stop/start/stop beginning but it turned out to be a nice ride out and gave me a better insight as to how Sol CAN go when he wants to. How interesting!!
Friday 14th March
Monday 10th March
Well due to very nasty weather on Saturday and today I've not done anything with Solly. Both days had snow and hail, today also had driving rain and strong winds. But I did manage to take my other Parelli level's horse Tara out for a short ride on Sunday and I wanted to just write about the things I noticed whilst out riding her.
Firstly I have always had a problem being a bit crooked in my body, being right handed and doing unchangable habits like driving a car I've found that my right hip and leg is usually further back than my left one and this is why I find it easy getting left leads in canter but as I was studying what my body was doing riding Tara I realised that if I put the rein into my LEFT hand my right side of my body was able to move further forward...as in when walking the left arm moves to the stride of the right leg! So, I must ride with my reins in my left hand more to improve the straightness in my body.
Also I usually sit to the trot with Tara, she's has a very comfortable slow trot and rising isn't really an option. I was fiddling about with my feet and legs, peddling etc and realised that if my movement is more of a peddle backwards (like with a pedal bike) then it felt more in balance AND if when my hips moved with the horse instead of going up and forwards that if I went up and backwards again this was a HUGE improvement on my whole fluidity feel.
I've been riding a long time and I'm slowly becoming aware and find I'm more able to analyse what I'm doing and try to improve it. Just these two things has helped my riding with Tara and I hope it will make me much more fluid with Sol when I get to ride him again.
Today I managed to get out with Sol, it was windy but at least dry! yeehaa ;-)
First we played a very good catching game at liberty and he caught me well. Did a few pre-flight checks: LF, DHQ, Porcupine head down and back up. Then I did quite a lot of yo-yo asking for lightness and straightness. After this I played a bit with forehand turns again trying to be more specific about where his feet go and lightness. All getting better.
Sol licking and chewing with the catching game
Next I decided to play with a log but not any of the smaller ones, this time I went for a larger double trunked log which is pretty big! The routine is now getting in place, sniff it, head over it, foot on it. He did all of these and then I saw his effort was getting much bigger, with a bigger log I thought maybe jumping it was a bit much to ask today so I used his idea to try to get him to stand on the log.
Sol putting right front leg on log
Sol putting right leg OVER the log
He was putting a lot of effort into putting a foot on the log but I thought that jumping this log a bit big for him today so I took his idea and started asking for that effort put to standing on the log and guess what....HE DID IT! ;-) what a very clever horse he is becomming, seems to really enjoy thinking about things and when he got on the log I just dropped the rope and he stayed there a full minute just hanging and enjoying my praise.
Sol stands on the log...YEEHAA!
After that great effort I took him far away from any obstacles and played the mirroring game, just letting him hang with me and get used to me being around whilst he grazes. This went very well, some times he kept looking at me and twice took my jacket in his mouth and just hung onto it like a child asking me to hold his hand, but he enjoyed the rest and that was good.
After this I took the halter off and at liberty asked him to stick to me, stopping every few strides and asking his head to go down to graze then stick to me again and then graze. He was very good at this and after doing it a few times I put him back on line while it was going so well ;-)
Then I drove him from Z3 to the small stream which after a few tries he followed me over and then to the gate. Now this is the first time I've asked him to come to the house, be saddled and go to the play field on his own so I was a being very aware of his thresholds and body language but although he looked for the herd a few times with his head very high he kept with me which was fab. I drive him mostly from Z2/3 as when he follows he is actually driving me so I don't do that much now. He saddled well and drove to the field well, only a few stops and a couple of backups to help thresholds.
In the field I was going to ride but due to the enormous winds up there and his first time on his own I decided to just play and see what happened. He circled very well and we managed almost half a circle each way in canter which was great. Then we played 'put your nose on things'....
....put your nose on flapping flags, not a problem....
...put your nose on a barrel, again not a problem
But he was a bit sceptical of the barrels lying down, they'd not been there last time he came to the field so that was probably it. So, I sat on them and asked him to circle around me and then I moved with him circling so that we played squeeze with them between me and him and then I moved more so that he squeezed between the barrels and me. This worked out great, when I DH from the circle I asked him to put his nose on the upright barrel again and he found comfort at the barrels. FAB. I asked for him to go up and sniff the barrels lying down and that now was fine, so I DHQ and asked for a circle to the barrels, on the third time asking HE JUMPED THEM! yeehaa....I was really really chuffed at his efforts today, he did so many new things and was really attentive. After jumping the barrels I turned and drove him to the gate, squeezed out and drove him home back to the herd. Fab day ;-))
Today I went out and played with Solly, he was much more relaxed, probably because the wind had died down but also because of playing with him yesterday. He really needs me to play and do a bit of riding every day so that it all becomes a positive routine...I challenge myself to try to do this for him.
Today the games were good, friendly getting more extreme and I started skipping up to him which was a bit of a worry for him ;-) Porcupine FQ and HQ was very nice without bracing. Driving game great and doing this more from a distance now. His yo-yo was a bit slow but good, going out of the gate backwards was much better, and his circling again was slow but good, first time he's actually gone around behind my back without stopping so that's improving. Sideways was a big improvement today and he didn't get so niggly about the carrot stick and string flapping about near his HQ's, and finally the squeeze was great, over logs, through the gate and through water, clever boy!
Saddling again was good, had the treats there for the first few times and then Mark put some hay down for him and I didn't see him lift his head at all whilst I saddled! lol ;-) So off we went on a hack with Mark and Holly.
The first piece we rode was around a field which has some bits at the top for clay pigeon shooting. Things like hides and seating and also some flapping plastic! I was working on relaxing, making sure I was on my balance point, checking with my hand on his rump and one hand on his withers in a pushing position...just as well as he saw a piece of plastic bunting move with the wind and he ZIGGED and ZAGGED really quickly and thank goodness I zigged and zagged with him! After that I knew everything else would be a breeze! lol.
Sol squeezing through some water, not a problem
After the field we went on a quest to reach the end of the hill ride we did a couple of weeks ago. We weren't sure where it went but were determined to go as far as we could and see how the horses took it. Well Sol was a bit slow to start with but he didn't put a foot wrong, both his and my thresholds were much smaller today and even half way up he wasn't puffing...he's much fitter than I thought.
A third of the way up the hill, Sol doing brilliantly
Then we went up some really steep climbing with a rougher road but again neither horse put a foot wrong. It was amazing, there was so much to see, superb scenery and we were getting as high as the surrounding hills. Awesome.
Hills of Glenshee in distance
Mount Blair behind us here
We went up as far as the pathway went, this is probably where the estate gamekeeper comes to shoot deer, the road petered out and we were on moorland with the snow caped peaks of the Spittal of Glenshee behind us one side and Mount Blair on the other side. We were quite high up and it was spectacular.
We didn't stay too long up there, it was getting chilly and we didn't want the horses getting chilled so we walked them in-hand down the steepest bit and then remounted and rode back home. Another great ride out and Sol and I getting better and better at it together.
Yes, it really was this steep up the top! ;-)
Saturday 1st March
Well it's been a wet and windy week and I've not been able to get out to play with Sol but was very determined to get out today. So although it was drizzling a bit I put on my thermal trousers and big fleece and headed out.
Sol came straight up to me which was lovely so I played friendly all over with the ropes and then haltered him up and then drove/lead him to a less muddy part of the field.
It was very very windy and that definitely made him a bit more high headed but I had a strong focus and managed to keep him focussed on me. He needed a couple of phase 4 rope wiggles to stop him coming in and over me but after that he was very respectful. We played lots of yoyo making sure there was plenty of release on the first backing yo, waiting and then coming in with a very clear sign that he must stop when I say before coming in too close. He became so so light I was asking him to the back of the 22' line with almost just a look, superb.
I then asked for him to put his nose on a couple of logs lying together and then to squeeze between them, it was quite a small space but he did it calmly and with focus which was nice.
Then I took him to an open space and asked for circling, first he thought he'd have a small tantrum but I just giggled and asked him again and I think he realised he wasn't going to get me flustered and just went and did it at the trot. I then asked him to drive to another log and to squeeze/jump over this twice whilst circling at trot....he did it very well and I brought him in for a graze.
After some relaxing and scratches Mark came out to play with Holly and get her ready to hack out so I went over to another part of the field and played with sideways. He didn't like going to the right but I played around with it and in the end he went nicely both ways a few steps so will build on that as we go along now.
I took him to another log in the field (we have a few old logs stewn about) and wasn't sure what to do so thought I'd just try to see if he's follow me over it and stop half way with the log underneath him...and he did, very little encouragement to stop and rest and it was great to know that he was now focussed on me well...time to saddle up and go for our hack.
Saddling went well and every time he came round to think about biting me I put a treat in his mouth, I think he thought this was cool so kept doing it and after a while he put his head around and I just stroked his nose and he didn't try to bite me which was great. I really take his cinching slowly to give him time to aclimatise to the saddle before I get on.
Being very windy we just went out for an hour or so, up a lovely lane which goes along fields and follows the River Shee. Sol was a bit hesitant sometimes but at others quite willing to trot in the lead. The wind put out all sorts of noises out so he did very very well.
We saw a few trees together on the way back so I decided to see how his steering was around them...needs work but not bad
Sol and I twisting and turning around trees on the way home
All in all although I was darn cold and glad to go home I had a nice ride out and Sol did very well. When we got home I put a hay net up for him and trimmed his feet.
