In the bleak...

A real wintry day today, nothing doing with the horses. I dashed out with the camera as they were playing in the snow. As usual, I missed the best of it and they decided they'd had enough and wanted to come in!!

stumblin'

Another bleak day, cold and damp. I had two short sessions inside with Remy and Bonbon. Remy, practicing flexions and Bonbon a bridle session, more familiarisation with the bit and baby flexions.

I stumbled upon this guy, I wish I had his coordination.

Brrrrrrrr...........

We've got our first snow of the year. It's been snowing overnight and still is.
Yesterday was very frosty but dry so I had a (very) short in-hand session with Remy. I was concentrating on having a good feel on both reins trying to keep him soft and relaxed. I think we're starting to get a better connection in-hand, he's started to take responsibility for his own energy and becoming more responsive. We are getting a better feel but lots to work on keeping the balance between the outside and inside rein. We're tending to get too much inside neck bend.
I then hacked Anky out and despite a little wobble going into the wood she was great. We did the same exercises as last time, halt/walk, halt/reinback/walk transitions and she started to soften in the mouth and flex the poll, then she stretched and took the rein down with a lovely forward walk. Her feet seem to be strengthening up really well, there was no sign of sensitivity on the gravel tracks.
 I had a short session with Remy at halt today working on getting a soft contact on both reins, letting him lengthen his neck a little and then asking for a very light flexion, keeping his neck much straighter. He was flexed (not too much) at the throatlash but not too much inside neck bend. It felt like a nice relaxed connection, just need to take that into movement!

It's a confidence thing.........

The last few in-hand sessions with Remy we've been concentrating on halt/walk transitions  - starting and stopping, having a quicker reaction into the walk transition, more energy in the work and a cleaner, lighter halt. This is improving and he's becoming more self motivated and we're starting to get a more forward, consistent walk. He's a very patient horse and he's coping with everything really well considering that I'm a beginner at this in-hand stuff and we're both learning together. 
He's starting to listen and wait until I ask for something, his focus and attention are really improving and I'm beginning to be able to break things down into small pieces of information that we can both grasp and build on.
All this is an ongoing thing and it's still very early days, but I feel that now, I need, and, I think, am able to work on the flexion, keeping the flexion and softness from the halt into the movement, working step by step until we have more consistent softness, bend and fluidity with no resistance. I think that then, we can start to progress with the lateral work.
 Thanks to Trudi  and her ongoing help and support, I now have more confidence to continue, and I think that we can make good progress.
I rode Anky in the school today, we've not been in there for a while and I was pleasantly surprised at how relaxed, forward and receptive she was. We worked at walk, working on circles, halt/walk, halt/reinback/walk transitions  and a little leg yield and shoulder-in. It was a really enjoyable session.

Had a fun, musical afternoon at Rickys.

Tell me why.......

...... I don't like mondays.
That's not entirely true, what gets me really, is the announcement of a new week and the tic, tic ticking of the clock as another week is committed to memory. I'm not complaining, I'm a lucky girl and I don't have to get up and go spend all my day at work!! Instead I can dodge the rain and spend my time with my horses.

I don't think the weather was too bad on saturday, I'm not sure as I spent most of the day in bed with what seemed (at the time) like the worst headache in the world.  I was a bit worried as our trimmer, Gareth was due first thing sunday morning and  I like to be there to go over every last detail of my horses feet. LOL
I awoke, relieved, feeling pretty much ok and had a good morning discussing barefoot trimming, the KC La Pierre method and maintenance work between trimmings.

I wanted to do something with the horses in the afternoon, but the chasse were out, which rules out any hacking (if you value your life) and I couldn't use the school as they were in the wood at the far side of the school. I ended up doing some in-hand work on the land at the bottom of the garden, and, despite the distractions (moronic,mindless yelling, dogs barking and gunshots) Remy was a little star. He's so patient with me, I do love that horse!

I've just seen this post from a blogger friend at Barefoot Horse Blog about hind gut acidosis, I'm amazed that more isn't known about this problem, given the fragility of a horse's digestive system. I'm now treating Anky for this and (touch wood) she seems to be doing better.

Feelin' good

 
A nice lunch out yesterday at our horse group meeting. We had a new venue which was very cosy and welcoming.The weather was glorious, so I hurried home to do some work with Remy only to find that it was damp and overcast at our place.  The horses were hanging around the gate though so I brought them in and set off with Remy up to the school. I usually work the horses in the morning so Remy was a little nonplussed at having to work when he expected to come in for his tea. He was very distracted, looking and stopping then setting off at trot at every noise so all I could do was to try and get him to relax and lower his head. After a while he started to calm a little and we managed a few minutes in-hand work. He was still a little tense, but he was listening and containing his worries. I asked him for a few halt and walk transitions and finished on a good note.

Today, another in-hand session and he was really calm and attentive. Nice clean halt transitions.  Halt/reinback/walk on transitions were more fluid, we did a few shoulder-in steps off the corner interspersed with a few circles. I love it when you get that 'right' feeling, it makes my day.

Took Anky out for another hack, started off sticky when she refused to go into the wood. She 'offered' me backwards and sideways, but not forward, so I asked for more backwards and sideways until, when asked. she offered forward. It was all very calm and took about five minutes and eventually she decided she could go into the wood. After this she was ok, still looking, but forward and we repeated the exercises from the other day of halt/walk on, halt/reinback/walk on and she progressively became softer in the hand. She gradually became calmer and stretched into a soft contact and we did a little leg yield and shoulder-in on the way home.

More of those good feelings - how wonderful!!

Starting and Stopping

It's been very cold today, a real feel of winter!
I took Remy up to the school to work on my halt and walk transitions in-hand. He was very attentive and although it was a little blustery he remained focussed.
I need to sharpen up the walk transition and to help this we worked on rein-back from the halt into walk on and he became more forward into the walk transition and it felt like he had good energy. The halt's been a bit muddy and he has a tendency to push his quarters to the side, so I asked for the halt only against the fence line to stop him doing this. After a few attempts he started to become much lighter and cleaner into the halt.It was a good session and I finished by walking him back home down the lane.
I then took Anky out for a hack, first time in a while and she was a star. We were out for about 40 minutes and we only walked, but it was a full session with lots of halt, reinback/walk on transitions. On the way home she was really nice and foward without rushing, and at times reaching for a contact, soft in my hand from a few feather like touches on the rein and I felt like I was riding the whole horse. A lot of it felt good today.
I must remember to wear my long boots when riding, my legs were freezing!!

A plan

I'm feeling guilty today for not doing anything with the horses! With one thing or another, life intervened to put the mockers on it. I was all fired up as well after a really good time yesterday with Remy and Trudi in the school. She gave me some much needed help and support, and today, a flowchart and a plan!! Thanks Trudi, you're a pal!
I busied myself this afternoon making cheesecake and steak pies, the cheesecake's in the fridge and the pies are in our stomachs - Yummy.

Je l'aime

Send it sistah ! from sébastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

Fantasy

I love fantasy art. It's all over the internet and I'd like to be able to do it, but I really haven't got the patience to learn how.  I used to read a lot when I was a kid, mainly fantasy books, the idea of escaping to another world was very appealling,  - actually, sometimes, still is.
It's raining again today!

Sun!!!

The sun came out today - hurray.  Unfortunately. so did the chasse - murdering, moronic bastards!!!!

It's been a horrible day again today, and the same forecast for the next few days too. The horses were ready to come in this morning and Remy gave me a little whinny when I popped my head over the shelter wall.
It's the 11th of the 11th today and there have been lots of reminders on the tv. It's heartbreaking to see all the suffering from the past and present. I guess it's going to be part of our future too. Now that's a sobering thought.
In remembrance.

Respite

I've just checked my work log, and apart from one or two sessions inside, I've done nothing with the horses for 5 or 6 days. A few different reasons, but the weather's been a major factor, it's been pretty horrible, especially the last 3 or 4 days.
This morning, it was such a relief to wake up to the sound of silence instead of the incessant tapping of rain on the skylight. In addition to it being fine it was also pretty calm as the horrible blustery wind had disappeared in the night.
I took Remy up to the school for a mixed lunge/in-hand session. I've been thinking a lot about his lack of relaxation on the lunge and wanted to change tack (no pun intended)  a little. I started by isolating the aids, so first asking him to move his shoulders and then to move his quarters. He knows this, so it's not a problem. Then asking him to move both together in a giravolta. Then an exercise of giravolta into shoulder- in and back to giravolta.  Then giravolta, halt into reinback. He was very relaxed and I was really pleased with him. I then asked for giravolta followed by walk onto the circle with an active walk and trying to get softness and stretch over the neck. After a few tries at this I repeated the exercise, but after a couple of strides of walk, I asked for a trot transition. We repeated this a few times and the trot transition became much cleaner and he started to really relax into the trot and stretch and lower his neck. A really good session.

It's been 10 days since I've done anything with Anky. She's starting to put on a bit of weight and has been generally much more relaxed and easy in herself over the last few weeks. I'm sure the Equishure is helping her.
I took her up to the school and did the same exercises with her that I'd done with Remy.  She was brilliant on the lunge, the transitions were good and her trot was the most relaxed I've seen from her,more active behind, loose over her back and stretching down over her neck.

I finished off a good morning with a short bridle session with Bonbon.

Now that I've got my winter head on, I find that I'm wanting to practice more (sax) so I'm off to do that now. I may even play the piano too :-)

Don't believe.......

......the weather forecast!  I woke up to a warm, overcast but dry day this morning.  Plans not taken up because it was supposed to be a horrible wet day and plans made to finish off the yard and tidy up the barn. So, apart from a short flexion session with Remy, nothing with the horses today.
Jim made a start on the yard and I made a start on the barn. It took us all morning, but between us we created a lot more space, found a lot of things we'd forgotten we had ( especially for me, a nice pair of winter boots) and made the place look a whole lot tidier!

Sunny

The day dawned sunny and warm, brilliant for this time of year. I took Remy up to the school, starting with a short lunge session. He had a bit of a hooley halfway through which was over as soon as it started and he returned to his usual calm self. We then had an in-hand session and I was really pleased with his focus so I sat on for a few minutes. It's been a while since I sat on him and it felt good!
I then took Bonbon to the school for some groundwork and although she had quite a spook at our neighbour tidying up his garden she soon calmed and was very attentive and focussed.
A good morning.

Settling in

Woke up to a damp, miserable day this morning. Just putting the horses in the field when Bev arrived out of the blue. What a lovely surprise, we talked most of the day!
The horses have got to grips with the shelter,been up and down and in and out all day. With that, taking up the old fencing and pulling up the old gate posts, it hasn't done the field any favours. No doubt it will recover.