Bonbon Walentine

Another beautiful day. The horses are moulting like crazy and Spring is definitely here!  (I'm probably going to regret saying that).
I took Remy up to the school, warmed him up in walk, first on a long rein letting him stretch and relax, and then on a shorter rein, lots of bend on small circles, stretching the outside of the body. I practiced shallow serpentines down the centre line, changing flexion, one rein to the other, and he's starting to change much more fluidly.
I worked more in trot today. Now he's starting to find a better balance, I can keep the trot for longer periods and we're starting to be able to rebalance within the pace when necessary. Towards the end of the session, it really felt like he was relaxing into it more, his transitions became softer, and we did a little sitting trot.
I had a little in-hand session with Bonbon, practicing flexions to each side at the halt, obtaining the release and letting her extend her neck, keeping the mobility of the jaw.
This is the vid from our ridden session yesterday. It was the first time in the school alone (Jim's been coming in with us) and I think she did really well.  My stirrups felt a little short, but I can't believe how horrid my leg position is!

Shorts and T-shirt

It's been so warm and sunny here today, definitely a shorts and t-shirt day.
I took Remy for a short hack and he stopped at the usual place near my neighbours garden. He's really got a thing about it so we halted and I waited until he was happy to go, and after that he was really forward and keen.
We went down the track to the lake and he was really striding out - it felt good.  We walked most of the way back up the track, with a short trot as we reached the top. Instead of heading back towards home, I decided to do a little exploring and headed further up the track towards the road. There's a field just before the road and it doestn't really have a path through, but I could see a gap in the hedge at the bottom of the field, so we went to have a look to see if we could get through.  This would be a great shortcut to a nice ride along a green track, and I wouldn't have to cross and then re-cross the road. When we got there, I could see that if I pulled back a few thin holly branches I would probably be able to get through, so I'm going to go back on foot to do just that, and we'll try getting through on my next hack.

I took Bonbon to the school again and although she was a little distracted, she was a good girl. We had a short lunge session and then I sat on. The same things as our last couple of sessions, walk/halt transitions and changes of direction.
We did a vid, but it won't upload for some reason, I'll try again tomorrow.

Not a chestnut amongst them.....

Two more schooling sessions today with Remy and Bonbon. Working more on the trot today with Rem and his balance is improving on the right rein. In fact, he was a little hesitant on the left rein and a little tight through his neck. He was ok when I worked him on a longer rein, in fact he felt lovely and soft, so we'll see how he is tomorrow.
Bonbon was a good girl again. The trotting on the lunge is really improving and she's starting to relax more into the trot.  I sat on again and we continued with the halt/walk transitions, turning left and right, a little reinback and circles.

I've just been checking their passports so that I can book their annual vaccination and was curious about Remys ancestors, searching the internet, I came across these vids of Remys great grandads.
Landgraf 1


 Cor de la Bryere


and Nimmerdor


Hehe, I wonder where the chestnut gene comes in!!

A sunny day and two brilliant schooling sessions

I rode my horses in the sunshine today, it was lovely. I'd definitely be fooled into thinking spring was on its way, and I seem to have been given a reprieve from the lurgy, so all good!

I think Remy is slowly becoming the horse that I dreamed he'd be when we started our training. We've reached a place where I can feel improvement day by day.
He's staying soft in the hand and through his neck, and if he tenses it just takes a lift of the rein to get a release and relaxation again. I can feel his carriage improving and everything else along with it.

He did so much good stuff today, I don't know where to start, but I worked him around the school as usual, moving shoulders and quarters, lots of transitions with halt/walk/reinback  and keeping him relaxed with good bend on small circles. His shoulder-in was well balanced, and he's responding much easier when I ask for the travers. His reinbacks were smooth and he stayed rounder and softer infront.
Best of all, he's showing better balance and rhythm in his trotwork, and today he gave me some lovely steps, stretching down and out, but maintaining a slow, balanced rhythm and keeping his shoulders up.
He was so relaxed that I tried one or two canter transitions at the end of the session.
I want to try and train the canter from walk, so my first attempt was by riding a small loop back to the track in counter shoulder-in, asking for the transition as I joined the long side. This didn't work at all - we have done it with some success once before, but I tried twice and it wasn't happening today, so I tried once from reinback and asked for the transition as he went forwards to walk ,and, what a star, he gave me the transition. Rough and ready, but with lots of energy so we have a place to start.

I then had a session with Bonbon in the school. With all the bad weather we've had, it's been a few weeks since I took her in the school, but she was a good girl on the lunge and we did some walk and trot work before I had a sit-on.
We worked on stop, go and turning, with lots of walk/halt transitions and circles on both reins. I asked for a couple of steps of reinback and she responded really well and stayed soft in my hand. Can't say how pleased I am with her.

I wore my Hit Air vest for the first time and I'm pleased with that too. It's very light and not in the least bit restrictive, in fact I forgot I was wearing it and had to be reminded to release myself from the saddle before I got off!!

A smile on my face

No riding today, the weather's dreary and I think I'm coming down with something.
Anyway I wandered down the field to open the far gate through to our bottom land, came back and put them out.
I expected they would rush down, but no, they stood looking at me like lost children. I would have left them to it, but I was happy to spend a little time with them.
I set off down and could sense Bonbon at my back, Remy and Corky a few yards behind. I halted and Bonbon halted too, her warm breath on my cheek as she looked over my shoulder. We stood and waited for Corky and Rem and continued on down together. As we approached the gate they all set off down the hill and started tucking in to the fresh green grass.
As I headed back, I could see Remy, who always manages to find the softest, muddiest, wettest spots, knee deep in the stream, reaching over for some succulent something or other. 
He jumped over onto the field at the other side, spinning and rearing in an attempt to get Bonbon to join him, which she did and they both started to dance and play before looking across at Corky still on the other side.
Corky doesn't 'do' wet and mushy, so wouldn't join them,  and instead, throwing her head back, she galloped ( well this is Corky, so perhaps a fast canter ;-)) back up the field to the gate and through into the next field. She is the boss, so both Remy and Bonbon charged after her, but Remy wouldn't be put off and then headed back down trying to entice her. Eventually she gave in and sensibly found a drier spot to cross where they all jumped back over, spinning and playing delightfully.
I love my guys, they're a perfect little group, and how could they not bring a smile to my face.

Moving quarters and shoulders

It's been warmer today, overcast, but very mild compared with recent weather.
Remy was very relaxed and attentive and I continued trying to keep the relaxation and softness through his neck and into the hand.
I worked as usual, moving him around the school, changes of rein and direction. I practiced some halt transitions, trying to sharpen them up a little, and some reinback, which he's giving from a much lighter aid now with a more definite step backwards. I've been working also at halt, asking him to move his quarters, first to one side and then the other. Just one step to try and clarify the aid as he gets a little confused when I ask for travers ( I'm sure a faulty ask!).
So this is what I did today, moved shoulders and quarters. Going in quite good balance at walk, down the long side, I asked him to move his quarters inside, walk one or two steps, then asked him to move his quarters back. The same with the shoulders, move them inside and then move them back, and hey, we had travers and shoulder-in. Early stages, but calm and relaxed, and more a feeling of having the whole horse under me if that makes sense.
I tend to want to micro-manage and this can really interfere with the relaxation, but this way I'm just moving him around trying to strengthen and gymnasticise him and in that process we're getting the lateral movements I've been aiming for.
For me, it's a much more helpful way of processing things than, saying, right, we're going to work on this movement now, or we're going to practice this movement.  Don't know if it makes sense, but it's working for us.
The trot is improving too, he's gaining a much better balance. The transitions are still hit and miss, but becoming more hit than miss, and even though he has a tendency to want to drop the inside shoulder on the right rein, we're managing to rebalance through that more than not. If he continues to fall-in or starts to rush off, I bring him back to walk or halt and ask again.
I've not asked him to canter yet, but he offers it me sometimes from the trot. The last couple of times, it's been quite well balanced and I really would like to start training it, but would prefer to train it from the walk. Not sure that he's ready for that yet. We'll have to think on it.

Had a nice grooming session with Bonbon and trimmed her feet. She was a sweetie. We have some decent weather planned so can start taking her up to the school, I'm looking forward to riding her.

Spring's a comin.....

The cranes (fr. grue) flew over today, more than half a dozen arrowheads pointing north.
As I watched, the first lot stopped and hung around in a thermal, rising slowly, as if on an invisible spiral escalator. As they got higher and higher, the other groups joined in until there were hundreds of birds all circling above.
Eventually, having reached a good height, they left, one group at a time, heading off again on their journey north.
It was wonderful to see and a very good sign of Spring on its way.

Word verification

Like many bloggers, I really don't like the new word verification process, so I've got rid of it!
If you're on the new blogger interface there's no setting for word verification, so you need to go back, temporarily to the old one.

To go back to the old one, click on the gear symbol under your profile picture on your dashboard page and choose "old Blogger interface." Then go to "Settings" and click on the "Comments" link under the tabs. Scroll down and you will see the place to select "No" for Word Verification. Click the "Save Settings" button at the bottom of the page and it is done. To go back to the new Blogger interface, click the link in the upper right hand corner of your dashboard page.

If 'Old blogger interface' is not on your list of options You can get there by logging in to www.blogger.com/home instead of www.draft.blogger.com/home . If it won't open the old dashboard for you, then you may have to clear your cache.

Bits and pieces

A little update of the last few days.
Had a lovely afternoon at Trudi's on Sunday.  We had a good lunch and a good natter. It was good to see them all!

We went to look at a house that we may or may not buy - lots of pros, but also lots of cons.
Had a couple of nice sessions with Remy. I rode him bareback yesterday for the first time. It felt very strange, for me and for him, I think. He was a good boy though.
A good session in the school today (not bareback) which gave me real hope for the future. His trot is starting to come together now and I can see how nice it's going to be. He offered me canter from the trot and it was a nice transition into  a surprisingly balanced canter. We managed once around the school before he started to lose balance and I asked for a trot transition.

Don't speak, just listen

I've been doing a lot of thinking this past 2 weeks while we've been snowed in.
Mostly about my motivation, or lack of it on occasion.. I want to do the best I can for my horses, and I think they have a pretty good life, but my expectations are high and although I say/think, even, that the horse comes first, and I always try to be fair,  that's not always the case, as it is, in fact, about me.
 I 'want' to do this and I 'want' to do that, I feel pressure to progress and I think we are progressing, but it has become our main goal.
I feel the responsibility of educating two young horses ( and it is a big responsibility) and I'm trying too much to progress, not just letting it happen, and the 'trying' is putting its own limits on us.
In simple terms, it's the goal that's putting pressure on me. It should be that I want to be with the horse and the horse wants to be with me.  I should just be with my horses.
I'm not explaining it very well, but, things are starting to make sense to me.
I went into my session with Rem yesterday with this in mind. I started off by spending some time with him, grooming and scratching, just enjoying his company. I hadn't intended to ride, but it's been a while and  I really wanted to, so took him up to the school.
I felt a sense of joy at being back onboard as he moved off with his long, lopey stride. I started to move him around, letting him use himself, move himself, stretch and relax. He was tuned in to me and he reacted quickly and smoothly to my requests because he was so relaxed. I moved him one way and then the other, lots of changes of direction, with just a feel on the rein, and moved his quarters with a light touch and a thought.

I groomed them all today. I enjoyed spending the time with them. I think they enjoyed the grooming, and especially liked the ear scratching.

Horses just want us to listen to them. Mostly, we're too busy speaking to listen.

Activating the hind legs

We put the horses out this morning in the drizzle. Corky was back at the gate less than 2 hours later, so I brought them in for the afternoon.
Mid afternoon I went to the stables to spend a bit of time with Remy. Just intending to groom him, but the  drizzle had stopped and it was much brighter so I took him up to the school.
We started off with a short lunge session, walk and trot on each rein and then in-hand, sharpening up his hind legs. We get good movement, but in his own time, which is not quick enough.
After this, I got on and I gave him a long rein and let him stretch down and out. He felt soft and receptive and we did lots of changes of rein using small circles. I took the rein up a little and he remained soft and I concentrated on asking him to move his quarters while keeping the softness. It was good. I asked him to halt and then asked him to move his quarters first one way then the other, requiring a quick reaction.
I then moved him around the arena moving shoulders and quarters. He remained soft throughout this work, so I asked for a few trot transitions, again requiring a quick reaction. I'm in the habit of trying to trot for him, in my head at least, so today I took a step back mentally and let him make the effort. Some good, some not so good, but after a few attempts we were getting soft, quick transitions. I need to get a balance between too little and too much effort, but when it's right, we get a lovely rhythmic, balanced trot. Now we have more consistent softness in the mouth, it really is about activating those hind legs.
A pic of Rem in the snow, just because he's such a cutie!

Thawing.....

The weather's finally changed and the snow that's been around for 2 weeks has started to melt. I hope it melts quickly as we now have a very slippery 'mush' that's far more dangerous than the snow. It seems like I'm still moaning, but I'm not, I'm just impatient for it to be gone.
I've just watched the film 'Buck' by Buck Brannaman. I liked it. There were some things that I didn't 'get', but I liked him. It got me thinking, so that's always a good sign ;-)

I'm ready to get back to riding now. When the snow first arrived, it was a good thing - not that I like snow, just that I needed a break, and I can never allow myself one, feeling that I should be doing something with my horses. That's part of the problem, I shouldn't have to force myself, it should be fun and I should want to do it.
Anyway it's cleared my head. How long that will last I don't know, but I feel better about things.

My Hit Air vest has arrived, it looks good, will let you know what I think after I've ridden in it!

End of my tether

I've not had much to blog about recently as we've been immersed in sub-zero temperatures for more than a week. Not much to moan about if you're scandinavian, but if I'd wanted this kind of weather I'd have moved to sweden!
I finally reached the end of my tether this morning.
I don't know what the temperature is - the app on my laptop says minus 10 in Limoges, but it feels like the coldest day we've had. The horses are pretty fed up now, Remy is bored to tears and when he's bored he's a real nuisance - not to me, but Corky and Bonbon are getting the full force of it, pulling at rugs and headcollars, waving branches at them in a cack handed attempt at play. Of course, they don't have the same mentality and are not too keen on participating!
Everythings frozen of course and I fill buckets in the shower room - it's a complete pain in the arse, and this morning I soaked myself through after dropping the shower head. I couldn't pick it up quickly enough and it was spouting everywhere, so not only did I soak myself through, but everything else too. It was warm water, but I couldn't go out in the cold, my legs would turn to icicles, so I had to get changed.
After getting changed, I took the water out to the barn, slipped on the ice and soaked myself through once again.
Aaaaghhhh.
Second change of clothes, I'm mucking out and rationale starts to kick in.
Mucking out can be quite therapeutic.
Things aren't so bad, a thaw is predicted. I'm pretty healthy, my animals are healthy.
Drugs claimed another life today, a well known life, just one amongst the very many every year. I'm not addicted to anything (well, perhaps the internet ;-)  ) I've got everything I need, and I've got freedom of choice.
How ridiculous to get worked up over carting buckets.
I'm now off for my hot buttered toast and a nice cup of tea!

Hit-Air

Well, I've done it, I've ordered this;

from HERE
It's an air vest from Hit-Air, it's the cross country model (not that I'm going to be doing any jumping anytime soon!) and I bought it because it was recommended and it will be just like wearing an ordinary riding waistcoat.
It was very expensive, but I'm not getting any younger and no longer bounce if I hit the ground. With two youngsters to train it's been on my mind and the last thing I want is to be laid up with an injury.
It hasn't arrived yet so I'll update when it does!

Gill

This post is for my friend Gill who died yesterday.
She was a lovely person and I'll miss her. I'll miss her passion, generosity, her quick wit and her knowledge. I'll miss her straight talking and the fact that she always talked such good sense!

Here's to you Gill, wherever you are!

It's snowing.................

We were told yesterday that it was coming and it came!  We have lots of it. I'm not too keen on snow now, but there was still that little moment of excitement this morning when I wished we had a sledge!
The horses and dogs enjoyed it though.

Then and now

Everythings been sidelined the last few days because of the extremely cold weather. The school is rock hard and the wind is brutal. I've been organising my pics and vids onto an external hard drive and came across these. My babies then and now!

Bonbon 2 days old

 and 4yrs old

Remy as a foal with his mum Anky

and 5yrs old

And one of my beautiful Anky

It's a beautiful sunny day out there today, but it is sooooo cold. I can't bring myself to do anything with the horses. Hopefully it will thaw soon.