Resistances

I had the dentist to Anky on Friday. He said that she had quite a few sharp edges and that she would be much more comfortable after the treatment.
I have no expectations that she will suddenly be wonderfully responsive and active in her mouth, but at least I now know that her teeth are in good order.

I took her into the school today, walk halt transitions, flexions, and straightness.

She started very well , with responsive walk/halt - halt/walk transitions, light closing of the fingers and seat aids to the halt and nice reaction to the legs in the walk transition.

After only a short time she started to get impatient and lost the straightness, became more resistant to the hand into the halt transition, swinging her quarters, shuffling, anticipating the walk transition.

She has the attention span of a small child, to be expected, we are very early on in her education.
I moved her around in walk, small circles, loops and serpentines. A reasonably genuine feel on right bend, being careful not to lose the outside shoulder, nice feel on the outside rein.

On the left rein, real reluctance to bend, against my inside leg , reluctance to yield, planting the inside shoulder and tipping her nose, resistance in the outside hand. It was like she had a little tick list, placing these obstacles in my way one by one.
I concentrated on keeping a good contact on the outside rein, keeping the neck straight, asking for a slight flexion to the inside and asking her to yield to to my inside leg with small nudges. We had some success with this on small circles getting moments of relaxation and genuine bend, so finished on a good note.

I feel that more work in-hand is needed for a more active mouth and relaxation of the jaw.

Rambling

It's been a busy few days horsewise with turning out, mucking out, bringing in, holding for the dentist ( all very well behaved!!), holding for the farrier, turning out...... you get the picture.

But no groundwork or riding.

Well the only excuse I can give is that Jim is away and I've been busy ( I really do take him for granted ) and the weather has been pretty glum.

I've been thinking a lot though about the complexities of riding and I realise that the more I've learned, the more I need to learn . Occasionally I get those wonderful moments when it all clicks into place, but it can be frustrating and quite confusing. I wish I could have reached this point of awareness 20 years ago! Although then, I was too busy jumping, hunting and chasing about cross country thinking I was doing ok , wasn't open to all the knowledge that I now know is available to me.

So I've read a lot of the books ( my friend and I have a running joke that we've read the book so obviously we're experts, of course we deal with horses every day so we do know that we're not), watched dvd's taken in the information (tried to understand it) and tried to put it into practice.

It is so addictive. The craving to learn more, to utilise the knowledge,to just be a better rider/horsewoman is so compelling.

I get so doubtful of my own ability, I don't know if I'm a good, bad or indifferent rider ( I have to be honest, it's the riding that does it for me, some people just like having horses around, or prefer the groundwork, or are into body language and behaviour (all of which I have great interest in), but for me, if I couldn't ride, I think it might be too painful to keep horses. Like having the most beautiful paintings and not being able to look at them, or having a collection of the most beautiful music that you couldn't hear. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.) I just love to ride, I want to be better, more in tune with the horse, more instinctive,more able to feel, more able to teach him correctly, have so much knowledge that it's coming out of my ears, AND, be able to use it!

I never thought I would want to write a blog, it's not really me, but I'm finding that it makes me think more about what I'm doing, (is that a good thing??) and also thanks to my blog friends gives me support and a base for discussion.

I know that I'm leaning more toward the French camp, as opposed to the German camp as a way of training. (classical training not competition dressage, which is a constant source of despair for me (don't even go there or I'll never get off my soap box). Of course I'm generalising here as I don't have a massive knowledge base and I know that it is complicated but I want to ride with lightness or "légèrité" and, from what I do know, i'm interested in the methods of Baucher (second manner), Racinet, Philippe Karl, Anja Beran, Paul Belasik, I don't know enough about Nuno Oliveira and there are many others I don't know enough of, probably don't even know of!!

It feels to me that out of the massive library of knowledge and understanding out there, I've only only just started thumbing the pages of the first book.

It's hard to train a horse alone. I miss the comfort and support of having people around, to chat, bounce ideas around, most of all I miss "eyes on the ground"

Just read this back and I'm rambling so I need to collect my thoughts( if I can find them).

Irreverent look at Dressage

Came across this today, its quite funny

Super Prix "A work of fiction"

Take a look at the "Pix of the Litter" section, this girl is also a very good artist!

Hmmm, you asked for it Trudi

Now please be gentle, these are not brilliant recordings and I've only been playing a short time (excuses, excuses!!).LOL

Didn't ride yesterday as I was out all day, today I'm too bloody tired.

We have a boggy bit at the bottom of our Summer field so Glynn has dug us out a little watering pool for the horses and Remy has been paddling, he thinks it's great. Bonbon jumped in before she realised what it was, I think she was in there all of a millisecond!! Don't think she's been back.

Busy Day

This morning I took Anky in the school again. She was much calmer than yesterday, the work was better and she was softer in the hand. We worked for about 30 min just in walk and halt. After. we went for a little walk down the lane and although she was on her toes, she was very willing. I enjoyed myself immensely.
Tomorrow I'm playing my sax with a friend who plays the piano so I needed to practice, we've got some jazz stuff to work on, so I'm looking forward to that.
After lunch I did some gardening in between helping Jim with the wood (it's nearly ready to start making the fence) and then, as she's getting so fat again, I decided to ride Corky.
Every time I ride her, I remember why we brought her to France. She's brilliant. I had a great hack out, really relaxing, she was surprisingly responsive and on the way home we had some lovely soft transitions.
So, a tiring, but really enjoyable day.


A pic of my school (fence to be added later!!!).

I have a sand school!!

I can say that because today I rode in it! It hasn't got a fence yet but I couldn't wait.

Anky was a little unsettled at first but settled quite quickly. We worked on walk and halt transitions, she was rushing and crooked at first, but as she settled she straightened up and we got some nice transitions. The ridden flexions are coming a little better too. She tips slightly on the left flexion, but today I got one or two very good ones. So, I'm a happy bunny!! I will eventually get my fence, sometime in the next few months when we've treated all the wood!!

This is Anky checking out our new soil mountain.

Rode out today with a friend, Anky was ok, a little jumpy to start, she was very well behaved though and did relax after a while.

I can't believe how fat Corky is!! She's always a "little" overweight and I haven't been riding her as much, she looks like a freaking hippo!!

Well, the rest of our wood order arrived, bloody hell, we have a yard FULL of wood!!! The thought of treating that lot, I can't believe we need so much for a little fence.

Never, ever prune roses without gloves!!!!

Moving Mountains

Not as grand as it sounds!! One mountain of topsoil from the top land to the bottom.
So Glynn has been coming and going all day so had to get horses out early which meant no riding.
Anyway a friend is coming roung tomorrow and we are going to ride out. Bonbons bum is 3 inches higher than her wither!

A bit of a rest.

Woke up absolutely shattered yesterday so the horses had a rest day as did I.



Today I spent some time bitting Remy,He opened his mouth no problem and I left it in for a few minutes so he could play with it. He was fine, no problems at all.

The horses had a lovely day in the field, watching Glynn ( sand school man) bring down topsoil from our mountain next to the school. As expected, only half of our fencing wood order is ready. Not such a big problem and tomorrow the daunting task of starting painting the rails with preservative while we wait for the rest of the order, hopefully on Friday.

The Good The Bad and the Ugly

The good - it has been another beautiful sunny day and my garden is full of daffodils
It was windy this morning and I was tired and lacklustre, but I wanted to take Anky out again to reinforce yesterday's work. So, off we went, she was VERY jumpy and spooky , we had a couple of circles, but all in all she was ok. We crossed the road no problems, she was still willing to go forward. I couldn't face the thought of the shetlands, so I took her around a little lake nearby, which is basically a circular route which brought us back to the road. She was on her toes, felt like the proverbial coiled spring, but listening to me. She felt very much underneath me, very active. I had to be very quiet and light with my aids as her reactions were over the top. Anyway she started to relax on the way back and came home still jumpy, but calmer than we set out.

The bad - she spooked at a flapping silage wrapper, spun around and back at me and headbutted me in the face!!

and the ugly - the red and purple bruise that is sitting on my cheekbone!!

Beautiful Day and New Things Learned

It was a beautiful day today, sunny and warm. I felt very determined and optomistic.

Tacked Anky up and brought her on to the yard. She was restless and wouldn't stand for me to get on. After a few attempts, she did and we stayed at halt for a couple of minutes and I did a few light flexions ( her lips were very tight) until she relaxed a little. I asked for walk and she hesitated and didn't respond immediately, so I gave her a quick reminder, a very light touch of the whip. She set off at a trot up towards the gate. Out of the gate, I asked her to walk on, again hesitation, I immediately tapped lightly with the whip and she again went into trot, so off we went. We managed to balance the trot a little as she was rushing on, and she became much more relaxed in her mouth. It was quite a nice trot, a little too quick but it was forward. We trotted almost to the road, walked nicely up to the road and crossed it without any problems.

On the other side of the road, back onto country lanes and she started to back off, shaking her head, snorting, so every time I asked her to walk on and she refused I turned her on a very small circle, I didn't use the whip at all, just asked her to turn ( I discovered immediately that when she's resisting and refusing to go forwards, she sets herself on the right , coming back and up at me, and it's extremely difficult to turn her that way, but it was easy to turn her to the left) , she freaked and snorted at two shetlands in a field which she has seen several times on her rides out with Corky, after several circles and halts she went past them. We continued down the lane - we had a little forwards, circles, halts , sideways, but I did feel very much in control and relaxed, I spoke very little to her, except to praise her as she started to walk forward. To be honest, I enjoyed it. It was real and positive and I was calm and eventually Anky became calmer and less worried. We had some good halts, without shuffling and worrying and after one of these I walked her forward, and then I turned for home.

Of course she was in a hurry to get home, but she didn't jog, her walk was rushed, but she listened to me. I was able to slow the walk, raising my hands (not backwards) slightly and with my seat and body. I was able to flex her very lightly left and right just using my fingers, keeping a degree of softness and relaxation in her mouth. I let the rein out a little and she stretched into it very nicely. She was really quite responsive. We had some reasonable halts on the way home. On one successful halt, I said "good girl" and clicked quietly. It was really funny, I felt her settle in the halt and she looked round at me for her treat!

So we both arrived home tired (we'd been out for about 90mins) but in good spirits, I untacked Anky in the stable and then took her outside to wash her off. She hates water splashing around her but I asked her to stand, looped the rope loosely over the ring and she stood very quietly and calmly as I washed her off.

If it's not obvious in my report - I am very pleased with her.

Time to think.

I went for a walk (I know, I hate walking anywhere!) with Obi up our chemin, needed time to think. Obi had a good time and it gave me time to check out my school (doesn't look much like one at the moment).

So this afternoon, the horses were up by the gate so I went in for Anky and took her straight into the "picadero" (that does sound pretentious - you know that I mean the bottom of the garden). The other three came galloping over, but Anky was really quite focussed on me. I led her and halted for several minutes and then placed my self at the side of her wth the aim of lungeing her. The rope was slack and she followed my body signals from halt, to walk, then to trot, back to walk, trot etc. She was the most focussed she has been. We were in there for about 15-20 minutes and I had her attention the whole time. To finish, I took her back to the yard, asked her to halt and stand and then just looped the rope over the tie-up whilst I brushed her off. She remained there, perfectly still.
Remy was at the gate by this time, looking for his mum, so when I put her back in the field, I brought him out (I've never taken him away from the others before) and did a little groundwork with him. He was a little distracted , mainly curiosity, I think, and quite alarmed when we went past our burning bin which was still smoking from earlier, but on the whole he was very good and most of all he was calm. So, a positive afternoon.

Never Assume anything............

with horses! Same procedure with Anky today, up the track to see how far it is ( you know what I mean). After her sterling effort on Thursday, she decided she didn't want to do it again. So back to leading her, took just as long, but she wasn't as panicky. However, I don't know if I'm letting her take the mick or not. She just wouldn't go whilst I was riding her, I wasn't getting into an argument, so I led her. It then became reasonably amicable. Wary and worried, but ok. Led her home, she was very calm. She's had a day off, she is coming in-season, am I making excuses for her? Do I need to stay on her back? Do I carry on with what I'm doing? If I ask 10 different people will I get 10 different answers? Who knows, I'm sure I don't!

Farrier, meetings and Old friends found...

Farrier at 8.30 am this morning ( early for me!!) , then horse group meeting at lunch time, so no time to ride. Anky was much better for the farrier though ( she's frightened of the smoke) I stood and held her on a loose rope and she stood very still throughout with only slight lapses. I really would like for her to go barefoot, will have to look into it!

Feeling quite emotional tonight, an old friend contacted me on facebook (heehee, wherelse!!) just been chatting online and it brought back many wonderful memories. Such a sadness when people loose touch, how does it happen? I must be very careless.

Very evocative, music....

For Yvette and Pat.

My Intrepid little explorer......

Well not exactly, but today I rode Anky out alone again. Exactly the same track as yesterday. She started off quite hesitant, less so than yesterday, but although she was worried she went willingly. I took her to where the track meets the road and halted for a minute or two. she was calm and listening to me. We then turned for home and she walked back very calmly and relaxed on a long rein. I can't say how pleased I am with her. What a brave girl.

Three steps forward, two steps back...........

I decided to ride Anky out alone this morning. I was hoping we may get better results than last time!
My aim was to get down the same track that we go when riding out with Corky. Well she was very reluctant from the off, we managed to get about a hundred yards before she started backing off going sideways etc. I immediately got off and started to lead her. She's become much more familiar with the leading process since I've been working her in the field but she was worried and started rushing ahead of me, then around me. I kept the rein slack and stood still until she stopped and then continued on. If she got ahead of me, I immediately backtracked in the opposite direction, asking gently with the rein for her to follow me. To say we had many circles and turns and halts is an understatement, but I was the one in control and eventually she calmed down and started to watch and listen to me. She started to relax and I led her calmly home with a couple of diversions to see if she would remain calm and she did. I re-mounted a few hundred yards from home and although she got a little worried, she listened and calmed quickly. So, all in all, a positive session without a cross word from either of us.
When I arrived home, Jim said "you've been gone nearly an hour. Crikey, that distance should have taken us less than 10 minutes!!

Bow-legged Chucks

Well, one of our chucks has been working overtime, this was an egg found the day before yesterday,(the other eggs are normal size)

and today we found this!!

I played with Remy today with the bit, I put a little honey on it and covered it in Alfa A, held it by the rings under his nose and he licked and mouthed it quite happily. I fastened one ring to his cavesson and held the other, asked him to open his mouth and in it went. He moved it around quite a bit, I gave him a treat, let him chew and then pulled it out. He was ok with the whole thing. Its a loose-ring fulmer, don't know if I should try a rubber bit at first.

Did a few flexions with Anky and then put them all out. Not a bad morning.

My little boy is growing up!

• 

Today I did the same with Anky, work in the garden.

She was better again. Very relaxed following me calmly. I took off the rope and she stood with me. As I started to walk on she walked at the side of me, about 3 ft away. I walked a circle, then changed direction, she followed my signal. Back on to a circle, I positioned myself back towards her quarters and raised the whip very slightly, level with her pastern, at the same time moving into a slow trot ( I'm sure it's hilarious to watch!), she was very attentive and as soon as I did this she started to trot slowly at the side of me. I trotted a circle and then deliberately came back to a walk, she did the same, then to halt, she copied me instantly. I am so pleased with her.

The sun had peeped from behind a cloud, I was feeling good so I brought my boy onto the yard. He's just coming up 3 so starting a little groundwork, asking for halt and walk on. He was so calm, such a good boy, it's hard to believe that this is the same little chap we saw born not so long ago, and would you believe it for the first time in his life he's gone croup high.

Progress

I think Anky really got it today. She realised we weren't in the garden so that she could eat!!

She was taking much more notice of me and reacting to my signals. Within a very short time she came in and started moving around me. She trotted on my signal and came back to a walk and then a halt when I asked. A very short, but positive session.

Anky and Remy

Today I tried again with Anky in the garden. We had a good stretching session - she kept moving, but was determined to eat on the move!! She was a little better today though and more responsive. She even slowed and then came to a halt on my signal. I think...

My little boy (Remy, rising 3) is starting to get a little full of himself lately, he tends to get a little impatient and push into my space. So, before we put all the horses out, I took him out on a long rope and did a little groundwork with him. He was quite surprised when we didn't go straight to the field gate , he was a little distracted, but he responded well and stood quietly on a loose rein when I asked and followed me calmly when asked. Oh, he is lovely!!

In the *Picadero* hee hee

By picadero, I mean an 11x11metre part of my garden taped off. (Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling)

Anyway, took Anky in there today to practice some free lunging. She loved it!!! I would like to say it was a perfect communication experience, but I would be lying. She had a great time eating the lovely lush grass.........
Seriously, the grass was quite a distraction, but after some time she started to respond to me and moved quite nicely round me on both reins. She was quite relaxed, so I take that as a great positive!

What happened to the weather?

Horrible wet weather and a trip to the doc's put paid to anything horsey today!!!
All-in-all a miserable day.
On a positive note this cold, wet weather is good for Anky's swollen leg!

Out to play

That's how it felt today, Trudi came over, the weather was lovely and we played out!

Anky had a knock (don't think it's anything serious) and her leg was swollen, so I suggested that we ride out first to get the swelling down (what a cunning plan, I love hacking out!). We had a lovely ride, chatting all the way round.

When we returned we took Anky to the bottom of the garden as my soon to be arena is still looking like a building site.
Trudi did some in-hand work with her before having a little sit on. Anky was very well behaved and Trudi said some very nice things about her. I think Anky enjoyed it too, she told me later, Trudi's ok mum, she can come again!!

It was a lovely day, thanks Trudi!!

I really wanted to ride today, but Sunday is chasse day, round our way, so I tend not to.

So, I continued on from yesterday and took Anky into the field on a long lead rope.
She was calmer today, less panicky, but very distracted. It was more a case of, Ok, I'm not too worried but I'd rather be back with my mates. AND, I can hear my boy calling me!! (Remy, big numpty!! What a baby.)

At first she was quite unwilling to play, reluctant to participate, she set off a few times trotting and cantering around me, but each time within a few seconds she slowed and came in towards me. It was more difficult to keep her attention, but after a while she seemed to accept and I led her around the field quite happily.
So, not a big "aha" moment today, but we progress, I think.