Tired......

.......tonight after working all afternoon (hehe, I'm not used to it) finishing the horse shelter. The new fencing is in, the old fencing is out and the guttering is up.  We brought the horses in whilst we removed the old fencing and tidied it all up and it was just starting to go dark by the time we'd finished and put them back out. Lots of snorting and investigating before they headed off down the field. Hopefully I'll get some pics tomorrow.

I rode Anky in the school today and she was very good, but quite nervous with the toot tooting of the chasse getting closer. It's a while since I rode her and I was pleasantly surprised at how good she felt, forward, and soft in her mouth.  I got off mid session and we had ten minutes in-hand where I managed to get her to relax and stretch and lower her head and neck. When I got back on she was a little more relaxed and responsive.

I decided that discretion was the better part of valour so had a short in-hand session inside with Remy. He gave me some lovely flexions from a very light feel and was lovely and soft in his mouth.

Feeling chilled

It's been a crappy week, but it's looking up.

After a week of doing nothing with the horses, we returned to work today in the school.
I took Anky up there first for a short lunge session followed by a little in-hand work. She was pretty relaxed with the lungeing but tense in the in-hand. I'm finding that she relaxes really well when we're inside, but once we get outside in the school she's distracted very easily and the first thing she does then is tense and raise her head. We'll work on it.
The wind had got up a little by the time I took Remy in the school. He was a little distracted by the wind and the toot tooting of a distant chasse horn, but he's such a patient and willing boy and tried to focus. We started with a short lunge session and he was pretty responsive in the transitions. By walking around with him, I find he stays much softer and doesn't hang on the rein, I can try to bend him a little inside, help him relax and encourage a sharper transition. Today the trot was more relaxed and active than it's been and the transitions were better. We then had a short session in-hand including asking him to move individual legs from a light touch of the whip. He's getting better at this, giving me a quicker reaction.



So, after a week off, it all felt a little rusty, but glad to be back doing something.

Boots Randolph - oh boy

Hey, don't flick my leg!

No rain this morning, but it was really blustery so I had another session inside. Remy was great, good flexions, good transitions to walk and nice soft halts. I also worked on asking him to move his legs by a light touch of the whip and he gave me an immediate response, a nice surprise and  hopefully not a fluke.  I like these short sessions inside, no distractions and good practice for when we're in the school.
I worked with Bonbon for a few minutes starting on some baby flexions and she was calm and attentive, a good girl.
Jim spent the afternoon putting guttering up and I tidied the garden - it really needs it and still lots more to do!

Anky and Remy in-hand

Short sessions in-hand yesterday with Anky and Remy, working on release and relaxation of the jaw, and, in Remy's case concentrating on focus and attention. I was trying to keep him soft in the hand with slight inside flexion, without too much bend in the neck or twist at the poll. The in-hand work is relatively new to me and in order to work my way through it's complexities, I'm now trying to break it down and isolate the aids (  with some good advice from a friend , thanks Trudi ). Once I'd got his attention, I worked for a few minutes asking him to move his shoulder from a slight touch and he was very responsive . I've started  to ask him to move individual legs by a slight touch of the whip and after a very long and lazy response on friday, he was much better yesterday.
It was raining this morning so worked inside with both Anky and Remy, working on the same as yesterday. We put them out and opened up the gate to the winter field, it was great to see them cantering down and kicking their heels up, led by an exuberant Anky.
It was fine by the time we brought them in so I had a quick in-hand session on the yard with Remy. He was calm and attentive and I managed to get nice flexion to the inside with good contact on the outside rein preventing excess bend in his neck or twisting at the poll. I also worked on asking him to walk on, with me remaining perfectly still ( I have a tendency to get slightly ahead of him) and he responded well, also the halts were very soft, straight and positive.

Shelter

The builders have been busy the last couple of weeks building the horse shelter. We've had  a few delays because of the material suppliers, but yesterday they finally finished.
Before the horses can use it, we have to put the guttering on, finish the new fenceline and gates, take the old fencing out and concrete a small part of the yard - shouldn't take too long........... :-)

Inca

Jim took these the other day. This is Inca, she's an old lady, we've just worked out that she's about 18yrs old. She has a brilliant life here with mum (me) waiting on her hand and foot!!

Traditional Farriery and Barefoot trimming methods - poles apart?

After a recent discussion about my horse's feet and the stark realisation that traditional farriery and new trimming methods seem to be poles apart, I've started to look into K C La Pierre's method of barefoot trimming. This is the guy that my trimmer trained with.
I've borrowed his DVD set - The Chosen Road , so we'll see where it takes me.

Warm but blustery weather....

The horses have had a couple of days off so back to work today.
I took Remy in the school, it was blustery and he was spooky. I put him on the lunge and he calmed a little so we had a short in-hand session working on rein-back, halt/walk transitions, giravolta and circles, all the time trying to keep him focussed and attentive. He was very good so I sat on and we did the same exercises ridden. He kept his focus, waited patiently at halt, listening and waiting for me to ask. The rein-backs were better as was the following walk on as he relaxed and flexed a little at the poll. After a couple of repetitions I took him onto a circle and we did some figure of eights with a nice change of bend. To finish we returned to the rein-back/walk on exercise and added the turn on the forehand, repeat in the new direction. There were a lot of distractions today and I was really pleased with his behaviour. I rode him back down the lane and had a little (our first!!) trot towards home.
I then rode Anky up to the school and I felt like we'd taken a few steps backwards as by now the wind had really got up and she was quite distracted.
She started off by not wanting to release to the flexions at halt, but after a few minutes she started to relax and stretch down and I moved her around on small circles trying to keep the softness and bend. We had some nice steps,but she was still worried about other things and it was far from consistent.
I then tried the reinback-exercise against the fence which seemed to get her attention and I was really pleasantly surprised at how softly and fluidly she moved into the rein-back from a light request. The whole exercise was improved, the walk forward after the rein-back and the turn on forehand to change the direction. Still lots to work on, but definitely going in the right direction. We finished with figure of eights on a long rein, keeping a nice softness through the change of bend. Great.