Despooking Remy and Bonbon

The weather's been lovely the last couple of days, the horrid cold wind has gone and the sun has returned!
I've worked both days with the horses.
I've taken Remy, first in the top field before going in the school and then worked mainly in lateral work at walk and walk/canter transitions. No spooking in the field, thankfully.
The transitions are becoming more fluid on the right rein and are becoming very sharp and clean, but now that we've got the go, we have to make sure we keep the stop. I must try to stay light on his back without letting him pull me forward, because after the first few strides, he starts to fall onto his shoulders and rush. I'm sure as we progress, we'll find a better balance.
His walk work is really improving and today he gave me some lovely shoulder-in, travers and renvers.
I've taken Bonbon for a walk round the top field the last two days as she'd gotten pretty spooky in there after seeing our neighbour coming across his field, stick in one hand and a large basket of cepes in the other. For some reason, his lurching and waving them at us freaked her out a bit.
Yesterday we got to the same bit of field and suddenly she lost it and started squealing and cantering around me. I managed to calm her without too much problem and then walked her around the field with lots of changes of direction, halt/back/walk on transitions until she was calm and relaxed.
Today, she was brilliant, focussed on me, halting as I halted, following my movements on a loose rein without any hint of spookyness.

Brrrrrr

Well, we've had a few days off.  The weather has turned really cold and my poor old body is having a tough time adjusting to it. :-)
I've gone out with every intention of doing something with the horses, but have been lured back by the attraction of a lovely warm fire and a hot cup of tea!
I feel a bit guilty, but the horses are out pretty much 24/7 and as soon as I get my end of summer/starting to cope with winter head on, I'll get back to it - maybe tomorrow, it's supposed to be warming up a little.
My mum and Thomas went home on Friday and, as usual, when family leave, I'm missing them something rotten. :-(

Spook and run.....

Remy was  looking and listening to everything today ( apart from me, apparently).
I was doing a little work in our top field, lateral work at walk as preparation for our walk/canter transitions.
It was a bit windy and there were a few sawing noises coming from the little wood at the bottom of the field which distracted him a little, but  we got some nice shoulder-in and travers down the long side.   I worked on keeping his attention with lots of changes of rein and bend.
He seemed to be settling ( oh yeah?) when he suddenly took off at high speed down the field.  I was surprised at how quick he was going (in other words, it was bloody fast!), but managed to stop him fairly quickly, decided to walk the rest of the way up the field, and discretion being the better part of valour, finish our session in the school.
He was on his toes now, and as we neared the school, he spun round, and (again) legged it off down the school throwing in a few bucks as he went. This time, it felt like he really meant it, and it took a few circles before I could stop him. This is new territory for me with Remy, because even though he tends to look at things, he doesn't really spook and run.
Anyway, he stood looking and snorting, so I got off and walked him to the school, then walked him around the perimeter of the school until he calmed down.
Once he'd calmed I got back on, and we got some lovely walk work, and (rather relieved sigh here) some lovely walk/canter transitions.
The right rein is really coming on and I asked for a couple of transitions on the circle, just asking for a couple of steps of leg yield out on the circle before asking for the transition.
The left rein is coming too, and apart from one attempt where he went into trot instead of canter, they were reasonable transitions.

 So, on the one hand, heart in mouth legging it down the field (twice)  and on the other, some really nice work in the school.

Getting the hang of walk to canter transitions....

It's been wet and miserable for a few days, so I've not ridden the horses.
It's brightened up a bit today and I took Remy in the school. I walked him around our top field first, to warm him up and then went in the school to do some lateral work at walk, before asking for my walk to canter transitions. The first one on the right rein, he rushed, starting to jog out of of the shoulder-in into canter on the wrong lead. The second time, I asked for the shoulder-in on the long side, keeping him in balance, I could feel his energy building, and when I asked with a slight touch of my inside leg in the corner, he popped into a lovely balanced canter. 
I changed the rein and asked for shoulder-in, into the corner, but he started to trot. I brought him back to walk onto a small circle back to the long side, and asked for shoulder-in once more. This time it was in much better balance, and on reaching the corner, the transition came quite easily. In fact, better than we've had before on the left rein. I dismounted and finished tour short, but very productive session.
My mum and nephew Thomas arrived yesterday, they're staying for a week and it's really lovely to see them. I haven't seen Thomas for a couple of years and he's grown so tall. He's 18 this year, I can't believe it!

Canter transitions

I'm posting today because I didn't want to forget our first real, balanced walk to canter transitions. I really felt that Remy was completely underneath me, light in the hand and well balanced in the work beforehand. I asked for shoulder-in down the long side at walk, and I could feel the energy there ready to be used. The canter transition in the corner was just there when I asked for it, not a fluke either, he gave me a nice, balanced transition 3 times :-)    This was on the right rein, it's not so easy on the left rein, but this little (huge for me) step has given me the confidence that it's gonna come!
His trot is becoming better balanced and I think he's ready to canter. Also, the canter will improve the trot even more.
We like to canter out on a hack on a straight line but it's a very forward going canter, and it's not balanced enough for a small school. I get up off his back, and quite often I find myself wishing there was a little log or something we could jump. Silly really - it's a very long time since I've done any jumping!
 The resulting canter from those lovely transitions today, was together, not as forward going, but it felt balanced, that's all I can say really, the transition was good, the canter felt good.  On the left rein, he's not as together going into it, he's not as straight and relaxed in the shoulder-in, but he is getting there. The canter transition wasn't as fluid, so the canter was flatter and rushed.

Anyhow, it was a good session and I spent this afternoon playing music with Ricky, so a good day all round!

Les 4 écoles d'Art Equestre 2012

I had a busy day yesterday, went off to Paris to see the four equestrian schools at Bercy.
I had a great time, it was tiring (Paris there and back in a day!), but well worth it.
The four schools are;

 

l’Ecole Espagnole d’Equitation de Vienne,
le Cadre Noir de Saumur,
l’Ecole Royale Andalouse d’Art Equestre ,
et
l’Ecole Portugaise d’Art Equestre

See here for their website
http://www.bercy.fr/programme/spectacle/1302/Les_4_%C3%A9coles_d'Art_Equestre

Lots of excellent stuff, but, surprisingly (or not) some things that I didn't like.

Despite rumours that the Spanish riding school have lowered their standards, they showed some excellent work, although, I thought the side reins were a little too tights on a couple of the horses working in-hand (just my opinion, and, after all, what do I know!).
The Portugese where excellent too, and the Cadre Noir held their own, but I was very disappointed with the Andalouse (spanish school, not to be confused with the Spanish Riding School in Vienna), who didn't seem to have the finesse of the other schools. Some of their horses looked quite tense and uncomfortable and were requently showing incorrect work. One of their riders, who was showing in a pas de deux, was so unbalanced and uncoordinated that it was embarassing, and I can't understand why on earth they put him in there in the first place!
The horses were beautiful though, and they were the stars. The riders (on the whole) were faultless, and, to be honest,when they're so good, you don't see them, just the horse, which is how it should be in my opinion.
I have some pics, but not sure how they'll turn with my little dinky camera and questionable photography skills. I haven't looked at them yet as I'm knackered today, but will get to it.
Here are some vids from the performance yesterday. Not mine as I forgot my video camera :-(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSq8smmNr9k&feature=share&list=ULQSq8smmNr9k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeuZdZDYfWU&feature=share&list=ULTeuZdZDYfWU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMR-z6QfD7k&feature=share&list=ULMMR-z6QfD7k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7HX58Um2FI&feature=share&list=ULc7HX58Um2FI

If you want to see more, I'm sure there will be a few on youtube.

Aren't horses wonderful creatures!!

Hi

Well, it's been a couple of months since my last post. Not been able to get my head around blogging, but I may be back, we'll see.
I just found this and it brought a real smile to my face so had to share.