I don't know what you mean mum....

................yes you do, just think about it.

That was me with Remy today. I've only managed to ride 3 times in the last week because of the weather, but it was lovely and sunny today with very little wind. I don't like riding in the wind - I do ride as long as the wind's not too bad, but I find it's very distracting for both me and therefore the horse.
Anyway, we had another session in the school, continuing lateral work at walk, a little trot and then onto our walk/canter transitions.
We're getting good results on the right rein now, I'm able to ask him in different places in the school and get  a pretty quick response, but, as I mentioned in a previous post, he's tending to run on a little. I don't mind a little anticipation as long as he listens and waits, but it's more difficult to deal with the rushing.
I've found that if we get a really good transition, I can allow a few strides and then get a fairly responsive transition to trot, but if we get a slightly impatient strike off and/or I allow him to get away from me, then he continues in quite a fast, not really listening to me canter.
Giving him the rein and allowing him space,and expecting him to slow to a trot isn't really working, as once he falls onto his shoulders, he runs through my hand, and then, I can't ride the canter properly anyway.
I'm not getting into that scenario with him, so  I've been keeping (trying to keep) my position in the saddle and if he doesn't respond to my request to trot, resisting with the hand until he gives me the trot, at which point I immediately relax and give with the reins. I'm not sure this is the best way, but raising the inside rein isn't working at the moment, so we'll see how it goes.

On the left rein walk/canter transitions we were getting, the 'I don't know what you mean' today, and to be fair, he seemed to be trying so hard that he was getting himself into a bit of a tizz. I let him relax on a long rein for a couple of minutes before trying again.  Then I just asked for a small circle, feeling him coming under with the inside hind and a correct inside flexion. A slight leg yield out on the circle until he felt very much underneath me and into the outside aids before asking for the transition.
I got one very nice transition, two or three strides at canter, staying on the circle, before asking for trot, which he gave me straight away. I'm not sure he was going to maintain the canter anyway, perhaps he was already thinking of trotting, but it doesn't matter, I think he understood exactly what I wanted.
I got off at that point, a happy bunny.

I then took Bonbon for a walk up to the top field, and she was fine until she saw our neighbours jacket thrown over the fence at the far side.  I'd seen him earlier, heading towards the wood with his cepes basket, so presume he'd gotten too warm and thrown his jacket over the fence to collect on his return.
Bonbon saw it before I did, from the middle of the field, and immediately started snorting and dancing from side to side.  I tried to keep the line pretty loose and just let her move around until she calmed a little. She pulled back a little, but not enough for me to think she was going to leg it!
When she'd calmed, I started walking towards it, letting her move freely, and she did jump from side to side a little, but kept coming forward until we were standing in front of it. She kept pushing her nose into my arm, and I touched it gently, letting her stand close until she came forward and touched it.
When she was dancing around, it was different from the last time with the cows - for one, we had the space to allow her the space to move, and two, I felt that we were on the same side/page, put it how you will, it just felt that we were in it together, and she was looking to me for guidance rather than tuning me out.
When she was dancing around it didn't worry me, I just felt that it was ok, she had to work it out for herself and she would, and when she came with me and touched the jacket, I felt proud of her, and felt like a little barrier had fallen.
We'll see.

Remy continues his yoga sessions

I had a good session with Bonbon today. I took her for a walk up the lane into the school for her lungeing session. She was really good, striding out well, and I lunged her at walk and trot around the school before getting on.
I haven't ridden her for a month or more, and it felt strange, she's big, quite wide and, after Remy, I felt perched a little on her back. It took a few minutes before she started to focus, and I walked her around the school on a long rein as she checked out the various corners, jump wings, poles etc.
As she started to pay more attention, I worked on walk/halt transitions and changes of rein on circles.
I decided to ride her back down the lane home, which I've never done before. Jim walked with us and she was great.
It felt good to be back riding her.
Remy had his yoga session before a short in-hand session on the yard. It seems to be helping him. He's relaxing into the leg lifts, and we're definitely seeing some progress with the pelvic tucks and belly lifts.

We planted 3 new trees this afternoon - a laburnum, a silver birch and a sycamore. I love trees, and I'm happy to say that our eucalyptus that we thought had died of the cold seems to have survived after all.

Fly fringes

.....where do they go?
I know what happens to them - Remy pulls them off, but where they go is a complete mystery!
Corky usually manages to keep hers - she won't allow him to mess with it, but Bonbon loses hers frequently. I've seen him swinging them around in his mouth, so I think he chucks them over the fence or into the hedge just for fun!
Anyway, Bonbons brand new one disappeared after about 3 hours and I still haven't found it!

I had a great session with Remy today. I spent a good while getting him ready with a thorough grooming and some leg and tail circles, took him up to the school, and after a warm up in walk and a little trot, started on the walk/canter transitions.
There was a marked improvement from our first session, with 2 or 3 very clean transitions on each rein, with no trot steps. I finished straight away on a good note and I'm really looking forward to our next session.

Starting walk to canter transitions

Yesterday, I continued the lateral work in walk and the trot transitions, concentrating on keeping him active behind. We got some nice shoulder-in on the long side, and the feeling of him really starting to open his shoulders. His reinback has become much more fluid and I really do think that we've got a handle on the trot, and a solid base to work from.
Today, I wanted to start walk to canter transitions. I know that if we can get him cantering, it will really improve the trot.
I started with some lateral work at walk - s/i, travers and counter s/i on each rein, then asking for the canter transition from a small loop in counter s'i back to the track. This has the effect of weighting the outside shoulder, freeing up the inside for the transition. It worked quite well, and he worked out fairly quickly what I wanted. A good start, I think.

I had a session with Bonbon and she was quite tense - unusual for her. Nevertheless, she lunged quite calmly. She was distracted in the ridden work, but settled a little and gave me some lovely walk/halt transitions.

A new experience for Remy out hacking

A hack out today for me and Remy. A little bit hesitant on the way out, but willing to go and felt active and together, and good in the hand. We stopped for him to have a little munch of grass half way round and, as usual, he was more active on our return journey.
I very rarely see anyone else riding, but we spotted a horse and rider on the way back.
Remy's never seen another horse under saddle while we've been out, and he was a little bit excited. He grew about 3 hands and started calling out. I muttered a quick uh oh, and tried to sit as calmly and quietly as possible ;-o
They were on a track about 100 yds away, heading away from us, and Remy really wanted to get over to them. I asked him to halt, which he did, and then just stayed still until they'd moved further away.
When I asked him to walk on in the opposite direction, he was on his toes, but fine, although he could hear some noise round the next bend, and we tiptoed past some workmen unloading a van.
He continued to call out, and was a little bit restless on the way home, but was listening, and he walked out well and stayed soft in the hand.
I'm really pleased with the way he handled it!

Same old.......

We've been continuing along the same lines the last few days. ~Remy's been down the tracks and also in the school. We've even taken to doing a little schooling in our top field - it's good for canter. He offers me the transition, so, of course, I take it. We get an unruly canter, but it feels ok as long as we go in a straight line ;-o
I've had a couple of nice sessions with Bonbon, in the school and a short session in-hand on the yard.
A few pics of me and Remy in our top field.

Back to lungeing...

I've been working in the school for the last few days.
With Remy, I've been concentrating on trot transitions, making sure that there's enough energy to get a soft transition, but not too much that he hollows or rushes off. We seem to be getting there with the transitions, which give a balanced start to the trot, but he's not able to keep that balance for too long  before he tightens through the front end, and/or starts to rush. I'm finding it hard to determine his natural trot rhythm, so the last few days we've been having a short lunge session before riding.
It's been a revelation. Remy was always quite tense on the lunge, but having returned to it, it's great to see how much better balanced he is. He can maintain a nice, regular trot now, and it's been really useful to see him settle into his natural rhythm, which is quite slow, but once relaxed, becomes nicely energetic.
It's helping with the ridden work, and today, in one or two of the transitions,  I felt a real oomph from behind, while keeping the softness in front.

After a few days off, we had another session with Bonbon in the school. Starting with a lunge session - she's actually offering the trot now, and is much calmer. We now have to try and get some softness and relaxation in the trot. We followed that with a ridden session of the usual walk/halt transitions, with small circles and changes of rein. She's settling to it all so well.
I love getting on her, she's so biddable, a real little sweetie. I think she enjoys it.

A busy few days

We've had a busy few days.
The horse dentist came on wednesday for their 6 monthly check-up. All's well and not a lot of treatment necessary.
I had a lovely afternoon yesterday over at Trudi's, a good lunch and a good natter!
This morning I had two lovely sessions. First with Remy, who was as receptive and focussed as I've ever known him to be. He gave me some lovely steps of shoulder-in, both on the circle and on the straight line, plus the best trot transitions we've ever had. Just the transitions, basically one or two steps before I clicked him good boy. We did half a dozen transitions like this on each rein and he gave me a soft, round transition every time.
I then took Bonbon up to the school, and following a short lunge session, we continued the basics in ridden work of walk/halt transitions and lots of small circles and changes of rein. She was a little distracted, but after a few minutes she settled and started to listen.
Andrea came over this afternoon and we had a good chat while going over some admin for the group.

It's been a lovely sunny day and I've enjoyed it very much.

An eventful hack

A sunny day today and I took Remy out for a hack.
It was quite eventful.
First, our neighbours were blocking the track with the tractor and log splitter. It was quite noisy, and they were hiding behind the tractor and suddenly popped their heads out.to say hello.  Remy handled it brilliantly and we managed to squeeze past without a problem. Then, we went through our little shortcut to find that the field on the other side had been ploughed and while we could get round the edge, it was still quite deep and soft. He handled that too, making his way carefully to the track.
After that, we settled onto the nice quiet grassy track, and he started to walk out nicely. We took a new (to him) track, and he was happy to go. There's no way home from this track, so we had to turn around at some point, and when we did, he was calm and wasn't wanting to rush home.
Heading home, I gave him a long rein and he stretched out into a lovely ground covering walk. We were 20 minutes from home, just reaching the top of an uphill, bendy track, and just approaching the last bend, when Remy spied a parked car, partially hidden. In a split second, he had stopped dead, tried to turn, lost his footing, and before I knew it, we were both on the ground. I'd come straight off the back, complete with stirrups. I grabbed hold of the reins as he got up, and stood quietly while he huffed and snorted at my side. I had to wait quietly for a minute or two before he was calm enough to lead round the bend towards the car, and even then he was still jumpy, but after a few moments I led him forward to sniff and touch the car with his nose, after which he was much calmer.
Another minute or two and he was calm enough for me to stand him next to a nearby log. I got back on and we continued on home. He was on his toes, but calm enough, and we had a lovely long uphill trot. I gave him the rein and let him really stretch and use himself. He felt fine, and seemed not to have hurt himself.
It's disconcerting how quickly things can happen, and he'd given us both a shock, but the upside of it was that he'd stood with me, and listened to me as I tried to calm him,even though he was really scared, and best of all was how calm he was once we'd continued on our way home.
Hopefully no harm done.
I hope it doesn't happen again!!

Soft, round trot transitions

Another week's gone by and the weather has turned back to cold and wet. We need the rain, but that short glimpse of spring led us into a false sense of security.
I've had a couple of nice long hacks on Remy, exploring new tracks and some trotting on the uphill tracks. He's certainly getting the hang of it!
I've ridden Bonbon a couple of times in the school and todays session was really enjoyable.
A Short lunge session to start, and the trot is improving nicely. She's listening and relaxing more, and we're starting to get better bend.
She was a little distracted when I got on, but after a few minutes she started to listen and gave me nice flexion and softness in the the hand. We worked on walk/halt/walk transitions and small circles with lots of changes of rein.
I rode Remy in the school today and it was a really encouraging session. He was very relaxed, gave me some lovely shoulder-in, and some of the best trot transitions we've had. Lately, we've been struggling to get a round transition, but today he was more active behind, and his walk was much better balanced. I've not ridden for a few days and it was good to get back to it.

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 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.

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!

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.

Step by step

I continued with Bonbon today, a short lunge session and then a short sit-on. She was a little more settled to the ridden work and felt more forward. Just a short session, starting by asking for a release and relaxation at halt, asking her to take the weight backwards, followed by a couple of circles on each rein with halt transitions. She feels very different to Remy, much softer in my hand with very little resistance through the neck. We're just starting out and I'm really looking forward to it.

I came away from my session with Remy yesterday feeling pretty good. He's learning all the time and despite my doubts about my training, he is progressing,
We've not done any vids for quite a while so Jim videoed the session. After watching it, I realise that what I'm feeling and what I see on the vid don't always tally. It's that thing about trusting the feel that you're getting which hopefully will get better as we progress, but I'm just not there yet!  He gives me the feeling of being more round and relaxed than he actually is and in my attempts to not let him get too low, I've been keeping him too high. I don't know if it makes sense, but when I ride him he doesn't feel hollow, he feels pretty good in the hand and in good balance, and on the vid I can see there are times when he's not holding and he is genuinely relaxed, but there are too many times when he isn't.
My first thought was that he needs more rein! He needs to extend his neck more, and I need to allow him to do it.  This will also stop me opening my elbows too much, keep the relaxation through my arms and stop me having the tendency to perch forwards. Why couldn't I feel that?
I tried it today, my sole purpose in the session was to let him find a place where he could really relax. Could it be that simple, just a little bit more rein? Well, I don't know, but that's what I did today and it felt like something clicked into place. There were times when everything felt so fluid and easy. We tried some trot transitions, and the trot was softer and better balanced, and he was blowing contentedly. It's taken a while to sink into my feeble brain, but I think we may have taken one step closer.

More hacking please

I rode Remy today as the rain has gone and the sun has returned :-)
I took him in the school and unfortunately, it wasn't a good session. He just couldn't relax. He was rushing in the trot and running into canter. I was taking too much inside rein  (which I  have a tendency to do) and too little on the outside! Not his fault, totally mine. I wasn't relaxed either! Not one of my better days, I expected too much. I should know better.:-(
"Ask often, expect little, reward generously" Col. Podhajsky"
So I took him down the track for a short hack. We had several trots, he had a splash and a drink in the puddles and a quiet few minutes eating grass. He relaxed. I relaxed. 
We really need to do more of this!!

I then took Bonbon into the school. 
After our previous sessions, and my earlier ride on Remy,  I was keeping my expectations low, but I was asking her for basics, things that she knows, and all I wanted was that she listen and keep her attention on me. We started off in the usual way, walking around the school, me in a close lungeing position, keeping her on the track, inside bend, asking for relaxation.  I wasn't even thinking of a trot transition, but she offered it (without any squealing etc.) and so I accepted and let her trot a few revolutions of the circle before asking for walk, letting her relax into the walk and then asking for a halt transition.  We changed the rein and the same thing, she offered the trot, a few revolutions staying calm on the circle before asking for the walk and then halt transition. It doesn't sound like much, but I think it's great progress. We left it there, finishing on a good note, hopeful of a repeat performance tomorrow!