Out and about

Now that I've got Remy going out and about, I've decided to do much more hacking and less in the school. To be honest, I think he's a bit bored of it, and although I love going in the school, I think we'll learn as much, if not more by hacking out.
He makes more of an effort hacking out and he's certainly more active behind, so we'll still go in the school, but not as much as we have been.
We were out for just over an hour today. We used our shortcut to the lovely grassy track ride and, although he was looking at stuff and had a couple of big spooks at a big grey water trough, he coped really well.
Coming home he was very forward and at one point, went into a really powerful trot, which I'm going to have to learn to ride and regulate! The track goes up a nice long hill, so next time I'll ask him to trot up there and it'll give him time to come back to me and find his balance.
I wanted to do something with Bonbon this afternoon, but the wind got quite strong and blustery. Instead, I made a quiche and and egg custard - can you tell we have a surplus of eggs!

New hacking track

I went back with Remy today to check if the little gap in the hedge could be a shortcut through to the really nice grassy track ride. Jim came along with us and moved a few fallen branches, pulled back a few small holly branches and, hey presto, we were able to get through.
Remy was pretty chilled, so we continued along the track. We went on ahead, Jim following behind, and Remy was really forward and curious. He seemed to be enjoying it so we went for quite a way before deciding to turn for home. We need to do a lot more of this, it really gets him opening up and using himself. We had a couple of nice, balanced trots on the way home.
I didn't have time to do anything with Bonbon, as Gareth arrived to trim their feet.

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.

Need a break?

Have a Kit-Kat......
No really, I think I need a break.
I think I need a break from unpredictable horses.
My horses are not naughty and they don't scare me, they're just unpredictable youngsters.
Today, my patience was wearing thin, I hate myself for it, but there it is.

The ground was frozen this morning so I took Remy for a hack. I expected him to be forward and confident, I suppose that was my first mistake - beware of expectations.
He stopped at our neighbours scary garden and my first thought wasn't 'ok, no problem', it was, 'christ almighty, not again, how many times do we have to go past here before he's ok with it!'
I resigned myself to being in the saddle for a very long time.
I thought about it there and then as I waited for him to decide if it was ok to go, or not.
It wasn't that it was a bad day or that I wasn't in the mood, I wasn't getting annoyed. I was just resigned to the fact that I had to be patient and the more we did this, the better it would be, it's young horse territory, I know that. I just didn't want to be doing it.
I want him to know that he has my support, I don't want to 'make' him go, I want him to trust me and go because he believes he'll be safe if he does what I ask. So, it takes a long time, and today it did take a long time.
He's not naughty, he just stops and looks. I realise this is not such a bad thing, but it can get quite wearing. He has all his mums endearing qualities, but he also has this quiet passive resistance, so much like Anky, I recognised it immediately.
If I ask too firmly with my legs, he goes backwards. I use reinback quite a lot in our schooling and I seem to have created a going backwards monster. Twice today, faced with things he wasn't sure of, I backed him past them with no problems. What does that mean then, that he can't see the scary things and that he trusts me to handle it? I don't know!
Most of the time today though, with positive reinforcement (lots of 'good boys' and treats) he went forwards past scary things, it took time, but we got there.
We went around the circular ride. I let him stop to chill and eat some grass here and there and as we turned towards home he  became very forward and energetic. He remained forward coming home, and I managed to get good balance and softness in the hand. So much better than the slow, step by step, 'like pulling teeth' forward we got on our way out.

We were out about an hour and a half and for all intents and purposes, it was a successful ride, he was calm and pretty relaxed as we arrived home and we'd achieved our goal.
I didn't enjoy it one bit!

A short session on the yard with Bonbon that I did enjoy, moving quarters and shoulders and a short flexion session.

It's snowing here now - I knew we hadn't got away with it - roll on spring!

Ups and downs

Thanks for your comments guys on my truly pathetic post yesterday.  I really wasn't having a go at Rem, in all honesty, he's pretty fab, just my inability to deal with the situation sensibly at the time, and letting my hormones and emotions get the better of me.
Today was much better, I wanted it to be a confidence boosting exercise for Remy, no great expectations, I was happy to accept what he offered and calmly deal with any problems.   Well, he was pretty bloody great. He set off with some purpose and just kept going. Jim followed about hundred yds back and came up once when we crossed the main road and once to accompany us past the stone cutting shed. We were out for over an hour, we went right up to the little stud just outside the village where Remy was very interested in the horses grazing in the far fields. We turned for home there and he was a little reluctant to leave them and as we headed back started whinnying.
As we neared home he really was on a mission, so I asked him for lots of walk/halt transitions, sometimes with a couple of steps of reinback and it was such a nice feeling as he came up and together, and really soft into my hand. The last few hundred yards I gave him a long rein and it felt like a tidal wave as he really opened up the walk stride. Ups and downs eh, well, today was definitely an 'up'.

A short session with Bonbon in-hand, and she was very sweet. She's a quick learner and I enjoyed our session today. Walk/halt transitions, shoulder-fore on the circle both reins, and a little bit of rein-back.

We spent the afternoon doing the fence in the bottom field, so a busy day and I'm cream crackered now!

Moody mare

A short hack up the track with Remy today. He huffed and puffed at a guy cleaning up a few leftover heads of maize in the middle of his field, but went past undaunted. He was on a mission again coming home - oh I love that feeling, and if we're going to activate his back end, this is going to help no end!
Bonbon was a little cow - pmt, I think! I put  the saddle on and as I tightened it up she shot backwards and upwards, not nice at all! I'm not sure what we'll do, I suppose we'll go with it and carry on, see what happens. I took her onto the yard and walk and trotted her around until she settled. She was squealing, and throwing her head at me, but nothing huge. As we were finishing, an airforce jet came over and both Jim and I wanted to run for cover, it was flying so low and making a hell of a noise. Bonbon jumped backwards, but then stood quietly without a murmur - she can be a very good girl. She seemed calm enough so I had a little sit-on, no problems so walked a few strides and then got off and left it on a good note.

A little hack

My intention was to ride Remy up to the school and then have a short session in there, but Remy decided he wanted to march straight past and on down to the lake! I didn't ask him to turn into the school so it's not as if he was misbehaving, he just started to stride out energetically as we were approaching the entrance, his intention was definitely to go straight on down the track, so we did. Jim had come up to watch the session, so he accompanied us on our little hack.
We went down the track to the lake, continued on the little track round the lake and then off through the field coming out further down on the lane to our house. Jim had to walk in front a couple of times for encouragement, but all in all he was really happy to go on ahead. We were out for about 40 minutes. I'm pretty chuffed with the boy!
On a sadder note, I learned this week that my cousin Karl had died. Not totally unexpected as he'd suffered ill health for a long time, but still a great sadness. He was a few years younger than me and thankfully died peacefully after a particularly turbulent life. As kids, my sister and I used to spend all holidays and spare time with our cousins so they were a big part of my life growing up. I am especially close to Karls mum and dad and I'm looking forward to spending some time with them next week when I go home to attend the funeral.

In need of a trim

A ridden session in the school today with Remy working at walk on halt/reinback/walk on and figure of eights. I then rode him back down the lane and up the track, the same ride as yesterday but Jim followed rather than walked with us. He was great, he was forward; stayed soft in the hand and when I stopped to chat with a neighbour on the way back, he stood calmly and patiently.
Gareth came this afternoon to trim their feet and although they'd gone over time-wise and their feet looked a little untidy, there was nothing that couldn't be fixed by a good trim!
Happy Bunny tonight!

Cherry cake!

Not posted much recently; but we've been getting on with working Remy and Bonbon. Today I took Remy for a hack down the track, through the little wood and back home. Only about 25 minutes, but further than we've been before. Remy was fine. A couple of heavy breathing moments, but nothing he couldn't handle. Jim  walked with us and I think if we continue like this Remy will gain confidence each time..
We took Bonbon up to the school and she was a little lack-lustre. She's been in season and she's seemed a little tired today. We had a short session on the lunge at walk and trot and then I lay over her back and put my weight in the stirrup. We need to keep up the exercise as she's getting porky!

We've just picked an enormous bowl of cherries so Jim's now baking; making cherry cake. Yummy!