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!

Joe and the lampshade

It's raining again today.
It's official, I'm obsessed with the weather. It wouldn't matter at all if it didn't interfere with my riding schedule!
My session with Bonbon in the barn was delayed when we had to go look for our old cat Joe who's had an operation on his ear and is wearing one of those horrible lampshade collars. He's had the thing on now for over a week and he's not supposed to go out. We've taken pity on him though and let him out for a while, keeping an eye on him, but today he fooled us and legged it and was nowhere to be seen. He turned up safe and sound after about 20 minutes which was a relief. He's going back to the vets on Monday, so hopefully he'll have the stitches out and the lampshade will be gone!

Bonbon was grumpy and tense when I brought her into the barn, so I groomed her for a while, and then massaged her neck and pulled her ears until she started to relax.
When I put the bridle on, she started looking for treats which stirred her up again. I'm going to have to watch that with her as I can see it being counterproductive and very distracting for both of us.
She did really well though, and I'm pretty pleased at how much easier and relaxed she's becoming with the bit. She's releasing from a light lift of the rein and when I ask for the flexion she's keeping the mobility on the outside rein as well as the inside which makes an easy transition and the flexion much more fluid.
I rasped Remys feet yesterday, so I finished by doing Bonbons feet. They're looking pretty good.

In the barn with Bonbon

It's raining today so I had a grooming and flexion session in the barn with Bonbon. She really enjoys being groomed, especially her head, and she loves her ears being pulled. She was a little tense through her neck so I did a little massage and she really stretched down and started chewing and swallowing.:-)
The dogs had been milling about all the time I was grooming her, and she wasn't at all bothered, but when I started on her head and face and she really relaxed, she started snazzing at them. Not sure if it's a possessive thing, but I know Corky does it with the other horses when Jim's in the stable with her. It's like she's very possessive of him.
Because she was relaxed, the bridle session was very good too, in fact the best we've had, and she released and relaxed her jaw the moment I asked. She gave me some nice flexions both sides.  It was lovely, but, again, if the dogs came near, she started pinning her ears back and pushing her nose at them. She's done the same with Jim when I've been riding and he's been leading me in the school, she's been a little snazzy with him. I can't believe she's possessive of me, more likely the treats! :-o
Anyway a good session and I enjoyed it!