Tick v.g.

Back in the school with Remy today. Starting with relaxing the neck with a soft contact in the hand, small circles with lots of changes of rein, then allowing him to stretch and walk out. Back to a little shoulder-in on the circle and turn around the quarters. Then some trot transitions, asking for bend and relaxation of the neck into a transition. Then trot from reinback asking for more activity. The trot was a little more active today and felt a little better balanced. We did more work on starting travers, he's getting the hang of it, and finished  alternating shoulder-in to travers down the long side on each rein. Lots and lots to work on, but seeing gradual improvement in his comprehension and suppleness.

Bonbon was a sweetie today, a little unsure as I tightened the girth, but we took it calmly and slowly and she relaxed into it. A short session on the yard in-hand, both reins, nice relaxation through the neck, a little shoulder-in, some reinback and then a short sit-on. We practised a few flexions mounted and then walked a few steps on both reins. Much better, tick v.g!

Great feelings

Continued with the same with Remy today and achieved some lovely soft work, consistent even bend on both reins, much more fluid and improved on the right rein. We worked on rein-back, shoulder in and leg yield down the long side and small circles with lots of changes of bend. Great feeling and really enjoyed the session.
Another bridle session with Bonbon on the yard, relaxing her jaw really well, giving nice flexions left and right and extending the neck into a nice soft contact.

I need to find some homes for our young hens, they'll be laying soon and we have too many. I'm surprised at how fond I've become of them and can't bear for Jim to put them in the pot. He keeps threatening, but they're so beautiful, I can't let him do it. I'm pretty rubbish at being a chicken breeder, I just want to keep them all and watch them happily pecking around. We have a young cockerel who is stunning and I've seen him grow from a plain little black chick.How ridiculous am I.  Aaaaghhhh!

stumblin'

Another bleak day, cold and damp. I had two short sessions inside with Remy and Bonbon. Remy, practicing flexions and Bonbon a bridle session, more familiarisation with the bit and baby flexions.

I stumbled upon this guy, I wish I had his coordination.

It's a confidence thing.........

The last few in-hand sessions with Remy we've been concentrating on halt/walk transitions  - starting and stopping, having a quicker reaction into the walk transition, more energy in the work and a cleaner, lighter halt. This is improving and he's becoming more self motivated and we're starting to get a more forward, consistent walk. He's a very patient horse and he's coping with everything really well considering that I'm a beginner at this in-hand stuff and we're both learning together. 
He's starting to listen and wait until I ask for something, his focus and attention are really improving and I'm beginning to be able to break things down into small pieces of information that we can both grasp and build on.
All this is an ongoing thing and it's still very early days, but I feel that now, I need, and, I think, am able to work on the flexion, keeping the flexion and softness from the halt into the movement, working step by step until we have more consistent softness, bend and fluidity with no resistance. I think that then, we can start to progress with the lateral work.
 Thanks to Trudi  and her ongoing help and support, I now have more confidence to continue, and I think that we can make good progress.
I rode Anky in the school today, we've not been in there for a while and I was pleasantly surprised at how relaxed, forward and receptive she was. We worked at walk, working on circles, halt/walk, halt/reinback/walk transitions  and a little leg yield and shoulder-in. It was a really enjoyable session.

Had a fun, musical afternoon at Rickys.

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!

Smiles

I took Anky in the school and continued from where I left off yesterday. It was a session that makes it all worthwhile. We worked at walk and I had real communication with the mouth, real relaxation, flexion and flipping of the crest. It's just a few steps at a time, but it's amazing how important those few steps can be, and how good it can make you feel.
A short session with Remy in the barn, concentrating on focus and attention with some nice flexions.
A short bit session with Bonbon, asking for a release and baby flexions.
A good day.

Educating the mouth

I've not been able to do anything with  the horses for a couple of days, and this morning it was heavy rain so we had a session inside.

Remy is becoming more and more focussed with the in-hand work and today he was concentrating and waiting for me to ask. He was very relaxed,  mouthing the bit and the flexions were very easy, leading to a lengthening and stretching over his neck into one or two strides of shoulder-in.

Anky's becoming less and less wary of the bit and is starting to relax and savour it much more. She's beginning to realise that she can be relaxed in her jaw, mobile in her mouth and  that it's a good thing to stretch and lower her head and neck. The more she does this, the better the flexions are and the more she's staying  relaxed  through her body with genuine bend.

Bonbon had a short session too. She's happy with the bridle, and with a light upward movement of the rein on the corners of the lips, she relaxes her jaw and mouths the bit.

It's a great feeling, walking away knowing that they're all 'getting it', and even moreso that I'm 'getting it' too and that the pieces are starting to come together.

Rain at last

We needed the rain, but this morning when I went down to the stables it was raining hard.
I had a short flexion session with Remy.
Spent the afternoon 'En panne" on the N21 to Limoges.  At least we know how to call for 'assistance' now, but we still haven't got our new drive gates.

A mixed bag!

Exactly what I got from Anky today.
I wasn't sure what to expect after her few days off, I was hoping she would be nice and relaxed, but I thought she might be jumpy. She was!
I did a few flexions in the barn before getting on and taking her up to the school, she was very jumpy on the lane going up there and then snorted at the posts laid out around the school for the fence.
I started working on halt-walk-halt transitions, but realized that wasn't going to work, she was too distracted, so we worked on small circles and figure of eights. This calmed her a little and we tried some shoulder in on the right rein which seems to be coming better. We had one or two nice turns around the forehand on the left rein. I was pleased as she has been quite resistant when I've asked for this. She is becoming straighter on the left rein with a much more uniform bend.
Having settled a little, the halts were better and we managed some reasonable halts with immobility so we then practiced the ridden flexions at halt which were quite good.
Having been quite settled, she then saw the neighbours dog in the little wood so, obviously, that was very frightening and every time she had her back to the wood, she tried to leg it up the school. I managed to settle her again by doing small figure of eights, achieving quite good change of bend. As a final exercise I walked her around the perimeter of the school on a longer rein allowing her to stretch (why did I do that???)but, just as we approached the little wood, a dove flew up out of the trees and we were back to jumping and snorting.
The walk back to the stable was done on tippy toes, but we managed some reasonable leg yield up the lane.

Thomas Arrives

Thomas is my nephew and he has come over for a few days. He's growing up so quickly and it's so good to see him. Jim has lots of jobs to keep him busy.
I didn't have much time this morning, lots to do, so I didn't ride Anky but did some flexions in the stable at halt. I can't believe how relaxed she was, very active in her mouth and some very good flexions to both sides. I think she's really starting to get it now.

Eureka

Beautiful day today, sunny and warm.
I took Anky in the school to continue from yesterday. For the first time I felt that we were on the same wavelength. She was calm and listening. She felt much more relaxed and flexible. The walk was much straighter, fairly good soft halts with good walk transitions. So, I am happy.
We managed some leg yield on both reins. A better feel, yielding away from my right leg, but a definate improvement yielding to the right from my left leg with a much more genuine bend.

Before I took her up to the school I worked on some flexions at halt on the yard, she got it almost immediately. It seems to have transferred to the ridden work and I'm hoping it has sunk in.
She was very relaxed at the end of the session so I took her down the chemin, but her ever so slightly neurotic alter ego took over ;-)
She gets very on her toes, and I do quite like her like that, she becomes very mobile and flexible, but I do wish she wouldn't spook quite so much when she's on her own!!!
Anyway a good day, one or two eureka moments.

Resistances

I had the dentist to Anky on Friday. He said that she had quite a few sharp edges and that she would be much more comfortable after the treatment.
I have no expectations that she will suddenly be wonderfully responsive and active in her mouth, but at least I now know that her teeth are in good order.

I took her into the school today, walk halt transitions, flexions, and straightness.

She started very well , with responsive walk/halt - halt/walk transitions, light closing of the fingers and seat aids to the halt and nice reaction to the legs in the walk transition.

After only a short time she started to get impatient and lost the straightness, became more resistant to the hand into the halt transition, swinging her quarters, shuffling, anticipating the walk transition.

She has the attention span of a small child, to be expected, we are very early on in her education.
I moved her around in walk, small circles, loops and serpentines. A reasonably genuine feel on right bend, being careful not to lose the outside shoulder, nice feel on the outside rein.

On the left rein, real reluctance to bend, against my inside leg , reluctance to yield, planting the inside shoulder and tipping her nose, resistance in the outside hand. It was like she had a little tick list, placing these obstacles in my way one by one.
I concentrated on keeping a good contact on the outside rein, keeping the neck straight, asking for a slight flexion to the inside and asking her to yield to to my inside leg with small nudges. We had some success with this on small circles getting moments of relaxation and genuine bend, so finished on a good note.

I feel that more work in-hand is needed for a more active mouth and relaxation of the jaw.

I have a sand school!!

I can say that because today I rode in it! It hasn't got a fence yet but I couldn't wait.

Anky was a little unsettled at first but settled quite quickly. We worked on walk and halt transitions, she was rushing and crooked at first, but as she settled she straightened up and we got some nice transitions. The ridden flexions are coming a little better too. She tips slightly on the left flexion, but today I got one or two very good ones. So, I'm a happy bunny!! I will eventually get my fence, sometime in the next few months when we've treated all the wood!!

This is Anky checking out our new soil mountain.

Beautiful Day and New Things Learned

It was a beautiful day today, sunny and warm. I felt very determined and optomistic.

Tacked Anky up and brought her on to the yard. She was restless and wouldn't stand for me to get on. After a few attempts, she did and we stayed at halt for a couple of minutes and I did a few light flexions ( her lips were very tight) until she relaxed a little. I asked for walk and she hesitated and didn't respond immediately, so I gave her a quick reminder, a very light touch of the whip. She set off at a trot up towards the gate. Out of the gate, I asked her to walk on, again hesitation, I immediately tapped lightly with the whip and she again went into trot, so off we went. We managed to balance the trot a little as she was rushing on, and she became much more relaxed in her mouth. It was quite a nice trot, a little too quick but it was forward. We trotted almost to the road, walked nicely up to the road and crossed it without any problems.

On the other side of the road, back onto country lanes and she started to back off, shaking her head, snorting, so every time I asked her to walk on and she refused I turned her on a very small circle, I didn't use the whip at all, just asked her to turn ( I discovered immediately that when she's resisting and refusing to go forwards, she sets herself on the right , coming back and up at me, and it's extremely difficult to turn her that way, but it was easy to turn her to the left) , she freaked and snorted at two shetlands in a field which she has seen several times on her rides out with Corky, after several circles and halts she went past them. We continued down the lane - we had a little forwards, circles, halts , sideways, but I did feel very much in control and relaxed, I spoke very little to her, except to praise her as she started to walk forward. To be honest, I enjoyed it. It was real and positive and I was calm and eventually Anky became calmer and less worried. We had some good halts, without shuffling and worrying and after one of these I walked her forward, and then I turned for home.

Of course she was in a hurry to get home, but she didn't jog, her walk was rushed, but she listened to me. I was able to slow the walk, raising my hands (not backwards) slightly and with my seat and body. I was able to flex her very lightly left and right just using my fingers, keeping a degree of softness and relaxation in her mouth. I let the rein out a little and she stretched into it very nicely. She was really quite responsive. We had some reasonable halts on the way home. On one successful halt, I said "good girl" and clicked quietly. It was really funny, I felt her settle in the halt and she looked round at me for her treat!

So we both arrived home tired (we'd been out for about 90mins) but in good spirits, I untacked Anky in the stable and then took her outside to wash her off. She hates water splashing around her but I asked her to stand, looped the rope loosely over the ring and she stood very quietly and calmly as I washed her off.

If it's not obvious in my report - I am very pleased with her.