Positively Spring

The pole clinic went well! This is our first time over the new poles at Wendy's. Having done coloured poles before, it never struck me to take him over them before we started working with them. His beautiful bascule was from a trot, as he tried to keep us both safe from the blue and black pole monster! (Hubby says the poles are white and gold...!) When I took him back around to walk over it, he didn't want to go anywhere near it, but after 5 or 6 small figures of eight over the poles, we were all good. 

I definitely need to take Rio out off the yard for a hack this weekend, as we schooled on Monday night and this morning before the farrier visited. He worked very well both times, and has started to settle more in our outdoor arena. Or maybe that's me. We are working more consistently together, and I have been trying to work more on my breathing to enhance my communication with him. Bringing him down from trot to walk with a sigh along with my aids has proved to work well, but walk to halt still takes a little more. 

Today we did some canter work, and although the left rein was a little touch and go, his balance on the right rein was much better. We had a lovely rhythmic 3 beat canter from A, doing a 20m circle, and back up the long side, where I asked him back to trot before the corner. It was the first time I've felt able to ask him to collect a little, as opposed to getting him into the canter and letting him settle into the pace he wants to keep him in the canter! He is also responding much better to my carrying a schooling whip. It is only there for when he pushes through his shoulder, as he's lovely and forward anyway. He's really getting the hang of it now, and as soon as I touch it to his shoulder, he instantly straightens up and moves over. We even managed a bit of leg yield on both reins today (and once in trot too!)

Last night (much to Rio's dismay) was bath time as the temperatures had shot up. He was a bit of a fidget bum, but once he realised that the hose stayed on him no matter where he moved to, he eventually gave in. Well, for a couple of minutes anyway. Then he had to test it again. I did feel a bit bad, as by the end he was shivering as the temperature did seem to dip off all of a sudden. 10 minutes with his waffle rug did the trick to warm him back up again though, and he's lovely and soft today! 

I now have a copy of our dressage test, which I will be editing and uploading soon - super excited, you can see our super speedy dressage cantering antics!

Making progress

I can't get enough of these photos of us - it's such a novelty! 

We made the most of the quieter weather last night, and Rio came up to do some more work on relaxing in his stable. There was no hesitation from him walking into the barn (yay!) and he walked through confidently (yay!) without sniffing at everything and shoving things off the sides (yay!)

Once in the stable, he munched on his dinner much more calmly without swinging his head around every few seconds to check he's still safe. I popped out of the stable for a moment and closed the door, and faffed around and he was very good. So as he got close to finishing his dinner, I went back in and sat on one of his storage boxes in there. He had a good look around, stood at the door, and went to try and jump it. Cue the carrot stick, for some confidence building - he doesn't need to rely on the door to feel safe!

It was actually fairly successful. I'm not sure how long we were in there, but I was able to move him away from the door when I wanted to. He dug into his haynet a few times, and then settled himself stood in the middle of his stable, or a few steps away from the door. I was very proud of him. He didn't barge out the door, and even waited a couple of steps behind me whilst I opened the door. 

So here's a little video (again, I know!) of us "jumping" the other day. There will probably be one more to follow on my next post. Sorry for the video spam - I'm just so pleased with it.

Ride / play safe x

Walking on wind!

We braved the winds today. After our little play yesterday, and not having done anything else since last weekend, it could have been interesting. Except the Alfa rage seems to have dissipated!

We went out with Millie and Bailey for a wander around the village, and Rio tried out his new boots again! He does look dashing all dressed up with his smart booties and exercise fleece. All was going well, and then we came back in onto the field, where a lady was walking through the footpath that runs alongside the track. Rio was a bit on his toes, and had a little spook, which I'd contained. However Bailey is still learning how to follow, and had other ideas - all I heard was "my pony's going to explode!" The perfect cue before we took off full speed ahead down the field. I found a few seconds to realise that if I sat in, gave him his head and then checked him, he might come back to me. Hey presto - we had a lovely canter whilst we watched Millie disappear off into the distance and pull him up at the corner. 

We decided it would be a good option to get them to walk around the field so that the next time we went out on the field, neither of our boys would expect a good canter! We had a canter up the first side, then walked back to the yard, and I even had Rio on a long rein. Millie decided that she wanted to take Bailey in the school and hop a few small poles/cross poles. It seemed the perfect opportunity for me to address my fear of the outdoor school. I decided I would go in and walk Rio round a couple of times just to say that I'd done it. A building block as such.

 We walked around a few times, and he didn't put a hoof wrong, so I decided to try a trot. I was so pleased when he dropped his head down into a lovely contact, even though my reins were longer than usual when I would be asking for it. 

And then this happened! We were having so much fun, we "jumped" several times and didn't even think about being in the outdoor arena!

Needless to say, Rio got lots of cuddles, and was treated to an apple and pear in his dinner this evening.

Ride / play safe x

Whirlwind week!

Blimey a lot has gone on! No time, but in brief, we've had a great last week/10 days. Lots of hacking, great weekend with wonderful ladies and equally wonderful ponies. BBQ's, learning, treats for the boy, and the big countdown to seeing my pops in Canada!

Dusky hacking, including a little canter with B and Millie (first canter out without Franks since the river field!) Admittedly Rio was pretty tired after working very hard over the weekend.

Rio joined in the team talk on the Sunday morning. Voted the cutest - obviously!

Raised trot poles on Saturday, he was an absolute superstar, and melted the girls hearts to boot! 

Such a handsome young man. He has come on so far in 10 months. 

Sarah on day 2 (I was just spectating) - Rio playing with raised canter poles. He looked stunning. I was so proud of him, but boy did Sarah have to work for it. It was just great to see him working in canter. He got very very tired and very sweaty by the end. Working for 2.5 hours Saturday and another hour of canter schooling on Sunday is new territory for him though, so I was very pleased. 

It's a raised canter pole Rio, not a jump! Although ironically, this is what we "jump" at home... I'll hide myself in the corner now... 

Most pleasing of the weekend was utilising a riding crop to put pressure on his shoulder and stop him rushing out and pushing through with his shoulders. We mainly had success at the scary end of the school, employing shoulder pressure from the crop to stop him running away. We also learned about turning and direct, indirect & ... another... rein, and using them appropriately to keep him supple, and to relax him in unsettling environments. 

There was so much information to take in, but it was such a wonderful weekend. 

Ride / play safe x

Burgh-ill-ey-ant weekend

I ACHE! Burghley is amazing. Long, and hilly, and amazing. I got some pretty cool shots of the riders, but just had such a wonderful day, thanks to my mum who got us tickets to go. 

Didn't catch Jock at a jump but had to get a shot as they galloped past!

The crossing looked absolutely terrifying.

The picnic table. Gina Ruck and Rehy Too came down just after I took this photo, and unfortunately fell. I was so glad we had moved on, as if I'd been stood here when it happened I'd have probably vowed never to ride XC ever! As it was, we were walking up winners row towards the Rolex combination, and just saw the perfect take-off. She was OK, despite being knocked out on landing; the tanoy announcement came shortly after to say she was sitting up in the medical tent. 

It turned out to be a lovely day after a very foggy start!

This morning in Felixstowe wasn't much clearer for my niece's birthday breakfast at the beach hut. I was a little gutted my camera battery was dead from yesterday, as it made for nice photos. 

My beautiful boy after a wander around the village this afternoon. We were going to go out on our own again (go us!) however Millie and Miss B came out for a walk in hand with us. Rio was very good, and we had a little trot. Aside from a spook on the way back onto the field where a man was walking out of the scary covered corner. I managed to sit it as I clocked him way before Rio - I almost thought he was going to walk through just fine but it wasn't to be! A couple of strides of canter, I let him trot a few strides then brought him back, and he walked nicely the rest of the way.

Rio has been plaited up again and looks very cute. Even after being plaited up for just a day last week his mane has been sitting over correctly, so fingers crossed this won't take long!

Ride/ play safe x

Stress Sucks

Stressful times have meant we've not been doing much recently. Work has been hectic, and has been putting me in a very low place at times. Unfortunately these lower points have carried over after leaving the office at the end of the day, and caused me to avoid riding as I didn't feel up for it. Add to that the headache caused by said stress and Rio is now getting a little bit round!

We had the vet out today as I found a lump under Rio's jaw late on Monday night. He's on antibiotics for 7 days which he will be having in his breakfast, and started it today after the vet left. We think it is a lymph node that has swollen whilst fighting off an infection of some sort, he is still eating and drinking but it is a little sore. We have a week of monitoring it but I've been told only to squish and poke it every other day otherwise it is difficult to tell! 

We schooled this evening, and despite it being a little breezy when I brought him up, I got his tack out immediately and then groomed so that I couldn't talk myself out of it. I walked him in hand around the school a couple of times (more to put me at ease than him I think!) and then I hopped on. I was especially pleased with how he settled, we didn't walk a single circuit around the outside edge of the school whilst warming up. I was very focussed on changing the direction and keeping him guessing, and we managed some nice work on the bit too. 

Sarah sat in and reminded me to use transitions as well as shapes, and admittedly I did a couple and then forgot, so we played with trot poles instead. We did a LOT of trotting. By the end I was feeling it, but it felt great. We played with three trot poles on the ground, a "double" consisting of an "upright" one tyre high and a cross pole, and an "upright" two tyres high. We did lots of attempts in trot, and Rio was being super lazy. Three pony kicks later and we were going much more forward. No more falling over his feet, and we even cantered both "uprights". I know that two tyres isn't much, but it's a big deal for us! Woohoo!

Ride / play safe x

It's all in the flocking

Rio has had his saddle adjusted today, he has a Wintec 2000, which was fitted on Christmas Eve. Since then he has obviously changed shape a little! Luckily there were four of us who needed the saddler, which cut the callout fee dramatically, and all it needed was re-flocking to make it sit up where it had dropped a 1/2 inch (apparently that's quite a lot! Oops!) 

I didn't ride this evening, but we did have a little play around with the carrot stick and a bit of in hand before I turned him out in the field. For reasons unknown, when I'm messing around with him in his field, he generally "gets" hindquarter yield. It seems that with his headcollar on and the carrot stick involved, he was more interested in walking around me. I did eventually get one small hindquarter yield on the right after he managed it quite easily on the left, so we left it on a small positive. We did get some good side steps along the fence line though! 

We schooled last night. My friend didn't join us as planned, but that wasn't going to stop me as I hadn't planned on riding tonight anyway. Rio was much more settled last night, which helped, and it was a lovely quiet and calm evening with no breeze to speak of. We did trotting poles, where Rio proved himself very capable of adjusting his stride on his own (great news for me!) and slowly moved on to a raised trot pole in the middle of them, and then a small cross pole. Then a slightly bigger small cross pole. 

What a beast! We trotted over it, and then Sarah told me I was to canter it. I will openly admit (and said at the time) that I wasn't entirely convinced, but I went along with it all the same. The first time he took off quite early, the second time he was great but I just got left behind, and on the third go, it all came together and we did a good one! I know that this isn't much to a lot of people, but I'm by no means a showjumper. I've popped a few jumps in my time, but I've never done jump schooling, and it's always just been a case of letting my horse do the stride work. Lucky for me, it looks like Rio is going to be a bit of a natural. I was pleasantly surprised how smoothly it went really - I was very concerned about riding the right line in, and my ability to keep him straight, but I don't think we wobbled about all that much. Sarah was impressed with me looking for the jump early too, so that was a positive for me. 

Believe me when I say that as small as that cross pole is, to me it looked a bit like this:

Onwards and upwards as they say! 

Stubble's up!

The stubble is out in full force! Not only are the fields across the road open for action, but the one next door to the yard has now been cut too.

So over the weekend I had Sarah school Rio on Saturday as I managed to pop my hip out on Friday afternoon in the office (don't ask!) so I was a bit uncomfortable. He was a very good boy, and the improvement on him taking up the contact was a joy to see. At least I must be doing something right. Anyway, here are a couple of videos I took:

He took up a contact on both reins, in walk and trot (I've not quite got him in trot just yet, only a few strides), popped a small cross pole in trot and then canter after doing some very nice trot pole work, and then did some leg yield with inside bend. What a clever boy. We went out for a hack around the village on Sunday with Sarah, and went out across the river field where he had his silly 5 minutes last week. I was a bit nervous, but made sure I took deep breaths and we just trotted on the outside track. It all went pretty well, albeit Rio and myself were both a little tense at times, but he didn't run off or do anything daft, so it's a foundation to build on.

Yesterday was my first time out on a stubble field with Rio. Sarah came out with us, as I was a bit unsure of what he would do. I'm not sure if he has been on a stubble field before so I didn't want a repeat of last week... I'm quite sure that a fall on to stubble is going to hurt much more than on to soft long grass. I needn't have worried, he walked quite calmly through it, and we had a little trot behind Sarah with no excitability. I was pleased with that, and will be trying to avoid cantering on any stubble fields just yet - I want him to be happy walking and trotting first and not just to associate it with going flat out!

Last night was a bit of a strange one in any case, all of the horses were playing up in one way or another, and they were all a bit on their toes! Even the usually best behaved ponies proved that there is no such thing as a bombproof horse. Must have been something in the air I guess. I'm hoping to try and school tonight, so fingers crossed it has passed.

Ride/play safe x

Adventures with Archie

 

So I was super excited when I stumbled across a link to my blog post on Haynet this week! It is currently featuring in the "Blog posts not to be missed" column. Awesome.

I was feeling a bit lethargic again this morning, we had a lovely ride out yesterday morning around the village and I spent the rest of the day chilling at the yard with friends. I had more or less accepted that I was probably not going to ride today, and had taken up a comfortable spot sitting in the barn doorway chatting. Sarah arrived not long after me, and quickly said she was going to go and get her pony in to have a mooch around the village. 

I decided that I should be a good pony mummy and take Rio out as well, and duly wandered down to the field to collect him. He's been a bit cheeky again just recently and was up to his games again coming out of the field today. I am still keeping hold of my schooling whip when bringing him in to use as a last resort encouragement. He's getting a little better, but he just plays silly when he feels like it. Darn this spring grass coming through. He will be coming up a couple of mornings this week to have his breakfast outside the gate to continue to try and encourage him to come out a bit more easily.

Well our mooch was a little more eventful than we had initially thought it would be, both boys were on their toes as it was a bit windy. We made it to the top corner of the field and they both spooked, including a bit of a spin and trying to bolt, silly boys. Sarah and I both thought we were in for a gallop across the field, but thankfully they listened and that was that. We made it around the village with little trouble and a bit of jogging (that's going to have to stop!) but decided it might be safer to split the boys up coming back across the field as they were still both jogging along. Rio settled a little once we got around the top corner so he had a longer rein so he could walk out the rest of the way. All was going well, we ended up a little way behind Sarah as we went the slightly longer way, and we saw her go past on the other side of the hedge down the drive. Turning on to the drive, we had a pleasant walk going, then all of a sudden we were cantering full pelt onto the yard... I still don't know what set him off, but that was certainly one of our more eventful rides to date!

See the spike in speed right at the end? Haha. I'm absolutely over the moon to say that I honestly feel my seat is developing, I didn't have my usual "blind panic mode" setting at any point today, and didn't feel at any point I was coming off. Woot woot. 

Once we had gotten some nibbles to sustain us, it was Archie's turn for some fun! Parelli style. He was such a superstar, here are some photos so you can see him being a total dude:

Ride safe x

Beat the weekday blues

Step One

Plan a run of the mill hack out around the village with a couple of friends after work

Step Two

Rush out of work excited to go for said ride, and arrive at yard, get changed, and prepare to get pony in

Step Three

Be confronted with decision between run of the mill hack around village with one friend, or small road trip out to the local spot we visited not long ago with the other...

Step Four

Apologise to friend and skip down to field to retrieve pony before loading him on to the trailer (where he waits for his friend as he knows he surely can't be going alone??) before walking all the way up the ramp

Step Five

Rush around grabbing various essential tack and equipment

Step Six

On the road! Tack up, ride out, and explore. 

Step Seven

Take a route your friend hasn't done before, and encounter a ditch that must be jumped to reach the desired destination. (Yes, we jumped our first ditch! Exciting!) Duck and dive to avoid several branches, including ones that are flying at you from where friend has been through them.

Step Eight

Mix it up. Put your horse in front of your friend's who doesn't like being behind most of the time. Have a nice few minutes before a train comes past and gets him excited, causing him to headbutt your horse in the bum and your horse to pop forward in shock a few steps. Take the sensible option and go back behind.

Step Nine

Walk over a fallen tree that's almost too big to just walk over. Almost. Be pleasantly surprised when he doesn't opt to jump it. 

Step Ten

Take a nice casual walk back through the woods, including tackling a short but steep hill (going down!)  and feeling very pleased when he doesn't rush it. Untack, wash off the sweaty ponies, bribe pony up ramp with hay when he decides watching traffic is more interesting than loading, and head home feeling like it's the weekend! Turn out for first time with no rug because of the sweatiness... Forget that it's Friday tomorrow!

Best Thursday :) 

Ride safe x

Rio's first pair of shoes

Hey guys, I am super sleepy today! Mum was up all day again spending time with me. She was worried about I wasn't pooing enough when she left yesterday, but I'm pleased to report I managed to fill half a barrow when she came to collect it this morning.  As you can see, the sun was out, and I had a great sunbathe today whilst hanging out with mum and the other ponies. 

It all started with a nice groom, then mum cut bits of my tail out to "thin it out". Apparently I have two horses' worth of tail. Mum's friend plaited me up after that, I looked pretty darn cool!

Yes, that is actually how long my dock is before you say anything - they couldn't believe it either! Does my butt look big in this?

Once I'd had a bit of a pamper, I had my tack on and went for a wander around the field with mum, we had a nice walk around the outside and a couple of canters down the middle which I went into very nicely. I heard mum talking about cantering on corners again... I haven't decided yet whether I'll be going along with that though! I like straight lines in open spaces. We even did a little bit of in hand work in the outdoor school. I had my head collar on but mum just threw the lead rope over behind my ears and didn't attach it to anything. Then she took it off completely! I was good though, and stuck by her all the way around, AND we did some trot without her having to pull me into it. I think I'm starting to enjoy it now, it seems to make mum pretty happy, which results in more cuddles for me - all good!

So after that, a man turned up in a white van with lots of smelly smokey stuff and changed B's shoes. I've never had shoes before, I always have a trim, but today I got my first pair of shoes on my front feet. Sounds like there are plans afoot (excuse the pun!) for more work now that the days are longer. Having watched B have his done, and with mum stood next to me, I knew there couldn't be much to worry about. Mum even got a picture of me with the farrier being a good boy:

Look at the glorious sunshine. It was so nice. I had lots of cuddles and plenty of time to snooze as well. There are a handful of new horses up here this week, so today I got to see a couple of them up close too. They are BIG! I'm sure mum will tell you more about them though. She's been busy making friends with them too; I have put in a good word for her when I've seen them around. Sshh don't tell her!

Here are my shiny new shoes up close, what do you reckon?

Oh. And this was the result of my plaited tail. It's a bit girly don't you think mum?? Although I must admit, it doesn't look so frizzy, so I guess that "thinning" thing did work a bit.

Speak soon!

Rio's week!

 

My little man is out on his own now. Unfortunately his field buddy has pin worm so is in his own paddock whilst he's having his treatment and getting cleaned up daily. Now that I've had him out solo for a few days I'm considering keeping him on his own. Being able to sit in his field with him with no worry of being trampled by either when they are disagreeing over hay piles or that patch of grass is lovely. 

This weekend was great, I've tried out the flexi stirrups a couple of times, and am starting to feel the benefits. I have also been re-assessing my position with the help of a friend, and with the stirrups, am feeling much better all round. I can feel it in different places in my legs so it's obviously doing something. We had a wonderful weekend of achievements, we rode out on two different hacks with three other ponies. Saturday was lovely, we had a nice ride around the village. We mixed it up on Sunday, and rode out in the wind and took a new hacking route that I'd not done before. It took us over a wooden bridge, the first time Rio had done anything of the sort:

Fear not, we were sensible and went one pony at a time, and Rio didn't bat an eyelid. It was a nice change to go a different way!

I've also started using Endomondo to track my rides so I can keep an eye on what we are achieving and where we've been, it's interesting to see the distances and speeds we go at. Here's my profile if you want to follow our rides. Fingers crossed more equestrians start using it and log more hacking routes.

On to today, we had sunshine and no wind, and it's day one of my WEEK OFF!!!  Absolute result. It was forecasting showers when I was looking over the weekend. Fingers crossed the rest of the week stays nice. We attempted lunging today in the outdoor school, first time outside and we've not lunged on a line for a long time - we usually free lunge in the indoor school. His right rein was highly unsuccessful, every few steps he stopped and turned to look at me like "am I doing this right orr... what on earth are you asking of me?"  Not only that but it was difficult to keep him out on the circle, it was very wiggly, and I foolishly didn't move the pile of tyres and jump poles out of the way. He popped over the pile of tyres and then tried to hop the second bit on the diagonal and landed on the jump poles. Legs to be checked tomorrow? For sure. Here's how he stopped when I asked him to stand on the left rein

SQUARE! He went much better on this rein and was much more responsive, my friend says that lots of horses are "left handed" like humans. I knew that horses have better reins, but never thought of it that way! You can see the poles in the background that he tried to hop from the left hand side of that picture... We did some in hand after this, and went for a walk out around the field and I even ran so he could have a trot; I didn't even get out of breath - such a good feeling. He's getting awesome at stopping when I stop. 

When we finished up, I changed his bridle for his head collar but left him untethered and he stood beautifully. After a few minutes he did have a fidget but still didn't go far. So happy with how he's doing, it's unreal. I still can't believe he's mine. I did measure him the other day though, and though I thought he was 15.1hh to make 15.2hh it turns out that as suspected he is only a wee 15hh. Fingers crossed for a Spring growth spurt but he's big enough if that doesn't happen so we will just have to wait and see. 

I just need to keep an eye on him tomorrow and see how much poo he passes as I poo pick every morning quite early (around 7.30 today), and only got half a barrow this morning. When I took his hay up this evening at 5pm he'd only done two poos, and I don't seem to remember him going whilst we were up top. I'm hoping that he will go plenty tonight... He's been eating as normal and has hay going in over the day so I know he's got plenty going in. He was happy enough today, so just got to hope he's all good when I get there in the morning.

Here are the goats digging into their dinner :)

Ride safe x

Sunday Snaps

Walked out in hand with Rio! He's acting all cool with his collar up...

Goat show jumping - my friend's goat, not mine!

Horsing around at a show with my cousin, they did well for their second time out!

Ride safe x