News and New Stuff!

Well I have some happier news to report - and an explanation on why Sarah is riding Rio in this picture! We are pregnant, and will be 26 weeks tomorrow! Rio has been off work since my last post, for my peace of mind but it also came at a good time over Winter whilst I'm trying to balance his digestive system. Sarah kindly agreed to brave the saddle for me a few weeks ago just to see how he is getting on, and he was a little angel. He had started pulling his head down when I mounted, because he was getting uncomfortable, and there was none of that on this day. He usually takes 5 - 10 minutes of being a little more alert, on his toes and joggy before he settles in our friend's manege. Not this time - he was lovely and relaxed from the get-go. This may have been down to the groundwork and long-lining I did with him before, but this was the first time he has been under saddle in 3 months+ so he could have done anything. It was lovely to see him looking a happy chappy again. 

I think he is looking well at the moment (and I think in this picture he does too!) He has had a follow-up visit with Donna since September and we saw great improvement. He has been less spooky, and thanks to the groundwork we even ventured out around the neighbouring field on long-lines on our own a few weeks back. It's been keeping me active having Rio - and although some days I've possibly done a little too much, it's great for keeping me going! 

In other news, I have an exciting new venture in the planning stages! I've decided to take my maternity leave as a perfect opportunity to really sink my teeth into my photography, and launch myself into business. Please do add me on Facebook and Instagram so you can keep up with my updates. I'm super excited to open a brand new chapter in my life - and not only that, a chapter that can tell other people's stories! There's plenty to plan, and lots to get sorted, but I can't wait to give this my best shot and see what's out there for me. Launching my business with my first child on the way is not complete madness, right? ... 

I'll try to be a little more active again now, it's been a bumpy few months, but we're back on track! 

Rio the Parelli Pony

It's that time of year again, I've got over 1,000 photos to choose from to edit. This year I had the pleasure of photographing Franks and two other horses as well as Rio! There are some beautiful shots, even though I do say so myself, so lots of playing to be done. 

Over the last few weeks, probably even getting on for months I have kept saying that I need to get back to doing some groundwork with Rio. As it goes, whenever the weather has played ball, of course I have ended up riding. This is leading to small problems that are developing, and him pushing a little more every time. I've not been picking him up on it, and allowing him to get away with it, so I will now be taking it very seriously. Yesterday we went to visit our friend with Sarah and Franks, with a view to schooling in the arena. I wanted to speak to Wendy about some confidence exercises to do with Rio on the ground, and we had a fab Parelli session.

It turns out that Rio is actually very claustrophobic behind. Once he listens, and focusses on me, he is very good at backing up. As soon as we put a pole behind him, however, his whole facial expression changed and he was genuinely worried. This was a ground breaking discovery for me, and has given me a whole new perspective. We played the squeeze game, going between the fence and two upright barrels, going through a standing hoop, working up to going over two half barrels in the hoop, and finally stepping over the two barrels laid on their sides. 

After all that thinking, he was positively sweaty, but after a bit of a break and a brush down, we saddled up and took to the arena. It took me at least 5 minutes to mount from the block in the corner of the school, but I remained persistent. I was so very close to giving in. A deep breath, and walk of a circle, and he finally stood still in the right place and we were off. Within minutes, he was blowing out, and was the most relaxed he has ever been in the arena there. 

I didn't push him too far as he was clearly hot already, and we've not been doing so much these last couple of weeks. After some lovely trot work, I squeezed him into a canter - and we cantered a full lap of the arena. It was just like cantering any other horse, and felt much more natural than we've had previously. He still motorbiked the second end, but the first bend was much smoother. Not only that, but we did a full lap of the arena on the other rein too! Yee Ha!

This evening, as it was pretty warm, I took to the field with parelli halter, carrot stick and 12 foot rope. I will give Rio confidence, and he will learn to respect me and trust me. We practised some backing up, before I took him toward the gate. Where he stopped, is where I started the driving game. He started trotting in a panic when I drove him towards the gate. As soon as he gave me a more relaxed response to my question, it was important to let him rest, and reward him. It took some time, but mixing this in with backing up, by the end of our session, Rio was standing outside the gate in the spot that he usually freaks at. I was over the moon. We will do this!

Box training

This week we have kick started box training with a vengeance! After a stressy visit in his own stable on the one day we did last week, I've done three evenings working on getting Rio more comfortable in his surroundings. 

Control scenario:

Hesitant to walk into barn, coaxed in

Eats two mouthfuls of food, with stable door closed, then stresses

Encourage rest of food be eaten

Two sloppy stress poos

A lot of fidgeting, barges and won't stand still for any length of time

Stands at door, backs up and starts sizing up to jump the door twice

When leading out, anxious but does stand when asked at exit of stable & barn

Monday:

Hesitant to walk into barn, but walks himself in after a moment

Investigates a few of the stables along the way

Eats food more happily, still looking around - stable door left open

No poos

Fidgeting, barges, but stands still for a few seconds with encouragement

When leading out, stands nicely when asked at the exit of stable & barn

Three attempts - mostly successful

Tuesday:

Stubborn walking into barn

Another horse is present tonight in the stable diagonally opposite

Eats food, with a few glances around - stable door left open

Fidgeting, barging to get out of stable to see other horse several times

Backs up when asked, on one occasion backing up three horse lengths

Snatches one mouthful of hay from haynet at back of stable

One regular poo

When leading out, stands nicely when asked at exit of stable & barn

Two attempts - partly successful. Much more barging through stable exit

Wednesday:

Walked into barn after sniffing the entrance for approx 20 seconds

Walks himself into stable behind me without hesitation

Eats food, with a few glances around - stable door left open

Fidgets, barging out of stable, less frequently than yesterday

Stands for 20-30 seconds after being very testing and barging out of stable to barn exit

In this instance, raising my voice to establish control worked well

No poos

When leading out, for most part, stands nicely at exit of stable & barn

Four attempts - one awful (the runner!), the others mostly successful

It sounds crazy to reference poos, but Rio does poo a lot when stressed, so for me, this is a perfect indicator of his insecurities. I decided to keep the stable door open so that he can see that he's not there as a punishment, and that it doesn't have to be a scary place to be. With the door open, I'm hoping that soon he will realise it's easier to simply stay inside his stable, where he can enjoy dinner and hay, and then we can start moving on to closing it! The only thing I wish is that I had somewhere to put my two storage trunks - there's still plenty of room with them both in there, but he did manage to belt the one closest to the door into the second one last night with a hind leg when he swung around. No damage to him or the box, but it would be one less thing to worry about.

Anyway, after last night's rather more stressful learning curve, when I turned him out, Rio and I had a little play at liberty in the field. It's something I've not really done for a while, and I really don't know why. I stood quietly at the barn for a couple of minutes before walking him down last night, in order to let me re-collect, and not let my frustrations get the better of me. Playing at liberty, I totally forgot those frustrations and really enjoyed my boy. He's just such a sweetheart. We walked, trotted, and I even goaded him into some lovely bouncy canter in the darkness, and we had lots of cuddles. We actually did a few steps backwards, with just a light tap on his chest as a cue!

This evening, he had the night off from box training, and had his dinner in the safety of his paddock. Once again, we played at liberty for a while; the highlight being me jumping sideways to the left and right whilst he faced me, and him mirroring me. I love his Welshy ways! This has just made me more determined that Winter will not ruin my time with him. He never ceases to amaze me, and he lifts the darkest of moods in minutes. 

Ride / play safe x

Sunday Musings - what works?

Hi there from sunny Montreal! I've been enjoying the opportunity to have a good play with the camera, what do you reckon? I do love a pretty little macro shot. 

So, something caught my eye on my facebook feed this morning whilst I was having a quick catch up. I dabble in a bit of Parelli natural horsemanship stuff with Rio, because I want to improve our relationship on the ground. I don't take it too seriously - I just use the bits that make sense to me, and ignore the bits I don't like (I will never whack a metal clip into his head... That's just not how we roll, OK?) and someone had posted this article. Obviously I had a little read.

Now, Rio usually works in a regular halter or his leather one. He will have a rope halter on the Play Days, and that is about it. This isn't so much an issue for us. At home, we work on his manners without utilising pressure and release with these more "pressure pointed" aids. Slobber straps - we don't use them. I ride with regular rubber reins, and we have been working for some time now on understanding each other and developing his contact in a much quieter way. We are past fighting over it, and for the most part, he offers a contact and supples quite nicely (when I ask properly...)

The carrot stick I have found to be of some use. On the ground it has proved invaluable on a couple of occasions, and despite being unwieldy and really quite heavy to carry regularly, I would always now keep one handy. In the saddle has proved a little less successful - perhaps we haven't played enough of the friendly game with it in that respect, but I am happy to use a schooling whip or regular crop to achieve the same end, with far less angst or resistance. 

As for treats, these don't get offered regularly. At the first couple of Play Days I ensured I got a big tub of treats ready for training and rewarding, because this was how I was being taught. What I actually ended up with was a horse that wanted to be in my space all of the time because that was where he got the treats. I don't want a horse that mugs me for nibbles. Since ditching the treats and opting for scratches/cuddles/grass munching time as a reward, I have had a much more responsive horse to work with. I'm lucky in this sense that Rio is such a people person, because he's usually more than happy for you to give him a good rub on his neck as a reward. 

The idea of "just get off" is a tempting one. I have however learned that unless you follow something through, it's likely you will find a brick wall develops. Once this happens, not only have you got to knock that wall down to achieve what you're after, but you've also got to build the bridge! Surely we all understand this one - aren't we always told when we're learning to ride, if you fall off the horse, you get straight back on? Why should it be any different if your horse is finding something a little difficult? Three strides of controlled canter and asking him back to trot is a better start than avoiding canter altogether (for example). That is something to build on. If you don't take the plunge, how do you build the foundation?

It's interesting to get a full picture of what goes on when we are training our equine friends, as we always seem to get so focused on what we want to achieve, that sometimes we overlook the side effects of what we are trying to do (and probably not quite getting right!) It's so important to take a step back every once in a while to appreciate the small things and the impact they can have. You can create something wonderful if you just take the time and make the effort.

That said, I do think that anybody going into horse ownership thinking they will automatically have a best friend for life should really reconsider if owning said horse is right for them at that time. I love Rio to bits, but I'm under no illusion that 10 months is an infinitely small time in the grand scheme of things. We have a lot of experiences to have together, many scary things to work through, and lots to develop in our relationship. I just hope that in 10 years time we can be in as strong a place as Sarah and Franks are together. Fingers crossed, we will have experienced half of what they have too - I'll be a very happy lady if we do!

Sweetie Pie - my dad's girlfriend's cat in Montreal!

Enough rambling from me, please feel free to share your views on training your horse (natural horsemanship or otherwise!) Are there any things you feel work particularly well for you and your horse, or indeed anything that you avoid like the plague?

Ride / play safe

After a long day

There's nothing more relaxing than a peaceful groom down at the yard. I've been having a bit of a "low" day today, and wasn't sure how Rio would be as it's been a while since I've felt like this. I needn't have worried, the wind kindly calmed for an hour or so, and although he did have his usual protest at coming out of the field, and a small argument once we were out, he was an absolute star.

He stood perfectly whilst I picked his feet, rubbed him down with the rubber curry comb, then sprayed up his mane and tail before vigorously attacking his mane and trying to tame it over to the right side. I was amazed at how relaxed he seemed, it was a pleasant change. As you can see, he was more than happy to pose for his photo to be taken! I'm sure he had a nice roll a few minutes after I left, but he looked lovely for a while, so it's all good. Tomorrow the feathers come off! He's going to look such a smart young man. I may have to get my friend to attack his beard at the same time... 

Ride / play safe x

Cuddles with my boy

I'm very pleased with how Rio has been the last couple of days. The weather has been so blustery, I've not ridden since Tuesday, but he's been very responsive. Moving him between fields last night when the wind had trees bending over in the gusts, I was a little nervous that he might be a bit of a numpty, but he walked straight out with me with no hesitation. 

I was a little concerned when I got down and Rio was laying down, and didn't move to poo pick with me, but he got straight up when I was done and put his headcollar on. He's looking much better now him and Franks are alternating nights in the fatty field. 

He was still very sleepy when he went into the field with Franks so there wasn't much to see, but a friend said that he was pushing Franks about later in the day. He came up this evening to have his feet picked and the scabby bits on his pastern seen to again. His skin is starting to look much more pink and fresh, so hopefully the Hypocare is helping, and we are getting somewhere. He even came for a trot with me at liberty in the field tonight, love him! 

Ride / play safe x