Then and now!

I've finally gotten around to having a look at comparing my photos of Rio from last April to this year's shoot! He's grown up so much in 12 months, and I couldn't be prouder of where we have come from and where we are going.

I've been feeling very tired recently, so there have been some questions raised over the lack of riding I've been doing - I've taken preference to developing our groundwork and riding for a shorter length of time. I'm sure that some people think this is crazy, but I'm happy. Let's face it - Rio is an opinionated young man when he wants to be, and he's a half ton of horse to take on when he's got his mind set on something. If taking a step back is what I need to do at the moment, then so be it, and we will work on getting to know each other better! 

The pole clinic went well. Speaking of attitude, Rio took some of that with him that day. After going to move him into a field away from the arena and him going to trot off around me, we took to playing on the ground. 40 minutes later, with lots of backing up, driving, playing with obstacles, and getting control of his feet over a pole on the ground, and we mounted up with a renewed understanding. 

The morning session resulted in a light, forward going and responsive ride. The fear of the end of the arena was almost gone, until his brain was a little overloaded by the end of it, but I was absolutely chuffed with his efforts. 

The afternoon wasn't quite the same story. Unfortunately I think he blew his mind and left his brain by the trailer for the most part. I ended up getting my instructor to ride him, and it was a pleasure to watch him in the end. He tried his little heart out, and although he totally lost it on a few occasions at the scary end of the school, he really made up for it in the end. 

Onwards and upwards!

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!

New year new look

My Photoshop trial ran out 17 minutes ago, so I thought I'd use the last bit of time having it to update my header! My question to you, if you would, is which one do you prefer? Quote or photo?

Fingers crossed the weather tomorrow afternoon thaws out enough for us to have a good ride!

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

From bronco to nanny

The boys' mothers meeting this morning

So after our little incident on Monday evening, tonight was the night for getting back in the saddle. Tuesday night I was waylaid by a table top tack sale which was a little disappointing, but I did come away with a faux sheepskin white numnah for a tenner. Last night I was shattered and hungry and had a bit of a headache, so I just poo picked, watered, fly sprayed and ointmented up. I've started doing the 5/2 diet so for two days a week you stick to 500 calories or less. It's my first week, and Monday and Wednesday were a bit hard!

Tonight I went and got Rio straight out of the field instead of poo picking first (no time to talk myself out of it because of the heat/wind/headache/insert any other lame excuse here). I have now started riding with a schooling whip as he's been getting a little big for his boots recently, and so far its working pretty well. A little tap behind the leg if he's being a bit silly and he gets on with it. 

We were walking around the school chilling out and working on not looking at the scary thistles that have cropped up along one side, minding our own business. All of a sudden we were half way across the school with me growling and yelling expletives at him whilst I sat out a spack attack. What I thought happened was that we jumped sideways a bit and tried to bronc, and that I'd stood up a little out of the saddle in my stirrups before he calmed and we carried on walking around. What actually happened (as we almost ploughed through Stacey and her horse!) was that he literally jumped with all four feet off the floor and turned mid-air and had a little attempt at broncing. It also turns out that I probably didn't actually get up out of the saddle, that's just what the view looks like when I sit up and pull the reins up to keep his head from going down. Go figure. We moved onto a nice trot after that. 

Stacey is an instructor, so I was pleased for feedback afterwards, and especially pleased when she said I didn't move a muscle sideways and just went with him, and handled it well (perhaps other than the swearing...) Let's hope this is the start of sitting this kind of nonsense out - or better yet, the start of me winning a battle of wills against him doing it at all. 

We went on to do some nice trot work on both reins, and even managed a few strides of trot on the bit, and then I bit the bullet and sat in for a canter transition before I had time to think about it too much. It went very smoothly, we did a half dozen strides, and I brought him back. On the opposite corner, I asked again, and we did a few more strides down the long side, brought him back. Lots of encouraging words and strokes to the neck, and some more trot work before we changed the rein and repeated the exercise on the other rein. It was equally successful, and made me feel much better. There was no hint of a bronc, which leads me to further believe that Monday was a rebellion. 

After that we walked off a moment and then escorted Millie and Miss B on a walk around the village. Miss B is Millie's TB rescue project, and had her first set of shoes on today. We made it around the village with Rio as a nanny horse (yes... we actually trusted him with this responsibility... hmm) and Sarah on her bicycle. Miss B has a tendency to go backwards. A lot. When she stops and doesn't like something, back she goes. She was especially trying this on the way out, but it's got to be a behavioural issue as she was absolutely fine out front on the way back. 

I'm pleased to say that Rio didn't bat an eyelid whether he was in front, behind, beside, or being backed into - aside from one mystery "rush" where he did a few little steps of trot/canter on the way back for no apparent reason (cue another growl - I've finally found my voice, which is good as he is quite responsive to vocal cues). Luckily we were a few steps behind Miss B and had the room to do it, but who knows what that was all about? All in all, I'm pretty pleased, and fingers crossed we can take on the stubble field soon... Perhaps with Sarah and Franks'supervision!

Ride / play safe x

(No more) Soft Touch

After such a pleasing day yesterday, I was a little hesitant to hope that today would live up to expectations. After breakfast with hubby and my father in law, I headed up to watch some of the stressage at Stratford Hills. It all looks very scary to me, there were 6 arenas on the go when I arrived, and lots of horses in the warm-up area. Lots going on! Anyway, it spurred me on to join Sarah schooling when we got back, and give riding with a contact a go. Rio has offered it up to me once whilst out hacking, but I didn't really ask him, so we're starting from square one.

I have an issue with loopy reins, so first things first was to get to grips with keeping him on a shorter, tighter connection so that I could feel him properly on the end of them. He gives a bit of a fight for it, and this is where I need to toughen up. Once the fight has been had, he is quite a natural at carrying his head in the right place, THEN you can soften up with him. I need to have that bit of a battle, and because I know he's not a kicker or a total idiot, I can more or less trust that if I can arrange myself, he will eventually follow. I was still struggling a bit, so Sarah and I swapped horses and I got to try riding a Franks! It's the first time I've ridden him, and I was a little nervous! 

Franks is pretty special, he's done all sorts with Sarah over the years, and no sooner had I picked up the reins, did he take up a contact. It was great being able to feel what I'm looking for from Rio, and Franks' trot is amazing to sit to - I don't have that luxury with Rio as he's a bouncy little dude! The saddle is also a nice squishy armchair of a dressage saddle, which was wonderful. I took comfort in the fact that I was able to keep my hands steady and maintain the contact with Franks' - good news as it means it's not my hands waving around that's causing the issue. I need to learn with Rio to hold my hands up a little and ensure that I keep a slightly tighter outside rein to maintain the contact, whilst playing a little with the inside rein until he drops down. My problem is recognising when he drops his head and relaxing (but keeping!) the contact in that second. 

Once Sarah had got Rio going nicely, I hopped back on, and worked on the same. We did manage a few good steps in outline, but boy was it hard work. It's certainly something we can work on now that I know what I'm looking for! I was also really pleased as Sarah got a full circuit and a half of canter out of Rio on his right (good) rein. Even she found it hard work though, and it took a bit of verbal encouragement (read: noise) to keep him going around the top bend of the school. Something else to work on. In the meantime, we have trot poles laid out to intersperse the serious stuff. Rio loves them! Please ignore my heels in this photo, I was just trying to keep him in a nice active trot (something else I'm working on... heels into the ground!) It won't be long before we try a little cross pole hopefully, especially if we continue at this rate. 

Ride / play safe x

Needle in a haystack (or field)

Rio had a long hard night on Thursday. Sarah goes down a little after me in the mornings, and it would appear that the boys had a little routine going. (Past tense as Rio bit Franks on the bum Thursday between my visit and Sarah's, and is now back in his own field...)

• Graze at opposite ends of paddock when mum comes down, Franks to acknowledge presence, and possibly say hi, Rio to come and loiter around the wheelbarrow ready for poo quality control checks
• Graze together for a bit as mum leaves
• Rio to lay down for nap time in prep for Sarah's arrival, and Franks to stand watch
• General grazing after Franks has had breakfast, including extra curricular activity such as sliding stops, cantering up the long side of the field in pairs, and apparently a smidge of cannibalism (although this can be thrown in whenever fancied...)

It's a shame really, as they seemed to be doing very well together in the field. They will be having supervised play dates in future, as although I don't want him tearing poor Franks to shreds, being able to interact with another horse is invaluable at his age. Having been the one with the horse on the end of the bullying originally, I don't want to be the mummy of the bully... 

How can such a funny boy be capable of such things hey?! This has to be one of my fave snaps Sarah has sent to me so far.

I spent my evening last night fencing Rio's field off so that he's got an L shape to roam and graze. There's still a LOT of grass in there, but thankfully the sheep have grazed down a little bit of it. I'm hoping it will be a good incentive for me to keep up the riding routine, so he doesn't balloon again. With any luck Franks can come over and visit for a bit and help with the grazing down too. 

I was just tidying all the bits up, when I realised that I had pinged the inch-long pin out of the fencing reel (the one that holds the end in place so it doesn't all unravel in storage)... I wasn't prepared to accept that vet bill, should Rio find it whilst grazing, so I had to walk the fence line in the hope it hadn't gone far. Would you believe I managed to find it? I was so pleased. I'm not sure I would have slept last night if I hadn't!

Today was one of those good days. Rio walked straight out of the field with me, walked up nicely, tried being a little cheeky on the last stretch and came back to me when I put my foot down. Stood nicely at the barn, picked his feet up with minimal fuss (he's been a little impatient the last few days with his feet). Stood perfectly to be tacked up, moved over when asked, and took his new bit without question. SIDENOTE: We are definitely keeping the Neue Schule, the new wider bit fits him perfectly, and I was actually sent a brand new one to trial this time! No need to even return it for a new replacement to keep. Result. Rio seemed indifferent to it being any different to his current bit, which I will take as a positive. It's a bit narrower than the steel one, but I'm hoping the Salox will even out the difference. Now to work on the contact... 

I actually schooled again today. We did a few transitions (nowhere near enough though now that I think about it) from walk to halt, and then from trot to walk to trot and some that were just trot to walk. He felt active underneath me, and although his shoulder was falling in on the end of some of our circles, we were trotting shapes in a nice forward way. We have a bit of an issue with Rio's canter transitions. He's picking them up much better in the bottom corners of the school. This is where I usually ask for canter. He's still struggling to maintain a canter for a full circuit, but the transitions into canter (in his "canter corners") are becoming much easier to make. So now we need to try cantering from other parts of the school. 

We finished off doing some trot poles, after getting some advice from Sarah on how to try and work him onto the bit. It didn't go so well today, but it's something I'm just going to have to work on with him and find our own way of discussing. I've never really worked "on the bit" before, so am not exactly sure how to ask what I want to ask, and because he hasn't particularly been taught to work on the bit, he's not sure what I'm asking yet either. Any advice welcome! I've had him take up a contact whilst out hacking on the field once before, but at the time, I wasn't specifically asking it of him, I guess I just found the right combination of things and was properly relaxed without intending on it. The trot poles were great fun though! We will definitely play with those more.

In other news, my cousin has got her new 4 year old OTTB at my yard for a little while whilst a space comes up at her place. He's fresh off the track, and is a cute leggy little chestnut. Watch this space!

Ride/play safe x