Friday Progress Report

[sandi_84]

Every time I get on Loki he gives me more confidence
For the first 5-10mins today he looked more like a Giraffee than a Hippo and was a wee bit rushy. If I were on my sisters horse that would be an indication that he was either going to take off on me or try to buck but nope none of that nonsense with my lad, he was just excited and slowed down nicely when I asked him

We did our usual circles (which look more and more like circles!) and have managed to get 10m ones on the go now. Serpentines and figure of eights went well. We also tackled some walk to halt and trot to halt transitions and by the end of the lesson we were getting faster at getting it right.

There was no napping at the gate arguments and we are even managing to stick to the outside track for the most part ha ha! I think his balance has greatly improved as our straight lines are less wobbly and I think my aides are becoming clearer too.

I need to work on keeping my lower legs back a bit, supporting him with my outside rein and leg whilst circling and again being less heavy in my right stirrup

I'm really enjoying our formal lessons as it gives me an idea of how we are getting on and what things I really need to work on.

So, in short I'm a happy mummy today and will even forgive him for slightly squishing me earlier when he tried to get away from the pony next to him who tried to nip his shoulder as I was brushing his legs ha ha!

 

[sandi_84]

Tuesday Progress Report:

Loki doesn't have any issues coming out or going back in to the field anymore! I keep forgetting to tell you all who gave me the advice to take a schooling whip with me how well it worked.
1st Day:
I had to give him a bit of a sharp smack to get him to move and then a little tap whenever he decided to plank again. Took it with me to turn him out too and had to give him a bit of a smack again to get him through the gate.
2nd Day:
Took the whip, had to tap him once both ways.
3rd Day:
Only had to rub his butt with it and he moved.
4th Day:
Forgot to take it He was lying down sunbathing and snoozing with his nose pressed to the ground (Awwww!), I went over and crouched to give him a rub and put his headcollar on and then clicked to him and he got up. He walked out of the field no problems whatsoever! On the way back one of the girls took him and I took mum's horse out and he stopped halfway through the gate and refused to move for her so I clicked at him and told him to walk on and he did!
Everytime I've caught in/turned Loki out I've been praising him for doing it right, it's getting so that "good boy!" is every second phrase out of my mouth ha ha!

Hoof picking was a bit of a scary experience for him at first, he didn't understand what I wanted him to do, would flick out his hind legs as if to say "that feels wierd, gerrroff!". He would walk back and forth to avoid me picking up the fronts and when I did manage it he would dip his shoulder alarmingly and look like he was going to fall over! He would even end up a bit sweaty after hoof picking I spent lots of time running my hands down his hind legs and picking up each hoof (in the same order every time - which previously I had been a bit gung ho about with other horses ) for a few seconds then putting them down and giving loads of praise.
One month on (and a bit) he's letting me do the hinds with no problems at all and we manage to get the fronts done with no shoulder dipping and only minimal shuffling he doesn't get sweaty anymore either and is visibly more relaxed about what I am doing

Had a really really quick solo session in the school today, everything went really well.
Loki seems to pick things up really fast! We've got the walk/halt trot/halt transitions getting a lot quicker now and not so much "think deep seat thoughts, take and give take and give" going on. I am using my voice commands at the same time too and that seems to help a lot. Today I sat deep, resisted the movement with my hips and gave a gentle pull and he took a couple of strides and stopped
20m circles today were actually circular!
Balance seems to be improving and he seems to be carrying himself better too.
Changes of rein were executed a lot better by both of us and we managed to pretty much stay straight all the way down - till I stopped concentrating on where we were going and we drifted out a bit oops!
Didn't manage to attempt the smaller circles because we squeezed in before the next lesson but will attempt those next lesson.
We still had a bit of giraffe in our looks today - but hey ho I'll worry about that later - but there was no quick marching walk or rushy trot
I was very concious of where my lower leg was (not sure if I got it right) and so was making the attempt at keeping it further back today and also remembered to support him better round the circles which I think helped us keep a nicer bend.
I also felt that after a little while my rising trot became less a concious labour and more a natural movement as I relaxed and concentrated on other things.
YO who is also one of the instructors was watching from a distance and commented on how much better we are doing and how nice a nature he has
So Hippo boy done good today, had a wee feed and got a well deserved (and gratefully recieved) scratch after being untacked

Also took the dog out for a walk earlier and clicked her on and told her to "walk on" rather than "heel" Spend too much time with the horse? No! Never!

Sorry for the huge (probably boring) post I'm just sooo happy that everything is going well for us what with being a first time owner with a young, green horse

Honeycomb ice cream (nom nom nom!) for everyone who reads this far!

 

[sandi_84]

Wednesday:

Went for our first proper hack today! It was a short one (45mins) and the wind was blowing a fair bit but we both really enjoyed it!
Lovely Loan Lady took us out with her loan mare on the short hack route, we went passed a scary bird and a scary tree but there were no major issues, just a shiver and a slight jump as if to say "what was that! oh it's ok mum it was just a tree " His ears were forward the whole time. I think he would have appreciated being allowed a wee trot, possibly a canter (there was no indication of him getting ready to take off with me or anything but I think he would have enjoyed a wee blast) but I just wanted to know if we could cope with the Big Bad World. Next time we'll kick it up a gear

After we got back I was a bad mum and gave him some horrible tasting wormer To repay this kindness of mine he then promptly slobbered all over my face ha ha! He did swallow it though
The crack in his hoof isn't getting any worse and I am continuing to clean it and put hoof moist on it every day.

 

[rlhnlk]

Sounds like he's doing well

However I think you're an utter disgrace - where's the piccies

 

[sandi_84]

Sounds like he's doing well

However I think you're an utter disgrace - where's the piccies

*hangs head in shame* Soooory!

There's a few of my boy looking like a mud monster - and me looking even more so so if you could make your eyes bypass my muddy self I'd be very gratefull ha ha! - in my album if you want to have a looke'see

I've not had anyone with me that could take pics for me and I don't want to embarrass myself showing you all my (not exactly fab) riding skills just yet

Yeah I'm really pleased at how well he settled in and how everything is going, going to keep adding to this post and hope not to bore HHO to death with it ha ha! It's nice to be able to just gab away about my days with him though, think my non horsey friends will completely disown me if I only talk about my boy

 

[Apercrumbie]

Sounds like you're making really good progress. Piccies please!

 

[sandi_84]

Friday -

Had a couple of lessons this week and this Friday my instructor told me Loki was now balanced enough to do a bit of canter. I had an moment because I've lost my confidence a little since my sisters boy had a buckfest going into canter (hadn't been worked in a bit and was pretty fresh) and I nearly came off him. But I put my trust in my fab lad and swallowed my fear and gave it a go.
I had to do a few horrible looking pony club kicks to get him started but when he figured out that I was asking him to go up another gear he went like a pro! Correct strike off and everything! I felt sooo safe and comfortable on him, I even managed to up my game riding wise so as to not unbalance him and managed to sit deep for the most part kept my usually embarrasing flappy arms (don't ask I have no idea how I manage it ) nice and still He did a whole lap of the school with his ears pricked in a nice controlled rhythm and came back to a lovely forward going but not rushy trot no bother at all
We decided to warm down with a little walk up the road and passed a bit of a scary monster (another horse coming round the corner) but we just gave it a "look" and carried on ha ha!
After taking his tack off I had a wee feel for sweat and there was none, he's getting fitter! Gave him a lovely feed and a fresh bucket of water and left him to munch happily before turning him out again. He got loads of pats and praise for looking after me so well
I had a MASSIVE grin on my face for the rest of the day
He's such a nice boy, he's given me my confidence back again. I love him loads!

 

[sandi_84]

Best lesson ever today!

Loki was really listening, we worked on our walk trying to get an active pace with his hind quarters really engaged, we did lots of transitions, serpentines and decreasing sized figure 8's in the bottom half of the school. When we went on to canter work on 20m circles there was no motorbike corners! Our canter/trot transition felt effortless and I didn't feel like I was going to get pinged out of the saddle ha ha!
It felt really good to have such a nice lesson where we both seemed to be on the same page and I'm really beginning to appreciate how much the gag bit has helped us both. I no longer feel like I'm constantly at him to slow down and the slightest movement of my hands results in whatever I'm asking for without a fight about it
Even my instructor is beginning to see what I see in him whereas before she wasn't really a massive fan. She thinks he's a nice boy but she wasn't too keen on our ridden work before but today I think she was pretty pleased with us both
He was grooming my head again today when I took his rug off which set me off into fits of giggles
Ah I love my horse!

 

[sandi_84]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I LOVE MY HORSE!
He's such a star! After my cat leap falling off fiasco (my fault not his) the jumping has progressed really well, we usually don't have cat leaps anymore.
The YO was giving a jumping lesson the other week and commented on how far he has progressed and how much scope he has. She said he's turned into a lovely little horse and she'd like to see how high he could jump.
So we put the boy to the test! He had a half hour jumping lesson and one of the instructors asked if she could see how high he would go so we put one of the livery girls on him (she's a very good rider and does eventing with her horses so she was a better choice for chase me charlie than me atm ) and away they went. He managed 3'9" no bother and even though he was starting to get quite tired he would have kept going! The instructor praised him for being such an honest lad and told me he could make a nice eventing horse too Was completely and utterly proud of him!

I asked him to walk over a scary blue tarp and he did it no bother so I flapped it at him and he still walked over it as if to say "yeah yeah really scary "

To top it off, because he gives me such confidence I decided to bite the bullet and try a small hack out on our own!
I ended up going out with one of the liveries to the smaller of our circular routes (if you looked at it from a helicopter it would look like a big lollipop), usually we do the loop at the top twice and it takes about an hour from leaving the yard to coming back through the gates. The livery only wanted to go round once so I escorted her back down the lane where we met up with a couple of horses from the yard who were doing a half hour hack and were heading home. So we left the ride! And completed the second loop by ourselves!
He was sooo good, he wasn't bothered about leaving the other horses at all and we did the rest of our ride with (his) ears pinned forward. There wasn't even any silly rushing on the way home - which granted isn't what usually happens but I was prepared for it because we were heading back to the company of other horses - but nope we had a lovely sedate amble on home
I own a dream horse who never plays up, doesn't really spook at anything, is pretty much always a happy boy, doesn't get injured on a regular basis, and will do anything I ask him to... and to top it off he is incredibly handsome