Jubilee Bank Holiday Weekend Plans

[J&S]

Wish me luck please! Running a local charity horse show on Saturday, been beset by little niggles, too stressful for me atm as partner off his legs and am trying to comnbine being a nursey carer with in charge of show person. These two hats don't sit very well!!

 

[Chippers1]

Good luck J&S!

Took Buzz to Eland today for some schooling and he was an absolute star, I'm just so pleased with him recently he jumped everything I asked of him - aside from one, will explain in a bit! - with enthusiasm and a little spring in his step, so different to the backwards little pony he used to be (I've had many struggles!) and the new bit held up well too. Even managed a few of the 80 jumps and somehow ended up going up the 1m steps ?
The only issue we had was with the dreaded ditch/brush fence. As the course is the other way round it now looks enormous as from the previous direction it's a drop fence! We had a go at the 50cm option but he was really unnerved by it and stopped quite a few times, as did his friend, until the complete novice to xc friend went and popped it very nicely first time ? then Buzz and his friend realised it wasn't so scary and jumped it. Did it a couple more times and it was still a bit of a scramble but he did it without hesitation again. We went around the course again doing a couple of fences and we came back to this and he flew it absolutely perfectly so I can't ask for any more than that, didn't attempt the 70cm one!
He'll never be super brave at higher levels but he's just so good when they're a little smaller, and I'm happy to stick with that

 

[iknowmyvalue]

Went to a lovely farm ride with a friend today! It’s been open about a year but only just got round to going even though it’s only 20mins from me. Didn’t do the full 8 miles as friend was on her OAP, but will definitely go back to do the whole thing by myself or when her main horse is back in full work! Didn’t really go for the jumping but would have been rude not to pop a few ?

Also had the saddle fitter come to give my saddles a quick check now the horses have gone out 24/7 on new grass. Not too much needed on that front, I’d already changed the jump saddle to the wider gullet a week or so ago. Nearly cried when she told me she could see how much Pepsi loves and trusts me, and that when I went to the tack room he was watching for me coming back the whole time (even though she was standing with him). She’s known him since the very beginning, and has taught me on him a few times too, so means a lot

 

[Accidental Eventer]

We have a dressage comp on Sunday. Henry had a bath yesterday, hack out this morning, then I though I'll just pop this jump I have set up at an angle. Was perfect the first time, thought I should do it off the other rein and I couldn't see a stride. So rather than keep riding I took my leg off so Henry stopped and I fell off. What a twit (me not him!)! I am fine, just embarrassed really. Tomorrow we will run through our tests and try and remind ourselves what dressage is! And how to plait.

Coolie will also go for a hack at some point, hopefully get him out twice.

 

[Britestar]

Wish me luck please! Running a local charity horse show on Saturday, been beset by little niggles, too stressful for me atm as partner off his legs and am trying to comnbine being a nursey carer with in charge of show person. These two hats don't sit very well!!

Good luck. I did one of these a few weeks back. Madness

 

[oldie48]

I schooled Mr D this morning and he was a very good boy. Owner was very complimentary about the quality of the work we are doing, so I was rather chuffed! There's absolutely no doubt that the better the quality of the paces, the easier everything becomes. We were doing canter loops, simple changes through walk on a half 10m circle and it just felt so easy and balanced. His trot work is super now and I'm finding it easier to sit even when I put a bit more power into it, although tbh it's still extremely bouncy and I look far from elegant! He's over tracking well in his free walk and really taking the rein down, which I struggled with because he wasn't really working through. Nothing planned for the weekend but I hope everyone has a good weekend.

 

[Wishfilly]

Wish me luck please! Running a local charity horse show on Saturday, been beset by little niggles, too stressful for me atm as partner off his legs and am trying to comnbine being a nursey carer with in charge of show person. These two hats don't sit very well!!

Good luck!

 

[blood_magik]

Nada (again)…

4yo is on week 1 of his controlled exercise program. I’m hoping to get him out in the medical paddock next week if the leg holds up. ??

Raz is just being kept ticking over until areas in July. We started playing with canter piris in our last lesson, which was interesting. Still needing a bit more sit in the canter but we’re getting there.

And lastly, big Blue has finally come through the other side of his new bad habit of throwing a hissy fit every time he’s asked to work - there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him, just a run of bad luck that meant he got a bit too used to not working. ?

Have also (only taken me 6 years) figured out that he prefers to go out by himself and isn’t bothered about having company, the big anti-social weirdo… he also doesn’t like being shut in so has been allowed to roam around as he pleases. The difference in the state of his field has been eye-opening. ?

Does anyone else have a horse like this, or is it just me? ?‍

 

[webble]

Today we went for a sedate pootle round Kelsall farm ride and I had a proud parent moment as he went through the water. Tomorrow we are off to mostyn farm ride to tackle a few hills

 

[Pippity]

I had my longest, chillest solo hack on Blue today.

A month or so back, I finally accepted that, despite what my friends were telling me, it would be worth paying a pro to hack her out solo a few times, to get it established in her head that she can do it. She's been out six times with the pro now and, despite being very nappy and/or turbo the first few times, she's improved a lot.

Today, on the spur of the moment, I threw on the hi-viz (and my brave pants) and scurried out the yard before I had time to change my mind. I had to chivvy her a bit most of the way, but once she was warmed up, we settled into a lovely steady trot and did maybe a quarter of the hack like that.

We only had one spook, when two cyclists came at her at speed, two abreast on a track that wasn't wide enough for two bikes and a horse, but she came back to me after a little spin and listened when I pushed her on, rather than just running back home (which she would have done in the past, and I would have been too nervous to stop her).

Basically, I'm very proud of both of us and our tiny achievements!

 

[dorsetladette]

We've just got back from a marathon journey. Drove from dorset to Derbyshire, picked up 2 ponies, drove to Carmarthen, stayed over night then drove back to Dorset with 1. All in their new homes safe and family member no longer stressing about costs of horse ownership.
Think we'll have a quiet one for the rest of the weekend.

 

[webble]

@Pippity that's fantastic well done

 

[Flame_]

I should have been coming back from from a week's holiday in Wales with the horses but they got bleeding lice, I brought them home on Tuesday and spent Wednesday morning washing them So with that down the toilet, happily, the entries for a Cheshire pleasure ride were still open so I'm doing that. Whitegate Way and round there, so should be a nice day.

 

[webble]

I should have been coming back from from a week's holiday in Wales with the horses but they got bleeding lice, I brought them home on Tuesday and spent Wednesday morning washing them So with that down the toilet, happily, the entries for a Cheshire pleasure ride were still open so I'm doing that. Whitegate Way and round there, so should be a nice day.

Is that the endurance one? I was supposed to do the Fri and it got cancelled, enjoy!

 

[Michen]

We are at camp! And my friend “accidentally” put us in the biggest group ? I was not expecting to be jumping 105 oxers at the end of a grid in the morning.

I thought Bog would be knackered for course jumping in the afternoon and he came out all meek and steady warming up. Until the fences came up and he was firing around like a rocket. This was the biggest course I’ve ever jumped and although there’s only one oxer (which we certainly didn’t do with any style) it was a different ball game for me jumping metre uprights. I lost it a bit at the end and pulled him up where I felt the control was gone but we did it nicely the second time. So this isn’t a pretty video but at least it’s realistic!

Good Bog even if he did lure me into a false sense of security ?


[video]

 

[Bernster]

Fabulous michen ! Hope you have a great time at the rest of your camp.

 

[Michen]

Fabulous michen ! Hope you have a great time at the rest of your camp.

Thanks B! I’m not doing the xc on Sunday as he’s got two events in a row coming up, then another camp, then a holiday in exmoor so seems a bit unnecessary when he doesn’t need to do it.

The arena stuff is much more useful anyway ??

 

[Red-1]

We are at camp! And my friend “accidentally” put us in the biggest group ? I was not expecting to be jumping 105 oxers at the end of a grid in the morning.

I thought Bog would be knackered for course jumping in the afternoon and he came out all meek and steady warming up. Until the fences came up and he was firing around like a rocket. This was the biggest course I’ve ever jumped and although there’s only one oxer (which we certainly didn’t do with any style) it was a different ball game for me jumping metre uprights. I lost it a bit at the end and pulled him up where I felt the control was gone but we did it nicely the second time. So this isn’t a pretty video but at least it’s realistic!

Good Bog even if he did lure me into a false sense of security ?


[video]

That actually made me feel a little emotional as I remember, years ago, a video where he was not doing so well either physically or mentally. He is an absolute credit to you how you have been so thorough and brave to follow every course of action to make him the happy horse he is today. I really think you deserve the fun times!

 

[Michen]

That actually made me feel a little emotional as I remember, years ago, a video where he was not doing so well either physically or mentally. He is an absolute credit to you how you have been so thorough and brave to follow every course of action to make him the happy horse he is today. I really think you deserve the fun times!

Oh gawd now you’ve got me emotional which takes absolutely nothing at the moment!

Thank you that’s a really lovely thing to say! Especially given that video is rather.. messy haha. I absolutely worship him and quite rightly so ?

Can’t wait to see your lovely youngster continue to progress

 

[Ambers Echo]

Joe Midgely lesson was interesting. My sharer and I have both been interested in natural horsemanship approaches for years and back in January when Lottie was a loon over poles and jumps, we asked Joe for advice and arranged a lesson. That was cancelled in the storms and since then everything has been going really well so we never got back in touch with him.

So when he said he was back in the area and did we want to reschedule that postponed lesson, we nearly didn't bother. I have regular lessons that I like and muddying the waters did not feel too helpful. But we decided groundwork is always useful so we could just do that. We did not have any real idea of what we wanted to achieve so just asked him to do a bit of work with her himself and get a feel for braces/sticky spots and give us some groundwork excercises.

He did excatly that but immediately said that the way 'pressure has been applied to her head' has been really unhelpful to her and so in all the exercises he asked very gently for her to follow a feel by picking up the rein or rope, but if she didn't (and she didn't at first) he would then drive with the flag rather than increase any pressure. Increasing the pressure on her head 'pissed her off' and he said that usually happens when a horse has not learned how to find a predictable release but the pressure is constant. I think that my fault has been both to pull pack when she pulls and to give the rein too much when I release so her contact has been inconsistent - instead of providing a consistent feel with a predictable release when she softens.

He got some lovely soft, relaxed work from her really quickly. And when I rode afterwards, that was maintained. No arguing, no head tossing, snatching at the rein or opening her mouth - all things we get a bit of normally. So that is promising!

The other interesting thing was the fact that I have been struggling for months with her flexing to the outside and falling in. My RI has been telling me to flex to the inside and put inside leg on to get her bending round the inside leg.

Joe on the ground also noted that she tipped her nose to the outisde and fell in but he described it very subtly differently: he said to shorten up on the rope and tip her nose in while asking her to lift the inside shoulder and step across to the outside. This is more or less the same as what I've been trying to do under saddle: bit of inside flexion and inside leg on. But 'bend her round your inside leg' is another one of those phrases that I don't really understand. I don't have a clear picture of what it should feel like and I don't have a clear image of what I want her to do. Whereas ask her to step across with the inside shoulder is much clearer and that clarity meant Lottie was clearer too when I next rode and an issue with falling that has persisted for months is suddenly much better. That reminded my of the Mark Rashid demos in which he gave riders very little technical instruction at all but focused strongly on the FEEL and PICTURE of what you want, with some pretty rapid and impressive results.

So interesting and useful.There is plenty of crossover between different schools of horsemanship so the groundwork will definitaly help the ridden work I think.

 

[milliepops]

The other interesting thing was the fact that I have been struggling for months with her flexing to the outside and falling in. My RI has been telling me to flex to the inside and put inside leg on to get her bending round the inside leg.

Joe on the ground also noted that she tipped her nose to the outisde and fell in but he described it very subtly differently: he said to shorten up on the rope and tip her nose in while asking her to lift the inside shoulder and step across to the outside. This is more or less the same as what I've been trying to do under saddle: bit of inside flexion and inside leg on. But 'bend her round your inside leg' is another one of those phrases that I don't really understand. I don't have a clear picture of what it should feel like and I don't have a clear image of what I want her to do. Whereas ask her to step across with the inside shoulder is much clearer and that clarity meant Lottie was clearer too when I next rode and an issue with falling that has persisted for months is suddenly much better.

How interesting. Sometimes you (one!) just need to hear things in a different way. i don't think bending around the inside leg is quite the same as that kind of shoulder control, they are related but for the falling in issue (if a horse is falling though the shoulder rather than, say, going quarters in) it's definitely more helpful to think about putting the shoulder upright and being in control of that "corner" of the horse.



you'll have felt this now, but the other thing that probably all of us do, is to put the inside leg too far back instead of using it on the girth. a little nudge towards the shoulder can be a hugely useful aid. having to remind myself of this at the moment

 

[Ambers Echo]

On the ground it looks like she is falling in through the shoulder. (I've got video of Joe working her). I assumed it was the same under saddle. She certainly felt better when I focused on the shoulder. x

 

[milliepops]

On the ground it looks like she is falling in through the shoulder. (I've got video of Joe working her). I assumed it was the same under saddle. She certainly felt better when I focused on the shoulder. x

I am not saying you are wrong

for me "round the inside leg" as an instruction is more useful for a horse that is fairly straight already. otherwise it can encourage a rider to think too much about bend when you need control and balance first (and a horse that falls thru a shoulder has neither). addressing those things can require something more specific, as you felt in the clinic.

Personally i think round the inside leg is a useful thought for something like shoulder-in, or 8m circles where you already have control of the shoulders and hindquarters and need to access that yielding in the rib cage to develop bend in the horse's body. thinking too much about "bend" on curving lines and larger circles can lead to over doing it, when really you only need *flexion* anyway, just my brain wobbling off on a saturday morning tangent

 

[Ambers Echo]

I am not saying you are wrong

I'm a bit befuddled generally so I may well be wrong! Your post made me wonder if maybe under saddle she is doing something different making the 'bend round inside leg' make more sense? But anyway she is staying out more so I'm happy.

 

[milliepops]

I'm a bit befuddled generally so I may well be wrong! Your post made me wonder if maybe under saddle she is doing something different making the 'bend round inside leg' make more sense? But anyway she is staying out more so I'm happy.

no, i would say there's every likelihood that she does the same in hand as under saddle.

 

[Michen]

More Bog spam. Simulated xc and that triple at the end was a metre. He is feeling so so good!!

And I did this without a drop of alcohol ???

[video]

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Looking good Michen ??

 

[Petmurf]

Nada (again)…



And lastly, big Blue has finally come through the other side of his new bad habit of throwing a hissy fit every time he’s asked to work - there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him, just a run of bad luck that meant he got a bit too used to not working. ?



Does anyone else have a horse like this, or is it just me? ?‍

Yes Me ?‍

Had a 45 minute pole lesson yesterday in a new place and first time for us in an arena for 6 months and Tommy has a tantrum, chucking himself all over the place, throwing in bunny hops, kept wanting to be with the horse we came with etc, we wasted a good 15 minutes messing around until he settled and we did some work, he did think about napping another few times but I just said don’t even try it and we ended up having a lovely time ?

Was due to hack this morning but my riding buddy has had a stomach bug all week and even though she did come up to the yard I sent her home as she looked exhausted so I groomed and turned him out as going out solo with me usually causes an even bigger hissy fit and I’m too tired to cope with that today.

 

[Red-1]

Yesterday's boxing out to ride with a friend went well, strange horse in a strange place and no issues. We went through her village and there were some jubilee things going on. We stopped for kids, saw a mascot, flags etc. I was really happy that he was happy to stop, all relaxed, while we socialised in a busy area.

Today, I hired the local show arena to do some jumping and Mr Red, the superhero, came to give me a lesson. He really ‘gets’ BH, realises that he is a super obliging horse who is a baby and isn’t fit. There is simply not much petrol in the tank! We did a warm up over a couple of X poles. We did two courses over 3 fences. The second course, BH pulled out the stops and made some air. Mr Red said to stop right there and praise him, leave him thinking it was all fun. Total time from start to finish – 24 minutes! And that includes a fair time walking round before picking him up. Plus Polo stops!

We are entered into a little fun SJ thing tomorrow, not sure if we will go or not. There would be more than 3 fences LOL. I will decide tomorrow.

Gratuitous photo of Polo feeding LOL.

 

[SEL]

More Bog spam. Simulated xc and that triple at the end was a metre. He is feeling so so good!!

And I did this without a drop of alcohol ???

[video]

I love the instructor 'wait, wait, wait' and you can see Bog's ears twitch as he latches onto the fence and thinks **** waiting I'm going jumping!! Last one was fab.