charlimouse
Well-Known Member
Given I have had a quiet Christmas on the horses front I thought I would do a bit of a progress report on my rising 4 year old. With the other horses on holiday, I have used the Christmas holidays off Uni to get Celeste going.
Bit of background. I bred Celeste myself, out of my TB mare Millie who evented to 1* level.
Celeste is by the warmblood stallion Sempers Spirit. She was a bit wonky when she was first born.
But quickly straightened out, and gained a first premium at the Futurity as a foal. She then did a bit of local in hand showing as a yearling and 2 year old, doing very well. She even got overall reserve champion at the last show she went to!
In the Spring of 2012 Celeste's half sister Stella was born.
Disaster struck 4 months later when we found Millie dead from a ruptured diaphragm in the field, with Stella trying to suckle off her. So Celeste stepped in and the pair of them have pretty much grown up together since, with Jem overseeing things, just to make sure they don't get too big for their boots!
So into Celeste's 3 year old year, and I had just got her used to the saddle and started long reining and had my first sit on.
When disaster struck for the second time and a scan revealed she had damaged a check ligament messing about in the field. So she spent the summer out in a small paddock with Stella, doing not very much.
At the end of August a scan showed the ligament was healing well, and the vet said to start walk work (either in hand or ridden), building up over 6 weeks to a 40 minute walk. So education restarted with lots of leading out and long reining. After that, as the nights started to draw in and I was busy with Uni she went a bit on the back burner. I had a couple of sits on her, but work didn't really begin until December. I took her for a couple of short hacks round our tracks with Jem, and did a bit of lungeing. This Christmas holidays marked the start of grown up education. She has taken to it like a duck to water, and so far has been super easy. These videos are from a couple of weeks ago, on what would have been about her 7th time ridden, but only her 4th time in the school.
[video=youtube;4x1acES2cZQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x1acES2cZQ[/video]
And her first time over poles
[video=youtube;S9zWLJwHzy4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zWLJwHzy4[/video]
She then went on her first proper hack last week with Jem on the roads, and was fab. It was quiet and only a few cars passed but she was super chilled and really grew in confidence. A perfect first foray onto the roads!
Bit of background. I bred Celeste myself, out of my TB mare Millie who evented to 1* level.
Celeste is by the warmblood stallion Sempers Spirit. She was a bit wonky when she was first born.
But quickly straightened out, and gained a first premium at the Futurity as a foal. She then did a bit of local in hand showing as a yearling and 2 year old, doing very well. She even got overall reserve champion at the last show she went to!
In the Spring of 2012 Celeste's half sister Stella was born.
Disaster struck 4 months later when we found Millie dead from a ruptured diaphragm in the field, with Stella trying to suckle off her. So Celeste stepped in and the pair of them have pretty much grown up together since, with Jem overseeing things, just to make sure they don't get too big for their boots!
So into Celeste's 3 year old year, and I had just got her used to the saddle and started long reining and had my first sit on.
When disaster struck for the second time and a scan revealed she had damaged a check ligament messing about in the field. So she spent the summer out in a small paddock with Stella, doing not very much.
At the end of August a scan showed the ligament was healing well, and the vet said to start walk work (either in hand or ridden), building up over 6 weeks to a 40 minute walk. So education restarted with lots of leading out and long reining. After that, as the nights started to draw in and I was busy with Uni she went a bit on the back burner. I had a couple of sits on her, but work didn't really begin until December. I took her for a couple of short hacks round our tracks with Jem, and did a bit of lungeing. This Christmas holidays marked the start of grown up education. She has taken to it like a duck to water, and so far has been super easy. These videos are from a couple of weeks ago, on what would have been about her 7th time ridden, but only her 4th time in the school.
[video=youtube;4x1acES2cZQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x1acES2cZQ[/video]
And her first time over poles
[video=youtube;S9zWLJwHzy4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zWLJwHzy4[/video]
She then went on her first proper hack last week with Jem on the roads, and was fab. It was quiet and only a few cars passed but she was super chilled and really grew in confidence. A perfect first foray onto the roads!
