Skylla is Spookin Sussed

HufflyPuffly

HufflyPuffly

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:D I thought it had been a while since I last tried to do a snazy bit of alliteration :D.

Skylla is still in bootcamp after deciding bronc'ing was more fun than calm serenity in the school... We were on day three yesterday, and she is improving greatly each time so thought I'd incorporate some de-spooking in as a step up and give her more to think about.

Poles she is rather nonchalant about, so I added a very scary plastic filler we use as a 'fake' water tray/ banner it's red one side and blue the other and one of those ones that you are suppose to put a pole through the top, but we tend to use it on the ground. She's seen it before and isn't masively bothered by it, so also added jump wings with umbrellas on that she had to walk through.

Poles as before, she barely noticed :D, filler however was pretty terrifying at first :eek:. She really wasn't sure she should be made to walk on such a thing, but after stepping on it, sniffing it and then trying to sample it :o, she decided it probably wasn't that bad :D. The umbrella passage was a bit of a none starter, she doesn't have the umbrella fear of Topaz apparently :D, so much so that when I asked mum to keep placing them a bit closer together we ended up with this:

[video=youtube_share;qB6OsSRvycY]https://youtu.be/qB6OsSRvycY[/video]

Please excuse my daft running :D, it took until this close before she even really looked at them :D.

Bonus of only one teeny buck in the trot work and minimal in the canter work at the end, so she's coming back up in my good books.

I think it's a hard balance sometimes, I'd been letting her come into the school have a mad 5 mins on the lunge and then getting on and clearly she took it one step further thinking it was allowed even when a human is on-board. So now she has to come in and be calm from the off, she does get some turnout so shouldn't be too het up to listen and it does seem to really be sinking in :). I'm not daft she's always going to have moments as she's a fairly hot sort, so in the canter last night we had a bit of a weehee as she cantered near the devil filler and almost had to step on it again, cause and effect were plain and could be solved, random bronc'ing because she fancies it is not!

Think she can have a couple more days long-lining and then I'll get back on board, but may add a neck strap ;)
 
They like to keep us on our toes :) Impressed with your long reining though - I know I couldn't run round our arena like that without landing on my face!
Our youngster has been having a few yeehaw bronc moments of late - limited riding definitely the cause in his case, even hiring an indoor during the week hasn't helped. Thankfully with the improvement in the light and weather he (she says verrrry tentatively) seems to be over it. The test will be our jumping clinic on Saturday - will the company of others bring it back again or not!
 
Haha I have to make her trot slower otherwise I can't keep up :D.

I think lack of consistant work has contributed to her daft'ness, don't want to over-work her but she's so much better when she does a little ever night! I'm hoping summer turnout will help and we can go back to 2/3 times a week but need to really make a concerted effort not to be too stop/ start with her work!

Maybe a neck strap for the jump clinic for you too :D, I like it that they are feeling well but would rather not hit the deck again!
 
Never without a neckstrap and BP at the mo - he dumped me the other week by jumping off a drop, landing, bucking and spinning to avoid a puddle, this was after he'd spent 5 mins happily jumping in and out of water - git! I've so far managed to stick on to his general happy idiot behaviour but wouldn't like to get complacent at the moment
 
Very wise, I was far too complacent which is why I ate dirt, and we're no where near leaving the ground yet!

In fairness the puddle may have been bottomless ;), I'm not sure Skylla is going to make an eventer type she seems a little adverse to getting her feet wet :D.
 
Hehe he's a proper Irish bog trotter - had the best hack out on him in ages at the weekend in properly grotty weather, he had every excuse to be a monster and was as angelic as he gets. I'm not sure he's going to be quick across country but he's bolder xc schooling (albeit so far only on all-weather) than he is SJ so we shall see!
I was complacent with him before winter as he seemed very much to be a kick along, a winter of decent fodder, very little hard feed adnd semi-regular work has resulted in a bit of a turnaround and I've had to reassess!
 
:D he sounds fab! Ah she also doesn't like bad weather, but with no indoor facillities she has been told to man up! Bold xc is a great start and a little caution SJ will surely be good for leaving poles up?

It's amazing what getting fitter and stronger along with good feeding can do for their temperaments :D, Skylla has had her rations cut, she is not happy!
 
It really is amazing what a difference it makes :) He's literally on 1/4 scoop mix twice a day when the others get a proper feed - dare not give him more for the moment, if we cut that he'd be properly grumpy. Sadly though the caution SJ doesn't also result in respect for poles in his case :-/
Skylla's looking fab though - what are you plans for her this year?
 
Haha I'm mean she only gets a tea feed, and has had her grass nuts removed :D, a bit of alpha a and linseed now! Boo well I'm sure more exposure will help his sj'ing :).

Well if we can get on with ridden work, then some novice showing and prelim dressage I think, along with the usual hacking. May try her over a jump at some point and tentatively thinking about the Badminton Young Horse Dressage Champs, only really have one local qualifier but something to aim at none the less.
 
AlexHyde said:
Haha I'm mean she only gets a tea feed, and has had her grass nuts removed :D, a bit of alpha a and linseed now! Boo well I'm sure more exposure will help his sj'ing :).

Well if we can get on with ridden work, then some novice showing and prelim dressage I think, along with the usual hacking. May try her over a jump at some point and tentatively thinking about the Badminton Young Horse Dressage Champs, only really have one local qualifier but something to aim at none the less.
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Have got to hope it'll improve - given that he dishes in front and looks like he's doing breaststroke I don't think we'll be attempting pure dressage anytime soon!
Going by your vid, you shouldn't have too much to worry about on the spook front and with her lovely attitude I'm sure you'll have a fab summer with her.

Roll on summer when they can all get some proper turn out time - PS have been envying you your lovely fields, ours are like swamps at the moment :(
 
:D bless him, shouldn't make too much of a problem at dressage really, especially at the lower levels, if you can do the movements accurately and obediently then you're on to a winner!

Showing, well yes, but I'm still going to take Skylla out, capped hocks and all :D, it's fab for exposing them to life, bouncy castle next to your ring isn't uncommon :D. She is generally a darling, did in-hand with her last year and she took everything in her stride, so I'm hoping she remembers herself soon!

Cannot wait for summer, but sadly our winter field is also very swamp like! We're completely water-logged, standing water in all of the fields even the top ones, we've had a family of ducks move in :D.
 
I agree with the showing - I've got a little 4yo section A that will be doing a bit inhand this time as part of his bombproofing, if he's going to be a nice kids pony then he's got to put up with anything and everything :)
Summer can't come quick enough for me - we've got a bigger than a stream but not really a river at the bottom of our pasture and it's been over it's banks for most of winter :( Not been able to turn out for months which my off-games TB is happy/sad about - she hates the wind and wet but pure box rest has had her bouncing off the walls.
 
Gosh you must be fit, I would be exhausted after just one short side, I am often puffing and panting after trotting the horse up for the vet! :)
 
Love showing for the life experiance, my show horse is a saint with most things, whereas Topaz is scared of everything!

Oof we've still managed to get them out so very thankful for that, but never known mud rash like we've had this year :(. My oldie is not impressed, she would much rather stay in the warm and dry than go out! We're down to the last five horse's now so the turnout should go a bit futher (usually ten on), but it does mean we've only a year now to find somewhere we like as much as here...
 
applecart14 said:
Gosh you must be fit, I would be exhausted after just one short side, I am often puffing and panting after trotting the horse up for the vet! :)
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:D no I'm really not, I haven't sweated this much since we backed her last Sept! Doing wonders for me though, and I don't feel as guilty about all the chocolate :D. The vid does highlight that I am not a natural runner though :D.
 
Usually we have an allweather turnout pen so they get out in that but this year we've spent most of the winter installing an arena over the top of it - supposed to have been done by christmas but in reality it's still not quite complete but is now usable just waiting for the last bit of fencing to be done.
Thankfully we have a walker so it's only been on those days where we've had a really hard frost which makes it slippery (and those have been few and far between) that they haven't at least had a leg stretch.
Whereabouts are you looking to move to?
 
Ah well fingers crossed it's finished asap! It's very rare we totally close the fields as we've no where else for them as we're not allowed to turnout in the school and have no other facilities, so we have a winter field which gets sacrificed which has worked quite well for the past few years.

Ah the million dollar question! I'm not sure is the answer :D I work in Chester so it would make sense to move me and horses that way, but a bit daunting on my own! The parents should be moving cheshire way, so may look at yards that way if they are commutable from work and home, but I'm dithering about not wanting to move the horses more than needed and we've been here the whole ten years we've had the horses so its a bit of a leap out of the comfort zone.
 
Tricky decisions to make then, but lovely area to be looking in.
My folks have been where they are for 19 years and it's taken that long to get a proper arena to put in so they're definitely not allowed to move now :D
 
Yes some lovely horsey country around, I just need to man up :D. Trying to persuade the parents to buy land and stables, not really working so far, but if they do they'd never be allowed to move again either :D.
 
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