Sunny weekend plans!

I'm working all day tomorrow, but hopefully give either Winnie or Tamba a jump on Sunday and take the other one to the gallops. Mindy will go for a walk she will hopefully start trotting again in another week or so.
Maisy went to the vet today to see if she was likely to get in foal. It was quite positive so now looking for a recipient mare and firming up stallions!!
 
Wheels said:
I am allowed to drive again- woop.

I can gradually reduce the time I'm wearing my splint now over the next few weeks but still need to wear it at 'danger times' whatever that means, around the horses I assume :)

I have an interesting lesson coming up on Tuesday, a bit of off horse pilates then an on board lesson to put it into practise.

Other than that we will be schooling and hacking :)
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Great news wheels 😊😊😊

How disappointing for you oldie 😭😭

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that it isn't a pain issue, just a stroppy mare...

Fiona
 
I was supposed to be going showjumping tonight but I was going alone and my anxiety got to better of me and I bottled it 😢
 
Abi90 said:
I was supposed to be going showjumping tonight but I was going alone and my anxiety got to better of me and I bottled it 😢
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Poor you 😚😚😚

I'm great at talking myself out of stuff too...

Booking stuff in advance is great, means it's harder and more expensive not to go...

Fiona
 
Wheels said:
Sorry things are not going great oldie - I wouldn't rule anything out at this stage, could well be pain related. Could it be that the behaviour she is exhibiting is not new and could have been a contributing factor to why she was roughed of before you bought her? A wise person once said to me that people generally don't stop riding or give up competing a horse that is going well.
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Oh I quite agree, I've been waiting for something to come out of the woodwork, I always do when I've bought a new horse. However, the previous owner roughed both her horses out for nearly three years whilst she got married and had children. she brought her other horse back into work and put Rose on sales livery at the end of last summer. Other horse started showing a comp record in late Autumn of 2018 so this owner had taken time out from riding, which is what I was told. Both horses had a consistent competition record until Jan 2016. FWIW she hasn't shown any nappy behaviour until quite recently, so we'll see. It may be that she's just settled in and is testing me.
 
Thing is, horses aren't stupid, and there is an evolutionary imperative to conserve energy if they think it's the easier option - not that all horses will consider it or whatever. It's perfectly plausible for a horse to start napping for reasons which aren't physical - it's making the judgement as to which issue it is which makes horses so hard! I think oldie's pretty open to the possibility to physical issues, and being very sensible about checking stuff out while training through it.
 
It’s a bank holiday weekend here, yay! Had a fab lesson today, her ladyships trot was much more consistent and less “wheeeee”. We were in one of the inside arena’s today and this one has mirrors, someone likes checking herself out 🙄

My Sunday lesson might be cancelled, the barn is having a dressage show all day so lack of arena space ☹️

I’m really enjoying my new horse, she’s quirky, fun and loves doing a job!
 
JFTD-WS said:
Thing is, horses aren't stupid, and there is an evolutionary imperative to conserve energy if they think it's the easier option - not that all horses will consider it or whatever. It's perfectly plausible for a horse to start napping for reasons which aren't physical - it's making the judgement as to which issue it is which makes horses so hard! I think oldie's pretty open to the possibility to physical issues, and being very sensible about checking stuff out while training through it.
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FWIW it's being a member of this forum that has hugely changed my attitude to what makes a horse misbehave. I now always look for a physical reason first whereas there was a time when I would have put it down to naughtiness. In fact I don't think of it as naughtiness any more, once I've reassured myself that this behaviour is not pain related, then it's a training issue and tbh the first place I need to look is at my own riding! She really took me by surprise yesterday, I wasn't carrying a whip and I only use baby spurs and she just wouldn't go! Normally she can be over strong in the first test. Always a learning curve wiith horses which is what makes it such a difficult but absorbing sport!
 
I do agree, oldie - I didn't use "naughtiness" in my post for that reason, but they can have their own opinions on life without having physical problems to dictate them - that's not naughtiness, that's being an independent animal with an evolutionary history, physiology and mind of its own. It's a very hard middle ground to tread, and it's what makes horsemanship infinitely harder than just riding.
 
How annoying, get my permission to drive and now my jeep is broken! Not quite sure what is wrong but the steering is all over the place, something feels broken or disconnected somewhere! Ggrrr joint pilates / riding lesson will just have to be pilates only and I'll try to put it into practise myself.
 
Well that's sod's law Wheels :confused:

JFTD - Dae looks amazing in that water pic, so much fun.

Sorry you had a bum outing Oldie. Horses can take us by surprise sometimes when they get really used to something, lose that adrenaline pep up and suddenly start having the headspace to process something differently and chuck in a bit of nappiness. My young mare had a moment of that this morning - she's always been a bit tense and looky at a person and dog in the distance (i don't think her eyesight is brilliant and she struggles to work out what it is, and she's the sort that needs to understand stuff), but this morning she stopped completely for the first time. She was completely oblivious to my legs and a tap on the shoulder from my whip, so she got a quick rap just above her hocks which shocked her into forward motion again (not because I did anything more than flick her, just because it's an unual place for me to tap her). We passed by the walker and dog and then the few others we saw after that she was completely chill about. Not something you'd want to do more than once, but clearly cognitively was a process that she needed for the sake of processing or something.

Obviously pretty easy for me with Arts because I backed her and know that she has no learned responses up her sleeve, but I'm sure you'll find a way forwards with Rose. Maybe now the nappy response is coming out more often you can go to some group clinics or shared arena hire maybe so that you can work on it without the stress of competition and with someone on hand to help?
 
oldie48 said:
FWIW it's being a member of this forum that has hugely changed my attitude to what makes a horse misbehave. I now always look for a physical reason first whereas there was a time when I would have put it down to naughtiness. In fact I don't think of it as naughtiness any more, once I've reassured myself that this behaviour is not pain related, then it's a training issue and tbh the first place I need to look is at my own riding! She really took me by surprise yesterday, I wasn't carrying a whip and I only use baby spurs and she just wouldn't go! Normally she can be over strong in the first test. Always a learning curve wiith horses which is what makes it such a difficult but absorbing sport!
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Do you think it could have been the warm up and an overload of tension?

I had a super dressage mare but every now and again she would really let me down and go into spooky-nappy-rear mode in the test. What it really was, was me letting her down by getting nervous/tense over things and she would feed off that.

Maybe you were just a bit rattled by the warm up and that was how it came out?
 
I had a lovely lesson yesterday afternoon, we worked on direct transitions, and me giving a kick rather than nagging... It was very hot, but it did work by the end, with much better paces especially canter. Finished off with some poles and jumping...

This morning we dodged the thunder and lightning (but not the rain 😭😭) to take F and Daisy SJ, and they jumped 2 lovely double clears at a busy venue... Also made a new friend to is also going to Area Tetrathlon 😊😊

Lovely breakfast in the cafe afterwards, to get dried out.

Fiona
 
I'll swap you 32 degree torture for your rain, Fiona! I'm cooked and all I've done is catch up on field boringness. No way in hell I'm riding in this!
 
Yeah I was thinking F's rain actually sounded pretty good too...I attempted to lunge Arts at 5:30pm yesterday and gave up after about 15 minutes with us both sweating from our eyeballs.
 
Girls have had their teeth done, both were excellent.
Poor Polly was being eaten alive in the field, Millie was stood right next to her and had no flies on her at all.

BBQ to celebrate Dad’s 73rd birthday this evening.. just when the rain is forecast!
 
ihatework said:
Do you think it could have been the warm up and an overload of tension?

I had a super dressage mare but every now and again she would really let me down and go into spooky-nappy-rear mode in the test. What it really was, was me letting her down by getting nervous/tense over things and she would feed off that.

Maybe you were just a bit rattled by the warm up and that was how it came out?
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Yes I think you may be right. I did get very uptight in the warm up and on reflection I think I was using too much hand and not enough leg, stopping her from going forward. I "try too hard" when I feel under pressure and I'm sure that goes straight through to her. We were also both very hot. It's interesting that the better she goes schooling, the poorer our results are when competing. Can't help but think this is all down to rider expections.....sack the jockey?
 
joining in the rain-swap gang :oops:
We're going out for friend's birthday party this eve which is very unfortunate because right now, about 10pm is looking like the ideal time for riding :rolleyes: Been pottering around achieving not a lot and really not feeling like doing anything more strenuous.

OH and I walked over to the field ponies that time last night and it was glorious. Salty moved in yesterday and has been accepted pretty fast though I bet Millie has had dibs on the field shelter today ;)

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A productive (disappointingly non-horsey) afternoon here although did get a quick attempt at loading in, really positive short session with all four feet on the ramp! Think he's going to need to be travelled in a big space though, best start saving for that HGV license 😭

In other non-horsey newsIMG_20190629_183900-1248x1664.jpg
Chocolate brownies (on the raw side of fudgy so might donate those to the yard instead of work), lemon drizzle flapjack and rice krispy cake. Feel sick from sampling and licking spoons and from heat 😂

Oh Oldie that's such a shame, I really hope it is easily sorted whatever it is! I go completely the same though, I overthink, and subsequently override which shuts D down completely because he doesn't understand what any of what I'm asking means.

Fiona we'll take some rain too if there's any left, 32 degrees here at 1pm 😭not ideal baking weather, or ideal weather for much other than being wafted with a fan and brought ice water... 😂 Very very glad I clipped D out on Monday as he was damp behind the ears today, dread to think how he would have been if he was still a yak.
 
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Well I was wrong on both counts earlier, so much for lolling around doing nothing, I got roped into haymaking. Ughh so so itchy. But it'll be my horses eating it so can't really moan. And Salty had got a good position inside the shelter, so she's definitely one of the gang. Millie doesn't even let Twigs inside so that really was a surprise :D

I am not a brave tractorer but I managed to row it up OK :p

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So thr showing was a complete flop and horse and I both just boiled to death. However, decided to jump at the last minute since pony we were escorting had a later class.

I put my number down first (get the humiliation over and done with!) and would you know it we got a clear round, despite the water tray causing carnage (it was a 70cm class) he didnt even look at it. Good boy!

So 2 phase and 1st to go in the jump off...speed is not his forte so decided to go for the turns as best as possible. We did enough and took my 1st ever SJing win. :D

Pic flying over the last!
 

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Blue disgraced herself and attempted to kill the hoof trimmer, despite the work I've put in, which was extremely disheartening. Apparently I'm allowed to rasp her hooves, clang around on them, and hold them in the air for ages at a time, but nobody else is.

So for now, trimmer has shown me how to keep on top of them, will come for regular checks to see I'm doing them right, and will work with her a little each visit. I'd never have risked asking somebody else to handle her feet if I'd had any idea she'd be this bad. I feel absolutely terrible for putting the trimmer through it.

However, she did then redeem herself a little by, for the first time, standing quietly while I took the clippers to her overgrown bramble of a mane and returned it to something approaching a hog. Next step is to tackle her tail and try to get her back to looking like a show cob. (Feathers are staying on, though. I need a handle for dealing with her feet.)

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