Tues 2nd
Love it…Bella ‘parked’.
She does ‘ground tying’ so well now 😉
I’d just put up the agility in a new area, where I can shut off gateways and keep it up without the horses moving or breaking bits SO…today was a good day to test our first Autumnal course 😉
Stormy did all the tasks very well, sometimes not according to plan BUT definitely according to his plan and that’s okay.
Okay jump for him, and great under the archway
Didn’t bother much with the flapping flags and did the first part of the labyrinth well…he just sidepassed off the 2nd half….his party piece 😉 lol
Hulahoops….not bad, could do better 😉 LOL and excellet with the flag
Next it was Bella’s turn. We did it online this time, probably again next time too BUT will be trying this more and more at liberty as we go into Autumn.
Fig 8’s fab and we did the best weave in trot so far, calm, connected and shoulder to shoulder the whole way…I really focused on visualising us together.
Sidepass over the drainpipe both ways which was great.
Nice jump and straight to trotting under the arch.
Trusting me and following through very close flags was great and bending through the labyrinth.
Almost managed to get all her feet into the two hulahoops, she really tried hard 😉
AND she did exceptionally well with the flapping noisy flag…I gave her treats for relaxing when it was noisy behind her hip area, this is where she worried before.
Weds 3rd
The horses today are allowed intotheir big Winter paddock, they will graze here until the weather changes and they come to the house for the snowy weather 😉
Thurs 4th
After doing a great job of online agility on Tues, today we decided to ride it. Bella was fab first time so didn’t repeat it 😉
- trot over tarp
- trot fig 8’s
3. trot weave
4. sidepass over pipe L&R
5. jump
6. under arch
7. trot to flag square and halt
8. labyrinth
9. feet in 2 hulahoops
10. noisy flag flapping 😉
After the agility we went around the round pens with one task….to try to ride them in walk with my hand position as if holding reins but trying not to touch the reins 😉
Bella was pretty good and to end we had a lovely big trot 😉
Fri 5th
Today’s challenge…..to try the agility at Liberty with Bella! 🙂 got some of the bits done, in the order she wanted to do them but saw that at a distance our connection isn’t as good as I’d like it BUT it does give us a fun thing to work towards. As with our Summer Liberty attempt in the round pen I will go back to doing the course online a couple of times and then work on doing it with just a neck rope so that it’s ‘almost’ Liberty 😉
For today I just took everything she offered 😉
Then we had a wee ride in the big field 😉
Sun 7th
Just a little catch up and connect with the big two today….lovely that they followed me to where we could groom out of the wind
and then we had a small play session with the pedestal…4 feet on the ped, 3 of Bella’s, 1 of Storm’s 🙂 lol
Then Bella put all 4 feet on it and afterwards Stormy showed off doing the same too 🙂
Love these two to bits <3
Ended with Stormy’s front feet on the ped and I go under his tummy then under Bella’s tummy too 🙂
Tues 9th
Been a while and I got cramp in my thighs getting on Bella…ouch! lol
I didn’t do too much today, really wanted just to get our riding connection together for a bit.
Mark came along riding Stormy so we did a bit of ‘follow the leader’ and ‘leap frog’ which went okay but needs more work again as it’s been a while.
I went around the round pens in walk and then slow trot looking for relaxation which we eventually got a bit of.
Was just really lovely being with the horses and Mark in the big field for a while 😉
Thurs 11th
Today I put into plan some more consistency with Bella’s riding SO rode her early in the morning. We did some very nice RtR in walk and trot, getting some nice slow and medium walk and trot now and often loose rein P2P’s to the corner cones 😉
We finished by going down the small hillock and was intending to just walk back up the other side but Bella had a bit of a yeehaa and cantered fast to the waiting P2P cone where she stopped nicely. It was a bit of a big yeehaa and we lost our connection for a few seconds but it was nice to feel it return quite quickly 😉
Sat 13th
I managed to get a really nice P2P ride on Bella again early this morning. Then in the afternoon we go out for a short-ish hack with Mark and Stormy 🙂 We didn’t go too far, to the little wooden bridge along the track but we turned for home as soon as they started feeling a bit sweaty. The sweat came from (1) thick wintery coats making them hot up quickly (2) a bit of emotion as not been out this way for quite a while and (3) being slightly unfit as not ridden out for a while also can make them sweat a bit. Not too bad when we get home and we put 100g rugs on them to help wick away the sweat and keep them from getting chilled before the evening comes 😉
Mon 15th
Get out for a wee ‘collection’ ride on Bella this afternoon. Practise what we tried last week which is sidepass, bullseye to leg yields on a circle, partial dhq’s and leg yields in a straight line. I did it all in-hand on the ground first. All went well and she is starting to move more in the leg yields, it takes time to build it up to where it’s smoother. We are starting to get more ‘collection’ through her body and it will be a slow process to help her get that balance between lightness and engagement nicely. I’ll continue doing bits of this before Winter sets in and then pick it up again next Spring when we’ve all had a nice break 😉
Here’s a few short video’s of our session today >>>>
Online sidepass
and taking that to Ridden sidepass:
Online leg yields:
to Ridden bullseye into leg yields:
Online partial dhq:
to Ridden partial dhq:
Weds 17th
Love that they both ground tie so well 😉
Storm trot poles
Through then back under arch
Sweet big boy
Draw under arch 😉
Good jump today
Sidepass distanced
Trot weave
Through then back, gap
Then Bella’s turn…
Trot thru gap
Trot poles
Arch backup
Arch forward trot
Jump
Sidepass with distance
Fabulous trot weave
Backup thru gap close to
Backup thru gap distance
Thu 18th
Lovely ride on Bella today, nice and easy, rhythmic trot and relaxation 😉
Fri 19th
Another lovely ride today
Walk and trot around RtR using a large fig 8 pattern around field and between roundpens.
Lovely light and not too cold
Lovely big striding trot today and a wee bit of canter 😉
Sun 21st
Just a quick play at dinner time today 😉
Tue 23rd
Had a lovely short ride on Bella today. Still doing the RtR Fig 8’s which really consists of two large squares SO I moved on from just doing one lap walk, one lap trot to where we’re doing one side of a square in walk, the next in trot, next in walk etc SO it breaks it up more, stops her sweating and is a lot of fun to do 😉
Lovely and calm, rhythmic trot that I could sit to…I breathed out a lot and asked her to slow which worked well.
Each trot section was just the width of the field so enough time to enjoy it but not enough time to get faster 😉
Love this big girlie.
At dinner time they BOTH wanted to stand on the pedestal….we need a 2nd pedestal 🙂 <3 xx
Wed 25th
Another FABuLOUS ride on Bella today. Same fig 8 pattern in walk and trot with breathing up/down transitions and even some minute adjustments for more finesse in our transitions. Really enjoyable, calm and fun ride 😉
Lovely day today 😉
Fri 26th
Storm ARWEN coming in tomorrow SO we lash down the horse shelter with big straps that attach to long stakes in the ground and then bring the horses back to the house 😉
Back home safe and sound…hope the storm isn’t too bad….
Sat 27th
Well…..what a ton of destruction last night…I’m SO glad the horses found safety in the lower paddock as a huge amount of trees fell down behind their paddocks…INTO THE PADDOCKS!!
Shed safe and sound down in the big field 🙂
Tues 30th
Today we started chainsawing some of the branches off the trees that have fallen in the horse paddocks, the weather brightened up a bit too SO we took the horses back to the field…I walked them as it was a wee bit icy on the track in places.
- Shelley – HorseSavvy