Bella – March 2022

Published on

Tues 1st

A lovely start to the month with some mild-ish weather and some sunny spells. Went and groomed Bella then decided to take a wee ride as well 😉

 

Nice walk then into trot

 

 

 

 

Getting straighter with sidepassing

 

 

 

Sunshine & Snow

Praising all the time

 

 

 

Loose rein trot to cones and turning around cones using DHQ

 

 

 

Stop over log
Sidepass over log

 

 

 

 

New task is to ask for sidepassing over the log lengthwise. Okay with front legs, little unsure with backs at the moment. Always fun to have something to work on 😉

 

 

 

Weds 2nd

Lovely spending the morning with the gang, they followed me around while I did the poo-picking which is always lovely 😉

 

What lovely skies this morning

 

 

 

 

Sat 5th

 

Trimmed Bella’s hooves today and Stormy hung out with Mark 😉

 

 

 

Then had a nice short bareback ride on Bella…always helps relax my back after trimming her 😉

 

 

 

Sun 6th

 

Started off todays fun with Storm and Mark playing around with agility obstacles 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we did a ride around together. taking it slowly at this start of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then I do a bit of solo work with Bella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 8th

 

Managed to ride both Storm and Bella today 😉 🙂 🙂

Stormy: Rode to get back our focus after winter and also cooperation as Storm has a strong personality and wants to just do his thing so I tweak where he goes with a bit of where I want to go and then use cone and tyre obstacles to keep him interested by doing random fig 8’s and then P2P’s with sidepass over obstacle we ride to. He really got focused and ended up having a lovely ride together.
Bella: Rode to get back focus, straightness and flexibility. Worked on relaxation P2P’s first working on obstacles in corners of big field and then tweaked where/how I was sitting to find our straightness. Once that was in place I used my weight cues and alternate feel in the stirrups to create bends and flexibility. Great session and so focussing 😉
Thurs 10th
A bit windy today but had a nice session of in-hand agility with Bella and liberty with Stormy 🙂 Bella did a bit of liberty work but when she gets a wee bit further away from a good S2M she gets a wee bit worried and can’t figure out how to come back to me SO…am going to stick to helping her learn more online to keep her confidence and slowly we’ll do more with S2M close liberty work 😉
Fri 11th
Getting quite windy here so went down to the field to put the big straps onto the shelter and I also tidied up the agility area to make sure nothing is likely to blow away. Whilst doing this I had some fun with the tarp and the horses….’you’re never doing nothing with your horses’…so true 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weds 16th

Had a lovely play session with Bella followed by a really nice ride. Calm, focussed and felt like we’ve actually started our training year now 😉

Before, in the morning, I called them up the big hill and they decided to race to me 😉 😉 It was fab to see them cantering together and although Bella tried her hardest to catch Stormy she didn’t quite manage it.
Fri 18th 
Today was our FIRST wee hack out this year and it was really lovely to be out and about. Walked Bella first, got on at a gate, didn’t do too much, just stretched our hacking legs and got used to being somewhere ‘new/strange’ again. Fab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 22nd

Today we hacked out a bit further in the lower fields near their main field. Got on at the start of ride this time, off to go through narrow gap by river but she sidled up perfectly for me to get on again from a broken dyke wall. Did quite a bit of walk/trot in next big field and rode through narrow gap on the way back. She even gave me a really lovely, calm, controlled canter right at the end…perfect end to a perfect hack out 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 23rd

Today I played with Bella (in-hand) and then Stormy (at liberty) through a new Agility course. It’s the same course I’m doing in my March Agility teaching clinic’s and it went down very well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 24th

Managed to film Bella doing the Agility course today…

 

And then I rode Bella in our make-shift arena with a ‘dressage test’ I put together myself for her. It was our first attempt and it was mainly to get the pattern in our minds and body but she did really well. Nice walk, energetic trot and she did her first canter along a long side too which is hard as not a lot of room but her canter was controlled and easy to sit to 😉 So proud of my big girlie, over the last few days we’ve done in-hand agility, started the year’s hacking out AND did some dressage 😉 How fab is she <3

 

Start in walk, get into trot nicely through most of it.

 

 

 

Big trot and then into some nice self-carriage moments 😉

 

 

 

 

Just a fab canter…a first for us in the arena 😉 😉

 

 

 

Will keep a smile on my face for a LONG time xxx

 

 

 

 

Sat 26th

Today is pretty hot around midday so we decide to have a short, fun session AND do the agility course ridden. It was fun and enough for today 😉

Here’s Stormy’s round…

 

< Gaits: Fast walk/halt/Slow walk/halt/trot/halt >

 

 

 

 

Curtain

 

 

 

 

Front feet in hula hoop…took two attempts but did it perfectly in the end, such a clever boy 😉

 

 

 

Weave walk and then onto tarp and halt

 

 

 

 

Jump then push the ball

 

 

 

 

Halt over a pole and for fun he sidepasses off it 😉

 

 

 

 

Into narrow gap, halt, backup then through and onto the pedestal with front feet and familiarise with flag 😉

 

 

Bella did it really well too, here’s her video…

 

Tues 29th

Today I set up an ‘Equine Agility UKs’ Easter Challenge course and went around it with Bella and then Stormy. It was a quick play for a bit of fun, here are the vid’s:

Bella:

 

& Stormy:

 

Thurs 31st

Went out today an hour before dinnertime, it was a bit windy and it’s got quite cold again here. The horses were okay but I could see Bella was a bit on edge so I groomed and rode Stormy bareback around the round pens first. Then I haltered and played with Bella in the round pen. She was super soft and light and did some lovely moves. I let her off and we went to the place where they have their meal and I put their hay in their shelter ready for the cold night ahead. All went okay but Bella decided she could not take anything from my hand and I could not catch her so I had to just follow her about and when she looked at me I walked backwards. Strange but it could be that she got the smell of the ‘wormer’ I gave Stormy and decided she didn’t like it OR she could be in season and a bit hormonal. Whatever the reason I hope she is catch-able tomorrow! 🙁