Well, February was a great start to the year and hopefully it will continue through March. This month I’ll be trying to mix things up to keep training fun. We call this ‘cross training’ and it will help Bella cope with multiple training styles but I’ll do things more than once if the first time she struggles with the change so that’ll help her find confidence.
The types of training will be:
Loose rein riding, one hand riding and connected rein riding around the field with transitions and dressage moves such as leg yields.
Transitions around the round pens building up to canter SLC’s in fig 8 pattern (Simple Lead Change).
Agility, online, liberty and ridden (using one set of obstacles per month but working them in different configurations and/or different challenges per obstacle).
Dressage in my field arena (Consisting of many different transitions and shapes)
Hacking out (different routes with multiple gaits.
Rope circling in w/t/c.
Trec training (new for us but like agility)
So hoping this month will build on the last one nicely.
Weds 1st
Today I took S&B for another walk, after the last hack where Bella had a wee spook when a stone fell down the steep bank making a weird noise I wanted to make sure she was ok going in the same area again SO….groomed and haltered up we go around the fields. Then before we get to home I turn around and go back in the opposite direction letting them graze regularly for motivation and rewards. Because all goes really well, before we go over the wooden bridge again, I change direction and take them towards the river. This direction there a few distractions….there are often ducks on the river so they squawk and fly up when we get nearby (not today though, so all went calmly well). Then there is the ‘gateway’ we go through which used to give Bella some trouble, it’s often boggy (not today thank goodness), right next to the fast flowing river but also the fence next to it is just a few posts with a very thin electric wire (so it’s hard to see and has some ‘electric energy’ off it!). I hate the fence because if a horse bolted they would not see the wire and it could be disastrous, that’s why I hate it ;(
Anyway, the walk went really well, they were calm, connected to me and happy to have wee munchies of grass along the way 😉
Just testing out my new phone/camera’s SlowMo mode…..
At the water trough after our walk 😉
Fri 3rd
Such a beautiful day after a cold start today. Out for a hack towards the village, just wanted to do half way, to the big wooden bridge and build up their fitness so we can do the village shop later on in the year 😉
Stunning views.
Mark got off and walked a wee bit….
….but got on again at the next gate 😉
Both horses stopped before the wooden bridge, where we were going to turn for home. We just sat on them and waited patiently for them to get curious. Next time I asked her to walk on she did so beautifully. Once over we turned around for home again and she happily trotted over it for home 😉
Bella dying to get in front….she did a fabulously calm, rocking horse canter up the last hill to the home gate 😉
Stormy did a nice plod home <3
Sat 4th
Another dry, blue sky day here….cold in the morning but ok in the afternoon for a ride in the field. Today I wanted to test our leading Storm from Bella and then try out my dressage test.
Bella has only done this a couple of times before and first time this year.
She did really well and although a moment of ‘whoa’ when I took Storm’s ropes and flapped them on her side, but she quickly calmed down again which was great.
Going through our ‘dressage test’ she found her strong trot again.
We worked on our curves with some 20m circles.
She did a couple of ‘skips’ into canter in our trot work so I just ignored it and continued working on the trot.
Then we did some canter work. This is the FIRST time she’s been balanced enough to canter in the ‘arena’ area and I am going to build on this so we can get the canter going along the long side, curve the short side and down the next long side 😉
Working on canter (and walk/trot) in a straight line too which is hard when one long side of the arena doesn’t have a fence to work from.
Really lovely that she follows me after our ride together….she knows there’s a peppermint when she’s been untacked and groomed.
Sun 5th
Today we decided we need to bring the horses back to the house as we’ve had snow and ice warnings for the next 7-10 days SO we decided to ride them back.
The weather is chilly and I’ll be happy to have them back at the house where we can check on them anytime we want and put on/take off rugs when necessary.
Went past some sheep and then through the field of Highland cattle….
….Bella looking back at the cattle. She did well and sidled up to the gate for me to get off to open it and then when through it she sidled up again for me to get back on 😉
Nearly home now and it was fun to take slightly different tracks along the way
Bella leading at the end and once in the field they ate some hay then went wandering to look for munchy grazing if any about….might be a bit early for munchies but they’ll have a good look for some 🙂
Mon 6th
This morning, Mark feeding the beasties. S&B had rugs on last night as forecast snow/rain and very cold but to be honest they probably didn’t need them as it didn’t really come down much. They were happy to have them off this morning but it will be a constant check on forecast for the next few days and on/off rugging going on 🙂
Weds 8th
Lovely ride out, just walk as the ground is very hard, but a fab way to spend an hour in the afternoon with best buddies and a blue sky 🙂
Fri 17th
Well it’s been just about 2 weeks since S&B had to come back to the house paddocks due to snow, rain, wind etc. I’m glad they were here as it made putting rugs on and taking them off easier for us and it’s always lovely to have them closer to home for a while BUT today, with the days mild temperatures we rode them back to their big field again 😉
Bella and me waiting for Mark to mount…and we’re off 😉
Taking the soft grassy route
Following Stormy with a nice steady plod
Bella leading…spotting the Highland cows with calves in the next field
I opened the gate to the cow field and decided to walk Bella in-hand through it as she was a
little distracted by the cows by the track and also the cute babies…Bella loves babies 😉
Through the cow field and used the gate to remount. The back pack I used today I’ve had for absolute years, my dearest uncle Laurence bought it for me when I used to ride my old horse Tara to the village and back. SO, to Uncle Lal…it’s still going strong and still the best backpack for riding a horse 😉
Stormy waiting patiently for me and B 😉
Last leg of ride and then smoothly back in the big field. I took Bella’s saddle and bridle off so she could stretch her legs and keep up with Mark and Storm 😉
After having a lovely groom this morning Stormy is now a mucky boy after this roll in the mud 😉
Mon 20th
We’ve been having drizzle and rain up here so not a lot of mild, dry weather to do much in BUT this morning I did the horses (feed and poo pick) and then decided to have a wee potter in walk around the field a bit on Bella. As it was just a quick plod I put Storm’s bareback pad on him, put my hard hat on and then rode in her rope halter and lead rope made into reins. It was a really impromptu moment, always the best moments, and I really enjoyed it. We just walked around the round pens then went around my circle of cones where we did some weaving doing turns with the outside rein, neck reining, and then did some circles where we stopped at each cone and side passed over it alternately left and right 😉
Ready to ride with Storm’s bareback pad….I made this pad years ago and it’s been the best bareback pad I’ve ever used 😉
Stormy decided to follow us around for a bit too which was fun
Storm waiting for his treat after I gave one to Bella 😉
This was Stormy following us side by side for a bit
Bella doing fab breath out stops in between my two round pens
Working both horses, asking Bella forward whilst asking Stormy to back up at the same time 😉 🙂
Tues 21st
Started off the morning after feeding with some nice liberty play around the agility obstacles
Bella was leading but Stormy enjoyed coming along for a treat or two 😉
Standing still in a pole box. Walk over low jump. Forwards & back along parallel poles.
Draw towards me over the pole square
LOVE horses that come to call….these two are fab.
Great energy
Superb FOCUS and willingness combined with desire to be with me 😉
Ended the session with another wee impromptu bareback ride, this time I used a CORDEO rope (neck rope) to start teaching Bella to be ridden bridleless 🙂 : ) 🙂
It uses my own focus, body moves, weight and voice cues that we’ve been working on since backing her in 2019….now it’s all getting lighter and lighter…can we harmonise through our movements to get gaits and turns? 😉
It was a good start today, just a bit of walk and turns in big fig 8’s….only used reins at the start to help associate those cues with the cordeo ones.
Thurs 23rd
Chilly but a nice day to do a bit more bareback riding on Bella 😉
Checking out our basic walk, stop, backups 😉
A great, light backup shows you have a good halt 😉
Managed to get some nice transitions up and down from walk to trot
Glad I got to do trot, I’ve been suffering from bouts of vertigo (no….that’s not a fear of heights) which has me very dizzy and unbalanced so trotting wasn’t an option recently…mind you, riding wasn’t an option recently! lol
Nice turns and some nice neck reining in fig 8’s in the round pen
Also some nice sidepassing over cones, alternating left and right over each one we pass.
< LOVE this pic….focused, head up and nice energetic steps 😉
Another nice pic when we stopped >
Sat 25th
Another fab opportunity to familiarise to our friend’s digger as we asked him to come and scrape some soil from in front of their shelter, preparing form some Mud Control slabs to help stop it all being so muddy when it rains 😉 They did so well and Bella was brave and curious enough to actually walk really near to it once the engine was off 😉
Sun 26th
Went out and thoroughly groomed both S&B. They are both moulting madly so they thoroughly enjoyed their pamper time 😉
I then decided it was early enough to maybe have a wee plod around on Stormy and then Bella…all looking good to start, looking forward to having some ride time with them both. I tacked up Stormy and we managed about 5 mins of walking about and then it started to hail down on us SO I quickly dismounted and called it a day.
Mon 27th
Sunshine and blue skies today (still chilly and very cold last night) but a great day for a ride or two 😉
Asking Stormy to put some effort in to his walk, he really stepped up for me and started to walk faster which is what I was aiming for, to stretch his legs 😉
He offered a couple of lovely balanced trots which I took and had a really lovely wee ride on him. Not much but a good stretch 😉
Bella showing she still fits onto the pedestal 😉
Lovely light, balanced, rhythmic sitting trot today…really nice and relaxed
Got a wee bit of canter around the round pen to the left too today. Building up slowly to the challenge this year of full circle canter to the left and right around the 2 round pens 😉
Some very light leg yields on a circle today too…both to the left and right
And checking our connection after our ride too 😉 : )
Thurs 31st
Today was hard work but well worth it…..next to the horses field shelter we have rubber matting that has been quite good at keeping the area from getting muddy BUT outside that section, outwith the shelter overhang, it was getting quite muddy and squidgy. We decided to invest in something more sturdy than rubber matting on this section. The slabs are from a company called Mud Control, they’re recycled hard plastic and are very good at going on squidgy mud and to keep the area from getting that way 😉
First we got a friend in with a digger to take a small layer of the squidgy mud off the top to allow the MC slabs to sit lower…then we started to lay them, one row at a time 😉
Stormy was very curious and brave and I put one slab out for him to investigate, also to keep him from getting in the way 😉
He was so cool…standing on it and sniffing it 😉
Bella came over to check it out too and went over the 3 lines of them back and forward easily.
First pic here just before the finish…we then put some of the old mud onto the edges so that they lay flat and the horses won’t clap their hooves on the edges….the free edge on the right (last pic) is set up ready to take another 5 rubber mats to hopefully complete it all 😉
- Shelley – HorseSavvy