Wed 3rd
Great way to spend this morning….riding both Storm then Bella 😉 The weather is perfect for it, damp, cool, grey, breezy…no flies…fabulous 😉
First ride is Storm. Just use the field to move him about, stretch his long legs so we didn’t need to go fast, just work on getting a good walk going. He offered some trot which was lovely and then a couple of small canters 😉 He got to graze in the round pen for a reward after our ride. I then rode Bella 🙂
With Bella we start off stretching her legs with a good solid walk out. Then to get her fitness up we work on sustaining her trot and we got a lovely big fig 8 of trot with very few stops and when she did it was quickly back into trot again. The ride wasn’t as long as some other rides but it was a great start on getting longer periods of trot which later on will bring more canter once we’ve got fitness under our belts 😉
Fri 7th
Today I had some fun doing some agility tasks with Bella (then Stormy afterwards) 🙂
Feet in hula hoop. Flag familiarisation. Sidepass over drainage tube.
Forward then back through arch. Touch flag with nose. Trot towards me through curtain.
Sidle over a pole. Trot onto tarp then halt. Jump
Into parallel poles, halt then back up. Back up through scary corner with bunting. Fig 8 in trot.
Bella ended with some nice sidling to a mounting block and then stepping on the flag which was flapping about on the ground 😉
Storm did the same round….feet in hoop. Flag familiarisation. Halt on tarp
Trot towards me under arch. Backup through curtain. Sidle over pole.
Backed up through the scary corner and both had the reward of some grazing on long grass in the agility arena 😉
Sun 7th
I knew today was going to be hot but also knew that the next few days I would be doing other things SO early this morning was perfect for a short ride.
Why a short ride? WELL…..It was already starting to get hot at 8am this morning and I knew if I set a good, quick goal that was achievable, then it would be a perfect ride. SO, what was the goal?
The goal was to warm up with the roundpens in walk and then in trot. The big goal was to then just canter around the roundpens, with a short trot section in the middle between circles. This is called a SLC (Simple lead change) and guess what…..Bella was a super star and just did it for me.
After she did it I jumped off, gave her a big hug and leg her graze as her reward for being such a super-douper, balanced partner 😉
Could not love her more, she has come so far over the 5yrs of having her in our lives. She is the perfect partner to me and to Big Stormy too <3
Mon 8th
So, today I had one of my student/friends over to visit S&B. I do this now and then on an ‘special invite’ only basis. It’s usually students I classify as good friends but also those that have enough knowledge, kindness and willingness to learn that I invite and Belinda is one of those 😉 🙂
She took on the challenge to play and sit on Stormy and took that challenge with both hands to the point where she was happy to ride Storm in walk and trot with me giving her some instruction through the play into the riding 😉
Storm was quite grass orientated. Stormy looks ENORMOUS and as Belinda said, ‘he IS enormous’ 😉 lol. Having fun with some agility obstacles
Manged to get on Storm well. Belinda looks like a wee kid on a pony 😉 lol. And laughing through the big trot Storm delivers 😉
Thu 11th
Bella needed her 2nd dectomax injection today, the follow up for mites in her leg feathers.
SO, opportunity to ride Stormy and lead Bella back to the house 😉
Stormy rode very well and Bella followed beautifully.
I love that she is so happy to just follow Stormy, keeping her feet off the stony track and on the grass verge 😉
Got to the house in plenty of time for them to have a graze in the home paddock before the vet came at around midday.
After vet had been we saddled Stormy back up and Mark rode him back to the big field while I walked Bella 😉
Lots of really long grass along the route home, S&B have learned the art of swiping for the grass heads while still walking 😉 lol
Bella and I opened the gates for Storm and Mark 😉 Look at that fabulously thick, long tail 😉 Great fly swisher
(I hate when draft horse owners cut their horses tails for silly shows, they need them for flies so we let them grow as long as they can) 🙂
Mark and Storm had a nice canter and some trot along the route. Really enjoy being out with the the boys and my beautiful girl Bella <3
And back in the big paddocks 😉
Fri 12th
Today I washed Bella’s feet. Firstly to help clean them from all the oil and sudocrem we’ve been putting on them to heal the cuts and get ride of the mites.
Bella was a super star and showed how well our connection training has come along over the years….she put her foot in the tall bucket with water and allowed me to wash her feet individually with much gusto. She has never put her foot in a bucket this tall nor with water in it SO I’m a very proud momma with her trusting me. I think she knew this was all for her good and probably the warm water was soothing.
I then towel dried them and put a mix of hibiscrub on them to help with any mites that may be left there (not that I think there are any there now) 🙂
Mark later on put some sudocrem on the wee crack she has on her front left and crusty scabby bit on her hind left 😉
Sun 14th
Very early ride this morning with Ms Bella. She was fab. Just kept it to walk and mostly trot, marking out the next pattern we’ll be doing later on in canter….the long side of the field (we’ve already done the short side) so this will be about holding canter for longer and we’ll try it out when the weather is cooler/breezier and when the flies are so nasty.
Before and after the ride Bella got some grazing, Stormy on the other hand grazed the whole time in the round pen 😉
Tues 17th
GREAT NEWS….TODAY MY NEW BOOK IS BEING PUBLISHED ON AMAZON 🙂
I’m so proud of finally getting my book into print. It has my Horsemanship training techniques, my articles, quotes and fun agility bits.
The hardback is a good deal and lovely quality, the paperback needs to be put under a heavy book for a while as the cover can curl at the start.
Just go to Amazon and look up Shelley Newton-Carter or click on the link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=shelley+newton-carter&ref=nb_sb_noss
Thurs 18th
Another early morning ride on Bella and then Stormy 🙂
Sun 21st
Lovely ride with Bella today. We did a lot of different shapes, patterns and gaits and she felt very soft and light 😉
For a reward she wanted small thistles so I let her grab as many as she wanted 😉
Storm, as always, just looked fabulous <3
Tues 23rd
SO, today….I needed to get samples for worm count and that often means hanging around until they’ve pooped. Today I decide to ride B then S as I know movement can often help that process along SO…..
I have a lovely ride on Bella first….she provides the sample quickly, as she always does, but I continue with the exercise as we both need it. She was fab and she wanted small thistles for her reward so I let her grab a load while still waiting for Stormy’s sample.
I ride Stormy with a loose rein and a passenger lesson (he goes where he wants and I have no say about it apart from asking him to stay in walk). It was fun but he didn’t give me a sample so I pop him back into his round pen and 15 mins later he delivers 😉 🙂 All samples sent off now and hopefully all good.
Fri 26th
OMG, what was going to just be a quick exercise ride turned into a great ride.
Doing some walk trot transitions Bella put in a walk to canter transition 
I asked her to do it 5 more times and YES…BELLA can do WALK TO CANTER TRANSITIONS 
I’m over the moon.
So proud of her but also buzzing on a high of her achievements since being owned by her for 5 yrs now She melts my heart every time I think of her 
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Mon 29th
Another lovely morning ride on Bella. Today we did a long walk warm up where I asked her now and then to lengthen her walk stride so we were going medium walk to fast walk on and off.
After the walk we went in to some trot where I changed my diagonal every 6 strides on the up beat. This means that as we trot I count 6 strides and either sit down or stand up for a count of two. This helps to balance up muscles on me and Bella as staying on the same diagonal can be detrimental to muscles and symmetry for us both.
The last bit we were testing some walk to canter transitions but with a twist of counting 6 strides of canter, 10 strides of walk (or trot). She did the up gaits well but mostly wanted to come down from canter to trot and that’s fine with me as it’s difficult to come from canter down to walk for a heavy horse….her upwards trans were near perfect again and she felt very balanced and relaxed doing them so I’m a happy bunny 😉
Storm’s ride was just a basic stretch of his legs today, a bit of trot and a nice canter back to the mounting block to end.
They both had some grazing time today but as a reward we stopped at the small thistles they just adore eating at the moment. Then when back on their field track they mutually groomed 😉
- Shelley – HorseSavvy