Tues 1st
Well it’s been 12 days since I’ve ridden Bella (not counting twice we tried but she was a bit unsound so didn’t continue)
I’ve been looking after things here at home (S&B, dog, stove etc) while Mark recovers from his knee replacement (he’s doing very well so far 😉 ) SO today I just grabbed the chance to ride while the sun was out and there wasn’t any wind 😉
As you can see from the ride chart today she didn’t go far….she started out ok but then was quite ‘antsy’ so we just worked on trying to find softness and some partnership together through circles, fig 8’s and just waiting for those good moments 😉
On a good note I managed to get the agility obstacles in the agility area ready to have some playtime with S&B 🙂
AND…..dinner time, around 5pm. I’ve been calling them up the big hill each night so they get some faster exercise as I’ve not been doing much play or riding at the moment. Yesterday it started to drizzle a bit SO I stood there under an umbrella. Now, both S&B are used to umbrella’s BUT they’re not used to one up the hill, which proves that their environment needs to be expanded with strange things or they only get used to new things in one or two places (agility arena or big field). This was a fun thing to do as I just stood my ground and called them. They both came half way up the hill and then stood still watching and waiting to decide what to do. This is their normal instinct, to be wary of strange things. It’s often called ‘napping’ in the horse world, I call it a ‘threshold’ and if you just wait, allow them to get over their scepticism and find their curiosity and bravery then they can over come most things. They did just that and after about 5 mins they both came up the hill to get their dinners.
While they were eating I played around with the umbrella with no concerns from Storm or Bella.
We even had a bit of fun with the umbrella’s without any concerns at all 🙂
< Bella being very brave and not concerned about it.
Stormy saying nitey nite 😉 >
Weds 2nd
Breakfast with S&B this morning 😉 nice and early to watch the sunrise 😉
I then had to get back home to take delivery of some coal for the stove which Mark can’t do at the moment and then I went back down to the horses for some play, riding and cleaning the field.
Our ride was very similar to yesterday…antsy and not the best. We finished on a good note after I spend a lot of time circling, fig 8’s and asking for her to partner up with me with every little thing such as the curve of our bodies, the line of our walk/trotting, the tip of her nose and where her head was. We managed to end on a good note by not asking too much but asking for good things 😉
After I cleaned the field (and while I’m cleaning) Bella often comes up for some scratches and cuddles. Recently I’ve been just jumping on her back from the quad bike 😉 This is a great form of trust between us and in this ‘arena’ area she was fine, calm and happy to have me up there.
Next time I ride I will do it in the ‘arena’ area and hopefully we’ll have a nice, partnered ride.
I do think that Autumn, like Spring, has her hormones up a lot. In Spring she would have had a foal, in Autumn she would probably have had it taken away from her (around 6 months old….too young IMHO, should be 11-12 months with natural weaning but that’s the horse industry for you 🙁 )
This evening at dinner time neither Storm nor Bella batted an eyelid at the umbrella I was holding at their dinner site…..fabulous 🙂
S&B happily grazing together down the big hill after their dinner time <3
Thurs 3rd