Bella & Stormy – March 2026

Mon 2nd

Taking it easy into the New Year’s fitness programme 

Today:

Bella and I were a bit ‘unstraight’ to start with so I worked on getting myself ‘in line’ with the line we were going and then tweaking/release/tweak/release on leg/rein to ask Bella to find our body and directional ‘line’ under me. This worked really well. She hates being micromanaged so an ask/release repeated is a good way for her to synchronised with me and the way we’re going without any brace of body/mind/emotions 

Fri 6th

Another blue sky day up here (we have had some grey, drizzly days recently) so off out to be with S&B for me and Mark (he spent the time resting and taking pics, once it’s warmer he’ll be back riding now and then)….for now I’m keeping his boy, Stormy, fit and engaged 😉

Well Mark surprised me this morning by walking S&B back home after giving them breakfast and cleaning the field. This is the first time he’s walked a mile plus walking the horses…so proud that his knee’s are doing so well now 😉

S&B by the fence asking for a treat or two 😉

AND then…it snowed just before night fall and again in the morning BUT then came blue skies and rugs off 😉

They came up as I thought the farrier was coming the next day BUT after texting him he’s actually put us down for next Thurs SO….another opportunity to ride them home and then bring them back up next week 🙂 🙂

Fri 13th

Lovely hack back to the big field today riding Stormy and leading Bella 😉

Each beginning of the year I go back on our foundation. I do this to check things are there, they work and to start the years fitness as we have a long winter up here in Scotland and S&B (and me) get a bit riding unfit SO, starting from the basics is a good way to get it all going again.

Today Bella and I did our 2nd RtR (ride the rail) in walk. I choose walk to help her fitness and also she’s a draft horse so she’s really not ever going to RtR in canter, she’s just not that kinda horse.

One thing we should always be aware of, and work in the parameters of, is the type of horse you have, the spirit level of your horse and what they like to do

Bella is a medium spirit draft horse who was bred over years to be a good, calm horse that would have ploughed a field all day or pulled a cart most of the day. So, I try to not overface her with challenges she doesn’t enjoy but try to keep things interesting so she doesn’t get bored 

As the weeks go by we’ll start putting some trot into this and maybe more trot than walk by the end with a bit of canter when she feels happy to do so 

NB. The more foundation you put onto your horse, the more stuff you can build onto it. Working it up over the years until you have a very rounded horse with a solid foundation that the walls of training can happily sit upon 

I know both S&B will be okay standing still while I put my hat and coat on and I know how to make and put on a make-shift halter’

They’ve heard sirens on the main road (about a mile away) but never close to so that is something I know we need to practise.

I’ve also never put a sheet of wood near their bodies (used to keep people safe if a horse is flailing about when panicking) so another thing to practise.

Simulating syringes to the neck we’ve done before and also putting a towel (or tarp in our case) over their heads too.

Stroking legs with a stick is something I do with horses almost from the beginning of training so I’m sure that’ll be okay, so too the rope around belly and legs 😉

Walking over pipes and tarp they love doing so, again, not a worry.

Then I have had to make up a make-shift ‘trailer’. I put a load of tyres near a corner of the field fence, making a small, narrow but long gap for them to load into then out of. If the weather is kind I can try to put up two of my ‘agility curtains’ to make a ‘pretend’ roof and I’ve also a big tarpaulin I can try to affix to that so that it’s a really good pretend trailer but I may have to just use the space with tyres as if they weather is like today (very windy) I’ll not attempt the tarp roof/walls 😉

Anyway, today, was S&B’s first practise with the wood barrier and sirens noise from a YouTube vid on my phone. It went pretty well 😉

NB. I treat a lot when learning something new and gradually but as quickly as possible I go to having less to no treats. By the time I video the course for the competition I will give no treats 😉 I treat 1st for compliance to what I ask, then a bigger better treat for compliance with relaxation. Later it’s more of a stroke, pat and rewarding words 😉

Stormy’s video of practise 1:

Bella’s video of practise 1:

Tues 31st

Today I managed to film both S&B’s BARTA Agility courses for the competition. They were both fabulous and I’ll put up their vid’s after the Agility deadline of April 15th. For now here are the steps from Bella’s video 😉

All the tasks we did were to represent those that may be used by BARTA trained (firemen, police, vets etc) services in an emergency 😉

< 1&2 = Hat and coat on

3 = Put makeshift headcollar on (made from line of rope) >

< 4 = Sound of police sirens for 10 seconds (on phone)

5 = Put barrier up against horses side for 5 seconds (wood) >

< 6 = Pretend to do an injection using syringe with no needle (both L&R)

7 = Place a towel on horses neck, slide it up over ears, then eyes >

< 8 = Touch all horses legs with a stick like emergency services might use a crook (insides and outsides)

9 = Place a rope around horses belly for a second, then front legs, then back legs >

< 10 = Walk over obstacles representing fire service things (hoses etc)

11 = Walk over a tarpaulin >

< 12 = ‘pretend’ trailer loading (in for 5 secs) then back horse out (using a simulation of a trailer if no trailer available 😉

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk