Blog

Sat 2nd

With the farrier coming on Monday and Mark and I busy tomorrow (Sun) we thought it best to bring S&B back to the house ready for him today 😉 I decided to just bring them back after going down and feeding them their b’fast and cleaning the field. After the other day’s ride to some grazing Stormy was quite happy to let me ride him up the hill leading Bella today…and YES we grazed in the same place before venturing further towards home 😉

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk

Thurs 2nd

Happy April everyone 😉 🙂  What a gorgeous day today has brought (not so sure weekend is not going back to Winter but hey ho, enjoy the day while it’s here) 🙂

Today I rode Bella and then Stormy (didn’t want Storm to feel left out) 🙂

Bella….

We started off with our regular walk Ride the Rail, she went calmly up and down hills in walk doing this 😉

She was a bit faster in walk today and so after this we trotted over all the poles put haphazardly around the main field, like a jump course without the jumps.

Mounted with Stormy waiting for his treat too 😉 lol

After our ride Bella waits for her groom and treat 😉

Stormy…

We started with walking over all the poles in the field, asking Stormy to pick his feet up properly and take note of where his feet actually are 😉

Then we went around some of the rails like Bella and up the hill a bit. He used to worry when going away from Bella for a while but we knew where she was so all was ok.

After going down a small hillock he decided it was time for a canter up the other side which was lovely 😉

He then trotted to the mounting block for me to get off (polite boy that he is) 🙂

Along rails, up hills, Bella watching us all the time.

Couple of contented ponies <3

Tues 7th

Anyone for a hack out? Great day, great weather, great company 😉

Wed 8th

Today started strangely…Stormy took a wee spook at 5 walkers along the track outside the paddock fence while Mark was saddling him. I’m not sure why he did it, he’s not been worried by people before ;(

But we saddled up and went on our way. Unfortunately the same walkers were sat on the ground and the stone wall just before their field gateway, whilst also the famer was dashing about the next field on his quad bike….Stormy, and Bella a bit, were not amused at all. Both Mark and I got off and I asked the walkers if they’d get up off the track and let us pass, which they did BUT Stormy just wasn’t happy with them at all??? weird.

Maybe they had bad vibes, maybe they smelt funny to him…who knows?? Just before their field there was a dog walker and a big labradoodle, he barked a bit but we said hello, good boy etc and the walker was good to have him on a lead and backed off….eventually we managed to get them to their field and all went back to normal 🙂

So, even for us, things don’t always go smoothly, you never know what a horse see’s, or smells, or perceives a situation 😉 Just have to deal with the horse that turns up that day 😉

Fri 10th

A lovely day for some connection work with Mark/Stormy and Me/Bella. It was all at liberty today and as the area is a nice smaller size than previous years S&B stayed with us brilliantly 😉

Really enjoy liberty agility, it really does show the connection between us and allows for conversations of what we all did together 😉

Tue 14th

Upped riding today on Storm and Bella 😉 They both did walk, trot and a bit of canter 😉

Stormy 1st: He went up and down some hills with his lovely big canter up the 2nd one.

Bella 2nd: She upped her game with walk and lots of trot today with a gorgeous canter to finish.

Really enjoyed both rides with a nice breeze in our hair blowing all the cobwebs away 😉

Fri 17th

Today we got back the results of the Horse Agility BARTA course competition that I entered with S&B and I could not be prouder of them both.

Stormy = joint 2nd with 99% score

Bella = joint 4th with 96% score

How fab are these two big beauties 😉

Here are both their entries….

STORMY:

BELLA:

Sun 19th

I’ve had a pretty bad cold for the last 4 days. Mark has been doing everything and I’ve had to stay in bed and let it take it’s course. Yesterday I was ok to walk Beau the dog in the evening and today I felt up to seeing S&B in the afternoon for some light grooming. I decided to ride Stormy to the grooming spot so I wouldn’t have to walk it myself! Lol 😉 He’s such a good boy and Bella followed nicely 😉

I’m also thinking seriously about retiring from training horses/people. It’s not a decision taken lightly but the insurance I have to take out to work is not cheap (considering I only work 6 months of the year and on average the last couple of years only around 20hrs of work a year with fewer students able to afford any training at all). I’m also not as fit as I used to be with my right shoulder in pain for the last 7 months (I think a rotary cuff injury) and the driving to/from lessons is so hard. I often do a 2hr lesson with a min of 3 hrs driving (there and back), I’m really not making a living at it but I love teaching and helping horses. Maybe taking this year off will help me decide!

I’m not giving up S&B, they are my, and Mark’s world, BUT taking this year off to think about doing other things that Mark and I enjoy will be interesting. We’ve always loved travelling and photography and are considering getting a small motorhome to travel about in (we’ll find a good friend to look after S&B for the few days at a time we travel). I think it will be a good opportunity to enjoy the beautiful countryside of Scotland, some island hopping and some fun seaside times together with Beau 😉

Tues 21st

My cold is slowly receding now but I’m still not on top form (and I’ve given my germs to dear Mark now too SO It’s been my turn to do all the animal chores after he did it all when I was so bad last week)  ;(

SO it’s been a week since I’ve ridden Bella and the weather was dry and not too windy so I took the opportunity to have a trot around on her 😉

We did 27mins 51 secs today with a distance of 2.4km.

Average speed was 5.1km/h with 13m 51s of walk and 6m 54s of trot 😉

That’s 10 mins more than last time we rode’..I do love a bit of progress

Wed 22nd

Just a bit of liberty flag play whilst ponies were scoffing their breakfast 🙂

Fri 24th

Managed to ride both Bella and Stormy this morning 😉 The sun was shining and they were both fabulous.

Bella did 2.4km with 12m 16s of walk, 4m 38s of trot and circled both round pens in 28s of canter 🙂 🙂 🙂

Stormy did some nice fast walk and trot up and down some hills 😉

Wed 29th

Today is glorious sunshine with a lovely hint of a breeze….perfect for a ride 🙂

I had already groomed S&B at breakfast time and before I cleaned the field I thought it would be nice to have a ride or two. Bella came up to me so I chose her to ride first and quickly tacked up.

I mounted up and we started off with some walk exercises but behind us, down the glen we could hear the local farmer moving some cattle.

This is quite a noisy affair as they shout a LOT at the cattle to keep them moving and it sounded like they were moving the cows in our direction SO….I continued a bit with Bella but noticed quickly that she was ‘stiff’ on her right turns. This means she wasn’t arcing her neck into the right bend like normal and that shows me her focus wasn’t on me or the ride but on the noise behind her. I decided to jump off. Jumping off isn’t detrimental, in fact it can be very useful with some horses in some situations as it helps them to refocus on the leader on the ground.

For Bella this is exactly what she needed…she softened her neck and we walked together towards the noise down the glen. When I could see the gateway of the lower field, where I thought maybe the cattle were going to come from, we stood together and I gently stroked her neck, tickled her chin and cuddled her muzzle. She was totally focused on ‘us’ and although the noise continued for 15mins we didn’t worry about any of it. When the noise seemed to be getting further away and not towards us we walked a bit more to connect and soon found ourselves back at the mounting block. By this time the noise had stopped, the farmer had his cattle where he wanted them…and we could continue our peaceful ride in the field 🙂

And we had a really nice ride, soft around the round pens in a fig 8 doing a fast walk, medium trot and controlled canter 😉

We also did some nice leg yields, walk weave with a really nice bend in her neck to the left and right and ended on a fab trot weave 😉

As I hadn’t finished cleaning the field I left Stormy’s ride for another day as I wanted to get back home, have my breakfast and then trim wee doggie Beau as his coat is way too long for this warm weather 😉

Thurs 30th

Sunshine again today so I went and fed S&B, groomed them and cleaned the field. After this I went and caught Stormy and saddled him up then haltered Bella….going for a wee ride together 😉

I managed to ride Stormy up the field hill, leading Bella was fab and just followed nicely. I had to dismount to open the top field gate and then I walked them to the 2nd gate on the track where there is some nice new grass.

They grazed for about 10 mins and then I sidled Storm to the gateway and mounted up again.

The purpose wasn’t for them to over graze BUT to find fun in ‘getting there’ with me on a wee hack out 😉

The sun was nice and warm and they both seemed to enjoy their small jaunt out of the field, they’ll be coming back to the house on Saturday as the farrier is due on Monday morning 😉

Back in the field and ready to take Storm’s tack off.

Finally I trimmed both S&B’s jaw hair, it often gets caught up in their bridles when riding and must pull a bit so trimming it off makes sense.

I make sure to not take any of their actual whiskers off (around their muzzles) as these are very much needed to let them know where the ground is, grass, feed bowls etc…very much like a dog or cat 😉 In some countries it is illegal to cut the whiskers and I think that is good as some people just trim away at all their horses hair to make them as smooth as possible but it’s not good for the horse at all.

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk

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