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Tues 1st

A lovely start to the month with some mild-ish weather and some sunny spells. Went and groomed Bella then decided to take a wee ride as well 😉

 

Nice walk then into trot

 

 

 

 

Getting straighter with sidepassing

 

 

 

Sunshine & Snow

Praising all the time

 

 

 

Loose rein trot to cones and turning around cones using DHQ

 

 

 

Stop over log
Sidepass over log

 

 

 

 

New task is to ask for sidepassing over the log lengthwise. Okay with front legs, little unsure with backs at the moment. Always fun to have something to work on 😉

 

 

 

Weds 2nd

Lovely spending the morning with the gang, they followed me around while I did the poo-picking which is always lovely 😉

 

What lovely skies this morning

 

 

 

 

Sat 5th

 

Trimmed Bella’s hooves today and Stormy hung out with Mark 😉

 

 

 

Then had a nice short bareback ride on Bella…always helps relax my back after trimming her 😉

 

 

 

Sun 6th

 

Started off todays fun with Storm and Mark playing around with agility obstacles 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we did a ride around together. taking it slowly at this start of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then I do a bit of solo work with Bella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 8th

 

Managed to ride both Storm and Bella today 😉 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weds 16th

Had a lovely play session with Bella followed by a really nice ride. Calm, focussed and felt like we’ve actually started our training year now 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 22nd

Today we hacked out a bit further in the lower fields near their main field. Got on at the start of ride this time, off to go through narrow gap by river but she sidled up perfectly for me to get on again from a broken dyke wall. Did quite a bit of walk/trot in next big field and rode through narrow gap on the way back. She even gave me a really lovely, calm, controlled canter right at the end…perfect end to a perfect hack out 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 23rd

Today I played with Bella (in-hand) and then Stormy (at liberty) through a new Agility course. It’s the same course I’m doing in my March Agility teaching clinic’s and it went down very well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 24th

Managed to film Bella doing the Agility course today…

 

And then I rode Bella in our make-shift arena with a ‘dressage test’ I put together myself for her. It was our first attempt and it was mainly to get the pattern in our minds and body but she did really well. Nice walk, energetic trot and she did her first canter along a long side too which is hard as not a lot of room but her canter was controlled and easy to sit to 😉 So proud of my big girlie, over the last few days we’ve done in-hand agility, started the year’s hacking out AND did some dressage 😉 How fab is she <3

 

Start in walk, get into trot nicely through most of it.

 

 

 

Big trot and then into some nice self-carriage moments 😉

 

 

 

 

Just a fab canter…a first for us in the arena 😉 😉

 

 

 

Will keep a smile on my face for a LONG time xxx

 

 

 

 

Sat 26th

Today is pretty hot around midday so we decide to have a short, fun session AND do the agility course ridden. It was fun and enough for today 😉

Here’s Stormy’s round…

 

< Gaits: Fast walk/halt/Slow walk/halt/trot/halt >

 

 

 

 

Curtain

 

 

 

 

Front feet in hula hoop…took two attempts but did it perfectly in the end, such a clever boy 😉

 

 

 

Weave walk and then onto tarp and halt

 

 

 

 

Jump then push the ball

 

 

 

 

Halt over a pole and for fun he sidepasses off it 😉

 

 

 

 

Into narrow gap, halt, backup then through and onto the pedestal with front feet and familiarise with flag 😉

 

 

Bella did it really well too, here’s her video…

 

Tues 29th

Today I set up an ‘Equine Agility UKs’ Easter Challenge course and went around it with Bella and then Stormy. It was a quick play for a bit of fun, here are the vid’s:

Bella:

 

& Stormy:

 

Thurs 31st

Went out today an hour before dinnertime, it was a bit windy and it’s got quite cold again here. The horses were okay but I could see Bella was a bit on edge so I groomed and rode Stormy bareback around the round pens first. Then I haltered and played with Bella in the round pen. She was super soft and light and did some lovely moves. I let her off and we went to the place where they have their meal and I put their hay in their shelter ready for the cold night ahead. All went okay but Bella decided she could not take anything from my hand and I could not catch her so I had to just follow her about and when she looked at me I walked backwards. Strange but it could be that she got the smell of the ‘wormer’ I gave Stormy and decided she didn’t like it OR she could be in season and a bit hormonal. Whatever the reason I hope she is catch-able tomorrow! 🙁

 

Fri 4th

Been a week since Bella and I have been riding due to bad weather but we have been doing some liberty work almost every day to keep up our connection and games. Today we managed to dodge on/off snow flurries to catch a short but sweet bareback session.

We worked on straightness and turns trying to keep the straightness on our turns if that makes sense. We also worked on some nice walk/trot bareback transitions and hq engagement using leg yields on small serpentine turns. After that we did a quick, small version of a ‘self-made’ dressage test that we are going to try to complete this year. It has walk, trot and canter transitions, 20m circles, 10m half turns for changes of direction, some loose rein stretched walk and also some long side canter transitions. I’m hoping it will be fun to practise and help us get some controlled canter work in a large arena so that later on we can work on some canter circles this year. Here’s some pics from today’s session…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 5th

Snow chucking it down today SO bring horses back. Mark and I each do the walk alternating as it was tiring  🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 8th

And after a couple of days the snow is all gone again so Mark rides Stormy, leading Bella, home to the big field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weds 9th

Very cold each day at the moment but spending some liberty time with them is lovely 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 11th

 

Decided to take Bella out for a walk with Storm and Mark, just into the next field now it has no animals in it.

 

 

 

Lot of fun, Stormy grazed a bit, Bella checked out the scenery 😉

 

 

 

 

Nice to stretch all our legs today.

 

 

 

 

Walking back to our field together 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 15th

After a very short, walk/ride on Bella yesterday and getting off soon as it was SO windy and she wasn’t paying attention to me I felt a bit deflated BUT today was cold and sunny so as I went around cleaning the field I did some liberty play with them. Draw from both was really good, even coming down the small, scary, hillock 😉 Bella did some pedestal fun work and it was lovely to just be with them for a bit before going home for my own breakfast 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 18th

Well we woke up to 3″ of snow this morning and heavy snow still falling (as it did all day) SO, straight down to the horses and walked them home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now all settled at home, lots of hay with breakfast and this evening more food, hay and rugs on to warm them up after being wet all day long.

 

 

 

Mon 21st

Today I just needed to sit on Bella to perk my spirits up. She is such a good horse that came straight over to be haltered and sidled perfectly to the gate for me to pop on 😉 I didn’t do much, just plodded about a bit then jumped off but it really lifted my mood 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also the snow has started to seriously melt away, the track is easier to walk on and the next day or two it’s supposed to be cold but sunny so we decide to walk the horses back to their big field as with the thaw comes muddy paddocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 25th

Today it was cold but with a bit of sunshine coming through now and then SO decided to just go out and have a wee walk/ride on Bella with Mark and Storm for company 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy