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Thurs 1st April

Well today turned out to be a really beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine that had some heat behind it 😉

Out today to trim Bella’s hooves which weren’t too bad but needed backing up and a mustang roll put back on them and then I groomed (a lot of Springtime moulting going on) and rode both horses 😉 🙂 A very good day 😉 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 2nd April

A nice cool day today which is perfect for riding. Mark rides Stormy and the last 3 days of me practising Relaxation, Willingness, Impulsion and Flexibility with B&S paid off too. Stormy had some oomph and showed off his canter, Bella had lovely calmness and showed me her slow trot which I could actually sit to 🙂 fab.

 

Bella sidles to mounting block either side with relaxation.

Following Stormy is fun

 

 

Side-by-side work in walk with some trot is working out well.

Stormy trots/canters up the hills and Bella stays with me in walk 😉

 

 

Bella all 4 feet on pedestal….she really had to think but did it well.

A cue for dismounting 😉 LOL

 

 

 

 

Sat 3rd April

Managed a lovely training session with Bella today. We did walk and trot RtR with a lovely loose rein and a fab canter at the end. Love it when all the preparation and training starts to really pay off 😉

 

Connection

Lovely jump with canter between while we warm up

 

 

Canter and jump

 

 

 

 

Lovely loose rein walk around round pens and then onto RtR loose rein trotting 😉

 

 

 

Love this pic, she is so balanced, I sit back a bit as we were going slightly downhill and her trot is BIG 🙂

 

 

Bringing some canter work into our sessions Will be working more with this w/relaxation.

Lovely sidepass over the log…

 

…and end of session connection still there 😉 🙂

 

 

 

 

Sun 4th April

Well we’ve had weather warnings of high winds from the N-NW and SNOW so best option is to bring the horses home as more sheltered here from North wind and we can rug them quickly later on. Best of all is that we get to hack them home together. It was a lovely ride, loose rein, some trotting, past cattle (thankfully not close) and a wee canter up the first hill 🙂

 

Stormy cantering up hill, we just moseyed up.

 

On the track to home

 

 

 

Horses seen the cattle but not a problem…Bella does keep an eye on them 😉

 

 

 

 

Last piece and nearly home

 

 

 

 

 

Home……all settled in and ready for the night ahead 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon 5th April

Well…glad horses home BUT a complete non-event so far. Woke up to 1mm dusting of snow, no winds and sunshine/blue skies!! lol It was about -6 last night so glad horses had rugs on. Rugs off now and enjoying the grassy paddocks 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 7th April

We have on/off snow/sun so not able to do much but managed a very small bareback ride which was a lovely way of getting out of the house and connecting with my big girlie <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 9th April

Undemanding time with B&S today as the ‘hounds & guns’ out today on the estate. Nothing untoward went on and horses on their toes but not spooked or running around. Was really nice that they kept coming up to me for reassurance and a treat now and then for being such good horses 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All went quiet in the afternoon so we took them out for a mini-hack up the big hill behind our house and onto a the moor. We didn’t go out for long as it was very windy and freezing cold blowing up on the moor but managed to get a few snippets of video of it :

 

 

Sun 11th April

Mark trimmed Stormy’s feet today so I did a bit of filming for some more Mini Challenges with Bella 😉

 

Mon 12th April

Lovely blue skies and sunshine after a -6 night and we go out for a nice wee hack again. Up the bill hill to the moor (didn’t go onto them today as some heather burning going on) but back down, along the track to the cattle and back then into the field opposite our house where they did small jump over the stream and some grazing with a nice trot and canter back to the house and field 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 13th April

A nice day today (although -9 last night) so had some chill out time, grazing and some fun play for Bella with some natural obstacles.

 

Fig 8’s around stones

 

 

 

 

 

Sidle to stone then put a foot on small stone

 

 

 

Jump the stream and then go up a steep bank

 

 

 

Back down the steam bank and jump the stream at the bottom

 

 

 

Up and over a big stone then put a foot on a small stone

 

 

 

Through narrow gap of two trees…then turn and draw …..

and back up through the gap.

Sidle to gate on the right

 

 

 

 

then dhq to sidle to left

 

 

 

 

what a good girl 😉

 

 

 

Having a ‘moment’ together and then a big huggle 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 15th April

Great weather today so another fab hack out onto the moor with Bella, Storm and Mark 😉 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 16th April

Managed a short bareback ride on Bella this afternoon 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 17th April

At last the weather has broken from being around -4 to -9 at night with high winds to mild so after 2 weeks at home they can go back to the big field and enjoy the space and bit of grazing coming in now 😉 Always LOVE them being at the house as we can pop out to see them, jump on bareback, keep an eye on them and put rugs on when freezing BUT love the big field as it gives them more room to move and more opportunity to play, ride and train 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 18th April

Went down to see the horses in the afternoon and set up some new obstacle spaces as want to film Bella’s 12th lesson soon. I also put the Liberty Agility Roundpen set up back up to play with that again…so ready to play and ride when next I go down 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 21st April

Spent the afternoon filming some new Mini Challenges which was fun. Bella did so well and we ended up with the last one riding with a big flag 😉 🙂 SO KOOL 🙂 🙂

<3 What a clever girlie <3

 

Thurs 22nd April

Spend time grooming Bella with Mark doing Stormy. It is quite hot today so no big play/ride but a nice wee bareback potter about 😉

 

Started off some Cordeo riding, using the neck rope along with normal reins so she can learn signals by association.

 

 

Really nice start and some sidepassing too. Went onto riding in the field with reins looking for some flexibility.

 

 

Lovely afternoon ride and some really nice moments of connection 😉

 

 

 

 

Fri 23rd April

Very hot today so just did had some Liberty fun with Bella and then Mark rode Stormy about the field 😉

 

Start off going around the course with headcollar on for confidence 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Used ‘normal’ headcollars today as yesterday there was just too much static electricity between me and Bella and I ‘zapped’ her by mistake a few times.

 

 

 

I then quickly took her halter off and she was so good, confident, calm, playful and fun 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even liberty sidepass over the long pipe 😉

 

 

 

Confident under things so much more now 😉

 

 

 

 

What a clever girl 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 24th April

 

Did some more trot around the field getting more consistent with the gait and transitions 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 25th April

 

 

 

Nice P2P trot to start with, Bella is starting to lengthen her trot stride and really covering the ground now.

 

 

 

 

 

Also added a few strides of canter which went well

 

 

 

After a short break we did some bullseye – leg yielding pattern to help with her flexibility as she is still a bit ‘braced’ on her right side

 

 

 

Then another short break which is always good between difficult patterns

 

 

Really lovely flexibility through the trot weave today and finished on a wee jump

 

 

 

Weds 28th April

 

Quick play/ride with Bella in between studying my college course and rain. Lovely ride with Bella picking up our two newest habits…
1. Canter P2P’s
2. Jump with canter depart

She is getting the hang of this training malarky 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 29th April

Rainy on/off today, went down to play/ride with Mark but it started hailing then rain/drizzle SO took wee opportunity to do some ‘mirroring’ with Bella when there was a gap in the weather, connected nicely with her, then went home before we got drenched again 🙂

 

 

 

 

Fri 30th April

Another day where I get out between studying and today’s wetness falling from the sky…today’s being HAIL!!! Another nice wee ride on Bella putting some time on canter P2Ps and the jump with a canter depart thereby putting canter into our routine more regularly now 😉 Really nice BUT also had a lovely saunter ride with big Stormy too…always a pleasure riding him <3

 

Ready to rock’n’roll

 

 

 

A FAB way to end APRIL…onto MAY tomorrow….

 

 

 

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy

 

 

 

Mon 1st March

Out to see horses this afternoon and tried out a bit of Online then Liberty play with Bella in the round pens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 2nd March

Another fine day for a play session with Bella and also Stormy. Mark came down too and took some fab pictures 😉

 

First did some xtreme familiarisation….
going under Bella’s tummy. She was a supastar

 

 

 

We started off working with a neck rope and she did so well, backing through the roundpen gate, going under the arch…

 

 

 

 

…over the trot poles and tarp too…

 

 

 

 

…and not bad through the curtain.

Enjoyed some scratches, treats and lots of stops to help her think about it all.

 

 

Then we tried some liberty but she mostly had a spring-time yeehaa so just let her do that before anything else….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I gave Bella a rest and played at liberty with big Stormy who really enjoyed it and did a great job 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THEN….I played with Bella at liberty a bit and also ended online to finish on a solid good note 😉

 

< Waiting to be haltered

Draw through the curtain >

 

 

 

< Nice jump

Canter circle >

 

 

 

< Trot poles

Trot over tarp >

 

 

 

< Circle with nice bend in body

Canter over tarp >

 

 

 

< Through curtain again for good measure

Sidepass over drainpipe >

 

 

 

< Sidepass other way

Back up through narrow gateway >

 

 

 

 

Weds 3rd March

Today I had a game plan….to work through agility again online and then at ‘half-liberty’…which meant that our liberty session would be without the lead rope but leaving the halter on.

I tried this as I know Bella works really well in-hand/online but has never done liberty work and when I set her free she often has a lot of yeehaa time, which I don’t mind, but we loose our ‘focus-connetion’. SO the idea that she can be free to move away if she wants to but still haltered where she understands to ‘stay with me’ is a compromise I think we can work on until we keep that important ‘focus-connection’ for longer. It is a bit of a ‘learned behaviour’ to do as asked haltered but it’s better to work one step at a time for her confidence and not blow yeehaa’s everytime her halter is off or that learned behaviour will stay.

Here’s some pics I took while she went around the agility at ‘half-liberty’….she did really well 😉

 

< Nice draw over trot poles

Easily under the arch >

 

 

 

 

< Walked onto/over the tarp

Nice trot/jump >

 

 

 

 

< Asked her to draw through the curtain…

after she thought about it for a while she did so beautifully at a trot >

 

 

 

 

Thurs 4th March

Chilly day but managed to ride Stormy and play with Bella at liberty again (with halter….which is working really well) here’s some pics…

 

Groomed and saddled, ready to rock and roll

Ride the rain circles using ‘cowboy’ reins…meaning I used one hand and worked with neck reining and loose reins.

 

 

Nice Lateral Flex and then onto some clover leaf…taking it all in walk to start with.

 

 

 

Enjoying Big Storm..he’s always a nice ride

 

Onto some trot P2P’s between cones scattered around the field 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Bella working so well at liberty with halter on, our connection stays better and so does her concentration…through arch, over tarp…

 

 

 

 

Finding curiosity with the curtain and going through it very well and multiple times…

 

 

 

 

 

…and again 🙂 clever girl

Jump was good too, had distant communication which is a first and she turned and drew back to me immediatley after the jump today 🙂

 

 

 

Here is a short video of her with the curtain today:

 

Sat 6th March

 

Today was hoof trimming day. Mark trimmed Stormy and I did Bella’s front feet (back one’s tomorrow…saves my bad back from being sore) and then I had a very short, sweet, bareback plod around on Bella just for a bit of fun together 😉

 

 

Tues 9th March

Mark/Stormy and Me/Bella managed our 1st ride together in the big field this year. Lovely to get a ride in, both horses were a bit ‘fresh’ so we just worked independently on softening of necks in our bends/turns and relaxation in low transitions (walk/halt/backup) and then some loose rein/one hand riding for focus/connection 😉

 

 

Sat 13th March

Good day weather wise so out with Mark and horses. Bella was a bit ‘fresh’ again, just Spring and probably her seasons kicking in again for the year SO we take it slowly and just potter around the roundpens in walk and then follow Stormy around which she enjoys. We then get into working on being able to walk side-by-side. This isn’t hard but Stormy thinks HE should always be in front and often when Bella comes close whilst being ridden he’ll trot or canter forward to be in front SO the aim of the game is to help him relax and listen to Mark to stay by Bella’s side. With this in mind we just go in straight lines up and down an arena sized area side-by-side, each time getting slightly closer until they both relax and we’re within hand touching distance. It is a great exercise and hopefully we can build on this until the walking is good and we can try trot and later on canter…always in mind what we want to achieve in the future 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OH…almost forgot that Bella had a lovely LIBERTY session beforehand too 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 15th March

Another nice weather day for riding today SO Mark and I go and ride B&S with the emphasis on doing what we did last ride which was relaxation riding side-by-side. It went really well and Stormy is learning to just walk next to Bella when being ridden.

 

Worked on relaxed circles (2 x walk left, COD, 2 x walk right, COD, then into trot for same). Then went up into a bit of a circle in canter and rewarded with a halt when she did a few relaxed strides 😉

 

 

 

She also did some nice trot fig 8’s too.

 

 

 

 

 

Start the riding by following Stormy then trotting around the round pens in trot with relaxation.

 

 

 

 

Looking for softer bending on the circles which is getting there.

Side-by-side went well with some halt with one horse and walking closely by with the other 😉

 

 

 

 

Wed 16th March

FIRST HACK OUT this year 🙂 🙂 SO pleased. Both horses calm, happy to be out, had walk, trot and a wee canter on way back 🙂 Really happy day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 18th March

A day off yesterday but today has such fabulous weather we decide to go out for another hack out and to go a wee bit further along the track…SO…this our walk out today….

 

Off on own up the field hill 😉

Packs on and ready to go

 

 

 

 

 

Happy to lead

Happy to follow

 

 

 

 

Such a great track to ride on

Towards where we went last time…the wooden bridge 😉

 

 

 

Past the bridge and on towards the village

This is the furthest we’ve been, on the edge of the village (did once last year) and it’s far enough for today and it’s quite hot SO…back home we go

 

 

Bella happy to follow on the way home AND a nice bit in a field too

 

 

 

 

Across the bridge no problems and then we do a bit of side-by-side work which we’ve been practising in the field SO very glad that is working out so well now 😉

 

 

 

 

Home…our field on the left where Bella is looking AND a nice drink in the home stream 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

 

Fri 19th March

A restful day today with a bit of Liberty fun before dinnertime for Bella & Storm. They were both so good, Bella is really getting the hang of Liberty more now, she tries so hard and the curtain now is no problem, in fact she realises that the curtain produces nice treats so goes there often. I’ve started asking her to do the curtain and one other obstacle before her treat now, extending the game time and she’s slowly understanding that but will continue progressing that 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 20th March

Well another fine weather day and out for a bit of a lesson ride with Bella. Today was our FIRST try and CANTER P2P’s. We started off with some nice walk and then trot circles and then P2P’s and to make things easier for the canter we did it going up the small hillock at the end of the field, this way Bella can get her haunches underneath her and take some energy out before going onto the flat towards our destinational cone 😉

We had to work on some softening of her neck/back before trotting and then we worked on more focus and flexibility around the roundpens. When we did the canter she was a bit hesitant to go down the hillock so we did it 4 times, each time a bit easier, each time the canter was stronger, more balanced and focused than before, it felt like it went really well. Here’s some pics 😉

 

Start with walk

Found our nice trot 😉

 

 

 

A moment with Stormy

A treat for getting down the hillock and relaxing before cantering

 

 

And CANTER…..

Her canter is BIG and feels really nice to ride

 

 

 

onto the flat and still cantering…will get better as we get fitter 😉

 

 

 

Heading for our cone destination and then into trot but what a fab floaty trot it is 😉

 

 

 

Tues 23rd March

Today was busy elsewhere but managed to get down to horses, groom them both, play with them together and then ride them individually, first big Storm and then Bella. I worked on RtR (riding the rail) in walk and trot both ways. Stormy was a bit tired/lazy so just worked on getting to the corners for a rest/treat. With Bella it was more about straightness going around both ways 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weds 24th March

Today Mark came to the field with me and we did two horse riding again. More riding together in walk and then some Leap Frog 😉

Afterwards I did a bit of Cloverleaf in trot with Bella. She was reluctant to bend left, bracing a bit so I just had to take the time to help her with that and then she did very well 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 27th March

Such a nice breezy cool day, perfect for riding SO out we go AND we make it for the FIRST time for Bella to the Village. So pleased with her. I did walk her from the point we’d ridden before, so all the new bits, to give her confidence and it worked well as she regularly touched my hand with her nose for reassurance 😉

 

And we’re off…great first half with a lovely forward walk.

Did a couple of trots but I think she knew she needed to conserve her energy so until we’re all fitter I didn’t do more than she wanted to do herself 😉

 

 

 

Walked her past the houses into the village, this was a narrow lane and then the bridge which is very high above the fast moving, noisy river. She stopped going over first time but trusted me and followed nicely.

Both B & S got nice juicy apples at the shop so now they know it’s fun going into the village. We walked them both out and then Mark got on Stormy first at a nice gate…

 

 

 

….and I got on at the gateway where we’d been before and going home was easy-peasy for us all.

 

 

 

We did pass a lot of strange things which she’s really getting used to….black silage bales, broken flappy barn, moving swings in a garden etc.

 

 

Going back over the wooden bridge was fine, following Stormy makes everything easy.

 

 

 

Mark holding Bella while I close the gates 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 28th March

As we had a hack out yesterday we decide to have a quieter Challenge playday 😉 This involves me with Bella and Mark with Stormy challenging each other with some obstacles…the one that sets the challenge has to show it first 😉 Here’s some pics….

How they were when we arrived 😉

Storm and Mark

 

 

 

Trot fig 8’s

Sidepass over small ped

 

 

 

 

Sidepass (well almost) over large ped

4 feet on ped

 

 

 

Sidle and halt over log

Sidepass over upright barrel 😉 🙂

 

 

 

Trot fig 8’s went really well…calm and focused 😉

 

 

 

Sidepass over small pedestal both ways 😉

 

 

 

 

Sidepass over large pedestal and then sidle onto log 😉

 

 

 

FIRST time sidepassing over a barrel on it’s side. So pleased with this, she was calm and focused 😉

 

 

Familiarisation on the move…working on small flags to start with with the idea of riding with a flag one day 😉 🙂

 

 

 

Mon 29th March

Today I go and ride both horses to slowly build up some fitness…for them AND me 😉 Stormy did well and I was just looking for some enthusiasm ‘Riding the Rail’ (RtR) in walk and then trot and he did that nicely. I always take him slowly to start with as he’s a bit older then Bella and takes time to warm up. With Bella I was at first looking for a nice calm, loose rein, walk to the corners and the same with trot before changing directions. It all went pretty well but need to really do this more regularly so that we get consistent trotting, consistent halts when asked and straight lines SO a few things to work on 😉 Slowly, slowly with my own consistency and persistence we’ll get there but I won’t do it every day or she will get bored so I’ll mix it up with some online, liberty and pole work 😉

 

Stormy doing very well with his loose rein P2P’s/RtR

 

 

 

 

 

Bella getting the pattern as we go nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 30th March

 

A lot of snow has fallen this year so not much going on apart from starting some Mini Challenge video’s (see menu on right)

 

Sun 21st Feb

The snow finally thawed out with some mild temperatures and a few days of constant rain. SO…..took S&B out for a graze/walk for about an hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some nice ‘leading from behind’ with Stormy and ‘follow me nicely’ with Bella across the paddock bridge too 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thu 25th Feb

Managed a nice short hack out today with Mark, Storm and Bella. Was our first hack of the year and it went really well 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 27th Feb

WOW…time to take horses back to their big Summer grazing 😉 Mark did a great job riding Storm while leading Bella and I think the horses were happy to be home again 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 28th Feb

Went down to the horses midday today to set up some agility obstacles in the two large round pens. Sorted that then went and groomed Storm and Bella and then they decided to treat me to some fun play…all on their own initiative too 🙂 HOW KOOLIO are these 2 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great start to the year 🙂

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy