Bella & Stormy – January 2024

Published on December 31, 2023

HAPPY 2024 EVERYONE

Thurs 4th

Today the weeks forecast looks calm, dry and mild SO…..walking S&B back to their big field 😉

They were both calm but looking around regularly, they saw a herd of fallow deer and then

they saw the view, down the glen, the same view they get from their big field 😉

Checking out everything as they walk…..the long 22′ ropes got a bit tangled as I walked and they changed sides SO I stopped and sorted them out while they checked out the view 😉

Uphill a bit here and they both stayed calm for me on this bit, they like to trot/canter this part when ridden.

I decided not to ride Storm and lead Bella as it was quite slippery with wet mud on the track.

Nearly home……then Stormy has a good look at ‘his’ field from the top of the hill….excited 😉

Free at the top of the field they both trot/canter down the big hill

Both had a nice big roll (Stormy is filthy now) and then got down to grazing 😉

Sun 8th

Today was a sunny cold day but without rain it’s perfect for trimming Bella’s hooves.

She is such a good girl standing still for me while I do the work. I put this ‘knee sock’ over her feathers to keep them out of the way…works really well too 😉

Unfortunately there was a lot of other folk doing stuff nearby today too….a farmer working in the field opposite, his trailer banging and shaking while he went up and down the field. Also opposite us was a digger machine making quite a noise, moving logs and rubbish and putting them on a big fire. The fire was creating quite a lot of smoke and also whatever he was putting on it was making a loud noise…spitting and popping.

Dear Bella was a little perplexed and put out, her head going high up so she could use the lower part of her eye to see in the distance. I couldn’t get her attention to pick her feet up and knew that if I did get her foot up it wouldn’t be safe as she wasn’t paying attention to me SO I took her to play with the agility obstacles. Doing some small ‘brain games’ really helps to get a horses attention, to re-connect to the handler so this is what we did. Just in walk with some sidepass and backups too but it consisted of moving in walk, watching where she was going, stopping and praising regularly to help her realise I was calm and looking after her 😉 It worked really well and soon I took her back to continue trimming her hooves 😉

This is the agility course I set up for S&B. I draw these regularly to give me a clear view of how to set up some obstacles. This course involves 4 trotting poles, 5 cones for a weave and fig 8’s, a hulahoop, a high narrow gap made up of 4 jump wings with poles on the top to make a lane, a jump and a tarp held down with parallel wooden poles.

I put the obstacles close-ish together, it makes it easier for me to work online with S&B and can be enlarged later on when we start out fitness program for the year.

Mon 9th

The last few days have been very very cold and the nights are way below zero. S&B did the first 2 nights on their own okay but yesterday they seemed quite tired. They don’t have to try so hard to stay warm and to make the feed and hay we give them work easier for them we have been rugging them at night (off during the day to enjoy the sunshine). They can survive well but we feel they don’t have to try so hard if we can help them along a bit 😉

Thurs 11th

Sun was out today…yeehaa. But underfoot the ground is rock hard SO took it easy.

First I played with Bella and Stormy (Bella’s video at below) to get their legs moving slowly and their brains connected.

While playing with Stormy Bella wanted to join in too, at liberty 😉 She’s so funny

Storm did fabulously with drive and draw between the narrow gap poles and also putting his feet straight into the hulahoop 🙂

BAREBACK RIDING….well, sitting on and having fun plodding about. We did fig 8 in walk around the big round pens, nothing more, just a lovely connection to his feet while listening to the 1-2-3-4 of his hooves on the ground 😉

Shadow Storm kept us company.

Always brings a big smile to my face….Stormy waiting patiently for his treat after that sort plod

Then exactly the same with Bella….yup BAREBACK too, which we’ve not done a lot of but it felt right and it was lovely to really feel her back swinging with her big walk stride 😉

Both S&B waiting patiently for their treats after my ride on Bella 😉 they’re so adorable, love them to bits <3

Fri 12th

Sunshine today but -8* this morning!!! v.v.cold.

S&B have still been having their big rugs on over night and will continue to do so until it starts to warm up a bit. Before doing their yearly worming syringe for encysted worms we had a short play session. I worked with Bella in her halter but the rope was around her neck, Mark played with Stormy at liberty and then I had another BAREBACK short walk fig 8 ride on Bella around the round pens 😉

Brain work for the horses…..draw towards, backing up, sidepass, weave, fig 8’s and over poles

Bella didn’t bat an eyelid at my ‘unicorn’ hat 😉

Storm looks HUGE in this pic, his head went up when he noticed a LandRover on the track above their field…I didn’t even hear it but the horses notice EVERYTHING 🙂

Lovely to plod around again 😉 Enjoying some bareback work too…once we start working for fitness I’ll have the saddle back on 😉

Mon 15th

Today and the last couple of days have been slightly less cold than last week BUT we’ve had weather warnings for high winds, snow, ice and really low temperatures (-10* +) and the track back to home from the big field is already a bit icy.

We decide it’s better to move S&B to the home paddocks this morning where we can get to them a bit easier and they don’ t have to walk a worsening icy track. Thankfully all the horse agility we’ve been doing really helped as they had ‘slippery footing, boulders to get around, over logs, under branches and along a gap with the deer fencing’

phew

Home at last, a couple of slips of back legs (horses not us) but safe now and waiting patiently for their dinner.

They don’t have a shelter apart from natural tree shelter but they do have a wonderful stream so we don’t have to provide water here which we were doing in the big field as the trough is frozen up and the shelter only has rain water (no rain for ages….all probably going to change in a weeks time though) 😉

Wed 17th

Mark putting Bella’s neck piece on, it attaches to the main rug at the withers and we put them on overnight (needed a lot at the moment) as it was way below zero last night. Bella was worried by the noise of the velcro which is how it’s attached, when we first got her 4 1/2 yrs ago, but consistent, calm familiarisation has worked well and she now tolerates it well. We can do this process with her at liberty too now 😉

This morning it was -10*….brugghh. We’ve left rugs and neck pieces on for now until the sun decides to show it’s face later on. The rugs are warm but they’re also a bit stiff where they have laid down to sleep so we might take them off and put their other medium weight rugs on (blue) so we can thaw out the red ones for another day 😉 Luckily the neck pieces attach to both sets of rugs 🙂

Thurs 18th

Not a lot going on with S&B at the moment but we did manage to get their rugs off today and give them a really thorough groom. They loved it and they have spent the day ‘naked’ with rugs going back on tonight 😉

Wed 24th

Well S&B have been up in the house paddocks for 10 days now. Rugs regularly on then off then on again through 2 storms of high winds and rain and sleet. Today the sun is shining and the temperature is mild SO…..walked them back to their big field. Tomorrow is going to have more rain but less wind and they were SO happy to be back in the big field…able to stretch their legs, kick up their heels and have a good roll out of their rugs 😉

Really lovely to see them stretching their legs, look at how floaty Bella is trotting 😉

Thurs 25th

Walking the dog down the track today I noticed more the horse tracks from when we walked them home to their big field.

I love looking at them (mud or snow is good) as they tell so much about their hooves. THey show a lovely big frog (triangular bit in the middle) which is deep and strong, it helps the blood pump back up the legs when it makes contact with the ground.

It also shows the lovely concavity (shows as convex in prints) which shows the hooves are working well and everything inside (bones etc) is in it’s right place and not flattening out and splaying the hoof 😉

The prints also showed both S&B were ‘tracking up’. This is when the hind hoof goes into, or near, the print from the front foot and shows they’re moving well and using their backs to move.

A horse’s hooves, in walk, move like this: back left, front left, back right, front right…always working from their hind legs first so tracking up tells me their backs and withers are raised so that their back legs can stretch up to the front hoof prints 😉 🙂

Fri 26th

Managed to get out today and set up 2 agility courses. One, where I placed it before xmas, and one in a round pen for some liberty play.

But as it’s been a while since any play and S&B both wanted to play at liberty with the main obstacles so I obliged 😉 Mostly with Bella but then Stormy figured it’s where the treats were being given out. lol

Bella did some liberty weave, front feet in hulahoop, on/off tarp, in and back up through narrow gap and the jump.

I then did a quick walk ride with Stormy around the round pens. There was no real ‘goal’ as such, just me getting into sync with his footfalls and rhythm. It’s the best way to get rid of any sacral illiac stiffness in me and brings back my smile in a second 😉 Great wee play/ride and stopped me getting a bit stir crazy being inside so much 😉

Sat 27th

Calm weather today, not sunny but good for a bit of a play session with S&B and Mark 😉

First I went with Bella online over, through and between the wee agility course I reset up yesterday.

She did very well but had to have a yeehaa to blow off some winter steam in the middle (see above pic of her jumping the invisible jump). This is the reason I play with horses before I even think about riding them….I need to see, feel and believe they are connected to me, willing and able to be calm and listen to directions from subtle cues. If she needs to blow off steam then I she can and I will re-assess how we’re connecting. Today I decided not to ride her, she needed to just play and be a horsey and that’s not a problem 😉

Meanwhile Mark had a liberty play with Stormy. Their first session this year. They went slowly and methodically and Stormy seemed to really enjoy regaining his connection with Mark and the obstacles and did some lovely work 😉

I then took Bella into one of the round pens where I’ve set up some different obstacles and I keep them in here at the moment so that they don’t tread on them, break them and so that I can take things down so the wind doesn’t break them.

I realised last year that Bella has always had the halter off and it’s freedom time (in her previous homes) so doing Liberty play with her halter on gives me the advantage of her being at liberty but her thinking she’s still online 😉 She did amazingly well and even did fig 8’s going under the curtain and onto the archway 😉

And then Mark and Stormy had a liberty session in the round pen too 😉

We all had fun today, tired now though as been a while playing with S&B but hopefully if next few days are calm, dry and mild then I’ll do some more and hopefully get a ride in too 😉

Mon 29th

Grooming brushes at the ready…..Storm loves to get muddy so it’s more for him but a good routine of brushing is essential to keep a horses hair and skin in good order. I don’t like to ‘wash’ horses much as ours are outside 24/7 so need their natural oils to be waterproof but brushing keeps the dust and debris from their skin and makes sure nothing rubs underneath the bridle or saddle when working 😉

Stormy was up first. We worked with a nice purpose in walk with a bit of trot in my ‘arena. I placed tyres near the corners and one in the middle so we could practise some nice straight lines and also some nice turns, curves and later on hopefully circles 😉

Stormy did very well and enjoyed trotting to the centre of the arena once he realised this is the sweet spot to stop at 😉

Bella was next and we worked first one-handed in the ‘agility’ area where I’ve placed a 4 post ‘box’ in the centre and posts near each corner. Again this will help to do straight lines and curves, circles but it also improves picking up feet with the poles.

Bella was very good and it was a nice bit of fun getting into some ‘work’ 😉

* Shelley – HorseSavvy

Bella & Stormy – December 2023

Published on December 2, 2023

Sat 2nd

Very VERY cold today, think it was well below -10* last night and it was -3* when I went out to see S&B. Too cold to do much and the ground is very hard so don’t want to do too much anyway. But it’s really lovely to have my calm Bella today, she was uber relaxed and attentive to what I asked. Just walk all the way but some lovely leg yields, hq yields, good circles and weave 😉

Lovely lateral flexion to the right and then left too 😉 shows willingness, flexibility and relaxation 🙂

AND…our one handed weave showing that the cue connection is getting so subtle now…hopefully aiming to do a ‘no handed’ weave before too long. Last bit from the purple obstacle I asked her to leg yield through the weave and although she stopped for a second she got it and did some nice leg yielding 😉

Wed 6th

We’ve had icy weather for a few days, the track to the horses is slowly getting more iced over SO today we decided to bring them home in case it gets worse and we can’t walk them home!!

Slowly walk them up the big field hill…both S&B were kind to me and stayed nicely slow and steady so I didn’t get puffed out…it’s a steep hill!

The track was icy still so it’s great they’ve learned to walk in ‘tandem’ for me…Stormy lead first

Had a nice bit side by side 😉

Stormy looks ENORMOUS when his head went up looking at the highland cows in this field

Mark gritted the iced water across the gateway here….they slowly went over it…no slipping 😉

Mark took over some of the walking, allowing them to graze the last of the heather and long soft rushes they love.

I did the last bit again, here Bella took over the tandem lead…she’s a clever girl.

Then Stormy took over the last big of tandem walking 😉 🙂

Safely in the ‘home paddocks’ at last.

Thu/Fri 6-7th

Rain, Rain, Rain at the moment.

S&B were rugged on Thurs (pic below) as it was quite cold but Fri saw mostly drizzle with dry spells and they were naked and seem fine 😉 The roads and fields are a bit flooded at the moment but they may get back to the big field before xmas and then back up to the house at xmas to give us a rest from going down the road to see them 🙂

Weds 13th

The weather is milder now after their week at the house so it’s time for S&B to return to their big field for a while. Great excuse for a wee ride which is always a bonus 😉

Mark with S&B and then me with S&B

All tacked up and ready to ride 😉

Not bad weather at all, looks grey but it was mild and calm

S&B really enjoyed the ride back, just a bit fresh but happy to be going back. I didn’t have our normal tack so Bella was in Storm’s old Transcend bitless bridle and Storm was wearing the big red halter that I adapted with ‘D’ rings for reins from the ones I use for work 😉

Just above their big field and then tack free running down the big hill in their field, happy to be home 😉 <3

Sat 16th

Nice short ride on Bella today…I decided to try out an ‘XMAS TREE’ pattern for fun and as my Equilab App (which monitors my rides) has a fab mapping facility I thought it would be fun to see how accurate we could be. I’d been mapping it in my head for 24hrs and today we just did it…….

….SO amazed that we pulled it off. Mostly walk with some trot and a lot of turning her hindquarters to create the pointy bits 🙂 <3 What fun that was 😉 <3

Bella and Stormy with me <3

Sun 17th

Decided to ride Stormy first today but as I set off Bella wouldn’t move from the spot behind the shelter and Stormy likes to see her when we ride around SO I thought maybe we’d just gently move her around a bit by putting some energy behind her. This worked okay but she did circle around the shelter a few times to get back to the same spot SO….

…..got off Stormy, put Bella’s halter on and did some nice ride/lead practise instead.

I’m glad this happened as it was a really nice training session. We did fig 8’s so that Bella was on the outside and inside of circles, she was FABULOUS with me turning Stormy’s fh into her so she turned her fh away, without her squishing forward or back

AND we did it all on the left and right.

I love that we took the opportunity to have this practise session, it was a lot of fun….you don’t always get what you want but you ALWAYS get what you NEED Thank you S&B

After that lovely ride with S&B together I had a nice short ride on Bella. She was a little fresh but we had a nice ride around the big field ending on a nice calm note 😉

Tues 19th

Was going to ride today but it’s on/off drizzle and looks like some ‘shooting’ going to happen across the glen so decided to miss today and maybe try again tomorrow. Here’s some nice pics of S&B from today, heads up as shepherd doing some sheep moving and then gamekeeper across the glen. S&B are very aware of everything that goes on around them 😉

Stormy knows how to get my attention…..’you put your right hoof on, you take your right hoof off, you do the hokey-kokey and you turn around…..’ LOL

Sat 23rd

Well we’ve had wind, drizzle and today a ton of rain ;( Not very good weather for anything horsey unfortunately but did spend some ‘undemanding time’ with S&B this morning as I really needed some pony time and it’s always lovely just hanging out and listening to the slow munching of hay 😉

Sun 24th

Well…after some rain showers I got myself out for a wee 20 min ride on Bella today 😉

Nice bits of flexibility around the round pens doing some leg yields

Then working around circular cone/tyres with some really nice weaving 😉

Love a big horse shadow 😉

Stormy being his usual cheeky self….knocking over and moving the cones 😉 He loves to participate and hates being left out, he has a very sharp brain and loves using it 😉

After my ride S&B cantered behind the quad bike, kicking up their heels in joy and having fun

Love it when they do this, they’ve both had some exercise now then 😉

Riding into the rainbow 😉

And then as soon as it started they both stopped, rested and watched as I headed back home

Bella and Stormy wish you all a wonderful
Happy Xmas
hope you all have a good day tomorrow 😉

Mon 25th – Xmas Day

Well we’ve had weather warnings of rain/snow and ice SO a good day to bring S&B hoe again so we can miss walking them back on slippery ground….also it should be peaceful on the estate today!!!”

All started well, walked them up the field hill and mounted off the track gate 😉

BUT…..the gamekeeper was in the next field, S&B saw the 4×4 before we did and Stormy had quite a strong reaction to it….he spun and wanted to go back to the safety of his field!!!

This is something I didn’t expect….a ‘Negative Association Reaction’. He, and Bella, know the gamekeeper shoot and kill deer etc and they always use this 4×4 so they now think that every time they see it there is going to be shooting etc! 🙁

Wasn’t quite expecting to see the gamekeeper on Xmas day BUT think he drew the estate short straw to check the sheep and cattle on the farm so he wasn’t actually out shooting (S&B didn’t know that).

Mark and I both got off our horses and walked them along the track, allowing them to see the gamekeeper leaving the field they had to walk through and thereby allowing them to realise they could calm down 😉

I got back on Bella and rode to home, Mark decided to walk Stormy home (we need to make some safe big mounting blocks so we can get on easier along the track!)

We got home safe and sound with calm, listening horses 😉

At home I took the opportunity to help Bella walk the ‘newish’ bridge again. Making sure it wasn’t slippery for her first 😉

Tues 26th – Boxing Day

Boxing day, for me, has been

traditionally a day to have a nice walk out. SO, today Mark and I took Storm and Bella for a walk up the hill behind our house and back 😉 nice to stretch their legs (and mine…Mark rode 😉 )

Bella looking at the scenery 😉

Love walking her out and about, really lovely way to bond

Bella had some of her favourite heather while up the top of the hill…it was rather windy up there so we didn’t stay too long 😉

Walking down, as normal, was quicker then going up! lol

Managed to jump on Bella’s back when back in the field…..always a pleasure to be in the position to sit on Bella <3 Love her to bits <3

I often sit and think about when I was a kid, wanting so much to have a pony of my own.

To be able to love it, groom it, have fun riding it and sitting talking to it while it munched on hay.

I try never to forget those feelings and how privileged to actually have my own ‘pony’ now

I am the luckiest girl in the world

Sun 31st

Just wishing everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR and hoping you all have enormous fun with your horses throughout the year 🙂

Shelley – HorseSavvy

Bella & Stormy – November 2023

Published on November 2, 2023

Thurs 2nd

Well, a dry (albeit cold) morning after so much rain and wind.

It’s been 10 days since being able to play or ride S or B so today I took the opportunity to get out and have some pony time 😉

Bella was very happy to see me too and did some liberty play all on her own…she does this when she’s trying to get my attention and wanting to interact 😉

She was so clever, putting front feet on medium pedestal and all 4 on the large pedestal 😉

While cleaning the field Bella stayed quite close to me, watching what I was doing and just hanging out with me 😉

After horse duties it was time to ride….I saddled Stormy first and then went for a calm, mostly walk ride in the field. After so long it’s always nice to just
re-connect with each horse in the saddle.

He was lovely, first tried to stay close to where Bella was but once we started playing with the field obstacles he got more and more engaged with what we were doing.

I’ve put obstacles all over the field to make a very large ‘Field Agility’ course so we can walk, trot or canter between the obstacles to make it more fun and to ride a larger area.

Here Stormy goes between a fence and a high narrow obstacle making it a narrow gap…he walked into it, backed up out of it then trotted back through it…me working on riding with one hand too 🙂

Then it was Bella’s turn for a wee ride, she was a bit out of practise but like Stormy soon got into things once the obstacles were being utilized. It focus’s both our brains and makes it more fun.

You can see from the map that it was mostly walk, some leg yields, DHQ turns and round pens with trot. She also did some nice work through some obstacles and we ended on a good note even though the game keepers over the hill started shooting ;( I made sure she was calm before I dismounted.

Lovely to have ridden both S&B this morning, smile is back on my face and now off home for brunch and a large cup of tea (too late for b’fast, too early for lunch).

Fri 3rd

SO, today Mark and I were going to ride around the full Field Agility course I’d set up but when I went to feed them this morning they were both a bit spooky. Not sure why but the gamekeeper was across the glen so presume there’d been some shooting nearby. This always upsets them. In Autumn too it’s the time the local farm takes away the baby cows from heir mums so there was some stressed mooing nearby…this upsets Bella a bit too ;(

When we got down to the field they both seemed calm an sleepy so we groomed them and tacked them up BUT I could sense that Bella wasn’t happy about certain area’s of the field, her head was up and she felt tense in her body which I could feel in my seat and my legs on the sides of her body. We did a few ‘bits’ of riding such as bullseye to leg yields on a circle to get her attention and connected to me but her ‘energy’ was not lowering so I decided that I needed to ‘LISTEN TO MY HORSE’ and do what she needs rather than what I wanted so I JUMPED OFF and decided to play online with her instead.

She was much calmer online and playing, her walk, trot and canter were calm and connected and probably if I got on after the play and rode she may have been calm but by this time I was a bit tired so decided to leave it on a good note…..it was lovely to see her calm down with the play that we’ve been doing for the last 4 yrs and knowing that it helped her to connect to me in a good way 😉

Things that I think worry her are NOISES: gun shots, stressed cows mooing, fighting male pheasants in forest behind field, trailers on road rattling big time and once sensitized and ‘spooky’ every noise seems worrying ;(

Riding was going to be fun but she wasn’t connected to me and her high head told me she was concentrating on outside noises and not me

Ground work was easy and calm from the onset 😉

Here she canters through a pole box doing what is basically a ‘bounce jump’ over them, pretty cool to see her do this.

Very connected, calm and engaging her body well.

Then she decided she wanted to canter (ie, I didn’t ask for it but let her do it as she needed/wanted to). Again she was very balanced and calm.

Then calmed it all down and asked her to ‘touch’ a target (the cone) from a distance…perfect.
This shows me how connected and calm she is 😉

Some lovely sidepass along bunting and then sidepass towards me.

Walk through the bunting lane and then calmly canter back through it 😉 🙂

Although I didn’t get what I wanted (a ride) we did have a lovely play and that was what was needed today.

Sun 5th

Well today the horses are calm, peaceful and happy So I went down in the afternoon thinking I’d ride the Field Agility course BUT the weather was SO nice I decided to groom them, tack them up ready to ride and then walk them back to the house from the field. Then I collected Mark and we rode S&B back to the field so it was a walk and half hack out which was good. I decided to walk to the house as they’d both been upset by noises etc and there was also a new lot of Highland cows to go through so thought it best to stay on the ground to make sure everything went calmly.

This was the track of us walking from the field (near the top) to the house (at the bottom).

It was a first time using the ‘horse gate’ along the track, it has a huge spring on it that closes the gate after going through it and it doesn’t stay open on it’s own normally. Today I noticed the grass near it is very long so I opened the gate wide and wedged the grass under it to keep it open whilst I squeezed the horses individually through it. Worked really well 😉

Bella stopped after the first gate to have a good look around….

Stormy took this time to graze some of his favourite ‘soft reed’ plants 😉

AND HOME…..we wait patiently for Mark to get ready as he was taken by surprise with us outside the door. Always a fun to surprise him with a sunny hack out 😉

Once ready we mount up and plod back to the field….

Happy to go through the Highland cow field thank goodness….

Going through 2 gateways along the track I get off to open the gates and then use the gate to remount Bella….

She’s become really good at sidling up to gates for me to climb it to remount 😉 🙂

…and back to their main field again.

A really lovely afternoon hack out, not long, not fast but really lovely to be with Mark, Bella and Stormy with the fabulous scenery and calm, happy horses 🙂

Thurs 9th

Very cold here today but no rain (yeehaa) SO managed to get a wee plod about on Bella. We did a few new things but also did a section of the ‘field agility’ (should call it cross country agility as obstacles across the whole field 😉 ) We’re doing sections of the whole field agility course and will later on do the whole course in one. Just wanting to build confidence in each section and not wanting to do too much too fast with the grass being so wet from all the recent rain. I like to teach agility, even in a small area, this way, like we’d teach a jump course or a dressage test. Learn the little bits and put them together slowly so that confidence for horse and rider is always there and relaxation with attention to detail isn’t lost 😉

First we did some walk and trot circles and fig 8’s, working on good curvature and rhythm of steps.

Then we did some trot leg yields where we got sideways and forwards at the same time…she’s getting slowly better at this and hopefully we’ll feel some lightness off the rein coming once she’s more balanced and happy about the move at speed.

After this we walked up the field hill, I’ve put a cone half way up the hill and have always taught Bella to ‘target’ cones for a treat. She saw the cone and trotted to it with a lovely calm gait and a lovely straight halt before it….she got a nice herbal treat for this 😉 Coming back down the hill she was relaxed and not rushing it so it was much easier for me to sit to.

The next thing we tried was some shoulder-in. This is along a fence line where the front feet come half way off the track of forward motion so you can see 3 legs tracking up rather than 2 when just walking forward. It’s quite a hard move and we’ve only just started playing with it as I know we have a better understanding of flexibility now. She’s happier doing it with the fence to her left, as in the 6th pic below.

We did some lovely trot poles where she really picked up her feet and didn’t touch any poles (perfect) and last, but not least, we did some walk, trot, backups through the bunting lanes. Her last backup was with me not using the reins at all, only energy, flapping legs and saying ‘back, back’ 😉

Fri 10th

Opportunity for a wee ride on Bella today, weather good (darned cold though), no rain and no shooting on the estate 😉 Yeehaa

All groomed and tacked up we’re ready to ride.

Nice bit of sunshine and shadows following us around. Decided to put some of the ‘field agility’ together today….

We did just over half of the obstacles, mostly walk with some trot. Didn’t do the hilly bits as (1) Stormy wasn’t in eyeshot so Bella kept looking around for him and (2) it’s been very wet so didn’t want to her to slip on the hills.

Really nice ride, she did 3 jumps and 17 of the 22 tasks 😉

Hopefully will be able to get a nice video of us doing the whole course before the end of the year.

Sun 12th

Out to ride Bella and then Stormy today. Weather was cold but I had nice rides on both of them.

Bella did some more of the field agility and we also did some leg yielding and shoulders-in again.

Stormy has always been a bit reluctant to go up the main hill, especially without Bella SO we worked on that today.

I took him up a bit then retreated down and repeated this with a bit of extra ‘up’ each time and he got a treat on the ‘up’ bits too. He actually went half way up the hill nicely in canter so I ended on a good note with that. He doesn’t get a lot of riding exercise so we had some differences of opinion but from the middle to end we were much more in harmony 😉

They weren’t overly sweaty but they were warm from their exercise and the air was very cold SO I rugged them in their fleeces so that they didn’t get a chill. Mark will take them off at dinnertime as they won’t need them after that. It’s also supposed to rain early tomorrow for on/off 2 days so I’m glad I got out today to give them, and me, some exercise 😉

Friday 17th

The lazy sun slowly rose in the sky throwing off the blanket of misty fog….just glorious being with S&B watching it open up to a blue sky 😉

This afternoon I managed to get a short ride on Stormy and a longer one on Bella. It’d been 5 days of drizzle and rain and it was so nice to get some saddle time 🙂

They were both so good for me, going around some of the field obstacles and enjoying working their brains and bodies.

Bella working nicely and taking a drink of water from the top of the mounting block barrel.

Stormy enjoying some brain work…he LOVES being clever and having some obstacle fun.

Sun 19th

Both Mark and I rode around the field agility today on Storm and Bella. We did different gaits between obstacles and different tasks at the obstacles. Still not doing the hills as slippery. It was a lot of fun working with M&S around the course, it gives Me and Bella a challenge to try new or different things to impress them 😉

Weds 22nd

Just decided to hack to the house for a change today. SO glad we did, it was a lot of fun. Both horses were up for a change too and they had some zip in their hooves too, they both love the cooler weather, no flies and a nice breeze 😉

Mon 27th

SO today I went out and ready to ride Bella as I’ve changed some of the field agility obstacles BUT unfortunately the estate gamekeeper and friends were out shooting quite close to the horses field. There was annoying shouting now and then and then one off sharp bangs from the guns. Dear Bella was quite upset, pacing and circling around while Stormy was following her. When I got down there I just hung out with them, giving them treats when they came to me and relaxed a bit.

They were a little bit sweaty and Bella especially could not connect to me. A horses instinct from danger is to run, fast and as long as possible. Bella wasn’t frightened into being scattered but she knew she didn’t want to be near the noise or shots. I know they could hear the men shouting and probably could smell the ‘hunting’ energy of the men but they were in the bushes and trees so they couldn’t see them, which made it all worse.

Luckily they’re both what I call cold blooded ‘short’ horses which means they have less running in their feet than a hot blooded ‘long’ horse like a Thoroughbred or Arabian, their flight distance is short but they can still take time to fully relax mentally, emotionally or physically.

I stayed with them until I saw the guys drive their 4×4’s back towards the village (probably for their lunch). S&B started to relax down. Later, at 3.30pm when I was out walking the dog there was more shooting, near the house and this is still quite close to the horses. When feeding their dinner Mark said they were still sceptical about going anywhere near certain parts of the field ;(

Tues 28th

I did breakfast with the horses this morning, I was a bit worried that they’d not eaten their hay last night. I was right, they’d not really been to the shelter where the hay is. Although Bella again was sceptical of things she and Stormy managed to come to the ‘shelter area’ to have their breakfast and I put a small pile of hay outside the shelter and although it took a while they did get over to sample a bit of it 😉

To help Bella connect again I used some liberty play…she LOVES the pedestal so this worked nicely.

She was also connected enough to test out the smaller pedestal and stay there when I moved off for a bit.

Still a bit worried about noises about the ‘glen’ this morning….

BUT after clearing all the poo from the field, as we do daily, I decided that a nice, calm play session with Bella would help her. I know she relaxes more when haltered so I haltered her up and we did a lovely play session. We did S2M halt/walk/trot/backups very well, then some play with the tarp, pipe and narrow gap….

I could tell she wasn’t relaxed or attentive enough for me to have a nice connected ride so it was good to have such a strong play connection that we could enjoy being together without the pressure or stress of riding when she’s not up for it Hopefully if there’s no more shooting we’ll be able to catch up with some riding agility 😉

Weds 29th

Out today for a play and hopefully ride but taking it slowly with some in-hand play to make sure Bella is happy and unstressed first 😉

All okay but she was not totally relaxed and kept looking around with some noises so I just focused and kept riding simple at first.

I then moved things on giving her some moves to do that used her brain thereby hopefully helping her to focus more too 😉

Ending on a very good note it wasn’t a long or busy session but it was a good session to refocus and connect us after the other days stressful shooting around the field 😉

THESE PICS ARE FROM THE MORNING WHEN I FED THEM AND CLEANED THE FIELD…..BRUSH IS TO CLEAN THE SHELTER MESS AND OLD HAY BUT WHILE IT’S NEW AND WHAT BETTER TIME TO FAMILIARISE TO SOMETHING NEW 😉 🙂 🙂

And also a couple of pics of S&B in the beautiful morning light we get here in Scotland 😉

Thu 30th

S&B both lovely and calm today so I get to ride them both. Not for long as very cold and not wanting to get them sweaty but it was so lovely to have my calm, happy horses back after the shoot.