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Wed 1st

WELL….today we have cold but sunny weather and I decided today was a good day to get out with the horses. The last week or so we’ve had noisy disruptions from pheasant shooting to chain sawing near the horses so understandably S&B have been a wee bit spooky and not wanting to go in their shelter for rest and food ;( I thought maybe get down there and do some ‘relaxation’ work while there was some noise going on BUT when I got there it was calm, peaceful and the chain sawing has now finished so I missed that but they were still not happy with half the field! SO….I groomed them both and got Stormy ready to ride but then played with him whilst walking down the field from ‘safe’ area to ‘scary’ area. Working on S2M, backing up and then reapproaching the scary area.

Bella came for a bit then stopped and waited. When we got the some hay I let Stormy eat and relax and Bella found her way to us to eat too. I then took Stormy onwards to play with the pedestal and then the ‘scary’ shelter. We played going in and out of the shelter, forward into it then backing into it. He got over his initial worry and started listening more to me and I used +R (treats) to help make it all more positive for him. Bella didn’t come any closer to the shelter and when I got on Stormy she cantered fast back to the ‘safe’ area and I connected to Stormy through Lateral Flexion of his head and then sidepassing into leg yielding to keep his mind and feet on me and where I wanted to go and at my speed. It worked really well.

We got back to the ‘safe’ area and did some ridden play with poles: backing up between poles, backing up then over single pole with 2 feet then all 4 feet. Sidepassing over a pole then sidepassing over the whole pole longways. Putting foot into hula hoop and then some small, precision fig 8’s around jump wings, transitions through a narrow bunting lane, trot poles and finished on a lovely trot weave around the jump wings 😉 He’s such a good boy, think he enjoyed himself 😉

Next I got Bella ready with her bitless bridle and bareback pad. I went to the mounting block and got on, she was fine but was then distracted by a nearby tractor and wasn’t paying attention to me, she was twitching in her shoulders as I asked her to walk on and she jumped a bit SO I got off and went to playing around the obstacles to reconnect to her mind and feet. Once I felt she was paying attention more and we were more connected I sidled her over to a jump wing and practised jumping up and down on it, laying over her back and flapping my arms about ready to remount. I then managed to jump on and just sit still with her for a while allowing her to focus on relaxing her body so that her mind could relax 😉

When we did our bit of riding I just kept asking her to do small curves to make up a fig 8. Once the small 4 curves go well start doing two small circles with rests between to make up the fig 8’s. Finally when I feel we’re really connected and working together we do some single full fig 8’s, rest and treats in centre for reward 😉 It was lovely to be on her back again, bareback too…it’d been 10.5 weeks since I last rode her (since 8th Dec last year) but the weather was just against us. I know now I will have to go through all the basic’s again, restart with slow stuff but she’ll be back being ridden out again this year quicker than last year and am looking forward to having a lot of riding/hacking fun with her and Stormy this year <3 

Fri 3rd

Finally some decent weather, not too cold and no drizzle.

Managed to have a nice ride on Stormy, with a saddle for a change.

Felt really nice to ride him and then also ride Bella.

It wasn’t a big ride but a nice ‘start to the year’ for them both.

Stormy just goes into the year with a nice plod and a bit of fun.

With Bella I start her out doing all the basic’s again to reaffirm our connection.

Our start consisted of:
1. groom at liberty
2. tack up at liberty
3. play some games to connect us. We did S2M transitions to connect our breathing andenergy
4. stand still at the mounting block
5. stand still once mounted
6. check lateral flexion L&R
7. check disengagement L&R
8. check back up
9. forward and stop on breath in/out

Then we just poodled about for a bit working on our left and right turns from my seat/weight/leg aids, we stayed in walk but did some halt/backup transitions.

She was really good and it was nice to start our year going back over the basic’s. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue building on this when the weather allows 😉

Sat 4th

No pics today but managed to get out and have fun with Bella and then Stormy around the first Agility course I put together. The course has developed over the last few days on paper and I use this chance to test it out so that I can use the course for students in March 😉

The course consists of:
1. Bunting lane
2. 4 x trot poles
3. Single pole to halt over
4. Curtain
5. 2 x parallel poles on ground to halt and back up in
6. 4 x pole box with crushed bottles in
7. small jump
8. tarp to walk/halt/walk over
9. 6 x cone weave
10. hulahoop…front feet in 😉

Tues 7th

Between showers I managed to get out but only ride Stormy as showers stopped the fun.
But Bella was fab and stayed by the mounting block and quad bike the whole time I rode Stormy which was great as there the estate were chain sawing and moving logs with a big tractor which last week had her running around high headed in the field.

Hopefully I’ll get a ride on Bella this week 😉

Thurs 9th

Nice weather (although a bit windy) means only ONE thing…..FUN WITH HORSES and MARK 🙂

We had a nice potter around the field together, checking basic’s of walk/halt/backup/walk/trot’s and our left/right turns with forehand and hindquarters. Also did a bit of trot work (Mark and Stormy did canter too). What a lovely way to start the year with Mark and the horses 😉 Onwards & Upwards 🙂

Bella & I did some ridden agility too 😉

Weave, sidepass, halt in x box….

walk/halt/backup in bunting land

Trot poles 😉

Trot through bunting lane

Into and back up in parallel poles

Slow plod back with Mark and Stormy to the mounting block 😉

Fri 10th

A lovely day for a quick ride on Bella. Getting some basic hours of riding in to start the year off nicely.

Started with Liberty grooming, putting bridle and saddle on. I like doing these things at liberty as it shows a trust between us but also if she needs/wants to move away she can and I’ll listen to her and try to figure out what she’s trying to tell me…can mean sometimes I don’t get her tacked up or ridden but that’s what the partnership is all about…listening to each other 🙂

She did so well and so I mounted and we had a nice short ride.

Today I was just checking we had some nice soft transitions (walk/halt/backup/walk and then trot too), that we had nice flexibility in our turns and curves and that we were able to find straightness together with loose reins and connected reins 😉

Stormy followed us around a bit too which was fun 😉

Sat 11th

Loving this dry weather at the moment, managing to get some nice riding on Bella for the start of the year. I always try to start her off slowly with the things she already knows well, some nice  walk/halt/backups to begin with, then get more into trot and leg yields/sidepassing.

It didn’t take long this Springtime to get her into a bit more trot, finding her balance and flexibility along the way.

We also did our first jump this year as this helps me fathom out how her trot/jump/canter depart is going which helps me know when to do more canter.

This year is going to be about relaxation in canter for us. We’ve done relaxation in walk/halt/backup/trot transitions and she learns pretty quickly SO finding that relaxation in canter is the next step. Horses, like all prey animals, use running as an escape from predators SO teaching her to relax, think and be calm with me when in canter is against what she understands for running in the wild part of her brain but I need to show her how to run calmly so her brain is still connected to me and her feet and that running becomes a calm conscious decision rather than a flee from danger process 😉

We did finish on a really nice walk up a steep hill but then she decided to GALLOP to the top with me having to really turn her to the right before she ran into Stormy…..she was a bit in fleeing mode but also a bit in YEEHAA mode…she came down nicely and we did some cooling down exercises to make sure we were re-connected well before stopping. I think it really just took me by surprise the amount of sheer energy and power she had in what I thought was going to be a nice calm canter but turned out to be a full on run….wow wee is all I can say…the girl has some power in her hindquarters to bring on that kind of speed up a steep hill 🙂

Sun 1th

Trimmed Bella’s feet today and then continued our Springtime start to the year. Started inside the round pens working on walk circles into bullseye then into leg yields out…this helps us both work on our flexibility, and being ‘straight on a curve’ 😉

We then went to the cone and tyre circles to work on some weaving and again the arc in Bella’s body whilst working on them.

We then circled the round pens and cone/tyre circles in trot, again asking for that nice curve in our bodies to keep working on arc of the circle. When she was calmly doing circles with a nice arc I then asked her to canter between the round pens and continue the canter to the left first and the right the 2nd time…all went well and it was lovely to have a nice calm canter today 😉

We finished with nice soft walk fig 8’s to cool her down after her exercise as she had just a wee bit of sweat on her.  Lovely day, lovely ride 🙂

Mon 13th

AND SUNSHINE TODAY Trimmed her feet then did another session of Springtime basic’s. It’s all going along really well, here’s what we did today:

3) large fig 8 pattern over whole field with middle between the roundpens…..walk 10 strides, trot 6 strides then canter through the middle for 4 laps

Yeehaa, really enjoyed today and love it when a plan is coming together. The consistency of getting to ride every day and also the training patterns are really helping Bella to have relaxation, co-operation, impulsion and flexibility much more. What a great start to our year

Human responsibilities =

Act like a partner, not like a predator.

Have an independent seat. (or independent feet)

Think like horse before you think like a human.

Use the natural power of focus.

She was FAB to the left and right and it was a proud mum moment that she is now SO balanced, flexible and ready to canter she just did it 😉 <3

We got down easily and calmly too 😉 Stormy did this ‘flehmen’ move with his nose…this is where a horse takes in new smells over it’s top palette and nose. It’s quite fascinating and he did it a couple of times which told me he was smelling something new or something he needed to take in again to figure out what it was.

Main flat field called ‘the haugh’ just below their own field and they took opportunities to grab at some grazing the whole way and I was quite happy with that as it helped them be calm,

Lovely walk so far, really enjoying just being with them and in the peace that is usually around this area 😉

We then negotiated a wooden bridge with a gateway where we went over and then had to turn and face the gate to be able to do it back up. They did superbly…..all the training I do comes into it’s own when doing this sort of thing 🙂

Finally we get to the last hill toward their field. When ridden they usually trot or canter up this hill, it’s a lot of fun but today I asked them to walk so that they didn’t run away from me and they did a great job 😉

Last pic of them back in the field <3

Sun 26th

Today’s main aim was ‘body dynamic riding’. This is one handed riding doing turns, or in our case weaving, through our eyes, shoulders, belly button, seat weight, outside leg with inside leg holding and the inside rein loose or open and the outside rein used as a neck rein. Bella did the best yet and was turning from my seat weight, body turn and light guidance with the rein

2023 🙂 HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE 🙂 2023

I’ve put a new ‘CATEGORY’ in the menu of ‘Bella & Stormy’. I’ve done this as through the last 3 years training Bella we’ve come to a good point and we’re doing more of the basic training with new things becoming less frequent SO as this year hopefully we’ll be doing more hacking out with Stormy it felt right to change the category from ‘Bella – our journey’ to include Stormy again more 😉 SO….from today new posts will be under ‘Bella & Stormy’ regardless of which horse I’m with 😉 Happy New Year again and hopefully Spring will come soon so that we can start our year up here 😉

Mon 2nd

Today the estate gamekeeper and friends are looking to get any foxes in the enclosure behind our horses paddocks out of it so they can close the gates….

I go out to the horse while this goes on as there can be quite a lot of human shouting, dogs barking and general chaotic predatory behaviour…..

My job is to create a calm, sweet spot where the horses can come to relax and know they’re safe SO I stand near the top of the paddock and let them come and go whilst do my audible breathing for them to ‘be with me’ in that calm state….

It works really well and they both hang around whilst keeping an eye on the ‘strangers’ nearby. When the dogs come out it was lovely to see Bella and Storm’s curiosity come out and follow them along the paddock without being worried or feisty 😉

When I whistled to them with my ‘call’ they came straight to me which was really lovely xxx

Wed 4th

Another fab opportunity for some familiarisation play today. I go out with my metal detector to check on the line of polypost/electric fencing I put up which Stormy broke the other day. I needed to make sure there were o metal spikes left in the ground from the broken posts…I found 2 so made this job essential fun. Whilst doing this job the horses came to investigate what I was doing and using +R (positive reinforcement – reward training) I asked them to touch the end of the machine to realise that it wasn’t going to hurt them. I love doing this familiarisation, allowing horses to be curious and brave about the world they live in with us 😉

Stormy was more curious and brave, Bella is more sceptical but both were calm, happy to interact with me and the machine and very happy to receive treats for doing it 😉

Mon 9th

Today seemed more like the Winter Solstice than Dec 21st….very very dark in the morning, the sun being very lazy getting into the sky and the moon had to hang around more waiting for it to catch up! lol.

Pic of B&S this morning under the big moon, this was about 8.15am. Roll on Spring 😉

Thurs 12th

Waiting one more day of rain before hopefully, fingers crossed, moving Bella & Storm back to their big field 😉

Today I spent a wee bit of time with them just doing some small things…first I managed to get some lovely eye shots of them…they have the most beautiful, soft eyes ever 😉

Then I got a shot of their soft inquisitive muzzles…so sweet with lots of hair on them over winter, called moustaches 😉

After that I asked them to stand together and ‘wait’ 😉 This went very well and I was very impressed with their patience today 😉

Lastly I stood on a big stone and asked them to come over, work on sidling to a ‘mounting block’ and stand still for me. It went okay, wish I had a bigger stone as I would have jumped on Stormy…missing riding a lot and just sitting on Stormy would be fun….hopefully when they’re back in the big field I can start doing some agility bits online, at liberty and ridden too. I will start this all very slowly so we can all just get our muscles exercising a bit, getting fitter together for the year ahead <3

Thurs 12th

The last couple of days the ice is slowly going from the track that leads from our house to the horses main, big field down the road…..

Fri 13th

YEEHAAA….most of the snow has gone from the track and the bits that are less are passable for the horses SO….back to the big field they go today 🙂

Really enjoyed riding Stormy while leading Bella…it’s been way too long since but hit the saddle (or bareback pad in this case) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now that they’re back in the big field I can hopefully get to trim Bella’s feet, put up some fun agility obstacles and get to ‘be’ with them more.

Hopefully no more snow to come so they can stay in the big field BUT if it snows hard again we’ll just have to bring them back to the home paddocks 😉

Once into the field they had fun kicking up their heels and it was really lovely to see them stretching their legs after being in the small paddocks at home 😉

Sat 14th

A bit grey again today but Bella’s hooves need trimming so I go out and trim her front feet, ergots, chestnuts and also her feather. I’ll do her backs tomorrow…saves my back doing them like that 😉

BUT I did put together an Agility course up with the obstacles that were already in the ‘agility arena’ from last year and while I was finishing it off Bella came over and we had an impromptu Liberty play. It was fab, put a huge smile on my face and reconnected us at liberty which was fab.

Sat 21st

Took some containers of water down to the horses as their supply has either gone (no rain) or hard to get to (burn has 6′ of ice near it) and had a wee play at liberty with both S&B as they were up for a bit of fun with me 😉 darned cold though!!

Fri 27th

‘You’re never doing nothing when you’re with your horse’ 😉 (SNC)

I always try to do something when I visit the horses at any time of year but especially in Winter. Quite often in the morning, after they’ve had their breakfast and I’m going around the field poo picking, they come over to see what I’m doing and I will ask them to interact with me at liberty for some fun. The things I often ask them to do are things like: Backing up. Sidepassing. Circle. Sidle to mounting block. Fun Agility things with obstacles like Fig 8’s. ETC. It’s always fun, we get connected and they get a treat as a reward so they really love playing at this time of year 😉

Today I was inspired to do something completely new…backing up with me behind the horse. This is a quite advanced move and I wasn’t sure if Bella was going to ‘get it’ BUT she knows the voice cue so I thought I’d just try. I used her usual voice cue and a gentle suggestion on the front of her back leg….here’s what happened 😉

I then did it with Stormy…he has done this a lot but not much recently and he goes with a voice cue and a gentle holding of his tail (no pulling) 🙂

Sun 29th

Today we brought the horses back to the home paddocks just for a change for them and us and to get them used to just doing it now and then…gave me a nice ride on Stormy too 🙂

Stormy was quite eager to move so we had a few trot sections and Bella kept up very neatly. A lovely big canter at the end too which was fun. They’ll stay here over night and go home to the big field tomorrow morning 😉

I’d like to do this a couple of times a month this year just to get them SO used to it that it’s no bother at all and maybe later on try riding Bella and leading Stormy for a change once she’s more used to leading a horse off her…more for me to do this year but they’ll be the things we’ll do more and more so well worth doing a lot now so that later on it’s easier, quicker and hassle free 🙂

Mon 30th

And after a night in the paddocks at home S&B go back to their big field today

They came up to see a friend of mine that has known Stormy most of his life when they’ve been up on holiday with their family. It was lovely for her to see him again now at 19yrs of age and her a mommy of 2 sweet kids 😉

They went back beautifully and Mark had a lovely ride 😉

Grabbing some nice grass along the way

Nearly home and then into the field they go and have a nice long drink from the burn at the top of their field 😉

• Shelley – HorseSavvy