Bella – Our Journey

Tues 1st Dec

< Lovely to have the horses outside the door this morning 😉

Waiting for the farrier >

< Feet all trimmed up today. Farrier does a standard ‘pasture trim’ and we put a barefoot mustang roll on the next day or so, it saves our backs a bit with the general trimming.

Back in their field while we have our breakfast >

Later on we rode them back to the big field which was another lovely hack for us  😉

Nice to have some side-by-side riding 😉

What have they seen??? oh yes, it’s the cattle so we give them time to watch and assess them before going through the field. Again, I walk Bella 😉

Sidling up to the gate for me to get back on after the cattle field 🙂 Such a good girlie 😉

Mark and Stormy waiting for me to remount…then back to following for me and Bella

The last part of the ride…..I can see the field gate from here 😉

Dismounted ready to open the gate

Mark and Stormy ride through the gate
carefully…a bit muddy/slippery there

In the field, riding the track to the shelter

Stormy deciding that he needed to roll BIG TIME……going to be fun cleaning that tomorrow 😉 lol

Thurs 3rd Dec

WELL…OOPS…this is what we woke up to today…not much snow but with a forecast of more we decided to bring them home again

It’s a mile walk to the horses and I decided it was easier to get Mark there on the quad and he could ride/lead them home, which he did beautifully as always

Bella did keep looking back at me which was really sweet

It was a lovely ride back for Storm, Bella and Mark

< a Highland cow in the trees on the right here….they were fine with it and it moved away to be with it’s herd. It was nice to be able to open all the gates for them

Highland watching us pass by 😉

Last leg for home

Mark enjoying his ride back home 😉

And safely back home

and what they were looking for…breakfast and hay 😉

Nom, Nom, Nom 😉

Fri 4th Dec

Supposedly snow today although we actually only had rain and wind so rugs on last night (we had thunder/lightning here), rugs off for breakfast but an hour later we put them back on, minus the neck pieces, for the whole day and then neck bits back on for the cold, cold night again 😉

Sat 5th Dec

Weather settled so horses back to the big field…and I got to take them back riding Stormy bareback and leading Bella 😉

Walking together to the mounting block

Mounted and off we go

Nice to be back on big Stormy for a ride

Both doing very well, just walked through the field of Highland cows…no problem 😉

off the track onto some nice grass

Last leg and the field gate is in sight 😉

Just a really nice ride this faternoon

Stormy doing what he likes best and Bella doing her thing too…both happy to be back in the big field where they can stretch their legs 😉

After their run and roll they settled down to happy grazing 😉 🙂

Thu 10th Dec

Been drizzling and raining for days but got out to have some pony hugs and try out the horses new Mane Charms and Feather that I made for them 🙂

Stormy’s lovely blue Mane charm really suits him….he tested Bella’s red ones too 😉

Bella with her red/orange/purple charm and fab feather

Sat 12th Dec

Well it’s really been a wet, wet, wet beginning to the month and today it’s still drizzling BUT so desperate to be with the horses, connect and hug them SO out we go for a bit of a play 😉

Started off connecting with a neck rope and in the large round pen. All the basic moves were there and we connected quickly and easily.

I think she’s missed me as much as I’ve missed her.

Beautiful sideways both ways

Lovely circles with some soft fig 8’s and basic COD’s….then I asked for a bit more ‘bend’ in her ribs to make the arc more balanced

Then we went to Liberty…basic moves done really well and some nice draw too

S2M always good on both sides, w/t

Turns towards and away good

Following and draw good

Her big halt/draw was fab 😉

Then did some nice play at liberty with Storm.

Lovely sideways towards

Some nice bend on a circle and some fab familiarisation 😉

How to stay dry when it’s drizzling????
Get under a big horse 😉 🙂

Thu 17th Dec

Well…it’s been 16 days since riding Bella and since then it’s been wet, wet, wet. Today thankfully it’s dry at last and I couldn’t wait to get out and be with my big girlie 🙂 Here’s some pics of our fun togetherness today…

Mane Feather Charms in her hair today

Stormy watching me putting her bridle on

Focus whilst doing no reins P2Ps

Light loose rein with longer P2Ps

Lovely to put bum in saddle today

Sidepass over cone both ways, so light

Working on slow, gentle arc in ribs on circles

Just enjoying the ride today

Walked nicely down the hillock and then canter back up

Canter

Nice connection after 3 weeks off

Going back down the hillock and then 2 feet on pedestal 😉

Earlier in the day they decided to put one foot each on the medium pedestal 😉

Lovely morning light with sun coming up, horses enjoying the shelter with hay in it

🙂 😉 Stormy and Bella in the shelter this morning 😉 🙂

Called the horses from half way across the paddock today…they both came beautifully

Bella’s draw was a fabulous fast canter…she had to swoop to her right to avoid stopping on me 😉 lol

Weds 23rd Dec

Well we’ve had a day of dry weather and the ground is hard and easy to walk on today SO I brought the horses home for Xmas. Love having them at home, to be able to pop in and out to see them, maybe a wee ride and back to the big field later on if the weather holds. So, here I am riding Stormy bareback and leading Bella home today. Stormy was a bit reluctant at one point, think he thought he was missing out on breakfast in the big field, but realised once we were half way that breakfast was in the home paddock and he started to walk forward more 😉 Bella, as always, was a dream, she lead without any hitches, kept to her space by Storm’s hip and kept up with us all the way, even when Mr Stormy went into a small trot and canter 😉

Thurs 24th Dec

Trimmed Ms Bella’s hooves today 🙂

Her feet are getting better since I’ve gone back to trimming her myself…they’re smaller with a tighter white line, no flare and splits are going 🙂

Fri 25th Dec

Horses are rugged at night and without them during the day at the moment enjoying their hay and wait patiently for Spring 😉

Tues 29th Dec

Not a bad day weather today…cold but dry and a good day to take the horses out for a wee walk and play 😉

So lovely to be  out and about for a while with Bella. Did some fun bits like going between tree trunks…

,,,up on a small hillock and she managed a nice, calm decent from it too…

…also managed a nice foot on the pedestal and then she decided it was easier to just get up on the whole rock 😉

…Lovely job of walking calmly across the small stream and whenever I stood on a rock she sidled over readying for me to mount if I wanted to 😉

Love her new ‘mane feathers’. I made them myself with our favourite colours which are burgundy, orange, silver and some purple 😉

SO…that’s the end of 2020. It’s been a hard year with the Covid-19 pandemic all around. I’ve not been able to work at all and I’ve missed my fabulous students and horses BUT I have managed to have a fabulous time really putting on a great foundation on Bella with almost daily ground work, agility bits and riding and it’s all paying off beautifully now 😉

Happy New Year and may 2021 be a better one for us all 😉

* Shelley – HorseSavvy

Fri 2nd Oct

Today is a nice dry day between rainy ones so time to get out with Bella and Stormy. Firstly Mark and I put neater edges to the horses hooves after the farrier yesterday. Their hooves needed tidying up in shape, take away the flare and put mustang rolls on. Also re-plugged a couple of holes Bella has at the moment to stop WLD. With all that done we groom them and I tack up Bella. I wasn’t intending to do too much as she’s just come off a ‘season’ so with that in mind we plodded about for a wee bit then did some nice patterns.

We started off with walk/trot transitions and put in some lovely walk/back/walk/back transitions through a narrow pole/jump wing lane (part of her Stage 2 assessment). We then got a bit more energy and put in a couple of low jumps (Stage 2 assessment task). Then I went out into big field and did a fabulous trot clover leaf L&R, she didn’t change gait once and stayed on the pattern really well, impressed with her trot energy and focus on the task with little adjustments from me we rode in harmony nicely.

I then went to try out some canter and we did our FIRST trot/canter/trot/canter transitions (did about 6 of them..yeehaa) 🙂 Really REALLY pleased with these, was counting 4-6 canter strides and she came back down really nicely. She then did her best, so far, sidepassing L&R….she really struggled to do a sidepass to the left but she has got the good body/voice cues well now and it felt much more fluid 😉

Tues 6th Oct

Between showers today we had a lovely hack out. Both Bella and Stormy had a wee worry about going up one part of the new track (close to very noisy full river from all the rain recently) so I got off and led Bella with Mark riding Stormy behind up the ‘narrow track lane’. They both did well and at the top I re-mounted from a gateway which Bella sidled up to beautifully. The hack was good and it was good for me to decide to just get off and do the track bit rather than turn around and not do it because the horses were a bit worried….helps all our confidences to DO the thing that worries us but to do it in a way that was MY decision helped even more…I’m so glad that natural horsemanship has taught me that it’s okay to do that, win-win situation 🙂

Thu 8th Oct

Nice, fun, agility day today. Bella had some really nice FIRSTS:
1) Back through narrow gap with raised pole
2) Sidepass over raised pole
3) Continuous trot circles over tarp
4) Trot through the archway 🙂
5) Circle and halt in pole square 😉

She also did a fabulous Ridden Agility lesson with some new FIRSTS too…riding under the archway being one of them 🙂

Here’s the video of it all too…

Sun 11th Oct

Just a nice pooter about the field with Mark and Stormy today. Bella did some lovely trot ‘leap frog’ pattern and in the pics below we did some really nice 4 stride trot/canter transitions….didn’t always make the 4 strides but improved from last time 😉

Tues 13th Oct

Well it is very windy here today and yesterday it rained all day so thinking of just doing a small play with the horses. We also need to do an Equi-Sal test which is a saliva test for tapeworms. The horses can’t eat or drink for half an hour before doing the test so a small play session was just perfect to fill that time up as they don’t graze when we play with them 😉

Weds 14th Oct

Wasn’t feeling up for too much today so we started with some Agility and we again tried it at Liberty. The connection was nice today and Bella did really well 😉

We then had a short ride in the main field…trying out some leg yields off a circle and off a straight line, then some nice trot/canter/trot transitions and also some really nice loose rein walk/turns/backups 😉 Bella didn’t feel like she wanted to do too much either so it was good to stop on a good note with our first attempt at a turn on the forehand 😉

Loose rein riding

Loose rein walk/trot and then backup

leg yields

Nice canter but not much ‘oompff’ today

Love my big girlie…nice first attempt at turn on the forehand (means we turn her hindquarters a full 360* with her front legs staying on the spot)

Turn on forehand 😉

Thurs 15th Oct

Today I was a bit tired and didn’t think I’d ride but went down to see Bella, groom and make sure her feet were in good order. She had a couple of ‘holes’ in her white line so I’ve been regularly treating it and plugging the holes to make sure they stay clean…they just need time now to grow out as her hoof wall grows. I did decide that I would take her out into the big part of the field, the winter part to have a wee graze but ended up having a really nice play with her……here are some pics….

Getting ready for some play….nice walk and trot circles first with some COD’s

Then she offers some canter so off we go 🙂

Next we look at the gateway again doing a nice walk through it first….

…and then she backed through it without going forwards through it first….fabUlous Bella <3

Next we did some sidepassing over some tyres which she did both ways very well

and then we did some fig 8’s which she wanted to go fast through but didn’t get her brain switched on enough to do the turn from left circle/COD to right side SO…..

after some cantering around allowing her to move her feet a bit….

…and a few yeehaa’s just for fun….

…we went back to trying it in walk to remember the pattern and she eventually did it really nicely in walk and then in trot too 🙂

Sidepass towards was well remembered too

Then some rope tossing from the shoulder AND in front of her, she did so well, not moving her feet at all…..tossed rope and did some lovely flexible rope-around-turns 🙂

Then she wanted to move her feet again so we did that and put in some trot half circles on the move too

Then back to the ‘track’ with some really nice leg yields  :{)

Sat 17th Oct

Decided to go for a short hack out on the ‘haugh’ by the river today. Both horses calm but there was a ‘vibe’ in the field. Recent cattle from here had been moved off and their babies taken away so not sure if this was the ‘vibe’ we were feeling? BUT Stormy decided that something at the ‘gateway’ by the river was worrying so he spooked which made Bella spook. Stormy went through the gateway okay then relaxed but Bella really didn’t want to follow SO I got off and walked her through it a few times, she was on her toes but we managed to move on. The field doesn’t have any mounting blocks (that I could think of at the time) so I walked her through the 2nd field on the haugh, up a small hill and through a gate to a sheep field…I got on at the gateway and rode her through the sheep field, through another gate and onto the Trail where I walked her home up the big trail hill 🙂

Back in the field I did a wee bit of riding as we hadn’t really done much today 🙂

Sun 18th Oct

After the trouble with the gateway in the haugh field yesterday I decided to try it again…even if it is just walking through it SO, for a FIRST Bella and I go out ON OUR OWN with Mark and Stormy in the field. Stormy let out onto the big grass area he was okay, whinneyed a couple of times but he could still see us so not a problem. Bella was pretty much okay going out on her own, we have a nice connection so she looks to me for safety.

We go through the field hill field next to their field in-hand, I get on at the gateway on the small bridge and we then go down the field a bit doing circles, COD’s, serpentines and the all important DHQ to LF. All going well, nice and relaxed (both of us) and happy to walk near the river but we get to the ‘scary gateway’ and she baulked a bit, I applied approach and retreat by backing up and moving on and then turning away bringing back but she was a bit of a scaredy-cat SO again I get off and take her through it…she was actually very calm going through it today. Decided to walk in the field a bit, down the fence line and decided to try my best to find something to remount her from…..and I found a sticky out stone in the stone wall…hey presto…mounting block and dear Bella did a FABULOUS job sidling up to it for me…what a brilliant girlie she is.

Back on we went for a short ride up and down the fence line again doing some w/t circles in a very calm, happy manner 😉 Going back to the ‘gateway’ she stopped high headed and worried SO got off again and walked her through calmly and found another stone in the stone fence to remount and head for home where she stayed happily doing walk/trot transitions, walk up the big hill then a really nice canter to the field gateway….super 😉

19th – 22nd Oct

Rain, rain, rain, rain……

Thu 22nd Oct

Yeehaa…..a break in the rain and Mark and I go out to just ‘be’ with the horses…yeehaa 😉 🙂
We started off just giving them both good grooms although Stormy could only been done on his top half because his lower half was still wet.

Then I sorted out a quick agility course in a new area with Bella following me online, cones, jump wings and poles all moved into place.

Then Bella and I had a lovely calm play….

Backing up between poles

Sideways onto water tray

Sideways over the water tray and continue along the fence line, so easy today

Circling today was very good…we did walk x 1 lap each direction with very smooth COD’s, 2  trot laps with two really good COD’s and then she wanted to canter so we did 1 lap of canter and dhq to halt.

Hung out with her for a while letting her know how fab her play was today 🙂

Next was some sideways over a jump wing which was easy peasy then into some fig 8’s in walk then trot 😉

Using a pole we did sideways two ways, away and towards 😉

Then she did some really nice trot over 4 poles on a circle going to the L&R and then some treat time where Stormy came over to join in 🙂 LOL

<3  I get some nice huggle time with both of them too  <3

Then it was an impulsive thought to just sit on Stormy for a while, I’ve not ridden him for quite some time as I’ve been concentrating on Bella and Mark has been riding him but today I just wanted to connect with him ridden so literally just popped on his back 🙂 He is such a lovely boy and I had a lovely wee ride about on him 🙂

Stepping carefully up the jump wing and managing to pop onto his back

Up and connected with some weave around the cones using mainly body language

He sidepassed over the jump wing so well, impressed with his lightness.

Then a lovely trot around the area which felt great

Superb sidepass onto the water tray and a lovely trot back to Mark….fabulous, LOVE riding Big Stormy, he’s a real gentleman <3

Fri 23rd Oct

Today it was a bit drier so decided to step up some ‘scary gateway’ play with Bella. Again we went out on our own leaving Mark and Stormy in the field but Stormy roaming around the big grass area so he was kinda happy, he only whinneyed three times and wasn’t running about so that was good.

Bella came out with me calm, happy and listening nicely. The gateway was muddy with a big puddle near it so there was a ‘squeeze’ going on between the gate and the river fence and the puddle but she listened very well and we played some nice games to help her find relaxation going through the gate…here’s some pics…

Walking calmly together, we played some fig 8’s around thistles here, me watching to see if she was listening to my requests which she was really well. We also went over the wooden bridge well as it was covered in mud and pretty slippery.

Walking together across the ‘haugh’ (field by a river) we were very connected and had a lovely walk out.

Stormy watching us from the big field 😉

Playing ‘half circles’ (squeeze game) through the gateway. She had to walk in mud and then through the puddle on the right side but she did really well once she understood the game and also found relaxation doing it 😉

Then after the squeeze games we walked calmly through it together, backed her through it and then walked through it and along the river bank, stopped and turned to face it and find relaxation.

Was a really nice walk out and calm gaming with the gateway, we walked back with her grabbing some grazing munches as she strolled behind me 😉

Tues 27th Oct

There’s been not much let up on chilly rain and drizzle here so not able to do anything with the horses at the moment apart from feed them, keep the field clean and make sure they’re comfortable.

We did give them more grazing too and they’re loving the old thistles 🙂

It was lovely to spend some quiet time just hanging out with them this morning and hopefully the weather dries up soon so that we can have some quality afternoons with them too 😉

Weds 28th Oct

Managed to get a lovely plod of a ride on Bella today, so lovely to ride and allow her movement to move my body, it’s a fabulous whole body massage.  We really didn’t do much apart from connect in a lovely way 😉

Lovely trot up to the shelter where I normally take them for grooming and tacking up 🙂

One foot on the smaller pedestal, enthusiastically done, and then 4 feet on bigger pedestal done quickly and without too much fussing about 😉

Did some lovely ‘knuckle’ riding around the cones in a weave…this involves my knuckles being placed either side of withers, weight back in saddle and me turning my body helps her turn her body…nice turns without much use of reins so a better ‘loose rein’ connection today. We also tackled a water obstacle nicely 🙂 🙂

Did some obstacles in the agility area: water tray, hulahoops, cone weave with some nice dhq’s around poles and nice relaxing LF

and she did this ‘extended’ labyrinth really well, so proud of her. Such a lovely plod around the field with my big beauty. Stormy casually followed us about at liberty too which was lovely 🙂

Storm and Bella this morning, after their breakfast they like to snooze for a bit, usually in the same place. Caught this pic (on right) as she was licking but it looks like she’s sticking her tongue out at Stormy…lol 😉

Just love this pic of them together 😉

So that’s October over, it’s gone SO quickly and so much rain has put off play or riding a bit recently but that’s just the way it is. More fun next month 😉

• Shelley – HorseSavvy