Well, I’ve been away for a weekend teaching up in Aberdeenshire and managed to walk to the horses last night on dog walk to see my 2 beauties. They heard me and came cantering up the big field hill to see me and get some hugs. Think they missed me as much as I missed them. I was teaching horses that hadn’t had much, if anything, done with them, and it always makes my heart sing when I come back to these two well trained, happy equines that understand that we love them and can work with them without them getting spooked. Well trained horses are a joy to be with and they have joy too.
This morning I went and fed them their breakfast, groomed them and then cleaned the field. This afternoon I wanted to reconnect to them with some play and maybe a ride. SO, firstly Bella comes up for some interaction….fab. I groom her, halter her and we had a really lovely play session. It felt like I’d played with her yesterday rather than 2 weeks ago (rain called of play for a bit before I went away).
Here’s our play session:
I then went over to see whether Stormy was up for a wee ride and he said ‘yes’ SO I tacked him up and had a nice, soft, light ride on him with some walk, backup, trot and sidepass over cones 😉
Adore this big old boy, he has a heart of gold 😉
Thurs 4th
Played a bit at liberty in the agility arena today with Bella 😉
Just let her do what she wanted in the area, only asked a few times for draw to
stay connected.
Sidepassed the whole length of this, really light and easy.
Fab draw through the poles too.
Grabbed the opportunity to get a ride in on Bella this morning too
What I was riding for today:
1) Lightness and relaxation (always)
2) Loose rein with precision (S2M)
3) Smooth transitions (backup, walk, walk, trot)
How I did these:
1) Light with cues and relaxed in my own body
2) Keep all my focus on where were going with Point 2 Point game and using the rein ONLY when I needed to and AFTER I used my thought, energy, focus, breathing.
3) Smooth in my requests and thinking in my mind and body the gait I want…she is that tuned in to me that she ‘got it’ perfectly.
Fri 5th
Well, we noticed a few tents going up in a field over the river and opposite our horses field. Then today there were 15 small tents with one huge one! We thought maybe something to do with some coronation celebrations but found out it’s a local wedding. There is going to be noisy music and people and not sure how long it’ll be going on for either SO decided to bring the horses home for some peace. Also worried with a wedding there could be those awful candle lanterns going up in the sky ;( SO just to be on the safe side, being with us at home means I’ll sleep easier. The local coronation celebrations I believe are going on from today until Monday so we can keep out of all that malarky too.
Mark did a great job riding Stormy and leading Bella back home 😉
Sat 6th
You don’t have to go out for long, you don’t have to do a lot but it’s ALWAYS fab when you do something with your best friend
Mon 8th
After the weekend revelry (coronation and local wedding near horses field) Storm & Bella go back to their big field now it’s nice and peaceful again there 😉
I did the first bit of walking, about 3/4 of the way. We were going to ride them back but it’d been
raining a lot so the horses are wet so walking them seemed easier and best today 😉
Mark walked the last bit. S&B were just perfect and happy to be back in their big field
where Storm’s first chore was to roll and get all muddy 😉 lol
Weds 10th
Bought Stormy a beautiful halter like Bella’s one I won from Dee’s Designs. Bella’s is Orange with brown and Stormy’s is Red with black…gorgeous halters and hope to ride in them sometimes too 😉
Managed a lovely ride on Bella this morning. What were we going for???
1) Relaxation: through consistency of basic walk/halt/walk transitions. 2) Impulsion and Flexibility: through turns, circles and straight lines and working between those two for balance.
I asked Bella to just walk straight lines with balanced curves in huge serpentines across the field. It took a while but towards the
end I could loosen the reins and we were still straight together.
Working on all the SMALL THINGS and giving ourselves time to do so in a calm, non-demanding way will bring about changes we
didn’t realise we needed. I’m so glad I get the time to spend on the small things with Bella <3
Thurs 11th
Another fab morning carrying on Bella’s training from yesterday.
1) P2P’s in walk, trot, then canter
2) Large and then medium fig 8’s in walk, trot and then canter
Our straight lines and curves are getting better and I can just touch on her side or tweak the reins and ask for a better curve in her body if it’s not feeling even and this really helps when going in and out of transitions. I also work on feeling if my body is in the curves too….if our bodies are harmonious and ready in the right curve then the transition are smoother and easier
Sat 13th
Dear Bella is so clever, all 4 feet on the pedestal and I’m sure she knows it makes her taller than big Stormy 😉
Great ride on Bella this morning….am enjoying these early morning rides with her. It’s not too hot and is often the best part of the day. Also, having many rides brings the consistency we need to bring about changes in our riding…and it’s paying off. Today, for the first time, we did more canter work than walk or trot 😉 🙂 🙂
Loving the dry warmth too…look…we have fab shadows >>>>>>>>
Sun 14th
Storm & Bella are now on the extended track system we put in place years ago. The main ‘field’ where the round pens are is out of bounds until late Autumn now and slowly the track will be restricted as the grass grows. We keep the track around half of the field and incorporates the hill and two water sources, one at the top with the stream and the other right at the bottom with the trough. This keeps them moving about up and down the hill for exercise and stops them eating too much when the grass is rich.
Wed 17th
A lovely day for a ride with Bella. I rode in the part of the field that is now not used for grazing so lead Stormy there off Bella then let him off for a bit of a graze, it keeps him busy whilst I’m riding,
Only did some large field fig 8’s in walk and trot and as it started to get a bit hot called it a day on a really good note 😉
ALSO…after 4 days of doing bits on this we finally have a horse bridge over a very muddy, wet part of the home paddocks.
The horses could not get from one paddock to the next without getting into the muddy mess on their legs so Mark came up with the plan to make another bridge (we have one at the other end to get them over the stream) 😉
We started off with concrete blocks, then scaffolding boards. On top of the boards we put railway sleepers and then to fix the sleepers we put marine ply. The final bits were some stones jigsaw’ed into the mud at the ends with a good dose of hardcore stones on top to make a good, solid step to the bridge.
The final topping is some rubber matting to make it safe for them to cross over it when wet 😉
This all took a few days of hard graft, hand lifting everything and no machines to help out so we’re really happy it’s done and hopefully on Friday we’ll bring Storm and Bella up to the field to ‘horsey-test’ it out. Fingers crossed it withstands the ponies weight 😉
Found a lot of ‘mole hill’ mud and put that over the hardcore. Hopefully this will help Bella realise it’s safe and she’ll walk on it now 😉
Wed 24th
Yesterday I took time out to put the agility obstacles into the field the horses are not grazing at the moment. It took time but it was so worth it. In the field now there is: a tall narrow gap, a pole lane, a wee jump, a big jump, trotting poles, cones for transitions, 6 x jump wing weave, 4 x flag weave, bunting lane, archway, curtain, 2 x hulahoops, tarp with poles along edges, pole with rope attached for circling and riding one handed, tyre with rope on to pull and a flag on stick to carry.
There are so many things I can do with each of these obstacles so hopefully if we don’t get out hacking we can have some learning fun in the field 😉
Tested some of the obstacles out with Bella yesterday 😉 🙂
She remembered all of them nicely which was fab…lots of trotting, backups and sidepass
This morning both Storm & Bella had a kip, they both ended up laying down quite close to each other and flat out <3
The agility obstacles out in the big part of the field that is unused for grazing until Autumn now 😉
Thurs 25th
Yesterday’s rest day did the horses good, they were up for a bit of field agility fun today. Only did a bit as it started getting quite hot. Stormy & Mark did a fab job working on riding without using the reins, he really is a gem at understanding body weight and focus 😉 They also did a great flag carrying task 😉
Bella was a bit un-straight to start with, it has been 5 days since riding and she tends to do this SO we worked on straightness, even on the curves, all whilst playing with the obstacles. The obstacles made it more fun and we trotted and cantered around the field going from one to the other 😉 Great obstacle was the jump today…she did a great bascule and I looked like I knew what I was doing 🙂
What a lovely day 😉
Fri 26th
Lovely early ride with Bella this morning 😉
Sun 28th
Today was nice and warm with a slight breeze 😉 First ride was on Stormy for a change. He was up and willing to pull the tyre with me in walk and trot, it was a lot of fun to do. He was a little short stepping so didn’t do too much just stretched his legs and had some fun 😉
Bella and I did bits of what we needed (stretching and flexibility to the right) but she wasn’t ‘feeling’ 100%, was a bit stiff going to the right and couldn’t pick up canter on the right ;( SO…again just stretched her legs and took what she could give me. A couple of days off hopefully will have her back to her usual exuberant self
Mon 29th
Did some lovely online play today with Bella and some of the field agility obstacles. Today was a FIRST for Bella…a really lovely, mindful backup through the archway without going through it forwards first…what a clever girl she is, growing in confidence and ability all the time 😉
Tue 30th
This morning’s nice gentle exercise with Ms Bella.
1) Passenger lesson in walk
2) Took back reins and concentrated on straight line and curves and making my shoulders and torso bend the way I want her body to bend
3) Gentle leg yields off the round pens with using just my body and focus
4) Familiarisation with the flag at halt. Gently opening it until I can smoothly swish it around her, over her and me
5) Nice big walk around the field, allowing her and me both to relax into the movement with relaxation and a great swing in our hips.
Finally put all 14 Trec obstacles together so that Bella and I can practise it…before we film it. I am not going to practise too much, I know the obstacles we need to try to get better so will be working on those individually.
What is Trec and why am I putting up a course? Well, Trec is a horse sport that started in France, as the Trec UK website states: ‘TREC is a sport intended to test the skills of a horse and rider in planning and executing a long distance ride in unfamiliar country. It originated in France as a way of testing and improving the skills of trail ride leaders, and was introduced into the UK in the early 1990s.’
It has three parts to it with the competition. Firstly a cross country section (learning to orienteer with map and compass) very similar to hacking out, then an obstacle section and then the paces section. The obstacle section is very similar to what I do and train with Horse Agility (although agility has more imagination with the tasks done with each obstacle and can change and rearrange them as much as wanted) and the paces will be fun to learn as we have to do a Fast Walk then a Slow Canter 😉
AND…why am I doing it? Well, after training a good horsemanship foundation on my horses I do things like this to test our connection and to see where we are with training…it puts ‘a purpose to the principles’ of horsemanship and everything I do 😉 I will be able to see the things that are in place and also the things we can work on to get better SO it’s a test and a test is not a win or fail, it’s a place where we can just see where we are and know where to progress 😉
So, here is my course…..mostly the obstacles but I’ve also included the paces.
The 14 obstacles are as follows:
Immobility: horse stands still in the pole square while I walk around one way then the other
Mounting: ask horse to sidle to mounting block, mount then dismount and ask horse to sidle up to the mounting block on other side
Gate: open, walk through then close without taking hand off rope gate…repeat back the other way
Rein back: into parallel poles to the end then backup to the start of poles then walk on
‘S’ bend: walk around poles in S shape without touching poles
Bridge: between bunting lanes and over wooden ‘bridge’
Water: walk through water or simulation such as a tarp with or without water in it
Bending: trot through a weave
Low branches: simulation using upright poles with crossbars
Jump: trot or canter into and out
Fig 8: trot pattern using one hand only
Uphill then downhill: any gait
Fast walk: fastest without going into trot
Slow canter: slowest without going into trot
Tues 4th
Managed to get out with the horses and Mark today. Started doing some obstacle practise with Bella and the Trec stuff and she was so good. I think she (and Stormy w/Mark) really enjoy the challenges we give them and also they enjoy the time we spend together. Here’s some pics of us working on line through the obstacles.
I LOVE the way Bella ducked her head when I ducked mine through the low branch simulation (archways), really helped me know that she can do this. I was going to do that obstacle in trot but know generally it’s done in walk or canter as those two gaits are smoother and not bumpy.
It was Mark and Stormy’s turn to have some fun afterwards, they did it at liberty and Stormy showed he knew exactly what he was doing 😉 such a big clever boy 🙂
Lastly Bella and I did our first ridden practise session with it all. All went pretty well. The obstacles I knew would be new or not fixed in our general training need a bit more practise but for today I was very pleased with her bravery and try throughout 😉
Obstacles needing more practise are: gate, arches, slow canter, up hill and one handed fig 8’s.
I’m looking forward to getting out to do a bit more and progressing to where it all flows together more 😉
Fri 7th
Today Bella and I tried the Trec out properly. Mark video’d it all for us, warts and all. You can see she is needs more work on the gateway but when I forgot to open the end of the arena up and had to do the gateway again it went quite well. We also need to work on the slow canter…we’re just doing more canter work so this is a fun challenge for us both. What I was SO happy with was the fab first round of obstacles, nice smooth under the low branches (archways), the fig 8 one handed, the jump and the fab canter uphill 🙂
We will continue practising this course, between other things to make sure we get plenty of cross training and fun 😉 Here’s the video from today….
Sun 9th
Just had a bit of fun riding around the field on Bella with Mark and Stormy 😉
Me and Bella…..really love this big girl, she tries her heart out and makes me feel so safe
We started with just going around the round pens in trot….consistent, rhythmic, balanced trot
Then we went to try out our 2023 challenge…this is to canter around the round pens in a fig 8 pattern. This means we’ll do one full circle on the left lead and one on the right lead AND hopefully with a SLC in the middle. A SLC is a ‘simple lead change’ and is when we get to the centre of the fig 8 we come down from canter to a trot for a couple of strides and then back up into canter with the different canter lead 😉
TODAY….we managed almost full circles around the round pens in canter. This is a fabulous FIRST for us today and she was relaxed, balanced, willing and on the correct canter leads….So impressed and SO glad we’ve taken our time finding relaxation in canter before trying this 😉
It might not seem a big deal to many but this is a BIG DEAL for us…to have us both relaxed and for me to be ‘feeling’ the reins and not holding or pulling her into the circle was fab. So light, polite and such happy canters 😉
We then went on to test our one handed trotting fig 8’s around the tyre piles too 😉 Slowly getting ready for another try at Trec.
Mark and Stormy took it all in their stride, did some lovely cantering up a hill and then trotting fig 8’s too 🙂
Tues 11th
Had to do a ‘saliva’ test with Stormy today (part of our regular worming test program) and he needed to stop eating/drinking for half an hour SO I groomed him and then rode him bareback for a bit. Just a lovely plod but asking for a nice, even, big stride out 😉
Stormy is always such a good boy and it was a lovely ride.
Bella came over thinking I had a treat for her but no treats, just some fussing and lotsa Love <3
Best pic of B&S together <3
Then after a nice groom I rode Bella. We did a lovely workout of consistent trotting around the field helping to get both our energy, core strength and fitness better. She did very well keeping in gait for me and it was a lovely dry sunny day so glad I rode them both as I think we have a day of rain tomorrow.
Sat 15th
Chilly day but nice for riding
Decided to try a nice wee hack out…Stormy wasn’t feeling like he wanted to do it
but we got out of the field and a bit down the track which was enough for Storm
Bella did a good job of leading a lot of the way back, such a brave girl she is
Mark and Storm took it nice and slowly
Bella and I did the same, nice and slow, calm with a lovely soft walk
Back in the field we enjoyed stretching the walk out a bit more and then watching the lambs and ewes in the field below for a bit
Really nice to just be out and about with the horses in dry weather 😉
Tue 18th
Decided to bring Storm & Bella back to the home paddocks just for a change of scenery for them and to have them at the back door for a few days. Love doing this, it gives us a wee hack out and then lots of hugs and treats because they’re so close for a few days 🙂
They both did so well being so close to the Highland cows and their calves 😉
Wed 19th
Spent an hour or so trimming Bella’s feet while Mark did Stormy’s feet 😉
Fri 21st
What a GORGEOUS day for a hack out and then ride Storm and Bella back to their big field. Lovely blue sky with a good breeze, just perfect for riding out.
Principles to a Purpose: Took this ride like an Agility or Trec course, trying to find different things to walk around, over, under and through. Also different things to remount off when needed. Using the plan of trying to make the hack out more interesting and doing more things was a lot of fun
Just LOVE that Bella is good at sidling to anything I ask for me to remount after having to open/close a gate.
I used a gate, then this big stone and finally one of the field jump wings 😉 🙂
Sat 22nd
Snuck in a lovely ride this afternoon with Bella.
Nice straightness on a circle in walk and trot.
Really light bullseye to leg yields on a circle.
Lovely RtR with DHQ and FH moves.
Fab trot around round pens without stopping.
Nearly got canter around round pen to the left.
Right canter started at a near gallop, settled her down, got the bend in her ribs and relaxed for a bit before trying for a calmer canter to the right. Not a full circle but definitely calmer
Well, February was a great start to the year and hopefully it will continue through March. This month I’ll be trying to mix things up to keep training fun. We call this ‘cross training’ and it will help Bella cope with multiple training styles but I’ll do things more than once if the first time she struggles with the change so that’ll help her find confidence.
The types of training will be:
Loose rein riding, one hand riding and connected rein riding around the field with transitions and dressage moves such as leg yields.
Transitions around the round pens building up to canter SLC’s in fig 8 pattern (Simple Lead Change).
Agility, online, liberty and ridden (using one set of obstacles per month but working them in different configurations and/or different challenges per obstacle).
Dressage in my field arena (Consisting of many different transitions and shapes)
Hacking out (different routes with multiple gaits.
Rope circling in w/t/c.
Trec training (new for us but like agility)
So hoping this month will build on the last one nicely.
Weds 1st
Today I took S&B for another walk, after the last hack where Bella had a wee spook when a stone fell down the steep bank making a weird noise I wanted to make sure she was ok going in the same area again SO….groomed and haltered up we go around the fields. Then before we get to home I turn around and go back in the opposite direction letting them graze regularly for motivation and rewards. Because all goes really well, before we go over the wooden bridge again, I change direction and take them towards the river. This direction there a few distractions….there are often ducks on the river so they squawk and fly up when we get nearby (not today though, so all went calmly well). Then there is the ‘gateway’ we go through which used to give Bella some trouble, it’s often boggy (not today thank goodness), right next to the fast flowing river but also the fence next to it is just a few posts with a very thin electric wire (so it’s hard to see and has some ‘electric energy’ off it!). I hate the fence because if a horse bolted they would not see the wire and it could be disastrous, that’s why I hate it ;(
Anyway, the walk went really well, they were calm, connected to me and happy to have wee munchies of grass along the way 😉
Just testing out my new phone/camera’s SlowMo mode…..
At the water trough after our walk 😉
Fri 3rd
Such a beautiful day after a cold start today. Out for a hack towards the village, just wanted to do half way, to the big wooden bridge and build up their fitness so we can do the village shop later on in the year 😉
Stunning views.
Mark got off and walked a wee bit….
….but got on again at the next gate 😉
Both horses stopped before the wooden bridge, where we were going to turn for home. We just sat on them and waited patiently for them to get curious. Next time I asked her to walk on she did so beautifully. Once over we turned around for home again and she happily trotted over it for home 😉
Bella dying to get in front….she did a fabulously calm, rocking horse canter up the last hill to the home gate 😉
Stormy did a nice plod home <3
Sat 4th
Another dry, blue sky day here….cold in the morning but ok in the afternoon for a ride in the field. Today I wanted to test our leading Storm from Bella and then try out my dressage test.
Bella has only done this a couple of times before and first time this year.
She did really well and although a moment of ‘whoa’ when I took Storm’s ropes and flapped them on her side, but she quickly calmed down again which was great.
Going through our ‘dressage test’ she found her strong trot again.
We worked on our curves with some 20m circles.
She did a couple of ‘skips’ into canter in our trot work so I just ignored it and continued working on the trot.
Then we did some canter work. This is the FIRST time she’s been balanced enough to canter in the ‘arena’ area and I am going to build on this so we can get the canter going along the long side, curve the short side and down the next long side 😉
Working on canter (and walk/trot) in a straight line too which is hard when one long side of the arena doesn’t have a fence to work from.
Really lovely that she follows me after our ride together….she knows there’s a peppermint when she’s been untacked and groomed.
Sun 5th
Today we decided we need to bring the horses back to the house as we’ve had snow and ice warnings for the next 7-10 days SO we decided to ride them back.
The weather is chilly and I’ll be happy to have them back at the house where we can check on them anytime we want and put on/take off rugs when necessary.
Went past some sheep and then through the field of Highland cattle….
….Bella looking back at the cattle. She did well and sidled up to the gate for me to get off to open it and then when through it she sidled up again for me to get back on 😉
Nearly home now and it was fun to take slightly different tracks along the way
Bella leading at the end and once in the field they ate some hay then went wandering to look for munchy grazing if any about….might be a bit early for munchies but they’ll have a good look for some 🙂
Mon 6th
This morning, Mark feeding the beasties. S&B had rugs on last night as forecast snow/rain and very cold but to be honest they probably didn’t need them as it didn’t really come down much. They were happy to have them off this morning but it will be a constant check on forecast for the next few days and on/off rugging going on 🙂
Weds 8th
We have snow warnings for tomorrow SO took the sunny opportunity to have a short walking hack out with S&B. Up the hill behind us to the moor gateway, back down and then into the field opposite our house and back. It was great to take advantage of the weather, albeit pretty cold, and to stretch their legs a bit before maybe being snowed in for a while
Lovely ride out, just walk as the ground is very hard, but a fab way to spend an hour in the afternoon with best buddies and a blue sky 🙂
Fri 17th
Well it’s been just about 2 weeks since S&B had to come back to the house paddocks due to snow, rain, wind etc. I’m glad they were here as it made putting rugs on and taking them off easier for us and it’s always lovely to have them closer to home for a while BUT today, with the days mild temperatures we rode them back to their big field again 😉
Bella and me waiting for Mark to mount…and we’re off 😉
Taking the soft grassy route
Following Stormy with a nice steady plod
Bella leading…spotting the Highland cows with calves in the next field
I opened the gate to the cow field and decided to walk Bella in-hand through it as she was a
little distracted by the cows by the track and also the cute babies…Bella loves babies 😉
Through the cow field and used the gate to remount. The back pack I used today I’ve had for absolute years, my dearest uncle Laurence bought it for me when I used to ride my old horse Tara to the village and back. SO, to Uncle Lal…it’s still going strong and still the best backpack for riding a horse 😉
Stormy waiting patiently for me and B 😉
Last leg of ride and then smoothly back in the big field. I took Bella’s saddle and bridle off so she could stretch her legs and keep up with Mark and Storm 😉
After having a lovely groom this morning Stormy is now a mucky boy after this roll in the mud 😉
Mon 20th
We’ve been having drizzle and rain up here so not a lot of mild, dry weather to do much in BUT this morning I did the horses (feed and poo pick) and then decided to have a wee potter in walk around the field a bit on Bella. As it was just a quick plod I put Storm’s bareback pad on him, put my hard hat on and then rode in her rope halter and lead rope made into reins. It was a really impromptu moment, always the best moments, and I really enjoyed it. We just walked around the round pens then went around my circle of cones where we did some weaving doing turns with the outside rein, neck reining, and then did some circles where we stopped at each cone and side passed over it alternately left and right 😉
Ready to ride with Storm’s bareback pad….I made this pad years ago and it’s been the best bareback pad I’ve ever used 😉
Stormy decided to follow us around for a bit too which was fun
Storm waiting for his treat after I gave one to Bella 😉
This was Stormy following us side by side for a bit
Bella doing fab breath out stops in between my two round pens
Working both horses, asking Bella forward whilst asking Stormy to back up at the same time 😉 🙂
Tues 21st
Started off the morning after feeding with some nice liberty play around the agility obstacles
Bella was leading but Stormy enjoyed coming along for a treat or two 😉
Standing still in a pole box. Walk over low jump. Forwards & back along parallel poles.
Draw towards me over the pole square
LOVE horses that come to call….these two are fab.
Great energy
Superb FOCUS and willingness combined with desire to be with me 😉
Ended the session with another wee impromptu bareback ride, this time I used a CORDEO rope (neck rope) to start teaching Bella to be ridden bridleless 🙂 : ) 🙂
It uses my own focus, body moves, weight and voice cues that we’ve been working on since backing her in 2019….now it’s all getting lighter and lighter…can we harmonise through our movements to get gaits and turns? 😉
It was a good start today, just a bit of walk and turns in big fig 8’s….only used reins at the start to help associate those cues with the cordeo ones.
Thurs 23rd
Chilly but a nice day to do a bit more bareback riding on Bella 😉
Checking out our basic walk, stop, backups 😉
A great, light backup shows you have a good halt 😉
Managed to get some nice transitions up and down from walk to trot
Glad I got to do trot, I’ve been suffering from bouts of vertigo (no….that’s not a fear of heights) which has me very dizzy and unbalanced so trotting wasn’t an option recently…mind you, riding wasn’t an option recently! lol
Nice turns and some nice neck reining in fig 8’s in the round pen
Also some nice sidepassing over cones, alternating left and right over each one we pass.
< LOVE this pic….focused, head up and nice energetic steps 😉
Another nice pic when we stopped >
Sat 25th
Another fab opportunity to familiarise to our friend’s digger as we asked him to come and scrape some soil from in front of their shelter, preparing form some Mud Control slabs to help stop it all being so muddy when it rains 😉 They did so well and Bella was brave and curious enough to actually walk really near to it once the engine was off 😉
Sun 26th
Went out and thoroughly groomed both S&B. They are both moulting madly so they thoroughly enjoyed their pamper time 😉
I then decided it was early enough to maybe have a wee plod around on Stormy and then Bella…all looking good to start, looking forward to having some ride time with them both. I tacked up Stormy and we managed about 5 mins of walking about and then it started to hail down on us SO I quickly dismounted and called it a day.
Mon 27th
Sunshine and blue skies today (still chilly and very cold last night) but a great day for a ride or two 😉
Asking Stormy to put some effort in to his walk, he really stepped up for me and started to walk faster which is what I was aiming for, to stretch his legs 😉
He offered a couple of lovely balanced trots which I took and had a really lovely wee ride on him. Not much but a good stretch 😉
Bella showing she still fits onto the pedestal 😉
Lovely light, balanced, rhythmic sitting trot today…really nice and relaxed
Got a wee bit of canter around the round pen to the left too today. Building up slowly to the challenge this year of full circle canter to the left and right around the 2 round pens 😉
Some very light leg yields on a circle today too…both to the left and right
And checking our connection after our ride too 😉 : )
Thurs 31st
Today was hard work but well worth it…..next to the horses field shelter we have rubber matting that has been quite good at keeping the area from getting muddy BUT outside that section, outwith the shelter overhang, it was getting quite muddy and squidgy. We decided to invest in something more sturdy than rubber matting on this section. The slabs are from a company called Mud Control, they’re recycled hard plastic and are very good at going on squidgy mud and to keep the area from getting that way 😉
First we got a friend in with a digger to take a small layer of the squidgy mud off the top to allow the MC slabs to sit lower…then we started to lay them, one row at a time 😉
Stormy was very curious and brave and I put one slab out for him to investigate, also to keep him from getting in the way 😉
He was so cool…standing on it and sniffing it 😉
Bella came over to check it out too and went over the 3 lines of them back and forward easily.
First pic here just before the finish…we then put some of the old mud onto the edges so that they lay flat and the horses won’t clap their hooves on the edges….the free edge on the right (last pic) is set up ready to take another 5 rubber mats to hopefully complete it all 😉
