Bella & Stormy (2024)

Mon 2nd

I’m just doing what I can whilst avoiding any bad weather. Today it was very cold and windy but this afternoon was a bit milder and a bit of blue sky shone through SO I popped down to see S&B and snag a ride or two 😉

First off was a short ride on Stormy. He hasn’t been ridden for a while so didn’t want to do too much, just connect and enjoy moving about together 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THEN….a longer ride with Bella, who having been ridden not so long ago, was happy to oblige with some training. Kept in walk again so as not to sweat her up or slip as the ground was hard-ish in places 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S&B….I LOVE these two beauties <3

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 3rd

Ready with bareback pad on and neck rope and rope halter with clip on reins 😉 I LOVE that Stormy hangs around while we ride.

 

 

 

 

Neck rope riding really going well 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Bella in the sunrise this morning.

 

 

Bella was a bit distracted this morning and not as connected to me as I’d like SO we started our ride off using my two ‘open’ roundpens made up of two circles with 8 cones and also 8 tyre stacks each. These are great for doing circles in the space, circles around the shape, fig 8’s, weaving circles/fig 8’s and also what we did which was Point 2 Points between different cones/tyres.

I choose different obstacles each time to keep it fun and getting Bella listening to me  (hoping to gain her focus/attention) and also kept the turn at the obstacle slightly different, so either a hq turn or a fh turn thereby also keeping her attention. The one thing that stayed the same was the P2P game itself 😉

She then did some lovely circles around the roundpens allowing us to connect more with our body shape (arc) and then into the rounpen to do some lovely bullseye to the centre and leg yields out again where we had the connection to our focus and body shape back where we wanted it 😉

Left S&B eating a new batch of hay 🙂

 

 

 

 

Weds 18th

SO….on my HorseSavvy Horsemanship FB group I have put out that I will go through some stages of learning how to work ‘at liberty’ with a horse. This will comprise of a few, hopefully short, but easy to understand YouTube vid’s. I have put a separate ‘category’ here to help folks find just these vid’s but they are also on my YouTube HorseSavvy Horsemanship channel so hope everyone can find them.

Here are the first couple of vid’s, not in the best of weather, but they are Winter Liberty Lessons so I expect I’ll be doing some in the snow later on 😉

PRE-REQUISITES for LIBERTY:

 

<< Here are my first thoughts on pre-requisites for doing liberty.

 

AND…these are the first few questions that some students asked so I will be going through these on some vid’s >>

 

 

 

 

 

WINTER LIBERTY LESSON 1:  First stage of liberty is working on energy/body/voice cues that can be taken into liberty work 😉

 

 

WINTER LIBERTY LESSON 2:  A wee vid on how to progress from online 😉

 

Thurs 19th

Just 5 days shy of 3 months since having his right knee replacement operation, dear Mark was back in the saddle today with his beloved Stormy…just checking he could get into the saddle and ride a wee bit Yup…..no problems He did walk, trot and a wee cheeky canter, circles, fig 8’s around tyres and sidepass L&R over a short tyre stack 🙂 : )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely to see these two together again 😉

 

 

 

 

Tue 24th (Xmas eve)

Started off by working on me and Stormy’s riding connection. Going to bring them home today but need Storm’s undivided attention so that I know he can be safe coming home.

We did some nice transitions, sidepass, over poles, fig 8’s and back up and all ready to go now 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riding Storm home while leading Bella 😉 🙂 🙂 Great day for it as weather mild and dry, like Spring really 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was a really lovely ride and both S&B were beautifully behaved, even past the new Highland coo’s that are in the middle field 😉

 

 

 

 

Sat 25th (Xmas day)

A nice mild day again and horses happy at the house so we both go out and clean the field and I did a quick sit on Bella…not a ride per se but a lovely xmas sit on a pony 😉

 

< Me and beautiful Bella 😉

Mark and the handsome Stormy <

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Xmas everyone <3

 

 

 

 

Thurs 26th

Today Mark and I walk Bella and Stormy out across the field near our house….it’s not much and we weren’t out for long but it helps us all to connect and to get S&B out into a place they’ve not been into for about a year 😉 A lovely walk out with best friends, nothing better than that on Boxing day 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a lovely day 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 28th

 

Today I walked S&B up the hill behind the house, another route we’ve not done for a while so walking them first was a good way to connect with them. We did a lot of stopping to let them both look around and then some nice transitions (walk, halt, backups) which helped them relax and look to me for guidance. I jumped on Stormy on the way back and rode him while leading Bella 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eating the heather at the top of the hill…always good to have something for motivation the next time we come up here 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riding Storm, leading Bella 😉 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And back home ready to untack Storm’s saddle, put them in the field and take their bridles off 😉

It was a nice walk/ride, we did 27 mins 17 secs and 1.1km 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 29th

Today we see there is a weather forecast for heavy rain tomorrow and our home paddocks can easily get poached if the horses stay here to run around and muddy it all up SO….I walked S&B to the first gate then mounted Bella and led Stormy home to the big field. I think this is the first time Bella has led Stormy out of the field so a big first for her 🙂

 

I started out by walking them for a while, to the first gateway.

I wanted to make sure they weren’t too hyper to get back to their big field as if one wanted to trot and the other walk I’d loose the rope of the one being led from horseback.

 

 

Synchronised nicely and mounted off the gate we were ready to ride 😉

I think today is the first day I’ve led Storm off Bella out of the field and it went really well.

 

 

 

Still nicely together, it was lovely to give Stormy a break from being ridden and leading,

as Bella is younger it’s her turn to do the riding/leading bit 😉

 

 

 

Nearly there……and then freedom 🙂 They love this space and stretched their legs and had a nice canter 😉

 

 

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk

 

 

 

Fri 1st

 

So November is here already and happily enough we all enjoy the cooler weather so training/riding can continue while dodging rain 😉 Today I had a lovely ride on Bella…she was just a wee bit fresh, probably the cool weather and just being put out to their Winter grazing (the whole big field). She was very focused so we managed to bring her energy down nicely and have some really good canters in the field which was joyous 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then when I’d finished riding and went back to cleaning the field (poo picking) I look around and noticed both

S&B trying to attract my attention, probably for some more treats….Bella had her front feet on the big pedestal

and Stormy had his front foot on the smaller pedestal….and yes, they did get treats 😉 LOL

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 3rd

Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine 😉 🙂 🙂

Just love a lovely day, it makes everything better and puts a smile on our faces. Today was just that…sunny and fab 😉

I started off riding Stormy. He was good but a bit anxious when too far from Bella and me wanting to stretch his comfort zone by walking up the hill a bit (they do it every day grazing and when we call them up for dinner sometimes so it’s not a ‘new’ place). I used approach and retreat (going towards something scary, relax then retreat and keep trying with small steps more each time, rewarding for relaxation and trying).

 

You can see this progress by the green line on the top of our ride map.

 

 

Other than this anxiousness he was fun and fab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bella followed us around a bit realising that I had treats while riding Stormy. lol. I do with her too but she may have thought I wasn’t riding her today! LOL

 

 

I then rode Bella and she was super fab today. Walk first around the round pens in fig 8′, then big fig 8’s around big field in trot and then CANTER 🙂 🙂 🙂

We nearly did the whole fig 8 in canter but allowed her to slow, trot or walk when she needed and didn’t push it BUT her corners in the middle bit were super cool and she was balanced around the corners and no rushing or over freshness like last time we rode. FAB <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So lovely to have shadow riders with us today…..great day…now off to do a training class with Beau our doggie 😉

 

Thurs 7th

 

 

 

 

 

< Stormy saddled up and Bella haltered up

Squeezing them individually through gateways >

 

 

 

 

< They’re so good going through gates and waiting until we’re all ready to go

 

All of us walking on the track, looking at new views and checking out the hedgerows >

 

 

 

 

 

At the turning point of the ride

 

 

 

 

I get my stirrups down, check the girth, change Storm’s lead rope for his clip on rope reins, mount and we’re ready to ride off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

< Bella does a great job following Storm’s bum

Back home and through the last gateway >

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the field I take their tack off and let them make their own way back down the big hill 😉

Bella and Stormy stretch their legs nicely with some big trot and excited canter 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 12th

Very frosty and cold this morning so rode Bella but only in walk so as not to sweat her up (no sun = no drying out). She was as good as gold and we worked on straight lines, turns and circles for more precision 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weds 13th

 

 

Bought a few new rubber mats to put onto the older ones as it’s the part that gets a bit muddy still in Wintertime.

Stormy, being a curious monster, was happy to test them out as soon as we threw them out of the trailer….Bella, being a sceptical girl allowing curious Storm to check things out first, came over when the treats came out 😉 lol

 

 

 

 

Mark, after 10 weeks since last time, fit enough to trim Bella’s feet for me 😉 and although tired from doing it he was happy his new knee had no problem doing it 😉

 

 

 

While Mark was trimming Bella, I took the opportunity to ride Stormy for a bit 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was fab, put in some nice walk and trot moves. Kept it all simple but thoroughly enjoyable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He helped me check the shelter gutters at the end too 🙂 No ladder needed with this big boy around 😉

 

Sat 16th

 

Very chilly today but managed to get out to ride Bella this afternoon. Gentle walk, trot and a bit of canter.

She was outstanding waiting by the mounting block for me…Stormy thought maybe I was riding him. LOL. 

He did follow us around for a bit which was nice 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 22nd

 

 

 

 

 

Almost a week since being with S&B again and there was a wee bit of snow (one of the reasons I’ve not been to play or ride).

Although the time between rides Bella was the perfect girlie today. We stick to walk so that she didn’t exert herself too much or sweat as it’s too cold to leave her damp.

 

 

It was a very pleasant ride and we worked on circles, circles and more circles 😉 Slowly getting more bend in our curved shape and it’s all getting more balanced too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 30th

OMGoodness, it has been over a week since seeing S&B again, weather and being so busy getting things ready for Winter + doing all the dog walking has tired me out a bit BUT today I got to see S&B.

Rather than take up too much time tacking up I decided to put a quick bareback pad on her and just ride for a bit of fun (ie. not actually have a plan or do any training per se).

 

First of all Bella decided she wanted to have a bit of play and put her tootsie’s on the pedestal…she knows how to get a treat that’s for sure 🙂

 

 

 

 

I then ask her to stand at the mounting block, Stormy was blocking the way a bit but I got mounted up no problem.

 

 

Then we get down to the ride and mostly stay near or around the round pens, and Stormy stood quietly at the mounting block waiting for our return…making sure he got his treats too 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

SO…that’s November done and dusted….can’t believe December is here again. S&B are having slightly more feed twice a day but also a small bale of hay each day, split between am and pm, to keep them going as the grass they’re managing to get off the field really has no nourishment now and will not start growing again until around April next year.

• Shelley – HorseSavvy

 

 

Tues 1st

 

Well it’s been 12 days since I’ve ridden Bella (not counting twice we tried but she was a bit unsound so didn’t continue)

I’ve been looking after things here at home (S&B, dog, stove etc) while Mark recovers from his knee replacement (he’s doing very well so far 😉 ) SO today I just grabbed the chance to ride while the sun was out and there wasn’t any wind 😉

As you can see from the ride chart today she didn’t go far….she started out ok but then was quite ‘antsy’ so we just worked on trying to find softness and some partnership together through circles, fig 8’s and just waiting for those good moments 😉

 

On a good note I managed to get the agility obstacles in the agility area ready to have some playtime with S&B 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AND…..dinner time, around 5pm. I’ve been calling them up the big hill each night so they get some faster exercise as I’ve not been doing much play or riding at the moment. Yesterday it started to drizzle a bit SO I stood there under an umbrella. Now, both S&B are used to umbrella’s BUT they’re not used to one up the hill, which proves that their environment needs to be expanded with strange things or they only get used to new things in one or two places (agility arena or big field). This was a fun thing to do as I just stood my ground and called them. They both came half way up the hill and then stood still watching and waiting to decide what to do. This is their normal instinct, to be wary of strange things. It’s often called ‘napping’ in the horse world, I call it a ‘threshold’ and if you just wait, allow them to get over their scepticism and find their curiosity and bravery then they can over come most things. They did just that and after about 5 mins they both came up the hill to get their dinners.

 

While they were eating I played around with the umbrella with no concerns from Storm or Bella.

 

 

 

 

 

We even had a bit of fun with the umbrella’s without any concerns at all 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

< Bella being very brave and not concerned about it.

 

Stormy saying nitey nite 😉 >

 

 

 

 

Weds 2nd

Breakfast with S&B this morning 😉 nice and early to watch the sunrise 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then had to get back home to take delivery of some coal for the stove which Mark can’t do at the moment and then I went back down to the horses for some play, riding and cleaning the field. 

 

Our ride was very similar to yesterday…antsy and not the best. We finished on a good note after I spend a lot of time circling, fig 8’s and asking for her to partner up with me with every little thing such as the curve of our bodies, the line of our walk/trotting, the tip of her nose and where her head was. We managed to end on a good note by not asking too much but asking for good things 😉

 

 

After I cleaned the field (and while I’m cleaning) Bella often comes up for some scratches and cuddles. Recently I’ve been just jumping on her back from the quad bike 😉 This is a great form of trust between us and in this ‘arena’ area she was fine, calm and happy to have me up there.

Next time I ride I will do it in the ‘arena’ area and hopefully we’ll have a nice, partnered ride.
I do think that Autumn, like Spring, has her hormones up a lot. In Spring she would have had a foal, in Autumn she would probably have had it taken away from her (around 6 months old….too young IMHO, should be 11-12 months with natural weaning but that’s the horse industry for you 🙁 )

 

 

 

This evening at dinner time neither Storm nor Bella batted an eyelid at the umbrella I was holding at their dinner site…..fabulous 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S&B happily grazing together down the big hill after their dinner time <3

 

 

 

Wed 9th

 

 

Well today Mark came with me to see S&B in the afternoon. He is walking mostly without sticks, he’s had his metal clip/stiches out and his knee is healing well. He needs to build up and stretch his muscles and get more versatile movements in his whole leg but that is getting better every day 😉

Storm especially has missed him but Bella too, I think they understood he was missing due to injury and they were so glad to see him…we’re part of their herd too so they noticed his absence.

 

 

 

On another good note, because Mark came with me, I was able to play a bit with them which we’ve all really missed 😉

 

Liberty play first with Ms Bella….backing up and then weave and fig 8’s

 

 

 

 

She was happy to play and we had fun although I was tired I managed to keep up with her energy

 

 

I then played at liberty with Mr Storm, his energy was fab and he was very willing to play. The wind was pretty strong (we call it a ‘hoolie’) and I had trouble holding the flag. lol

 

 

 

 

 

I then had a bit of fun with a wee bareback ride on Stormy….he was so light. We had mostly walk but some trot too 🙂  Hq’s onto the tarp, backing off it, sidepassing over pole etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AND THEN…..A lovely, soft, calm, bareback ride on Bella. She was nicely soft and light but I didn’t do too much as the wind was whipping up a bit and I was getting cold (so was Mark)

But we had a lovely connection with walk, halt, backups, sidepass and a fabulous halt when mounting and dismounting 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 10th

 

Well, well, well….Ms Bella is back on form as today I rode her in the morning. She was light, connected and no antsy-ing at all today. I brushed her, got her tacked up and mounted and she just walked nicely around the whole of the field without any turning back or asking me to dismount by taking me back to the mounting block.

We did large fig 8’s…first in walk and then in trot with a short fab canter to finish.

I am so happy she’s back to her normal lovely self and think her last couple of rides in the big field where she was antsy must defo be hormonal and I’m glad she’s feeling better and that I listened to her and didn’t push her into being ridden when she wasn’t up for it. Always good to listen to your horse <3

 

 

 

 

thistle munching as a reward 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 13th

 

 

SO…this morning the weather is cool but beautiful (after having constant freezing temps, rain and hail yesterday.)

Just felt good to give my time exclusively to Storm and he totally appreciated it. He loves human interaction and the opportunity to be rewarded with grazing 😉 🙂

We started off with walk serpentines and then went to trot weave which he really did well for me.

 

Waiting for me to mount and ride.

 

 

 

High head at some points but calm and connected to me which was great. He’s allowed to look around and we’ve had cattle and sheep down in the field below at times and I felt he was just looking to see what was there today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sidle to the barrel for dismount as always was perfect.

AND some well earned grazing for about 10 mins which he LOVED <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 17th

 

Had a few things to do this morning so only got to S&B and their breakfast around noon today…

they were fine with that, better a late breakfast than none at all 😉

Nice weather meant a ride on Bella too which is always a bonus and a joy.

 

 

 

 

 

We managed some lovely walk (stretching muscles, legs and brains) with some fab curvy weaving.

Great trot fig 8’s and around the field.

We also did some nice bullseye into leg yields which then went into leg yielding to trot and then leg yielding into canter 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

She LOVED the grazing reward. S&B will get the big field grazing Nov 1st so not long to wait…just keeping it until then to make it last into December 😉

 

 

 

 

 

MEANWHILE….Stormy decided to roll last night while it was raining and he is absolutely filthy now…..once he’s dry I’ll give him a big groom (not today as while I was riding Bella he rolled again! LOL)

 

 

Sat 19th

 

Started the day with an early ride on Ms Bella. We worked in a smaller ‘arena’ area which helps putting precision on moves. Today it was about circles…..getting a better curve in her body from the tip of her nose to her tail. I was very happy with the short but nice session 😉

 

 

 

 

 

THEN…Mark and I went down this afternoon to give them their wormers but before we did that I decided to have some ridden agility fun with both S&B 🙂

STORMY’s session:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really enjoyed our session, think Stormy did too…he LOVES having fun and having attention 😉

 

 

 

AND BELLA’s SESSION:

 

We started our session using the ‘neck rope’ (not using the reins attached to the bridle if possible)

I’ve been using the neck rope in the morning’s when I jump on her bareback for just a sit on her and she’s understood backing up easily. We’ve just started doing turns so this session was a good place to try neck rope’ing for a bit longer 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 23rd

 

It’s been raining or drizzling most days since I last rode but today I managed to jump on Bella early in the morning 😉 YEEHAA

And what a lovely wee ride it was too. We did walk, trot AND CANTER fig 8’s after some lovely moseying about. I’m very happy with the circles of the fig 8 a, they were SO round and good sizes, pretty much the same both to the left and right 😉

Dearest Bella has had a fabulous year, progressing in walk, trot and canter, becoming softer and more flexible with more understanding of what I’m asking of her <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 25th

 

 

 

Mon 28th

 

Another early morning try out with neck rope (bridleless and bareback) to keep seeing how our riding connection is going.

I just asked her to back up and then go from one side of the quad bike to the other.

Our backing up is great….need to work on the turns as she’s so used to the ‘feel’ coming from the bridle, but I’m very happy with our progress 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 30th

What’s not to love with a sunny afternoon and a couple of ponies to have fun with. Today I started with riding Bella. We had a fab, easy, calm connection with superbly light transitions.

She decided it was fun to canter today so we did that quite a bit. Her transitions were smooth and happy and she went around the round pens on the left and right leads which was fab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Popped a wee jump and cantered around the field enjoying the freedom.

Her canter was like sitting on a rocking horse, so easy and comfortable.

 

 

THEN….I took Bella into the roundpen and had some LIBERTY fun 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great session with Bella today…love, love, love this big smoochie of a girl <3

 

 

 

THEN….I had a really nice session with Mr Stormy too. He was connected, smooth and tried hard to stretch is legs out and we had some lovely trot and then a really good stretched canter at the end 🙂

What a good boy he is…still a lovely ride at 21yrs old 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy