{"id":11877,"date":"2025-05-05T16:08:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T16:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/?p=11877"},"modified":"2025-05-25T14:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T14:08:07","slug":"bella-stormy-may-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/05\/05\/bella-stormy-may-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Bella & Stormy – May 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sat 3rd<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well…what do you do when you decide to ride BUT (1) you changed the field cone\/tyre pattern from 2 circles to a long long straight weave line (2) the horses across the glen for some reason are whinneying and (3) it’s blowing a complete hoolie?????<\/p>\n

YUP…you try to ride for a couple of mins then decide everything is just too much of a distraction for wee Bella so go and play online with her instead \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Changed jump wings\/poles from a ‘course’ set up to a ‘serpentine’ set up<\/p>\n

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Used to have two ‘circles’ of 8 cones and 8 piles of tyres.<\/p>\n

Today I changed this set up, after at least 10yrs of it being this way, to where I had a long long 12 cone weave set up \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Bella was very confused and rightly worried that things had changed so drastically (letting her graze the area for the next day has helped her get used to the new pattern set up) \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Me and the kids \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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< 2 mins riding, the rest was on foot with Bella online playing and familiarising her to the new set up<\/p>\n

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AND playing helped her focus and relax ><\/p>\n

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Mon 5th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Today is like chalk to cheese from the weekend. We have sunshine and blue skies today \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

I started off giving Bella a good groom, she still has old hair coming out from her Winter coat but is nearly into her Spring coat now. We then did a small play session with some walk\/trot fig 8’s to check willingness, transitions, curves and connection.<\/p>\n

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Then we did some slow ridden checks and warm up using the jump wings and poles for curves, transitions and moving the forehand and hindquarters independently.<\/p>\n

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Onto the main riding session and we were determined to do the 12 cone weave…it’s so lovely to have such a big space to train in an it feels so much wider\/larger now the old cone\/tyre circles are changed to a cone line for weave\/fig 8’s and some work with canter too. We started in trot doing close-to weaves around the cones. On the way back we upped the trot to a big trot and did more of a squiggly snake serpentine weave thereby doing more arc’s, changing my trot diagonal rising in the saddle and getting more curve in Bella’s body. When she felt stiff, mostly going to the right, I put in a circle around cones and then continued. We ended with a wee canter \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Wed 7th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

2nd attempt at the 12 cone weave. Went much better than yesterday as Bella gets used to the change \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Thu 8th<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Today, I decided to not do any particular pattern as I felt Bella was getting a bit bored doing the same thing SO we did P2P’s around the field. The only things I was concerned about getting was (1) focus (2) straight to the stopping point (3) better halts where she actually halts well and relaxes into the halt and not keep antsy-ing about trying to move off (4) and once we start off again that she trots (because if she wants to move her feet and has trouble relaxing into her halt then she can use that energy to trot to the next point) \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Sun 11th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a lovely day with a bit of sunshine and a nice cool breeze…perfect for a wee ride, and Mark joined us today too.<\/p>\n

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Stormy and Mark enjoying riding bareback today \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Bella and I started off with some trot serpentines using the 12 cones as markers for where to change our curve\/diagonals \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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We then started working on some canter serpentines….this included halts between each change of direction (in the centre by the cones). This helps to teach relaxation between the canter half circles so that Bella starts to look for relaxation at this point and then also to take that relaxation into the canter semi-circle too. At the moment she was bracing against the arc and then rushing canter (thereby not always getting the correct canter lead) SO the halt in the middle allowed us both to think, calm and re think the next arc \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Some pics of the halts we did:<\/p>\n

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Here’s some pics of the canter today:<\/p>\n

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And at the end to get our brains back onto something small we did some sidepass over a tube…lovely to end on a good note and a lovely walk to cool down too \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Thurs 15th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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So, I managed to get up really early this morning to go and feed S&B and to snatch a ride before the sun got hot. Always feels good doing this \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

I was only going to ride the perimeter of the field in walk and then trot BUT as always happens, plans go out of the window.<\/p>\n

Bella was doing well when she decided there was a tiger in the low stone wall, did a wee hop, jump and canter to show her spook. I decided to not stop her as I would have done previously but to ASK her to CONTINUE CANTERING the field to show that I was ready for canter and to make a good thing out of a silly thing \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

I then asked her to trot the field, then canter, trot and then canter the field again \ud83d\ude09 The canter on the map is red \ud83d\ude09 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

She did so well and we got to relax and enjoy the canter more and more. This year’s cantering the rail\/field has had a good start today.<\/p>\n

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< Stormy having a wee chat with Bella before we start our ride.<\/p>\n

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Bella checking out the cows and calves that were just moved to this field below ours ><\/p>\n

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Bella after our ride and after I put some water on her sweaty back and groomed her again \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Yawning is not about tiredness but about processing thoughts, lessons and sometimes a release from stress
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Bella hasn’t done this sort of yawn for years so today and our relaxed multiple canters across the field was a lesson needed for us both.<\/p>\n

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Bella in thinking mode and mentally tired. She took a few mins on her own and then came for a peppermint and a hug. Then she drifted off to find Stormy and they both went to the shelter to rest and escape the morning sun \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Fri 16th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Storm & Bella strategically find the shadows in the shelter this morning….it’s very hot up here.<\/p>\n

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Bella putting 4 feet on large pedestal and then first left front then right front on small pedestal for some apple slices \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Stormy did the pedestal for apple slices too \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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As S&B now off the main field area and on the track for the Summer so I spent the morning putting out some agility obstacles around that area.<\/p>\n

< Jump. Archway. Tarp ><\/p>\n

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< 4 Flags. Drain tube. Curtain ><\/p>\n

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< Long narrow gap. Trot poles. Low trot pole ><\/p>\n

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< 12 cone weave. Pole which I attach a rope too. I hold the rope and circle around in walk, trot then canter. Circles rely on me and horse synchronising on the circle as I try to ride it one handed)<\/p>\n

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S&B chilling out on a wee hill just before I went off for my breakfast \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Sun 18th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a really nice strong breeze this morning so I get out and feed S&B early and then go to catch Bella for a ride. She decided to not want to be caught just now so I ask Stormy if he wants to be with me…he said ‘OK MUM’ \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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I groom and saddle him and then do a bit of play in the field we’ve cordoned off and I’ve put the agility obstacles up in.<\/p>\n

He did so well, he never forgets anything and did a lot of the obstacles before I got on.<\/p>\n

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Nice slow wander about the field popping over a tarp, under the curtain, through a narrow gap….he did so well \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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I then caught Bella, who was hanging out in the shelter, and did the same with her.<\/p>\n

Again, just walking about but some nice work through the obstacle course.<\/p>\n

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Sun 25th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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SO, after days of stonkingly hot weather and then nights of hard rain we have a nice day today…..a nice breeze, cool air and some sunshine.<\/p>\n

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We also upped the ante on training too…today I want to try some Canter P2P’s….<\/p>\n

We start with walk\/trot warm up exercises using the P2P principles so that the pattern is instilled first.<\/p>\n

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Then we try some Canter P2P’s….and didn’t we do well. Yes some of it was in trot and I took what Bella wanted to offer thereby making our exercise fun and not a ‘task’ \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Having the pattern down nicely but changing it up so that it’s not boring I made sure Bella had the 3 things she needed which are:<\/p>\n

‘Direction. Speed. Destination’<\/p>\n

AND having that destination was great to teach her to relax, calm down after the high energy canter pace. She can get a bit antsy and not wanting to keep her feet still after a bit of canter so this was a great exercise for us to learn relaxation after exertion \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Bella and Stormy relaxing in the sunny breeze…no flies makes horses happy this time of year \ud83d\ude42 \ud83d\ude42 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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  • Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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    Sat 3rd Well…what do you do when you decide to ride BUT (1) you changed the field cone\/tyre pattern from 2 circles to a long long straight weave line (2) the horses across the glen for some reason are whinneying and (3) it’s blowing a complete hoolie????? YUP…you try to ride for a couple of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[393],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bella-stormy-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11877"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11976,"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11877\/revisions\/11976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}