{"id":9441,"date":"2023-07-01T14:07:57","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T14:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/?p=9441"},"modified":"2023-07-27T08:34:11","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T08:34:11","slug":"bella-stormy-july-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horsesavvy.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/07\/01\/bella-stormy-july-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Bella & Stormy – July 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sat 1st<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Good start to the month for us….rode Bella bareback after giving her a really good groom.<\/p>\n

Mark gave Stormy a thorough groom too \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Did some nice easy turns using more forehand (working towards turns on the hq’s)<\/p>\n

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We did a lot more trotting today bareback too \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

The sun came out for us but still a really lovely strong breeze blowing which was fab.<\/p>\n

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Working on walk and trot leg yields across the arena, trying not to loose my balance as she moved sideways.<\/p>\n

Gave her a few reward stops to grab some of the lush long grass she loves too.<\/p>\n

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Finally a big friend hug from Bella and then from Stormy too xxxx<\/p>\n

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Sun 2nd<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Lovely cool, breezy weather and a lovely cool, breezy ride with Ms Bella this morning.<\/p>\n

For some reason the Equilab app didn’t collect some of the data (distance, speed etc), not sure why? hey ho.<\/p>\n

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Lovely ride with multiple serpentines first in walk across the length of the field and then with trot over the width of the field.<\/p>\n

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Bella enjoys some of the long mature grass as a reward after our exercise \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Bella and Stormy grooming <3<\/p>\n

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

Yesterday my best friend and horsewoman Kat, who lives in the Borders came to visit and to catch up on everything in our lives. I don’t get to see her often so it’s always a wonderful, chatty time when we get together \ud83d\ude09 She slept over and today we had a lovely time with Storm and Bella. It was also a FIRST for ME and BELLA as I invited Kat to ride her. No one, apart from Mark years ago, has ridden Bella so it was a chance to see how well she went with Kat. I trust Kat implicitly with S&B, she has trained with me and we have the same ‘feel’ for sympathetic bitless riding. Bella went really well with Kat and Kat really loved Bella so it was a lovely win-win situation and I felt like a really proud momma bear watching my best friend and best horse enjoy riding together <3 \ud83d\ude09 xxxx<\/p>\n

Here are some pics of us all….First Kat with Storm then Kat with Bella and then a couple of me \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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\"\"\"\"\"\" Me and Bella with Kat on Storm \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Thurs 6th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Nice bit of early morning exercise with Bella this morning.<\/p>\n

In the arena and hill area again.<\/p>\n

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Nice flat work with forward walk and rhythmic trot going well. Fig 8’s not bad either.<\/p>\n

Then up the hill where Bella is rewarded with some grazing of the lovely long grasses.<\/p>\n

Stormy whinney’s to her as she went out of his sight but he saw us coming down the hill so was fine.<\/p>\n

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Riding with the flag is going very well…slow and steady is winning her trust and confidence.<\/p>\n

We did walk and then trot with the flag starting out closed in my hand and then half open with me holding the stick and the ends so it doesn’t flap too much. Bella was a star and she regularly touched it with her nose for a treat reward \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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It’ll be 4 days ’til I see them again now as off to teach in Aberdeenshire from Fri – Mon. Gonna miss them SO much <3<\/p>\n

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Leave B&S grazing peacefully together…they are such lovely horses, inside and out \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Thurs 13th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Today we just had a short potter about the field, it’s good to be back home after my teaching away, so just taking it slowly getting back into the swing of things \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Just like I’d never been away \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sun 16th<\/p>\n

Dodging rain this week but Mark\/Storm and Me\/Bella did a quick pedestal challenge after clearing the ragwort in the field \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Took a while for Bella but we’ve not practised it recently…..amazing when she did it \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Storm just went up first time…show off \ud83d\ude09 He also showed he can do one foot on the smaller pedestal….again, show off \ud83d\ude42 Lol<\/p>\n

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Fri 21st<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, we’ve not only had horrible rainy, drizzly weather but I also tweaked my back badly where I\u00a0 just had to take some time off so as not to make it worse \ud83d\ude09\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today I was feeling a bit better with my back and decided to jump on Stormy for wee ride after a bit of a play session (all after doing S&B’s worm counts)<\/p>\n

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Groomed and ready to play<\/p>\n

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Such a good boy, think he enjoyed being number 1 for a change \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Ready to rock’n’roll….lovely ride with Mr Big, we moved Bella about for a while so worked both of them….Stormy thought he was a western horsey moving her about \ud83d\ude09 lol<\/p>\n

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Sat 22nd<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Back feeling better….grab a ride on beautiful big Bella \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Lovely weave in trot…sitting trot fine with my back too \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Finding some nice curves in trot and then a nice canter \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Mark and Storm enjoy a plod about too \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Bella watching the Scottish electricity vehicle in the field below ours….lots of interesting things going on with that \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Storm\/Mark and Bella\/Me play ‘leap frog’ around the field \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Mon 24th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeehaa….back into a good routine again with Bella now back is feeling better.<\/p>\n

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Bella ‘parks’ beautifully…near obstacles or at the mounting block. Waiting patiently for me to come and get her…and all that LONG GRASS about…what a clever girl she is \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Much more canter today \ud83d\ude09 YEEHAA…..LOVE it when ‘practise makes progress’ and when it feels good doing it it’s even better.<\/p>\n

Super smooth transitions from walk to trot and also trot to canter and back down again \ud83d\ude09 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Watching the cattle and sheep in the field below ours<\/p>\n

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AND…all important rewards often for good work…she’s LOVING the small thistles at the moment so I find them for her…this helps make our partnership even stronger \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Weds 26th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Started off trimming Bella’s hooves. A great use of an agility obstacle (tarp) putting it to the purpose of catching all the trimmings so as to keep the field shelter clean worked really well. I love it when a play thing becomes useful…most of them should \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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After trimming hooves today but then I had a short bareback ride with Bella.<\/p>\n

Mostly in walk and just working on being straight on the straight bits and doing nice arc’s on the turns \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Working on the slow, small bits ALWAYS make the fancier bits later on work better…it’s getting the foundation down so that new layers can be placed on top \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Bella enjoyed the ride just as much as I did as every time she did a nice arc she got to take some grass as a reward \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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After this I made a short video of the agility task ‘4 buckets, 4 hooves’ which a lot of my students have been having trouble with….this is Bella having a go…<\/p>\n