Golly and another week has flown by in Charlie land so where to start.
We didnt do much at the weekend I just rode in the school trying a wider bit I had, NS Vebindend 6 inch. I didnt feel that Charlie liked it that much though.
In Tuesdays lesson we established that my NS Verbindend was upside down very easy to do as it doesnt look that different except for where the little arrow is pointing.
Tori lent me a slightly wider NS Teamup as we had decided that 5.5 inches wasnt enough for Charlie.
We identified that Charlie still has issues on the right rein with stretchinghis left hand side and did lots of shoulder in/shoulder fore exercises to try and help him out.
Wednesday I practiced the work we had done in our lesson but was not riding him that well. He was overbent and had too much inside bend on the left rein and nearly none on the right rein.
Thursday we worked in the school. We should of hacked out but the gales were terrible and it wouldnt have been the best plan. So we worked in the school in the NS Teamp up lent to us by Tori and we worked better than yesterday. Having read so much on nappy horses and the way to fix I decided we were ready for postive reinforcement. This meant hardwork in the school then cool down by going outside. When I say cool down I mean generally relax as we dont work up a sweat.
So Charlie and I pootled down the track to the field and didnt have any naughties at all if you dont count a squeak and attempted turn. The point of the whole exercise was to relax him so we had a little loose rein trot up the field away from home and then walked a very big circle back to the track. Then I halted dropped the reins and let him have a think he put his head down for a graze and he was patted told he was a good boy and when he had his mouth full and raised his head I picked up the reins and returned to the yard.
Friday bolstered by Thursdays success I prepared for more field work. We lunged in the school first over raised poles then whacked my BP on and mounted on the yard. Really glad it was quiet so I walked Charlie quietly on a very long rein to the field. He was a very good boy and in a nutshell we spent 15 minutes walking, halting and trotting on both reins. The worst we had was a loaded shoulder a few times in the direction of the track but thanks to Toris lesson on using body weight and legs I basically rode his shoulder back to where I wanted it to go. The dressage side of things was not pretty as we didnt have a wall to support our aids but that wasnt really the point of the exercise.
Friday, 19 April 2013
Thursday, 11 April 2013
A Cracking Good time
What a wonderful time we are having these last few days have been epic. Well epic in the eyes of an anxious person with a rehabbed horse.
Tuesdays lesson was awesome. The light is beginning to shine on Charlie the potential dressage horse. As ever his future is quite literally in my hands (and seat and back and pelvis etcetera). working again on contact and transitions from walk to trot we found the softness and the beauty of an upwards transition engineered correctly.
I came out of my lesson on a high and looked forward to loads of practice. Unfortunatly our planned schooling has been kidnapped by the hacking out fairies and here we are its Thursday and I have had two cracking good hacks. Both with hiccups but then it wouldnt be Charlie if we didnt have a hiccup.
Wednesday Chris and I hacked around Leonard Stanley and had a blast back through Penn Woods and back down the 'track of despair' to the farm. In Leonard Stanley we met the recycling Lorry. It was hiding around a bend making as much crashing glass sounds as it could. Both horses threw a wobbly and Charlie was still wound up like a coiled spring when we met the real monster! Horror of Horrors a branch poking out menacingly near a house. Well it was either that or a purple invisible dragon. We had one of his nuclear hiccups and literally minutes later were back on the straight and narrow.
We had a lovely canter in Penn woods and then came down the rocky track to the farm where there are very very big dragons. We know this because the farm dogs are always on the defensive and there are dead sheep secreted around the property.
Added to that we have a history PRE op of a dump and bolt home riderless, a run up a bank from a sheep and a hack that was abandoned when two mares spooked and danced around Charlie in circles with their skirts over their heads while he tried to impress them with his elevation on hind legs.
Today we had another cracking hack this time in the opposite direction through the cows field which they aren't in because there is no grass. We went on towards Crawley hill and to Charlie's and my horror the fields across the lane were populated with sheep and OMG frolicking bloomin lambs.
Lambs are great on a lovely walk but when you are on horseback the flipping things are so bouncy and noisy. They have no sense and shout mum lots and never run in a sensible direction. They were mostly on the bank and so we walked the horses very quietly near the hedge. Unfortunately as we came round a corner a couple of ewes were stood in our path menacingly surrounded by lambkins. We had the opportunity to practice the slowest walk on the planet while we waited for the Ladies to remove themselves and their charges.
Phew I breathed a sigh of relief and then through the gap to the next bit of field and we were faced with lambs everywhere in the hedge on the left calling mum and ewes on the right shouting come here now or I will have to run through the horse things to get you.
God it's hard reading their minds and not placing your horse somewhere that will worry the sheep when you are bricking it.
So we survived and made it to Crawley woods. Up the paths and bounded on to the track and then Charlie thought we should turn right I thought left and so did Chris and Robin so cue some toy throwing from Charlie. Quickly over we had some lovely canters in the woods then some more then some more.
It was wonderful to feel that he has lost none of his hacking manners he was happy to lead and happy to follow Robin without getting on his heels. No racing when I lay flat on his back under trees and he wasn't bothered at all when I whacked my knee on a tree and screeched in his ear.
The traffic was blasting along the top road and he wasn't the slightest but bothered by it.
We finished off going back down to the farm along the track of despair and he was lovely and this time Robin had a panic at a piece of black plastic by the hacking gate and Charlie just walked across it to see why Robin had spun away.
So all we need to do now is switch of the emergency up trigger and we are sorted.
Tuesdays lesson was awesome. The light is beginning to shine on Charlie the potential dressage horse. As ever his future is quite literally in my hands (and seat and back and pelvis etcetera). working again on contact and transitions from walk to trot we found the softness and the beauty of an upwards transition engineered correctly.
I came out of my lesson on a high and looked forward to loads of practice. Unfortunatly our planned schooling has been kidnapped by the hacking out fairies and here we are its Thursday and I have had two cracking good hacks. Both with hiccups but then it wouldnt be Charlie if we didnt have a hiccup.
Wednesday Chris and I hacked around Leonard Stanley and had a blast back through Penn Woods and back down the 'track of despair' to the farm. In Leonard Stanley we met the recycling Lorry. It was hiding around a bend making as much crashing glass sounds as it could. Both horses threw a wobbly and Charlie was still wound up like a coiled spring when we met the real monster! Horror of Horrors a branch poking out menacingly near a house. Well it was either that or a purple invisible dragon. We had one of his nuclear hiccups and literally minutes later were back on the straight and narrow.
We had a lovely canter in Penn woods and then came down the rocky track to the farm where there are very very big dragons. We know this because the farm dogs are always on the defensive and there are dead sheep secreted around the property.
Added to that we have a history PRE op of a dump and bolt home riderless, a run up a bank from a sheep and a hack that was abandoned when two mares spooked and danced around Charlie in circles with their skirts over their heads while he tried to impress them with his elevation on hind legs.
Today we had another cracking hack this time in the opposite direction through the cows field which they aren't in because there is no grass. We went on towards Crawley hill and to Charlie's and my horror the fields across the lane were populated with sheep and OMG frolicking bloomin lambs.
Lambs are great on a lovely walk but when you are on horseback the flipping things are so bouncy and noisy. They have no sense and shout mum lots and never run in a sensible direction. They were mostly on the bank and so we walked the horses very quietly near the hedge. Unfortunately as we came round a corner a couple of ewes were stood in our path menacingly surrounded by lambkins. We had the opportunity to practice the slowest walk on the planet while we waited for the Ladies to remove themselves and their charges.
Phew I breathed a sigh of relief and then through the gap to the next bit of field and we were faced with lambs everywhere in the hedge on the left calling mum and ewes on the right shouting come here now or I will have to run through the horse things to get you.
God it's hard reading their minds and not placing your horse somewhere that will worry the sheep when you are bricking it.
So we survived and made it to Crawley woods. Up the paths and bounded on to the track and then Charlie thought we should turn right I thought left and so did Chris and Robin so cue some toy throwing from Charlie. Quickly over we had some lovely canters in the woods then some more then some more.
It was wonderful to feel that he has lost none of his hacking manners he was happy to lead and happy to follow Robin without getting on his heels. No racing when I lay flat on his back under trees and he wasn't bothered at all when I whacked my knee on a tree and screeched in his ear.
The traffic was blasting along the top road and he wasn't the slightest but bothered by it.
We finished off going back down to the farm along the track of despair and he was lovely and this time Robin had a panic at a piece of black plastic by the hacking gate and Charlie just walked across it to see why Robin had spun away.
So all we need to do now is switch of the emergency up trigger and we are sorted.
Sunday, 7 April 2013
Oh Happy Days!
What a cracking weekend we have had. The weather was lush so as well as spending time on horseworship I have been working hard on my garden. But this is not my Gardening Blog so let's concentrate on Charlie. Today's report would include photos if I hadn't left the camera behind.
Friday we had Grace Fairburn Charlie's Physio booked to check up on our progress and I am absolutely delighted to say she was very pleased with him. He is very supple and flexible and she was impressed with the way he was moving.
Saturday we had a school day some lungeing including walk to canter mostly average but one canter transition was brilliant, a canter to die for and as soon as I work out what I did right..... We'll do it again. Ridden work was awesome and finally the penny dropped in the walk to trot transition.
Sunday Charlie was going to have a day off but just as I was about to turn him out I had a text. 'Would you like to hack this morning?'
This was from my hacking buddy Chris and the idea was we would hack with her sister Ange and her big lad Oddie as well as Robin. Never one to turn down the chance of the right hacking company Charlie was swiftly popped back in his hotel room while I drove home for jodphurs and tack. Ange was a bit late so I could have sneaked a cup of Tea in my speedy road trip.
The hack was wonderful! His handsomeness did not put a hoof wrong. He led all the way, stopped for cars, looked at black bags and was walking and trotting out so well we had to stop several times for the others to catch up. Oddie has an extremely slow walk for a 17 hander! Charlie was positively simpering and very perky too.
The sun had warmed up when we arrived back at the yard and he was rewarded with an apple and the rest of the day rugless out with his pals.
Friday we had Grace Fairburn Charlie's Physio booked to check up on our progress and I am absolutely delighted to say she was very pleased with him. He is very supple and flexible and she was impressed with the way he was moving.
Saturday we had a school day some lungeing including walk to canter mostly average but one canter transition was brilliant, a canter to die for and as soon as I work out what I did right..... We'll do it again. Ridden work was awesome and finally the penny dropped in the walk to trot transition.
Sunday Charlie was going to have a day off but just as I was about to turn him out I had a text. 'Would you like to hack this morning?'
This was from my hacking buddy Chris and the idea was we would hack with her sister Ange and her big lad Oddie as well as Robin. Never one to turn down the chance of the right hacking company Charlie was swiftly popped back in his hotel room while I drove home for jodphurs and tack. Ange was a bit late so I could have sneaked a cup of Tea in my speedy road trip.
The hack was wonderful! His handsomeness did not put a hoof wrong. He led all the way, stopped for cars, looked at black bags and was walking and trotting out so well we had to stop several times for the others to catch up. Oddie has an extremely slow walk for a 17 hander! Charlie was positively simpering and very perky too.
The sun had warmed up when we arrived back at the yard and he was rewarded with an apple and the rest of the day rugless out with his pals.
Thursday, 4 April 2013
Working sideways?
Continuing our confidence building project Wednesday, being a beautiful sunny day, was designated ride in the field day.
It seemed wise to start off in the school especially as I had swapped Charlie's bit. We did some long and low and then stepped up a gear (in walk) trying for the slowest walk on the planet.
Then we introduced Tori's counter shoulder-in exercise. When we did this earlier pre-op I believe it was a little like a car crash he lost the plot didnt know where to put his bottom and went the only place he could .....UP.
Well we must have been doin it wrong today it worked fairly well in Tuesdays lesson apart from my addled brain but today it was a piece of sticky bendy Chocolate Gateau.
Walk down the long side off the track point your hips at the wall raise your inside hand to get some bend lower the outside, controlling using your outside leg behind the girth remember to keep your inside leg on the shoulder.
Round the top of the school down the quarter line then open the outside hand and leg yield across the school whe hay! Both reins!
Working on the Lego building block scenario I dismounted left the school and popped my BP on. I led Charlie down the track to the field mounted up and rode him around for about 15 minutes that felt like an hour. I tried to be good and relax but it wasn't easy and Charlie tried to be good but have liked me more relaxed. Anyhow we achieved again and he was a good boy considering how bad I was. I concentrated on doing little exercises we do in our schoolwork and there were a few odd poles on the ground we could step over. I will be so glad when my nerves are packed back away in a dusty old tin and buried in a hole at the bottom of the garden.
Today, Thursday, is hacking day and sure enough Chris and Robin took me out again. And yet again Charlie had a hiccup at the end of the field when we went through the gate. I think I am getting used to the fact that he has 'hiccups' and Chris actually said that she thought I dealt with it very well. The annoying thing is I think it's when my heart starts to race he thinks 'shit where is the dragon!' (Can I say sh*t in my own blog?)
I will be honest I kept a strong leg contact all the way up the field opened the gate went through relaxed and then my heart started pounding and bouncing off my epiglottis.
Luckily though both Charlie and I appear to be able to recover our heart rate quite quickly.
Bill my partner as supportive as ever suggested that i treat him as if I had just bought him and build my confidence up as I did last year when all was new. That is a good point as we are on a new chapter after all he never knew that he was
a) Going to be a Dressage Cob and
b) he liked banana.
So onwards and upwards... Oh no maybe onwards sideways and with hocks engaged? I dunno.
It seemed wise to start off in the school especially as I had swapped Charlie's bit. We did some long and low and then stepped up a gear (in walk) trying for the slowest walk on the planet.
Then we introduced Tori's counter shoulder-in exercise. When we did this earlier pre-op I believe it was a little like a car crash he lost the plot didnt know where to put his bottom and went the only place he could .....UP.
Well we must have been doin it wrong today it worked fairly well in Tuesdays lesson apart from my addled brain but today it was a piece of sticky bendy Chocolate Gateau.
Walk down the long side off the track point your hips at the wall raise your inside hand to get some bend lower the outside, controlling using your outside leg behind the girth remember to keep your inside leg on the shoulder.
Round the top of the school down the quarter line then open the outside hand and leg yield across the school whe hay! Both reins!
Working on the Lego building block scenario I dismounted left the school and popped my BP on. I led Charlie down the track to the field mounted up and rode him around for about 15 minutes that felt like an hour. I tried to be good and relax but it wasn't easy and Charlie tried to be good but have liked me more relaxed. Anyhow we achieved again and he was a good boy considering how bad I was. I concentrated on doing little exercises we do in our schoolwork and there were a few odd poles on the ground we could step over. I will be so glad when my nerves are packed back away in a dusty old tin and buried in a hole at the bottom of the garden.
Today, Thursday, is hacking day and sure enough Chris and Robin took me out again. And yet again Charlie had a hiccup at the end of the field when we went through the gate. I think I am getting used to the fact that he has 'hiccups' and Chris actually said that she thought I dealt with it very well. The annoying thing is I think it's when my heart starts to race he thinks 'shit where is the dragon!' (Can I say sh*t in my own blog?)
I will be honest I kept a strong leg contact all the way up the field opened the gate went through relaxed and then my heart started pounding and bouncing off my epiglottis.
Luckily though both Charlie and I appear to be able to recover our heart rate quite quickly.
Bill my partner as supportive as ever suggested that i treat him as if I had just bought him and build my confidence up as I did last year when all was new. That is a good point as we are on a new chapter after all he never knew that he was
a) Going to be a Dressage Cob and
b) he liked banana.
So onwards and upwards... Oh no maybe onwards sideways and with hocks engaged? I dunno.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
More lego activity
Phew!
Another week has gone by already and I turned down hacking this morning because I had so much other stuff to do.
My lesson as ever was fabulous we spent the whole lesson in walk working on Charlie's acceptance of contact and getting him to work leg into hand.
Counter shoulder in which earlier in the year caused 'I can't cope throw all my toys out if the pram' was followed by leg yield all very successfully I might add no toys were thrown but working into a correct contact is still a mystery to Charlie and a challenge for me.
We also had the saddler out to check our saddle fit. It's good and he advised a reflock in the autumn to keep the area around the spine nice and soft.
I arrived home this evening with jelly legs from all the work and as for my brain? It's addled.
We have had a quiet week with visitors and Easter in the way so didnt hack again until Sunday. Just a hack round the block but unfortunately we met a fire breathing piece of plastic on the road. We were rescued from our spinning activity by another livery and once she had leapt out of her car and led Charlie in the direction I intended to go he was fine. We won't thank the impatient arse in the other car who forced his way past us.
Another week has gone by already and I turned down hacking this morning because I had so much other stuff to do.
My lesson as ever was fabulous we spent the whole lesson in walk working on Charlie's acceptance of contact and getting him to work leg into hand.
Counter shoulder in which earlier in the year caused 'I can't cope throw all my toys out if the pram' was followed by leg yield all very successfully I might add no toys were thrown but working into a correct contact is still a mystery to Charlie and a challenge for me.
We also had the saddler out to check our saddle fit. It's good and he advised a reflock in the autumn to keep the area around the spine nice and soft.
I arrived home this evening with jelly legs from all the work and as for my brain? It's addled.
We have had a quiet week with visitors and Easter in the way so didnt hack again until Sunday. Just a hack round the block but unfortunately we met a fire breathing piece of plastic on the road. We were rescued from our spinning activity by another livery and once she had leapt out of her car and led Charlie in the direction I intended to go he was fine. We won't thank the impatient arse in the other car who forced his way past us.
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