Charlie gets interesting

Ok since we have been having the Bach flower remedies cocktail these are the little things I have noticed.

Charlie has not attempted to dive into the hedgerow and eat Field horsetail when I am turning him out ( he s in part of the day as flies are bad and he is fat.

He sometimes gets impatient when tied up on the yard which is interesting as he hasn't shown this behaviour since early 2012 when I first bought him.

Today I rode him in the bottom field. He was quite naughty. I was doing loads of walk work and changes of rein and suddenly he loaded his shoulder napped towards the track and did a small rear. This was a surprise and I nearly vacated the saddle. I immediately swapped my whip onto the naughty shoulder sat still asked him to leg yield and proceeded in the planned direction. I continued my work and next time we were at the track end of the field he did the same. I growled and said a sharp NO and a deep growl but again put my whip on the loaded side. I didn't need to smack him just look up and ride  forward.

I must admit the temptation was to just do a circuit and get off quick but then I decided we were staying down there until we were both happy.

Suddenly I was gobsmacked after a few of these attempts to nap back to the track no matter what rein he relaxed I was trying to stay soft and positive but suddenly found myself on a relaxed horse with his head dropped so I didn't need to make myself relax. 

I proceeded to ride round looking up and steering him by looking at a tree, a fence, a telegraph pole and talking to him telling him where we were aiming.

 I did a large circle in walk and trot on both reins thanked him nicely and headed back up the track.

On our way back I went towards the blue tarp and poles obstacle which was pretending to be a ditch and he happily walked across it.

Now the interesting thing  is that he exhibited a tendency to have an iffy shoulder last year before it all went wrong. I am now wondering if this was a little bit of challenging behaviour I hadn't noticed because my world was suddenly turned upside down by KS.

Balancing Charlie

I decided to try something a little different in the quest for fixing Charlie. Yesterday we had a visit from Nikki Ashworth of Balancingblends who dowsed Charlie and came up with a list of Bach Flower Remedies to help him.

Our initial blend is :

Agrimony

Mimulus

Gorse

Cherry Plum

Larch

Star of Bethlehem

It was an interesting experience as for some unknown reason I got very emotional and it would appear I will be next.

I don't know if it will help him but as it can't harm we are trying.

Interestingly he has not attempted to dive head first into the Field Horsetail on the track since we started the drops. Who knows?

A quote from the Internet :-

"it is important to be clear at this stage Bach flower remedies do not profess to be always a cure all. In some cases, for the horse it really will cure the problem, others will benefit from the Bach flowers whilst in a remedial / retraining program, they become a valuable part of making the horse more receptive, trusting, confident etc. But they cannot make a saddle fit properly, negate the need for the chiropractor or cure unbalanced feet. They will however, help with a fear of being ridden due to a past problem with the saddle or give confidence to a horse that his back will not hurt anymore once he has had the physical problem resolved!"

Show report Saturday 10th August

Good god I can't believe it we actually attended our first show. Slimbridge Family Horse Show was lovely. We decided to keep things low key and just did two inhand classes. novelty classes Best condition and Handsomest Gelding.

Charle was lovely very well behaved and very calm apart from being somewhat vocal.

We were placed 4th in both classes.

Still an uphill struggle

Not posted for a while we still have hacking issues. He is as good as gold then spots something challenging. The whip round 180 degrees is now being supported by verticalness again. Hopping off and leading in hand works every time then the search follows for mounting potential but hoorah I am more flexible.

We have had a physio session and identified issues in Left hind and near fore muscles and now I have a list of Pilates stretches to perform daily. Only problem is its making my back hurt but he loves them.

We are having weekly lessons with Alistair Bull a local guy who rides charlie very nicely but has had to be quite firm n a nice sort of way.. He is schooling Charlie for me then popping me on board and trying to fix me. Each week gets easier and I am now beginning to see results in my short schooling sessions in between. Alistair is also a great believer in walk work getting Charlie actively moving leg yielding etc starting off on a very long light contact and building it all up before we even think of trotting.

It's amazing all those years I used to be taught in trot and canter with just a bit of walk in between I didnt know what I was missing and now two trainers from different backgrounds and different teaching styles won't let me 'run' before I can walk.

The cows had Moo-ved

We spent the week getting our confidence back and finally on Thursday I did the Coaley village hack again. Charlie wasnt impressed the cows had moved to stand under the wrong tree. He tried to turn around twice. So yet again another hot day with thousands of flies finds me leading my big pony up the field and mounting at the gate.

Friday was lesson day and apparently we are improving but my pelvis is twisted and last weekends tumble didnt make it any better.

Saturday was made his day off and Sunday we did a mini hack. It began traumatically as we were just about to leave and an equine  friend was brought in. Not a happy horse leaving his mate but give him his due he accepted a tap on the leg and went off the yard albeit in a snorty tense boiling over sort of way.

Later on  in the day when I returned to the yard we had some fun. I did some loose schooling in the school and he actually trotted along beside me over his raised trotting poles. What a lovely pony.

Disaster Strikes

Well since Charlie debut we have had some ups and downs but then life is never as easy as you hope.

He is still not happy having his back feet shod. He likes to lean on the farrier. Unfortunately on Monday his shoeing was swiftly followed by him getting his head collar caught on the poop scoop handle (my fault carefully handy for sweeping up after farrier and for Charlie to hook himself on.

The hacking was going well a fun hack through the woods with a fellow livery doing controlled canters on the way home. A solo hack round the village ridden through the cows field. Still issues with silly unexpected spooks which involve either a vertical complaint or a 180 degree spin and request to return o base.

Then came Sunday. Hacking though the woods we came around a corner as a Mountain Biker flew round the corner. Charlie spun 180 decked me ran over me and legged it my companions horse charged after him.

We caught him and I crawled back on board but ye gods it hurt. We completed our hack even though I had an urge to throw up every time I ducked under a tree.