Today's workout was very short - as I was on my own and had to re-wrap Huey's hoof before the sun went down ...
We started with our normal brush down and lunge - I moved the trot poles closer together today and while he was really trying to concentrate on where he put his feet, I think they were just a bit too close for him... I'll roll them further apart again next lesson. He's very responsive on the lunge now - and canter is starting to look very nice... He's beginning to really build up his hindquarter muscles and step through, which is pleasing to see.
After that I hopped on and did some walk/trot work .... He was really nice to the right, and pretty stiff to the left - while he's usually stiff to the left, today he was dropping his shoulder into the circle ...
I had wanted to ask for canter under saddle today - but another girl was working closeby with her excitable TB and given that Red has attention issues, I figured it wasn't the best time. Best I get my backside into gear, this time next month, we have a show to attend, hehe.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
A Reprieve From Today’s Work…
It was farrier day today – Red got nice shiny new shoes, and Huey was supposed to be getting a trim… I say supposed to, because that trim turned into the removal of a very large portion of the front wall of Huey’s hoof!! (Detailed pics can be found at Huey’s blog) …
So I spent a large portion of the day racing around town to collect the ‘ingredients’ I needed to help Huey on his road to recovery. (Biotin supplement, crepe bandages, honey, bluestone, iodine, and I bought some more feed for both boys) … Expensive day to say the least.
Not that Red was complaining – he got out of doing work, and got to do his favourite thing - eat. And eat he did - for there was a mountain of hay to chew through today, as I also want Huey to have access to alot of bulk roughage right now ... Lucky boys.
So I spent a large portion of the day racing around town to collect the ‘ingredients’ I needed to help Huey on his road to recovery. (Biotin supplement, crepe bandages, honey, bluestone, iodine, and I bought some more feed for both boys) … Expensive day to say the least.
Not that Red was complaining – he got out of doing work, and got to do his favourite thing - eat. And eat he did - for there was a mountain of hay to chew through today, as I also want Huey to have access to alot of bulk roughage right now ... Lucky boys.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
A Lunging We Will Go...
I LOVE this horse. Love. Love. Love!
Today, I thought I would just lunge the grey beasty - and work on transitions and over poles.
It wasn't a huge session, but he did manage to get up a sweat (not sure if that's a good or bad thing, hehe) ... There's really not that much to report, as it was like any other session I've had with him. He's improving with every lesson, he's more balanced, and he's looking great.
Oh! I lie. One good thing to report - he was not disunited in the canter at all this lesson! Huzzah! And he moved into canter almost immediately each time I asked. We can now go full circles; full decent looking circles... in a relaxed, balanced manner. Our first few canters were obviously pretty hideous; lacking any strength, no clue as to where our legs should go, and burning around at a billion miles an hour... Today, he moved into canter without issue, and maintained a very nice, quite balanced frame and rhythm.
We also did some trot pole work - no nosedives today! He was watching where he placed his feet this time. hehe. I had the intention of popping him over some small jumps, in a kind of lunge-grid type fashion; not so successful. In the picture below, you'll see the little jumps 'wings' - he just trotted over the 1st and 2nd tiers, haha. And on the 3rd tier, he jumped nicely to the left, but the right was pretty dismal. Ah well, haha, it was our first attempts at a lunge-grid - things an only get better from here on in. His pole work was very nice, and I was pleased with that. (Obviously, the 'jumps' were at the end of grid - I just had not moved them in this picture - I wasn't trying to make him jump mid-grid or anything, hehe)...
And what better way to end the day - than eating!! hehe. Huey and Red both enjoy copious amounts of lucerne - having finished their hard feeds. Spoilt... rotten... ponies!
Gotta Love This Horse
I worked both Red and Huey today ... Huey only got a mini groundwork/freelunge session that can be viewed at this own blog (http://thehueydiaries.blogspot.com/)...
I caught them both and brought them up at the same time to save trudging back and forth. I let them pick some nice grass on the way, and as we were walking up, there was a bare patch of ground where a shipping container used to sit. Thinking nothing of it, I walked over it, Huey happily followed my lead, and Red decided it was far to scary. I asked him to move forward, and instead, he leapt forward and barrelled me with his chest, knocking me out of the way in his panic. How kind of him. After picking myself up, I led him over it several more times and had him stand in the middle for a few minutes... The only thing I can put it down to, is there looks to be a couple of rabbit holes on the far side of the patch (not near where we were walking), so I assume he thought it was going to swallow us whole... I then popped him in the roundyard and worked with Huey....
When it was Red's turn - I grabbed him, took his rugs off, and gave him a good brush down. There's still so much hair coming off him. I popped the saddle on, did the girth up loosely, stretched his legs and gave him a light lunge to either side. It was extremely windy yesterday, so I wanted to see how his mood was, more than anything else. And he was.... same old Red - should have guessed eh?! hehe
After that, I put his bridle on, tightened the girth and hopped on. We started with some basic circle work at the work. I wanted to see if he remembered the bend work I taught him the week before. Which he did!! Clever boy. We have a few stiff moments here and there, but generally, he'll bend around my leg and have his eye towards the circle. Trot work is the same as far as bend goes - a few stiff moments, but generally the beginnings of our flexion is there.
His trot work is getting nicer and nicer, as I keep saying. He's rounding down more consistently on his own now (and I'm still not actually asking him to)... He's bobbing his head and sort of bouncing on my hands at times, so that's something we need to work on ... I think transitions will be our next goal. Up to trot and into walk .... He bounces into the trot, and kind of ploughes into the walk ... But hey - this is an ex harness horse who's technically on his 12th/13th ride! I think he's doing extremely well.... I'm not intending to work on canter under saddle yet - until we've got walk and trot covered.
However - might want to get that going soon, as there's another show coming up with Standardbred classes that I'd like to take him to. I'll try and make this one! hehe.
*No pictures of Red - as my stoopid phone camera died when I was taking pics of Huey. (Was most ticked off about that)...
I caught them both and brought them up at the same time to save trudging back and forth. I let them pick some nice grass on the way, and as we were walking up, there was a bare patch of ground where a shipping container used to sit. Thinking nothing of it, I walked over it, Huey happily followed my lead, and Red decided it was far to scary. I asked him to move forward, and instead, he leapt forward and barrelled me with his chest, knocking me out of the way in his panic. How kind of him. After picking myself up, I led him over it several more times and had him stand in the middle for a few minutes... The only thing I can put it down to, is there looks to be a couple of rabbit holes on the far side of the patch (not near where we were walking), so I assume he thought it was going to swallow us whole... I then popped him in the roundyard and worked with Huey....
When it was Red's turn - I grabbed him, took his rugs off, and gave him a good brush down. There's still so much hair coming off him. I popped the saddle on, did the girth up loosely, stretched his legs and gave him a light lunge to either side. It was extremely windy yesterday, so I wanted to see how his mood was, more than anything else. And he was.... same old Red - should have guessed eh?! hehe
After that, I put his bridle on, tightened the girth and hopped on. We started with some basic circle work at the work. I wanted to see if he remembered the bend work I taught him the week before. Which he did!! Clever boy. We have a few stiff moments here and there, but generally, he'll bend around my leg and have his eye towards the circle. Trot work is the same as far as bend goes - a few stiff moments, but generally the beginnings of our flexion is there.
His trot work is getting nicer and nicer, as I keep saying. He's rounding down more consistently on his own now (and I'm still not actually asking him to)... He's bobbing his head and sort of bouncing on my hands at times, so that's something we need to work on ... I think transitions will be our next goal. Up to trot and into walk .... He bounces into the trot, and kind of ploughes into the walk ... But hey - this is an ex harness horse who's technically on his 12th/13th ride! I think he's doing extremely well.... I'm not intending to work on canter under saddle yet - until we've got walk and trot covered.
However - might want to get that going soon, as there's another show coming up with Standardbred classes that I'd like to take him to. I'll try and make this one! hehe.
*No pictures of Red - as my stoopid phone camera died when I was taking pics of Huey. (Was most ticked off about that)...
Monday, September 15, 2008
Meet Red's New 'Brother'...
So I bought a new Standardbred, hehe. Another grey!! Pairs harness here we come!
Red's new brother is named Huey (link to Huey's blog-space can be found in the previous post). Huey is 6years old, is at least 16.3hh, and a bit light on right now ... He arrived at around 2am on the 13th of September, and is going to be HUGE when he fills out. Huey was not a successful racehorse - 13 starts for 2 thirds for a total of $400 prizemoney, hehe. Easy to see what he didn't cut it. He did however manage to break the 2-minute mile just once, hehe, but still finished 8th of 10 in the race. Poor laddy.
Here is a piccy of them meeting for the 1st time - with Red looking terribly impressed, hehe ... He would have much preferred if I bought a mare. Seems he thinks of himself as a bit of a Cassanova - but they'll get along just fine! They'll both be moving in their own 2 horse paddock shortly - and I'm thinking I'll put a nice big oaten hay roundbale in with them. I can hear Red now... 'Mmmmm, food!' ... Such a hard life he has now, eh?!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
It was all going great, until the nosedive!!
Today was designed to be a light workout - as I had a new horse arrive overnight and I was tending to him as well (see http://thehueydiaries.blogspot.com/).I just wanted to have a nice, easy lunge session with the roller and sidereins. And it definitely was nice and easy - to begin with.
I asked him to walk a few circles (and he moved away very nicely) and when he was calm and responsive I asked him to move into trot. His trot is looking better and better each day! It's becoming very soft and he's looking more and more balanced with each lesson. He really does surprise me how quickly he learns things and genuinely wants to try. I asked him for canter and move into it immediately today, no rushing, just a nice smooth transition (maybe it had something to do with the lunge whip in my hand that meant 'no fooling about today' hehe) ...
So we did that briefly to each side, and to break up the lesson, I had set up 3 trot poles in which I would move him over, then move him away from during the lesson. I figured he'd appreciate something to think about rather than just circles. He was lifting himself very nicely, and lowering his head and take a look at what he was doing ... Then at some point, I guess he figured "well these are boring and too easy now" and stopped thinking about what he was doing with his feet. Result..............
.....a nosedive into the ground!! He tripped over the final trot pole and crashed ver ungracefully into the sand.... After checking him over and finding nothing wrong, I led him over the poles a couple of times ... at first he was like "Screw you mum, they just tried to kill me, I'm not going over them again"... But after a couple of times he was relaxed - so I lunged him at the trot to either side over them again briefly... and called it a day ...
Until that point, I was marvelling at how much he's improved and how responsive he is... Ah well, we all make our mistakes.. I fall flat on my ass all that time, haha... I'm going to ride him tommorow - so we'll see how that goes :o)
Sunday, September 7, 2008
It All Starts To Sink In....
So today was a very successful session - and I'm so pleased with my grey beasty.
We had a nice brush-down (could have filled a garbage bag with all the hair!!) before we got started - then saddled up and made our way to the round yard for our normal exercises and warm up lunge. At this point, he thought it would be highly amusing to continue to switch directions at his discretion; he soon learnt that this was not on. Note to self: bring lunge whip next time!
We then make our way to the arena, and start doing some circles at the walk, as it's about time we started working in our bend with more intent.... We begin with a few small circles, and then begin to make our way down the long side of the arena....
....Next thing I know - Heart-attack, brought to you today by the letter "E" ... It's almost always windy out there, and the letter "E" made a loud rattle as the wind ripped passed it, just as we were walking past. He was indeed convinced the gremlins from yesterday had come back to finish the job hehe. But after a few 10m circles in the general vicinity of the killer E, we were fine and dandy! I was riding with the property owner at the time - she was on her big gorgeous Trakehnner, and he apparently thought it was the boogey-man as well. Red can take comfort in the fact he wasn't the only skeerdy-pony that day ;o) ...
But, back to work! And it didn't take him long to realize I was asking him to bend around my leg and flex through the circle. He does have a habit of getting distracted easily though - a horse running in a nearby paddock, a car, a bird - all these things are apparently fascinating and worthy of diverting our attention. A few half-halts though, and we quickly regain focus.
Our walk was looking nice. Time for trot!
I must say, his trot is starting to feel good. Very good. He's becoming more obviously balanced, his trot is improving in leaps and bounds, and feeling great. Our trot to the right is coming along verrrrrry nicely - he's stretching down long and low into the bridle, and will round up periodically on his own. I'm still not asking him to collect yet, so it's very pleasing that's he reaching all on his own!! To the left, we're both still stiff, but there is a definite improvement, and he's understanding this whole 'flexion' thing more and more with each ride.
Gotta love this horse, he's so easy to train. Once the light bulb goes on, he's got it and we can work more on refinement of the move.... now, or later, or whenever... hehe... He's a clever little land whale ;o)
No ridden piccies, as my partner was pulling a "world revolves around me" moment... so I had to hurry up and unsaddle. But... here's a piccy of him after our workout. I took 5 shots, and every time I took the picture he flicked an ear back. hehehe. Ah well, he's a gorgeous boy either way!!
We had a nice brush-down (could have filled a garbage bag with all the hair!!) before we got started - then saddled up and made our way to the round yard for our normal exercises and warm up lunge. At this point, he thought it would be highly amusing to continue to switch directions at his discretion; he soon learnt that this was not on. Note to self: bring lunge whip next time!
We then make our way to the arena, and start doing some circles at the walk, as it's about time we started working in our bend with more intent.... We begin with a few small circles, and then begin to make our way down the long side of the arena....
....Next thing I know - Heart-attack, brought to you today by the letter "E" ... It's almost always windy out there, and the letter "E" made a loud rattle as the wind ripped passed it, just as we were walking past. He was indeed convinced the gremlins from yesterday had come back to finish the job hehe. But after a few 10m circles in the general vicinity of the killer E, we were fine and dandy! I was riding with the property owner at the time - she was on her big gorgeous Trakehnner, and he apparently thought it was the boogey-man as well. Red can take comfort in the fact he wasn't the only skeerdy-pony that day ;o) ...
But, back to work! And it didn't take him long to realize I was asking him to bend around my leg and flex through the circle. He does have a habit of getting distracted easily though - a horse running in a nearby paddock, a car, a bird - all these things are apparently fascinating and worthy of diverting our attention. A few half-halts though, and we quickly regain focus.
Our walk was looking nice. Time for trot!
I must say, his trot is starting to feel good. Very good. He's becoming more obviously balanced, his trot is improving in leaps and bounds, and feeling great. Our trot to the right is coming along verrrrrry nicely - he's stretching down long and low into the bridle, and will round up periodically on his own. I'm still not asking him to collect yet, so it's very pleasing that's he reaching all on his own!! To the left, we're both still stiff, but there is a definite improvement, and he's understanding this whole 'flexion' thing more and more with each ride.
Gotta love this horse, he's so easy to train. Once the light bulb goes on, he's got it and we can work more on refinement of the move.... now, or later, or whenever... hehe... He's a clever little land whale ;o)
No ridden piccies, as my partner was pulling a "world revolves around me" moment... so I had to hurry up and unsaddle. But... here's a piccy of him after our workout. I took 5 shots, and every time I took the picture he flicked an ear back. hehehe. Ah well, he's a gorgeous boy either way!!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
....Lions and tigers and tents, Oh my!
Whoops - been a bit of a lapse in my updates - but there's also been a bit of a lapse in his training. He's been thoroughly enjoying life as a fat pasture pet.
Today, it was time to earn his keep, instead of just eating his way through my bank account...., so I also thought I may as well test out the new western saddle I bought (I always ride English) ... So, I am officially vertically challenged, it's been confirmed haha. Even on the highest stirrup holes, my feet were barely touching the bars of the stirrup.
He wasn't too sure about the whole western saddle thing. We set off - walk walk kick, walk walk hump.. I stopped to check everything was okay; not too tight, nothing dangling where it shouldn't be; no annoying flies etc etc .... But that was all he did, and were were then on our way without further incident ... I assume because he's so used to the English saddle, that the western one was feeling a wee bit strange. (Strange for me too - how the hell do westerns riders 'feel' what's happening under them?!)... Bit like riding a nice comfy armchair, hehe.
We went for a small meander down the road and back and then did some work in the arena, and some work in hand.... On our approach to the arena, I noticed the property owner had set up one of those fluro coloured kiddies play tents, and thought to myself "this'll be interesting".... About 25m away, the ears and head go up, and we start the snorts.... About 10m away, we stop dead. I ask him to move forward..... "Noooooo way mum. There are gremlins in that thar tent, and they are going to eat me" ... I asked him to move forward again, and at 8m, we stop, then do a very prompt pivot on the hindquarters and weeee arrrre outta there.... So we go back again, nice and slowly, at at 5m he says "You're not listening Mum!! There are gremlins in there and we gotta go, NOW".... we again do a nifty spin and we where quickly off again in the opposite direction of the tent of death... At that point, I hopped off and led him to it, to show him it was fine... He soon discovered that no gremlins were there, popped it with his lips, bit still kept a weary eye on it incase the gremlins came back! He did the rest of our work under saddle without incident, but we did have to look at it everytime we went past. Just incase Mum. Juuuuust incase!
There's going to be a reining clinic held at the property shortly - I was thinking to myself after that; maybe we can go afterall!! hehe.
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Best I start working him more often (curse you day-job for getting in the way of my saddletime!) - he was huffing and puffing over what I'd consider a very minor workout.... It seems I own a very rare, heavily shedding winter coat, grey land whale ;o) .. he he
No pictures today :( But there's another session on the cards for him again tomorrow so I'll see if I can get some good ones.
Today, it was time to earn his keep, instead of just eating his way through my bank account...., so I also thought I may as well test out the new western saddle I bought (I always ride English) ... So, I am officially vertically challenged, it's been confirmed haha. Even on the highest stirrup holes, my feet were barely touching the bars of the stirrup.
He wasn't too sure about the whole western saddle thing. We set off - walk walk kick, walk walk hump.. I stopped to check everything was okay; not too tight, nothing dangling where it shouldn't be; no annoying flies etc etc .... But that was all he did, and were were then on our way without further incident ... I assume because he's so used to the English saddle, that the western one was feeling a wee bit strange. (Strange for me too - how the hell do westerns riders 'feel' what's happening under them?!)... Bit like riding a nice comfy armchair, hehe.
We went for a small meander down the road and back and then did some work in the arena, and some work in hand.... On our approach to the arena, I noticed the property owner had set up one of those fluro coloured kiddies play tents, and thought to myself "this'll be interesting".... About 25m away, the ears and head go up, and we start the snorts.... About 10m away, we stop dead. I ask him to move forward..... "Noooooo way mum. There are gremlins in that thar tent, and they are going to eat me" ... I asked him to move forward again, and at 8m, we stop, then do a very prompt pivot on the hindquarters and weeee arrrre outta there.... So we go back again, nice and slowly, at at 5m he says "You're not listening Mum!! There are gremlins in there and we gotta go, NOW".... we again do a nifty spin and we where quickly off again in the opposite direction of the tent of death... At that point, I hopped off and led him to it, to show him it was fine... He soon discovered that no gremlins were there, popped it with his lips, bit still kept a weary eye on it incase the gremlins came back! He did the rest of our work under saddle without incident, but we did have to look at it everytime we went past. Just incase Mum. Juuuuust incase!
There's going to be a reining clinic held at the property shortly - I was thinking to myself after that; maybe we can go afterall!! hehe.
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Best I start working him more often (curse you day-job for getting in the way of my saddletime!) - he was huffing and puffing over what I'd consider a very minor workout.... It seems I own a very rare, heavily shedding winter coat, grey land whale ;o) .. he he
No pictures today :( But there's another session on the cards for him again tomorrow so I'll see if I can get some good ones.
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