Practice makes perfect

K had a practice long-lining session with Sammie today before trying it with her own horse. What a little star he was. He just did all the stuff while I directed K. She kept calling him a 'poppet' and dear old Sammie just kept going, left, right and changing the rein in walk and trot for her. It was good to give her a feel of how it should be first.

Obviously her young man felt very different and if you accidentally started to walk a bit faster he would break into trot. That took me a bit by surprise the first time he did it! I told K just to do loads of walking with him first, getting him to stretch out his neck as it's naturally very high set and he can get a bit tense. When I held the reins really lightly with virtually no contact he did start to stretch out just a bit, so the more she does it, the more he'll learn that's what he needs to do. What a willing little soul though and perfectly charming with all the curiosity and surprise of a youngster.

K was delighted as it gives her something else to do with him as she eventually wants to do some dressage with him but she doesn't want to bore and dull him with schoolwork all the time. So if she can mix up the school work with long lining and hacking then that will be a lot better for him.

I have to say that I felt so proud of Sammie in the practice session. When I was watching him going calmly about his business with a stranger, it was clear to see how far he has come.

My legs are good in canter

....well, on the left rein - but at long last!!

The right rein is still a work in progress, but I'm just so delighted that I finally seem to have cracked that brick wall. RI said the canter has improved so much and she could see that I'd been working on it. She also thought that cantering on the long lines fairly regularly had helped a lot too. So yippee! I think I finally have a bit more feel in canter and now it's not just getting into it (which used to be so stressful for me). It's also achieving balance and impulsion within the canter and wait for it ....altering the pace in canter. As I said, this is mostly on the left rein at the moment, but we worked out today what was going wrong on the right so I have something to work on.

Sammie was a star as usual and really worked his socks off. We also worked on the walk a bit (not Sammie's best pace) and that really started to come together a bit better as well.

Then we worked on an imaginary square and at the corner I had to half halt, weight my inside seatbone, keep the reins low and do a very subtle sort of 'bobbing' movement with my hands side to side. The idea is to get Sammie to turn on his haunches, so his back feet make tiny steps but in the same place and his forehand comes round - turn on the haunches basically. Oh and you also have to bring your outside leg really forward to the girth - taking it back makes the bottom swing round rather than the forehand. We got a few tentative steps of it and Sammie was really trying to work it out.

We also worked on getting the bend better on the right rein (Sammie's worst rein and not helped by me) It means he has to stretch the muscles round the offside which he finds a bit more difficult but RI said we had a real improvement - something else to work on. I kept saying to RI how hard Sammie is trying and how giving he'd become. She agreed but reminded me that I'd also put in the work and if I hadn't or didn't, I wouldn't be getting this from him. I thought that was a really nice compliment and I guess she's right. But Sammie is giving it back in spade loads. The only reason he can't do something is because I haven't got the right idea in my head and once I get it right, he gives it up with great generosity of spirit.

He also tried a few voluntary Spanish Stamps at the end. I think he was trying to encourage RI to share one of her biscuits with him, which she did of course. He knows now that the white cooler bag contains all sorts of goodies!

Even K said what a lovely canter Sammie had when we were in the school the other day - I honestly never thought I would see that day!

Yesterday we went out with K and her young man (the four/five year old). Apparently at her old yard (a very miserable place by the sound of it) nobody would go out with her on him because he's so young. He was fantastic and K needs more experiences like that because she came off him earlier this year in quite a nasty fall, not his fault really, another horse bolted and he bucked and spun round.

Sammie was quite happy going out with his new pal.

Tomorrow I'm going to do some long lining with the young one and show K the ropes. I'm going to do a test run with Sammie first, get him going and let her get a feel of it and then we'll try with her boy. She's offered to muck out for me in return so I can't complain at that!

Poetry in motion

I was whizzed around the school by the orange monkey on speed today. He definitely had some energy to burn once we got going.

Once I put him into trot and then canter there was no stopping him - we just kept going and going and going. Not scary stuff, just powerful taking me forward kind of stuff. Mind you, with one of the canters I felt I was on some sort of crazy roundabout - not out of control, but just wondering when on earth he was going to be ready to stop! And when we were trotting he was really doing his gypsy cob power trot down the long side - I can't explain the feeling of that but it's something quite different.

He'd got himself pretty warm with all that stuff so we took a stroll around the school and then strolled back to the yard. He had to wait a bit for his supper though so he passed the time by warning the dogs away. He would never hurt them but I think it's a bit of a game for him and the dogs are very responsive!

Leapin' Sammie

We went for our hack today and we ended up riding to the pub. It was such a lovely, warm day we couldn't resist and I think the horses were glad of the break and a few crisps. Sammie shifted his bottom, but it was the longest hack he's been on for a while so he was quite a tired boy by the time he got home. Didn't stop him wolfing down his dinner though.

And guess what? Sammie jumped a log! Only a small one and he was following another horse but he did it - twice!

I just threw the reins at him and I can't say I was brilliantly balanced, but I didn't want to jab him in the mouth or bounce on his back. He got a big cheer for that!

If he hadn't taken me to it I wouldn't have done it. He had every opportunity to run out (especially the second time as he knew what we were up to) but he just kept going.

I know it's only a very small step, but the fact that he didn't seem to give it a second thought is a big step forward in my book.

Success!

No sedation, no fear, no panic, front shoes on, back feet inspected. All done in one of the most relaxed farrier sessions I've ever had - and I think Sammie would say the same.

I brought him round to the tea and coffee station as he seems pretty happy there. Farrier was happy because it was near the tea supplies. Sammie hardly threw a grump at all. First of all I told farrier I was just going to pick up his hinds as if I was picking them out and brushing them off and he could just come and stand by me and take a look. This worked and Sammie just stood there while we took a good look. Farrier said the frogs were excellent and I was doing a good job. I just need to keep on top of that flare on the right hind, but as he said, this is partly a conformational thing.

Then we moved onto the fronts and Sammie took it all in his stride while I gave him his pony nut treats all the time each leg was being held up. No problems at all, even when farrier pulled his legs forward to finish off. YM and interested onlooker were there as well so we all just chatted away and Sammie just stood there, very aware but not in a panic at all.

I could just feel all the tension leaving my body and that must have helped Sammie too. I'd planned it all out in my head - where and how and I just knew he was going to be alright.

We still don't know if we are going to have trouble further down the line, but we're doing the best job we can and I think Sammie is as relieved as I am about ridding ourselves of the hind shoeing trauma.

Unfortunately farrier had the day from hell today and was absolutely cream crackered, so he phoned and asked if he could come tomorrow. How could I say no to this man? He's never done it before and to be honest I'd just had such a lovely long-lining session with Sammie, it was great that he wasn't going to be wound up at all. So farrier is coming tomorrow around 5pm. Poor man, he still had another five horses to do and he really sounded quite worn out.

I long reined Sammie in the school and he was an absolute charmer. We can canter really well on the right rein now as well as long as I set everything up correctly. What a little star he was. Trotting along and then with just a small release and bringing the inside rein forward, off he'd go into canter. Then back to trot, up into canter. I realised today that I had been getting rather tense on the right rein (because I know it's not so good) so today I kept him on a large circle and just breathed out. Sammie had no problem with that at all.

So it was nice just to be able to take him back to the yard, give him his supper and then turn him out. His field mates immediately spotted something going on down the end of their field and wandered off at a speedy walk. Sammie stuck with me for his stretch exercises and when we were done he took off at canter to go and investigate.

I often wonder if he appreciates the different life he has now to the one he had when I first met him? Something must register somewhere mustn't it? Or are they truly 'in the moment' animals? They must have some sort of memory to remember pain, but that's a survival thing.

Hmmm....maybe going too deep here so I'll stop.

Rain, rain, go away!

Can somebody please turn the tap off? This is getting pretty miserable now. I don't mind changing weather, but after the lousy summer this really is getting a bit much.

Sammie DID NOT want to come out of his bedroom yesterday so I think it's starting to get to him too. I know they're horses, but I'm sure the strange weather has an affect on them as well - they don't know whether they should be growing a warmer coat or not.

I gave him the day off yesterday as by the time I got to him I would have got him wet if I'd exercised and then I wouldn't have been able to put his outdoor rug on until he dried out. Today I planned to ride earlier on; that's if he would agree to come out of his bedroom of course!

I took Sammie in the school, in the end. I am dogged by a nagging doubt at the very back of my mind: "Is this going to be the day?" I really do have to try and control it a bit more I think.

He was an absolute star. One of those days when we could have just trotted forever. Slow trot, fast trot a bit of canter, he did it all and only with one spook down the scary end (it was VERY scary down there today!). We did a good half hour but it was all work and although he still had petrol in his engine, I decided to stop as he'd been so good.

I had a bit of a go with his feet when we got back and again, he was as good as gold - still a bit more snatchy with the right than the left but then he's always been that way. I've got a sanding block now and I find that quite useful just to smooth of the little rough bits that crop up every now and again. He's still chipping a bit, particularly where the clips were but farrier said that would happen so we just have to go through it.

I think I'll just long rein him in the school tomorrow before the farrier. Nothing too strenuous, just something to get him moving. I don't intend to sedate him tomorrow either. He's ok with his fronts and we'll just play it by ear with the hinds although our farrier can usually tell what's going on underneath the foot by looking at the outside anyway. I just want him to check that we're doing as best as we can and any useful pointers that he can give me.

Here comes the rain again...

The orange gang are all rugged and it's only September! This is so depressing. We managed to hack out today in a rainless spell - quite a miracle really. In fact the sun was actually trying to come out, which seemed quite novel after the past few weeks of nothing but dull, grey skies. When we got back to the yard the rain started again and hasn't stopped since.

We went out with YM on Sammie's ginger girlfriend, and new girl. It was only for just over an hour but we picked up some speed on the good ground and Sammie flew up a hill and totally puffed himself out by the time we got to the top.

I long lined him yesterday so after the ride today I reckon I can afford to give him tomorrow off if the weather is as dire as it was today. We were saying that we'll probably change the day/night out rota sooner than we expected if it carries on like this. I was hoping we'd keep them out at night until mid/end October, but this weather is something else.

Pole dancing

We rode in the jumping field again on Sunday. Boy, Sammie certainly shifts his backside in there! Not in a napping type of way, but just getting on with his stuff. I think I prefer riding out there than in the school.

We even popped over a pole again and he even did a little jump - not a scared, panicky type of jump; quite a launch but not with any fear - well I didn't feel anything anyway. It did take me a bit by surprise but I just made sure I threw the reins at him so I didn't accidentally jab him in the mouth.

Monday was his day off and yesterday we managed to fit in some long lining in the school. I was expecting him to be a bit grouchy because YM said they had all come in shivering after their naked night out in that horrible driving rain and wind.

Apparently they couldn't get into their stables quick enough. They were soaked and YM had to remove the water with a sweat scraper before she could put their and Thermatex rugs on. After breakfast they just fell asleep with Sammie hitting the deck first.

Anyway for that reason I was not expecting him to be particularly lively but he was and he did some lovely cantering as well. We only did 20 minutes but he did work quite hard.

Farrier is due on Monday so it'll be interesting to see what he thinks of Sammie's feet. They are growing like crazy but I think I'm managing to keep on top of the hinds. They're still chipping a bit here and there but I don't think we'll be through to full strength until the whole hoof has grown out.