Sleight of hip

I had my lesson in the morning and I was surprised when both RI and her trainee observed that Sammie actually looked a bit loser on the back end. Quite comforting that they could see a minor improvement rather than any problems at the moment. Time will tell.

RI understood that I had been taking it a bit easy with Sammie since the shoes had come off, so we spent some time revisiting subtle aids and getting his hocks to really lift up in trot. Then we worked some more on the paces within trot. This was followed by some sideways work with Sammie crossing his legs beautifully at one point.

Then we moved onto canter, again with subtle aids. By the end, just one gentle nudge with my inside leg and a slight lift of the hip, brought an immediate reaction and RI said you couldn't actually see me doing anything at all. One interesting thing she made me do was put my stirrups up a hole. She said as I hadn't been riding so much I didn't look comfortable. I thought I'd feel like a jockey but it actually felt so much better, helping my legs to stay more still and gluing my backside to the saddle in canter.

RI said that some days you can ride longer and some days you just can't, so there's no point struggling and getting into bad habits. Although you obviously shouldn't ride too short, her point of view is that once the legs and backside learn where they should be and what they should be doing, they will be able to do it at any length, but they have to learn first. So if on some days you feel you're struggling with longer stirrups, make yourself more comfortable and put them up a hole as you'll ride a lot better. Made perfect sense to me.

Sammie was a superstar, but I know and I can see where I keep confusing him and blocking him at times - poor boy. His cantering at the end was lovely on the left rein, but then RI upped the ante a bit more and said we needed to work on paces within the canter with a big smile on her face. Hmmm...now that was hard work! We worked on that for a wee bit by using core strength to slow it down. I used too much and Sammie came to a standstill, so at least I learnt something!

RI was explaining about asking for canter when the inside shoulder is moving forwards as this gets the horse to lead from their back end rather than their front end, so you get a much better canter.

I just love all this stuff about the subtle aids; nobody can see what you're doing but things happen. My RI is really into this, not only because it looks far better, but it also means that the horse is really listening and won't get deadened to constant requests. That's what had happened to Sammie before he was mine, and that's what we had to work through together. You have to be consistent when retraining, and while I'm certainly not consistent enough (yet), I do have Sammie going into canter from a nudge of my inside leg and a lift of my inside hip, so subtle that you can't even see what's happening. That is truly, truly amazing to me. I just wish we could have RI there with us more often. She really does have a great way of getting us to focus and learn and have some fun at the same time.

Struttin' Sammie

Sammie is still offering it up, strutting around the school and doing his big bouncy trot. I keep wondering where on earth this trot has come from. I can really feel his legs lifting and going forward with a distinctive side to side movement as well. It's difficult to explain, but it's a sensation of power more than anything.

I think it all started when our RI showed me how to open him up down the long side of the school after taking it slow and balanced round the corners. So I'm guessing that those back feet can't be sore otherwise he just wouldn't want to be doing that at all. We had one reasonable canter on the right rein (our worst side) so we called it a day after that. When Sammie has his working head on, he's a whole different horse.

Hard hooves, soft heart?

We haven't had any rain here today (yet) so I rode Sammie in the school and once again he gobsmacked me slightly. It was in the morning so he was a wee bit sleepy but once we got shifting he was lovely. He even did his slightly extended (or opened up) trot (the one that nearly bounces me out of the saddle) down the long side and he just felt so willing to do it.

Then I thought we'd try the canter and again, he did just as I asked - trot to canter for a few strides, back to trot, back to walk and then walk to canter. We did it a few times and he responded really well. I think I'm sitting to the canter a bit better as well. Probably because he is more 'up' when he goes into canter and we stop before I lose the plot! We were in there for about 45 minutes including warm up and stretching out at the end.

YM suggested we try taking him out for a very short (40 min) hack next week some time on the easy smooth tracks, just to see how he goes. If he looks or feels dodgy I can get off and walk and it will be good to have someone there to keep an eye on him as well. Farrier advised to just gradually build up the work and exposure to different surfaces during the first month, so that sounds like a good plan. I just put a wee bit of the hoof hardener today before turning him out as I don't want all this wet weather to mess with his feet - I'm probably being over protective, but I think I'm entitled to be

Ministry of Silly Walks

Sammie and I did some long lining today. We long lined down to the school via the lane and went back the same way to make up for the tarmac work we couldn't do yesterday unless we had both wanted to drown.

This Spanish Stamp thing is such a favourite that I only have to start it off and he just won't stop. But now he thinks it's good fun to just do it with one leg while he's still walking along even though I haven't asked for it. Talk about a silly walk! And he gets so annoyed when a treat doesn't come his way. I have to put him into trot to get it out of his head.

His hinds are still looking ok with all this wet weather and there's no ouchiness. He's still springing along in trot, so all is looking good three weeks in.

Ole!

Striding forward

Sammie did some long lining yesterday, so we went for a tarmac walk in hand today - making sure his head was out in front at all times. He really does worry when he's out there and keeps glancing back to make sure I'm still there. Poor lad, you can see it written all over his face, but he keeps going and that's the main thing.

I found my 2006 diary while I was sorting out a mound of paperwork the other day. I shouldn't have looked, but I couldn't help myself. He went barefoot on the hinds at the end of March 2006 and by July we had a right hind problem followed swiftly by the left hind kicking off again with that same horrible lump thing between the coronet and fetlock. So that's around three months after the shoes coming off, which is roughly as I remembered it.

However, he had been unlevel for about 2/3 months prior to that with only one shoe and a plate on the left hind (putting extra stress on the right hind I guess) so that might have been why the right hoof had a problem. Lord knows why the left hind kicked off again; maybe it was taking the shoe off, maybe the foot wasn't in good enough shape to cope. Aaargh! Who knows?

I keep trying to work it all out in my head, but it's pointless. Only time will tell and I have to just deal with the now. And for now he's looking fine, not pottery at all.

To trot or not?

I rode Sammie for the first time in nearly two weeks yesterday. I was intending just to give him a walk in the school and hop off straight away if I felt anything odd.

"Walk?", said Sammie. "No, you don't want to be doing that - let's just trot and trot and trot!" Even when I didn't ask, he wanted to trot. YM was in the school at the same time and said he looked just the same as usual - she said he looked lovely going round. So we did about half an hour in the end and whilst it's wonderful to feel that he's still ok, I'm well aware that it could be a different picture in 2 or 3 months' time. But I guess we just have to keep going, although I will be avoiding overly rough tracks etc for at least the next month. I'll just keep trying to condition him on tarmac and wee bits of rough stuff without me on his back.

Today we did some long lining and he was as good as gold. He even went out of the school the opposite way we normally go back up to the yard. He had a mild tantrum about me changing the route but it was a good way to do some tarmac work as well. So we turned right, went down the hill and back up the lane. It was all a bit scary for Sammie, but we coped.

I managed to do a bit of rasping as well, just as the farrier showed me, to tidy up around the nail holes, so they're not looking too bad any more.

YM said Sammie's feet looked a really good shape and like me, she wondered how on earth the farrier managed it. She said he's so quick that he must do it purely on instinct; she would suspect any other farrier of not doing a proper job judging by the speed, but the proof is in the pudding on the fronts and hinds. He must just have a very good and practised eye.

Hoof OCD?

It's now official - I have become obsessed with hooves again. I've been reading my Pete Ramey book all over again and I've been inspected the feet of other horses on the yard. Yikes - I don't like the look of some of 'em I can tell you.

I had a go at a wee bit of rasping today with Sammie. He was as good as gold but I just can't hold those heavy old legs up for too long. At least he accepted me doing it. In fact he couldn't have looked less bothered if he tried. I just took off some of the rough bits that the nail holes had left.

We did some long lining and H (with her two dogs) was riding in the school at the same time. I knew Sammie looked ok but just wanted to check, and she also said he was looking just fine in walk and trot. I watched him going over the gravelly bits today and there wasn't the slightest hesitation.

I know I'm obsessed, but it's also made me realise that even though the farrier could never do the complete job he wanted to do on Sammie's hinds, he's managed to get them in far better shape than the previous guy ever could, even with Sammie under vet sedation. That really is quite amazing.

Sammie has a new neighbour, a big and beautiful bay with a great sense of fun. He's come to us on holiday before, but now he's come back to stay. He was in a dressage institution before so I'm sure his life is going to improve dramatically now. Sammie kept squealing and then the new boy decided that all the rugs hanging between them had to be pulled off the rails for closer inspection, nearly giving poor Sammie a mild heart attack.