What to wear?!

It struck me over the summer that this winter was going to be a little tougher than I may be used to!

I started preparing, clothes wise, in early Fall. I bought some Mountain Horse winter rider pants, which are basically ski pants with a suede-y seat panel to stop you slipping around in the saddle. They are excellent, and I like them best with a pair of light thermal leggings underneath. I tried them with Skins leggings, but the two materials next to each other were very slippy, especially when cantering!!

For a trail ride at around 0f, I usually wear:
-ski socks or hiking/work socks under either my roping boots or, if it's colder, my long winter/country boots.

- my winter riders with thermal trousers AND thermal shorts underneath them! I have a great pair of Musto trousers and North Face shorts from a mountain equipment store (stolen from my skier boyfriend!)

my icebreaker merino thermal undershirt, topped with a t-shirt, a midweight fleece, a bodywarmer and then my big, thick Carhartt worker jacket if it's just cold, or my 14 year old Musto snug, if it's snowing. Seriously, snugs? Best.Jacket.Ever. My Mum bought me it when I was 11, telling me if anything happened to it, I wasn't getting another. Fair enough. At first, I revered it, wore it only for shows and extra cold days. Never to groom or muck out! Gradually, I wore it more often, until it became my go-to winter jacket. Over the years it has gained Stockholm tar stains, purple spray stains, stains I can't even tell what they are anymore. Its cuffs have frayed, I can no longer read the washing directions on it and I even took it skiing in Colorado once, stains and all! I see this has become a kind of tribute to my jacket, but seriously, I adore it!

back to the list!

I have a turtle style neck fleece that goes up to my eyes - I haven't yet found a balaclava that goes under my riding hat, but I'll keep looking - and I wear saddlecraft neoprene gloves that my Mum sent over from the UK, or my deerskin gloves from Jackson Hole that have a cowboy stamped on the back of them. I think I am extremely cool when I wear these.

When I was younger, I swore by woofwear neoprene gloves, but I'd go through a pair every winter as they'd wear through at the base of the fingers where the reins sat.

These items usually keep me warm for about an hour trail. My little fingers and toes sometimes start with a bit of cold ache, but nothing to whinge about.

last post of the year

I'm pretty sure!

I usually start with the weather - it's so relevant here! - so, today, we had the storm that was forecast for last night. It hit mid-morning and is still going strong. The paths to the fields were sheet ice, so the horses were negotiating that quite well, apart from Chelsea and Stormy who took the 'run and slide down as fast as you can' approach to the slope. Ah well.

Bond left today, to his new home in Quebec City.

I rode him Monday and he was good, stubborn but good. I realised that he was back to his old self in that I was stressing him out by asking him anything, physically, for his canter transition. I literally just had to sit there, hold him and say 'canter' and he eased into the most beautiful canter I've sat on in a while. Sure, he rushed at first, but he eased up. On Tuesday, he started by being very difficult as I'd put a different saddle on him and it was too tight, so I went and changed it straightaway. Came back and he was a different horse. I put him through his paces in front of the boss, and cliche or not, he gave me the nicest last ride. His gait was a little tense - he wants to get into that canter!! - but I did a lot of downward transitions to get his mind of the canter business, and one he'd settled and was focussing on his loops and serpentines nicely, I asked him in a corner with just my voice. His first goes on each rein were a little rushed, so I circled and half halted a fair bit to regulate the speed. I then gave him a time out, where we stand in the corner on a loose rein until he lets out a big sigh or cocks a leg. Then I put him into leg yield, which caused him no stress whatsoever, and then cantered again. I did the right rein and he was very, very good. Up in the bridle, not pulling, carrying himself, even 1,2,3 on a circle and the straight. I chanced a walk to canter, and he fluffed the first but was perfect on the second asking. It was probably my fault in the first instance! Then, I put him on the left rein, usually his worst and my OH MY! He settled himself into this showy, strong, mature, perfect canter. I went into hand gallop mode and took him down one long side one handed, then the other long side other one handed and he just kept going, strong and steady. I'm sure going to miss that boy's ability and brain!!

In Mae news, now she's had her trim I feel better about gaiting her, so I've been building that up over the last week as it's been too icy to go on trails. I'm also refreshing her on leg yield - just a couple of steps - and turn on the forehand - again, one or two steps - and today I cantered her briefly. She's just as easy as she was the first time round, very calm in her transitions, a little buck-y at times! So I'm hopeful that I can get her fit, slim (she needs to lose about 100lbs, although she does live out!!) and schooling at a good level. I don't see why she can't do everything Bond was doing. She's a lot more receptive to instruction and has a calmer head, even with the odd buck and squeal here and there. What fun :)

I'm mostly on 'holiday' over the next week so won't have much training stuff to write about, although I will be enjoying myself in Montreal, Jay, Burlington and Boston with my boyfriend who is visiting, so I will be keeping myself occupied!

must.blog.more!!

Erk, it's really getting cold here! -18c yesterday is the coldest I've ever experienced not in a ski resort! The three wooly girls, Amber, Mae and Gracie were fine, but Lilly, who hasn't grown as thick a coat was a bit shivery. Fortunately, the sun came out and was actually warm.

What I love about the cold (so far!) is that usually, the sun is out, the sky is a stunning azure blue and I find it hard to be down, even with my winter blues, when it's sunny. Working in an office in the UK with its grey, wet winters, or its snow that brings everything to a standstill was genuinely depressing. Today was grey and cold, but I was working with the horses, not having time to sit and think, so the crappy days go by quickly.

Baby Bond is leaving us on the 28th December to head to his new home. He's back in work with me for the last few weeks, consolidating what he knows, reinforcing the fact that when you ride with your legs hanging loosely by his side, that does not mean GO! I was going on starting a session with him with my legs off, walking patterns until he quit trying to gait, and then putting leg on, but that made it worse, so today I just got on him, legs straight on and got him to quit fussing all the way through 20 minutes, until I asked for a walk to canter transition. He thinks canter is just THE most exciting thing he can do and he wants to do it all the time, so keeping him relaxed and not breaking into it whenever he wants is quite a challenge!

I will miss his quirky horsenality, and his amazing, powerful way of going. His canter just has so much impulsion and power that he feels like a well schooled warmblood. But he's only 14.3! Cute boy.

Mae is still on trails, I really don't want to push her but after she's had her feet trimmed tomorrow, I think I will be ready to start doing more in the school with her.

The stallion is going well. he's 11, so very set in his ways, but he's doing some nice work, learning how to carry himself and bend and flex like a nice boy. He loves him a fight, but he settles nicely once he's had his say.

Now, some of the things outside of work I've been busy with include shipping gifts overseas to my Mum and a few select friends. I may also have purchased one or two things for myself...like when I saw the papercut art by Niamh of Hoofbeats for Heartbeats on the Jumping Percheron blog, I may well have thought 'Oh wow. I want one' and gone ahead and had one for myself and one for my Mum commissioned :) The finished Frankie is pictured below. I love it! The photo I wanted it cut from was awful quality, but it captures him so well. What a poser :) And it's on black and green, which were my cross country colours when we used to do hunter trials.

snow on snow!

Did I ever mention that I love my job?

Well, I do! Yes I train horses, but right now, I'm rehabbing two from long lamenesses, Mae, who I've talked about, and Amber. Mae I'm still cautious about working after her injury happened during schooling, so I do a small trail at the walk every day with her, and a little gait on a solid, flat surface.

Amber has shoulder stiffness and has been out of work since September. The vet recently came to do a check up and pronounced her fit to start longeing. There is still residual stiffness, but with trotting on the longe, that has improved considerably. I will start walk trails with her next week as well.

So if it happens to snow and make the trails stunningly beautiful, well, I just have to put up with it!

Mix and mingling...

It's a new experience for me to be working and training with other people who come from completely different equine backgrounds to me.

Right now we're in dicussions about Stormy, whether it's essential that she learns how to canter when she gets stressed so easily, or whether it's better to keep her gaiting. I personally think she should be able to canter under saddle, in case she does ever bolt or run in fear on a trail. If she can canter with all her legs in the right place, is that not safer than if the mere start of a canter freaks her out? Not sure right now.

One thing that is going well is my work with Tatoum. She did her first flying change today!! So cool! I've read a few books on the matter, since I've never 'started' a 12 year old horse in dressage, and whilst it only worked KXM, not HXF, I used a little bit of Jane Savoie's method in with my own, riding the diagonal, weight on the inside seatbone with an exaggerated bend into the lead you're already on, so KXM on the right lead, head bent to the right - I'm already working on shoulder in and walk trot half pass, so she's becoming a lot more supple - then when you're almost ready to turn, change the bend, shift your weight to the left seat bone and bump with the right leg behind the girth. And it worked, first time!! Yes! It didn't work the other way, but I've plenty to be getting on with! I made a big fuss of her and then cooled her out bareback. She's mega comfortable!

I practised patterns again with Chelsea today. Riding one handed is very alien to me, but she's super well trained and we were doing good turns on the haunches, forehand, side pass and leg yield. I just find it hard to keep her straight in those and usually go to two hands. I'm probably not asking with my leg in the right place.

mild times

I'm writing before my busy busy week begins. I'm going to have 5 horses a day to work with, 4 ridden, one on the longe, as well as turnouts, bringing in from far fields and general cleaning and barn chores. Normal life :)

I have Chelsea to ride western, practicing patterns and lateral movements for my FEQ Western rider qualification. I have Tatoum working on lateral movements and starting flying changes, Mae is coming back into work just walking with a few steps of gait, Bond is coming back into work before he leaves in the next month, Stormy is still working on her canter and accepting a bit without putting her tongue over it, although I'm not her main rider right now, I am working with her trainer on the ground. Amber is working through a shoulder injury and is longed every day for 20 minutes at walk and trot. Grace is entering her 6th month of pregnancy and is working on gentle fitness. So it's a full, varied schedule. Oh yes, and I ride the stallion and Dee Dee once or twice in the week if necessary.

We received good news today that we're going to exhibit at Quebec's version of Equine Affaire, Salon du Cheval, I think. We'll likely take 3 horses, ride one English, one Western and one bareback or general trail and do obstacles and such with that and all of them.

I've already ridden Tatoum bareback, although she isn't a rocky mountain, so when Mae is a little fitter, I am going to have a sit on her bareback and try her out with handy things like gate opening, and small mazes. She - and all of them - are already used to bridges and hopping over small obstacles.

I think the boss wants the horses to be versatile and tolerant of most things, so the next thing will be to do this with the already used-to-it horses, Mae, Grace and Dee the stallion, and then try it with Ella.

I did all this with Frankie when he was young and think it's best if horses can be ridden bareback, in a halter, whatever. I did it because I was a kid and it was useful to be able to ride and lead down to the field which was a good walk away!

Mae!

Mae has, since June!!, been lame to some degree. All told, I haven't ridden her that much. Her lameness has resulted from strained ligaments in one or both of her front fetlocks.

We tried box rest, a mix of box rest and quiet turnout and full turnout. She was sound for a brief time in September, but it didn't last.

Anyway, she was vetted on Wednesday as being sound and recommended to longe her gently at walk and trot for 15 minutes a day.

Mae is hilarious on the longe. When you send her away at first, she usually squeals and humps her back with what I presume is excitement. Sometimes she squeals and runs, pumping her legs and scrambling around the circle. Sometimes she waits until she's done her first walk and trot and then flips out on her second trot when I ask her to pick up speed.

Today, I longed her outdoors in the snowy manege. The ground was firm but not frozen. She squealed initially but seemed settled, until...her second trot on the left rein. She went to trot and then jumped off the ground on all four feet, struck out both her front legs, and went to put her head between her knees.

I shouted at her to get down - it's like having a ginormous salmon on the line! And she did, and was fine after that.

I find it hilarious. I know not to let her get away with it, and I always correct her behaviour, but it's so funny, listening to her noises and watching her play. She's one fun girl, and I've never bonded with a mare, but she's pretty cool.

Winter! This winter!

The girls coming up to be fed.
Look! Schneeeee! Or neige, as I should say, in my current French state. I think I took this picture on the 1st November, so my last post about how hot it was neglected to mention that we'd had our first snow! The photo ponies are, l to r: Mae, Gracie and Amber, clearly not feeling the pose at that time.

Today when I went out to do the morning check it was -8c, so we're getting there!

The water buckets were all deeply frozen this morning so I went out with my bales of hay and my hammer and fed the horses and smashed their ice. When I went back a couple of hours later, they had refrozen, but Chelsea had kicked through her ice, Ella was in the process of kicking through the ice in the bucket in the big field, and Lilly had created a hole just about the size of her muzzle and was biting and crunching on the ice around the edge of the bucket. She's very enterprising!

Clipping has begun and Dee Dee and Tatoum, the two hairiest hardworkers are fully clipped out. It's nice to work normally and not end up in a gross sweat! Tatoum is still enjoying hardcore trails and also lateral work. She's working very hard at flexions to the left and I'm beginning extended trot and simple canter lead changes.

I'm working a couple of times a week with Dee Dee now. She's a 3.5 year old Kentucky Saddle Horse but she is not ridden gaited. She has a nervous mouth and tends to tuck her nose into her chest so she is being ridden in a combination of a bit and a bitless at the same time, so the signals are lessened on each area and she can focus on different sensations. I'm also working with her on listening to seat aids, as this effectively negates the need to pull on her mouth at all. In an ideal world, our horses would respond to tiny aids that were invisible to anyone watching. The tensing of muscles or an exhale. She is doing well.

Also doing well is Ella, who is also doing hardcore trails, although we had a blip where twice on the same trail she flat out refused to walk over a small ditch, having to follow another horse. Today though, we cracked it - literally, in the case of the icy puddles! - and she went over without a hitch. Ella has a new sense of self, it seems, with her increasing fitness and strength in her back. Where she used to be sluggish and uninterested, she is now prancy and has purpose to her paces. Her canter has improved to the point where she only pops out behind if she loses focus and spooks, and I do lots of medium size circling and straight lines with her to build this up. I recently learned how to ask a trained horse for a spin - thanks, Chelsea! - and the other day, as Ella has learned how to show a few steps of pivot, where she crosses the front legs whilst pivoting on the back, I put the rein to her neck at the halt and squeezed with the same side leg. Sure enough, she instantly gave me a few steps of crossover! I was thrilled, as I've never 'formally' taught her to neck rein, although we have done a little of turn on the haunches, as well as turn on the forehand.

My plan for her is to keep things easy, whilst increasing her strength and fitness. She won't be 4 until August, and she already knows a great deal, so I think it important not to keep adding things on to this until she has matured more. Over the winter I will work on the difference between tolt and trot, perhaps introduce some poles and logs to hop over, and do as many trails as possible.

Stormy the crazy has recently been clipped and become a barn horse. She'd gone through a good period but had rapidly become impossible to catch without coralling all the horses in the field at once and weeding her out! After that incident, she went straight into a single paddock and instantly became a 'please catch me!' horse, when she realised food came from the human! Her training is going from strength to strength, although of course she still has her 100% crazy moments, like being scared of a hose running behind her, or forgetting what 'over' means and then panicking, or a chain clanking on metal or, well, whatever scares her that day. But she's getting there.

Also, the big mare herd is much happier without her! With her, there were two distinct groups, her buddies, a momma and 3 year old daughter, and the other 3 Rocky mares. Stormy and her momma buddy would pick on the 3 girls and the girls would pick on the 3 year old. Now Stormy's outta there, there's harmony. The momma is the boss, the 3 year old is tolerated by the others, and there are no snake-faced attacks at the hay feeder. Bliss.

Winter? What winter?!

So, it was 18.5c today. It was my day off so I was running errands, not riding, but still! It's winter! In Canada! The snow will be here soon enough I'm certain!

I'm sat watching the Royal Winter Fair World Cup Qualifier. Pretty interesting. They just had the retirement ceremony for Special Ed and the tribute to Hickstead, both of which were very moving. I didn't know much about Hickstead, but I was fortunate enough to watch the CN International this year at Spruce Meadows - only on the TV, mind - but seeing him win from last draw, needing a clear round showed me exactly what a star he was, and the way Eric Lamaze gave him all the credit highlighted a superb partnership. I grew up watching horses like Milton, Dollar Girl, Jus de Pomme, It's Otto, Goldfever (to this day I'm in awe of Ludger Beerbaum's lower leg!), Mon Santa in show jumping and Hickstead is obviously up there with all of them. Horses such as Ready Teddy, King William, Murphy Himself, Bounce in eventing, all big hearted, big character champions. I like that a lot in a horse. Reminds me of Frankie's attitude, if not his scope. But he's only 14.3!

In farm news, we now have a stallion, a black, Rocky Mountain stallion named Dee. He's been nicely trained and will cover mares from April 2012.

Bond the wonder horse progressed on to more intense canter work, so intense it nearly made him piaffe, but he did well. He's now taking a break to see if that helps him mellow out.

Stormy the scared is working hard with us, mainly the other girl, not me! She's ridden 5 times a week now and is learning to flex and go steady between the reins, as well as a little bit of lateral work.

Ella's canter is literally going from strength to strength and I've even tried a little trot - as opposed to a gait - with her, which she's managed easily.

Tatoum, the big Canadian, is working hard on her lateral movements, mainly shoulder in and leg yield at trot and canter, but I'm introducing haunches in and half pass.
Tatoum and I, forging the way.

We discovered new trails on adjoining land last week, so we bandaged the horses up, donned the trail saddles, pocketed the marker tape and off we went into the unknown! Boy, was it thrilling! It was wet, muddy, rocky, boggy, hilly, everything you could want. I took Tatoum and we led the way, crashing through undergrowth, splashing through endless mud, leaping over logs and ditches. She's a brill trail horse, sometimes needs a bit of encouragement to cross rushing water, but she's game.

Bond. James Bond.

Bond doing his utmost to show 'look, I am relaxed, honest. Even my ears are forwa...oh, wait.'

Meet Bond. Baby Bond, as he's known, although he's rising 5. Bond could be a movie star. He's very photogenic, always has his cute little ears pricked for the camera or if he thinks you have a treat. If you don't, he's quick to switch to his grumpy face, which is believable, but not becoming of such a pretty boy. He parks himself beautifully in cross ties or when he's stood in the field, and he has a beautiful blonde mane and tail. He's gorgeous.

He is also the first sale for the farm, and he'll be leaving us to go to Quebec City at the end of the year.

Bond arrived here in May, looking rather skeletal and just over 700lb, all bony and dull coated, massively long feet with ridiculously built up shoes that looked, well, homemade and homeshod. He was nervous. He was scared of sudden movements, flapping things, raised voices, just about anything.

We fed him and he got proper hay and grass for the first time in his life. The girl who breaks the babies here took him on as her project and did weeks of groundwork with him, teaching him to load, to tie, to go out on trails, to not be scared of flapping things. She re-backed him and found out what a bundle of nervous energy he really was. She alone rode him for 3 or so months, until, with interest in him from a potential buyer and a new baby on the block to start work, he was passed on to me.

My first ride with him didn't go so well. She watched and explained his many foibles and what and what not to do to really gee him up. It was important not to get into a fight with him. He became claustrophobic if you took up a contact with his mouth and would fling and hop around violently. He would also charge off if he so much as felt your leg on him, and this girl is GOOD. Calm and insistent, gentle and firm.

Yet, he was still a massive freakout waiting to happen. So, if he rushed, he circled until he calmed. Sometimes this was 2 or 3, 6 or 7 circles at the walk. He had the smoothest, yet fastest gait I'd sat on. Again, circles, because to pull on his mouth was to start a genuinely annoyed tantrum. I didn't canter him the first day, but when I did, sheez, he had one of those canters where you feel they're going to bolt every stride, and I wasn't allowed to pull!! Bigger circles this time... not crazy, just narrow.

We had a couple of calmer rides that week, and then it was over to me on my own. I was starting lessons with the reining and general young horse guru, and, as weeks passed, she and I both could see progress. He eased up on his canter. He needed fewer and then not even whole circles. His gait relaxed and collected. Until one Monday, I was schooling and working on nothing new, but I asked him to leg yield. Something he'd been doing for weeks. He'd grown to tolerate gentle leg pressure and understand a firmer contact. But not this time. He reared. Not high, but he reared.

FORtunately, the trainer was there, working on another horse so I called her over to ask what the heck I should do with this ultra-sensitive horse who was being extra sensitive. She told me to put him back on the wall and leg yield at an angle down the wall until he gave a few strides, then leave it. He tossed his pretty head, he jammed his tiny, cute little ears flat back on his head and he was frantically playing with his baby-friendly bit. This is his usual reaction to pressure, but it's still frustrating. Anyway, he gave me the steps and we quit soon after.

The people who've now bought him were coming to meet him two weeks after this so we stopped with the leg yield for that time. Now, we've started again, just on the wall, or a step or two at an unexpected time, but boy, ask once, and then I cut down the quarter line or from B to E and he tries to blast sideways. Then I ask him to straighten and he blasts the other way. His sensitivity annoys the hell out of me at this point, after so many months of patient work. He's improved in so many ways, but his first reaction is always to go 'WAAAAAAAHHH' and shoot off.

But...

I love riding him. He's got so much sass and go and he's so supple and round and gorgeous. We have to cool down at the whoa, because he doesn't do relaxed walk. He'll go on a long rein, sure, but it's always a power walk. It takes him a good few minutes to relax enough to not be stood all tense and waiting for the off. Maybe 10 minutes to get the big ol' 'ahhhh' sigh and cock a foot.

He's excellent on a trail. Even if he's spooked by something, he'll march on past it. You have to have a good seat though, because he's nimble as anything. I asked him to turn around on a trail and he spooked as he was turning and I completely lost his right shoulder. He'd be incredible at anything involving speed and agility, if you could just get him to trust your hands and feet.

If these people hadn't loved him and bought him, I'd have seriously considered it. He's a little powerhouse, and I'd love to try him over a jump or two, once his canter was ready.

Still, there'll be others!

middle of October.

Things are working ok.

I rode Stormy again today, this time on her own in the indoor, and she was good. A little more spooky and reactive than she was with two other horses being ridden in there, but still responsive to me. She has a habit of just stopping dead, for no apparent reason, but that's not the worst thing she can do, so we work through it.

Ella, the 'best' Rocky we have here is doing so well. Her back is quite weak - she's young and long backed - so she sometimes 'pops' her back legs in canter, so she becomes disunited and it's very uncomfortable, probably for her too. So, I don't canter her a lot when I ride her, I work on her tolt and circles, canter departures, but not actually cantering for more than a circle, a full go round the arena and maybe another circle. Until she can do this without breaking, I'm not going to push her, but still work her back in walk and tolt flexion circles and trails when they're passable.

Today I went exploring as it wasn't tooo wet and Ella did the creek crossing and walked past a big pop-up garage that was all white and crinkly. I then worked Chelsea, did some more, slower, spins and also went for a trail.

It's nice to be back in the rhythm.

I'm back!

So, things have changed since I've been away. Bond has been sold, although he's staying here for a little while longer until his new owner's barn is built. He's going well and different people are riding him, so he's getting used to leg on and is starting to work with more of a contact. Everything stresses him out, really, so it's repetition and staying calm on our part that's going to get the break through.

Chelsea, the palomino paint who is an accomplished but very lazy reining horse is being worked a mixture of English and Western, in the hope she'll be more attractive to buyers if she does both. She's pretty easygoing and responds to a snaffle and light contact no problem. She does just have the low head set, but I don't really want to change that if she's going to a beginner rider. She's been brilliantly trained so she does everything from very simple aids - I did my first ever spins on her this week - so much fun! like leg yield at all gaits, rein back, flying changes, all the stuff. It's pretty similar to English training but her way of going is much different and she's quite slow anyway, so I'm just asking her to move out a bit more at the trot and to stay relaxed.

There have also been changes in staff so now we have all but two horses in work, there's another girl here working with me and we're sharing the rides. While I was on holiday, she 'started' Stormy under saddle!! which is so awesome, after the crappy times I had on her - she could probably feel me being unsure but still, after three rides from this girl, Stormy needs leg to gait and produces relaxed snuffly sneezes as she's walking around, not snatching at the bit or freaking out. Unreal! She's also working pregnant Gracie, as she's a bit too fat and needs some gentle work outs to make her healthy enough for her baby.

I'm also riding Dee Dee, starting her after her 5 month break on very basic flatwork, Ella, who learns very quickly and will start showing next summer - she's like the poster child for the farm! And Tatoum, with whom I will do dressage with next summer. She's so big and chunky, but she's mega keen to learn and willing to try anything I ask of her. She does shoulder in and leg yield in w/t/c, Her transitions are improving - she's a little, um, forward - and my next aim is to get an extended trot out of her. She's ace.

terrible

I've been a terrible blogger. I have excuses, but it all comes down to me not being inspired to write when I'm finished my day's work.

I spent a weekend in Boston with an old school friend, then I went to Montreal for a weekend, then my boyfriend came to visit and the Canadian family went to HK, leaving me with sole charge of not only the 11 horses but their 5 year old son as well!! I spent the mornings working the horses, the afternoons sightseeing and the evenings amusing the child. Then my Mum came to visit and my boyfriend went home, repeat for another week, then the Canadians came home and my Mum and I got outta there for a holiday, which hasn't been relaxing, but has at least given me a few lie ins and chance to eat some delicious food, although I have had the most nagging and annoying cold for over 3 weeks now.

The last thing I wanted to do was sit and write about how horses were going!

Next Tuesday, I'm back to the day job. Tomorrow I'm going to buy some Sorel boots to continue my preparation for winter. When I was in Vermont I went to Tractor Supply and bought a real nice Carhartt jacket for around the barn, so I'm getting there...

from English to Western

I've always wanted to ride 'Western'. Have a go in the big saddles, have a pretty bridle with their intricate decoration, split reins, bits that look terrifyingly strong.

Having Frankie from just backed, meant he was mine to mold, effectively. I wanted to do everything with him, and even at 11, I knew I wanted him to be easy and uncomplicated to handle. I didn't know about Natural Horsemanship, but I knew I wanted a relationship with my horses.

I had it easy in many ways. His mouth was and still is, beautiful. He has amazing self carriage and paces. His attitude to work with humans is positive, as long as you let him think he's doing what he wants, but he rarely dissents. Once when he was 6 or 7, I was walking him down the lane of the farm we boarded at and he decided to let out a small buck. I smacked him with the crop. He bucked harder. I hit harder. He bucked harder. We did maybe 6 or 7 buck SMACK! BUCK! SMACK! until he huffed and gave in. We had other fights that winter. He was full of his own ideas about how fast to go and whether to listen to me, and I was pretty small! My mum rode him a lot at that point, not asking a lot of him and letting him mature a bit. When I did ride him, I tried to stick to fun stuff, like teaching him to neck rein - very easy - and starting new jumps and obstacles - he wasn't scared of anything.

In a book I have about Welsh Cobs, there is a picture of a jet black cob called Derwen Rosina's Last, wearing western tack and a red and blue blanket. He looks beautiful. From then on, about 10 years ago, my aim has been to one day, even if it's just for dress ups, to have him all kitted out - and me! In the chaps, the spurs, maybe even the Stetson - and to have a photo of that.

Western disciplines in the UK are few and far between. The reiners have their imported Quarter Horses and it's based mainly in the south of the country, way away from where we lived. And it wasn't the sport, it was to do it with Frankie.

One day, my Mum brought home a tiny, weird looking western saddle that I in no way fitted in, and a bosal with soft rope reins. I've ridden Frankie in many bits. Happy mouth snaffles, sweet iron bits, belgian gags, pelhams, a double bridle, whatever the fad is for the latest show bit, a hackamore and probably more. All he needs in the school is a snaffle, but cross country and for galloping, I prefer a gag for extra woah factor. But, I tried this bosal on him. And because he neck reins and listens to seat and legs, he was fine. Walk, trot, canter, circles, pirouettes. No problem, because a bit is not everything. look mum, no mouth!
Frankie's 'perfection' taught me so much about riding different horses and the expectations one can have for a relationship with a horse. I say he's bombproof, because I trust him any situation. Big trucks, cars, wild animals (well, sheep and cows), loud noises, I know him and I know his reactions and that's fine with me. To anyone else, him jumping into the middle of the road because a rabbit rustled the hedge is crazy. And it is. He's not scared of rabbits. He's not scared of trucks or other big vehicles either. But if he's in a prancy mood and there's a JCB coming towards him, sometimes, just sometimes, he'll snort extra loud and dance around by the side of the road so that the kindly farmer will stop his engine and say 'you got a young'un there love?' and I smile through my teeth and say 'No, he's an idiotic 18, I'm afraid'. And I'm sure he finds it hilarious, if horses can take any amusement from embarrassing their humans.

Then a tractor will pass and he'll not bat an eyelid. Git!

He is a joker and I love him for it. But him doing that with anyone else? I agree, that's pretty dangerous.

Where I'm going with this rambling of mine, is that now, in Canada, riding the Rockies, I always choose a western saddle. First of all, it fits them better, second of all, I harbour my secret cowgirl fantasies, and third of all, they're damn comfortable. I also take lessons with a top reining rider and trainer, who has opened my eyes to completely different methods of riding, training and introducing skills to young horses. All in all, I'm very lucky, and I'm scoping out all the tackstores for the perfect bridle, girth, blanket and other accessories for Frankie. I bought a saddle off of ebay for £80. It was a good start, I feel.

Breakthru!

Spelling in honour of Queen, my favourite band as it would have been Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday today.

So, the last couple of times I've longed Stormy, she's been much more relaxed and hasn't had a scaredy tantrum since I sat on her last Tuesday. I've been asking her for tolt, and even for a little canter on a very big circle, as I doubt she's done it much before.

Today, she was a dream. I loose-schooled her at walk and trot - she chose to trot, not gait - and a little at canter, but she is very unbalanced, then I brought her onto the longe, and when I asked, she would 'whoa' almost instantly, when I said 'steaadyy tro-ot' she relaxed from rushing. She kept an ear on me all the time but her demeanour was happy and she didn't once balk at the rope or me or anything. Good girl!!

Lilly had her first day of work with Annick, who is going to back her, soon, I would think. She was very happy with the way I have started her, which I was pleased with of course! And Lilly did me proud by staying calm and behaving exactly as well as she does when I've worked her. If anything, she's a bit lazy, wanting to quit at the trot and very prompt halts!

The deal with this is Annick takes over Lilly to get her backed and ridden away, and I start working with Bond, the sole gelding at the farm, who Annick has been working with since May. He was 713lb when he arrived and he's 893lb today, at 14.2hh. A very happy story. He is still a little crazy, he likes to rush in all gaits and I was the first person other than Annick to ride him in his new life. We did lots of circles and transitions and I'll be riding him with her for the week, before taking him on myself.

Finally, Mae is finished her 3 weeks + off tomorrow, her bute taper finishes today and she was sound last Thursday when I loose schooled her to check. She's been off work and hasn't gaited for probably over 6 weeks now, so I'm going to walk her for 20 mins, 4 times a week, on the hard driveway, so she's not slogging through sand. I'll do this for two weeks and see how she goes before trying any circles or gaiting.

Stormy the scared

Stormy arrived here in May with a horrible wound on her near hind leg that looked like a clean slice and flesh bulging out. Why her previous owners had not dealt with this at the time, I can only wonder. She was terrified of everything and everyone. She had no manners and would drag a handler around, even with a chain over her nose. She would fling you away with her head if you tried to touch her ears, freak out if you sprayed her with something or put anything in a bottle on her. She was also probably a 3 on the body index scale. All ribs, spine and hips.

Her leg needed at least two weeks of treatment and bandaging, which succeeded in reducing the swelling somewhat, but she still has a large lump and scar there.

We spent weeks working her from the ground, teaching her manners like how to lead politely, how to stop without having her face pulled off. We turned her out with other horses, but she bullied those lower than her and was bullied by those above her, so eventually she went out alone.

Daily we'd have to repeat the same lesson over and over, respect your handler, let us touch your ears, never using whips or ropes, just sharp, loud noises, and respect training methods like if she pulled back, backing her up fast.

She learned, slowly, and put weight on, gradually. Once she was a healthy weight, she was put in foal, but lost the fetus before the 60 day scan. I began longeing her 3 or 4 times a week. At first she wouldn't go, either way. I started circling work with her, swinging a rope at her quarters to get her to move away and then encouraging her to move her shoulders too. This terrified her for weeks, even once she had got the hang of going round in a circle each way. Raising a rope or a hand to rub her face would make her suck back and desperately try to get out of your reach. I was in turns frustrated, angered and saddened by her. I was never using violence and I never reprimanded her unfairly. Yet she wasn't learning. We spent weeks doing 'whoa' and 'walk on' and in each 30 minute session, she would have a number of tantrums where she appeared to not understand my requests and would react with fear. One session, she was working very nicely, whoa-ing with a voice command and a gentle tug on the rein, and then standing till asked to move on. I was just about to quit, when I asked for a last 'whoa' and she ignored me. I tugged harder and she still ignored. I yanked. She turned in, ears flicking, eyes rolling, trembling and as I walked towards her, gathering the rope, she took off backwards. I urged her on with the rope at her quarters, trying to get her to move forwards, through her fear of the rope, which hadn't touched her. She ran and ran, snorting and tense, so I let her. When she finally walked, I took her back to whoa and walk and after a couple of good ones, we stopped.

In the next few weeks, I alternated this work with walking her out on trails in hand, which she seemed to enjoy and didn't seem scared of much at all. Her panics lessened a little, although her first reaction when not understanding or doing as I ask is to turn in and tremble whilst waiting for the beating that has never come here.

Yesterday, I put a saddle on her. According to her past owners, and my boss, who had seen this horse fat, happy and well behaved in April in her previous home, She rode well and was a great trail horse. I longed her first and we had no tantrums. Valerie came to hold her while I mounted and she tensed as I got my foot in the stirrup. I got on and her ears went back. I talked a lot, I patted and scratched her neck but she remained uneasy. At walk, she pulled at the bit, she threw her neck side to side, she didn't walk in a straight line, she jogged, she tensed. I stayed as relaxed as possible with no leg or hand contact, just using my thighs and seat and voice to control her, an opening rein to turn. She was very fast and uneasy. She wanted to gait and rush. When I asked her to whoa, she danced and tried to trample Valerie who was holding her. She got her tongue over the bit so V went to get a ported shank bit, which is apparently what she used to be ridden in. I dismounted, not wanting to stay on without someone present, and as I swung my leg over the cantle, she spooked and started forward, throwing me backwards. I kicked out of the stirrup, but my right arm came down hard on the cantle, bruising instantly. Out of pain and annoyance, I immediately backed her up, fast, shouting a few choice words. She looked surprised, but soon quietened.

I tried again with the new bit which she mouthed at and didn't get her tongue over. We walked and whoa'd a number of times, but she felt like a rocket, about to explode if I asked the wrong thing. We halted as she was spooking at the split reins and as I was tying the ends in a knot, they hit the saddle with a thud. She leapt forward, waiting for something, dancing nervously. Eventually, we did two big circles with a number of halts without fuss, but she is mad. She does not trust, nor particularly even regard a rider that much, so I'm puzzling over where to go next. Whether to ride her inside, so there's a solid wall in case she does go crazy, whether to keep her outside where she's more comfortable. To longe her longer before I ride so she's less 'jiggly'. I rode a lot of spooky, untrained ponies as a kid for my trainer, but he was usually there to guide me. Now I have to think on my seat and out manoeuvre this beast. I have time, sure, but I allso need a plan!

horses, difficult horses.

So, Chelsea the pulling Paint went for it again. I took the dummy halter off and bam! she sucked back and tried to duck out of her halter. I yanked the chain and she only got a few strides back. I asked her to walk back to me and went again. Same reaction, she flew back and tried to shake the halter off of her head. No luck, I held firm.

Third go, she pulled less and didn't move her feet. Fourth, same. So, I took off both halters. She ran. I waved a handful of hay at her, she came back. Dumb horse. Thankfully! We went again. On, off. On, off, On, off...eventually, she stopped pulling. I took the last halter off, she stood for a quick pat, then turned a little slower than she had been away from me, and then took off. I suppose that's ok!

I'll write about Stormy tomorrow. I rode her! Sort of.

Quebec had some hurricane too!

Granted, it wasn't at the devastating level that it was further south, but we lost power and water for over 24 hours and had mega strong winds and rain that kept it very dark in the barn.

On Sunday morning, before it was due, we filled all the buckets, bins, boxes and bathtubs (b's!) with water as the stalls have automatic waterers. As we were doing this, the power was flickering on and off, and finally it went off at about 10.30am. The wind was getting stronger and it was raining, but we were rotating the horses in pairs on turnout in the indoor school every 3.5 hours, with hay and water. It seemed like we didn't stop mucking stalls, giving hay, moving horses all day. We finished at 9pm and I went straight to bed, watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy on my laptop and then crashed pretty soon after! zzzzz.

This morning, it was up at 6 to get the 3 overnighters out of the school. Fortunately the wind had dropped to a stiff breeze and the sun was coming out, so the smaller fields weren't too bad, just with some of the electric fence down and branches strewn about. We got Deedee and Chelsea down to the big field 5, and Chelsea, who sometimes does do this, decided to pull away before I 'd got the halter off and I couldn't hold her. She ran to the other side of this 3/4 acre field and we had to track her down - fortunately I wasn't alone! Valerie managed to catch her, and went to take it off, but she ran AGAIN. B!***. So, we caught her again...dumb horse! And that was it, she came in. Usually, if she's going to do this awful habit of hers, she pulls when the halter is all but off, which is annoying, but safer for her. She doesn't always do it, and sometimes she pulls and then stops, sometimes she pulls and runs and bucks. Today was unprecedented. I know she's been in for 21 of the last 24 hours, but come on! So, she sat in her stall and stewed while I thought about it. I decided to take her again to a smaller field, with a longe line, so if she pulled before it was off, I'd have much more slack to pull her back.

This time, she waited til it was off and went. Fast. It's so dangerous, because she bucks, kicks, doesn't give a damn if there's a human there. So, I was mighty angry now and chased her round a bit, but she enjoyed this and kicked and flung and snorted, so I calmed down, followed her round, watched by Annick on Bond, as they were on their cooling down walk on the lane. So, I had an audience of a horse trainer. Great! After about 10 minutes, I caught her and took her inside, grabbed my gloves and took her to the school where I longed her til she was dripping with sweat and blowing hard. Then I removed her halter and bingo, no reaction. Ha. Of course not. So I took her to the manege and took it off. No reaction. Annick came over to see how we were getting on and she said that I knew I'd better do the field as well, while I was at it. I did know, so after giving her 10 minutes to cool down, I caught her again and took her into the barn for an extra halter. I figured I'd have the longe line on a chain on her halter, then put the second one on to fool her into a reaction. If she pulled, I'd pull hard. So, with fear for my face and her hoof connecting with it, I headed to the same field, halter with chain over nose, longe attached to this, and dummy halter over the top.

I turned her to face the gate and gave the rope a tug to remind her what was what. I unclipped the first halter, and as it came over her ears, which is her cue to bolt, she pulled. I yanked HARD and she stayed put. Huh. So I put the dummy halter on again and off again. She stayed put. I went for the jackpot and took off her last halter, and she didn't move. She let me pat her and then she mooched off.

So, tomorrow's another day. She will have been worked pretty hard in the morning before she goes out, but I'm fairly sure she'll go for the pull and run again. I'll wear a helmet to turn her out and do the two halters thing. We shall see...

some progress, some regression

The vet came to look at Mae and did plenty of tests on her. She looked lame on both front legs. He couldn't give a definite diagnosis, but he believes it's ligaments in or around the fetlock and ankle. She's off for another 3 weeks on a tapered bute regime with a DMSO massage every day. Fingers crossed that will sort it out.

Maverik was ace in his competition. His new rider has only sat on him 8 times since she got him, what with his cracked skull and another problem where his leg blew up to twice its size! He won his level one and level 2 tests and then a huge storm hit and he didn't have the chance to do his Kur. He looked so calm and not at all spooky and the girl rides him beautifully with soft hands and patience! He wasn't at all excited to see either of us, which is a good thing, really! Hopefully I can go see him in his next few competitions as well. What a star. I felt like it could have been me winning the competitions as the tests were exactly the sort of thing I was working on with him. Counter canter loops, extension, collection, medium trot and canter. I had him ready and now they're reaping the benefits. I'm very proud.

Lilly is now longeing in walk and trot with the saddle on, very calmly. She's not expected to canter until she has been certified with the RMHA so my next step is going to be stirrups tied under her with a stirrup leather, and then I can start long lining properly. I tried a couple of weeks ago but she wasn't thrilled with the line around her legs, so I waited til she relaxed and then stopped, to try again once she's fine with stirrups. I am also taking her on mini trails with the bit and bridle on so she can mouth away at it - it's a happy mouth fulmer cheek snaffle - whilst sightseeing and just having me controlling her from the halter. I longed her with it on on Thursday, with the longe attached to the halter. She mouthed for a while but then settled and left it alone. Once she is long lining with the saddle on, to the halter, I will start showing her what the bit means and go from there.

Ella is doing well with her canter. We had a lesson last week where Lise had me ask for the upward transition with a gentle contact, then once the canter was established, hold the outside rein, push her into that with my inside leg and just use the inside rein for direction. To stop her losing her balance and changing behind, I rode her on a diamond shape, asking for tighter turns with a take and release. It seemed to work and she didn't change after the first canter.

Finally, Stormy. She lost her fetus, so no baby for her next year. Grace is the only one expecting, so that's given us a dilemma as to what to do with Stormy. She overreacts to just about everything. Her first issue was barging on the leadline, so she goes most places with a chain over her nose as despite all the work done with her, she still doesn't always feel like stopping when you stop. Next were here ears. She'd snort and fling her head violently if you so much as brushed over them with your hand. Now, she's a bit easier, as long as you telegraph explicitly what you're going to do and rub her face and neck plenty as well.

I started longeing her and she would just run. She didn't know woah; she didn't actually know how to longe, so I had to spend time showing her and correcting her everytime she switched back the other way and ran backwards, snorting and eyes rolling as I tried to get behind her quarters and drive her on. Now, she'll longe both ways, she understands woah but usually needs a tug on the line to actually stop. She still has moments of eye rolling panic, but these don't seem to be in any pattern. She freaked out at me swinging the line at her one day that I stood her up and gently slapped her all over with it to show that she wouldn't die if I did that. She trembles and snorts if it takes more than 2 tugs on the line to stop and I have to really pull. I longe her in a Myler snaffle with a copper roller and she seems to accept this, but I'm starting to wonder if she's still terrified, or if she's trying it on at times. In our last session, she went well to start with, just doing walk and woah - we haven't gotten to tolt yet -but then she started stressing and gaiting really fast, not responding to my woahs, only the really firm ones, which brought her to a direct halt and the aforementioned trembling and eye-rolling. Then, I'd go to ask her to 'walk on' which she knows fine when she's calm, and she'd just stare at me, so I'd wave the line at her quarters, and she'd fling her head up and explode into a sideways gait, skittering away from me like I was beating her. She alternated between fast gait and scared stop until I got her on a tiny circle and forced her to walk. I hit her once or twice - very gently! - when she was trying to keep facing me and I wanted her to move away. She kept positioning her body straight on so I couldn't get to her side, so I slapped her on the shoulder with the rope. She panicked, but only as much as when I circle the rope at her. Sigh. She's a puzzle.

still lame

Mae was looking good at walk and gait, so we put her in the big field for a rest without coming in and out of the field every day, which would have been nice, except DeeDee, Valerie's palomino 3 year old got mega excited and led them a merry gallop down the hill to the other side of the 6 acres and then all the way back. Mae started hopping after about 3 strides, so I swore quite loudly and went and caught her again - she's very sweet to be caught even after being a mentalhorse with the herd - and walked her back in. She's now in a small paddock, on her own, with limited grass as she's quite the fatty, and she's not inclined to move faster than a walk. We have no idea what's still dogging her after 3 weeks, but it's very frustrating. She's sound at walk and has a good range of movement, but is still a bit wobbly in her gait and at canter. Sigh.

Ella, the 3 year old Rocky I'm working with is coming along very nicely. She's just learning how to canter under saddle and we've had to work through the problem of her becoming disunited behind every few strides which is very hard to sit to for my lower back! I went back to longeing her at canter and just riding her at walk and gait for a few weeks, then she had a break at grass for a couple of weeks. Now she's back in work and her canter is mega improved, so we're building up more and more of that.

The work with Stormy and Lilly is going well. I've tried a bit and a saddle on Lilly, just very calm and matter-of-fact and she accepted both with little problem. Stormy is still determined to be terrified of me when I swing a rope near her, so we're doing de-sensitization stuff with her each time I work her but it's going to take a long time.

I'm also working the Canadian mare, who has had lameness problems. She's on adequan now and has recently had all her shoes put back on, after trying her barefoot didn't work. Basically, she's a different horse. She's VERY headstrong and is ridden by beginners fairly often, and she just takes the mickey constantly, but not in a way they realise or know how to deal with, so when it comes back to me riding her, she'll start off being a pig. Valerie and I ride her in a kimberwicke whereas they ride her in a loose ring snaffle and I think she's worked out the pattern now. Kimberwicke - concentrate, be a lovely horse, snaffle - anything goes. I've had plenty of fights with her in the past, she's so alpha it translates into being ridden, even, but this last week she's been a dream to ride, big, powerful trot, soft mouth, willing attitude. It's like having a new horse at the barn!

Later today we're going to watch Maverik in a dressage competition at his new home. Exciting!

This post, somewhat belatedly...follows 'rain rain rain' back in May.

2001, and foot and mouth hit the UK, closing everything down. I didn't ride all summer, the ponies had time off as we were not even allowed out of our gate with them due to the restrictions in place in the countryside. This was especially cruel as we had just bought Jack to start doing novice classes with, and all of a sudden we were house bound. The longest summer came and went and 2002 brought a complete show season. I was 15, sitting mock exams, had a new pony to bring out and off we went again to our show scheduling. Except, Frankie ripped a hole in his shoulder in February and needed a month off. A month! Of box rest! Argh. I was gutted for him. The wound was nasty, and I still to this day am not 100% sure how he did it. He is not a horse that enjoys a stabled lifestyle, so we spent plenty of time keeping him occupied. Our first show was in April and it was going to be touch and go to get him out and fit to complete an early warm up before the first qualifier. The vet relented and we started walking in hand in the 3^rd week, and I was on him at the end of the 4^th. We hacked out as much as school allowed me to and he was fit enough to jump one class by the show, in my judgement. We went, we completed, I don't even remember if we placed or much about it, just that he got round and we were good. Bloody relief. He had a scar and still does to this day, but he was happy and glad to be showing off to people again. We went to our next qualifier and he had an unlike him stop at a fence. He jumped it on the second go, and I must have put him at it wrong as Frankie has stopped at a fence maybe 3 times in 14 years with me, and the other two times were my fault. I was worried it was pain, but he jumped the rest ok and we went home with another qualification for the summer championships. There was then a break to our first HOYS qualifier at Northern Horse. Jack was also going to come for an outing in the novice ridden.

The main thing I remember about the day was nerves. Feeling like throwing up from 5am til whenever, not wanting to warm up because that meant the class would start soon, not being able to sit upright with the anxiety. Mum told me I shouldn't do the class if it was that bad. The only thing worse than feeling that bad was not doing the class, so I bucked up a little and warmed up. I still felt sick and jelly-like, but luckily Frankie thinks highly enough of himself to disregard pansy-ass, lily-livered teenagers who mope around on his back, and we were fine. I soon came to realise that it wasn't the fear of jumping that crippled me so. It was the fear of not winning. And not because anyone had the expectation we would. They didn't. Mum took me showing because Frankie and I were good, that's for sure, but she is the antithesis of a pushy parent. She wanted a good attitude from me far more than a good performance, although the two do often go hand in hand. So I couldn't tell her this shaming reason for my gut churning. I still can't rationalise it completely, but it was my yearning to be the best, to beat the odds, to be the 15 year old girl on the non-perfect looking pony who was so good to her and was so talented that beat the pros and the horses who went to HOYS and were placed every year. Frankie was that good, if not better, and I wanted to show that off every class. If we didn't go clear, we couldn't win and if we couldn't win, what was the point? What if we didn't get another chance? Ugh. It's why I eventually quit competing. That feeling was not worth it. Showing wasn't worth it. I was sick of being judged on my appearance and Frankie's blue eye. He was my perfect buddy and ride, and who were they to undermine that? I took it too personally, as you can see! So I quit.

But, there was one last twist in my showing career.

It's June 2002. Maybe May. We're in Wetherby. I feel very sick. There are some top notch horses and riders in this class, like, HOYS champions, people who qualify every year. I am drawn late. I have to watch. Grim. Mum ignores my moans and groans and chats to Frankie about my madness. Our friends who are in another class have come to watch. I cannot stuff up! I do the practice fence a few times, Frankie feels wonderful, as usual. What's the fuss about? I fiddle with my body protector. I hate wearing it to jump, but I'm not being that person who falls off and gets an injury that could have been prevented. I watch with little interest. What does it matter what everyone else does? If I go clear, I can win. If I don't, I can't. There are one or two clears, but not many. Before me is a horse who has won at HOYS the year before, a big chestnut stallion, he is ridden by a professional. Ugh. I hate them. I have finished my warm up and I always watch the person right before me to critique their ride to really focus on the course, the strides, the possible problems. For me, us, it's usually the littler fences that Frankie doesn't focus on, or maybe a plank that is more a rider psych out, or the max height spread. There are no huge bogey fences that I can recall, so I'm surprised (am I?) there haven't been many clears.

Anyway, the person before me is nearly finished so I go to move to the gate and then there is a gasp. The former HOYS winner has had a refusal at the second last!! a simple spread, heading back to the gate, and he's stopped! No way! I know it's awful, but my sick feeling lifts a little. He might do that. Frankie won't. So in we go. Salute the judges, pop into canter, confirm my lines and head to the first, which is very little. No probs. Same with two and three, also small. I don't remember the middle of the course, although I do have a breathless account written down somewhere at mum's. I do remember coming to that last line and seeing the flowers at the wings that some horses had spooked at and we just popped the second last, then the last, for a clear round! Aces. Salute the judges again, head out to lots of clapping and happy small fan club. Take off Frank's boots, make him nice and shiny for the flat half of the class, take a breath. Feel slightly happy, although now is also bad, because we are in the running to win the effing class, and I want that more than anything. If I'm called second, boy, that's gonna sting. I don't remember the ride much either, except it went well and we headed back to the line of maybe 6 horses. I was stood in 2^nd or 3^rd with the horse I thought would win to my left but I kept my face neutral whilst stealing glances at his horse. A horse which also did plaited workers and wasn't, in my opinion, a typey welsh cob, but many judges disagreed, clearly.

It was a class where the announcer called out the placings, by number, in order. Always heart lurching if there were people in the class whose numbers started the same as yours. Very cruel. Worse than not being pointed at to come forward by the arsey steward.

They called in the first number, 668. I looked at next-door-horse's number. 545. Nope. There was a smattering of applause. Oh! 668 was me! I asked Frankie to walk forward and when no one told me to go back to my place in the line, I allowed myself a small grin and my small fan club gave a few cheers. My grin grew larger as I was handed a rosette, and then the judge signed my qualification card – yessss! - and gave me an envelope with some token prize money, and I don't even remember who was 2^nd, 3^rd etc. I just remember thinking 'I'm 15, I've just qualified for HOYS on my fabulous, genuinely home produced pony. Life doesn't get better!' It was such an incredible feeling. Wish I could've bottled it for the future!

the magician

Mae had looked like she was recovering but on a trail past her field, we set her, Lilly and Bond off into a wild frenzy and she gaited then cantered and was limping within a couple of strides. Soo, she came in and went back on stall rest for the night and next day. I took her for a little walk and a bit of a graze in hand and then she was going to be seen by the magical osteopath. He's from France and studied in the UK and I've never seen someone have such a positive reaction on a horse just from touching them. For example he worked on Maverik when he had a sore back and Mav would never touch his salt lick, it was in his stall, pristine for months. As Steve worked on him, Mav searched out the salt lick and began chewing on it. He'd have a little go on it every day after that. Plus his back was much improved, as was the tightness under his chest.

Anyway, he got to work on Mae who wouldn't stop fussing, trying to roam around her stall, chew on me, curl round to watch him work. At a couple of points, she'd freeze and focus on what he was doing, but then go back to fussing. At one point, she stopped, put her ears back and let out an audible grunt on an exhale. Apparently her humerus had been out of whack and that moment it had gone back in. This was on the other side to which she'd been showing lameness as well. So, she's out with her best pal, Mommy-to-be Gracie, and tomorrow I'll try walking her out again and see what happens.

I had another two sessions each with Lilly and Stormy, working on the longe. Stormy is still terrified every time I ask her to move away with a rope and she throws herself out of the way like I'm about to beat the crap out of her, snorting and rolling her eyes. It's going to be a long road to get her to the point of realising no one here is going to beat her more than a quick smack to tell her to get out of the way or a brush with a rope if she hasn't responded to the visual.

Lilly is of a better mind set, only a little freaky, and so we moved on to walk and woah being quite regular, and even tried a little trot which startle d her at first when I asked, but she produced a few calm strides so I let her quit there and we went back to the barn. Lilly posing for a photo at sunset, showing her funky Grulla legs.

happy trails!

The day before we were due to set off to Brownsburg-Chatham, I was having a lesson on Mae when she suddenly would not strike off on a left canter. My trainer insisted I was doing something wrong, not giving with the rein, weight not evenly distributed but I knew something was wrong as the day before, and nearly every day, she will canter from the walk with a voice command and a leg squeeze, so I stood up for myself and Mae, said there must be something else, asked on the other rein, and she struck off, but was limping noticeably. So, I hopped off the poor mare and walked her back to the barn. It's her near shoulder and with hosing and reduced turn out, she's a lot more comfortable on it now. Today I took her for a walk in hand and we went past the yearling donkey up the street and she was suitably prancy about it. It meant, of course, that I couldn't take her for a two day trail, no matter how longingly I stared at her shoulder, willing it to be better!

So, I took Chelsea, the palomino Paint mare, who can be a real plug on a trail, or a real bitch. Either way, she's not spooky and she travels well, so she seemed pretty keen to go on the adventure, so I was happy for her and only a little sad for myself :(..!

It was about 2.5 hours north east of Magog, up to Montreal and then west towards Ottawa. We did about 40km the first day and about 20km on the second half day as rain was forecast - and duly arrived! - for the afternoon. Chelsea was a thug all the first day, always pulling on the reins, fussing when she was behind the other horses, trotting too fast with her head down at her knees.

Chelsea at our final rest stop after about 35km in 25+c heat. And she'd pulled my arms all day!

On the second day, she was calm, steadier and had a mouth as light as a feather. It was a huge relief. I guess she'd had a think overnight about which behaviour would be least tiring for her!

Back at the farm, all the horses had the weekend off and today I worked with Stormy, the scared Rocky, and Lilly, the baby Rocky, on longeing. Stormy was very scared of me asking her to go away from me and ran round in circles pretty unhappily for a while, until she worked out I wasn't beating her when I spun my rope at her. Each time she stopped she wanted to turn and face me with her eyes showing white and snorting. I got her to just stop without walking towards me, and gave her a forehead rub and gentle neck pats when she relaxed. She went both ways, if not happily, but she does seem confused about the whole point of longeing, and kept touching me with her nose when I went to pet her.

Lilly got it pretty quick and only had one freak out where she ran back the length of the line after something (nothing!) spooked her while she was walking round, and then it took a while to calm her snorting and panicky running, but she settled and we worked on woah and walk on, which were ok for the first time.

Plenty to work on with both of them now. I want to longe successfully and then move on to long lines, before either are saddled; Lilly for the first time ever, Stormy for the first time in her new, non-scary life.

I work Lilly with occasional treats as she is fairly submissive and doesn't become pushy or expectant. When she arrived she had no idea what a treat was, which was refreshing, so she does seem to take positive reinforcement from them. Stormy is a different matter and is always looking to be in charge and is very pushy for treats so she gets release from pressure and lots of hand to body contact as a reward.

Heatwave strikes

Similar to most of the rest of the US and southern Canada, we're in a heatwave right now. It's not awful, late 80s, early 90s mostly, but it gets hot early and I try and get my rides in by 10am.

Out of the three Rocky mares, one is definitely not pregnant, one definitely is, and one is pregnant but is probably losing it as the vet couldn't see a fetus on the ultrasound. Mae is the one who isn't, which is good for me as I can ride her again now. We didn't need the ultrasound as she came into really strong heat last week, but she got checked anyway. So, she's a little fat barrel right now, so I'm doing 2 or 3 trails a week, plus 2 or 3 school sessions with her. She needs suppling, fittening and her gait needs to become more regular, so I'm working on circles, beginning pivots and leg yield, as well as canter departures and keeping her soft in the poll. She's very round and curvy, so finds it easy to relax into a nice outline, even while gaiting, whereas some Rockies are very angular and find it hard. Amber, Valerie's trail horse, is back from the trainer's, so we're going on an overnight trail at the end of next week to the lower Laurentians to get the Rockies out and about and noticed!

Maverik left for his new home yesterday, to go and compete in dressage level one and two over the summer with two girls and their mum. His leaving wasn't without drama as despite wearing a poll guard, he reared up after he was loaded and smacked his head on the roof of the trailer, injuring his forehead. We called the vet to meet us at the new barn and it turned out he actually cracked his skull. Yikes. He was sedated, given stitches and plenty of antibiotics and hopefully he'll be ok from now on, but it was damn scary! Luckily the people were very nice about it and coped well!

Come on, Canada Post!

i still have not had the call from the computer shop saying that my new keyboard has been delivered so I have found a separate one which I have connected up. The Canada Post strike has affected deliveries with a huge backlog, but I've received all my backdated mail, so fingers crossed it will be soon!

The three mares are having their ultrasounds next week to see if we have any pregnancies.

I am starting more advanced groundwork with Lily the big grulla Rocky Mountain. She discovered a nasty habit of pulling back in cross ties so far that she overbalances and last week she fell. Fortunately the floor is non slip and soft, and the ties snapped, and she was actually very calm about falling (!) but it's getting to be a problem where she has also spooked when leading and despite pressure telling her to move on, she has run backwards. When not spooked, she responds to pressure fine and leads very well, so this lesson is going to have to be repeated until she gets it. She's a big girl, 14.3 at 2.5, and very stocky, so the next few months are vital.

Now, my verrry late TREC report:


The Sunday dawned a nice day, we set up obstacles on the Saturday. The course was:
a slalom of orange cones, just 4.
a corridor of two poles, 90cms apart to go through.
a gate, which was the lead rope on a clip between wings.
a maze, which was 90cms wide and kind of an s shape, so you rode in, turned left, walked forward, then turned right and rode out. The sides were raised and if you knocked them, in real TREC you`d get penalties.
a bridge of planks of wood
another corridor of poles to ride through then rein back.
low poles, which are meant to be 20cms taller than the horse you`re on, and there are 3, so it`s about 6 feet you have to ride for, under them. Mav was a complete pro and on our 2nd go, we trotted under and on our 3rd go, we cantered!
After this, there were cones set up about 100m apart to do the collected canter away from the horses and then the extended walk back to them.

We ran through it one by one, and I went first each time as the poles needed to be highest for me! Mav was fab. He freaked at the bridge first time, even though he`d seen it plenty of times last week, but was cantering over it by the end of the morning. We did three goes round, walk, trot and canter, and we smashed up the maze a bit, but I was riding it wrong, so we sorted that out at the end when we had a little practice, and he also cantered the cone slalom, doing nice counter canter. He`s so much better outside.

We then had a break for lunch and afterwards, we went to the manege to do a cavaletti and the immobility, where there is a circle drawn, you dismount there, walk out and your horse should stand. Everytime I practised this, inside and out, he was brill and didn`t move an inch. Today, he followed me like a dog. Typical! Then we had to remount from the right - I was allowed steps!! - and ride out of the manege, up and down the ditch there, and back round. I was allowed to do the bigger jump, because he tripped over the cavaletti, and I kept asking him to take a long stride and he was flying. All in all, it was a lovely day, he really surprised me with how cool he was with everything, and the French TREC guy who was training us was really impressed too. I`d love him to go to a fun home, not just someone who wants to do dressage. He`s so bored doing that. He`d be a great riding club horse in the UK, or a worker if he got plenty of outings, but there`s nothing like that here. He`s a warmblood, so he does dressage. Poor guy. There`s no local show scene or anything.

I`m just so pleased because everyone was so incredulous like `you want to do it on Maverik?!`and making jokes about him spooking and not being able to do anything, when he was an absolute trooper. and he likes to curl his neck round and chew on your feet while you`re waiting around. Or his reins. He is a character.

Last week I did a jumping session on him, now he's been declared good to go by the osteopath, and he did a 1.05m upright no problem. He's a star.

I spilled alcohol on my laptop...

consequently, it`s in the shop being fixed. I have written about how TREC went, but it`s on another computer. I will update when it`s back.

In other news, the 3 Rocky mares are in heat after their course of Regumate and hormone injections, and will be inseminated tonight! Exciting!

frustration

I have a lesson each week on one of the gaited horses with a top reining rider and trainer. I like her a lot. She`s kind to the horses, she`s nice, and the horses always come first. This is great, until you simply cannot work out a problem! I`m riding a 6 year old who has some training and is very kind and sweet with a lovely gait and movement, but she`s unfit and hasn`t been schooled for a while, so I`m learning right along with her, as this trainer`s methods are Western, and I`ve always ridden English. I`ve introduced young horses to flatwork before, sure. But not like this. My co-ordination is off. She`s asking me to approach the wall at 45 degrees, then ask the hip to move over with a leg bump, then block the shoulder with the hands halfway up the neck, then leg bump, then block, then bump. Whilst keeping momentum, on a horse that doesn`t quite get it, with me, who doesn`t get it a lot! I understand the principal, but I`m so darn frustrated, trying to forget everything I know so I can ride this different way with a horse who`s not on the ball either! The only positive I can take from today, apart from a couple of steps of leg yield, is that I didn`t take out my frustration on the mare. When I was younger, I`d have blamed her for it. If anything, I was maybe too nice, apart from when she was staring out of the window and resolutely ignoring my leg so I smacked her one with the crop. I`m going to ride her again tomorrow and try again, without the pressure of someone yelling instructions, however well-meaning! Then, the mare is going to be put in foal, hopefully, to try to increase the Rocky Mountain gene pool here in Quebec. Meanwhile, I`ll stick to lateral work with the dressage horse. After we`ve completed our TREC!

preparing for TREC!

So, in a bit of a twist, there is a mini TREC competition being held on Sunday. We had a theory day - In French! - this last Sunday and 8 or 9 of us will be trying out the three phases this week. Given that the stable mainly has youngsters and inexperienced rocky mountain horses in at the minute, my best option for this is Maverik! Spooky, freaky Maverik. Joy.

So, we`ve been practising obstacles and trails as much as possible. i.e. not much. We`ve put a bright blue tarp weighted down with poles in the indoor school, made a bridge out of planks, made a cone slalom, a little maze with pieces of wood, some small jumps and a couloir for rein back etc. Everyone`s pretty doubtful that Maverik will do the course, and maybe he won`t, certainly not without penalties, but he`s better than he was, and we`re going to give it a go. Another practice session tomorrow, and we`ve built a `gate`, which is a leadrope attached to a carabiner between two jump wings and added in a couple of other tasks. My main worry would be a ditch, I think. He gets a bit spooky and likes to dither before leaping like a frog over them. I grab mane and hope! The control of paces section will also be tougher than I anticipated. Lengthened, fast walk is ok, but collected canter will be tough outside. Tough for everyone though. I will update with any further progress!

riders of the storm

It's been mecha busy here. We now have 12 horses in residence, 7 Rocky Mountains, a littl'un, Maverik, the Canadian, the Paint and the Kentucky Saddle Horse. The Canadian and baby boy rocky are lame, Mav has a sore back, again, and the newbies are still settling in. We're short of horses to ride!

The Rockies are all from Kentucky and two are here to have foals, but at least one is not pregnant as she was showing signs of heat. 4 of them live out at night and the others are in. There is one grulla filly, which is a colour I had never previously seen in real life, so that's exciting and she is very sweet to boot. Weather is mainly humid and there have been storms in the region all day. I went out on the trails with Chelsea, the paint mare, and we got caught up in the beginning of a big ass storm! I hate storms! She was fine, but we were soaked through by the time we made it back, just as the heavens opened and I had to cool her off in the barn. She's steady to the point of laziness, but I was very glad for that today!

From reading the Fugly blog I came across the term 'following release' with regard to jumping. I have no idea what this meant, versus 'Crest release' So I looked it up, and found this:

http://glenshee.blogspot.com/2009/01/crest-release-and-how-it-has-ruined.html

Glenshee Equestrian Centre's extremely helpful blog about it! My immediate thought was 'well of course I do that.' So then I looked back through some photos. Sometimes I did that! A lot of the time I did crest release. Bad me. Poor ponies.
top photo is bad! very tight crest release, although otherwise, this is my favourite photo of us doing working hunter, apart from my awful lower leg position!
the bottom photo is us flying round a mid size xc competition and I'm much more relaxed and my legs are in an ok position. The jump is maybe 2'6" in both photos.

Having started small jumps with Mav here, I'm keen to jump properly after having not done it for a while. Once his back is better, I will pay plenty of attention to this detail!

rain rain rain rain rain

That's all it's doing right now. The horses are stuck in and I'm stuck with the resulting ever-filthy stalls! I last rode on Friday as Mav had a visit from the Osteopath, which has sorted out a vertabra(e)? In his lumbar region, as well as a rib that was mis-aligned. Poor guy. I'm looking forward to working him again and starting where we left off with the jumping. Problem is he's a complete freak to ride indoors and much better out, as am I, so it's not going to be possible to crack on too much. Easy stuff for the next couple of days, and then we can maybe take in a small trail when the rain stops. If it stops...So much flooding and fear of flooding in many places right now.

Today I bought two saddle blankets from amazon which I will use while I'm here, and I've found a seemingly good size western saddle on UK ebay, which I have bid for and if I win, that can go live at my mum's. There's already talk of me staying here for the full year of my visa, rather than just the summer, which is a big deal, but it would mean I'd get to see the foals when they're born in March, as well as experience living through a *real* winter! I'm pretty intimidated by that right now, I have to confess! This job is great, but what would make it perfect would be having Frankie here. I want to ride the trails with him, go visit the alpacas with him, do trec, all sorts. Meh.

I've rewritten a memory of competing from years ago that I had on my very old computer when I was younger. That's in much better detail, but this is the best I could do after a couple of glasses of wine and a stressful, wet day!

I was used to competing against adults and people who I now read about in Horse and Hound every week, every summer who ride professionally and have owners for a great deal of their horses. I wasn't so much impressed by the riders as by the horses. I knew all the qualifiers and who the judge's favourites were. I wasn't one of them. I was a 13 year old girl on a skinny but stylish horse who rarely faulted. Due to the rules of working hunter, we often had to win, or at least place.

Being a bit of an optimist and having such an honest, scopey horse, who through his breeding and paperwork was eligible to do these classes, I entered Horse of the Year Show qualifiers. We only did 4 or 5 shows a year due to money being tight and showing being expensive. We did a local qualifier in April to get our ticket to the BSPS champs, then the Northern Horse show, sadly no longer going, the NPS area 4 show at Harrogate, another local show to keep in tune, then the BSPS champs, where we did 3 or 4 classes over 3 days. It was always fun to stay away at a show and have the atmosphere of being at the large ground with all the classes running simultaneously.

So, I started affiliated showing in 1999, and we did two HOYS qualifiers, which I unfortunately remember little of, except one of them was that of the demon hedge and the 5 finishers in a class of 28. I was sat on Frankie, watching person after person fall or be eliminated, thinking 'This is a different class, and they sure as heck ain't it!' I knew Frankie would get round, but I wasn't naïve enough to think we'd win first out. We got placed something like 5^th and 4^th that year, but only 1^st qualifies! In 2000, we did the same thing, another 2 classes and the same demon course builder, who did all the HOYS courses in the north, Bob someone, I think. I hated him for scaring me, but I loved him for building tracks no one else was up to! One class had a bounce. Easy! For us anyway. The qualifiers were always big entries, 25+ and the courses 1m with spreads allowed up to 1m, so a fair size for rustic, solid looking obstacles. We were in exceeding 138cms classes, although there were rarely ponies much smaller than Frankie – people tended to get them measured in for under 138s. Grr. How I used to long to be able to pop round the small courses with no nerves! But it wasn't to be. Me, Frankie and all the 15.2hh cobs, a full hand higher than us, did these classes. There was us, some Connemaras and brave, too-tall for under 138 New Forests usually. In 2000, we again placed in both qualifiers, coming 2^nd and so darn close in the last one! We were then 2^nd in the Heritage finals at the championships, after being 3^rd in '99, and I thought 'hey, this ain't so tough' although I still felt sick with nerves and like a lump of jelly. Frankie deserves 95% of the credit for getting us round any course, I just did the steering and gave the occasional kick!

western trails

erk. Had sushi for tea with Sake - not really a fan - and have then chased this down with a Corona and a Caramilk, my first Canadian vice. The supermarkets here are awesome, a hybrid of the best bits of Europe and the States. Coles and Woolies in Aus remain my absolute faves, but Metro Plouffe will do for the summer. Canadians like savoury pie, and I do too. Result.

I have my day off tomorrow and I am very tempted to go to the tack store and pick up a couple of neon splash halters to send over to my mum for Frankie and Jack. They'd look so metrosexual and fun.

Went for two trail rides today. Schooled Maverik and then followed Tatoum, the Canadian mare, and Valerie for a mini trail up the rue and into the woods. We encountered water, which it took two of Tatoum's go throughs to get Mav to follow. He wasn't that spooky, although I had been warned he would be, and we even leapt - and I mean coiled like a spring and pinged! -over a ditch. All rounder!

I then went out on Chelsea, a 15hh palomino Paint, who is pure Western and rides in a massive shank bit but of course Western, you don't really use the mouth -or I didn't on the trail - and I enjoyed her spins a little and her comfy jog and lope as we loped across a meadow, Western film style, to the neighbour's homestead! fun.

Tomorrow, shopping might await. I'm definitely going to get me some pecan pie, and maybe another Ben and Jerry's special '1000000 flavors' carton.

Canadian spring!

Comes very late! It was already pretty green and warm when I left the UK nearly a month ago, but despite some warmth here, trees and bushes are only just getting round to budding and sprouting. Luckily nights are light and the sun is out fairly frequently, so it feels somewhat like summer.

I've managed to ride the big fella in the outdoor arena a couple of times now and he's much more relaxed than when indoors. I'd tend to judge it the other way round with most horses, but it's his preference. I rode a lot indoors when I was younger, fortunate to board at a competition yard, but after that, we were based somewhere with just an outdoor, so winters were long and rainy! After that we had an indoor again, then when we got our own place, it was back to a manege and cold, windy, wet after school sessions!

Anyway, he - the dressage horse I'm schooling 5 times a week - is up for sale pretty soon and is a good guy. I'm going to try him over fences when I get the chance as he's been keen over poles and has a nice, genial attitude. He's 17, but lightly used so I'm hopeful that someone - perhaps young - will take him on to do a bit of everything.

I also have a small pony to work in hand, a large Canadian mare to do groundwork and longeing with, and a couple of western/trail trained horses to ride lightly and longe.

Busy and new and exciting. I'm developing my equine cv at last.