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.
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.
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