Passionate about Pinto

Wheeee!

2010-01-07T13:18:00.002+01:00

On Tuesday it was soooo cold, especially after i have been standing around for an hour watching a class. As I really want to improve Pintos fitness this year (I really must make an effort as he will be 16 in April) I thought I would just give him a quick whizz on the lunge.

Learned from everything I did on Monday and went with just his bridle with a bit clip and the lunge line. We were stuck at one end of the manege as there were some jumps left up from the class, but that was OK.

We started off really nicely, and Pinto is listening more and more to me now. He really must have thought "what is that mad woman doing now" as I was asking for walk/trot/walk transitions about every 4 strides *ebil mummy*

Ended the (very quick) session with canter transitions, just asking for the transition and then three strides then back to trot. Pinto was great.

Pinto had a rest last night (Wednesday), well at least from me.. Natalie usually rides on a Wed, so I gave the stables a miss... looking forward to a dressage lesson tonight.

So much for consistent exercise!

2010-01-07T13:17:00.000+01:00

Haven't ridden since NY (naughty me), but last night ( Mon 4th Jan) decided to brave the cold, but chickened out last minute - we don't currently have a heated changing area and it was -6C outside... so decided to lunge instead.

I haven't lunged Pinto for months - it is not my favourite thing to do, and it is always in the back of my mind that he'll bog off, which used to be such a bad habit of his.

Anyway, he certainly hadn't forgotten anything when we had done in the past, and went of as soft as you please. We did just a little walk and trot, and walk/trot transitions, switching from A to C (which kept me warm!). We did have a couple of whoopee moments, nad for the first time ever Pinto stopped as he reached the end of the line - so he got much praise for that.

We did have one hairy moment when I asked him for a canter and he pulled away from me, and I just had to let go of the line. I'm still very afraid of falling and breaking my wrist again, or having it wrenched about by a (too) heavy horse. Anyway, bonus is I was able to catch him immediately, and he settled within 30secs of me picking the line up (in the past it had taken up to 30 mins for him to stop jumping around after he has been "naughty" - so obviously he doesn't now expect me to beat him up for being "naughty" but it is more of an ingrained response, which, thankfully, is getting less and less).

So we then managed another canter depart, three strides and back to trot before we finished.

I'm still debating on whether to ride or free school tongiht. I'm a wuss when it comes to the cold, and it's looking like lows of around -10C tonight brr.

A new beginning in 2010

2010-01-07T13:16:00.000+01:00

Started the new year on a real positive note

After spending the night at my friends place I was feeling rather *ahem* delicate this morning, but I had promised I would ride this afternoon, so I did.

Pinto was going sooo well today, really nice and soft. Just playing around, we were walking on the inside track, and I had my hands quite high, but the reinds really long, then to ask for bend I would just vibrate my inside fingers. I must have looked a bit daft, but Pinto responded really well to the very light aids.

Moving on to trotting, his trot is eventually (after only 4 years!) becoming softer, and we are no longer pounding around the track. Moving onto the inside track we did some work again on transitions on the markers, first in rising and then in sitting trot. Sitting trot felt sooooooo goooood tonight.

Then we did 3 bars on the ground. Pinto was also playing nanny to Erica whose pony was being a bit of a spook monster so we did some follow-the-leader past the spooky corners, and we had some fun singing to keep breathing.

Then my most amazing success... I went over a 20cm x pole on Pinto It is the first time since I broke my wrist I have "jumped" with Pinto. Well I say "jumped", really it was just like a raised pole, and Pinto trotted over without a hitch in his stride, but it is such a huge deal for me (big wuss that I am!). In the end I went over twice on each hand then decided to call it a day while I was on a huge high.

Back track to Boxing Day 2009

2010-01-07T13:13:00.001+01:00

Had a really good ride on Boxing Day. I had promised my friends daughter Erica that she could ride Pinto for a bit. Erica is 9 and has been riding for about 3 years. Only this year has she graduated from the little ponys to the big ponys/small horses because she is getting so tall! Erica is a good little rider, but does suffer with confidence problems at times.

It was freezing cold outside so I started off very gently, just in walk asking Pinto for correct bend, then for counter bend down the long sides of the manege. For myself I concentrated on dropping the weight into my thighs and having soft calves and not drawing my heel up to give an aid. While I was doing this I was keeping an inside track as there was another rider in the manege. I don't mind sharing, but I do wish people would use common courtesy. e.g. I was using the inside track because I was working in walk (the faster paces have priority on the piste), but the other rider who was kicking her horse into a canter (*bangshead*) then seemed to have no control over direction and her horse was all over the place. Fortunately all the horses know each other well as they are out as a herd, and Pinto is very easy going and tends not to mind being cut up or being presented with a bum right under his nose - however *I* find it terribly frustrating.

Anyway, once Pinto was soft and listening to me we moved up into trot, and basically concentrated on the same things. I had really nice "listening ears" and Pinto himself felt very soft and springy, if a tad lazy. Once we were moving out nicely I concentrated on transitions, walk/trot/walk on the markers... at least that was my intention! Pinto had other ideas, and was jiggy-jiggy-jog-jog when asked from trot to walk. then we had him stargazing and yawing his head, silly boy. I was really proud of myself though, and not once did I pull on the reins, I just kept asking with my seat and voice and eventually he responded. At this point he got lots of praise and scritches. Then we repeat... and repeat... and repeat. Eventually we made a very nice transition from trot to walk with no jogging at which point we changed the rein and started the exercise again... and again... and again

Once we could go from trot to walk without jogging, I then started on walk/halt. Pinto does stop so nicely - for a milisecond, then he sidles, steps forward, swings his bum out etc *rolleyes* Eventually we managed a nice, immobile, halt for 3 seconds and I called it a day. He got lots of scritches.

Then Erica got on. I was riding in my dressage saddle as it has the narrowest twist of all my saddles, but she was still riding with her legs sticking out sideways a bit lol. Not so amazingly (to me anyway) Erica didn't look too small on Pinto, especially in the dressage saddle with a nice long leg (for some reason all the kids are taught to ride with their knees up in thier armpits). She was a bit nervous at first and her mum walked around with her for the first five minutes. Pinto loves little kids, and he really does look after them. He went off into a very nice soft trot when asked to, and stopped nicely when asked to. I was then a bit evil, and asked Erica if she wanted to do some bars on the ground. Although a bit hesitant at first, she agreed, and after walking over them at first, she was soon trottinig over them like a pro. Being even more evil I saked if she wanted to do a small jump, and made a 20cm x which is just about as low as you can go (and definitely *my* sized jump lol). Well I think Pinto lifted his legs a little higher, but to him it was no different than a bar on the ground. We eventually got up to a 80cm x, and Pinto had a little canter (yes, Pinto... a "little" canter!) after it, and Erica was beaming from ear to ear

I was so proud of Erica. On her last jump, Pinto started to canter a little before the jump which scared her a little, and then he continued after it, but she asked him to slow down nicely without pulling on the reins.

Pinto then showed himself up after Ericas mum got on, as he just flew the jump almost at a full gallop and Megan fell off. Pinto was then really antsy and was completely hyped, so we spent a long time just asking him to walk past the jump nice and calmly, before going back to bars on the ground, then asking him to walk over a raised pole and eventually trot over a small x pole. By this time Pinto was really quite warm, so we untacked him in the manege and put his cooler on, before walking back to his box.

I eventally left the yard with Pinto all tucked up, knee deep in hay

The last ride of 2009

2010-01-07T13:11:00.002+01:00

I didn't have a very good 2009 with one thing and another, so I'm just putting it behind me and looking forward to 2010.

Had a potter around in the manège. It was -4C and snowing heavily outside... I was pretty much frozen before I got on.

Pinto felt really well, and we were really striding along warming up. Once B and M joined us we concentrated on trot work, trying to instill calmness. Pinto is improving... he can now be all whizzy and silly without sticking his ears up my nose!

Then the YO brought the baby into the manege... Pintos eyes were on stalks! I don't think he has ever seen a baby before and he was practically bent in two trying to keep his eyes on her while we were moving around. At this time I was just asking Pinto to focus on me and what I was asking, rather than having *all* his attention on the baby pone.

We managed to calmly trot over the bar on the ground (achievement one for me - I haven't left the ground in a year, so I'm taking things slowly lol). Then the YO was able to lead the baby over the bar on the ground before taking her back to her box. She is going to be *big*! She is about 9 months old I think, and is already about 12/13hh! Her bum is about 4ins higher than her withers, bless her.

Once the baby was out of the manege B and M started jumping - I started practising my halts, or rather the immobility after a halt! Pinto will 9/10 stop nicely, but after half a second wiggle. We went from trot/walk/halt/walk/trot to trot/walk/halt/trot and finally trot/halt/trot. Direct transitions are a sure fire way of spicing things up, and after a couple halt/trot transitions I only have to ask very lightly and think *trot* and Pinto is leaping off like a springbok lol. I almost fell off the back of the saddle a time or two... probably not technically correct, but very enthusiastic transitions lol.

Of course once the jump went up to 90cm Pinto thought that was much more interesting than trotting and standing. He completely got his whizzy head on again, and I was left pinging around like an idiot... still we managed to avoid the jumping lane - though I did manage to suprise C who thought I was going to go for it... 90cm in a dressage saddle... roflmao! My next "jump" is going to be a raised pole!

At the end of the session I was really pleased with Pinto. Our direct transitions were really coming on, and he was staying soft and round most of the time, with only a teeny bit of yawning and champing occasionally.

By the time we came out of the manege we had 4ins of snow, which was very pretty, and meant that the temps had come up a bit which made life a little more comfortable!

Yet more great work from Pinto last night :)

2009-04-16T12:37:00.003+02:00

I spent an hour de-fluffing him and there is still loads to come out. Poor boy stands in his box sweating atm because it is so warm. Thankfully his summer coat is a nice bright white, and i may just have enough time to get rid of all the nasty yellow winter hair in time for the completition on 08 May. I don't know what I'm going to do with his mane and tail though! Talking of manes...

What do you think? Not too bad for my first attempt at pulling a full mane? Becky wants a trellis plait for the competition, (that's going to be fun on the Thursday night!) but afterwards I'll take it a little shorter so that it is all one length - then I can let it grow out again :nod:

Anyway, back to the riding... I dusted off my Fhoenix, and although Pinto was horrified to see a saddle two days in a row he stood nicely while I girthed up. I'm not sure though whether it's too far back - but that is where it "sits" - what do you think?

Again I'm always amazed at how well Pinto moves out in this saddle, but I find it such a faff to put on. It has to be absolutely straight when I girth up, and I have to do the girth up one hole at a time alternating sides else it sits crooked. I also have to do the girth up a lot tighter than I really like else it slips. To top it all off, it never stays in place once in on either. It always creeps over to one side as I'm riding as well. It usually takes about 1/2 an hour, but once it is crooked, I have to completely ungirth and start again - like I said I find it a faff!

Surprisingly though, for all it has been a long time since I rode in my Fhoenix it didn't take that long to get used to the set back bars, and I only had a few minutes of OMG no balance when trotting. The main problem I had was that I just couldn't get my whole leg on Pinto, I felt my ankle was dangling in mid air - however once my hips had stretched a bit ( :-/ ) I could manage a bit better.

I tried something completely different tonight. I made up my own walk/trot dressage test and rode it like I was at a competition... Cor Pinto was a bit sparky! It was almost as if he knew exactly what I was doing. it was good for me to, and gave me something to focus on, and made me more aware of my placement within the manège. "Having" to make transitions on the markers was good discipline for both of us. It made me much more aware of preparing for the transition - as daft as that sounds!

I did eventually get more control over my legs as the time went on and I felt Pinto worked really well. He was lower with his head carriage (and considering this is only the third time I havent used an elastique for months something of an achievement) and felt like he was reaching for the contact. Now I'm a bit more sure of myself, and hopefully Pinto is feeling better, I'll have to start asking for more definite curvation rather than just a hint.

We only worked for 20 mins, but it felt like a great 20mins so we stopped on a good note - fortunately for the dog obedience/agility club - who I had forgotten use the manege on a Wed night lol

Very pleased with my gorgeous man :)

2009-04-15T10:26:00.002+02:00

Pinto had a quiet weekend as I was busy in my garden, so last night I decided that it was time to do a little bit of work.

Luckily the 7:30 group went out on ballade so I could use the manège, I had planned on having lots of great photos, but unfortunately my camera battery died during the warm up. Possibly it was for the best as we were struggling with losing the light and the photos I did get are really grainy.

It didn't take Pinto long to settle, and the only thing which marred my evening (and how selfish is this...?) is that one other person was in the manège practicing for a dressage test so I had to keep one eye on her and her direction and I wasn't able to concentrate 100% on Pinto.

Anyway we did a bit of work on direct transitions, and halt/trot/halt is getting so much better, with real jump into the up transition and very little walking in the down transition. We still have to do a lot of work containing the energy though, and asking for halt from trot does not result in immobility (at the moment!) but quite a lot of sidling and stepping. I am quick to praise even a second to complete still ness and I'm sure it wont be long before we can stand still for as long as I want! At the other end of the scale, we positively bounce back into trot from halt which is great, but there is then the propensity to rush off rather than containing the energy for a true working trot.

I played around with a lot of school figures and tried some serpentines for the first time in aaaaaaaaages. I really need to get my eye in on the markers again though as my three loop seprentine was a bit squished at on end and fairly wide at the other. Pinto managed very will though with two half 10m circles B-E, though i was getting an awful lot of strange looks from the other rider, as it is not something that is done very often(!)

My highlight of the evening though was when I asked Pinto to take the rein down in a stretch, and he did, even maintaining a contact on a fairly long rein... I was so pleased, that I stopped there.

It was a great 30 to 40 mins, and I can't wait to repeat it :)

09 April 2009

2009-04-14T11:22:00.003+02:00

Well Pinto's rest didn't really happen. On the spur of the moment I joined my old class since there was a space in the lesson. I'd had prior knowledge that it would be "travail sur la plat" plus a little surprise, so I wasn't too concerned.

After the previous day Pinto felt a bit tired, but amazingly worked for me so much better and with more consistency than I've had for a long time. Though I've finally discovered the secret to "tête en place" - a full fly fringe - lol!

His trot was springy and consistent, we had good control over the pace, I could ask for a faster pace then bring it back without any problems. The only real hint that I had that he was tired was that he leaned on the rein occasionally, and he wanted to stretch more than usual, but that was the only hint.

The little surprise at the end of the lesson was to walk up to the cross and being able to have a walk about, practicing walking up and down hill. It was a comepletely different experience to the last time I was up there (but that was almost three years ago now!) this time I had no issues with the downhill bits, and I though the uphill bits were very inviting for a canter - Pinto did too, and I had to remind him frequently that we were only walking!

At the end of it I was really pleased that I joined the lesson, as both i and Pinto had a great time.

08 April 2009

2009-04-14T11:18:00.002+02:00

Woo hoo, holiday at last. No more work until next Tuesday. I bet poor Pinto was wishing the same thing...

Becky is home from school for her Easter holiday and took Pinto on three ballades today as an 'accompanying rider' Fortunately two of the groups were ponies so it wasn't too frantic, but when he got back after the second ride he was lathered. He then had an hours rest and was out again with the G6/7 group and had a whale of a time apparrantly!

He can have a rest tomorrow...

07 April 2009

2009-04-14T11:08:00.002+02:00

Was really pleased with Pinto yesterday.

I had planned on riding but since I didn't get to the yard until late (and of course since I was running late Pinto had decided to lay iin all the poo he could find!) I decided to lunge instead.

Now lunging has always been a bit of a tricky subject with Pinto, as he has had this awful habit in the past of bogging off when asked to canter, and I've tried lunging with a cavesson, with a bridle, off the bit, and i actually had the most success with a rope halter. Anyway, since we were only meant to be doing gentle exercise I decided to try him in just his headcollar and tried to banish all thoughts of bad things.

He was a really good boy and remembered all of the cues, despite not being lunged for aver a year. To keep things calm and collected i worked a lot on transitions, making sure he was making trot/walk/trot transitions at least 3 times on every circle, so really only having 2 or three strides of each before another transition. he took to it really well, and on the whole, his transitions were really nice and snappy.

We only worked for about 15 mins before stopping and doing some "manners" work, i.e. leading properly, stopping when I stop, backing up when asked. And we also did some work on "stay" at the end of the lead rope and not moving until I invite him closer.

We had such a great time.

Isn't it funny...

2009-04-06T21:55:00.000+02:00

You can deal with all kinds of weird and wonderful things when you are concentrating on other things!

I took Pinto out for a "gentle" hack on Saturday as part of his osteo rehab and was meant to include "gentle and controlled trotting" Well we managed to start off gentle and controlled, then as soon as it degenerated I asked for walk, which lead to much bouncing, trying to escape left and right. - and I just sat there and ignored it all Even a year ago I would have been wibbling and thinking about getting off. Even more amazing is that I've hardly ridden at all for ages and this was my first hack since Jan or beginning of Feb.

One thing is for certain... with the right training Pinto would have a FANTASITC piaffe and passage lol

06 April 2009

2009-04-06T21:54:00.002+02:00

What a fantastic weekend!

Spring has finally sprung in the Alsace, and both Saturday and Sunday the temps were hitting 20C. I was in the garden by 9:30am on Saturday and worked hard for 3 hours creating a proper flower bed before retiring for lunch and changing for the stables.

For the first time in ages I was able to tie Pinto up outside to give him a really good groom. Poor soul still has most of his winter coat, and was sweating just standing still. I was able to have a really good look at his feet too, after the farrier trimmed them on Wednesday. Once again all hint of his bars have been removed, but apart from that I am really pleased with how his feet are looking atm. The outer wall is a good 3-4mm all the way round even at the heels (and this is something we've struggled with a lot), and near the toe gets to almost 6mm. His frogs are also looking great, and for the first time has come out of winter with minimal ickyness and no cracks or impossibly deep central sulci.

After much thought, and not without regret I decided that I would have to shorten his mane. His forelock is very short, now that it's been pulled into some sort of shape, and his tail is almost show-cob length, so he looked daft with a long mane. I just started slowly, and over the course of an hour I shortened his mane by about 4 inches, then I left it and will finish the rest today hopefully (photos are promised when he's all done!) Honestly I didn't think I was taking that much off, a couple of hairs at a time, but when I came to sweep up, it looked like I had lopped someones tail off!

Pinto was still on rest on Saturday, so we went for a walk in hand. Usually we would normally just potter around the village, but instead we followed a short hack, which would normally take us about 25-30mins to do. Saturday it took us just on an hour with 2 stops to munch the grass. I really felt it on the evening as my riding boots really aren't meant for walking!

When we got back I decided to scrub Pintos knees. He has a competition on 08 May, if everything goes well, and I really need to start washing his white bits now to have any hope of him not looking disgusting. lol

On Sunday I went to the yard mid afternoon, in order to avoid the hoards of teenagers which congregate late morning. After Saturday Pinto only needed a quick brush over before I could tack up and off we went for a walk.

I think we'll have to build up the "lots of controlled trotting" as prescirbed by the osteo. Controlled and Trot just don't go together with Pinto when we're out hacking, so we did a few strides here and a few strides there and I ignored the bouncing and jogging after each transition down to "walk." His back certainly feels much more free now, and I could really feel the difference up and down the hills, his hips dipping and rolling with each stride.

After we got back we went around to the orchard to eat grass while he cooled down and dried off.

So... a wonderful weekend

03 April 2009

2009-04-06T21:54:00.001+02:00

The osteopath came back out on Thursday

After walking and trotting him up and having a short feel down his back he asked if Pinto received many sugary treats... his spleen is inflamed due to too much sugar, so no treats apart from carrots or bread.

He also had 3 blocked vertebrae in the same place as the last manipulation. The osteo did a whole load of new releases, but said that it will take time for the musculature to adapt and until this happens Pinto will need regular treatment to stop the vertebrae from popping back again. So my "homework" is lots and lots of slow controlled trotting outside to help strengthen the correct muscles and to avoid cantering for the time being, until the muscles have strengthened a bit.

I'm pleased it wasn't anything too bad, and my lovely osteo didn't charge for the follow-up visit.

I decided to make a notice to put on Pintos door to say that he is poorly and not to feed him anything at all, thank you very much! We have bunches of kids come to the riding school and it can't be guaranteed that they will feed just carrots or bread if I said just carrots or bread, so for poor old Pinto it's nothing at all

I also decided to create an exercise journal for Pinto so that I can keep a track of exactly how much work he is doing, and what kind of work he is doing. It can also be somewhere my sharer can make a note if anything untoward happens.

30 Mar 2009

2009-04-06T21:53:00.000+02:00

So after the great lesson on Thursday, I was really looking forward to a lesson from a visiting friend on Saturday but...

For only the 2nd time in 4 years (and the first time was a field injury which needed no treatment) my pony is broken

I was really looking forward to having a lesson from a visiting friend on Saturday evening, but had to call it a day after about 10 minutes as Pinto was Not Quite Right.

It was probably highlighted as after warming up we worked on spiralling in from a 20m circle and he was very resistant any smaller than about 13m.

I got off and my friend got on, and it was immediately apparant that he was very stiff through his left hip, which he kept dropping, and was coming up about 10cm shorter on his left hind than his right. he wasn't lame, or gimping in any way, but he was definitely Not Quite Right.

On Sunday we walked out of his box extremely stiff, but we did some liberty work in the manege and after a few minutes he loosened up some. This time he was worse on his right side

Theories abound as to whats happened...

1) he tweaked something on Friday when he was with my sharer.
2) he's tweaked something in the box
3) last weeks osteo treatment has left him sore due to using himself in a new way after the manipulation
4) he is suddenly feeling his age (he is 15 this year)

Anyway the osteo is coming back out on Thursday for a follow-up, and I've asked my sharer not to ride Pinto, just either to walk him out or to gently loose school.

If all else fails the vet is coming in 2 weeks for follow-up vaccinations, and I'll ask for a longer appointment to do a lameness work-up.

27 Mar 2009

2009-04-06T21:51:00.000+02:00

Perhaps not riding for weeks at a time ( ) improves my riding

I had a really good lesson last night, which was a real "on the spur of the moment" thing; and while I am really pleased I had the lesson, it really confirmed that I just can't be doing with group lessons any more - not unless Certain People actually respect the rest of the class and do the exercises correctly - more on that later...

Firstly, the whole lesson was geared to improving the canter transition, so we did a lot of work on voltes to get the hing legs stepping under and through properly, first in rising and then in sitting trot.

Pinto was great, he was much less fussy with his mouth since he's had his teeth done (which makes me feel even more guilty!), and we were even having some signs of bending - even though I was using baby-style open and leading reins. Also since his treatment by the osteopath, he wasnt constantly bending to the outside. The osteo certainly did something (this was Pintos first ridden exercise since his manipulation), as at the beginning of the trotting exercse Pinto spent a good 5 minutes blowing and snorting and stretching down through his back - much more than usual. To me it seemed that he was saying "oooh, this feels different"

My only concern was that it felt like there was very little energy *there* I felt that I was having to ask a lot more than usual, rather than holding back all the time. My friends, one of whom I was riding with, and the other was observing, both said that Pinto was moving really well, with a very good working trot - and that is what it felt like - but it also felt like there was no *spark* none of that special "Pinto energy" that I'm used to. Even though he is worked regularly, including lessons, with my sharer, he felt unfit and tired. Now it could be a lot of things. This is the first winter when the horses have had a granulated compound feed rather than lucerne, so it might be a feed thing. He could be depressed, after all he has recently lost his next door neighbour (Iris was pts after a colic a short time ago) and they were always hanging around in the field together. Or it could be medical - there has been a lot of changes on the yard recently with new horses coming and going, so he may have picked up a low grade virus, or it could be anaemia. So I'm going to start giving him a small extra feed of sugarbeet and linseed, and if nothing changes I'll ask the vet to do a blood test when he comes for the second lot of vaccinations in 2 weeks.

Back to the lesson...

Amazingly, the exercises in sitting trot I could do without any of my normal bouncing/unbalance-y problems, which is nothing short of miraculous, considering that not so long ago I used to go pale at even the thought of sitting trot on Pinto Again my old, old problem crept in, or should I say up??? I wish my heels would stay where my brain wants them, rather than going where my muscles want them! I know it's because I'm gripping with my calves and tensing with my thighs in an effort to stay on. It's one of my oldest problems, and it still happens, even if I feel balanced and in control - silly body!!!

Then the frustration and the elation...

The actual canter exercise:

So we were told to take an inside track in rising trot, and, working in open order, when we wanted to attempt the exercise we have to come onto the track at either B or E, take sitting trot, then in the corner ask for the canter, canter along the short side of the school, then return to sitting trot in the other corner and come back off the piste and resume rising trot (the whole point of the exercise being quality of the ask and the depart, NOT the actual canter)

Now, first of all I have to gather my courage, as I am still very, very, very nervous of cantering on Pinto (even though it has been over a year since my accident), so I have to think calming thoughts and gear up for the actual exercise. I attempted the exercise twice, both times I didn't actually get a depart - completely my fault because I'm thinking "OK... go / OMG DON'T GO TOO FAST!!!" So all I get is a manic cob-trot. Then I have to calm Pinto down (since he is how a fizz-head and rushing) and gather my nerves again. Managed the exercise once on the left rein - well managed a stride or two, but really sloppy depart.

Then the frustration - once some Certain People have done the exercise once or twice, they then start to canter for longer and longer... One Person actually managed 2 circuits of the manege in canter of couse this means that no one else can actually do the exercise properly, since those travelling at speed have priority on the piste

Then came the elation...

After everyone had calmed down, and people were mainly just walking around I decided to try just once more, on the right rein. Came onto the piste at B, Pinto was being stressy, managed to get him settled before the corner, asked for the canter at F, got a silly trot, took two strides to settle him again before asking again just before K and got the most wonderful balanced, non-rushy canter I have ever had on Pinto - EVER - was so pleased, I was very naughty myself and carried on up past S before asking for the trot again. Wow I was sooooooooooooo happy I was very pleased to end the lesson there, and Pinto had a great many scritches and hugs.

In the future, I'm hoping to organise a semi-private lesson with a friend, every now and again, and I think I would probably gain more from say, one lesson a month than a group lesson every week.

On the up and up

2009-01-26T23:10:00.002+01:00

Well after the disappointment of not being able to try my Western saddle properly poor old Pinto was subjected to being saddled again wtih my English saddle. It was absolutely freezing in the tack room, so I opted for my Wintec. Poor old Pinto was a bit bemused, but stood quite happily while I changed over all the blankets and sheepskins etc.

We got trotting almost straight away, and everything was almost perfect right from the start. Pinto wasn't rushing, I could do small rises, my lower leg felt really stable (for a change), so I switched to sitting trot.

Oh how long have we come?

I just wish someone had been there to take some photos of short videos as everything just felt so right. OK so I was still a bit tense in my shoulders, and my hands were a little unstable, but my legs were relaxed (miracle of miracles!), so much so, I could even change my foot position in the stirrup.

Of course all of this was helped with Pinto not rushing and staying relatively calm. There were a couple of times when he did speed up, and for the most part I was able to stay with him and ask him back to a slower pace.

It's odd, but I feel so much more at home in sitting trot (when I get it right).

Some things which I really have to work on further though are:

*Tension in the shoulders: if my shoulders are tense my hands become unstable

*Breathing: I have to learn how to breath softly and fully, rather than gasping (which of course adds to the tension) Normally I would take very deliberate breaths, but as Pinto will transition down a pace on a deliberate exhalation it's making like rather complicated!

*The unilateral movement of the seat bones which Heather stresses. I just can't get it

I have the impression that Pinto is happy with the new bitting arrangement. We are having much less yawing on the bit, and a couple of times he even sought the contact which is also practically unheard of.

Anyway we finished the session on a really good note (for me too), a nice sharp/soft transition to canter, 4 strides of canter then a rather wobbly transition back to trot and walk. It was the first time I've attempted canter in the manege with Pinto since before my accident last March

Visiting a tack shop with friends is dangerous...

2009-01-26T09:33:00.003+01:00

Because you can get talked into buying all kinds of extraneous things, like:

I had planned on spending yesterday afternoon trying it ut with the help of a couple of friends, but in the end they couldn't make it so I puzzled it out for myself (I think!)

It has ben a long, loing time since I put a Western saddle on a horse, and I was a bit rusty, but I think I got there in the end.

Looks quite smart, yes?

The latigo for the front cinch didn't really have enough holes in it for me to do the girth up snugly, so with much trepedation I had to mount with a fairly loose girth (I'm pretty sure I won't be doing anything which will require a flank cinch!!!) The first disappointment was that the stirrup leathers were far too long; once mounted, my foot didn't come anywhere near the stirrup, even with them on the highest setting. Now I have to make a judgement on whether to punch extra holes to try the saddle properly and risk making it "second hand" if I should need to take it back to th store, or whether to persevere, with an observer, and try it again.

Anyway, we got mounted and we walked around the manege for a while, I even tried a very small trot on both reins (no stirrups remember!). Overall the saddle felt comfy, rather wide and hip-stretchy, and I don't know how much that would improve with stirrups, but it felt nice, and I certainly felt secure in it.

BUT

The saddle moved back during out brief tryout, and I think it was a bit tight over the shoulder as it settled during the ride. I really need a second opinion (sorry, no such thing as saddle fitters here!), so I'll have to wait until my friend is free - hopefully soon.

Aaargh the frustration

2009-01-19T18:09:00.008+01:00

Do you ever have days like that? Yesterday I rode Pinto in the manège and felt as if I couldn't do a thing right.

I started off slowly as it was the first time Pinto had his new bridle and bit to try out, and my first time in my Fhoenix for months.

First of all I couldn't get comfy in my Fhoenix :cry: Despite living in my house it was like trying to ride on a scaffolding plank, and even after 30 mins of riding the seat didn't soften very much (though it was very cold out!). Consequently I *really* felt the stretch in my hips. I think I could have done with dropping my stirrups a hole, but this is in hindsight!

I then made the mistake of giving Pinto a treat from the saddle. One on each side, with the intention of just asking him to bend round as he is about as bendy as a 2x4 atm. However once I had done this, as soon as I picked up the rein he started walking backwards. At first I was terrified that it was the new bit/martingale combination. Then if I shifted my weight he would paw on that front leg, so I was afraid that I had over-tightened the girth. I have to say that the walking backwards/sitting on the haunches didn't worry me at all (go me!) but I was really concerned that I was doing something wrong. In the end I growled at him, and told him in no uncertain terms to "avance là!" though I have to admit I had to restrain myself from giving him a "pony-club kick"

We walked round for quite a long time, for Pinto to get used to the feel of the new bit, and for me to get used to being in the Fhoenix again. Even in walk my legs (especially my left leg) felt really unstable, but my joints soon loosened up.

Once the other person had left the manege I asked Pinto to trot, and then immediately thought "oooh heck!" as I had no control over my legs and body at all. At this time all I did was ask Pinto to trot around the manege while I tried to sort out my balance. Even though I probably looked awful, it was a good exercise for me as I was able to identify which parts of me were tensing up. First of all I was tense in my foot, though I had a floppy ankle. Then I could feel myself gripping with my lower calf, and upper shin (I'm sure you can't really tense you "shin" but ths is how it felt to me). Then the tension moved to my lower inner thigh, then my upper inner thigh and outer thigh together. By the time I had got my legs sorted out and de-tensed my ankles were aching.

I wasn't having fun.

Pinto's pace was all over the place, and although I could push on for a few paces he would eventually come back down to a very slow (for Pinto) trot. This trot was actually very comfortable and if it was from a school horse I would have been happy with it, but it is so unlike Pinto to do anything slowly it felt really strange. Actually I think I actually need someone to observe me riding Pinto to tell me how he looks. For all I know this nice comfy slow trot may be a "proper" trot instead of a "rushed" trot. See, I could probably tell from the ground, but I have no sense of real "feel" when I'm on board.

The thing which concerned me the most (and I'm 85% sure it's me) was that no matter which rein we were working on, Pinto would bend his neck to the outside, while remaining as stiff as a board from his shoulders to tail. If it had just been on one rein, I would have said it's a chiropractic problem, but it was equal on both reins, so I'm pretty sure that it must be me not being straight.

Does anyone have any ideas how I could solve this?

Becuase we where having problems trying to stay on the piste I purposefully rode on the 3/4 line, in a deliberate walk, trying to keep Pinto as straight as possible. He was, in general, much better away from the wall and wouldn't banana quite so much, but I had to consciously ask for inside bend all the time. Once we moved back out onto the piste, he was back to bananaring to the outside, only this time if I asked for inside bend he would twitch his nose to the inside while still remaining banana'd in the neck... i.e. a very crooked pony.

I really need some decent private lessons. As it is here where I really fall down. I can relate what I see and feel Pinto doing, but I don't know how to correct it.

After riding these squares with Pinto I wanted to do a bit more trot work, except my right ankle had completely siezed up, despite my extremely expensive Sprenger Bow Balance stirrups. So I shoved my foot "home" and managed a circuit or two in trot before dismounting.

Next time I will drop my stirrups a hole to see if it makes any difference, because it was a very uncomfortable experience.

I ended up putting Pinto away feeling very frustrated, both with Pintos unbendy/wrong bendy-ness and my total incompetence at riding. Hopefully I will feel better next time!

PS. I would just like toreassure people that my reins do have martingale stops on them, they are just nice and petit so you can't see them very well ;o) They are present in the red circle below... honest :oD

Back in the saddle again

2009-01-14T13:04:00.003+01:00

Had a very cold 30 min pootle in the manège last night. It was late, as I had to wait until the last lesson finished at 8:45 before I could go in, so I was a bit stiff at the beginning.

I went into the manège with no intent other than just riding, so no matter what happened it would be positive.

We only walked round for a couple of minutes before trotting as it was really too cold to potter around. Although I rode for about 20 mins on Saturday, I'm really counting this as my first proper ride of the year.

My first impressions:

My horse is a furry yak Which is hardly surprising at this time of year - but when his fur is all puffed up to keep him warm it looks like is is about 2 ins bigger all over lol

I've lost a lot of muscle tone My core muscles are practically non-existant, and I found it very difficult to get in balance when trotting at first.

I've forgotten how to rise It took me a while to sort my rising out. i was either leaning too far forward or sitting too straight. then I was concentrating too much on the rise and over doing it... I'm sure Pinto wmust have been thinking "what on Earth is she doing up there!"

Pinto is unfit Despite being ridden 3 times a week by a lovely lady, he was really breathing quite heavily after only 10 minutes of trotting, so we had a little break. As I didn't have a cooler or stable rug handy I didn't want him getting too warm... this will change though *ebil laugh*

Pinto is a real tryer Pinto really looked after me last night, and put up with all my faffing around, being unbalanced etc

I still have nice hands I think anyway. I kept checking and they weren't bobbing up and down.

I have a TERRIBLE habit of looking down at the ground in front of Pinto's nose, rather than looking up and ahead between he ears.

How did the work go?

I was really pleased with how Pinto was, even if I couldn't say the same things about myself! He tried so hard, even though it was late and it was very cold. I found his pace a bit uneven, though I guess that was mainly due to my unbalancedness, so I tried to concentrate of asking him to maintain an even pace. Once we got over the first few minutes of "OMG I've forgotten how to ride!" Pinto was trying to run down the long side of the school in a full-on cob-trot, so we did lots of circles until he stopped rushing as soon as he hit the long side.

Some things to work on over the next weeks

Sort out my rein length I'm conscious of not wanting to be hauling on the reins all the time, but also conscious of not allowing Pinto to run on at any given opportunity. Of course this also relates tot he lack of core muscles atm!

Improve Pinto's fitness this will obviously come in time, but I think increasing sessions of sustained trotting, like we started last year, will be very beneficial to both of us. thn hopefully once the weather turns we will both be fit enough for some nice long rides.

Long term plans

I'm desperate for some private dressage lessons to work on my own position and efficiency. It may mean a trip to the UK, so it will be as and when I can afford it!

Best aspect of the training?

Well, a couple of times when Pinto was running on, he broke into canter for a couple of stirdes, and I was able to say "silly boy" and ignore that it happened :yay: :happy dance: rather than panicking or getting into a fuss over it.

New year, new me?

2009-01-13T14:19:00.002+01:00

Well, what can I say...not much good at this blogging am I? The smallest thing distracts me and I cease to post.

Last year (!) my excuse was a little silly accident. On 13th March (NOT a Friday!) I took a fall from Pinto in which I fractured my wrist. I actually sheared the head of the radius, dislocating the fracture site to 70degrees in the opposite direction to which is was meant to be pointing! I had surgery later that night to reduce the fracturer and to fix the whole thing together with a nice T plate and 7 screws. Enforced rest for 10 weeks (including 7 weeks off work! yay!) and a total of 19 weeks of physio I only managed to ride a couple of times during the summer, and only a few lessons in between.

Unfortunately I was left with residual nerve pain, and kept getting electric shock-like jags whenever I made a closed fist and flexed my wrist i.e. whenever I held the rein correctly, so it really put a dampner on riding.

Towards the end of October I psyched myself up and sat my Galop 1 and 2 exams (with a group of 6 and 7 year-olds lol) before having another surgery to remove the plate and screws. Then I was forced to rest again. Then it was Christmas, then I was ill (goes on and on doesn't it... these excsuses!)

I eventually climb back on board on Saturday 10 Jan, and it felt soooo goooood! Freezing cold, but good. We're having a bit of a cold snap atm, and it's currently rising to about -2C during the day and down to about -14C at night. This means permafrost on the roads and solid ground on the grass tracks, so no riding outside until we get a bit of a thaw.

I'm hoping to ride a couple of times during the week on a night, and at the weekend too, depending on how busy the manege gets.

My first aim for this year is to get back to where Pinto and I were in March last year, then we'll go from there.

Weekend round up 8/9 March:

2008-03-10T18:45:00.000+01:00

What a beautiful weekend! The weather was gorgeous, and I had 2 superb rides in different ways.

Saturday:
I was a bit late getting to the yard, but was lucky in that the 3:30 class was going to the the xc course, so I could get into the manege for 40mins. Again my main aim was to just keep trotting for 30 mins for exercise rather than schooling, but I'm still trying to come up with ways of varying the work, because it does get a bit boring, so we did some work on varying the speed of the trot. e.g. one circuit pushing on, and one circuit collecting back. We had a couple of great changes of rein along the diagonal, really pushing on on a longer rein. I wouldn't go so far to say "medium trot" but it was great to feel the lift through the shoulders and the push from the hind end (I really must get a balance strap on the front of my saddle, as on one occasion I very nearly fell off the back I got left so far behind!).

Again I was able to get snippets of a "true contact." It's amazing! and for the first time I actually felt as if there was a 2way communication thing going on, rather than just me all the time. I could feel Pinto stroking the bit with his tongue

My main achievement though (I feel) was in sitting trot. I did quite a lot of work on the sitting trot, and experiemented more with speed. At last Pinto is getting the idea that sitting trot does not mean canter, so he was much more relaxed also. We started off really slowly, and for the first time since I left Mariastein (where my lessons in dressage I would sit for about 40mins in each hour!) I felt that I could sit comfortably so I could worry (concentrate!) about other things. Mainly my position, keeping various body parts relaxed, remembering to breath (not too deeply on the way out, else Pinto transitions to walk lol!) So we worked some on rein and hand position, working out that when I connected my elbows to my torso and raised my hands my shoulders became more relaxed. Also that when I relaxed my middle the tension also left in my buttock and thighs too. Also working out that relaxing your middle, but keeping your abs engaged is difficult!

I also recognise that I still have a very, very long way to go with the sitting trot. We played around some with speed to see how comfortable I could remain, and found that we couldn't get very much faster before I started bouncing. I also recognise that I'm still using my seatbones bilaterally, and although I'm not leaving the saddle I'm still bouncing (if that makes any sense!). A couple of times, for a couple of strides I though I could feel the side to side bit too... though I could be imagining it. I'm not sure if it's me and that my pelvis/lower back is completely blocked, or if its just because I don't really know what I'm meant to be feeling

All in all I did about 7 minutes sitting trot (about 5 circuits and a change of rein). And it felt fantastic! Ever since Mariastein, I've felt much more comfortable and in control sitting rather than rising... but only if I can sit. Pinto felt really great too, and obviously harder and different work for him too. I'm aware that I'm still a very heavy rider, though I try not to ride heavy, if you get my meaning. He worked into the bridle very nicely, and very kindly ignored my wobbly hands during the times I wasn't completely relaxed. Towards the end i could feel he was getting tired and he started leaning on my hands occasionally - slow isn't really Pinto's thing, so we went back to rising, and made a couple of quick circuits to raise the energy again.

We finished the session with a couple of turns-on-the-forehand which I haven't practiced for years, and I dont think of Pinto ever, and guess what? Pinto was excellent! Hardly moved his front feet at all, but was really stepping right through, one step at a time, with his hind legs. he is such a superstar horse

Sunday:
I had plans on Sunday to do some loose schooling, then tacking up in the manege, doing some more trot work, trying some more exercises and then going on a quick hack to cool down. In the end I had to modify things a bit as the yard was quite busy, and I could only get in the manege for about 1/2 hour.

We haven't done any loose schooling for ages, and after the initial trot and canter to free the butterflies the free lunging was a bit of an experience. As soon as I picked up the whip Pinto was at warp speed, so I just persisted in asking for trot, and as soon as we got 1 circuit all in trot he got to walk and a bit of carrot. The we had to repeat the whole thing on the other rein

Once that was done, I took Pinto over and re-introduced the whip as a "friendly" object; and although we were a bit quivvery and snort-y at first he soon settled.

Then we went back to free lunging, and worked on trot/canter/trot transtions which he did great at - transition right on the cue, lovely balanced canter (i.e. not frantic/running away canter) for a circuit, then back to trot.

Then we started doing 'fun stuff' which I really enjoy, unfortunately I have no imagination so we end up doing the same things all the time. Yesterday it was back to leading games... to the extreme. I took a step forwards, and so did Pinto. I took another step forwards and so did Pinto. In the end we were synchronised with our 'leading' legs, so he got much praise and scritches for that.

At this time I was sharing the manege with 2 others, both of whom were trying to get their ponies to lay down on cue, then sit astride and stay on when the pony got up (on cue).

Pinto and I went back to cueing 'foot up.' Although I have little intention or knowledge of teaching Spanish Walk, Pinto picked up immediately that a tap/tickle on his elbow means 'foot up' ready for picking. He deduced by himself that a tap on the forearm means raise the forearm to the front In fact it was so immediate I'm wondering if he's been taught that before? Who knows!

After an hour or so playing (including the freeschooling) we left the manege, tied up and tacked up and we went out for a hack. Longer than I had initially planned, but I had the time. Pinto was great. we trotted almost the length of the bottom path, with only one tiny brief pause, so we trotted for just over a mile continuously - not much, I know, but still, it's still small steps for me! Trotting outside is still far more exciting than trotting inside, so the trotting outside I still feel as if I'm just along for the ride (pardon the pun!). But Pinto goes along with ears pricked trotting his cob trot (just a tad jarring lol) and is obviously happy, so outside I'm still "making suggestions" rather than "asking" like I do in the manege. I'm still very aware of how easily I get tense outside, and I'm trying my best, but it is just such an automatic response (to small things as well as big things) I get frustrated at myself. At least now I am aware of how me becomeing tense also makes Pinto tense too... though if he tenses first it's much worse as then I expect the worst... I'm such a gimp!

It was a very nice Sunday, and Pinto was out of his box for 4 hours, which is always a bonus for him (even if he did have to do a bit of work lol).

2008-03-07T14:07:00.002+01:00

Well, after saying "I think one of the best things I ever did was stop riding Pinto in lessons" last night I rode Pinto in my lesson!

I was given a choice of either Pinto or Paco, and I was too tired mentally to cope with Paco's gittishness, never mind that I think I'm really too heavy for him. Plus we were having a dressage lesson, so I knew I could cope on Pinto, well just about anyway.

The warm up was good, and Pinto listened to me for about 15 minutes before switching into "lesson mode" and started pulling before that though we were complimented by Katia, even earning a "très bien" so we must have been doing something right!

On the plus side I even managed the sitting trot across the diagonal, and though I felt a bit bouncy, I still felt I was able to contain everything to a certain extent and I didn't feel unbalanced.

We then went to work in open order, doing transitions between halt/walk/trot. I practiced everything in sitting trot, (apart from halt to trot - I'm not that flexible yet to cope with the big jump Pinto does into trot) which I was really pleased with. Pinto was very attentive to the aids, and we had some great transitions from sitting trot to walk with seat aids only. Trot to halt still feels very clunky, and although I "fix" everything (seat, back, shoulder, elbow) I still feel as if I'm dragging on the rein, even though I'm not pulling back - but we were getting the transition pretty directly with only about half a stride of walk inbetween. Halt to trot is much better, but still not direct. Pinto will begin to move off in walk then give a huge spring into trot, but I'm having problems regulating the aid enough so Pinto knows to move directly to trot, but not too much else he rushes and looses all the soft-and roundness.

Our main exercise for the lesson was 'head to the wall'. Pinto was *awful* on the left rein, refusing to slow down, refusing to bend, basically refusing to think. At this point he was making a pretty good effort of just towing me everywhere (in walk) and I had to concentrate hard just to get a decent slow walk out of him. On the right rein everything was different. First of all I concentrated on keeping the walk slow, til I felt that we were just dripping along (surprisingly at the same pace, even if still abit quicker than the school horses!). Eventually Pinto settled into it and stopped fighting the bit so much (at this point there was a lot of gnashing of the teeth going on). On the right rein he would bend easily into the wall, and I could really feel him stepping across with his fore and hind legs, so after having a huge guilt trip about dragging him about and making him upset on the left rein (gnashing teeth, open mouth, curled nose, tongue poking etc) I felt much better about the right rein.

After a trot to stretch out came the canter exercise, and Pinto turned into a hooligan. Pinto understands the French "galop" very well, and Katia was giving detailed instructions on what we should be doing, and every time she says "galop" Pinto is getting more and more excited. Basically we were to trot in a circle at the C end, and then one at a time come down the long side, transition to canter between F and A, continue and come back to trot at H and join the circle again. It makes me so mad. I get absolutely sick with nerves about doing these exercises on Pinto, yet I know I could do it with my eyes closed on Elcypse. I went first to get it over and done with. Didn't get a transition at F, but fall into canter at K, bound along for 4 strides then haul ( ) to a trot at C. After that I can get no further sense out of Pinto. We end up trotting 7m circles with my inside hand somewhere about my knee to make sure he is bent to the inside as he is all over the place pulling and hauling and basiclaly just wanting to take off. After a few minutes he settles a bit and we try the exercise again. We make some semblance of a transition at F, fall back to trot at A, get the transition again at K, and Katia is going "pousse, pousse" and I'm thinking "not on your nelly mate!"

The only thing I can think of that was good about the canter was that my bum isn't sliding across the saddle (polishing).

The next exercise was a complete disaster. We were meant to trot around onthe piste, then transition to canter at A and continue up the centre line, transition back to trot at C. Pinto was bounching everywhere, doing his 100mile an hour trot, pulling me left and right. I know people look at me and think that I should just go with it and get on with the exercise. The thing is I DON'T WANT a hooligan horse who dictates when and where we canter. We continued trotting around the outside of the school, with some choice words in Pintos ear when he tried to pull me into canter on the corners, until he settled down and trotted around politely. At this point I had already been told to get on with the exercise, and yes, half of it was fear, but like I said, *I* want to ask Pinto up into canter, not Pinto charging off whenever he feels like it. So in the end after 1 circuit of relative politeness we turned up the centre line, I asked for the transition, but didn't push it when we didn't get it. I know the problem is that I just don't trust Pinto to stop (or to continue in a straight line). My balance is horrid, and a slight swere left or right and I'll be off.

I've gon over and over in my mind why I can canter on Eclypse, but not Pinto, and it's not the speed. It's the movement. Both Pinto and Eclypse are about the same height and build, though Eclypse is not quite as wide. Eclypse will canter just as fast as Pinto, but his movement is not very big. You can sit on Eclypse all day and not feel that you are doing much work to keep your bum in the saddle. Pinto has this huge jump in canter, each and every stirde, and I find it terribly unbalancing.

I'll get there eventually, I'm sure... it's just taking a lot longer than I first thought!

Jumping lessons!

2008-03-07T14:07:00.001+01:00

Wednesday 5 Mar:

I didn't ride last night, but watched J ride Pinto in her class. It has been a while since I've seen J ride Pinto, and even longer since I've seen her ride in a jumping lesson.

The first thing I really noticed is how much more balanced Pinto looks in canter... when he is thinking about it. Unfortunately it doesn't take long cantering around in a group before it just blows his mind and he starts rushing, gets strung out and starts stomping. Once that happens, there just isn't time in a class to let him calm down and resettle.

2nd thing I noticed was that he goes much more softly with the bit now than with the bitless bridle (which J was using last night). With the BB you can just see him bracing against the noseband as soon as things get too exciting and he starts stomping, especially in trot. I really noticed this, because it has been a long time since I've heard him stomp in the manege. In fact, very recently he has been really quiet, even on Tuesday during my sitting trot, I know he wasn't working correctly (tracking up properly) because of the slow speed we were going, but he still felt very soft and consequently he was very quiet.

3rd thing was that he is becoming a really neat little jumper ... when he is thinking about what he is doing. Towards the end of the lesson when the class had been doing the same exercise for a while (x-pole on the diagonal, change direction at x and x-pole oxer back to the same long side corner - like a 1 loop serpentine but with a jump on turning away from the long side, and another upon return) and the height of the jump wasn't going up (80cm x-pole) J let Pinto get too fast and he ends up just ploughing straight through a mess of poles Everyone just goes " ça c'est Pinto *shrug* " It's kind of embarrassing lol.

J is a very neat rider, though I'd like to polish my ego and think that Pinto goes more softly for me. But we ride in different circumstances now. J almost always rides Pinto in lessons when there is lots going on, and little time to actually think about things like 'softness' and 'working through.' I always ride Pinto by myself when all I concentrate on is how Pinto is going, experimenting here and there with rein length, amount of contact, leg position, breathing etc.

I know it is all good, Pinto is getting the best of both worlds, but I think one of the best things I ever did was stop riding Pinto in lessons

When it all comes together...

2008-03-05T11:54:00.000+01:00

I had a really, really good ride last night

After humming and harring whether or not I should ride (I was tired and it was freeeezing waiting for the last class to finish), I decided that as I had gone to the stables, groomed the mud off Pinto (a good 1/2 hour job!) I might as well finish the job and ride.

However I wasn't expecting it to be so cold. It had started snowing a bit on my way to the stables, but by the time I was ready to go into the manege it was really coming down with a concerted effort.

I hopped on Pinto (ha! In my dreams... though I am getting a bit springier with the losing weight, but I still think it will be a while before I'm hopping on anything!) and off we went. I hadn't planned on doing anything specific, just more trotting. Pinto is slowly losing the saggy tummy look, and compared to last year he's in pretty good condition (ribs easily feelable, but not seeable).

Anyway after a couple of rounds of walk, I asked him up into a trot and off we go into a beautiful springy but slooow trot. Oh I could have cried! For so long Pinto has always been about doing things as quick as possible, and trying to regulate speed has been one of my greatest challenges.

Then, I tried sitting... and I could! I had to concentrate on a million things at once (not gripping with my calves, relaxing my upper back, BREATHING!) but I felt that I could have gone on sitting for ever. Pinto was fantastic. We were working on a long rein, and he was stretching down into the bridle, and he didn't try to whizz off into canter when we went round a corner.

Actually I haven't had the old "ears up the nose" for quite a long time now.

We did a couple more rounds in rising trot at a proper 'working' pace, changed the rein, asked him so slow down again (which he did! ) and started sitting again. What a fantastic feeling. Everything just felt really soft. I know I (and Pinto) still have a long way to go, but it just seems that everyting is starting to come together... it's taken its time, but it's starting.

In the end I think I was riding for only 15 mins. I wanted to go on longer, but obviously didn't want to push the whole "good thing" till it fell apart, and besides i'd made the mistake of riding without gloves, and my fingers were freezing, really painful. So I jumped off (well... at least I can actually dismount without hanging my leg on Pinto's butt now!), took his saddle off inthe manege and walked him back to his box - by which time (2 mins) he was covered in snow!

I'm just so totally in love with my horse at the moment

Horses are better than therapists!

2008-03-05T11:53:00.000+01:00

No weekend roundup this week

I waited until lunchtime on Saturday to see if the weather would sort itself out (blowing a gale and lashing down with rain) but it didn't so decided to go food shopping, and eventually got to they yard at 3pm.

Gave Pinto a really thorough grooming (including combing all the knots and mats out of his armpits - I will be so pleased once he has shed out - his armpits are disgusting!) and then set about his mane.

For the past month or so I've been plaiting Pintos mane up to 1) make grooming easier 2) in an attempt to keep it a smidgin cleaner 3) to stop it knotting with the reins. In a short space of time Pinto's mane has gone from longish to LONG, or so it seems, and although I am really loathe to shorten it, it's getting a bit impractical.

Plus, keeping it plaited, it takes about 5 mins to comb through rather than a good 45 mins if it was all knotted, tangly and full of mud-cicles. I wish I could do the same with his tail! After spending a good 2 hours washing it last week it's back to 'normal' this week and disgusting again.

I really enjoy my time just being with Pinto when I'm grooming without an agenda.

The weather was the smae again yesterday, and I'm too much of a wuss to get soaked and blown about, so Pinto has had a weekend off.

Monday 25th: Manege work

2008-02-26T10:10:00.001+01:00

Halleluja! I managed to get the manege to myself tonight for a change! What bliss it was not to have to dodge loose ponies and their caretakers.

Pinto was not very happy to be presented with his saddle for the third day in a row, and gave this huge sigh when I showed up with it. He is so cute. Grooming was definitely just a quick whipround to make sure there was no straw sticking to places where it would rub, and a very quick foot pick, but I was short on time, so wanted to get into the manege as soon as possible - just in case ;)

Almost immediately I felt something was different. I mounted Pinto and he stood like a rock, even when I dropped the reins to pull my jods up (again). Usually when I mount, Pinto is off as soon as my bum hits the saddle, despite my best efforts to stop him doing this. I don't know whether it was just tiredness from 3 days work in a row, boredom from what was coming next, or what.

Anyway we had a nice active walk stretching into the contact on a longer rein for a good 5 minutes before a realy good trot transition, really springing into the pace with the lightest of leg aids. I experimented with the length of rein for a few minutes which was very interesting:

A longer rein: Pinto's trot was very slow and unenergetic, though he kept a nice low head carriage, I felt that i was doing more work than he was rising to the trot.

A shorter rein: The trot was definitely springier and more forward, but still a bit lack-lustre compared to last week. I just put it down to tiredness and warming up, as he did get much better as the time went on.

Once I sorted out my rein length and remembered to bend my elbows I was feeling the most curious sensation at the end of the reins. Pinto was very mobile with his mouth, and he was playing with the bit a lot. Because of the whole "strangeness" feeling I was worried that he had somehow got his tongue over the bit, but when i checked he hadn't. However what I could feel was his tongue playing with the bit. I have never had that type of contact before. I could tell when he swallowed, and how much he was moving his tongue against the bit. It was really quite - enlightening - I suppose, once I ascertained that I wasn't hurting him.

I experimented a bit with sitting trot... and ascertained 2 things... 1) I can't sit his trot at a working pace... 2) sitting trot elicits a lot of bouncing from Pinto, because sitting trot is *always* a prelude to canter, isn't it, mum, isn't it??? I guess I'll have to practice a lot more, to prevent this anticipation! However Pinto was bouncing quite a lot really. Every time I used an indirect rein to ask him to remain on the piste we were bouncing, and at one point even had a single stride of a very nice, unrushed canter, before I growled at him and strengthened through my body.

I did notice that he wasn't very straight tonight, and kept banana'ing to the outside on the left rein and falling in on the right rein. I really need to call the osteo to see if Pinto needs manipulating or not.

We had a very productive 35mins trotting I feel, and I think that I gained a lot from tonight. My main gain, I think, was that I was able to keep my lower leg much more still than I normally can. I'm hoping that this means my risinig is actually improving and that I'm not 'pinging' so much.

Classes start again this week, so I don't know when I will be able to get Pinto back in the manege. I'll have to try and leave work really early one day, to get in before the lessons start at 5:30.

Weekend round up 23rd / 24th Feb

2008-02-25T14:41:00.000+01:00

Weekend roundup :)

Well, the weather was FANTASTIC... more like early May than the end of Feb.

On Saturday I had planned on 1/2 hour manege work before going out, but the manege was in use, so decided to go straight out, and considering Pinto had had no exercise all week, i thought it was a tod brave of me lol.

As soon as we got to the top of the hill and asked for a trot I realised why I normally wear a BP... not for protection in case I fall, but to stop my boobs bouncing! I only managed a few yards, then decided I just had to stop as it was too painful (and this was with a good supportive bra, just not a sport bra). I hummed and harred whether I should just go for a short ride, or a longer one, bearing in mind it was about 3 when I set off, but decided just to see how it went, after all it's light until just after 6pm now.

Poor Pinto, tries so hard, but obviously the lack of exercise was really telling on Saturday, and he was very fidgety and, I felt, barely contained. We managed a spanking trot up the road, which was actually quite comfortable, but then we ran out of road, and had to turn off up the hill. Pinto bounced a few times, then decided to walk nicely, which was a good job, as we met come walkers just over the brow of the hill.

Things kind of deteriorated after that, and the rest of my ride wasn't as relaxing :( After coming down the other side of the hill and back onto the road we can either go straight on (which leads home) or we can turn off up another hill. Pinto decided that we had to go up the hill, and we were going up it full steam ahead. I'm afraid that I took a rather firm hold of him, saying "stop" with every part of my body as well as growling at him and telling him not to be so daft. Then at the top of the hill (which we half bounced up, half walked up (very grudgingly) there is another choice of direction, either straight on (long hack) or turn left (quick route home). Recently every time we come to a junction, Pinto will fight to go home. On Saturday it was a very fine balance between putting your leg on as a 'block' or a 'wall' to prevent the falling out/whip round and Pinto interpreting any kind of 'leg on' as a GO signal.

Anyway we managed to go straight on after a fashion... only to see some friends in the distance at the bottom of another hill and across a couple of fields. This was a cue for some more bouncing around and minor strop throwing, and for a very brief moment I thought I was going to get towed down a rather steep hill before we finally managed to walk on through the woods.

After coming out of the woods (about 5 mins!) and heading towards the next village I heard a very faint neigh on the wind. I wondered where it came from because I didn't know that there were any horses in that part of the village. As we continue walking along the path and get on to the paved section, we hear very clearly 2 neighs from 2 different horses, and now Pinto decided to answer (as well as to start prancing). We are now practically bouncing along the road (in walk though!) and coming to a steep down hill section (which we bounce down), then just as we cross onto the other road (one which actually gets used by vehicles!), Pinto neighs really loudly again (and nearly shakes me off his back :rolleyes: ) and I'm beginning to think that I'm doomed! Luckily it all goes silent until we are back onto another paved farm track.

One more trot along the paved track, in the direction of home, so I must have been feeling braver again (!) and Pinto comes back calmly to walk with only a little bit of bouncing before we hit the grass tracks again. At this point I make a decision to walk the rest of the way, as I don't really want any more excitement thank-you-very-much and everything is fine for the next 20-30 mins until we're on the home straight. At this point we were heading towards the sound of a chainsaw and about 20feet from the crossroads Pinto stops dead, frozen to the spot. Not only does he stop, stock still, but he sits *really* deep on his hocks while the front end grows a good few inches, which for me is not the safest arrangement for me to be in. So I ask, very quietly, more with voice than leg for him to walk on... and he does, for a couple of strides, then stops again. This happens a couple more times until we are just around the bend in the road (and about a foot from a 3' deep drainage ditch) when someone drops a rather heavy log. At which point Pinto leaps off the ground, manages to jump sideways and hits the ground at a trot - for all of 2 strides! Fortunately this is about as big as Pinto's spooks get, and it doesn't happen often. Now this really is all the excitement I can take, and after another very brief trot up the path to get rid of the butterflies we are walking home the rest of the way.

So... all in all, not the best hack ever, but I'm pleased I managed to cope with all the bouncing around and arguing. Just not that long ago, any of the above would have been enough for me to get off and walk home, now I'm feeling more able to cope with these things, though sometimes it is a very close call!

Sunday:

The weather was absolutely out of this world! 18C on the way to the stables, and I was determined to wash Pintos legs and tail before doing some manege work.

After Saturday, Sunday was almost a worse disaster.

After much standing around, coping with buckets, shampoo, hosepipes and cold water, being much more fidgety than normal Pinto completely freaked out when I was drying his tail off: It was completely my own fault, and I feel really bad that I lost my temper :-[ Normally I just comb through his tail until it dries naturally, but yesterday, although it was warm enough in the sun, the wind was still a bit chilly, so I attempted to dry it by spinning it round - well I wont every do that again. Pinto thought it was a rope trying to hit him and he was jumping all over the place. So I untied him and went to trot him up and down the drive, only I backed him up too quickly, and the lead rope flapped at him and he pulled straight through my hands. Now I had a loose horse on the yard property with no barrier between him and the main road. Fortunately he headed straight back to his box where he was caught and handed back to (a very breathless) me.

After all that excitement the manege was finally free so I tacked up and in we went. I had planned on 30 mins trotting before going out for a quick 30 min cool down hack.

Pinto was jumpy as anything, though stood like a rock while I mounted and started our warm up. I had only been walking round for 5 mins when one of the other girls asked if she could come in to the manege also (at least that is what I thought she said!). So I said of course, her pony had all of his tack on, so I thought she was going to do schooling too. In the end there was three of them came in, and immediately divested their ponies of all tack and started messing around teaching tricks. Now normally I have absolutely no problem with this at all. Except this time I was in the manege trying to exercise, and there were 3 loose ponies in the manege too. Personally I wouldn't dream of doing liberty work in the manege if someone was schooling.

Not only was I not able to keep a steady rhythm going because Pinto was distracted by each cluck, click and whistle, but I had to keep coming off the piste and changing diagonals in bizarre places to avoid loose (and occasionally, unattended) ponies.

The straw that broke the camels back was when someone else came into the manege to lunge, not only lunge, but just in a head collar. As soon as she picked up the lunging whip I decided there and them just to give up. For me Pinto, although he was going quite well, wasn't relaxed enough for me to risk taking out without every small thing freaking him out. And the last thing I needed was someone waving a lunging whip around - Pinto won't have anything to do with one under normal circumstances, but yesterday it was just an accident waiting to happen.

In the end, after having to slow to a walk - again - I dismounted in a hurry, before Pinto got too freaked at the lunging whip and huffed my way out of the manege.

Pinto, luckily, hadn't done enough work to make much of a sweat, so I could put him straight back in his box so he could tuck right in to his haylage again.

I only hope that I have a free manege tonight, as I really don't want another day like yesterday!

Weekend round up

2008-02-18T12:08:00.000+01:00

Weekend round-up Saturday 16, Sunday 17th Feb:

We have had some fantastic weather this weekend; bright blue skies, a little wind, but very cold. On Saturday I had planned on going into the manege for half an hour or so before ending with a short hack; unfortunately I was beaten to the manege by a trio of teenagers, so I decided just to go straight out instead.

I decided to do almost the same loop as I worked out last weekend, but my aim was to do more trotting. Pinto was a star, and surprisingly we had none of the pully-pully type trotting that we had last week.

Thanks to the wonders of technology... here is the route we took ;)

Unfortunately the majority of our attempts at sustained trotting were thwarted by walkers, dog walkers, and other horse riders! But we did manage some good trotting along the paved sections. It was so nice to hear Pinto clopping along. He has 2 very manky frogs at the moment which I can't seem to help much with, but they clearly aren't bothering him too much judging by how he was stomping over the gravelly bits on the paved roads.

We got back to the yard in just over 1 hour (last week the same route took 2!) so we actually must have done more trotting that I realised!

Sunday 17th:

Achieved my aim of getting into the manege for 30mins trotting (with 10 mins warm up in walk before hand). OK, so it's not very interesting... about as interesting as lunging I suppose, but it really does seem to benefit both me and Pinto. Surprisingly I have never really done much sustained trot work with Pinto before. I hardly ever go into the manege with a set idea of what I want to achieve, I'm so useless at schooling, andmainly keep wondering *how* am I meant to school Pinto, when my riding is nothing to write home about. Anyway this sustained trotting is allowing both Pinto and I to settle into the pace and to figure things out slowly.

This week I managed to:

1) Remember to keep my elbows bent and to raise my hands (something which I am awful for - keeping my hands just above the withers, but keeping them so low can make me tense across my upper back)

2) Allow a longer rein: Pinto is *not* going to run off with me in the manege so I really don't need to strangle him with the contact... but neither must I drop the contact all together!

Riding with the bitless for a year was an eye opening experience, but it made me hyperaware and overly conscious of how much contact I had with a bit. Consequently I tended to ride with too little contact I think, which in turn made Pinto jib and haw on the rein trying to find a consistent contact.

I also think it has taken the year being bitless for him to overcome whatever issues he had with the bit in the first place; although I have only really ridden with the bit a few times, and really only 4 times "properly" since our year with the bitless, he has completely changed. I know that 2 times hardly sets the precedent for correct work, but twice in row is definitely more consistent that whetever we have achieved in the past.

Again, over the course of the thirty minutes we managed to keep a consistent contact, and a nice pace. He was also making a *lovely* shape, and I [i]think[/i], working through correctly. His pace certainly was elastic and springy, very easy to rise to without overworking it. I still couldn't sit to it lol... too bouncy. I'm not really sure how to tackle that. So I slow his pace down further, and risk losing the elasticity, but it is slow enough for me to sit to... or do I just try my best at a working pace, and build up slowly stride by stride the amound of time I sit?

It is true that I'm still riding with his elastique on (gah! a dreaded gadget!) though I think that it more for my piece of mind than anything, it certainly is helping him find the proper shape in which to carry himself. True, he doesn't carry himself [i]as[/i] correctly when hacking as when in the manege, but i wouldn't expect him to really. There is far too much going on outside for him to nose at and to be watchful for than when in the manege!

I was so encouraged by the trot work I decided to try a canter. I was shocked and pleased with myself that I attempted this by myself without anyone telling me I must do it lol! Anyway, started off in a nice controlled trot, asked for canter in the corner, got 4 fantastic, controlled, [i]contained[/i], strides, then he fell back to trot in the next corner. This is entirely my fault, as I have unintentionally trained Pinto to do this. Anyway I asked immediately again for the canter, and everything started to fall apart. He rushed away doing his best 'sewing maching on crack' trot, falling on on all the corners and generally being a hooligan. Not to be defeated though, I managed to get some semblance of order before trying again, and did manage to get something like a canter, though it was terribly rushed, unbalanced and a bit :o :;/ in general! Had a definite "oh sh!t" moment as he went tearing round the corner as first my balance went one side, then over compensated and went "oh sh!t" the other side, before shouting "WHOA" in a very unlady-like manner.

I had just about calmed down enough to consider trying again onthe other rein when I was "saved" by the three teenages from Saturday anting touse the manege. I figured we had been in there for almost an hour and it was time to relax.

I had planned on going out for just a short time, to allow the both of us to cool off after the "hard work", in the end we were out nearly an hour, following a slightly different route than Saturday, but it still encompassed nearly all of it. This time we went and trotted a lot of the route.

Here is the route:

Very, very good fun. Trotted on nearly all of the straight bits (and some of the curvy bits too!), very nearly came a cropper, when Pinto decided mid stride to try and take a short cut home and lunged off the path to try to go up the hill. Oooh, did he get yelled at for that! "Don't you EVER do that again!" Cripes, I sounded just like my mum when she was telling me off for something when I was little! :-[

I really started relaxing in the the whole trotting thing too. I think Pinto would be fantastic to drive... he has that very typical 'cob trot' once he gets going. Amazingly, I never felt out of control once. Pinto was being very responsive to all my little adjustments, and it didn't take much at all to bring him down from the "super cob trot" to something more sedate.

Once again, we ran into walkers (well, not literally, of course!). The walk must have just set off, as there were lots of people in groups, so the trotting was curtailed as I excused and "bonjour'd" myself past everyone. Pinto was very much admired, and I think the general consensus was "il est tres beau" :D :-[ the only time he gave anyone a second look was when someone was waving a hiking stick around, not that I blame him, lol!

Once we came out of the woods I separated from the walkers and decided on a the quick way home. was very brave and trotted nearly all the way up the road, and then walked the last 1/2 mile. In the end we were out for just over an hour, which made it to nearly 2 hours riding all in all.

Pinto was a bit warm when we got back (just a tad!) and had sweated up just about everywhere, so after hand grazing him for 20 mins popped his cooler on, as it really was a bit chilly (about 2-3C).

I left him knee deep in haylage (again! - honestly I must stop disturbing his lunch *snicker*) and came home a very contented girl :nod:

Fantastic ride last night!

2008-02-15T10:10:00.000+01:00

Up to date at last!

I went to ride last night (in the manege because there are no classes this week) with the sole intention of trotting for 30 mins, not for schooling, but just for exercise.

After warming up in walk for 8 minutes off we went, and immediately found I had a wonderful elastic pace.

Not in 2 years have I ever felt Pinto so *together* in trot. It was truely wonderful. He accepted the contact and worked right up into it with no stargazing. He sometimes went too deep, but to be perfectly honest I couldn't care less, it made such a difference to the normal 'ears up my nose'; yet because he was working properly I still had plenty of neck in front of me. Not only that... but I had the *ears*, you know, pointing sideways, actually listening to me rather than pointing ahead thinking for himself

The other main thing I noticed is how quiet Pinto was! Usually you can hear him trotting a mile off because he stomps around like he has lead in his feet, but not last night. OK - I wouldn't say he was fairy-footed either, but there was no stomping

Even towards the end of the 30 mins, when he was obviously getting a bit tired, his trot was practically metronomic.

OK, so it was a bit boring doing 5 laps of the school then changing hands for another 5 laps etc. But the time passed so quickly, because I was just marvelling at how fantastic Pinto was being.

As we were walking around to cool off, the rest of the horses were being let in, which made life rather interesting!

For the first time this winter Pinto worked up enough sweat to warrant putting his cooler on. Now the cooler is brand new, and I've never even tried it on him before. It is a tad too long in the back, even though it is his size, but my goodness! it fits him like a dress! When I put the surcingle on, the sides almost met under his belly! I don't think he cares too much but it made me

Anyway I left him knee deep in haylage and with a brand new bed down. I'm hoping that I can capture this Pinto again on Saturday to do a bit more of this fantastic trotting, before going out on a hack to cool off. If only I didn't have to work...

12 Feb 2008 - Weekend roundup

2008-02-15T10:09:00.000+01:00

Anyway, here is the round up from the weekend!

Thursday (OK. so not strictly the weekend ) I'm now a house owner! Signed the contract at the Notary, so now I'm officially in debt for the next 30 years! My move-in date is 08 April, and it seems to be creeping up rather fast now

The riding shcool has a 2 week holiday now (half term), so my last lesson was on Thursday night. It was OK. We had a student teacher, who still hasn't mastered the "Voice" yet, so catching the instructions were a bit hit and miss as to where you were in the manege in relation to her! My big breakthrough was though... cantering circles! Yay! there was a few other riders who didn't attempt the exercise (as I wouldn't have done last year!), so I'm even more pleased, not only that I attempted it, but that I succeded. OK, my circles weren't exactly 20m, but this whole steering and cantering at the same time is still new to me lol (and yes, I've been riding almost 5 years continuously now :dp )

Saturday: The weather was absolutely fantastic, not a cloud in the sky, so Pinto and I went off on an exploration. We were out for just about 2 hours, and I've certainly seen bits of the Alscace that I haven't seen before. Only had a couple of mis-starts where I had to turn around due to dead ends, but was very pleased with myself for not getting wibbly even though I didn't have a *clue* where I was. We even tried trotting in some places - Pinto was definitely feeling *well* and was trying to charge off everywhere, and exhibiting very nice collected trot with plenty of joint flexion when I asked him back to walk - for 100m

Sunday: Was an evil mum and took Pinto into the manege for exercise. We did a bit lunging with side reins, and he really gets it now. Was very, very pleased with him, and it was so nice to see him working in a good shape for a change. I then hopped on and tried to do more fitness work, but gave up after 5 mins of concerted trotting, when someone else came into the manege to free school.

Monday: Very, very good day! Rode Pinto for the 3rd day in a row (I'm such a terror!), after a 5 min warm up in walk, we proceded to try and co some concerted trotting work. I admit I didn't really have any aim except to keep going. Pinto hardly gets any trot work at all, mainly because I hardly ever ride him in the manege, and outside, I'm either walking, or just having brief canters up hill. So I guess my aim, was just to keep Pinto going, and for me to feel what is going on. I really need to get the osteopath out, as Pinto feels about a straight as a bowl of spaghetti! It was impossible to stay on the piste without him falling in all the time. I also really need to get the dentist out, as he was really fussy with the contact, and occasionally ketp snatching his head up.

Anyway we managed 15 mins of solid trotting before someone else came into the manege. I would have carried on, except Pinto became very distracted and argumentative, trying to get near Sophie all the time. So we rode out of the manege, and out for a hack. Was determined that we would do more trotting outside, and have some semblance of control over it, so on almost every straight we came to we had a little trot. As Pinto has had so much exercise over the past few days I thought I would risk a canter up a hill. The hill is a bit longer, though not as steep as the normal hill, so I thought I would see how I managed. Well as soon as I asked him to trot on the hill he surged off into canter. It was a very polite, restrained canter, actually, but unfortunately my nerves are a bit floppy after the last time, which ended up being a full-out gallop. Looking back now, I'm not sure what was going on in my head! The canter was lovely, well balanced, and not too fast. I was well balanced in the saddle, but something was still shrieking in my head "you'll fall" so I asked Pinto to stop... and he didn't. I actually had to ask 3 times, before he bounced back to trot, all the while thinking "I'm balanced, he's balanced... what's the problem?" It was as if I could hear Pinto saying, "look mum, you're OK... but we're not at the top yet. I'm OK, you're OK. We'll get to the top *then* I'll stop."

After that we trotted a couple of more times on the straights, and... dun dun daaah... on a muddy straight too. I have an absolute fear of Pinto (or any horse) slipping and falling with me, so any time the ground is even slightly wet it's Walk. It's the same going down hill... I'm terrified of the horse slipping, though in general I'm much better with hills now.

I reckon we cut about 20 mins off our hack by trotting where we could, and we both got back to the stables a bit sweaty. I left Pinto knee deep in haylage, so I'm sure he was happy!

I'm feeling a bit stiff, and a bit "off" this morning, but I'm sure it will pass, and I'm so looking forward to the next time I can take Pinto out, and practice trotting along the straights!

4th Feb 2008 - Lovely hack on Saturday

2008-02-15T10:08:00.001+01:00

Sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, bit cold though

We went exploring! Decided to be brave and go a completely different way to normal, though after the shennanigans of last week, decided "safety first" and we went out with a bit and his elastic on.

Pinto was perfect Only a couple of minor disagreements when passing a path which would mean a quicker way home (he certainly knows where he is, even if I don't!).

Found another lovely hill which will be great for cantering once the ground dries out (again!). Went through the forest up and down a hill (which was very slippery), but had to turn back as I didn't want to get completely lost, and I only had about 40mins of proper light left.

On the home straight decided to risk a trot... wow... a wonderful, polite, sloooow trot, with only a couple of tiny half halts to rebalance. It was such a difference from the bitless. He was even polite in going up the last hill, and only for a minute thought about towing me up (the hills arer quite steep, and it is much easier for him to trot or canter, but much *better* for him if he walks lol)

I'm really looking forward to the summer when I can really get out and explore... I never would have thought I could get converted to hacking, since it used to terrify me so much, but now I love it

28 Jan 2008 - Pondering aloud... Am I strange?

2008-02-15T10:07:00.001+01:00

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm strange or not because I take lessons on school horses and prefer to ride Pinto by myself.

I know my RI has commented to a friend what she doesn't know why I don't ride Pinto in lessons as I can 'handle' the other horses, even a couple of tricky ones, and Pinto is better than them??!!

But for me, it is different. I find Pinto very challenging to ride in group lessons, he gets excited very easily, and I seem to spend half the lesson trying to calm him down, rather than concentrating on the exercises. It got to the point where I would dread my lessons, because I found them so difficult... Pinto picked up on this and got more and more argumentative during the lessons.

After the summer break last year I decided that I would just have lessons on school horses, mainly to bolster my courage a bit, ultimately though I need to improve my riding so I can ride Pinto better, rather than trying to school him and figure something out myself at t same time.

In the mean time, Pinto and I have been having an absolutely fab time just hacking. My confidence is growing (check out my other thread from today!), and I know Pinto so much prefers hacking than schooling.

But everyone else at the yard has lessons on their own horse... it's beginning to make me feel, well, a bit of a cop out.

Am I strange for not really wanting to have lessons on Pinto? Having said that I am having a whale of a time (mostly) having lessons on the school horses... and if I could get private lessons I would have them on Pinto. I just feel that group lessons and Pinto just don't mix very well for me!

28 Jan 2008 - First proper hack since before Christmas

2008-02-15T10:03:00.000+01:00

Went out on Saturday afternoon, in lovely sunshine, for the first time since before Christmas (discounting the very quick 30mins at the beginning on Jan).

Was a tad more exciting than planned!

The horses' turnout has been severely limited over the past 3 weeks (only a 1/2 day per week) due to the extremely wet weather - not because we don't want muddy horses, but our clay fields are on the sides of a hill, and when they are very muddy are extremely dangerous for the horses... and as the majority of them are RS horses, the YO can't risk lameness due to tendons or muscle strains. Consequently Pinto hasn't had much time to take the tickle out of his feet.

We started off pretty well, and once we got to the top of the first hill the ground was relatively dry (at last!). We only slithered a little bit at the bottom of the second hill as it is in a 'bottom' and tends to stay quite wet. We head out along the canter path and try out a little trot, cue 'sewing machine on crack' trotting, with lots of bouncing and Tigger impressions, decide that trotting is a bad idea, and ask Pinto to come back down to walk... waaaalk... W.A.L.K... I. Said. WALK. grrr! After another 20 or so metres bouncing around with ears up my nose we eventually settle on a power walk, head down and braced against the bridle (who said that a horse can't lean on a Bitless Bridle?)

Cue argument number one when we come the the cross roads. We always argue here: Pinto wants to go straight on towards the forest, I always turn right up the road. Managed to turn up the road and off we went again.

Wend around the bottom of the field, and come to the curvy hill. Now, we've cantered up here, what, 3 times in the last 9 times we've been out. Pinto takes full advantage and as soon as we turn the corner he launches into a flat out gallop. At which point I'm thinking Oooh :ouch: Not having planned on mad gallops, my stirrups were definitely 'dressage length' and I just couldn't get off his back enough to feel properly balanced (that'll teach me!) and I did have a minor getting to the top of the hill when he show no sign of slowing down. I'm now sitting straighter in the saddle, trying to get my weight back, but being bounced around while 'trooooooooooot' ing. Eventually he realises that he is in no way fit enought to be galloping anywhere, let along up a hill with me on his back... but he was so exceptionally pleased with himself . I could hear him laughing, I swear it!

I really didn't want to repeat that experience (nerves still a bit wobbly) so had to devise a way to get home without going up the normal hill. Ended up doing a loop, and going up another hill, but not before having another argument when I pointed him away from home when we *should have been going down that track THERE, mum!*

I really need to get out exploring a bit more, as I really can't have Pinto deciding when we're going to canter. I hadn't planned on cantering at all on Saturday as he is so unfit. Next time I think some lunging prior to going out will have to take place, as I was extremely unsure of stopping ability on Saturday.

Having said that... looking back... it was just 6 months ago when I was terrified of going out by myself for 15 mins, now I can (just about) laugh the Tiggering off, I didn't fall to pieces during the unscheduled gallop, and managed to calm things down afterwards... I guess I must be improving after all!

5 Jan 2008 - Bit of a disappointing ride today :o(

2008-02-15T09:54:00.000+01:00

Was up early today... 8:30... without an alarm Mainly because of all the water I'm drinking on my diet lol

After going shopping I ended up at the yard at about 2:30, and it was p-ing down, but I actually haven't ridden Pinto out for weeks, and I've been itching to go out for a long ride.

After a very quick groom we were tacked up and ready to go by 3pm, and luckily the rain had lightened to a light drizzle.

Now it has been freezing here for weeks, with temps not much above freezing during the day, and well below freezing on a night. Over the past 2 days it has rained, and today the temp was nearly in double figures, consequently the ground was very wet and muddy.

Even getting off the yard Pinto was very tentative, and once we got to the top of the gravel hill he was doing a Bambi with one leg or another every 3rd step. As well as being disconcerting for me Pinto was very unsure too, I could feel him huffing, and he was very tense through his back... so even before we got to the downhill path (with is steep), I turned him around and went back the way we came.

Pinto made a dive for the gravel hill (quickest way home!) but I insisted tha we continue and ride on down the tarmac road and through the village.

In the end we were only out 30mins, which now seems like no time at all.

Unfortunately the rain doesn't seem to want to let up, and it looks like the ground wont dry up any before tomorrow. Which makes me a bit stuck! All our hacking is off road because the main road is a 90kph A road. If I can get to the yard early enough I might try Pinto in the pelham again, if I can get into the manege, or I might have to just follow the village farm road and turn around at the end.

Goals for 2008

2008-02-15T09:51:00.000+01:00

Here are my goals from last year:

Canter 1 circuit of the manege (preferably on the piste) on Pinto without squeaking.

Canter outside on Pinto

Gain more confidence jumping (not necessarily on Pinto)

Stop feeling so stressed about having to do something correctly NOW, Pinto is my horse, I can take as much time as I like to do things with him.

Ride more often

Move house (my real biggy for next year!)

So next year is basically about being more relaxed with myself and my riding

Hmm... I managed 2 out of 6, so not bad really!

next year I would like to:

Canter 1 circuit of the manege (preferably on the piste) on Pinto without squeaking
Gain more confidence cantering outside, and go for a gallop along the (flat) track
Gain more confidence jumping (not necessarily on Pinto)
Get Pinto going in long reins (without him freaking out!)
Have mor confidence in my own abilities!

3rd Dec 2007

2008-02-15T09:41:00.002+01:00

I've been off the air for what seems like forever, so here is the round up from December:

Typically, on my birthday, the weather was abysmal. Freezing cold with horizontal rain so I didn't get to go out on Pinto (I'm a right fairweather rider... I blame it on not having warm enough or waterproof clothing )

As one of the classes was outside (!) having a XC lesson (!!!) I took Pinto into the manege for a very brief loose schooling / run around session.

He is coming on so well!

First of all, after getting the beans out of the system, and actually listening to me, we decided that we could go from a 'normal' trot to showing lengthend strides back to 'normal'. All I can say is phwoar! Asking Pinto to lengthen, you can see the actual transition! That first stride just hangs in the air before he stretches out his legs and flicks his toes up... And the overtrack! (reminder to self... must ALWAYS put on over reach boots!)

But it was the canter which amazed me. Pinto tends to be all or nothing with canter, and all is a bit hair raising - even if you are standing on the ground! This time, we are getting fantastic, calm, transitions, and a calm, unhurried stride, which is naturally getting shorter and more bouncy ( ??? ) then you can ask him to move out a bit and then you can ask him to turn on the speed

Even better though, is that he is starting to stretch down more in trot, without the guidance from the side reins, and he is starting to look more supple and less tense in his back (and less jarring on his joints!).

I just so ♥ my boy

Always learning!

2007-10-11T23:01:00.000+02:00

This is our canter track; nice isn't it?

Spent a wonderful day at the yard today. Mainly pottering about, but still worked Pinto... trying something new.

I've thought about it for a while, and after our lunging with side reins has gone so well, I got my Pessoa-rip-off out again to see if Pinto was OK with it this time. Well there was mixed results! He didn't freak out this time (*yay*), but he wasn't accepting of it either (*boo hiss*) which was manifested by a very stuffy trot and not wanting to go forward. So after only 2 mins on each side (which was set on the lowest, and supposedly easiest setting) I gave up and switched to the elastique, which was marginally better. He still goes best in side reins though.

So after the lunging exercise, once again we went out on a hack. Even after his day off yesterday, Pinto felt tired, and he soon stopped of his own accord trotting up the first hill. On the canter path though he soon perked up, and we were trotting along like nobody's business. Again I stopped a couple of hundred yards from the end and walked the rest of the way. (Is this getting too boring yet? ;o)) We came to our nice canter hill and off we went. Now I knew Pinto was tired, because he didn't want to go very fast up the hill and he stopped as soon as we got to the top.

Then we went on a little exploration further up the track which we, or at least I, haven't been down before. I found another hill which might be suitbale for cantering up. I'll have to explore further in the other direction. We didn't get to canter up our last hill as we met an acquaintance coming down. Though it was very good for Pinto so he doesn't learn that certain hills always mean cantering.

After we got back to the yard I chucked him out into the field while I waited for the lessons to be posted to see who I would be riding tonight.

I'm really going to miss going to the yard on an afternoon and riding out. I guess my riding out will be confined to the weekends, especially in a couple of weeks once the clocks go back.

and Reeeeeelax...

2007-10-10T22:07:00.000+02:00

Pinto had a well deserved day off today... lucky him will get a double deal tomorrow *snigger* as I'll be exercising and hacking in the morning and will hopefully get a friend to do some videoing in the afternoon (all before my lesson on a club horse in the evening!)

Busy day ahead ;o)

Yehaa!

2007-10-10T12:11:00.000+02:00

<< That's not me by the way, that is a rather mad friend who loves to take Pinto out for a blast now and again.

Well, what can I say? My confidence improves daily, though I do have to suck it up sometimes.

After my revelation on Monday about being able to canter in a forward position up hills I decided that the theory needed to be put to the test… after all, one result does not a theory prove!

So after a lunging session (6+2), which I admit was a bit too long, as Pinto was getting tired at the end, again the riding tack came out and off we went.

Again we did the loop backwards, so it was the canter track first… and I actually did it! Halfway along, the path gets much grassier, therefore less hard, so I asked Pinto to canter (from a trot). He was a bit confused, and didn’t strike off immediately which meant that I had lost my rhythm. But it settled down, and we cantered for about 80m when I decided not to stretch my balance too much (which was decidedly off on the flat!). Of course, Pinto was a bit reluctant to pull up as there was still quite a stretch in front of us, and we must have gone another 20m before he slowed to a trot. Thank goodness for the bitless bridle, which means that I’m not pulling on his mouth when I get unbalanced, but it also means that I can ask much harder to slow down that I would with a bit… and to be honest, sometimes Pinto needs it… he can get a bit “onward bound.”

So after walking calmly the rest of the canter track, Pinto decided that he would rather continue straight on up the path into the woods, but after a slight discussion we turned right to go up the road. We did a little bit of trotting on the road, only slowing as we came to the top of the hill as the road surface deteriorates.

Then we came to the first hill. Yahoooooooo! We went right from the bottom to the top in a fast canter. What a fantastic feeling! I was completely buzzed! So *this* is why people like cantering? I can now understand why!

Well after that little escapade we manage to walk, well at least semi calmly, the rest of the way until we come to the last hill on the way home. I know I was very naughty here, because Pinto is now starting to anticipate at the hills, but I just couldn’t resist! I made him wait until we were on the track then asked him to canter… Wow! I think it was more of a gallop. He really went for it… and it felt GREAT!

Now I want to find some longer hills so I can go on for longer lol. I also need to practice a bit more on the flat, but will have to wait until we’ve had some rain, as the ground is very, very hard at the moment.

Pinto is having a day off today… I’m not fit enough to ride every day! So I think I might spend the afternoon cleaning and oiling my tack.

It's a beautiful day...

2007-10-09T00:57:00.001+02:00

Well... it's sure been a long time; long story, and I'm not going to go into it: but I will pick up the Pinto story again from just over a week ago.

Classes have started again, at the riding school that is, and I eventually plucked up the courage to ask my instructor if I could take lessons on the club horses rather than Pinto... and I have, it's been fun; but Pinto needs his exercise too so we started lunging again, or even from scratch judging by our previous attempts.

Things have been going very, very well, much better than I had originally hoped actually. We have gone from being scared, not going in one direction and bogging off whenever the pressure got too much, to circling nice and politely, with a nice active trot, learning to stretch down into side reins, and wonder of wonders, being able to do it holding a whip. Of course it is slow business, I can’t expect perfection immediately, but I would say we are 200% better than 6 months ago.

Now to the riding :oD Actually with all the lunging I hadn’t actually ridden Pinto for several weeks (*hangs head in shame*) before Saturday 06 Oct! For a change I managed to get to the yard in the break between lessons so we had a really positive lunging session, then back into the box for ½ an hour while I had a drink and gathered the riding tack. I have to say, Pinto was most unimpressed to be presented with a saddle so soon after doing “work” but we got ready and went out anyway!

We had an absolutely fantastic ride, and for the first time since July had an intentional canter up “our” canter hill. This time it was much longer, long enough for me to get the feel of things… long enough for me to enjoy it! (*yay*) We also trotted almost the entire length of the long canter trail, making me a very, very happy bunny!

And on to today!

Another wonderful day today: We are now up to 5+1 minutes of trotting on each rein in our lunging sessions. I am starting to see some muscle definition in Pintos haunches, and he is really starting to get the idea of the side reins, and is now starting to stretch down more consistently.

This time we went out on a hack almost immediately, Pinto finished the lunging session quite warm and although I cooled him down I didn’t want him getting completely cold before our hack. Today we did our usual loop backwards, including trotting along the canter path in the opposite direction and then cantering up the hill from the other side… then cantering up the hill nearest to home! I was completely grinning the entire way, and starting to feel that I might be able to enjoy this canter lark!

Hopefully there should be more to report tomorrow!

Beating old fears

2007-07-12T22:03:00.000+02:00

Well I managed to hatch my plan today, after weeks of planning and putting off...

Yes, today I cantered outside, for the first time since that ill-fated rando I went on last April.

OK, you might say, big deal??? Well to me, it IS a big deal... it is a HOOOOOOOOGE deal... cantering outside is my biggest all time fear on horseback (well apart from getting tanked off with... which goes hand in hand with the whole cantering thing :oP)

I managed not to escape work early, and in fact didn't leave til nearly 6pm, so consequently I was a tad late actually getting to the yard. Pinto was in the top part of the field, and though he didn't actually walk up to me, he didn't walk away either.

When I was actually bringing him through the gate I noticed that the farrier had been and trimmed his feet *tears hair out* I really wanted to be there when Francis trimmed him, at least so I could wash Pintos feet and legs first. I must take a new series of photos on Saturday, but his front feet look much shorter now, which is good... anyway I digress.

Tack was on in record time and mounted with absolutely no probs, probably the quickest I have ever got into the saddle from the block before, and once again we were off.

I followed the same route as outlined in my second post below, but this time encorporated more trotting. First of all on the road. Pinto had walked down the first hill a bit stiff legged, and I was wondering if his feet were a touch tender after the trimming, so I wanted to do a small trot on an even solid surface... but he was fine. A bit taken a back perhaps, because I never ask him to trot outside, so first of all we had a wonderful slow trot, before he slowly sped up and started rushing. When we turned the corned I asked him back down into walk because the surface of the road deteriorates and becomes a lot more stoney.

Then we came to that hill. Funnily enough, looking at it a second time it didn't look half so steep or long as I remembered *rolleyes* So we set off walking, and then I asked Pinto to trot. Then as I screwed my courage right up, I sat and smooched, and all of a sudden we were cantering :oD :oD :oD

After about 10 strides I asked him back to trot, and then back to walk. Oh I was sooooo happy. I "yeehaa'd" in a screech or two I was so happy and relieved.

After that the rest of the hack seemed to fly by, and what seemed like a long hack the first time, was now suddenly over.

Of course Pinto now has more confidence in me, and was trying to trot along every flat bit of ground there was... and sometimes we did trot, sometimes I managed to contain everything and keep it to a walk.

Oh how pleased I was with myself and Pinto once we got back to the yard... I still can't get over the fact that I actually cantered, and even more so that I was by myself.

Now I just have to find other hills suitable for practicing ;o)

...a very happy and buzzed rider

:oD

Tarmac Promenading

2007-07-11T21:26:00.000+02:00

So I managed to escape work early today... not bad, I was aiming for 5pm, and eventually clocked out at 5:35... definitely not bad ;o)

Got to the yard, and once again my georgeous man was waiting by the gate, this time with his partner in crime Iacouti (aka yak-yak). I got out of the car and smooched at him and he immediately lifts his head and walks down to the gate *bless - I love my pone so much*

Then... *grrr - kids* a couple of young lasses, probably not more than 10 or so were picking apples off the trees and chucking them in the field. Some people just have no horse sense at all. There was a small group of about 8 horses all going after these apples, and one or two of the horses were really going for it... chasing the others off with hoofs and teeth. So the horses running away (including Pinto) were having to watch the teeth and hoofs in one direction, and the mains-electrified fence in the other... And still more apples kept getting lobbed into the field.

In the end I rushed around, and brought Pinto out of the field earlier than I had planned.

Pinto's introduction to bananas...
I had some very ripe bananas lying around at home... far beyond what I would consder eating, so I decided to introduce Pinto to them *giggle*

The first one was really nasty to peel, and was practically goo in my hand. Pinto eat it with the funniest expression on his face :oP Then next two were squeezed from thier skins like toothpast from a tube, which Pinto took great delight in slobbering all over me *bleugh*

After a mammoth foot picking session (when will that sole exfoliate fully?) I decide to hand walk Pinto down the road. We only go into the village and up to the water trough before turning round an heading back again. It takes 10 minutes, and really helps to keep those toes back.

Pintos feet are just about 100% recovered from the randonnee in May, and after Francis' next visit (very soon I hope) his feet should be in tiptop condition again. He is certainly clopping along on the tarmac just as loudly as any shod horse ;o)

Tomorrow, weather permitting (and we've had no rain for 12 hours now *crossing everything in sight*), I am going to ride *nods* definitely. I have *plans*... hopefully to be elucidated tomorrow evening...

I am calm... I AM calm

2007-07-10T21:08:00.000+02:00

"I am as calm as a lake on a summer day..." or so I keep trying to remind myself. In reality I'm seething like a pit of snakes and as tired as... well I'm too tired to try and think of a simile.

I've had nothing but meetings and difficult emails to write at work today, and didn't escape until 8:45pm... so I didn't even get to see Pinto tonight *wails*

Therefore planning on escaping work early tomorrow *ebil laugh*

'til tomorrow good readers...

A preponderance of ponderings

2007-07-09T11:40:00.000+02:00

Now that I've had time to reflect and digest that mini marvel I called a hack yesterday; I'll try and write my thoughts in a semi lucid manner:

Hacking about the countryside should be fun and relaxing... right? Well for me it is also a time for experimenting. Pinto is very focussed while out hacking, always wanting to know what is over the next hill or around the next corner. It makes for very quick walking ;o) - which is Ok if you are by yourself, but if you are with other people it does mean having to stop every now and again in order for the group to catch up. It also gives my hips a rest from swinging and dipping. I don't have the most mobile lower back, and riding on a power walking coblet for hours is very wearing on my poor hips... as evidenced by my stiff backed and hipped gait today.

Normally I have to try very hard to be relaxed and ride with a long rein, but yesterday I tried more to have a consistent feeling down both reins as pinto can be very lopsided. It really doesn't help that with the bitless bridle (BB) my right rein always ends up longer than my left. I relly must measure the cross under straps to see if they have stretched, as yesterday the right rein was a good 6ins longer than my left, and it makes life a tad difficult when trying to assess rein length.

Anyway... it wasn't long before I took up what I would call a 'normal' contact with a definite equal weight in each rein. You may think this is odd, however ever since I switched to the BB I've used only a very light contact as I was told that you don't need as much contact as with a normal bit. After 6 months Pinto's musculature has deteriorated, and he has grown muscles in all the wrong places, i was all for giving up with the BB, when during my last lesson of the year (a very ebil mise en selle lesson) I had to take up a much stronger contact than usual and *bang* Pinto is powering along in a wonderful novice outline really swinging with his back end. Ever since then I've been wondering how I could replicate the feeling, but haven't really had the opportunity because I haven't schooled at all .../ digression *rolleyes*

So after lolloping along the edge of a field, every so often a foot disappearing down a rut we have to climb a nice, looooooong, steep hill. Pinto was all for trotting, but I said... "Oh, I don't think so, my lad... think of those bum muscles" at the top of the climb we break for a minute to let the other two catch up and then we have to cut up along a stubble field. For some reason I just took a stronger contact then. Myabe I was subconsciously aware that I was thinging "oooh great canter spot" and I didn't want to transmit that thought to Pinto - who knows... but I then thought "I've got it again." Pinto was reaching down into the bridle, putting some of his own tension on the reins and powering along. I was so amazed... it's not often that I ride these days without having my view blocked by a very hairy neck and a pair of ears.

So I experimented the rest of the way with this tension in the reins... Pinto was much straighter and less inclined to banana. Obviously he also found it hard work. It is the first time he has worked 'correctly' even in walk for months. by the end of the ride he had started leaning on my hands and stretching down a lot more. I did allow his to stretch occasionally, but the sneaky bugger was using these stretches to attempt to snatch a mouthful of grass too... which earned him an "OI!" and a "grrrr".

The best laugh I have had in ages came from Iris (pronounced i-ris... not eye-ris) who is Christines huuuuuuge SF gelding. When we were heading along the canter track back home he suddenly dived to the side and bit off a whole cane of corn!!! He had already been told off several times for trying to snatch at the grass when this occurred. Oh how I wish I had my camera. For a couple of hundred yards he carried this cane like a lollypop which the leafy bits almost dragging on the ground. Obviously he had a bit in and couldn't eat such a muge morsel... but he looked extremely smug.

It was just at we were 10 mins from home when the threatened thunderstorm eventually broke, and boy, was that rain cold! Thankfully it didn't last long, and I was able to untack at the yard without getting even more wet!

The grass is always greener...

2007-07-08T19:11:00.000+02:00

Well according to Pinto... the grass is always just that *bit* more juicy on the *other side* of that mains-connected electic fence... still I guess it was well deserved after our nice trip out this afternoon *nods*

I woke up to rain this morning, and I was terribly disappointed as I had been looking forward to hacking out this afternoon. The weather improved - slightly - as the day went on, and I eventually got to a dryish yard at 3pm.

Pinto was right at the gate looking rather smug... no doubt due to the extensive mud bath he had been treating himself to. Honestly, men! My pone is actually half hippo I think, as there is nothing he loves more than wallowing in the mud. No doubt is is some subtle ploy for meto spend more time with him... like I said: Men!

He had the quickest de-mudding possible, and I didn't really do a very good job - but he was clean and dry where all the tack was going, and I wanted to get on and be off... nver thought I'd hear myself say that mind you. This time last year the thought of going on a hack, let alone by myself was enough to loosen my bowels and send my heart racing. Now I savour the time alone with my boy, where I'm not constrained to ride at a certain speed or in a certain direction, always watching for out for people and other horses in the manege... Nope... I'm well on the way to discarding my dressage queen hopes and turning into a happy hacker. No doubt Pinto will love me more for it, as there is nothing he loves more than going out and about ;o)

I had just chucked all his tack on and lead him down to my mounting post, when I met Christine and Joannie who were also going out, and I got invited along... just at a walk mind, C said... pas problem I replied... c'est bon!

So off we went again, and once again it didn't take me long to get completely and utterly lost. My confidence is obviously much improved, as I really felt the urge in places to trot, and now that the wheat fields are being harvested, there are lots of sloping hills just asking to be cantered up.

How Christine finds her way around I have no idea. We were in and out of the forest, obviously down little used tracks as I had to lie flat along Pinto's neck to avoid being taken out by the trees :oP

Then I realised where we were, though it has been more than a year sice I have been along this path and I couldn't quite make the route back to the farm. It was also here that Pinto had a proper spook... one of the first real spooks since I got him. He was staring at something, but I couldn't tell whether it was round the corner or in the trees. So asking him to walk on firmly we managed another step or two forward. He was taking these huge great breaths, and eyes on stalks... Then I could see what he problem was... since the last time he has been along this path the orienteering signs have been replaced and the new sign was bright white on a 1m stake... it was obviously plotting about the best way to ambush patchy ponies because Pinto scooted past cantering sideways to escape. At this point my heart was in my mouth as I very nearly became unseated... though Pinto being Pinto settled right down again after 3 strides... silly sausage.

A bit further on, I was musing to myself... never in a month of Sundays could I have done that last year either... last year all concentration was needed when riding - no mind wandering allowed *rolleyes* ... Pinto was feeling exceptionally bouncy. He obviously was doing a cob walk, bringing those knees up. I know he was asking for a trot, and tbh, if we had been alone I would have asked him to, but we had to be sensible and stay in walk... which was actually what brought on the musing. Pinto hadn't been ridden for 2 weeks. I brought him out of the field, jumped on, and just went on a group walking hack with all these wide open fields and inviting tracks. I couldn't really ask more from my pone... could I?

Powerwalking on the canter track

2007-07-07T19:08:00.001+02:00

2007-07-07T18:32:00.000+02:00

At last, back on line... had so many problems trying to log in to blogger :oP

Pinto has had a bit of a holiday in the past 2 weeks, mainly due to the weather and to my heavy workload at the office. I so can't wait intil the end of July and this report will be over and done with for hopefully 3 years *mini dance*

Anyhoo... a couple of weeks ago I took Pinto out for a hack - all by myself - for over an hour. How proud of myself was I? lol It was a beautiful day with just a few clouds and a little wind. First of all we have to climb the hill: which is a great test for our bare feet. That particular day though, we just marched up with no problems at all.

Then we have a choice of left:

Or right:

Since left is mainly just the short loop which takes only 15mins or so, we went right. There are just so many more choices available that way.

First of all, we go along the top of the cross:

Which has you leaning right down to avoid being whipped by the overhanging branches. Makes everything so much closer to nature ;o) It is quite a steep drop down into the woods along the righthandside, and me and my over active imagination are always waiting for something to jupe out and spook Pinto... obviously this didn't happen, and I had to give myself a stern talking to (yet again).

We strode down the hill, past the bee nest in the old caravan, like troopers and then took a left onto the "road"

I have plans for trotting along this road on my next excursion. It is just a short stretch, and more roadwork would benefit Pintos feet I think.

At the end of the road there is a wonderful long quite steep hill... my first canter outside perhaps? Who knows, maybe in the future. It sure is hard work to walk up though *snigger* I'm such an awful mum, but it is good for those bum muscles ;o)

More beautiful scenery at the top:

By this point I'm about halfway round, and I'm now more concerned about finding the right way home. I've only done this hack once before, and I was with two others then who were giving me directions. After my little wibble, I was then "Ah ha!" as I remembered about the road wich cut through the forest. A bit more roadwork, and I can now remember where I am again:

See that tiny square on the horizon? That is my point of reference all the time. If I can see that I know I'm not too far from home.

Then came the scarey bit of my hack. I had noticed a parked car on the track, and I had to pass really close to it. At first I was wondering a what I was going to disturb *snigger* but the car had 4 youngish lads in it *meep*. I was sooo tempted to ask Pinto into a trot once we had passed them, but I restraned myself and we just powerwalked:

This is one of the most commonly used canter tracks because it is long and flat. Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll be using it for just that... not just for walking along.

Having said that... on the second part where the ground was a bit dryer we did trot for about 50m. I was so excited and proud of myself. But it just felt so right at the time, I couldn't resist. Onwards and upwards girl ;o)

Once we come to the end of the canter track, we are back at the bottom of the first hill we climb down, and therefore nearly home. I confused poor Pinto though, and instead of heading back down the gravel path I continued on to do the short loop too *snigger* Pinto argued a little bit, which consisted of sidling and walking sideways, trying his best to go the short way, but he soon resigned himself to yet more exercise *ebil*

Then again I confused him even further by asking him to continue down the hill and into the village rather than cutting up by the farm. I managed to interrupt a wedding... well at least the people standing outside the church waiting for the bride and groom to emerge. There were shouts of "cheval, cheval" by the gathered children, though thankfully none approached Pinto like they normally do.

Funnily enough we has our two biggest spooks in the village. One was caused by a man "hiding" round a corner. No doubt he heard us coming and decided to move out of the way as to "not scare the horse" silly individual. The second was only a few metres along the road where a lady was pruning a shrub which occasionally *wiggled and shivvered* and was no doubt getting ready to pounce and eat Pinto *snigger*

All in all I had a great ride, and now that the sun is finally back out after 2 weeks of horrid weather, I'm hoping to ride again tomorrow... all being well.

2007-06-19T11:12:00.000+02:00

Pinto and I only have a short history together; less than 2 years in fact, but it has been a sharp learning curve for me and a time of blossoming for Pinto.

Pinto is a 14.3hh bay tobi cob-type horse who is now 13 years old. He is my first horse and has been a fantastic teacher so far. We still have a long journey to travel together, and I'm hoping that this blog will help me document that journey; both the good bits and the bad bits.