Today Nadine (my housemate) made us pancakes for lunch so we had longer for lunch than normal as the pancakes took quite a while to cook!
So this afternoon I didn’t have as long as normal to play with the ponies, but still had about three hours!! I started with playing with Blossom after a little warm up we headed over to the pedestal to work on getting her back feet closer or even on the pedestal. This went quite well and she is now really thinking about what I am asking her and trying really hard for me. Today she managed to have three feet on the pedestal at the same time, so I was really happy with this. We then moved on to play with the ball again and today instead of trying to stand on the ball she managed to kick it for a couple of strides.
We then moved on to playing with change of direction again, there was an improvement from yesterday but still lots of work needed. Next we played with the figure of eight pattern, in walk this is really good and Blossom appears to know the pattern really well but as soon as we move up into trot the problems start.. She either stops when I try to draw her towards me or tries to run past.. Eddy recommend taking her tp play near one of the walls and just concentrate on getting two eyes from her on the draw toward me as he thinks this could be the problem that she doesn’t want to give me two eyes or change eyes that’s why I have so much problems with this pattern and change of direction. This seemed to help and as soon as she gave me two eyes I would rest her. This also gave me a great opportunity to watch Eddy playing with a 6 month old foal, this was really good to watch and I think I learnt quite a lot from this.
Today I played more friendly games with Smarty with ropes around his bum and back legs, today he was much quicker to relax so that was good. I then just played lots of friendly all over with him with the CS and my hands and then just spent some time chilling with him. Eddy was riding a horse and playing with another, so this was really interesting to watch so I just sat with Smarty and watched this.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday 29th Novemeber
Well I think I am getting the routine of things around here now, still know idea what all the horses are called but I know the difference between them so that’s something I suppose.
After lunch I went out to play with Blossom I had the indoor school to myself for about 3 hours, so that was great!!
We started with friendly and then played with driving from zone 3 around the school looking for different obstacle for Blossom to put her nose on. We the played with yo yo, circles, circles over a jump and then moved on to playing with change of direction. This wasn’t going very well, and just at this stage Eddy appeared so he gave me a few ideas of ways I can play to try and help get the change of direction. So I played around with these new ideas and found which ones worked best for Blossom, after playing around with this for about half an hour we were starting to get some nice changes on the left rein to the right. But the right rein to the left still needs a lot of work, so at the moment I am just breaking it all down to encourage Blossom to just come to me when I start walking backwards.
We then played with the figure of eight pattern and I found that Blossom has problem drawing into me going to the right, same as change of direction. So it will be interesting to see if breaking down the change of direction to help Blossom understand and help her confidence - will this also improve our figure of eight pattern…
Blossom then decided she wanted to go and stand on the pedestal as this is her favourite spot. I have noticed while she is up there she keeps her back legs as far away as possible… So today I thought it would be a good idea to try and get her to walk over the pedestal to encourage her to put her back feet on, I didn’t want to ask her to stand her back feet on, just simple walk over and let her back feet touch the pedestal . This proved to be more of a challenge than I originally thought it would be, but by the end she was walking over and letting one foot touch the pedestal so I left it at that and will hopefully continue to do this with her to improve her confidence.
I then saddled and starting riding the rail of the arena, adding in some sideways and nine step back ups and once she was settled started adding in some transitions to trot. Eddy was watching me do this and one thing he noticed was that when I do my 9 step back up I don’t stayed stopped for very long… And thought it would be better for Blossom for me to let her stay still for longer to try and teach her to not always go. I know this, but of course it wasn’t until Eddy said it to me I thought why am I not already doing that!! It’s brilliant having Eddy picking up on all these little things I am doing wrong as they are going to help me lots!!
Smarty was much more relaxed today with me playing friendly game with the CS, and also just with my hands on his legs so that was nice to see. Today we also played with all the other 6 games, everything went quite well considering how new all this is to him so I was very impressed at how quickly he is learning!
Eddy had suggested yesterday to play friendly game with him with the 22ft rope around his bum to get him more used to things near his back legs. Eddy had just finished playing with a horse so I asked him if he would do it with him first and I could watch. Well I am so glad Eddy done this with him first as he really didn’t like it very much to start with and was cantering round in circles trying to get it off him, I would have ended up tangled up in all the ropes!! But very quickly he started to become used to the idea and was happy to walk round with the occasional trot if the rope slipped down below his hocks. So I had a little shot and managed fine and Smarty really started to get the idea that things touching his legs are not going to hurt him. So I am going t start doing this with him everyday to get him totally used to this!
I finished with Smarty riding him bareback around the arena in just walk and trot, he was really good so I am going to start doing more bareback work with him. Because of his mud fever spreading up to his girth area I don’t want to use saddle on him again until the girth area is fully healed and all the hair s grown back, so for now all riding ill be bareback!
After lunch I went out to play with Blossom I had the indoor school to myself for about 3 hours, so that was great!!
We started with friendly and then played with driving from zone 3 around the school looking for different obstacle for Blossom to put her nose on. We the played with yo yo, circles, circles over a jump and then moved on to playing with change of direction. This wasn’t going very well, and just at this stage Eddy appeared so he gave me a few ideas of ways I can play to try and help get the change of direction. So I played around with these new ideas and found which ones worked best for Blossom, after playing around with this for about half an hour we were starting to get some nice changes on the left rein to the right. But the right rein to the left still needs a lot of work, so at the moment I am just breaking it all down to encourage Blossom to just come to me when I start walking backwards.
We then played with the figure of eight pattern and I found that Blossom has problem drawing into me going to the right, same as change of direction. So it will be interesting to see if breaking down the change of direction to help Blossom understand and help her confidence - will this also improve our figure of eight pattern…
Blossom then decided she wanted to go and stand on the pedestal as this is her favourite spot. I have noticed while she is up there she keeps her back legs as far away as possible… So today I thought it would be a good idea to try and get her to walk over the pedestal to encourage her to put her back feet on, I didn’t want to ask her to stand her back feet on, just simple walk over and let her back feet touch the pedestal . This proved to be more of a challenge than I originally thought it would be, but by the end she was walking over and letting one foot touch the pedestal so I left it at that and will hopefully continue to do this with her to improve her confidence.
I then saddled and starting riding the rail of the arena, adding in some sideways and nine step back ups and once she was settled started adding in some transitions to trot. Eddy was watching me do this and one thing he noticed was that when I do my 9 step back up I don’t stayed stopped for very long… And thought it would be better for Blossom for me to let her stay still for longer to try and teach her to not always go. I know this, but of course it wasn’t until Eddy said it to me I thought why am I not already doing that!! It’s brilliant having Eddy picking up on all these little things I am doing wrong as they are going to help me lots!!
Smarty was much more relaxed today with me playing friendly game with the CS, and also just with my hands on his legs so that was nice to see. Today we also played with all the other 6 games, everything went quite well considering how new all this is to him so I was very impressed at how quickly he is learning!
Eddy had suggested yesterday to play friendly game with him with the 22ft rope around his bum to get him more used to things near his back legs. Eddy had just finished playing with a horse so I asked him if he would do it with him first and I could watch. Well I am so glad Eddy done this with him first as he really didn’t like it very much to start with and was cantering round in circles trying to get it off him, I would have ended up tangled up in all the ropes!! But very quickly he started to become used to the idea and was happy to walk round with the occasional trot if the rope slipped down below his hocks. So I had a little shot and managed fine and Smarty really started to get the idea that things touching his legs are not going to hurt him. So I am going t start doing this with him everyday to get him totally used to this!
I finished with Smarty riding him bareback around the arena in just walk and trot, he was really good so I am going to start doing more bareback work with him. Because of his mud fever spreading up to his girth area I don’t want to use saddle on him again until the girth area is fully healed and all the hair s grown back, so for now all riding ill be bareback!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday 28th November
Today was my first full day as a working student for Eddy Modde!
The work day starts at 9am, which is a really long lie for me! We start with feeding the horses and giving them all more hay. We then have to move some of the horses into different pens to give them some time to play. We then muck out the stables and give more hay and water to all the horses. We then have some other chores around the yard like cleaning the canteen, sweeping outside, cleaning the coffee machine and others I haven‘t learnt what they are yet. Before lunch we have to bring some of the horses back into their stables and move some others out and then it’s lunch time.
After lunch is our own time to play with our horses.
I started with playing with Blossom, I didn’t do anything very exciting as I am still allowing her time to adjust to her new home before asking her to do anything new.
We started with lots of friendly and stick to me, with lots of trot to try and warm us both up and get her more connected to me. Then played with yo yo game and sideways, both went very well so we moved onto playing with circles and really working on keeping her focus on me. It was getting better and we even managed to get a few changes of direction and transitions in there too!
I then let Blossom stand on the pedestal, she just loves standing up there and makes it very difficult for me to convince her to come back down again.
We then played with the ball which is a new toy for Blossom, so I wasn’t very sure what she would think of this. It was in the corner of the indoor school so I just rolled it out towards Blossom and she just had a little sniff at it then a little paw, and then she looked at me and I felt she was saying well now what do you want me to do? stand on this?? Well she gave this idea a good try anyway, but couldn’t quite manage to balance herself on there!!
I then saddled and girthed in three stages and mounted and checked my lateral flexion all was good so we headed off to follow the rail in walk, adding in 9 step back up every so often. We then tried some trot, but she was really impulsive today so we only tried for a couple of strides and then back to walk.
As Smarty hasn’t done any Parelli before I am just taking things really slowly with him to build up his trust in me, especially around his legs. As he has had a extreme case of mud fever he still expects his legs to be extremely sore and doesn’t like me to touch them so I spent a lot of time today playing friendly with his legs with my hands and also the CS. Near the end of the session I was able to touch his legs without him moving or lifting his legs so I am really happy about that. We also started playing with the next 3 games, he is a very clever little pony and seems to pick up what I am asking of him very quickly so think he is going to be really fun and a challenge to play with, so I looking forward to the next few weeks with him.
Before we finish for the night we have to skip the stables of any poo and give the horses more hay and check all the water and then feed before we finish and go for dinner.
Well really enjoyed my first day, just need to get used to the routine so I am not always asking what I am to do next, but I am sure that will come soon enough.
The work day starts at 9am, which is a really long lie for me! We start with feeding the horses and giving them all more hay. We then have to move some of the horses into different pens to give them some time to play. We then muck out the stables and give more hay and water to all the horses. We then have some other chores around the yard like cleaning the canteen, sweeping outside, cleaning the coffee machine and others I haven‘t learnt what they are yet. Before lunch we have to bring some of the horses back into their stables and move some others out and then it’s lunch time.
After lunch is our own time to play with our horses.
I started with playing with Blossom, I didn’t do anything very exciting as I am still allowing her time to adjust to her new home before asking her to do anything new.
We started with lots of friendly and stick to me, with lots of trot to try and warm us both up and get her more connected to me. Then played with yo yo game and sideways, both went very well so we moved onto playing with circles and really working on keeping her focus on me. It was getting better and we even managed to get a few changes of direction and transitions in there too!
I then let Blossom stand on the pedestal, she just loves standing up there and makes it very difficult for me to convince her to come back down again.
We then played with the ball which is a new toy for Blossom, so I wasn’t very sure what she would think of this. It was in the corner of the indoor school so I just rolled it out towards Blossom and she just had a little sniff at it then a little paw, and then she looked at me and I felt she was saying well now what do you want me to do? stand on this?? Well she gave this idea a good try anyway, but couldn’t quite manage to balance herself on there!!
I then saddled and girthed in three stages and mounted and checked my lateral flexion all was good so we headed off to follow the rail in walk, adding in 9 step back up every so often. We then tried some trot, but she was really impulsive today so we only tried for a couple of strides and then back to walk.
As Smarty hasn’t done any Parelli before I am just taking things really slowly with him to build up his trust in me, especially around his legs. As he has had a extreme case of mud fever he still expects his legs to be extremely sore and doesn’t like me to touch them so I spent a lot of time today playing friendly with his legs with my hands and also the CS. Near the end of the session I was able to touch his legs without him moving or lifting his legs so I am really happy about that. We also started playing with the next 3 games, he is a very clever little pony and seems to pick up what I am asking of him very quickly so think he is going to be really fun and a challenge to play with, so I looking forward to the next few weeks with him.
Before we finish for the night we have to skip the stables of any poo and give the horses more hay and check all the water and then feed before we finish and go for dinner.
Well really enjoyed my first day, just need to get used to the routine so I am not always asking what I am to do next, but I am sure that will come soon enough.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thursday 27th November
Well we have arrived after a 23 hour journey!! The ponies both travelled really well, and now seem happy in their new home.
I had a little play with both ponies this afternoon, but did't want to do too much with them after their long journey.
Tomorow will be my first full day here so I will find out then what I have to do everyday and also have a better play with the ponies, so really looking forward to that!
I had a little play with both ponies this afternoon, but did't want to do too much with them after their long journey.
Tomorow will be my first full day here so I will find out then what I have to do everyday and also have a better play with the ponies, so really looking forward to that!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tuesday 25th November
Only 1 sleep to go!!
Bit of a change of plan, we will now be travelling Hull to Rotterdam tomorrow night. As the captain won't allow us on the orignal route with ponies because of the weather!
Bit of a change of plan, we will now be travelling Hull to Rotterdam tomorrow night. As the captain won't allow us on the orignal route with ponies because of the weather!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Saturday 15th November
Now that I have decided to take the two ponies with me to Holland instead of just Blossom, I thought it would be a better idea to use the trailer we bought from Kris instead of our own one.
So to make sure the ponies were confident we had a trailer loading practice this morning. (Smarty hasn’t done very much Parelli so he will just be loaded with me leading him in, which he is more than happy with and travels really well)
Blossom was slightly unsure of this trailer to start with so we used lots of approach and retreat and very quickly she was happily going in the trailer and standing happily! My sister then arrived so I used this as an opportunity to get her to load Smarty for me and then I loaded Blossom – They were both happily standing there so I closed up the back ramp and left them in there for about 15 minutes. I then let them out and then asked Blossom to load again which she done first time, so I was really happy with this so finished on that.
I went home to start packing some of my clothes and had a little helper!!
Well after convincing Dylan we didn’t need any help and he wasn’t coming with me I actually got a lot packed which makes me feel a lot better!
This afternoon I thought it would be an idea to load the ponies into the trailer again and leave them in for a little longer this time.
Blossom loading straight in this time!! I then left them in there for just under two hours. During this time there was tractors going past and lorries unloading diggers so this was a great experience for them, as they will hear similar noises on the ferry when the lorries are being loaded and unloaded on to the boat.
So to make sure the ponies were confident we had a trailer loading practice this morning. (Smarty hasn’t done very much Parelli so he will just be loaded with me leading him in, which he is more than happy with and travels really well)
Blossom was slightly unsure of this trailer to start with so we used lots of approach and retreat and very quickly she was happily going in the trailer and standing happily! My sister then arrived so I used this as an opportunity to get her to load Smarty for me and then I loaded Blossom – They were both happily standing there so I closed up the back ramp and left them in there for about 15 minutes. I then let them out and then asked Blossom to load again which she done first time, so I was really happy with this so finished on that.
I went home to start packing some of my clothes and had a little helper!!
Well after convincing Dylan we didn’t need any help and he wasn’t coming with me I actually got a lot packed which makes me feel a lot better!
This afternoon I thought it would be an idea to load the ponies into the trailer again and leave them in for a little longer this time.
Blossom loading straight in this time!! I then left them in there for just under two hours. During this time there was tractors going past and lorries unloading diggers so this was a great experience for them, as they will hear similar noises on the ferry when the lorries are being loaded and unloaded on to the boat.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Tuesday 11th November
Well not long to go now - only two weeks and 1 day!!
I have booked my ferry, so the plan is to go on Wednesday 26th crossing at 19.00 from Hull into Zebrugge.
I have booked my ferry, so the plan is to go on Wednesday 26th crossing at 19.00 from Hull into Zebrugge.
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