Approach and retreat

I took Gally out for a trail ride. I felt nice and relaxed, and just wanted both of us to enjoy something other than 20m circles in the arena.

We had the odd stop and look along the way, but overall Gally was walking out nicely. Until we got to the dam. The pool of water is nicely shaded, and looks dark and cold and mysterious. Gally stopped dead at the sight of it. He eyed off the bush to the right, but I quickly checked him with the left rein. So he backed up ten steps.

Normally, this would have sent me kicking him forward. But like I said, today I felt nice and relaxed. So when he backed up, I sat and waited. After what seemed like an "appropriate" amount of time, I kicked him forward. We got to the same spot, he looked at the water in the dam, and backed up again. Again, I waited calmly before asking him to go forwards again.

This game of approach and retreat repeated itself about three or four times. And then Gally went forward cautiously and walked past the dam like a pro. He was still nervous, but he was willing to trust me. I on the other hand did my job of staying relaxed and not working myself into a crazy frenzy.

I am convinced that as a result, we got past the dam faster than we would have if I had got all uptight about the situation. This is an approach that might not work with all horses, but it certainly works with Gally.

Sit still

Gally is now back in work, and today he highlighted to me the importance of sitting still.

I like to get my horses doing lots of turn on the forehand and turn on the hind quarters. It doesn't have to be perfect, the idea is to get the horse moving off my leg. When I was doing the turn on the forehand Gally was ok, but not super responsive. But when I tried a turn on the hind quarters, I brought my leg a smigin forward of the girth and boy did I get an instant reaction. That was fabulous.

I took my leg off and relaxed. Reward for the horse, thinking time for me. Why is Gally not that reactive behind the girth? Because my leg sits there the whole time, and I dig my spur in sometimes intentionally, sometimes in frustration, sometimes because it just dangles.

So I went back to my walk and trot work, paying exceptional attention to keep my leg and my hands very still. Hey presto. Magic. I got much better quality work. Oddly enough I got a better, more active trot, using less spur.

Now I will be the first to admit that coaches have told me this before - plenty of times. It took a horse to show me just how important it really is.

All plaited up and nowhere to go

Yesterday, we spent all afternoon washing and plaiting our ponies. Sabina - Tornado; me - Dingo. Sabina didn't have much to plait as minatures are shown "natural". But I was busy plaiting Dingo and doing rosettes. It took me ages, as I lack experience - especially with needle and thread. Not to mention there is a real art in getting the width of the plaits right. I got them too wide ... this time.

Just as I completed the last rosette, I got an sms from a friend that the Lang Lang Show has been cancelled. I ran home and double checked on my own computer. Yep - cancelled due to rain. Well, I don't blame them. It has rained a lot, and Lang Lang is in a low lying flood-type plain. I am the last one that wants to rock up with car and trailer only to get bogged.

Still, that leaves us all plaited up this lovely morning, with nowhere to go.

But I can't really complain. The practice run has been fabulous.

New horses

I've had the opportunity to play around with my new horses today.

It turns out that Dingo is about 13hh.  So far, he is just fantastic.  He got put through brushing, hoof picking, being tied up, being walked and trotted out, and hosing.  A+ for everything.

Princess Lil measures up at 15.1hh.  She is a bit more flighty than Dingo, but very willing to pay attention.  She got put through brushing, hoof picking, being tied up, and the horse wash (the full on shampoo treatment, not just hosing).  A+ for everything except being tied up.  An A for being tied up - she was tempted to walk around a bit.  We will work on that.

Start Training

I have always wondered how and when the transition would occur from me being simply a rider, to a horse trainer. I think I have tiptoed around this for years. So when I heard that the neighbours were selling their two horses, I decided to have a look.

When I did have a look, I was quite impressed with what I saw. The horses were reasonably young, and quite keen to work with humans. And so I rang the owners and settled the price. Today we walked the horses back to our property. The walk itself was uneventful - a good sign. And so Dingo, and Princess Lil have come to join our herd.

Dingo is a chestnut pony/galloway (I have to measure him), that will make a superb pony club mount. He is quite showy too. He has a lovely temperament, and is very keen to cooperate. His main problem right now is that he is just too fat! I have no idea how old he is, but he doesn't look too long in the tooth.

Princess Lil is an ex-racehorse. She's definitely got some speed in her, but she seems very trainable, and seems to relax very quickly. On the walk over she was walking with her nose to the ground. She's bay, about 15.2hh, and 9 years old.

The idea now is to train both horses as all rounders. They will get to trail ride, do dressage, jumping and anything else I can possibly think of. Once they are safe and reliable (they may be that already), I will sell them on.