Pony mum

My daughter and I went into the pony paddock today. Sabina was carrying a bowl full of chopped carrots. We entered the paddock, and the ponies, Tornado, Bel Bel and Dingo surrounded me. They kept a respectable distance of an arms length so that I wasn't crowded. And they were more than happy to be given an affectionate rub on the forhead. In the meantime, my daughter was standing about 4 metres away, with her bowl of chopped carrots, a little frown slowly forming on her forehead.

Why weren't the ponies rushing over to get a juicy carrot?

Eventually, the ponies did sneak off for a carrot, but when their mouth was full, they would come and stand next to me again.

When we were leaving the paddock, the carrot bowl now empty, Sabina asked "Why do the ponies think that you're their mum?"

Clinic - Day 2

This morning we're up early and riding by 8am. Dressage is first, and Lilly and I find a good rhythm. When I ask for canter, Lilly rushes into it, just like she did yesterday. "That was terrible!", shouts Catherine in a friendly voice. But she means what she says. "But ... but ... that was just fine yesterday", I stammer. "Yeah, but I didn't know you then, or how you ride", comes the reply. "Oh", I sigh. The bar has been raised. I try again, and the transition is indeed much better.

In this lesson we also do some leg yielding. At home, I've had a few problems with leg yielding. Here, it's much smoother. Something to do with Lilly actually using her top line and being able to do it. Feels great.

After the dressage lesson I get a breather, and then we ride again at 11am. Jumping.

The other girl in my lesson and I do our own warm up. Catherine is watching, but doesn't comment unnecessarily. This is great, because it alows you to think for yourself - just like you would have to do at home. The canters (and their transitions) are improving out of sight. I am very happy.

Then Catherine just builds on yesterday. That's right. No trot poles, no canter poles, just straight over the grid. And this works really really well. Then she adds another obstacle at the front of the grid. We go around, and the heights go up. By the end we're jumping about 2'.

Lilly starts to get tired. She knocks down one of the jumps entirely. Then she starts refusing. I grab a little crop, and Lilly has a bit of a tantrum. Compared to what Princess and Gally could dish out, this is nothing. Finally I get her over the jumps (now lowered a bit) a couple of times, and we call it a day. She is lathered up everywhere - even behind the ears.

I feel tired, but really really happy. The progress we have made is just fantastic, and in addition I walk away with just the right amount of tips, and things to practice. I simply cannot wait to come back for another clinic. I cannot wait to bring Sabina here too!

Hazelwood Lodge

It's one of those cold mornings, with the classic colourful Australian sunrise and frost on the ground. In fact, it's the most frost I have ever seen at the farm. But, no time for photos, as I'm off to Hazelwood Lodge for a two day clinic with Catherine Martindale.

The drive is made a little bit tricky by heavy fog, but I arrive without a hitch. I unload Lilly and put her in a yard, then I take in the place. It's only 9am in the morning, but the place is ... well ... busy.

Stables are being cleaned out, yards are already full of horses. Some are being saddled. There are three riders just starting a lesson. A lady in a purplish-pink jacket walks up to me "Hi, I'm Catherine", she smiles. I like her straight away.

I saddle up and start my lesson. Within seconds, Catherine is at my side explaining things. "Ok, you want to have her head just here", she takes the bit, and gently asks Lilly to drop her head. "When you're working at home, you want the ears level with the wither. You want to see this muscle here. That's their top line."

Lilly relaxes and travels happily forward. Of course, this is a new place, so she keeps getting distracted a bit by the goings on. But Catherine has made things so clear to me, that regaining the right frame seems childs play. I feel like jumping off and giving her a big hug!

When it comes time to canter, Lilly rushes into it, but we manage to maintain a 20m circle. This is great progress for a horse that believed you can only canter in straight lines a mere two weeks ago. We even manage a few relaxed strides.

I am actually in a group lesson - there are three of us. However, Catherine gives me one-on-one attention, then sends me off to practice. But, she's got eyes in the back of her head. Even though I'm at the other end of the arena, when I really do something wrong, I hear her shrill voice correcting me.

After lunch I have a jumping lesson. "So, how much jumping has she done?", asks Catherine. "Well, only trot poles really", I reply. Catherine sets up some trot poles and we go over. Then she converts them into canter poles, and we canter over them. Lilly is caught a little bit by surprise, but she adjusts pretty quickly.

Then Catherine sets up a grid. Just a simple one at the start - some trot poles and then a cross rail. Lilly trots over the lot. The grid changes to cross rail, one stride with a pole, cross rail. Lilly trots into it, then takes the remainder at canter. That's the whole idea. The grid is forcing her to jump. Very soon, the second obstacle becomes a straight bar. The progress is so smooth and simple that once again I feel like jumping off and giving Catherine a huge bear hug.

After the lesson, I have the chance to watch others ride. Women of all sorts of shapes, sizes, ages, and aspirations are here. And Catherine is equally attentive to all of them. Her confident, but relaxed style, with the odd joke thrown in for good measure, creates a fantastic atmosphere.

More riding than you can poke a stick at

Today was unbeatable.

Firstly I rode out into the state forest on Dingo. We had a fabulous time, riding all the way down to the other (pine) plantation. We had a few encounters with motorbikes and I think that Dingo has now pretty much learnt that when they idle by, they are harmless. My plan was to ride up a particular track, which extends beautifully between tall pines. Well, it's been a while since I've been there. So, firstly I got my tracks mixed up, and went down the wrong one. Secondly, the beautiful tall pines along said track have been logged. But the ride was spectacular and we enjoyed many trots, canters and gallops, as well as pleasant walks.

When I returned back to the farm I had lunch, and then headed out again. This time I rode Bel Bel, Sabina's pony. We just did some walk and trot in the arena/paddock, then headed up to the top gate. From there I led her home via the road. I like to ride Bel Bel once per week, just to keep the correct commands ticking over.

Finally I brought Lilly in. With Lilly I just did a standard dressage work out. The walk and trot (especially the trot) are now coming along nicely. The canter is still in the early stages, but I'm really happy with the progress there too. The other things we practice are serpentines (in the trot), leg yielding, shoulder in, and turns on the forehand. Notice that those last three ask for exactly the same thing - for the horse to respect your leg.

By the time we were finished it was dusk. Then I still fed the horses, and I was in the house at dark, a smigin after six. Heaven!

June Pony Club

They say that a picture tells a thousand words.  Well, here are a few words for those that still need a caption added to the above photo.

We went to pony club.  Sabina was riding Tornado, and she had an absolute ball going over the jumps.  (She has never ever jumped before).  And ... the minature (pony) can jump.

Horse play time

Today, when I went to get Lilly from the paddock, she snorted at me, struck out and gallopped off. Dingo followed, pigrooting along the way. At the end of her run, she did a little rear, and gallopped back, throwing a double barrel at Mo on her way back. She arrived at the gate, mane flowing, eyes blazing, nostrils flaring. She snorted, and was off again, showing the agility of a cat. Twisting this way and that, rearing, striking, double barrelling, pigrooting. The two geldings could barely keep up with her.

I have seen some pretty impressive horses in my lifetime, but I have never seen one this agile. The ground was slippery, and yet Lilly never missed a beat, never slipped, never ever lost her ground or confidence.

Every time she arrived at the gate, there was never any anger in her at me. Never any nastiness or evasiveness. Never any fear. Had I stepped into the paddock, I could have probably easily caught her. But I was too interested in trying to understand what was going on.

Lilly was playing. And, I think, she was inviting me to join in.

There's a massive difference between horses playing, and horses being dominant. When they are dominanat the kicks are meant to make contact, the bites are meant to leave a scar. And many humans have lived to tell the tale of their horse trying to dominate them. But, when horses are playing, the kicks are done at a safe distance, and there's some head shaking and striking, but no biting. That's exactly what Lilly was doing.

Being invited into horse playtime is a huge compliment. It shows an amazing amount of trust. It's like the golden handshake between man and horse. Once you have this sort of trust from your horse, you can really start asking for respect, and when you have respect, then you can really start asking your horse to work for you. Work with you. It means that your relationship with your horse stems from trust and respect. Not from fear.

So, what had I done to be trusted and invited into horse playtime by Lilly? It was the leadership I had shown at Adult Riding Club last weekend. Despite the session looking like an absolute disaster, I was able to pull myself together, and be brave, firm and fair. I was able to show Lilly that when she listens to me, when I am the leader (the leader; not a raging, angry tyrant), she is safe.

Unscathed

This morning, I headed out to Lilly's paddock, headstall in hand.

I wasn't intending to ride her.  I didn't even really want to catch her.  I was far too sore for that.  It was just a test.  A test to see how she felt about yesterday.

If she was going to turn away from me, then yesterday was a bad day, and I had more ground to make up.  If she was going to turn towards me, then any problems created by yesterday had already been fixed yesterday.

Lilly gazed at me, she gazed at the headstall, turned towards me and came right up.

Wrong instruction

Today I rocked up with Lilly to Adult Riding Club. My main aim was to socialise her with other horses. She was "looky" but overall I thought we started well, and she was willing to listen to me and go anywhere I asked.

I told the instructor where we were at, and after a couple of laps of the arena, the instructor asked me to do one-rein-stop type circles, every time Lilly increased pace or did a stride of trot. And I had to do these circles until she stopped. And can I please take my legs off the horse.

I will say here, that my intuition was screaming at me that this is the wrong thing. And in fact after a couple of these circles, I could feel that Lilly wasn't so happy and she was losing respect for me. But, I chose to listen to the instructor. (What sort of naive idiot am I?)

Well, Lilly very quickly worked out, that since my legs weren't on, she could go wherever she liked, as long as she just circled. And very quickly we circled out of the arena. Now at this point, I stopped circling, and tried to kick her forward. But of course she had lost respect, I had lost confidence, and she was no longer listening to forward. The instructor? Well, she seemed totally oblivious to the situation at hand.

Eventually, when I was almost back at the float, she noticed. And, incidentally there was another instructor, who was mounted, and she asked him to help me. Did he not notice me spiralling out of the arena either? I've got to check, maybe I was wearing the cloak of invisibility?

As he approached, on his horse, who was unfamiliar to Lilly, Lilly almost had kittens. And it just made her back out all the faster. She tried to pigroot, and when I reprimanded her for that, she reared. Just a little rear.

After that encounter, Lilly no longer wanted to have anything to do with all of this. So finally I asked one of the kind bystanders to lead her back into the riding field. I dismounted and led her back to the float.

I relaxed, had something to eat and drink, enjoyed the sunshine, then proceeded to fix the problems, before they became a habit.

First, I brought Lilly out into the field and lunged her. I lunged her left, and I lunged her right, and made sure that she listened. I didn't necessarily lunge her for very long - I didn't really want to go from one set of boring circles to another. The emphasis was on making sure she listens. She had to listen when I told her to go out, and she had to listen when I told her to keep going, and she had to listen when I told her to stop. But quite often I would stop her every 3 or 5 circles.

Then I took her back to the float.

Then I brought her out again, this time on the lead rope. I made her go forwards and backwards. I made her go on a circle - like lunging - but usually just one circle. Then I would stop her and make her back up. If she tried to eat the grass, I made her back up. If she tried to come forward, I made her back up. If she tried to rear, I made her come forward. Always making her move, always being unpredictable, always making her notice me, rather than the surroundings.

Then I took her back to the float. I put the bridle on, and led her back out into the riding area.

Here, I mounted again. And I worked her first in walk - in nice large circles, with leg on, making sure she was going towards the float, and away from the float. I made her walk towards the north and back south. I made her walk east, then west. I made her do some leg eilding. Then we progressed onto trot.

Once I was satisfied that she was working well, I stopped, gave her a huge pat, and gently walked her back towards the float. As I was doing so, the instructor on the horse came cantering towards me, passing a whisker behind me. Lilly, once again, nearly had kittens. I realise that if I take my horse to a competition, this sort of thing will happen. But that's why I am not at a competition! That's why I am at Adult Riding Club. So that if I am having trouble with my horse, people can be considerate and help me out a bit! Hello?

To summarise, the original instructor meant well.  The advice was good advice.  It was just the wrong advice for that horse.  And I should have just listened to my intuition.  But that means not listening to the instructor.  So where does that leave me in terms of learning and progressging?

Another day, another ride

So, we went riding again today. In the state forest. Lilly and I. My friend on her horse. The clouds threatened, the track was wet, the air fresh. The mushrooms were rapidly growing out of the needles under the pine trees.

The few puddles provided handy obstacles for Lil. I asked her to go through some of the bigger puddles and she was a good sport.

We did the obligatory canter.

"She's pretty relaxed. She is ready to go out by herself now", commented my friend towards the end of the ride. I think I've found myself a new coach.

Or maybe my friend is just sick of opening gates for me.  Should I, perhaps, get off my high horse?

Lilly canters

Today I went out riding with my friend again, but this time I rode Lilly.  (Now that she's got shoes.)  I've only cantered Lilly twice, and on a ride into the state forest, you want to put in a canter or two.  But in the back of my mind, this canter, still sat as an unknown quantity.

So, up the first hill, we trotted.  That is, Lil trotted.  My friend was quite happily half a length behind us, cantering.  Up the next hill, I mustered up all my bravado, and after a few strides of trot I asked for a canter.

Lilly, the ex-racehorse that she is, lept forward, and hearing the cantering horse behind her, bounded along.  I sat back a bit, and she came back to me, and we continued on, up the hill in this lovely lovely fast canter.  It was just ace.

Pony express

Today my girlfriend came over again, and we decided to go and do a ride with some cantering.  She rode Mo, and I rode Dingo.

We rode deep into the state forest, chatting and ambling along.  When time came for a canter, I let my friend go first.  I thought that this would be good for Dingo - it would teach him to sit back and listen.  That it did, and he did some lovely canter work.

However, on the final stretch for home, my friend, having regained trust in her horse, allowed me to go first.  I gave Dingo the reins, and the pony galloped gladly along.  Then half way up the hill he started slowing down.  "Nice", I thought to myself, and then I heard my friend cantering up behind me.  I dug my heels in and the race was on.  All the way to the top of the track.

Dingo arrived first, with my friend calling out "I'll give you a run for your money next week!".

Love it!

Confidence

I have been wanting to write about confidence for a while now, because in riding a horse, confidence is everything. You can be doing the right thing, but if you are not doing it with confidence and conviction, then you will not get the results you want or expect. At the same time, finding a good example of confidence is hard, but I think I've got one.

I brought Lilly in for training, and while brushing her noticed that she has a small cut (about the size of my thumb nail) on her left hock. The hock also looked more swollen than the other hock. It would be a shame not to work her at all, so I decided to start slowly, and just see if the hock was a problem or not.

As a starting point, I lounged Lilly, first at the walk, then at the trot, to check if she is lame. She wasn't. Then I started riding. I rode her the way I normally do, sticking to the same routine, but the back of my mind was still thinking about that hock. Was she really ok? Was she in pain? Was she maybe unable to do some things?

While my mind was wondering, Lilly started playing up. Nothing serious, just a bit of falling out, minor rushing off, bit of getting prancy.

I thought about that hock one more time, and then I decided that if she is well enough to ride, then she is well enough to be ridden with confidence. And so I rode on. With conviction. And all of Lilly's problems vanished.

Lilly goes bush

I've been wanting to take Lilly for a ride in the state forest for a couple of weeks, but the fact that she doesn't have shoes, and I don't have a riding buddy, has held me back.

Well today, my girlfriend came over, and "no shoes" by itself is not a good enough excuse to stay home.  So off we went.

Lilly started prancing down the first hill, but then she settled down.  A couple of times she thought about not going forward any further, but we got through that relatively easily.  Towards the end she was quite obedient and relaxed.  She enjoyed watching the views.

To town and back

Today we went to town. On horseback. There's not much of a town left - it's really just a grouping of houses now, but that's not the point. The ride into town is 2km one way.

Sabina rode Bel Bel and I rode Dingo. We had a lovely ride. We passed cows, a man mowing the lawns, dogs, calves, other horses. And of course cars passed us. Bel Bel was a dream. She really didn't put a foot wrong. I can't quite say the same about Dingo - such a princess.

In town, we stopped in front of our neighbour's house, and had a snack. Then we rode back. On the way back Sabina said "Can we keep her?"

"I thought you wanted a palomino pony?", I quizzed. I mean, you know, I have to be sure here. I don't want back pedalling once the novelty wears off.

"Well, I would have liked a palomino pony", explained Sabina, "but really I just wanted a pony that I could call either Bel Bel, or Thowra, or Golden."

I wonder how long it will be before she'll want to take Bel Bel brumby hunting?

New pony settles in

Sabina, of course, was pretty keen on a palomino pony. But, the new pony is not palomino. She is a chestnut with a flaxen mane. But not flaxen tail, as is usually the case. However, Sabina was happy to forgo the palomino colour, as long as she got naming rights. She named the pony "Bel Bel". If you've read "The Silver Brumby", then you'll understand. And if you haven't read it, then I highly recommend it.

We started the day off with "personalising" Bel Bel. That is, Sabina trimmed her mane and forelock, as she saw fit. (Dingo had already done some personalising of Bel Bel, for which he quickly got relegated to another paddock).

Then we went on a trail ride into the state forest. Sabina, on Bel Bel, lead the way. That is, until we saw a bird on a log, which gave Bel Bel a tiny fright. The pony barely stepped sideways, but you've got to be fair. This was Sabina's first real ride on Bel Bel.

As Sabina got more confident we took turns leading, and even spent some time riding side by side and chatting. We rode all the way to Dead Cow, where we had a snack. Then back again. Along the way we saw dogs, birds, puddles, and fallen logs. We heard a car with a trailer. Bel Bel was unfazed.

More ponies than you can poke a stick at

Today we went to Pony Club and Sabina merrily rode into her lesson. She handled Tornado well, and even seemed to be paying attention to the instructor.

I was standing outside the arena, watching the world go by, thinking how in the world I am now going to upgrade her pony. I mean, I don't really want to go trapsing around the state, looking for the perfect pony for my daughter, preferably a palomino colour (more about that some other time). Another adult came along and I opened my big mouth.

"Well, why don't you go and talk to M. She's got a pony here for sale, that might be suitable.", was the response I got.

By the time lunchtime rolled around and all the kids were having a break, Sabina was back in the arena on the said pony. After a lot of walking, a few halts, several attempted transitions into trot, and finally the trot itself, Sabina was allowed to have some lunch, while I went to talk to M.

Later in the afternoon, the said pony was delivered (together with rug and bridle) to our property for a two week trial, with the potential to extend it to a one month trial. Perfect timing. It's school holidays at the moment, so we will be able to test ride the pony a fair bit.

Gallop

Last year, when Sabina first joined pony club, at her first pony club rally she went on a mock fox hunt. Tornado's belly got stuck on one of the jumps. On the way home, she said that she enjoyed the rally, but needed a bigger pony. Well, I promised that I would buy her a bigger pony, when she learnt to canter.

Recently, she has been having a few problems getting Tornado to go forward. Finally, when even spurs didn't seem to work, I convinced her to try my whip. Sure, it doesn't glitter, and it's not a fancy colour, but it works.

She ventured into the arena, riding Tornado, whip in hand, and put it to the test. She was cantering around in seconds. In fact she got so enthusiastic, that the canter became a gallop. The gallop elicited a magic smile, and squeals of excitement from the little girl. She even seemed oblivious to the little pigroot he managed to add at the beginning.

It might just be time for a pony upgrade.

Lilly goes to Adult Riding

Today is Adult Riding Club, and I thought I would take Lilly. I wasn't sure whether I would ride her, but just the experience of going there and coming back would be good for her.

So we got Lilly on the float (more about that some other time), and off we went.

Well, due to dropping my husband off at the start of his cycling race, we were somewhat late. How late? Umm, about 3 hours. Adult Riding Club had basically packed up and gone home. That's right. Not a soul in sight. The only evidence left was a couple of tyre marks in the grass.

Never mind, I unloaded Lilly and put her in the yard. I let her sit there and take it all in, while I ran Sabina across the road to play with her friend.

Then I saddled her up, and lounged her. All going well there, I mounted. Well, she did feel excited, and I quickly came to the conclusion that if you ever took her cross country, she would be a little fire cracker. However, that excited walk was, I think, 99% correct.

Of course, once she calmed down, the walk changed. But I think I now understand what the walk is supposed to feel like.

Once we mastered calmness at the walk, I asked for trot. Mostly good. Some falling out - mainly in the direction of the float. This is a disobedience, but not one I am going to deal with right now.

Towards the end of our session, I was starting to think a canter might go down alright. This is amazing, seeing that we have only just started cantering on the lounge. Of course I didn't canter. Best to finish on a positive note.

Putting Dingo to the test

Have you ever trained at home, thought you were doing well, and then got to a dressage competition and felt like it was all falling apart at the seams?

I have certainly done that. And it doesn't feel that good. So, today I decided to put Dingo and my training to the test.

I did my normal workout, and then I did a made up dressage test. I pretended it was the real deal, like in a dressage competition, and I just observed what happened.

Well, what happened was that it all fell apart. Why? Well, the devil's in the details. For example. I ride down the center line in trot and ask for halt. The horse stops moving forwards, for sure, but sideways? Hmm ... I don't know. Do I practice trot to halt? Well, not really.

So, the sideways going horse feels somewhat agitated, but we continue. Trot circle goes alright, but then I ask for a canter in a part of the arena that I don't normally canter in. And the transition is all over the place. Coincidence? I don't think so. Because when we continue our canter onto the normal circle, all of a sudden it improves! Horse attitude, or rider confidence, I don't really care which, it makes a difference.

Back to trot, then walk across the diagonal on long rein. Why is the horse weaving? And how often do we really do a long rein walk across the diagonal? Once at cooldown perhaps? Ooops?

Overall I also discover that in a dressage test I am much more business like, than in training. Transitions have to happen on the letter, and that's final. Don't argue with me, because we're in the middle of a dressage test. Hmmm ... perhaps, some of my training should be conducted in this mode too so that the poor unsuspecting horse doesn't get a shock in the dressage arena.

The experience is a real eye opener. I definitely walk away with the following points:

1. Practice all the movements of a dressage tests. Break it down. Get it right.
2. Combine dressage test movements into little combinations and practice those.
3. Practice all dressage test movements in different parts of the arena.
4. Get yourself into "I am now doing a dressage test" mode, and train your horse in that mode for some of the time. I guess that's kind of your "working" mode, as opposed to "warm up" and "cool down" modes.

Lilly's progress

Since Princess Lil is a bit of a mouthful, the horse in question now goes by the stable name of Lilly. Her competition name will remain Princess Lil, of course.

So I have now progressed to riding Lilly. I still start our sessions with some lounging, both walk and trot. Loose, and with side reins. No canter yet. I do this to make sure that I can make her move her feet, while I stand still. It's one of the principles of horse training.

I also use voice commands while lounging. This means that when I am riding I can use the same voice commands to ask for upward transitions. Click to trot. Kiss to canter.

I have just started to establish her walk and her trot. She is an amazing mixture of the horses I have ridden in the past. She is the same size as Princess, but she has the power of a much bigger horse. She has the forgiveness of Crownie, the placidity of Gally, and the eagerness of Princess.

It feels like there is heaps of power in her hind quarters, and I can't wait to see how she jumps. I am hoping she has power to jump, but not so much power that she catapults me out of the saddle.

Leading

A couple of friends came up to the farm yesterday and together we went for a nice ride in the state forest. We had a lovely time catching up, and everyone enjoyed their horses. The odd thing about this particular ride was that one of the said friends brought two horses.

She rode one horse, her trustworthy trail riding mare, and she led the other horse, her young beautiful (and big!) dressage horse. It appears that both need the exercise, and the dressage horse has been a bit difficult on the trail, so leading him is a nice way to get him used to being out.

The moment of truth (and good training) came when we all went for a canter up a 2km hill. We had Chris out the front on Mo, me second on Dingo (and a loose rein!) and the friend with two horses up the back. And none of the horses decided to get out of control and race. It was fabulous!

But it got better. Half way during the ride, Emma decided that her young dressage horse was going so well that she will ride him. So the saddle came off the mare, went onto the gelding and off we went again. The gelding did put in the odd trit trot here and there, a snort or two, but overall was very well behaved. Even when we heard the motorbikes.

I was most impressed.

Now I've been contemplating leading a horse out on trail rides for ... oooh ... about 4 years now. I've been mulling over the problems and issues I might encounter, and how I would deal with those. And that's where the matter stood.

Having now seen how my friend did it, how she handled various situations, has renewed my enthusiasm for it. It certainly trains two horses with the one ride. Especially if you swap half way.