Whatanejit
24th Apr 2006, 07:37 AM
Cooper’s 6th Week
Tuesday
It is official he is 16.2hh!
Everyone was saying – he is bigger than 16.1hh blah, blah. So OH brought the yard stick up to measure him and he is actually 16.2hh = please don’t get any bigger!
OH and I were both off today – OHs turn to ride.
We decided to play in the school for 15-20 mins and then take him as far as he/we were comfortable on a hack (just the three of us).
We had a go with 3 trotting poles again and he was pretty lazy with them and tried all avoidance tactics – running out, stopping etc.
As you know we are just getting balanced in his trot going large and doing twenty metre circles but when you start having to push him over the poles and stop him trying to avoid them we start becoming a bit unbalanced again.
We also need to work on impulsion in trot to get him over the poles.
We ended the session after 20 mins after one pretty ok trip over the poles.
Thoughts from the schooling session.
We are going to go back to basics and work on him moving from the leg in walk. He is a bit of a plod at times – other times he is extremely forward going. In his plod days we use the schooling whip to tickle him on – he surges forwards as his back end wakens up and we have to work on maintaining that and just as importantly coping with the impulsion so that we don’t sock him in the mouth.
Coping with his impulsion when tickled in trot is significantly harder due to the bounciness.
So, walk first – work on moving off the leg - we can do this on hacks too. Then work on walk to trot transitions and just trotting large in a balanced, regular style with a nice trot to walk transition.
He was in a nice calm mood so we headed up the track.
We passed all the other horses and his head was down and he was totally relaxed. Through the big field,
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Joncoopsfield.png
Oh please let me have a nibble...........
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Joncoopsgrass.png
down the second track to the traffic lights.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Joncoopstrack.png
He was such a star. This was the furthest that we had come on our own with him. We decided not to push things too far so OH dismounted, we treated him with an in hand graze with that lush grass and told him what a good boy he was.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Graze.png
We then led him across the road and into the park, past the scarey yellow flag on the golf course,
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Flag.png
the noisy children from the houses on the left and he was absolutely brilliant.
Bums are us..............
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Bums.png
Made sure to pass the spot of the Bank Holiday shenanigans .
That was enough for one day so we headed back home.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Cooperpassedgolf.png
A wonderful Easter Tuesday with our boy.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Coopertrafficlights.png
Wed
I was going to lunge him today as I was still off work – the joys of working for a university - but decided not to.
The boy had been a star all over Easter, it was a lovely day so he had the day off. I headed down to see him about 5pm and we had a lovely grooming session.
Thursday
Back to work. RI schooling him at 7pm this evening. OMG he was full of beans tonight. He has been like that with us before but it was the first time that RI witnessed it. She decided to make the most of all that energy and worked on his canter. Well he cantered his little heart out bless him. Right rein still not brilliant but she got the correct leg most of the time.
They then worked on leg yielding and he was just beginning to get it – he was a good boy. Both him and RI were perspiring by the end of the 35min session. Oh yes, she changed his bit to a hanging cheek snaffle from a full cheek piece happy mouth snaffle thingy with a peanut in the middle.
Back at stable RI did some carrot stretches with him.
Now I have been reading about these and know that Dreamchaser has been doing them a lot with her Dolly. However, I was worried about turning him into a nibbler, biter at such a young age. Anyway, she did a couple of left bends, then a few right, then down between his front legs. She then showed me how to stop him from asking for more food – it took a few minutes but he soon left her alone.
What a good boy…….
Friday
He was shattered after last nights session so once again I gave him a day off. I made use of my time and mucked out the car – I even used febreeze! Cleaned the windows – only at the front of the house and cleaned the house!
Oh and another thing. Really feeling the pinch on the purse this month!
Went to see him at 4pm but he was still in the field and he was naked!! Ah bless. Thought it would be a shame to bring him in so just left him, chatted to the other liveries and then headed to the Stage 1 class at the riding school.
V. enjoyable again riding a push button horse. Stable management session was bridles, bits and saddles.
Oh man this bit business – it is just sooo hard to learn.
Saturday
Gina’s mum is still a bit sore and shaken from Mondays fall. She isn’t planning to hack out for a while and when she does will need a nanny herself. One of the other liveries who arrived just after us had just got the go ahead that she could trot her horse – he has been lame for a few months from an old neck injury. Bless her and him as she offered to take us out. He is a rising 8 sensible boy who she hacked all over Epsom Downs by himself. She also takes him on holiday to the New Forest and heads out with OH on a bike for about 4 hours at a time. Sounds like a good Grandpa for Cooper.
We warmed up in the school for about 10mins and then headed out for about 1hr 45mins! He was an absolute star the whole way. About 1/2hr of the journey was completely new to him leaving us right next to the main body of the golf course which at 5pm was pretty chokka. He was great with the golf trolleys, flags and people. I went pretty much the whole way with out reaching for the next strap. Grandpa horse had two jumpy spooks in front at a deer and a pigeon but that was it.
Cooper didn’t spook at all.
The only time he was a bit naughty was when we stopped to let them have a nibble of grass when we got back to the other side of the road – he point blank refused to move forward and in fact was moving backwards – the naughty boy. A slight tap on the shoulder with the short whip and he was mortified and moved on – only the second time mummy has done this.
We only had one v. long trot as Grandpa horse’s owner was still a bit worried about him. She wants to go out with us tomorrow again though and said if grandpa was ok that she would do more trots.
Another good thing about this relationship is that she is a fab young rider who backed her own horse herself and brought him along from a 3 year old. As we were walking out she was great at giving me schooling while on a hack tips and body position etc etc.
She really reinforced getting him moving off the leg and that when out hacking we should be making the most of it as this is when they should be moving forward the most. Also, when I went to catch Cooper this afternoon he was standing beside her horse in the field so I think they have made friends.
Sunday
OMG my internet connection has broken down! I'm having to type this in work hence why the post is so late - devastation!
20mins in the school - 1.5 hr hack with OH on board - mostly walk with a few trots - yee hah! He was an absolute angel - repeat of Saturday.
V. happy mummy and daddy!
xx
Tuesday
It is official he is 16.2hh!
Everyone was saying – he is bigger than 16.1hh blah, blah. So OH brought the yard stick up to measure him and he is actually 16.2hh = please don’t get any bigger!
OH and I were both off today – OHs turn to ride.
We decided to play in the school for 15-20 mins and then take him as far as he/we were comfortable on a hack (just the three of us).
We had a go with 3 trotting poles again and he was pretty lazy with them and tried all avoidance tactics – running out, stopping etc.
As you know we are just getting balanced in his trot going large and doing twenty metre circles but when you start having to push him over the poles and stop him trying to avoid them we start becoming a bit unbalanced again.
We also need to work on impulsion in trot to get him over the poles.
We ended the session after 20 mins after one pretty ok trip over the poles.
Thoughts from the schooling session.
We are going to go back to basics and work on him moving from the leg in walk. He is a bit of a plod at times – other times he is extremely forward going. In his plod days we use the schooling whip to tickle him on – he surges forwards as his back end wakens up and we have to work on maintaining that and just as importantly coping with the impulsion so that we don’t sock him in the mouth.
Coping with his impulsion when tickled in trot is significantly harder due to the bounciness.
So, walk first – work on moving off the leg - we can do this on hacks too. Then work on walk to trot transitions and just trotting large in a balanced, regular style with a nice trot to walk transition.
He was in a nice calm mood so we headed up the track.
We passed all the other horses and his head was down and he was totally relaxed. Through the big field,
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Joncoopsfield.png
Oh please let me have a nibble...........
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Joncoopsgrass.png
down the second track to the traffic lights.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Joncoopstrack.png
He was such a star. This was the furthest that we had come on our own with him. We decided not to push things too far so OH dismounted, we treated him with an in hand graze with that lush grass and told him what a good boy he was.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Graze.png
We then led him across the road and into the park, past the scarey yellow flag on the golf course,
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Flag.png
the noisy children from the houses on the left and he was absolutely brilliant.
Bums are us..............
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Bums.png
Made sure to pass the spot of the Bank Holiday shenanigans .
That was enough for one day so we headed back home.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Cooperpassedgolf.png
A wonderful Easter Tuesday with our boy.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/Whatanejit/Coopertrafficlights.png
Wed
I was going to lunge him today as I was still off work – the joys of working for a university - but decided not to.
The boy had been a star all over Easter, it was a lovely day so he had the day off. I headed down to see him about 5pm and we had a lovely grooming session.
Thursday
Back to work. RI schooling him at 7pm this evening. OMG he was full of beans tonight. He has been like that with us before but it was the first time that RI witnessed it. She decided to make the most of all that energy and worked on his canter. Well he cantered his little heart out bless him. Right rein still not brilliant but she got the correct leg most of the time.
They then worked on leg yielding and he was just beginning to get it – he was a good boy. Both him and RI were perspiring by the end of the 35min session. Oh yes, she changed his bit to a hanging cheek snaffle from a full cheek piece happy mouth snaffle thingy with a peanut in the middle.
Back at stable RI did some carrot stretches with him.
Now I have been reading about these and know that Dreamchaser has been doing them a lot with her Dolly. However, I was worried about turning him into a nibbler, biter at such a young age. Anyway, she did a couple of left bends, then a few right, then down between his front legs. She then showed me how to stop him from asking for more food – it took a few minutes but he soon left her alone.
What a good boy…….
Friday
He was shattered after last nights session so once again I gave him a day off. I made use of my time and mucked out the car – I even used febreeze! Cleaned the windows – only at the front of the house and cleaned the house!
Oh and another thing. Really feeling the pinch on the purse this month!
Went to see him at 4pm but he was still in the field and he was naked!! Ah bless. Thought it would be a shame to bring him in so just left him, chatted to the other liveries and then headed to the Stage 1 class at the riding school.
V. enjoyable again riding a push button horse. Stable management session was bridles, bits and saddles.
Oh man this bit business – it is just sooo hard to learn.
Saturday
Gina’s mum is still a bit sore and shaken from Mondays fall. She isn’t planning to hack out for a while and when she does will need a nanny herself. One of the other liveries who arrived just after us had just got the go ahead that she could trot her horse – he has been lame for a few months from an old neck injury. Bless her and him as she offered to take us out. He is a rising 8 sensible boy who she hacked all over Epsom Downs by himself. She also takes him on holiday to the New Forest and heads out with OH on a bike for about 4 hours at a time. Sounds like a good Grandpa for Cooper.
We warmed up in the school for about 10mins and then headed out for about 1hr 45mins! He was an absolute star the whole way. About 1/2hr of the journey was completely new to him leaving us right next to the main body of the golf course which at 5pm was pretty chokka. He was great with the golf trolleys, flags and people. I went pretty much the whole way with out reaching for the next strap. Grandpa horse had two jumpy spooks in front at a deer and a pigeon but that was it.
Cooper didn’t spook at all.
The only time he was a bit naughty was when we stopped to let them have a nibble of grass when we got back to the other side of the road – he point blank refused to move forward and in fact was moving backwards – the naughty boy. A slight tap on the shoulder with the short whip and he was mortified and moved on – only the second time mummy has done this.
We only had one v. long trot as Grandpa horse’s owner was still a bit worried about him. She wants to go out with us tomorrow again though and said if grandpa was ok that she would do more trots.
Another good thing about this relationship is that she is a fab young rider who backed her own horse herself and brought him along from a 3 year old. As we were walking out she was great at giving me schooling while on a hack tips and body position etc etc.
She really reinforced getting him moving off the leg and that when out hacking we should be making the most of it as this is when they should be moving forward the most. Also, when I went to catch Cooper this afternoon he was standing beside her horse in the field so I think they have made friends.
Sunday
OMG my internet connection has broken down! I'm having to type this in work hence why the post is so late - devastation!
20mins in the school - 1.5 hr hack with OH on board - mostly walk with a few trots - yee hah! He was an absolute angel - repeat of Saturday.
V. happy mummy and daddy!
xx