28 Days
- Thread starter newforest
- Start date
I got my book yeaterday. It's not what I expected! But then again I didn't know what to expect. Its not very thick, OH said that it was like a children's book with the big words. Read some of it last night, but I'll start it tomorrow. Watch this space [emoji1]Day 8 fitted in very well as that actually coincided with what I had planned anyway.
Go for a walk. You don't have to do five miles though. But if I don't do at least four is not worth taking sandwiches.
Found a very small section of road she hasn't been down.
@Jayne @KP nut @Cortrasna
How are you guys getting on?
I bought the kindle version so not really aware of how short it is!
I've had to re do a couple days too as life got in the way (baby sitting last night, out wed and Fri night and busy this weekend!) so I think I'll be about a week behind where I should be. Plus I feel I've got my mojo back so just want to ride rather than do the inhand stuff!! But I will.do it. Peds has been being a total star since we started riding again (after he had nearly three weeks off with his back) I'm day dreaming about all the picnic rides we can go on in the summer!!
I've had to re do a couple days too as life got in the way (baby sitting last night, out wed and Fri night and busy this weekend!) so I think I'll be about a week behind where I should be. Plus I feel I've got my mojo back so just want to ride rather than do the inhand stuff!! But I will.do it. Peds has been being a total star since we started riding again (after he had nearly three weeks off with his back) I'm day dreaming about all the picnic rides we can go on in the summer!!
Well that didn't go to plan! Lol! Took peds into the field to do some in hand (the teaching to yield excersise) thought I'll walk him round and trot a bit do some stoping and starting before going on to the yielding. He exploded! Leapt to the side right to the end of his reins. I did nothing and he came back in beside me. About three seconds later he does the same thing! Again I do nothing. He gets praise when he is walking calmly beside me. Then he's at it again!! So I took his reins off and loose schooled him! (not easy in a long paddock!! Could have done with a round pen!) so he's galloping up and down and I keep him moving (he is choosing this break neck pace!) round and round we go, changing rein every so often (me cutting him off to turn him.) he eventually slows to a canter and finally a trot. Some how I manage to get him to circle (or he does it himself!!) changing rein again a couple times. Finally when I take the pressure off he comes to a walk then stops and faces me with a very apologetic face on! I pop his reins back on and walk him round the field, saying "no" whenever he gets that look in his eye and then do the yielding all the way back to the barn!! He's in his stable cooling off at the moment before I feed him!
Sounds exciting @Cremola Foam !!
Well I am far too impatient to spend 3 days on mental exercises first - useful though they may be. Also I am not nervous and I don't need reminding to have gratitude. At a Mark Rashid clinic when I was feeling scared of Thyme after a bad accident I asked him how could reconnect with her. He said 'replace your fear with gratitude'. I did and my fear evaporated. Gratitude is now part of almost everything I do with horses. I never forget the enormous privilege of being allowed to get on their backs. It helps that I am a Zen Buddhist and gratitude is strongly emphasised in Zen. I've not seen anyone else talk about gratitude in relation to horses so that was really interesting. Good to see it flows through the whole month.
Anyway Day 4 was great!! Though I morphed automatically from grooming to scritching at the request of both Zak and Cally who were clearly quite itchy and enjoying a scratch. Now that I have looked at day 5, I see I have got ahead of myself!
Well I am far too impatient to spend 3 days on mental exercises first - useful though they may be. Also I am not nervous and I don't need reminding to have gratitude. At a Mark Rashid clinic when I was feeling scared of Thyme after a bad accident I asked him how could reconnect with her. He said 'replace your fear with gratitude'. I did and my fear evaporated. Gratitude is now part of almost everything I do with horses. I never forget the enormous privilege of being allowed to get on their backs. It helps that I am a Zen Buddhist and gratitude is strongly emphasised in Zen. I've not seen anyone else talk about gratitude in relation to horses so that was really interesting. Good to see it flows through the whole month.
Anyway Day 4 was great!! Though I morphed automatically from grooming to scritching at the request of both Zak and Cally who were clearly quite itchy and enjoying a scratch. Now that I have looked at day 5, I see I have got ahead of myself!
What happens with me is I have an idea of what I am doing, it tends to get tweaked then I forget the task for the day.
I went out in the fields and spent 45 minutes longreining. I did make a mental note of how often we were nosing at the views! That's we as in us our partnership. I love going to the top of the hill and just looking at the view. That's my gratitude to have sea views and horse ears. Not sure how she sees it but she can see all the herd from there. And they us
I went out in the fields and spent 45 minutes longreining. I did make a mental note of how often we were nosing at the views! That's we as in us our partnership. I love going to the top of the hill and just looking at the view. That's my gratitude to have sea views and horse ears. Not sure how she sees it but she can see all the herd from there. And they us
Sounds lovely @newforest
@KP nut - I think gratitude is what I forget, and this is really helping me remember. It wasn't that long ago I was day dreaming about having a pony and now I'm lucky enough to have two! It's totally changing the way I think. I did get scared when Peds acted up, but I was able to remember to do nothing and stopped the situation from spiralling. Plus when he was back in his stable I wasn't cursing him for being a brat. I was thinking about all the good that came from the session, and how nicely he walked and well he listened to me at the end. I seem to becoming a glass half full gal when it comes to my ponies
@KP nut - I think gratitude is what I forget, and this is really helping me remember. It wasn't that long ago I was day dreaming about having a pony and now I'm lucky enough to have two! It's totally changing the way I think. I did get scared when Peds acted up, but I was able to remember to do nothing and stopped the situation from spiralling. Plus when he was back in his stable I wasn't cursing him for being a brat. I was thinking about all the good that came from the session, and how nicely he walked and well he listened to me at the end. I seem to becoming a glass half full gal when it comes to my ponies
Did day 14 and 15 again as I just fancied playing with transitions out hacking. Decided on twenty trots and then forgot how to count for walking. So changed to telegraph poles! Then run out of those.
Got issues with stirrups. Started squeaking which yes it's annoying in trot. I tried moving my stirrup plate back, lengthening no change.
Teaching shoulder in and travers inhand could actually be too advanced for her. We only do basic lateral going in and out of gates or move to groom etc. Reason to.
Sneaked in carrot stretches
Got issues with stirrups. Started squeaking which yes it's annoying in trot. I tried moving my stirrup plate back, lengthening no change.
Teaching shoulder in and travers inhand could actually be too advanced for her. We only do basic lateral going in and out of gates or move to groom etc. Reason to.
Sneaked in carrot stretches
Skipping day 7 as I don't want to teach tricks and I think they know what good boy/girl means anyway as it's usually paired with release or positive energy
Day 8 is also bit odd! 'Teach your horse to walk and trot alongside you'. Well Zak and Cally do that anyway but teaching a horse to lead well in walk and trot with no pressure takes time, patience and effort. Not just a task for a single day plus they don't say what to do if your horse pulls ahead, plants, turns, lags behind etc. Might as well say Day 8: teach your horse turn on the haunches. Well, ok. Er how?
Anyway I am skipping ahead to day 9.
Day 8 is also bit odd! 'Teach your horse to walk and trot alongside you'. Well Zak and Cally do that anyway but teaching a horse to lead well in walk and trot with no pressure takes time, patience and effort. Not just a task for a single day plus they don't say what to do if your horse pulls ahead, plants, turns, lags behind etc. Might as well say Day 8: teach your horse turn on the haunches. Well, ok. Er how?
Anyway I am skipping ahead to day 9.
Mine always walks slightly behind when being led. She does go in front to longrein but that's doing something.
Leading for us is just chilling.
Trotting up is useful though if you need to for the vet or if you show. Some people drag the horse as it doesn't keep up.
Leading for us is just chilling.
Trotting up is useful though if you need to for the vet or if you show. Some people drag the horse as it doesn't keep up.
I skipped the trick day too. I don't like feeding treats as it encourages biting I feel.
I do the leading stuff all the time too as Peds didn't know how to trot in hand when I first got him so I had to try to teach him that! I do it every so often so he remembers (start trotting when I start jogging and stop when I stop - did a bit yesterday as his field mate was walking just ahead of us and he was focused on her, not me. So I did some stopping, starting, backing up etc.)
I'm going to back track a couple days as I've had a really busy week (feel like I've barely seen my boys! And it shows!) and haven't really done much with them.
I do the leading stuff all the time too as Peds didn't know how to trot in hand when I first got him so I had to try to teach him that! I do it every so often so he remembers (start trotting when I start jogging and stop when I stop - did a bit yesterday as his field mate was walking just ahead of us and he was focused on her, not me. So I did some stopping, starting, backing up etc.)
I'm going to back track a couple days as I've had a really busy week (feel like I've barely seen my boys! And it shows!) and haven't really done much with them.
Nice in-hand walk with Cally, but it didn't exactly demonstrate my 'leadership'. Instead it demonstrated that she is a very nosy pony who loves walks and who spent the whole time pulling and spinning to get round the next corner and look at everything. I have WAY more control from the saddle! Still practice makes perfect so we need to do more of this!
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