2020 Hacking & Riding Thread

The boys got 3 days off this week, as ive been busy working and haymaking. Got back on thursday for a ride and lead road the hill late on.
Then yesterday i had to move the cows onto the last bit of ungrazed field so it meant moving all the jumps across to the bit of field the cows were coming off of. Its better for me to access the jumps now as i can ride down the road and go through my little paddock. Downside is i have to get off to do the gate. At least i dont have a long ride back up the field with billy bouncing around trying to canter. It was getting a bit of a joke. He wasnt putting the effort in on the poles but when it came to leaving suddenly we came alive. Last week i actually got off and walked him up the field. Which made him calm. So its when im sitting on him he acts mental.
I actually rode billy and lead chunky down to the field amd let him go. The whole time i was working billy, chunky just stood in the field watching me or looking across at the cows. He never moved, he never bothered to put his head down for grass. Billy was jealous of chunky being there at first, as i went to walk towards the poles billy squealled out and lifted his back legs off the ground a little. I growled at him and told him to pack it in. Thinking maybe it wasnt wise bringing chunky. But after that the session went well. I think because chunky didnt move. The down side was billy did slip a few times on the fresh cow pats in the field. So i might have to get the chain harrows out and see if harrowing them in whilst we are due some rain reduces them a bit.
As soon as i finished to pole session i called to chunky and said come on time to go. I walked across with billy and chunky came too, he even trotted as he didnt want to be left behind.
Short hack today, and a drive. Planning which route to go tomorrow for my long hack with billy.
 
Well i thought id have another polework session. Billy had other ideas. He was playing hard to catch in the field, squealing and bucking. He came up by the gate and then walked off, so i said come on chunky we'll go without him. That got his attention he trots to the gate. I put his head collar on and start leading them in from the field billys is bouncing again and tries shooting past.
We get down to the poles and he squeals and back legs come off the ground. I yell at him. He was crashing through the poles not picking his feet up. I head up to the jump poles and hes pulling me for all hes worth. He just wants to canter, but my confidence on the uneven ground and bends is gone. He is so unbalanced hes slips all the timeso hes not benefiting from any of it. I need to find myself an instructor i think. In an arena hes calm but get him on grass hes horrendous. I need to find a way to calm this down. We are getting nowhere. In fact hes developing bad manners and habits.

As it started raining i decided not to drive chunky. Instead i bridled him, put a numnah on him and did a mile bareback. Thats the first sit on him since February. He was such a good boy. My legs have forgotten just how wide he is. Theyve been stood in for a couple of hours as it poured. Looks like its past so will pop out and turn them out in a mo.
 
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Well i thought id have another polework session. Billy had other ideas. He was playing hard to catch in the field, squealing and bucking. He came up by the gate and then walked off, so i said come on chunky we'll go without him. That got his attention he trots to the gate. I put his head collar on and start leading them in from the field billys is bouncing again and tries shooting past.
We get down to the poles and he squeals and back legs come off the ground. I yell at him. He was crashing through the poles not picking his feet up. I head up to the jump poles and hes pulling me for all hes worth. He just wants to canter, but my confidence on the uneven ground and bends is gone. He is so unbalanced hes slips all the timeso hes not benefiting from any of it. I need to find myself an instructor i think. In an arena hes calm but get him on grass hes horrendous. I need to find a way to calm this down. We are getting nowhere. In fact hes developing bad manners and habits.

As it started raining i decided not to drive chunky. Instead i bridled him, put a numnah on him and did a mile bareback. Thats the first sit on him since February. He was such a good boy. My legs have forgotten just how wide he is. Theyve been stood in for a couple of hours as it poured. Looks like its past so will pop out and turn them out in a mo.

It's much harder to canter and even trot in a field with uneven / unlevel bits. At our old house mr t fenced me off a mini school in the field we were using. Mainly so that J could still see us as he was in a tiny paddock due to injury. But omg I did find it hard to feel confident enough to canter her in there. I remember I had the school marked out (sort of) but even with me concentrating I just didn't feel right in there. Mind I'm nowhere near as confident as you anyway. Could you try some in hand stuff with him in there? Sounds like he's raring to go - could you maybe lunge in there first with his tack on and then get on? Or does he not lunge that well? I suppose you don't want him just bazzing around flat out really either.
Well done on the bareback mile!! What a super horse Chunky must be.
 
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Im not going to lunge billy with his leg injury. Thats how he showed up lame twice now. Not sure how i will exercise him over the winter now, when i cant ride but I'll cross that one come December. Even though i try to keep the circles large it was obviously too much strain on the hock. Trying to avoid too much bend which puts pressure on the legs.
Trying to do low trot/walk poles. Or canter trot poles rather than jump to strengthen the joints up. I tried laying the poles out in a straight line and he just pulls. So i need some bend it would appear to slow him.

Oh and so much for thinking once our session was over rather than riding back up the big field and him pulling, i thought hed be better walking up the steep paddock to the road. Wrong he tried to trot and canter that.
Trust me my confidence drops everytime i have a bad session.
 
Im not going to lunge billy with his leg injury. Thats how he showed up lame twice now. Not sure how i will exercise him over the winter now, when i cant ride but I'll cross that one come December. Even though i try to keep the circles large it was obviously too much strain on the hock. Trying to avoid too much bend which puts pressure on the legs.
Trying to do low trot/walk poles. Or canter trot poles rather than jump to strengthen the joints up. I tried laying the poles out in a straight line and he just pulls. So i need some bend it would appear to slow him.

Oh and so much for thinking once our session was over rather than riding back up the big field and him pulling, i thought hed be better walking up the steep paddock to the road. Wrong he tried to trot and canter that.
Trust me my confidence drops everytime i have a bad session.

Ah nope, no to lunging then for sure. Oh I know about the confidence thing - it's such a b*gger and comes and goes for me.
 
Went out yesterday - Hogan is in a mood just now. He didn't do anything terrible, just so slow and reluctant to trot. When i pushed him, the headthrowing started, but at least he doesn't follow through anymore. We're staying out longer now, so even if we don't go at a great pace, he's working off some of his podge!
 
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An 8 mile hack today on billy. He was pretty good but was a bit looky, looky, spooky. Another route we havent done for a year. Dont think ive ever gone with him in the actually loop direction we went. We had a couple of small trots. Didnt canter him at all. My poor bottom knows its been sat in the saddle for 2 hours.
Came back and did a 3 mile carriage drive with chunky. My poor bottom was struggling to sit on the carriage too.
 
I rode after work on Wednesday and Harvey seemed mostly recovered. After being in disgrace for running out at a 30cm x pole he built up to an 85cm spread so I felt confident to continue with our weekend plans.

On Saturday I had entered my first XC clinic for nearly a year and was a bit nervous about it. It went very well and we started small and gradually built up to 80cm. Harvey didn't really put a hoof wrong but I decided not to jump the final fence which was an 80cm skinny as he was feeling tired and I wanted to finish on a good note.

I set out for a hack on Sunday intending to go for 7 or so miles but it started raining just after I left and I wasn't wearing a coat so I cut it short (we still did over 4 miles though)

Sorry - picture overload!

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Flying the ditch
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Mr Dramatic!
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Schooling
1 hour 45

Hacking
1 hour 10
4.2 miles

Totals
Schooling
20 hours 40

Hacking
43 hours 15
163.45 miles
 
Harvey is looking awesome @GaryB !

He looks like he's come on such a lot since I last saw proper pictures of him :)

@chunky monkey could you long line instead of lunging? Now Pete's in his teenage years, I much prefer long lining to lunging where I can.

Have you taught Billy to bend to a stop? In its rudimentary form, you do need to disengage completely but when they get more advanced at it, it's great to use as a type of half-halt that also helps with bend.

I'll do an update on Pete & I soon, we've had a pretty quiet year but ticking along ... :)
 
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Quite chilly first thing. Brave me and Hogan went outside the inclosure. What a wuss I am!! He was very good, as there were cows and ponies across the road, but I felt quite confident with him. We're still going a little farther and he's accepting not turning for home at the usual spots. On the lane home, the same truck went past, and I think I was generous last time, thinking he didn't mean to whizz past us. He didn't slow at all, but Hogan was ok. I might need to move out a bit, to force them to slow in future. Look at that big wide forest - just waiting for us! Screenshot_20200729-123919_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200729-123919_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200729-123931_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200729-123941_Gallery.jpg
 
Out again this morning - very hot today. Meandered a bit, too warm to do anything else. It struck me that the bracken is looking like something out of Jurassic park - taller than us in places. Also one of the tracks we go along regularly is half the width suddenly.Screenshot_20200730-210824_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200730-210841_Gallery.jpg
 
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I got out tonight as i didnt ride yesterday and i know i cant ride tomorrow. I really didnt feel like it as it was still too hot even at 8.30pm. But i rode and lead and we made it up the hill across the top and back down.

Let Chunky go across the top and he just plodded behind. Theres two routes down, one that steadily flatter down but 3x longer, and one steep rocky. You need a sure footed horse. Both my two are capable of going down it and we do. I carried on along the flatter one, look behind chunkys chosen the steep route, so im calling him. He ignores and started to descend and disappear, so i thought bugger we are going to have to turn round and go the short route. So i turned billy and started to walk back. Billy couldnt see chunky as hes below and behind gorse bushes. I could just see chunkys head, so called a bit more. Billy walks on then squeals, jog jog, back legs off the ground. To which im about to curse chunky as im not liking billy just now. I tell billy to settle down. At the top of a steep hill close to the edge of a drop is not where you want your horse to start silly antics. I had an oh sh!t moment, this might not end well. Suddenly chunky decides he doesnt like going without us and appears over the brow. Calm is restored in Billy. I felt him relax. I breathed. So we turn and start to walk along the flatter decent. Chunky just followed on the rest of the way home after that.
He tried it a couple of weeks ago in the same place, only he hadnnt got out of sight and i went and got hold of his lead and lead him after that. He is sneaky though. He will try anything to get out of work.
 
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This week Buddy has hacked out a few times and Suze continues her training slowly getting used to being ridden. She has been ridden 6 times now, just tiny bits of walking, she wobbles a bit but for a 15 year old meat trade rescue she is doing really well and her ancient 64 year old ridder is thrilled with her. Buddy's age is catching up with him a little now, but he is doing 30-60 minutes at walk to keep him fit





Interesting with Suze today. I had wanted to long rein her through the bit of the field she was spooking about, led her through it yesterday but not just walking through still stopping. Today she just backed of long reining completely then refused to lead. So made her go in a circle come in change direction then got her leading. She led without stopping through the gaps she was anxious about and also up the track past a big tent that was put up in the field next door yesterday. So while she didn't do what i intended, she did enough to be rewarded and released. She is a great learning exercise for me, I remember Antoine my trainer always said try to make it easy for the horse if you hit an issue so going back to leading and getting her comfortable again worked.
 
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Went out at 7 this morning - nearly killed me - I'm not a morning person ?. However, the stars were aligned - as we went down the lane parallel to the inclosure, a group of about 8 ponies galloped up the slope, if they'd waited 2 minutes, we'd have been in the thick of it. Then on the way home, around the time I'd normally go out, 2 riders from down the lane were setting off, and Hogan gets a bit wound up if we have to pass them close on the track. Dodged a bullet there. Just turned in the gate, and the heavens opened - one of those short, sharp, heavy showers, designed to annoy your horse. There was also a show on at the big yard across the lane, and as I turned him out, all the lorries, with yelling horses were trundling along the lane. In all, it was worth the early start, and we actually had a lovely ride.
 
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Got out for my long hack this afternoon. Did 8 miles. Although nearly didnt get very far. Went through a track we havent done for over 4 months as it leads to a housing estate and ive been obviously avoiding people and housed areas. But i decided to go that way to get across to the otherside of the valley. Billy was so busy gorping around and was not walking out positively he tripped over a small tree root. Almost down on his front knees and me nearly over his head. Both of us managed to recover and carry on though.
He was actually the best hes been on the four weekends of long hacks weve done. We did see a horse in the distance riding round the edge of a field we were in, but it was in front of us. We were going through the middle of the field on the path heading towards a very very busy main road which we have to cross. Not ideal as billy got on his toes. I could feel him lifting the back legs off the ground. This is a new habit which seems to be getting more frequent. Managed to calm him and we crossed the road without incident. Then got a bit looky at various points after that for a bit but i had a bag of treats and the clicker with me today which i think helped calm him.
Didnt canter at all and only a few little trots today. My bum didnt half know it. I seem to get to about mile 6 and the ache kicks in. So the last 2 miles were quite uncomfortable.
 
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Didnt canter at all and only a few little trots today. My bum didnt half know it. I seem to get to about mile 6 and the ache kicks in. So the last 2 miles were quite uncomfortable.
One can rise in walk. I had that problem with new share horse as we have a compulsory route (long for me) and the final stretch on tarmac where we are not allowed to trot. I stiffened up so could barely dismount when we got home. I tried rising in walk the last 200 metres or so. This is not for use on roads, but when learning to ride, we had to walk standing in our stirrups and I did that too with current YO as a bit of a challenge.
 
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Took Hogan out first thing. He's still extra slow, and reluctant to trot, but I think it may be being barefoot on the very hard ground. We turned off the home track to go a little farther, trotted a bit, because it was a sandy track and then the wee booger had a mini tantrum, with a couple of bucks. My feeling is that he's getting stroppy because we don't go straight home. Good thing is, I'm not afraid of his strops now, and they only last moments instead of minutes. My friend has told me about a holistic trainer, who will work with your horse in the field if you want. I might put some feelers out, because I don't think Hogan would respond too well in a structured schooling situation.
 
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Took Hogan out first thing. He's still extra slow, and reluctant to trot, but I think it may be being barefoot on the very hard ground. We turned off the home track to go a little farther, trotted a bit, because it was a sandy track and then the wee booger had a mini tantrum, with a couple of bucks. My feeling is that he's getting stroppy because we don't go straight home. Good thing is, I'm not afraid of his strops now, and they only last moments instead of minutes. My friend has told me about a holistic trainer, who will work with your horse in the field if you want. I might put some feelers out, because I don't think Hogan would respond too well in a structured schooling situation.

Sounds like the trainer might be worth a go then. That's good that you're not afraid of his strops, hopefully he will pick up on this and realise it's futile!
 
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