It's been a while since I posted any pony news so I thought it was time for a little update. My little pony gang has now been reduced from 4 to 2. At the end of August we sold Twirl to a well-known dealer near Paris - he has since sold her on to a 12-year-old girl, they've already been out to 3 training shows and had 3 clear rounds in the 60cms - good pony!! Then, just a fortnight after Twirl left, a mum and her 8-year-old son came to view Rags. Rags had never been handled by a child nor been ridden by anyone apart from me, but she looked after this boy so well it was like she was born to be a kid's pony. I was so proud of her. They loved her, came back for a second viewing, loved her even more and we delivered her the following weekend. We heard from the mum 2 weeks ago and she is absolutely over the moon. She is schooling Rags herself and a teenage girl from their RS has been jumping her and riding her in group lessons to get her used to them - meanwhile the boy hacks her out with his mum, and has a private lesson on her once a week, and they are aiming for him to start taking her to Pony Club next year. Rags has taken everything in her stride and I don't think I could have wished for a better home for her.
Last time the 3 amigos were all together -
I miss Twirl and Rags a lot, it's been odd not having them around. But they were always destined to be children's ponies and now that's what they are, so... mission accomplished! And the positive thing about two of them being in new homes is that I have more time to focus on the ones left behind.
Dessie has always been challenging, but although her anxiety issues are always an obstacle, she's definitely better when she has more to do. The other two progressed quickly even just being ridden once a week (I don't have time to ride the ponies apart from on my day off) but it's not really enough for a pony like Dessie. I have always measured her progress by the smallest of achievements - she isn't a "one session and it clicks" sort of pony! - so it can be difficult to see an improvement from one session to the next.
We did a few schooling sessions after Rags left, and then about 3 weeks ago there was a local training show that I could take her to for some clear-round jumping. There was a crosspole class in the indoor arena and the 60-80cm running in the outdoor at the same time. The biggest class she'd done so far was 50-60cm so I wasn't sure if the bigger one would be too much for her. We had jumped up to 80cm at home and she can manage it from trot – her canter still needs more work before we'll be able to get canter AND steering! - but because of her anxiety she gets wound up at shows and in the past has been too distracted to focus on jumping properly. In the end I decided to try it anyway because we could always pull up if it went badly wrong. So we took her along to the show, with Mouse to keep her company in the trailer, and I entered her in both classes.
She had really sweated up on the trailer and was quite wound up while we were getting her ready. To start with she was refusing to walk forwards and rearing when I pushed her on, but once we'd "hacked" around the showground for 10mins or so with my boss at her shoulder I could feel her starting to settle down a bit. I knew she'd get stressed in the warmup with other ponies whizzing around her, so we went straight indoors and popped round the crosspoles as a warm-up. She went round nicely - nothing to look at and nothing to jump, so no excuse to be distracted! - then we went to the warmup for the 60-80 and sweet-talked the man in charge into letting me go straight into the ring.
As it turned out Dessie was much more focused than I expected. I'd been worried that she'd be distracted by the warmup next door and do lots of napping - she napped a lot on her first few outings because there was so much getting her attention I couldn't get her to listen to me. However I have to say she really surprised and impressed me. The moment I pointed her at the first fence she went into "jumping mode", she really locked on to the fences and our steering was vastly improved on our last outing back in May. We had 2 poles down and she bounced a few more, but they were all my mistake as I didn't do the best job of keeping her nice and forwards, and to her credit she didn't nap at all. There were a couple of moments she felt a bit distracted but Rome wasn't built in a day!
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cok3cu4tREQ
This Sunday (the 20th) I took her to another training show to do the 40-50cm. It was a nice simple course, starting with a crosspole and then mixing uprights and spreads, and no fillers. Dessie was still a bit stressed while we got her ready, but by the time my boss had led us down to the arena she had already started to feel more settled. We skipped the warmup again and went straight in, had a trot around the arena while the rider before us finished her round, and then got started as soon as the bell rang. The jumps were small for her – she gave them loads of room and was really picking her feet up and using her back. I kept her in trot and focused on impulsion and straightness, cutting corners wherever possible as there was a long way between jumps and she isn't very fit! She went nicely off my leg and her steering was great, we had no nappy moments and she went round clear.
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG9GHBsw9l4
Not touching them then :giggle:
ETA don't worry haven't forgotten Mouselet, he'll have his own thread!
Last time the 3 amigos were all together -
I miss Twirl and Rags a lot, it's been odd not having them around. But they were always destined to be children's ponies and now that's what they are, so... mission accomplished! And the positive thing about two of them being in new homes is that I have more time to focus on the ones left behind.
Dessie has always been challenging, but although her anxiety issues are always an obstacle, she's definitely better when she has more to do. The other two progressed quickly even just being ridden once a week (I don't have time to ride the ponies apart from on my day off) but it's not really enough for a pony like Dessie. I have always measured her progress by the smallest of achievements - she isn't a "one session and it clicks" sort of pony! - so it can be difficult to see an improvement from one session to the next.
We did a few schooling sessions after Rags left, and then about 3 weeks ago there was a local training show that I could take her to for some clear-round jumping. There was a crosspole class in the indoor arena and the 60-80cm running in the outdoor at the same time. The biggest class she'd done so far was 50-60cm so I wasn't sure if the bigger one would be too much for her. We had jumped up to 80cm at home and she can manage it from trot – her canter still needs more work before we'll be able to get canter AND steering! - but because of her anxiety she gets wound up at shows and in the past has been too distracted to focus on jumping properly. In the end I decided to try it anyway because we could always pull up if it went badly wrong. So we took her along to the show, with Mouse to keep her company in the trailer, and I entered her in both classes.
She had really sweated up on the trailer and was quite wound up while we were getting her ready. To start with she was refusing to walk forwards and rearing when I pushed her on, but once we'd "hacked" around the showground for 10mins or so with my boss at her shoulder I could feel her starting to settle down a bit. I knew she'd get stressed in the warmup with other ponies whizzing around her, so we went straight indoors and popped round the crosspoles as a warm-up. She went round nicely - nothing to look at and nothing to jump, so no excuse to be distracted! - then we went to the warmup for the 60-80 and sweet-talked the man in charge into letting me go straight into the ring.
As it turned out Dessie was much more focused than I expected. I'd been worried that she'd be distracted by the warmup next door and do lots of napping - she napped a lot on her first few outings because there was so much getting her attention I couldn't get her to listen to me. However I have to say she really surprised and impressed me. The moment I pointed her at the first fence she went into "jumping mode", she really locked on to the fences and our steering was vastly improved on our last outing back in May. We had 2 poles down and she bounced a few more, but they were all my mistake as I didn't do the best job of keeping her nice and forwards, and to her credit she didn't nap at all. There were a couple of moments she felt a bit distracted but Rome wasn't built in a day!
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cok3cu4tREQ
This Sunday (the 20th) I took her to another training show to do the 40-50cm. It was a nice simple course, starting with a crosspole and then mixing uprights and spreads, and no fillers. Dessie was still a bit stressed while we got her ready, but by the time my boss had led us down to the arena she had already started to feel more settled. We skipped the warmup again and went straight in, had a trot around the arena while the rider before us finished her round, and then got started as soon as the bell rang. The jumps were small for her – she gave them loads of room and was really picking her feet up and using her back. I kept her in trot and focused on impulsion and straightness, cutting corners wherever possible as there was a long way between jumps and she isn't very fit! She went nicely off my leg and her steering was great, we had no nappy moments and she went round clear.
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG9GHBsw9l4
Not touching them then :giggle:
ETA don't worry haven't forgotten Mouselet, he'll have his own thread!
