Putting things into practise.....

Had a little session today trying some of the stuff from the Honest Horsemanship clinic last week. Sky was trying to go off ahead of Ali when we fetched them from the field and was generally not taking much notice of her or me, so I started by showing Ali the disengaging the quarters, then I did the kicking backwards when she got too close. I didn't need to touch her at all, but it certainly got her attention, this is the pic Ali took just after!

Left Ali to do some stuff with her, and I moved on to G. Who decided he didn't want to do anything except eat and actually raised his back legs at me! So I swung his quarters around and got him moving how I wanted him to. Was very surprised to be honest, but maybe shouldn't be, my fault for neglecting his groundwork.....

Next we moved on to the mounted stuff, planking and all ;-)

 (obviously I had to cheat and go up to the yard to use the mounting block )

Mr G was good as gold after his "telling off". Then we went for a hack (with saddles)

Going to play with this stuff some more :-)

Who needs tack, anyway......?

Went down to do the horses the other day and as we had a bit of time, we decided to get on and ride even though we didn't have our tack with us (or a decent camera either, just the ancient iPhone someone has lent me since mine no longer works - getting them really clean on a 40 degree wash cycle isn't good for them, apparently- so apologies for the state of the pictures)

I rode Gandalf I the rope headcollar and practised some of the moves we learned at Sheila's the other week.

He was a bit hesitant at first, probably thinking "what are you doing this time, woman?" but he was very easy to guide and we did some lateral work at walk and trot.

Nice to know the controls still work without all our usual equipment! But I think ditching the saddle long term is not an option, makes my legs hurt!

Ali had a little go on Sky too, she's much better at riding without a saddle than I am....

But I don't think either of us is ready for this yet.....!!

Messing about bareback.....

The girls had a little play with Chester and Seraphina this afternoon, I rarely watch anyone else ride Ches, I think he's carrying himself a bit better than he used to, the nose isn't in the air all the time any more.......

A little video:

Bareback dressage......

....is hard work!! There was a bareback challenge class in this month's Interdressage competition and as the entry fees go to charity, I decided to give it a bash......here's the video

Poor Gandalf wasn't too sure what was going on, I was far too heavy on his mouth, he's not used to that.....


Ali did her class in fancy dress too. Possibly the desert Bedouin outfit wasn't the best choice for this weather, we had to add a fleece and gloves!

Here's her video