Searching for calm

Today it has been raining, A lot. Almost biblically in fact. Making us wish for a return to last weekend's freezing cold but dry days.....but never mind, we thought, we now have an indoor school at the yard, we can do some work with the horses and stay dry!

However, when we went to get the girls, they apparently had other ideas. I was expecting a certain amount of distraction due to the usual Saturday ritual of attempting to shoot the bountiful number of pheasants up in the woods behind the horses' field that seems to amuse the locals. I don't know how many they actually shoot, but they sure use a lot of ammunition during the attempt, it's just like being back in France really.....so Sky in particular was already somewhat on alert.

But they came trotting (well, sliding sideways at the trot, the field isn't exactly flat) down to the gate and walked along with us down to the yard, snorting at puddles and random bits of plastic, as is Sky's wont. It's not really Tari's won't however, and she seemed more worried about life than usual. Then we got to the Waterfall of Doom, where a gap in the guttering along the side of the school roof meant some water was falling from the hole and making a scary noise. This was simply not to be contemplated unless from the far end of the leadrope with much more and much  louder snorting. Not even peppermint horse treats would induce Tari to approach this monstrosity.....well alright, she got a bit closer but it's truly amazing how far her chunky little neck stretches out when she wants the treat but doesn't want to get any closer to something ;-)

Ah well, we thought, at least they haven't run away, but the general unease meant that we gave up on any idea of in hand or ridden work so we just decided to turn them out in the school and see what happened.

Running about, more snorting, pawing at the sand, a bit more running, generally ending up by the gate and not at all keen to be anywhere away from me and Ali. So we stuck with it, wandered about with them and bit by bit they calmed down enough for a few scratches and a bit of yawning.

So I suppose it was half an hour of what a friend of mine calls "nothing happens horsemanship". But by the end they were calm enough for me to be able to take them back to the field just in their neckstraps. In the rain.......

Skyfaxa or Shadowfax?

Continuing our little and often approach with Sky seems to be doing the trick. Ali has been doing a little bit of work with her a few times a week and we have now progressed to totally bridleless riding. We've done plenty just at walk to start with, and as there's nothing on her head to brace against, she seems to be more relaxed......

Then yesterday we decided to try a trot and see if things changed. Usually, any increase in pace brings with it an increase in stress and anxiety, and fairly often a tendency to bog off, but this time, she was really listening.....even when she got a bit distracted by the dog!

So we will continue to build on this, as long as the weather allows (still no sign of the indoor school being finished). Ali says Sky seems more relaxed and attentive with nothing on her head. And Ali must be pleased, she even broke into a smile :-)

A black horse for a change.....

My next project looks like being Tess's Merens mare, Organza. She has had a bit of a difficult journey with her horse, because Tess isn't a particularly strict person and Organza is a bossy, dominant control freak.....As Chester has gone back home I have a bit of time to help out with Organza now and I went up to ride her today.

The eventual aim is to get her hacking out alone, which she hates. Shes also not keen on going out and leaving her friend Coquinette behind. So we are starting off with her going out with Tess on Gandalf just calmly at a walk most of the time.

As there is room for only one bossy dominant control freak in my life (me) I had to make a few things clear from the start, like if I leave you standing somewhere, you don't wander off and eat grass (got me a grumpy look) and when I lead you to the mounting block you don't swing your arse around (rebellious look) and we stand still until asked to move off (mutinous look). Also, if Gandalf goes off ahead you wait nicely (murderous look, some skittering about) and you do have to go ahead of him sometimes (how slow can I walk...... what, you want me to trot?!), and looking at stuff funny and going sideways in the hope that such behaviour means we can go home now results in having to do shoulder in (what, on both reins?!)

Apart from that, good as gold ;-)

All change again.....

Took Maverick home today as Jane is back from holiday. Not so well behaved at ride and lead as the babies, you'd think he would be at the ripe old age of 17!!

Anyway, brought Gandalf back and put him in with Chester and Seraphina. Very calm situation, not even a squeal from the NNP, just a bit of trotting around and sniffing. Here's a little video. I love the way that at one point Gandalf showed her his heels as if to say "I'm not going to be a total pushover, you know!" but there was no kicking, biting, thundering about or face pulling.

Think Ches would quite like to play, they were doing that pretending to bite each other thing they do in the trailer and out on rides.......stayed for a while to make sure everything was OK, left them all grazing quietly.