ride.....

out! yay.

the lady who's elderly mare did her tendon in back in the winter, now is allowed to walk her in hand all the way round the block. so she waited for me & moly and we went out with her.

so molly got the lead from suzie along her least favourite track, and we cam back round the 20 acre. had to go ahead at that point as molly by that point had her confidence and no longer wanted to be behind.

was really good until we were nearly at the farm end, and she could see the fence/gate - which she's done a fair few times on her own, last time the other week when i eventaully got her roudn on her own.

so we stood.

then she turned round - slowly, but still round - and stood and looked at suzie approaching - we'd been a fair bit ahead.

all this time i was just stroking her neck and telling her she was a good girl, even though by that point she wasn't really as she'd turned round.

and in due course - suzie still being a ways off - she gave a sigh, turned round and off we went through to the fence through the gate and back up to the yard.

way to go. and we were, of course, bitless.

and a thought occurred to me - don't know why it's taken so long .. but i wonder if the reason she blocks when she sees a fence ahead of her is because she remembers what happened when she was 6 months?

when she was weaned, she was brought down to the yard i was then on and just turned out with the horses already there. first day out, she was obviously chased about and foudn by a total stranger staked in the middle of her chest. you wouldn't know now to look at her - but i think the high likelihood is that that is what she thinks of with a field fence in front of her....

bit out

you might like the look of it Jean, molly don't; she lost no time in reminded me that she didn't like it, as soon as i picked the reins up. I tried the gentle pressure each rein, etc, but after 5 minutes of not moving save to toss her head, etc, i gave up, went back and put the bitless on (then had to find someone else to help me on...).

any myler mouthpiece comes with any of their rings, check out their website (www.myler.com, i think)

so maybe i'll try a lozenge bit.....or if i can borrow one, a myler mullen mouth with full cheeks and NO HOOKS i don't like the hooks, i think they've a tendency to dig.

and she was doing her level best to pull it through as well...

bit in

the project for tonight was to see if, now some days have passed, i could in fact get a bit in molly's mouth. the bit in question being the Myler 02 with hooks (not that I use the hooks .....it was all they had in in the right size at the time .....). After some argument, and then some of her resting her head on my shoulder (whether that means she's tired or she trusts me) it went in. so i did the bridle up, left her a couple of minutes or so, then took her out in hand and walked her along the track in front of the house that she won't do on her own ridden ...

that was it.

when i arrived, as i got changed, etc, there was a howling gale blowing and a huge black cloud building up, we all thought it was going to team down any minute. time i got back, maybe 10 minutes, the wind had dropped ... typical, what!

so tomorrow we'll tack up and see how we do with this bit in. But without the noseband. it's too much hassle when she's arguing about the bit, to be trying to keep the noseband out of the way as well..

partner made it home at 20.05 last night ....

message on answerphone

on mobile, partner had gone out without key (left with workman) and would i come home, she didnt't want me "rolling in at 8" .....

it's currently 19.33 and i've been in since about 18.33 ... still on my own .... mmm....

i did have a plan for molly tonight...

apparently, the farrier said molly didn't really need doing, one assumes because i've been able to ride her much more .... and he's now decided he won't do horse unless someone's there .... so hope he starts doing saturdays again, a whole heap easier than having to take the odd day off work... but thereagin, if i sort that properly, can add to the weekend...

farrier and rain

in that order. went down on my way to work to bring molly in so she was there, don't know how impressed she was, and happily got a text later from the other person for whom the farrier was coming to say he'd turned her out ...

mucked out tonight (not too bad!) and lifted some mats, left the last two back in the corner with what's left of the shavings and they'll get lifted in a couple of weeks and then the whole thing jetwashed out.

and that was instead of riding since it was raining on and off ... more on than off! but we need it pretty badly, so not arguing!

normally

we ride out on sunday mornings, a few of us (generally 4...)

this morning i pitched up at the usual time got molly in, people were already there tacking up .. they all went off without me .... yes ok, so i didn't say "are you waiting for me" or whatever .. but....

i ended up in tears, partly because i really didn't want to go in the arena again, and partly just sheer frustration.

was supposed to be richard maxwell today in yorkshire, when friend said 22nd, i said, but that's sunday. she's been trying to get hold of them to confirm. i've been trying to get her since thursday to check theplans (since she would have to come to me and collect molly, the plan had been to go there for the weekend....) couldn't get her thursday friday all yesterday morning, eventually got her partner who said "we're off showjumping will get her to ring you" tried again this morning eventually got a text that she'd had no response at all despite several attempts and concluded he wans't coming....

i responded, "but what if he does"

and i went and got the money out of the buildings society yesterday, on the grounds that it was no good not having it if i didn't need it.

ggrrhh - but i'm half expecting a call this afternoon saying he's arrived...

molly was doing some nice trot in the arena and i was doing much better at keeping a better position. but she woudln't go out on her own at all....

the thing with the BB is I don't think there's quite the steering and finesse that you have with a bit. but I'll be using it for a while till she forgets about the trauma of friday LOL

think i might investigate lozenges though ... they're slightly different from the french link ...

back to the bitless bridle

she wouldn't have the mullen mouth snaffle in for love nor money ... so back to the bitless (with a bit of trepidation on my part, it's a while since we've used it and i didn't know what she'd do) and apart from a couple of attempts at not going right, it was like riding a different horse after this last week.... we walked, we trotted, we didnt' try to buck, we nearly got some lateral movement, i could think about me without fighting her, she didnt' pretend to be lame ....

so i guess i'll be inthe BB for a while (it's a Dr Cook's, jean) but wihtout the rope reins i bought for it, they'll be going on ebay along with the pelham, i need the thin rubber lined ones i got recently... the rope ones have no grip and i rather agree with gaynor, they're not nice, especially for small hands! hurt after a while....

back to square one

she did not like the pelham.

got it on, sorted the curb out, jackie who uses one was there and checked it that was fine. tacked up, spent ages failing to get her to stand still and eventualy gaynor turned up and held her.

move? no.

windmill head? yes

buck? yes tried from standstill.

bit ring in mouth? yes (the lower one, for the curb rein).

pah.

wasn't prepared to really get after her. i was, after all, trying to also get used to two reins. didn't have any pressure on the curb rein at all, except accidentally when she was windmilling.

rain at last ...

all afternoon, apparently (it didn't where i work).

as i walked round the corner to get molly from the field, she was in the very act of rolling. so damp mud all over her body and, to be tedious as i was going to try hte pelham on her again, all over her face.

so that was that. it would have taken hours for her to dry enough to get it off. i always say, the main point of a rug is really to keep them clean!!!! especially when they're generallly as warm as molly usually is.

through the wood

not that that had been the plan, but it's what we did, with a woman from one of the other yards on the estate and her daughter. nice potter out, oodles of midges everywhere.

the plan had been to put the pelham on and see how we went with it, now we've got the elastic curb.

put it on, and rather thought it was too big. when i thought about it afterwards, i could have used the rings nearer the elastic, but i'm not convinced that won't then catch on the bit rings

photos:




So tomorrow i'll look at putting the curb on the other rings and see what it looks like, but i'm not sure it'll be right and am not sure it'll fit snugly in the groove....

so put the ordinary bridle on and went in the arena, had to have a hand on; she would no go right at all, everyting i got her going that way she ended up arguing facing the fence about she'd rather go left...

and it was actually she who decided she wanted to go withthe others; i decided that was a good idea since it has to be better than schooling and she re learns that she can go down the hill and through the wood. and i wanted the company, as everyone on my yard had gone home, pretty much (save the person who helped me get on!) before i got there....

jean you may be right about the saddle, possible need for more shimming ...

trotted up

in the barn (level, concrete, no pebbles) sound. so fed her and came home to ring france, where there was no answer save answerphone...

Shall see what Molly's like tomorrow then; the elastic curb has arrived so I shall wrestle the too long chain off, put the elastic on and see how we go.

believe it or not, someone giving me major earache last night on the subject of not using that severe bit, a pelham, suggested i try a dutch gag .... what can one say... speechless. not helped by being unable to explain the theory behind use of the pelham for the purpose.

i think i need more shimming in the saddle, and having the moulded panels in tipping me forward slighly won't have helped anything. but she's always had a vague tendency, which goes off with work, to look lame when she isn't. this may be to do with the congenital assymmetry at the front.

hope none of my readers have been directly affected by that horror at virginia tech ... bring on gun control in the states, i say, amend the constitution (i know, i'm not american, what would i know .... i know guns breed more guns!)

not sure

if she's going lame or not. something on her left fore/shoulder, possibly. we wondered the other day but then she started moving properly when i got after her. yesterday she wasn't quite right onthe lane in trot, but i put that down to the poor going (it's a bit pebbly). fine in walk. will see tomorrow. trot her up on the level with someone watching (you know what it's like trying to do it yourself....)

anyway, tomorrow i have to come home early and ring friends in france, about our summer holidays (loads of americans will be there as well, jean, the couple are french (husband) american (wife) ... going for youngest childs christening.

and i mentioned to someone i was going to try a pelham when the elastic curb arrives- well, talk about earache. the earache impressed me less when said person suggested i use a dutch gag!!!!!!

I've just re read HM on the subject and realised that i have in fact been using the fingers on both hands together instead of alternately, oops.

well sorry folks but with molly it has to be tried. if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but i really think it's the way forward (and in any event, i could use it without the curb at all and that would prevent her pulling the bit through her mouth all the time....... yes, i know, different sort of bit or bit rings for that )

loads of photos - and a battle won

well.... and this will be long, i expect, as well as full of pictures.

The usual suspects didn't turn up. i asked to if they'd wait for me but they said they were only going for a walk and didn't. went for a help to get on in the barn, and rode out of their with paul and liz but they were going for a fast hack. that left me to myself. i thought, I'd try and get round the 20 acre, since we'd been down the hill yesterday that shouldn't be a problem. it wasn't the first time, but we only got a 3rd of the way round when she decided to turn round and come back and there was no telling her otherwise. in one way that was funny, cos at the top nearly back to the yard she decided she didn't like that either (the way was apparently blocked by a large builders van that she'd had to come past to get down .... duh...).

anyway, here's a shot of the 20 acre in the distance, looking across the mare's field where molly usually lives...



it's the dusty field in the distance, we have to ride round the outside.

so i took her back down, which was fine, but we barely got through the gate, maybe 100 yards into the field when she was back round again ... ggrrhh..

so i went through the yard, with a view to going up the side of the geldings field or up the drive. here's a shot of the willow tree at the beginning of the track that leads to the ford -she won't go under there on her own in this direction yet...



i think it could be that it looks too dark and uninviting, i don't know.

so that didn't work. i tried it a few times.

then we went and stood at the top of the hill down to the 20 acre



but her head wasnt' in it and her ears were back to the yard



- as was her body in due course. we did stand there for ages, right at the top of the hill, me thinking forwards and not letting her turn, but eventually a fisherman with his rod started climbing the hill so we had to go back


so we went back and forwrd through the yard. by this time everyone else was back, untacked, and leaving; i was well hacked off, i can tell you. but i thought, one last try. partly i was feeling stuck to the saddle which helps a lot, and secondly i was so t'd off with her messing me about (which was all it was ) i really got after her with the ends of the reins. that seemed to do the trick, downthe hill we went again, through and round the field. That got very scary at the end, as there was a huge roller at the other end of the field AND as we approached it a tractor was driving down from my right, the other side of the hedge - round she went again .. but i WAS NOT going all the way back. the tractor driver realised i was there and backed up and switched off, and molly sidled past the roller and through, we turned left to go back and the tractor was on our right at the ford ....

so this left brings us to the track that she won't go on from the yard



you can see that it would look like a black hole from the other direction, I think. and this was taken whilst she was walking not standing, as were the next two - a view of the willow from this direction and finally molly virtually under the willow





So as you can imagine, i was very pleased indeed!!!

it took forever, i was probably on her about 1 1/2 hours if not 2 (left my watch at home!) and she had to be washed off when we got back.

but that is a major success!

and i felt really secure. don't think i could have done that if i'd been slipping about!!!!

I really don't think it's a trust issue with her at all, i think it's a "i'm going to try you out" and always have been - and with the proviso that i don't want her to start throwing herself to the ground again like she did last summer, I think we might have less of that from now on!!!!

flat batteries

on the camera

it turned into a gorgeous day - i couldn't see the end of my street at 0645, but by the time we rode out the sun was blazing.

I did eventually get molly to stand stilll .. i think what did it for her was when the others came round mounted to see how i was doing. that was after 10 minutes of circling the stool - every time i put my foot on it, she moved. when i finally got on, i was only half over her back when she moved and lucky not to come off the other side, but hey, at least i got on.

down the hill, then instead of going roudn the 20 acre which has been ploughed, turned left to go through the woods - it's so unusally dry the usual bog in there is dry as a bone! I got my camera out of my pocket, to find the batteries i'd put in last week were flat ... duh. so no photos, which i'd planned.

Molly was very good. couldn't undersatnd why the others were panicking about the odd tree stump, newly planted baby tree, whatever - until she got to the gate, when she said no. I do think she has an issue in her brain about being shut in when she's ridden, very odd as she has no such problem in the stable or the arena, but if we're out and she comes to a place where there's no apparent way out, she naps back.

then we went down to the park, the bogey hill = and i was so stuck to the saddle it was no problem at all, to the extent we were able to give another horse a lead.

and then on the way back she got two gates open, which was good.

and I took my leathers up a hole... was really a shade too long for hacking. Having said that, i think i'm contracting a bit from where i was after the equisimulator. I expect that's because i've spent so long trying not to slip....

so a successfull morning!

now if only the milkman had done his job, i'd be a happy woman - no milk delivered today or thursday! so can't have any tea until i get to the shop...

friday tired

there's something about friday afternoons .... i'm totally fried! and it's been foggy and chilly all day, we've got too used to the warmth this last couple of weeks, and i was late out ... she got fed and turned out which pleased her!

ground work

i decided, since it was a while since we did it...

i took some photos - not brilliant since i was on the end of the rope! - and got my mate to video the last bit of work, which was good as she did trot (had woken up by then!!!!!). I'm trying to get stuff uploaded to photobucket but it's on some sort of go slow. so, here's before we begin


and here's during ....


and when photobucket has finished i'll post the video...

here



and here's in the field afterwards

sit tight - glue tight

WOW. gives a whole new meaning to sticky bums ..... I stuck to everything, including sticking to the car seat, and the saddle as I got on. WOW. and i see why they are called tights ... totally different from anything we can get over here...

They're going to take some getting used to, and I need a belt to hold them up to my waist till they mould to me. But i shall be recommending these to all my friends, and certainly won't be slipping off the saddle on the way to the park!

in the meantime -- Molly stood still for me to get on. WOW to that as well. i didnt' think she was going to.

I carried mywhip - didn't half wake her up, possibly a bit too much, but she was listening to me. shame I was so stuck i couldn't get quite right! Actually, i think my right hip has gone a bit crook again, and that's possibly because i need to change the leathers ....

anyway, I was so stuck i was able to think about working on sitting trot, which is good - but i need to be able to keep the legs down, they're creeping up, i'm losing what i had and i think that might be because of using the moulded panels a few times. so i wasn't keeping my leg on as well as i should and wasn't keeping my feet firmly down; but next time i'll be able to use my balance strap, which has finally stretched enough to fit the saddle! which will help me loads.

also i really must see if the local saddle agent has recovered enough from her broken leg to come out and check us out (and one gets a bit of a lesson from a lady who trained the irish olympic eventing team at dressage a few years ago...)

and james - yes, loads of patience and i dont know where i get it from. go back to last july and read all that, if we hadn't sort out those issues I don't think Molly would still be with us ....

better....

took the moulded panels out and the original panels are much better, left me in a much better position. decided to see how far we could go on our own. first up, thought i'd try the 20 acre, which we could do last year. she wouldn't go down the hill, but looking down i could see they'd ploughed the field, and later realised the tractor was still in their ploughing, so probably just as well!

so got her through the yard without too much napping back to the stable - had to boot her in the sides but got her back round. through the yard reasonably in order - there was someone rattling something round a corner that she couldn't see, but got through and then right the way to the corner of the geldings field. tried up to the left of that, towards the big log, but she was nappig back and since that was where she nearly dumped gaynor in the hedge last year, decided to try andother way. so went along the bottom of that field - sun directly in my and her eyes - and that wasn't a problem. she doesn't like being faced witha gate though.

thinking about it, up the left side of the field there's the big log - huge - and she never really likes coming up to a gate - maybe there's some psychological issue with being hemmed in when ridden? or maybe not, there's no problem in the arena. but anyway, i was pleased to get as far as that on my own!

then went back into the arena and eventually got some decent trot. Think I'm going to start carrying my schooling whip again, if only to hit my boot with. Today i used the length of the reain to make noise off the saddle when she wasn't doing anything.... worked.

whether i'm prepared to do that to get her away from home yet, i'm not sure... maybe leave that one a bit longer!

and the other problem

went to get the cash from teh ATM = put my card in, and the machine promptly crashed big time (started running windows NT reboot scripts, got into the DOS!) with my card still in it..... AARGH

photos

this is Queen of Timber today ....
















































and this is Didi, a gorgeous 2 year old by Dance in the Dark.... believe it or not she was black ... is going to be grey ... and has movement to die for...

molly's mum

Queenie; I saw her today; i should say, i do still own her, she's in retirement about 30 miles away and i see here when the person who has her is there (she often works weekends and so often when I go up to pay her keep i have to go there, not to the farm). I'm not sure she's going to do next winter. I'd been getting good reports through the winter, one person apparently thought she was about 10 years younger then her present 25 and in foal ... but when I saw her today I'm not at all convinced. She seemed to have lost a bit of condition, which she hasn't in the past (always did herself well!). I'll pay more attention over the summer; where she is, is very good, I trust the people implicitly, i think it's one of those things where if you see the horse all the time any changes creep up on you where if you don't, the change hits you in the eye immediately.

Anyway, I'll post some pictures later when i've got them off the camera.

As for Molly - i did more than I'd expected, jackie was riding out up to one of the other yards on the estate which has a much better arena than ours so I went up with her. Molly wasn't wholly impressed - fair enough really, new place, new route to get there, jumps in the middle, etc. Spent a fair amount of time throwing her head about! But i think, i wasn't at all helping her. the stirrups were even this time. But i've decided to go back to the original flat panels, not the new style moulded panels that i'd put in. I very much felt as though these panels were tipping me forward, and that's no good! Also, I think the stirrup leathers have stretched!

But i was nontheless pleased by the finish; and Molly was striding on along the road going back (she does like a tarmac road! and it's good for her feet).

lovely ride`

shame about the rider's incompetence today ....

i was wondering for ages why i felt uncomfortable etc, and then when we went to trot i couldn't ge her moving and felt as though i was tipping....

realised a stirrup was the wrong way round (quite important with HM stirrups...) then a little while later realised i didn't have the leathers the same length ....duh. i was thinking the saddle had slipped, all sorts .... what a nit.

but we saw some new born lambs - molly nearly stood on the afterbirth whilst we were standing watching the mother lick the later one dry ... they were so new they still had the umbilical hanging down, we must have just missed the birth itself by seconds... and i had the camera with me, with what i thought were new batteries in ... dead as a doornail. heyho.

and i really don't like hills at the moment.... niether of us are balanced enough for them. we went down a different way, all grass no rocky tracks, so it was easier, but still not totally clever. never mind, we'll get there, and i'd have been a lot better had my stirrups been right....

some views

this is the Tan Hill inn, which as you can probably tell is quite high up....












this is the view from the pub car park ... looking north over the A66 up towards Durham














this is the view of the pub from higher up - we walked up the bridleway opposite after we'd eaten, this is part of the Pennine Way which runs up the spine of the country.









some orphan lambs - i like this pic, the light was perfect!












and the lambs again (there were three .... plus another brand new one ...)

and as you see, the dogs didn't think "dinner" - we thought perhaps because the lambs didn't run away from them .. they were just like puppies, really ...

ropemakers

and this is why i wanted to go to hawes on saturday (they're closed sunday) - you never know, i might get a training halter at a better price...

berwick upon tweed

for a blog supposedly about molly, this goes off topic regularly .. but then so does life!

and the peril of having a partner is that sometimes one has to go on trips...

and today was berwick upon tweed

we'd never been before, either of us, and were glad we did - despite the length of time it took (heavy heavy heavy traffic, totally mad, with no reason for the 15 mph on the dual carriageway...)

here's a picture of the view out over the bay

we were looking down towards holy island, but don't think that has come up on the photo, you can see it in life....









and here's a picture of a greyhound, forever waiting outside the house:
















and molly? she got her tea, after she'd run the gautlet of getting past brooklyn, who took a chunk out of her bum. i rather think they're not all totally overjoyed to be out all night, as all three horses came running to the gate when i appeared (the pony didn't bother ....)

tomorrow, Hawes to meet some friends, and eat at Tan Hill the highest pub in england.

house clearance

because partner's parents are now both gone, we had to do some final clearance today - and collect the bed. so crack of 0830 collected rental van, filled it with stuff from our place, went to parents, filled there, went to tip, tipped it all, lunch from a store, diversion to the barbour factory shop (if you want anything jean ... but the sizings are impossible, even if the prices are perfect!), back to pick up bed, then pick up my car ( had dropped it off for handbrake repair) came home, had a rest, went to see molly but no point trying to ride - there's nothingn like carrying a mattress for doing your fingers in - came home, emptied the van on my own save the mattress (got the neighbours to do that) made tea sat down .. phew...

gorgeous weather again as well, shame not to have the time to ride but the job had to be done and i suppose it was the right weather for what we had to do....

sun!

a lovely day, the washing's all dry (well, except the stuff that went out at 4 p.m!). the carpet is fitted in the spare bedroom, i managed to get the moulded panels into the saddle and had a ride out! timing on that was perfect as (I hadn't know) the others were all riding out as well.

back down the park - scary steep, but at least i wasn't slipping off totally, just a little bit! and molly was very brave about the lambs. last year when she first saw the lambs on the other side of the fence, they were really horrid horse eating lambs. today, she had to go past some = and did. also someone was having a XC lesson in the field we were walking through, no problem (person of course slowed down etc. whilst we went past).

and i think i got the thing about lateral - had to push her over a couple of times and thought about the hip/weight thing, worked.

and we did the last gate out onto the drive! in the past she's really not wanted to know about that gate, but we did it tonight. took three goes to get her lined up to get the catch, then i had to go back round again to pull it open. but we did it, i was so pleased with her!

and the others went off for a canter (i'm still not doing that ... haven't since i fell last june, but i don't care, we're both still building confidence again!) and we walked back down ourselves - i thought she'd prefer her usual of going down the drive, but she volunteered herself to go down the grass track between the drive and the geldings field, and that pleased me as well. it's downhill, in the past she's had issued with the large log jump that makes the track very narrow and she sometimes rushes at the bottom.

it occurred to me that one of the things about down hill - as well as feet - will be balance. so that should improve with more work, i hope!

then i went to the store again and came home and washed the car. I'd mucked it out earlier - needed it, after all the shavings/haylage/feed/mud etc in the winter. i can now not be embarassed to let anyone into it!

4 1/2" pelham

with curb chain that probably belonged to a 7" ....ggrrhh

i've been meaning to try the pelham for nearly a year. i bought it last spring when a local tack shop had its closing down sale. it was 1/2 price, which was good. but didn't get round to it.

yesterday discovered that the bridle was too large for it. so dug out the wintec that was in the house and took that down. perfect. BUT .... the chain, even when turned to lie flat, was miles too long ...

so, the usual bit went in. and we did a bit of work. better than yesterday

i'm trying to get some lateral movement but not getting there. i can get turn on the forehand but not leg yield. we're getting something wrong ...and it isn't that her sides have been kicked numb, that's for sure! i wonder i think i need to have even more contact (and less grief from her on the subject!) and i know i get a bit tense when trying something like that..

she exhausted herself

eating in the field and really didn't want to do anything at all.

and i didn't feel as though my position was up to much tonight... whatever i did. the only thing that worked well was at the end when i rode her through the yard and along to the start of the track; she wouldn't go any further, but since we got there with no traumas at all (a first) i was quite pleased with that.

the new thin reins are good, i've definitely got a much better grip with them.

had i had my brain in gear when i knew the richard maxwell thing wasn't going to happen this week, i should have organised myself a lesson at some point this week = much easier during a weekday than on a weekend when everyones doing other things for themselves...

what i forgot to say

was that we also nearly fell over, but i didn't realise at the time.

as we set off, we went along the track past the house and to the ford.. it's a bog standard farm track typ of thing, hard, pebbly in places, some soft bits, and it goes past a copse on the left and the house/orchard on the right.

molly kept trying to go one side or the other (her feet a shade soft after the winter, of course) and i kept trying to push her back but as usual she wasn't really listening to my leg, what's new there.

in the orchard they are digging a "ha ha" ( a form of ditch, usually called this when a design feature) and just past the orchard there's a relatively wide bit of what looks like grass ... but is in fact quite soft and she doesn't do mud.

she went onto it and it was a lot deeper than anyone had realised - i'd thought it was just soft mud.

one second i was thinking oh well it's wide enough grass don't argue, then next second i didn't know what was happening as molly under me seemed to be trying to get quickly towards the fence as if somehting had bit her bum or whatever. it was very bizzarre sitting on top, and all i could do was maintain a contact, steer her away from the fence (we ended up next to it, the ground rises slightly to the fence) and sit up.

that was fine, got her back to the track and carried on.

then when we got back everyone said how well i'd done there particularly, and when i looked at her legs she'd clearly been hock deep! I still didn't register, but they were still talking about it in the evening

I went back to have a look - AARGH - we were clearly very close to actually falling over one way or another, it was seriously deep and no warning that it was going to be. you could see the huge hole where the first leg had gone down deep, and then you could see where she'd been struggling to pull herself out of it. if i remember i'll take a photo...

so i was even more pleased with myself, and i think this may account for why she was listening to me more after that - maybe i do know best sometimes? despite the twingey feet? dunno, but i think we've both learnt something there, definitely.

flies!

we weren't expecting them in the chill breeze (not quite as cold as yesterdy, but working on it) but once we were out of the wind - flies all round!

had a really good hack.

wore my winter cord jodhs' - they help the stickability! and the new very thin rubber lined reins I got are a great success - only had cob size in the shop, so hugely long, but it's much easier to keep my reins a correct and consistent length than it was with my favourite continentals - which are now relegated to second favourite in consequence!

Molly did two gates as well, which was good, and has started to listen to my leg - not as much as she should, but compared to her previous ideas, very good. possibly assisted by my continually improving position.

We must have been out for 1 1/2 hours, longest i've been out on her, loads of walk really and a couple of trots.

and she spent most of the ride out in front, so she's getting loads of confidence back

and she didn't nap at her usual place

so i'm very pleased with her indeed!

teacher's rights

thought this might be of interest jean .....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6515077.stm

tech support

for the new router couldn't tell me why the pc wouldn't recognise the router. i worked it out for myself just now - the ethernet card had been disabled! duh. if i hadn't been so tired earlier in the week, i should have clocked that then.

25 minutes on the phone to india (happily, not at international rates!) and i solve the problem myself. ...

slippy saddle

i don't know why i believed the agent when she said the butt leather wasn't that slippy. it is - and today proved it. we went out to go down the park and then round. to get down the park you go through a gate and down a steep hill.... i really felt as though i was going to slip off! not assisted by molly not wanting to go the way i pointed her. to be fair to her, her feet are a shade soft after the winter and she didn't want to be on the track .. but oh, it was horrid.

anyway, the plan is (in addition to the kerrit's, jean! ) to take the saddle, and the old seat saver off my gp as a pattern, to a leather man on the westgate road (bike leathers, but does loads of other stuff as well) and get him to make me one up to fit. friend says he's very good and very cheap. i really don't want a HM one, as i think there's enough cushion under me with the saddle!

and it's worming weekend - they all have to be in from 10am this morning until monday morning. hoping i can then get molly out 24/7 ....

more ground work again...

she's still being good on that.

i had been going to ride... i had infact been going to put the pelham in and see what happened - but when i looked at it i decided i needed to go look at some pictures to see how to attach it to the bridle, i'm almost inclined to think there's something missing .... so ground work instead. she's now offering me right rein in preference to left. but we still have some confusions.

unfortunatley, plans for next week can't happen re getting richard maxwell out due to it being easter week and other committments his end and at the venue. so it'll be the back end of the month.

but i'm starting to feel better, which is good

and roll on tomorrow night, week off next week, yay.

more fog ....

and i was so tired. you know when you can feel your eyes tiring as you drive home? like that. so i didn't do any work with molly, just came home. plans for the week? what were they!

fog and groundwork

it was misty/foggy all day, didn't really see the sun till nearly home again and it was a bit nippy. decided to do a bit of ground work to see what she remembered from last time; pretty good, really. someone else was having a lesson so we didn't have long, but what we did was good enough.

got my pc back, seems to be working but not recognising hte modem. so the laptop is back downstairs online wirelessly, but the pc is upstairs not online at all. go figure!

very very tired

only 4 hours sleep last night, still suffering from the ailment of last week and overheated .... so mollydidn't do any work tonight, despite the light night and good weather ... i expect yesterday has taken it out of me a bit!

satnav rocks jean! we wouldn't have done anything except sit and wait for the road to re-open, or go back, if we hadn't had it and we found we didn't have the map we thought was in the car!

i think they're excellent!

adventures with a satnav....

we had a good day in york, once we eventually set off. saw the yorkcastlemuseum part 2 (the ticked we bought last march 28th was valid for a year.....) and pottered about. on the way back, we thought we'd go over the tops - north york moors - so set course for helmsley. that was fine. went a new route as directed by the satnav, through Ampleforth where I'd never been and here's a nice view of Ampleforth College from the other side of the hill (it's a famous Roman Catholic abbey & private school)

got to helmsley fine, so the next thing was the helmsley/stokesley road over the top of the moors.

not far out of Helmsely,the police had closed it, there must have been an accident further along. so being clever and having a satnav, we turned off left at a junction that happened to be there, and followed the satnav.

Bit of an error. It was going to take us over the top of a moor, yes there was said to be a road, but the sign said "not suitable for motor vehicles". we thought, well it looks suitable (tarmaced, don't you know) ... went up quite steeply, became untarmaced, got to a gate, sheep on the other side, went through gate, got to another gate ... there'd clearly been other traffic through, but the potholes were looking interesting and we couldn't see how deep they were, so had to turn round and go back, which involved me reversing back aways (happily, it was level, and a gorgeous sunny day) through the second gate, then turning on the field ...

The satnav wanted to take us to kepwick from hawnby, which is fair enough and the track is in fact marked on the ordnance survey as an unfenced single lane road which should in fact have been passable.

should have ignored the last instruction from the satnav where it said turn left, as when we got back to that point, there was a signpost for osmotherley and we went much more confidently that way.

Have just looked it up on the ordnance survey online map to see, and we didn't in fact have too far to go (but for the scary looking pothole!). so one day possibly on our holiday or over easter, we're going to go to kepwick and walk to where we had been and see.

so i rang from the top of that moor to have molly brought in; plan had of course been to get back and do it myself! but i clearly wasn't going to make it....

back to it

the weather having improved!

20 minutes in the arena; by the end she was really losing it (well, starting to) and didn't want to go any direction i wanted her to; but one of the others was going out on a hack so i went out with her as far as the ford, then turned round. Possibly shoul dhave gone on, but she'll have wanted a canter up holme hill and i don't like holding people back! and that was the good bit, and we got some nice trot steps coming back. and she went back to the arena without arguing, so that was good.

rest of the day - expensive! partners birthday present. went to camera shop to decide on camera, happily partner content with camera i wanted to buy her. wanted to use my credit card, which i can only use online as i have never known the pin number. got home. ordered it ... website in fact didn't let you buy on line and pick up in store, only order online and buy for it in store. so i had to go back to store (22 mile round trip, dammit) that i knew had it in and get it on my debit card. ah well. and had to fill up with petrol (gas, jean ...LOL) and the price of that has rocketed as well.

my friend in yorkshire texted me .. her horse won a dressage test last night with 78% WOW is all i can say.

an away day tomorrow for partner's birthday, york, usually good value for money for a day out. so molly gets another day off, but we have light nights from tomorrow night on....

looks like

the weather is starting to improve. molly's been rugless again yesterday/today; not totally warm (jean, send some of yours this way please!) and is warm. plenty of haylage of course helps!

here's a photo from where we were sitting wednesday:




this was taken with myphone, 2mp, without the light on ... the light effects were really good, the green/blue made you think of bluegrass country! which was clever.







partner's birthday sunday so have to go shopping tomorow for present, think i know what to get but she needs to look at it (new camera required...)

don't know how much work I'll be able to give molly what with that, the hairdresser and the usual weekend chores.... but at least the clocks go forward saturday/sunday so we get lighter nights from now to october...

vaguley disappointing

and not just because i was not well and probably shouldn't have been there (turned out partner could have had a colleague have the ticket .... )

the singing was of course excellent.

but it was a proscenium stage, so flat, and even with the tv cameras projecting the stage onto tv's either side, there was not one close up of her. close ups of everyone else, but not of her. now why would that be?

and she does talk a lot. she quoted a review from manchester the night before, the reviewer had said she talks too much. hello, she does. I dunno, if I go to hear dolly sing, that's what i want to here.

we got jolene, 9 - 5, little sparrow, coat of many colours, like that, plus some covers of some 60's stuff (Those were the days, my friend, amongst them! which got us all singing along of course!)

even partner is now prepared to concede vague dissatisfaction.

but hey, for a never to be repeated event..

the silly thing was, we had an excellent sightline to the stage. but guess who forgot binoculars. duh.

edited to add: whilst I knew she was wearing white the first half, I could only see what it was etc. when reading tonight's paper ...

dolly parton

we have tickets for tonight at newcastle arena. hope i'm ok for it (had to come home early and go see gp today .....) but i'll have to be, partner will NOT be impressed if i don't go (partner's birthday present to self...). and as partner says, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. was a bit hacked off all the people giggling when i said, I like her anyway!

so i was able to bring molly in myself tonight, having originally asked friend to, but that was good as the temperatures are rising again and i had to change her rug. she might go without again tomorrow, will have to see what the forecast is, but it is improving again all the time.

hardy TB

i was deceived by the glorious sunshine this morning into not putting rug on. oops. it snowed in teh afternoon and of course i was 25 miles away at work. Molly was warm; not as warm as she couldl have been but no way cold. i put the fleece cooler on as she was also a bit damp and standing in she's more likely to cool if damp, and put a couple of extra slices of haylage, but she'll be fine. She will be getting a rug the rest of the week though .... it's forecast to get a bit worse.... so there'll be no work done either this week. but i reckon if i'd left her rugless and unclipped this winter, she'd have been fine

and we can't repeat the ride we did saturday morning; they've ploughed the field up. they're supposed to be leaving riding strips round the outside of crop fields, but someone forgot to tell the ploughman that....

hilarious

film we've just seen. Hot Fuzz. highly recommend it.

as for the molly mare; everything was being blown horizontal today, and i got the rug back on her just before it started snowing (she was warm, but wouldn't ahve been if she'd got wet!).. think she was pleased about that. forecast to continue really cold and the wind chill is horrendous. euch.

just found

baby barista - see the bottom link- very good! not that i'm a barrister, i'm a solicitor so instruct barristers - this is excellent, whether it's fiction or not!

rode

before the gales.

it was windy - but we didnt' notice it down at theyard, it was only as we left that the wind hit us! had a nice ride. four of us out; at one point all 4 horses were moving as though their legs were going through glue, very bizarre!

molly was very good; towards the end she was marching on ahead along the road no bother - then the others wanted to go along the field instead, and we had a tro. she did her usual sewing machine trot but then started to relax into it and i felt as though i was getting the rise right.

personally i could have done with continuing along the road, for the benefit of molly's feet (they need road work!) but one of the people doesn't do roads very well....

i was pleased with both of us, i have to say! and she's very good about going under the railway bridge (east coast main line) where some of the others don't like it...)

then went up to meet a work acquaintance for lunch, planning a conference for a year come may (i.e. may 2008!). glad to get him to the point, we've been meaning to do this for a coule of years (already did three) but last year someone took the wind out of our sails by borrowing our format for an identical conference aimed at half of our audience! pah. then went to buy a friend a haybar and back to teh yard, when it was time to bed up and bring in (possibly a bit early, but it was starting to spit on to rain, and the wind got a lot worse). meant to go to the pictures but time allison had visited her mother we were 10 minutes late...

much as i like a lie in

i dislike intensely mucking out at night around the horse..... ah well, can't have it both ways. kirsty offered to turn out this morning and i fancied an extra 1/2 hour shut eye. dind't get it particularly, but did stay in bed the bit longer....

will have to think of putting rug back on; not usually advisable, but they're forecasting snow....

a long way

for a site visit, well two actually. but i was impressed, 2 hours 20 there, not much more back, i was very lucky with the traffic! and my satnav rocks - got me to two obscure locations no bother at all. much easier than forever stopping to consult the map when you are getting near, especially in these days of yellow lines all over (that's to stop us parking jean!). But not enough tea; no one one offering a brew (mind i don't know if i'd have said yes had it been offered.... but it's polite to offer!)

turned molly out this morning, and was in time to muck her out tonight.. not something i normally do in my suit!

had planned to go see caroline but that went pear shaped .. they had no signal for their mobile phone so didn't get my call ... ah well, next time. but i always reckon visiting friends is even better when soemone else is paying the travelling expenses!!!

late from work

not a late meeting, just late out, then had to set the car up for tomorrow's long trip to the other side of the pennines! fill up with petrol, jet wash, like that. so molly got her tea, and i put up tomorrow's tea and haynet ready. shan't have time to do more than turn out in themorning, friend is bringing in tomorrow night as i won't be back till late....

only just cooking my tea now at 9pm (althought partly that's for other reasons!) griddled chicken...

felt better

as soon as i got on i felt better in terms of my riding position, so spent time thinking about that.

also thinking about whether i could feel which diagonal i was on in trot, when we got to it.

and some time getting molly to listen to the leg - turns on the forehand, which she does wonderfully in hand when i don't want one!

by the end she was doing that really nicely left, but not so nicely right (now there's a surprise!)

got on the horse!

felt like weeks since i'd been on Molly although it was probably only a fortnight. all that groundwork, whilst it was successful in itself, has left me forgetting where i was supposed to be. still, with the weather improving i should be able to get back into a routine .. alternate, i always found useful, or even a three activity cycle - flatwork, groundwork, hack...

anyways that's for later inthe year when we get proper light nights.

i felt as though i couldn't get my leg right at all. and she was no way going straight. that was probably down to me, but she was mithering on at the bit from the off which didn't help. i did about 20 minutes or so in walk; she's forgotten what little she had learnt about moving away from the leg. then when someone turned up (i knew this person was stll to arrive, herpony was still out!) i did some trot work and felt i was starting to get it in terms of a low rise and not bouncing. we started off with me on the wrong diagonal everytime, but in due course got to me on the right diagnonal from the off. and almost got some sitting trot back.

need to work harder on the legs

need a lesson ....

a good drying day

but that as all that could be said for it; certainly wasn't a good riding day! i don't think anyone rode, the wind was so bad. i'd thought if it dropped later i might .. but there's no signs of it. ah well, the laundry is done and dried and the kitchen's a lot cleaner than it was...

haven't tried the moulded panels on the saddle yet, that was going to be for this weekend...hope i get the chance through the week...

what was that

about riding on saturday?

car to garage. partner picked me up. took her home, wrapped parcel to post, post office, yard. muck out etc; wait for farrier. farrier late. rashly let other's go first, had to leave money with farrier and come away. no sign of partner. back to garage paid for car left hers there came home, partner appeared. we found carpet man had been this morning supposed to be this afternoon ... happily, came back! back to garage, waited for carpet man, had brunch (bacon butties, done in baguettes in my case with cheese, yummy ...). went to feed store for haylage & feed. filled car. man said what's there is all we have left for the year in haylage..... went down, unloaded car, decided go back and load car again; did so via garage for fuel as had none. back to yard unloaded more haylage. bedded up etc. put haylage in for night, made up feed. by this time totally frozen - howling gale - and starving; horse brought in and i came home.

it's true what they say, the best of the weather is in the morning, and if i hadn't had to take car to garage.... but there we go. better luck tomorrow i hope!

definite progress

tonight she offered to go right at a point when i was asking for left. progress, i should say so! not totally consistent yet and i think we're still a tad confused as to what means go forward and what means turn in and stand, but i cannot believe how well this way of training is working.

excellent!

and she was warm when i got her in, and shedding huge amounts ...

rug off

molly was SO warm, i took the rug off. she'll get filthy (stable is on rubber matting with one bag of shavings and of course the field is still muddy) and i hope i don't regret it, but she's shedding so much, it's so nice through the day (UP TO 54 F forecast for tomorrow) she'll be melting and i don't want an overheated horse!

didn't do anything with her - apart from anything else, was still in my work kit! and that doesn't work, really!

and i'm still pleased about last night, it was good...

and more yay

not having done anything with molly since what, wednesday was it? i didn't know what to expect. borrowed friend's rope halter and 12' rope with leather bits on the end, as used by e.g. maxwell and others.

we got right rein trot, with practically no argument whatsoever. I didn't have to spend any time at all moving her legs.

yay.

so after confirming that she would do it by having her do it again, i stopped.

and i now see why those ropes are £20 - that'll be about $40 US jean i expect ... very heavy in the hand, make a satisfactory noise when circled, much easier to use altogether.

and shedding? she's shedding .... it's amazing how easy it is to forget how horrendous the spring moult is between one year and the next!

the pc's at the office, our IT chap said he'd look at it for me

another oddity; the hub would never work on the pc, works perfectly on the laptop. go figure!

mad march gales

as if we hadn't had enough in january and february... more today. lovely morning at work looking at it, if cold; by this evening, not. so i did that rare thing, groomed without then doing any work! still a bit tired from the weekend anyway,

recovering from yesterday

the trouble with a bad night is it takes ages to pull back together ....

the plan was to ride this morning, given the weather's nice and forecast to rain this afternoon.

but soo tired still, and for same reason my shoulders are hurting which means i need to wear my neck collar a couple of nights probably (although it's been all this stress of things going wrong, i expect!). got to the yard ... no one was riding. lots of hangovers, i wasn't actually yawning when i got there but was time i left, you know how catching it is.

so i thought leave it to later .... if it doesn't rain and i feel better, then maybe.

there's never a huge amount of point doing anything when you're not well, and i can't go out on my own yet .....

simba

in one piece

first thing this mornig (well, not quite first thing .... this was about 0730 i think) up our maple

i think this has been my busiest blogging day yet...

always on broadband

i'd wondered, when i went to broadband, why everyone wittered on about always on internet connections, because i certainly didn't have on.

turns out, that's because of the modem that came with the subscription.

the new modem is always on ....

so i'm going to have to be really on top of updating security software (happily, it does it automatically)

comments

always have the time on them, but never the date.

i was struck by this having gone to beckbrook to see if victoria has anything to say for herself yet. she hasn't, but the comments are all on the one post and there is no way of telling that in fact they've been added many months later.

generally speaking it doesn't matter; but in this case, it certainly does! and i wonder if there's anyway of resolving that short of actually putting the date in ones comment...

tired

which isn't surprising.

i do have time and daylight to do something with molly, but don't think i've really got the brain power after the hour i got up this morning.

the car is probably the fan switch, booked in for next friday.

the pc will have to wait for the man getting back to me

partner had me out choosing carpet for spare bedroom.

hot in the car, cold out

tired.....

so am having a cuppa to pick me up then will go down and bring her in and feed her

oh, and the other job for the day was to buy haylage for molly and a bag of feed for queenie; i need to go up this weekend, but that's waiting for tomorrow now.

and the weather has been rather good .. lots of sunshine, and the only rain was before dawn. so the washing's on the line as well....

testing new modem with laptop

at the crack of dawn (well earlier, i got up at 0430, overheating ...) my pc crashed.

i moved the laptop upstairs, but found that the software i'd thought i'd downloaded, the modem driver, hadn't downloaded properly and there was nothing there. major deprivation moment.

had to buy a new modem.

rather think the pc is totally stuffed. went into set up 4 times, but it would not recognize the main hard drive (i have two, but the one that wasn't working was the one with the os on ...)

so i won't have to ask to borrow anyone's pc to post ... and won't have to post from work, which is seriously frowned upon ....

what a day...

firstly, when i came down this morning, Simba was hobbling about on three legs; so clearly the usual routine to get ready for work, etc, went out of the window as he had to go to the vet. I thought he'd broken something..... got there well before they opened, having dropped partner off to collect her car from where she'd left it for her london trip, and made it work for 10.

then in the afternoon had to go to our other office. i'd forgotten about the horrendous road works to get into redcar (well, they were a lot worse this week than last anyway) and whilst sitting in the traffic jam the car overheated.

so had to rearrange the client who was due any minute; didn't know how long i'd be sitting there.

walked along to garage on corner next to road works, who really unhelpfully said " we all finish at 5 and the lads are on their last jobs" ... essentially, f*** off; I shall ensure I tell everyone about that lack of service! the fact that my car was not the make of car that garage sells really should have been irrelevant, but I don't suppose it was.

by the time i walked back to the car it had cooled down enough to be nursed round to the office (switching it off when the traffic wasn't moving, i was still in the jam!). left it in the car park with the bonnet up; one of the lads had a look, we decided there was loads of coolant, so goodness knows what's going on.

then came home early. decided to come home before going to yard, on principle that i could use partner's car when she came back from vet with simba. She'd decided to go visit her mother (who's in hosptial; this morning she'd said she wasn't going to...)

Simba hasn't, apparently, broken anything, just realy severe bruising. but has to go back monday 4 pm. partner will have to do that, i won't be able to ...

so after all that, despite the nice weather this evening (cold but dry and no wind, and we are, apparently, expecting a full eclipse of the moon) molly just got her tea and i came away....

and brought a load of work home ot make up for this morning and to get it done.... forecast to rain sunday. but was due to go to see queenie this weekend, now car has to go to garage in the morning if they'll look at it...duh.

yay

one full circle in trot right rein... result!

first attempt she'd gone right, then turned back when i started saying good girl and she realised what she'd done.

second attempt, yay hey.

did by applying gentle pressure in a rightwards direction, then when she'd turned her head that way slightly touched the end of the rope to her right shoulder.

and then we went back in. and she got two polos, one with her head at the girth left and the other ditto right.

nice ideas jean ... it's really only an issue in the arena.

mistake

i made over what the weather would do.

when i got there it was blowing, it was starting to rain and there were some huge clouds.

time i'd got mucked out (ran out of time this morning) bedded up, got her in and fed.... the wind was dying and the clouds had gone.

duh.

phobia

i suppose that is a possibility - but if so, it's ONLY in the arena... nice thought though! I wish i knew, it has to be something going back a long way from the period when I didn't know her (which is quite lengthy, really ... ) but of the issues she was known to come with, that was one of them....and has proved the least capable of resolution.

I don't want to give up on it. i could give up, and just ride, but I think ground work is important, as does everyone else, so I'll persist.

It has been wet here all day, so I rightly decided to feed her and leave her; it started to rain as we were locking up! and some gales forecast.

The authorities "close" bridges to high sided vehicles (those over the Tyne, anyway) in the wind; the trouble is, the high sided vehicles ignore the signs.

oh, and simba the kitten has now learnt how to murder birds; dead thrush on the landing last night...one of the perils of having cats! especially young and energetic ones!

more ground work

a little bit more ground work to see if i could get her to go right; coulnd't, but did manage to stroke down her right side twice, before she realised she'd let me and moved back round again.

the good thing yesterday that i forgot to mention.. she let me run up the right stirrup, first time she's done that, so clearly heading in the right direction...

very chilled

Molly was today. Rode out, 4 of us, just a long walk again; Molly was content to be on ahead for most of it which really pleased all of us. She really don't like mud though, i have to watch my knees through gates in consequence and downhill is a bit of a pain (i'm sure, in fact, she'd much rather be on tarmac!). Was really pleased. Was even more pleased one of the group spotted my bluetooth earpiece on the deck... lost it on the way out, hadn't even realised, so that was really good!

i should have stopped...

when i was ahead.

decided to do a little bit of ground work tonight, since it was a very gentle walk hack this morning.

she started of letting me go to her right; surprised herself,but did it.

after a bit of work left, i put a lot of pressure on and she went right in trot YAY. i shoudl have stopped then instead of trying to get her to do it again ... duh

mud avoidance

amazingly woke up this morning (really late night last night!) and went down early and out for a ride. the difficulty was to know where to go to avoid the mud Three of us out; one on a very old horse that only potters about now (about 25, they think...), another on a friend's horse, and me on molly. just walked. but i was pleased with her. she led through a couple of the gates that were open (a bit dodgy, they're narrow and i was trying to get her through them without rushing, to avoid knee injury on gate post!) and one has been reported more times than enough, it's dropped and can't be closed whilst mounted! but i was pleased with her. and i think we got the best of the day ... it was so warm, i was considering turning her back out without her rug, but cooled down a bit and will rain again.

but shedding!!! lashings of winter coat coming out already....

Shall do the same again tomorrow i think if i get up....

wet........

i shoudln't complain, had a good week so far as able to do something every night until tonight .... someone last night said i was dedicated, but frankly my view has always been that if I have a horse i ought to be doing SOMETHING with it, and the more so when it's a horse like Molly that needs a lot more work that most and more consistently....

same person said she thought she (molly) has a good topline now; I'm not so convinced myself, but certainly an awful lot better than she was! the haybar is a substantial advantage of course, feed off the floor but without the mess!!!

small steps

towards letting me round to her right.

i started where i finished last night. had to spend some time moving her back end from her left, then going back to her standing in front of me and seeing if she'd let me toucht he right side of her face.

once.... i was round to her right hand side then she realised and moved back

then - and this wsa the good note we finished on - she let me move to her right hand side, and stayed there whilst we walked a small circle and that was so good i took her straight out of the arena .. although keeping her on my right whilst doing so. i had the bb on, and just applied a small amount of pressure to pull her head that way, very gently rather than pulling.

hopefully the weather will be such that we can do a small amount more tomorrow.

this is good!

and that it'll stay good to ride at the weekend.

will she won't she

tonight i decided to work slowly and calmly on trying to get her to put herself in a position where i was on her right side.

we eventually got to a point where she was nearly there, and she was letting me put her hand up to the right sideof her face and stroke it. once she found herself going right and really startled herself ....

i think if i keep that up, as opposed to my previous modus operandi, i might get somewhere (albeit it'll take a while) and there'll hopefully be less for richard maxwell to work on when we get that sorted...

i was actually quite pleased with myself as well.... i'd made a conscious decision to stay calm and did.

i might get a new visitor as well ... someone from ultimatedressage wanted to know stuff, so i said come read the blog.... hope i don't regret that!!!!

wet ... very wet

well, i suppose not very very, but too wet to think about doing anything ....

found xenophon on the internet last night available as a free download so have been reading bits of that.... will be interesting.

the most interesting thing so far: why do barefoot trimmers say that the frog should touch the ground, xenophon says the opposite....

ummmmm

i se that was a previous post title.

i suppose because this whole process involves a lot of thought.

i think i've worked out that i'm trying to move my leg back in trot, when there's no need with this saddle.

i think i DO need the moulded panels. and/or i haven't got the girthing right anyway - i know they say don't tighten too much with the prochoice girth, but it gets quite sticky to the horse and then, i think, you think it's tight enough when in fact it isn't.

the saddle slipped back slightly and there was a ruffle that hadn't been there before ... i think because of that.

she did, however move away from my right leg to the left so we were moving laterally across the school. first time she's done that.

you will all remember my posts on the equisimulator; i finally got round to adding to the thread on the subject on ultimatedressage.....possibly putting a cat amongst pigeons, but i do really think that a lot of trainers/people who've been doing this forever and know their position is right, forget what it was like at the beginning

anyway, have to find something to do whilst EE is down!!!!!

yay a ride out

went for a hack out unexpectedly - a couple of the people who normally go out first thing were going out shortly after i got on, so i went with them .... down the lane, Molly didn't do her usual whip round which was good, through some fields, trot up holme hill, round the top, walk back down - that was scary a bit as it's slippy, she wanted to go faster than i wanted, the saddl ehad slipped a touch and i really wish i'd got the suede seat!!!!! - and then back home, and Molly & I opened the last gate, and a nice trot back along the lane. by then, I was really sinking into the saddle and felt as though I had that a lot better. So i was pleased, if somewhat wimpish going out! vaguely worrying about what she was going to do. Plus, she seems to have her confidence back for going ahead, by the time we got back to the bottom of the hill she was walking on ahead!

So I was pleased....

Was telling people about tetley, they're all disgusted.

And you're right jean about when EE finds out about this ... there are peole on there near that place, I have no doubt ...

deprived of addiction

to the EE forums LOL.

I knew i went on there probably too much for my own good, but it's very weird not being able to ..

a disgrace

last march I met a new friend who had two lovely horses, tetley and tia. tetley was huge and gorgeous and a privilege to ride. passaged for the hell of it! hell of a horse. he was sent south to a supposedly good home .... and has had to be brought back having either been starved, or fallen ill and not treated. we all want the person who did this to explain herself - that's when we stop crying at the state the horse is now in. i've never been so upset about anything in my life - worse than having my cats put down when they got to that stage, worse than when my previous horse billy had major surgery, worse (in anticipation) than losing my mother will be when i do ..... there is no excuse for tetley's condition. we all only hope that back home he will recover his condition and mental well being. i cannot believe how anyone, especially someone who is supposed to hold a BHS qualification, can do this.

oooooooo gggrrrhhhhhhhhh rant.


as to molly - it was very very wet tonight so again she just got her tea. i knew i should have done more wednesday/thursday .....

and I WILL be having richard maxwell see her, YAY. my friend is organising it, subject to his availability, hopefully first week in april! YAY. mind it'll be interesting. I know a lot of the time when i say i can't get round to her right side in the arena, people don't quite grasp how much i mean that .....

i should have partner take some video of before, and then we can have some video of the day, and then it'll be good to see me continuing after. i'm so looking forward to it. must sort the camcorder out, the digital might do video but not enough for that!!!!! (although getting the video onto the pc wil be interesting ..... might have to get some more software, the stuff i had before doesn't work with xp and the camcorder is analogue......)

BTB the video on clipshack was on a good day ... it went seriously pear shaped not too long thereafter...

long rider in jail in india

http://www.thelongridersguild.com/word05b.htm

read this and weep... for india, and for daniel robinson... then go sign the petition and write to te FCO and the indian high commission and whoever .... (and jean, perhaps point your local congressman / senator at it?)

i was being optimistic

in thinking the weather would be as good tonight.... it wasn't. back to bad winds.

and had to fill in my work appraisal form ...... a bit of a nightmare as we talked about most of the stuff at the beginning of december... but hey.

bread

had to be made tonight so i had to come home instead of doing anything; hope the weather's as nice tomorrow!

can't get on to the forum again.... someone seems to have it in for it, depressing!

feel the walk

a short ride tonight - i was lucky there was still someone there to hold her whilst i got on.

just walk work, and some exercised to get her moving away from my leg, but i was clearly getting there because i could really feel her moving under me, and could feel my seatbones.

so we're getting there.

and the new professional's choice girth had arrived .. amazingly sticky!!!!

ee forums

have been hacked big time. i hope they catch the sicko who's done that and give them hell..... totally horrid.

on the Molly front, did some ground work tonight but didn't work as well as last week. she's standing still facing me. but it takes a while to get there. i feel if i push her too hard on the pressure to go right it might end up going pear shaped. on the other hand, getting her to move her quarters up close (hind leg crossing) seemed to work. trouble is, of course, it's still only from the left. i suppose we'll get there. if partner comes home early enough she's going to see the dvd and why i want to have richard maxwell work with her .... but i think i'm half way there as i said yesterday she could video it, she said good idea (but that she made a pig's ear of videoing a christening whilst she was away.... she doesn't really do technology, lack of patience to see how things work!)

the weather relented

teemed down all day yesterday, but stopped today and was sunny this afternoon.

and I got sitting trot. I wasn't trying for sitting trot, but found myself doing it, and i could momentarily feel my seat bones moving with the horse and i definitely wasn't bouncing. YAY. that's the first time ever.

apart from that, I was again thinking about my position, but added in some attempts at getting molly to move her quarters away from the leg (i.e., aiming for turn on the forehand) just sitting, putting the o/s leg on and her head slightly flexed to the inside. at the start i had to bend her more but we were getting there and you could certainly feel the improvement underneath me as well.

was on her for an hour, but not just trotting round and working a sweat up. lots of walk, small circles, then some trot to try and get the slow low rise (still not got it on the horse, even if i can get it on the equisimulator, but getting there....)

i need to start working on sitting straight again, i can feel myself leaning forwards which of course i shouldn't be..

must get a balance strap sorted out on the front of the saddle, that'll help me loads

but i was very pleased with both of us.

and having got richard maxwell's dvd running (had to clean my dvd player ....) learnt an awful lot about in hand work, not just the rope circling with training halter ... better in many ways that the one that's generally recommended, richard hinrichs (which i bought a few months ago); i can see the start better if you see what i mean.

hopefully the weather will stay fine this week; i think for now my plan is ground work in whatever form after work, and riding at the weekend..

back to routine

of wet weather .... really i suppose we're getting off lightly at the moment, hard frosts but not too bad for snow, and the frost made the roads better, better traction on frozen bumpy snow than on icy compacted snow... and not much of it. but didn't muck out till tonight what with being so late last night i was behind hand this morning, and I hate mucking out round the horse (even if she doesn't mind!) always worrying in case she moves and gets accidentally pronged. never happened yet and don't want it ever to, but can't help worrying about it. that's another toruble with rubber matting. you can't leave it even one night as you can a full shavings bed.

nothing done with her of course, no point even thinking about it...

airport information boards

chocolate fireguard would be more use.
checked it all online before i left the house, no reported problems.

a minuted after the flight was supposed to land, they said it was delayed .. turned out it hadn't left Amsterdam!!!!!!! duh. eventually arrived 1 hour late .... only just got in.

nice new earrings though.....

snow; deep frost between my leaving the house at 2010 and getting back now.

but those southerners are having it a lot worse... wimps (they don't expect snow and don't know what to do with it........she says with northern snob head on!)

cooold

it was bone chilling tonight; colder than the last two nights, and my warm cosy thick fleecy lined jacket wasn't keeping it out. i had been planning on doing some more ground work with molly, but i thought if i'm that cold it ain't fair to take her rug off.. anyway, i don't think i would have got warmed up.... so she just got fed.

snow forecast, and that usually warms it up a fraction, but we'll see.

partner due back from phillippines tomorrow ... shall take fleecy coats/hats etc to the airport with me!!!!!

more groundwork

but not as effective in some ways.

she still is thinking about standing still in her own space, but doesnt really want to. as im typing this i have realised something has gone adrift with the keypad on this lap top, what should be the apostrophe is openeing the find function... duh? and it was too too cold. forecast for -5C (27 F or thereabouts) and snow. see how it goes over the week!

and there is only one richard maxwell... see www.richard-maxwell.co.uk .... you get the man himself....

ground work

i said on saturday i'd been watching richard maxwell's new dvd at my friends (have now just ordered my own....)

so the plan for tonight was to make a start on that, borrowed rope halter from friend and put my (too long) rope on it

but of course i'd forgotten that she can't even stand still in her own space in teh arena ... she starts circling round me as soon as i've shut the gate and moved into the middle!

so i decided the first thing to do was not, clearly set away from a stand - but to teach turning in to stand from out on the circle.

difficult to explain if you haven't watched his work (and of course i've only watched the dvd ...) essentially its the circling work with the rope, using to apply pressure by spinning the rope.

so she sets off, then after acouple of circuits (or even just one) I spin it very fast which moves her quarters out, turns her in and she stands.

by the finish she was really starting to think about it and realise that i wanted her to turn in and stand facing me.

so i finished after 10 minutes i think it was and she was indeed thinking about it and had stood. Assuming the weather stays ok, that's the plan for the rest of the week and i'll ride again at the weekend.

i wish I'd known more about richard maxwell's work when i first got her, i would have had him out straight away

as it is, having found out the cost, i don't think i can afford it AND have a holiday, and if i don't have the holiday (we've been invited to France for a christening, and given that i haven't gone to the phillippines and the christening is the son of some friends.....) i'll be very very unpopular.

hey ho.

Jean, the bit is a mullen mouth snaffle at the moment. did have her in a myler but the mullen mouth has been more successful. Mind, i've been thinking about going back to the myler to see. and i really do want to try the Pelham.

now, completely off topic ... i've been writing this whilst watching a programme called Monster moves on Channel 5 - all about moving two churches, one had to go through the middle of Sarasota (it's steeple and the rectory also went, separately!!!!). they say next week we'll be watching an entire town!!!!!!

um....

if i can get the trot right she starts to come right; the difficulty is getting it right after the initial rush off.

but i really felt we were making some progres again tonight. if i can be consistent in getting it right which slows her down then we'll get to the point where we can have that from first picking up trot!


should have taken my saddle with me yesterday, definitely; took a while to decide what stirrup lengthy i wanted. and i think i shoudl have got some large knee rolls, not small ones (what did i know, never used them before...)

longer of course put me deeper and the walk was consequentially better, but that was too long at the moment for trot ....

and rein length is interesting. a difficult balance given her previous bitting issues between short enough to be right and yet not too short and end up with an argument about it ...

think we're getting there on that one as well.

equisimulator refresher

went down to wakefield again .... wel worth while. should have taken my own saddle, we'd decided i needed as Nicola had a fhoenix of course, but had i done so we could have set mine up re. the knee rolls. i have small ones, and i was practising with large ones.

stirrups went longer again

and i got the canter

so looking forward to putting that into practice. Plus, nicola said i was a lot straighter than the first time I went, so whatever i'm doing, i'm doing right...

and she's thinking baout whether or not to come up and give me a lesson on molly; could prove pricey for me, it's a fraction under 9o miles each way, but her OH helpfully pointed out that he's from just up the road from me (and used to mountain bike where i used to ride!) so he suggested a useful trip up for him to see mates. i offered to pay a tank of petrol, cheaper than the mileage rate!!!!

on the way down i'd stopped off at richmnond equestrian centre and caught my mate doing her first test (horse popped out of arena in canter, not helpful!) but she got some nice marks from thejudge, and her second test, which i missed of course, she came third in the class. So both horses are nearly qualified for national trailblazers at stoneleigh, so they're pleased

went to see them on the way back, nice lunch in local pub, but made one error .. we should have gone to get her feed before we went to the pub, as her saddler/feed store had a sale on; only in fact got there in time to pick up her feed. but then, i've spent enough.... LOL.

and then she has Richard Maxwell's new DVD, maximise your horse's potential, lots of food for thought there, i was really pleased to see it and will now try again on molly going right, using those techniques which are easier to grasp when seen....

only got home at 8pm .. happily knew i'd be late so organised someone else to bring the horse in.

and it was a gorgeous day ... once the sun came up ... if you were in the sun it was lovely, but apart from that there was a hard frost first thing this morning and there's another one building now, it's coooold out there...

parcel

of goodies to go with the saddle had in fact been sent to the local agent, who far from letterin herself be confined to barracks, is up and about and tonight was taking a clinic on lateral work..... and she'll hav eplates in permanently. I met the dog that did the damage. a labradoodle, golden.

anyway, still the girth to come, but the wintec i'm using at th eminute seems ok, if not quite as non slip as the new one. I shallbe most pleased tobe able to use the leathers & stirrups; adapting ordinary leathers to work when you should have dressage leathers is seriously uncomfortable.

so since i didn't leave work until 50 minutes after finishing time, all molly got was her tea...

45 minutes

on molly for that length of time, happily there were people about which was good.

it's been a really nice day here, almost spring (well, you'd have thought...) and the evening was just as good.

we did some trot and a lot of walk. i concluded i needed the leathers down one again....

i was thinking about my position again, but also about getting molly responsive to me, which meant i had to think about where my weight was. at one point we almost got a lateral move .... i've never been totally sure she understands them .... and a fair few small circles as well.

overall i was quite pleased....

interestingly, after i got off i thought i'd run the stirrups up .. guess what, no i can't go round to her right side to do that whilst we're in the arena.... duh.