spookbusting

that, i thought, was the thing for tonight.....my thought was that doing that might assist in terms of whatever it is that gets Molly blocking ....

now bear in mind this mare couldn't care less about tractors, earthmovers in teh arena with her, screaming kids erupting outside her stable....

following me around, with the schooling whip in front of me and pointing away from her? no.

I'd already done the draping it over her thing .... she did work out that if she stood still it got taken off....

but the other, really not clever. Changing my direction didn't help as i can't run as fast as she can ...

it's one thing watching max do it, it's quite another doing it yourself!

hey ho.....

hey ho, it's back to basics we go again...

TBH, given that we'd cracked the mounting when still at Harbour House, I think it's a bit more back to basics here needed.

I couldn't get the knack of that thing Max was doing AT ALL which is depressing - nicola, did you get any video of it? so i stopped trying, rather than teach her something other than required.

after that, did some nice work, some crap work, and trotted the trotting poles as well.

I did put the camcorder on a fence post, so it'll be interesting to see what that captured, if anything (it ran out of battery as well, so I must have been on a good while!) I shall edit loads out as I do the capture to computer, but that's all on the PC and partner's hogging that ATM to do some work....i'm on the laptop in the kitchen! so that may get posted later in the week, we'll see what it's like...

Also got some nice photos...but again, need the PC.

Partner went to allendale today, so called up to see Queenie .. i've a plan to put a nice head shot of her together with one of Molly, once i've worked out how to do that in photoshop - that'll be good.

Queenie is now struggling to get up sometimes, so that re-inforces the decision about her for this year....I don't want her to get to the stage of struggling through the winter....I'll see her at the end of July ...


Molly today:
and Queenie today:

it took an hour

or thereabouts to get on.

After the first 10 "no i won't stand square and I will turn my bum away" i got the 12' line & pressure halter and took her up the other end of the arena, where she proceeded to have such a tantrum she forgot to put a foot down and ended up falling over.... a bit scary, but she didn't hurt herself and was perfectly fine so i carried on.

The process was, groundwork then to the block, won't stand, back to ground work, and so on.

She was taking the piss big time and using the fact that the mounting block is now in the corner as an excuse. think i'll have to get it moved (too heavy for one person to move) so that it's parallel to the fence but can be walked round ...

eventually, YO came and held her head.

After that, we got some lovely trot, nice walk, a few rein backs and a couple of circles (large and small) and I called it a day...

I wonder if she might be in season, though - VERY flirty going past YO's horses in their field ....so that won't be helping.

a good day again!

firstly, Molly.

Steph is here (came down for the max demo) and so was able to help from the ground.

We got rein back! YAY! about 8 times

We got the best trot - in fact, this is the first time Molly has given me a really nice trot - when she wasn't trying to canter with one leg, trot with two and god knows what with the third, or pretending to be lame but couldn't make her mind up which one. Steph said that was really funny - it felt like a skip! and very strange....

We should have had that on video, but, Steph was helping, not videoing, and it's too huge an arena to do both at once (unlike the other one!)

We're both a lot more balanced when we were

The Max demo was really good, AliG was a total star - - his first party and i think he only spooked once

I've got that all on proper video which I'll give Nicola on a disc, but hope i'll be able to get some good screen grabs.

After that, the despooking was another horse was interesting and I think I'll try that with Molly (might help the "blocking")

then some interesting work to get the mounting and lateral work, which I'm going to try. Essentially, have the horse move into the pressure of a light tap with the schooling whip just in front of the stifle on the bit of the belly behind the last rib - and hold that rein by the bit .... horse moves towards you. Magic. this was with a pony that wouldn't stand still to be mounted. also one that wouldn't load - it did by the end, with very little grief at all.

So i'll hopefully get that video'd at one point

would have loved to get that on video, but, was reduced to the digital and the light wasn't near good enough (mostly because it was pissing down outside)

didn't come away until 1045 ... and he was just wrapping up. we came away to beat the traffic, loads there!

tidy feed room

I had three bins from Ikea which are perfect for feed - you get one full bag of hard feed in one, and 1/2 bag of chaff/similar in two. YO clocked these - and said to me the other day she was thinking about getting them for everyone - and did! so these were all in place tonight. Everyone else's has a number, same number as their tack locker - mine is clearly mine, being filthy!

I have to say, it will be the tidiest feed room ever, i'm rather impressed how well they work lined up like this. The only thing is the big round scoops don't work, I was thinking I must go buy the other type ....

and here's some more pics...molly & charm!



Anyway, I was pleased I didn't ride tonight - had I done, I would have got soaked! i realised if I want to eat tomorrow (a day off!) I had to go to the shops...

she'll get some work tomorrow!

trotting....

right round the arena! without losing our balance!

no where near what should be happening, but still an all. I didn't do the ground work first, which I probably should have done, YO held her whilst I got on, and tractor AND mini groundmoving machine were both on the go next to the arena, which is all fully surfaced now (with a little hill of spare in the middle to do circles round LOL).

Molly wasn't really listening yet and kept looking over to the field (where Charm is, I must take a photo of her for you) but kept moving, and went where I pointed her, and as I say we trotted....

so i was pleased!

and grateful client sent me a mahoosive bunch of flowers, came by courier in a box!

much better again!

Well, she still was a bit unsettled to start - had just been half terrified by the roller door next to her stable opening, but she has to get used to it and it wasn't as terrifying as yesterday!

Only 5 - 10 minutes rope circling tonight, then YO's OH brought in the mini john deere digger/earthmover he'd borrowed (with my permission, i hasten to add, I wanted to see what Molly would do); then I did a little bit more "go back/come forwards/stand still" and took her to the mounting block. Moved her back from it and forward. then took the pressure halter off and brought her up and climbed the steps - and she stood and I got on, yay!

then 5 - 10 minutes walking round the school and just chilling really, she wasn't the least bit phased by the machine (he was earth moving in a small way, new arena surface being delivered tomorrow to top up what's there, given that the arena has been extended sideways) but eventually got her stress head on, not because she was still stressed but because she thought (probably rightly) that she'd done enough.

I think she probably had.

Then when i'd fed her and turned her out, I noticed the mares had no water so had to wrestle with unwieldy pipes (essentially, the blue pipe you'd bury in the soil) as a hose from the tap a bit along. took ages, then realised the pipe had got one of those kinks - and it started raining ...

anyway, when i got back down to the barn, they were all waiting for me as they couldn't see me from where they were! thought i'd gone for a walk or something....starting to think about worrying! amazing, i'd have thought they could see the pipe being moved...anyway, nice to be concerned!

so overall a good night..

25 minutes ground work

and she still needed her head held! I was pleased to see YO appear.... came and did the honours without being asked.

She had worked hard - she was being very "emotional", although not nearly as much as last night - kept asking me if I REALLY meant it ... which of course I did.

anyway, after all that I did about 5 minutes walk round the arena, nothing strenuous in the way of work (it was more a cool down by this time LOL) and then everyone said they were going to I thought I'd get off.

This is not a yard where everyone rides every night - or does anything every night.... :-(. I think some come through the day, and then there's the one person lives next door, and YO keeps her horses at her place down the road...

so hopefully by the end of the week i'll be able to get on by myself again without too much grief!

Oh, and the mounting block is really high - top step level with bottom of stirrup!

waaaaiiilllll.. and hyper - and howling gales

But mum, you're taking me away from my new friends and that youngster that's followed me through the field and I want to go back and i don't wnat to listen to you ...

had i known, I would have taken the pressure halter to the field, not the headcollar!

She was shouting for Charm, and Charm (the follower, nose to tail, I nearly didn't get the gate shut!) was shouting for her.

Molly went straight in the roundpen without any deviation into the stable (she wouldn't have settled) but still wasn't really listening to me so i left her there and went and got the pressure halter and 12 foot line.

another 10 minutes or so (i have to say i rather lost track of time!, might have been longer!) she was thinking about listening to me. gave herself a mild rope burn on the nose. By no means perfect, but she'd stopped thinking about Charm, at least and knew I was there!

Whether the weather had anything to do with it i wouldn't like to say - the wind started getting up as we got up this morning and by the time we went up to Gibside at about 11 the trees were all blowing about, and by the time we came back there were bits of trees on roads - so maybe, but the mare's field is very sheltered from it, in the lee of a hill (i'll take a photo one day so you can see - there was no wind in their field when I got her!)

some of it, as well, will have been "but you're taking me away from my new friends and I just met them" after her 2 weeks on her own - so once she gets the idea in her head that she goes back to them, she'll be fine, I expect (and hope!)

Anyway, it was far too windy in the arena to think about riding, and I was really pleased that I didn't even try! it would have been a cue to come off again, in the wrong way, I think! I don't need that sort of saddle time!

Saw a hare on the track on the way up to the field which I took a photo of on my phone, if it's come out I'll post it (I'm currently in the kitchen on the laptop.....don't ask!) - cropped from the original, I'm amazed it came out. he moved the next step i took!



and found a new saddler on the way back from gibside that has only been open 8 weeks - didn't buy new Toggi boots for only £79 as they were too narrow in the calf, couldn't get the zip done up. did buy a bartle sheepskin seatsaver that was supposed to fit the fhoenix - shopowner has ridden in one - but didn't really, the elastic was too tight, so that will go back....there was a very nice lightweight turnout that i would have had, only £30 but nothing left Molly's size. and a bag of feed I got. Partner rather regretted spotting it, she ended up sitting down waiting for me ....

Oh and a discussion about bits (shop promoting neue schule) and saddles (she's going to do WOW's with the local agent, whom I know and can fit a saddle)

the visit to gibside was to see a glass horse in the stables that they've just restored (stables are usual old fashioned fantastic, but stalls) and hopefully the photo of that has come out as well...but we had a nice walk as well, and had lunch (some good cooks work for the national trust!) and came back with some goodies... this is me looking at photos of the horses that were the subject of the sculpture...

a bit gobsmacked..... hadn't realised the photo was going to be taken!

wet introductions

The riding didn't happen - it started raining, and is still raining, and is forecast to rain until the wee small hours.

in the meantime, today Molly could go out with the mares. so she did. There are a total of 4 including her.

This is Charm, a small Welshie, getting brave and saying hello to Molly. You can see how wet it is! and this was on the phone, in the wet without the zoom ....

our feeling is that Charm will pal up with Molly; in the meantime, Roxy, the dominant mare in the field, was trying to keep the other two (there's valentine as well) away from Molly, or the other way about.

But overall, a calm introduction. molly really wanted to get her head down....

the name game (2nd post)

I have been reminded that I never could think of a "posh" name for Molly - in case we ever need one if we ever go and do anything.

So, suggestions.

She's by Golden Lahab (by Blushing Groom) out of Queen of Timber (Timber King out of Maroyal) if that helps (you can see where Queenie got her name!)

a video

of molly working in the round pen tonight. taken at the start of the session.

Oops, hadn't realised how much shadow of me I'd get!

it was quite funny. I didn't do a lot, and stopped asking her to move on when i thought she'd done (she was, after all, listening to me so why push it?) and she carried on, and turned herself round and did a few circuits the other way before she realised i meant we'd stopped!

then took her for a walk all the way round the arena to view the sights - that she's seen before, but as well to reinforce it. also, i wanted to check out for myself how it is now - there's a couple of fence post holes to fill in and some more surface to go down!

longling - in the wind

first time since i moved yards - you'll remember i wanted to do it the other night but arena was out of action.

bit of a performance getting tack on - will have to work on standing still in the stable, but i think she's still getting used to that and a man was working outside on fencing.

anyway, the arena was done - if we moved some stuff - so went in there (he was working in the round pen so couldn't use the uncluttered paddock next to it! which is also a bit more sheltered..)

took a while to get the longlines on - i KNEW i should have done 5 minutes with the pressure halter rope circling first! - but once we got going, she was going a lot better than she'd used to previously. whether this was more space (probably) and the work in the round pen (probably) i don't know, but she was looking rather good!

reading jean's entry for last night, talking about overbending - that's exactly what Molly does - sometimes right, sometimes over bent. She does the same under saddle.

we got a bit of trying to divert to the gate, and on the left rein falling in to me, but overall she's improved. considering it's quite some time since we longreined as well, i was quite pleased...

Oh, and the lines were being blown about all over, so even more pleased. will be better when it's less windy!

the weather did not permit

it is absolutely teeming down. not quite so heavy when i went out to feed... but at least it's warm! Molly was happyish, at least she didn't have to work!

she is listening!

tonight i decided to do some rope circling - the arena is still being redone and is unuseable so back to the round pen, but with a change.

HUGELY more responsive either direction. She didn't come into me when stopped as she usually does. generally more attentive and obedient all round.

then YO's OH arrived - came over for a chat - we can use an empty paddock to school until arena done, so tomorrow (weather permitting) i'm going to longline.

the arena

is being redone. it wasn't square (by any stretch of the imagination) at one end, so they've taken the fencing down, are extending it and straightening it, and it will be even bigger - 44 x 22, apparently. could have used it, but for the bits of fencing posts/rails, jumps, mounting blocks, chairs (!) scattered about (they'd previously all been in the corner).

So Molly, much to her disgust, got to go in the round pen again. she didn't want to.

I think tomorrow it's tack up and see if I can do anything in hand.

knackered....

both of us.

The in hand walk out that was wanted fr yesterday was done today....must have done abut 5 miles, and annoyingly, some tracks that i last rode with Queenie in 2002/3, and which are still signposted as bridleways, are blocked! so we came back the way we went, but I am going to go to the visitors centre and have a whinge about that, big time! they've been bridleways for an awful long time! the way out (and thus the way back) gets to be a bit of a pond in places, so the clean trousers now need a wash (hems, you know...)

Molly was very good. her power walk was in full "mode" so i had to go that as well - she was keen to see what was round the next corner.

No blocks as such. one stop and stare at some clay pigeon shooters (happily, they'd stopped and were packing up for the day). some mouthfuls of clover, cow parsley, and on the way back hawthorn hedge! guess she's short of something in the vitamin line...

she's done for the day, anyway. when i get some energy back, I'm tack cleaning. But i want to know where partner is - she was with me, but she carried on at our second blockage when i turned round to come back, and i thought she'd be home by now! that was about 1 1/2 hours ago now ....

another busy day ....

the stable got sorted so that Molly can go in it!

it's pretty big even with the cupboards in - i have 5 rubber mats down, each 6'x 4', it's about 13' x 10' of space available for molly - and no room for the last mat with this arrangement, so it's propped behind the tall cupboard. the other advantage of this arrangement is that it blocks the draught from under the stable door when that end is open (fresh air is all very well, but the bed would have blown away!). it'll be very cosy in the winter though. and the entrance is still pretty wide even with that slight overhang...

She was of course a bit dubious at first, but realised her friend was still in the wall (the stable mirror) and i was there...shouted a bit when i went across the passage to the loo, but shut up when i spoke so she knew i was there....

The sorting took most of 3 hours, what with one thing and another. I've used 5 of my 6 rubber mats, the other is propped against the wall behind the tall cupboard then went home for lunch, and the plan was to go for a walk with partner & horse round the meadows - that was stymied by mega rain.....

so when that stopped i got molly in, introduced her to her stable, and did about 15 minutes in the round pen. she got her tea in the stable, at which point the rain was to be heard on the galvanised roof. don't think she's heard that noise before, but she'll settle ...then turned her back out again.

hopefully there's better weather tomorrow .... i put washing on the line this morning, and of course it's still there......

and of course it didnt' rain again so i went out and did some weeding, so here's some shots of how the garden's grown!

and finally a simba cute pose from 2 nights ago that i couldn't resist..

round pen again

and partner came to see the new yard as she hadn't been there yet - didn't do too much as partner gets bored quickly and molly was distracted (as was i!) by partner & YO watching....but it is good, and it'll be better...

YO's OH is a training farrier (trained by my farrier!), and his current apprentice is - a woman! YAY. the first in the north east. so well done her. She was there tonight, which is how i know this. He showed me a shoe she'd just made, rather good! and she's only first year.

late night, late tea...

for all of us. i had a late meeting in newcastle (which is 40 miles north of the office and 12 miles north of home...) so molly got tea in her paddock when i was on the way home - another advantage, the drive home takes me directly past the yard... think she was pleased to see me!