Chispa is with me for training for his first rides. He's with me for 14 days. This is his second ride (in his life!). It's day 7 of our training...We're riding the southern cross pattern (dice of 5). He's doing so so well, following my seat and energy already, I only had to go through an indirect rein into release in forward a couple of times. All in one rein. Super proud of this boy ๐ฅฐ
Barclay's rehabilitation exercises seem to have a positive effect on him already. His range of movement is definitely improving :). Bearing in mind that he's recovering from 7 fractured dorsal spinous processes...look at him go! He's the big bay in the video.
Here, the horses are getting access to the grass for a short period of time. Most of the time they are living on uneven terrain in gorse paddocks and bits of forest. The uneven terrain is helping him too.
His owner Sam and I have been working with him for nearly two weeks now. For now, I have been concentrating on improving his range of movement. When he's supple and soft enough, I will continue to more collected and strengthening exercises - all in groundwork of course :).
Motorbike in my arena!
Motorbike in my arena! Keeping your horse soft and thinking through movement.
We have not done this before and I do not desensitise my horses! This was a funny thing we tried when I heard my 10yr old riding his motorbike in one of our fields.
As you can see, Chiara is attentive and responds to me asking her to stay soft throughout ...she has some moments of not being so sure, but the way Iโm asking her to move is keeping her with me, soft through her body and calm and thinking. She has nothing on her head and Iโm not holding her at all - only asking her to move her body in a way that contributes to calmness. Her calmness will then in return also contribute to better movement โฏ๏ธ
Barclay's rehab...
What a setback we had ๐, even before we started his training programme. I took him out of the field last week to start his training and he was obviously uncomfortable. I liaised with his owner and at the end of the week, new X-Rays were taken. His recovery wasn't going as hoped.
The vets have literally told us that it's going to be make or break now... we need to start and act now. I was waiting for a topline measuring device to arrive from Germany, but the shipment is delayed, so we're having to do without for now and make something simple up that will give us a rough idea.
I will keep you posted on how Barclay, the hero of his rehab journey is doing over the next few weeks. ๐โค๐
Impromptu bareback passenger lesson with music in the background ๐ฅฐ. With Alexia Goulandris and @Charlie
Calming Chiq
A calmer and safer horse in less than 5 hrs (5 days) of training?
This memory from 2018 popped up on facebook. After a night of fireworks near the property, Jessica's horse Chiq wasn't able to calm down for months. During 5 days of training, Chiq was helped to be calmer and for her owner Jessica Slotman to have a safer horse.
I'm hoping to be able to travel to Holland again soon and see you and Chiq, Jessica Slotman. I can't believe this video was three years ago! โค
๐๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ? ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ !
The same can happen when riding ;).
I was doing online feedback for a student who struggles with being able to keep her horse in trot on the ground. In this exercise we leave the horse alone when he trots, so that the horse finds release in forward and isn't told what to do every step he takes - focussing on release :)
Her horse keeps breaking gait into walk or standstill and then she ends up having to ask the horse to keep going. What was happening though, is interesting as her videos show that she wants to look over her shoulder to see if her horse is still trotting...in this movement she was moving against her horses' forward energy, causing the horse to slow down and walk.
This little video shows what is happening and what I see happening a lot...moving against our horses' travelling energy will cause them to slow down or even stand still!
The same counts for when we're riding, for example, when we're leaning forward too much with our upper body or not moving with our horse and therefore blocking his forward energy.
In the video I'm exaggerating the movement, but tiny little things are picked up by our horses, without us even knowing it!
Do you have a horse that seems to not want to keep trotting or keeps slowing down? A little change in our body language and seat can make a huge difference! ๐
Ponying out on the common
Ponying Silverado from Kaylib today - lovely canter uphill โค๏ธ
โจI have one more spot available for horse training from the 29th of March!โจ Please get in touch to arrange a chat about how I can help you! โค
So beautiful. ๐ฅฐ Luna and little Chiara had just come off the lorry after a very long trip to Holland from the South of Germany, so still a bit unsure.
โค๏ธ Chiara was 2 months old...so small, but such beautiful movement already ๐ฅฐ. Still does. โจ
Thank you Alexia Goulandris for finding this video. One to cherish! ๐
โจ A lot of training I do, is wit a 22โ rope around the neck , like this. This is a slow task example, but thought it would be interesting to share...
I love working at liberty of course....but as you can see really clearly in this video, the rope gives it away if I put more than feel on it, as the rope will tighten - and the last thing I want is for that rope to tighten around my horsesโ neck! The shade here shows how baggy or tight the rope is , you want to have feel so not too baggy, but not to tight as then the rope tightens around the neck!
When working on softness and feel, the rope immediately gives away if there is brace in my horse (which means that I need to soften with a tiny adjustment of energy and / or body position) or if Iโm tipping over the edge of feel and maybe pull a little... if the horse pulls on me, I will need to give and find that perfect timing of release or else the rope will tighten...
When working with any horse, I will constantly give and release - finding that flow of working within that feel is what I aim for. โจ
Chiaraโs first proper hack...
And then we went on our first complete hack out together ๐ woohoo! Out without another horse with her ๐
โจjust do itโจ
I need to soften up her transition up, as she loads up her front here, but am very pleased with a little trot out and about ๐ฅฐ.
Thank you Rebecca for being there on foot with us and for filming xx
Couldnโt resist getting on during our walk out (and realised a couple of mins in that Charlie was filming ๐) Awesome Kaylib as always ๐ฅฐ. Yes, without hat ๐คซ and just a halter and one rein...
Love this horse so much! ๐
Just saw this video again that I tried to post when we had all that snow!
Lovely ponies playing in the snow ๐ฅฐ. Look at Kaylibโs hind quarter move towards the end - itโs awesome what you see them use in the field when you teach them all that fancy stuff ๐.
When your child has left a football in the field! ๐
2yr old Rapidash and 21yr old Barclay playing together ๐ฅฐ. The video ๐
