More snow

Winter is far from over even though the days are noticably longer (at last!). It was snowing most of Thursday and I went to visit our crew to see what they were up to.

Some photos are taken with mobile phone hence the poor quality.

 'Madame' - not very keen on going outside in the snow

 'Luke' and 'Mr F' - in their usual position near the gate ... probably longing for grass.

There was more snow over night ...

... and the lighting this morning was most magnificent! Everything appeared in pastel colours, it was beautiful and almost fairy tale like.

After mucking out and feeding I went out with my camera.

 

The sun was still hiding behind clouds at first ....

Beautiful winter wonderland. :)

Follow the Red Ribbon

The little spot of mud fever/mud rash has completely disappeared and we have been out and about several times. We also have had two further lessons with 'Rupert' which 'Lillian' and I shared.

The aim of the first of our gorup lesson was to walk and then trott over poles that had been arranged in a straight line on one side of the menage and starting straight but then ending in a curve on the other side.

Not as easy as it sounds because I AM USELESS with LEFT AND RIGHT. 

Instructor: "And now we go on the left rein!"

Me thinking: 'Left ... where is left. I am writing with my right hand so the hand I don't write with is the left hand. Now does it mean I have to have the left rein on the inside or outside?'

Same issue with "More left leg, and shorten the right rein."  - "Huh?"

By the time I have figured out where my left and right is, time has run out and we have gone way past whatever obstacle we were meaning to pass. Meanwhile 'Mr F' is wondering what on earth it is I want him to do ...

In this particular lesson, I only ONCE manged to trot over the poles in a straight line. 'Mr F' was having some good fun with me and used every moment of my confusion with left and right. He zigzagged, stumbled or avoided the poles altogether. I knew it was my fault but I had by now gone totally blank in my mind. Left, right and all instructions might as well have been shouted at a wall.

I went home very frustrated, with a very dissapointed 'Mr F'. He likes clear instructions and by now was fed up with all the mixed signals he had to put up with and wanted to get back home.

In an attempt to solve the left/right issue,  I put two differently coloured ribbons on 'Mr F's bridle; RED for RIGHT and BLUE for LEFT. 

To the amusement of 'Rupert' we turned up like this for our next lesson. It was easier for me but now 'Rupert' struggled with BLUE/RED!

But we managed. 'Mr F' was more pleased at the end of this session, and he IS my main critic, straight from the source.

Grounded - And About Groundwork.

'Mr F' has been grounded for a week as he has yet again mudfever,

Just over a week ago, when I went to feed and muck out early in the morning, I was greeted by a very sullen 'Mr F'.  He has learnt by now that he can tell me when and where something bothers him and I mostly get the message. As I entered the stable 'Mr F' kept nudging me and then proceeded to look at his back leg. 

Getting the hint I went to investigate. Clearly, his back fetlock was swollen. Perhaps he's been standing in the stable for a little too long instead of going outside. I took him for a walk up and down the drive. Sometimes, his feet can swell up if he has been standing still for too long, which does happen in winter if they don't want to go outside.

However, the swelling did not go down with excersise.

At first I tought 'Oh no! A repeat from last year!

I had hoped that with 'Mr F's condition imporving and the change of feed, these issues wouldn't make a re-appearance.

Upon thoroughly examining his leg/heel/hoof I noticed that he had a small cut on his heel. I guess that is enough for bacteria to enter, the mud outside was of course perfect breeding ground.

I found a great spray that is very good for treating fungal / bacterial infections and it worked well last year and I have kept using it ever since for general use (and even for myself if I have a cut!). The name is 'silvetrasol' spay.

First I gently removed the scabs, flushed them out with above mentioned spray and then applied some mud barrier cream.

'Phew!' I thought. 'Nothing too bad.'

Although it did take most of a week and a half to heal up, partly due to the fact that 'Mr F' was still allowed to go outside. He couldn't cope with being stuck in the stable, certainly not alone.

During his time of being 'grounded' (not riding) we have spent the time together in the fields walking and in the stable sorting out his feet and making him comfortable. He does appreciate that I care and the past days were a reminder that the time on the ground is just as important as time in the saddle. 

This reflects straight onto riding, which becomes more and more apparent. The more I am 'connected' with 'Mr F' on the ground, the less aids I need to apply when riding. If he feels comfortable with me, he is willing to work with me. And also, if he is uncomfortable, through pain or me making a mess of things again, then I have to be much more persuasive. 

Well, I prefer having to do as little work as possible while in the saddle, it makes being together more fun for both!

I may have to explain what I mean with 'groundwork':

I don't mean lounging or anything like that. Although I have done a little bit of that in the open fields just to see how we'd get on. But first of all: I am not a fan of the menage. I enter it and it seems to sap out all imagination. 'Mr F' equally isn't exactly enthused by the thought of 'work' ... exploring is much more fun.

What I really mean with 'groundwork' is that we go out and explore. For example the nearby woods are great and used to be very challenging for 'Mr F'. Especially on a stormy day, when all the bushes move and rustle. Many nasty things can be hiding in there! But he now copes fine and follows me without questioning.

Or we do gait changing and leading exercises in the open fields while I lead him. I don't need words or any other signals other than my body.  If I walk, 'Mr F' walks, if I do one skip so as to run, he falls into trot and matches the speed exactly, his head never ahead of my shoulders.  I didn't have to train him though, this just happened naturally, over the months.

Here something interesting: I noticed that 'Mr F' strides out with the same leg (left / right) as I do and seems to want to match my rythm. And if I suddenly stop, he does too. But it took us a while to get to this point. At the beginning I spent much of my time up there attempting to stop 'Mr F' from eating grass!

All this may not sound very exciting to some, but it helped us both a great deal to improve our communication and allows us to be together, without many words.

And as I have learned the hard way in July 2014: NEVER EXPECT - but instead accept what IS. Work WITH the horse, NOT AGAINST it. And you find it will be tremendously grateful.

Jumping 'Clinics'

The local riding club every now and then organises a jumping clinic with Rupert.

The first clinic:

Although 'Mr F' had been jumping when racing (so I was informed), those jumps were different to what he had to do now. From full speed flat out jumping he sudden had to think about his feet a little more as this was all much slower.

At first we just walked over poles on the ground. He clearly had too many legs to think about and spent considerable time stumbling all over the place. Some of which probably also was my fault, there is a good chance that I was in his way as a rider.

Then we did the same in a slow trot. Again, he had difficulties sorting out his legs, and I felt quite out of balance in the saddle, which didn't help 'Mr F'. I was clearly in his way but could not figure out how I could change it 'Rupert' just said: "It's his job to sort out his legs."  I however didn't agree with that entirely. 'Mr F' is an ex-racehorse, I very much doubt he did any kind of pole work or anything where he had to think about individual body parts. All he was trained for was to go at speed no matter what. It was my job to help him now but clearly I could physically feel that I was in his way all over. I am a fit person and while nature has saved while building me in terms of height, it has made up for it by making my body muscly, athletic almost. And I spent most of my teenage days skiing, ice skating or racing around with my knackered mountain bike. Balance itself wasn't my issue. But somehow I was fighting the saddle. It was as though I was trying to ride a saddle rather than a horse. It bothered me the entire session but we continued.

For a next exercise, the poles were set up as little jumps, perhaps some 30 cm above ground. 'Mr F' was trying his best to avoid going over them all together. He sure made my legs do their part of the job! But I felt very unbalanced throughout the entire 90 minutes (groups of 3, taking turns). I knew I was in 'Mr F's way but didn't know how to correct myself. Why did I know? It's simple: if I don't sit correctly when I ride, may this be in the menage or out on a hack, 'Mr F' communicates with me very clearly. He does this by turning his head back very slightly and with the ears pinched back just a little. Similar to what he does when he has an annoying horse next to him. He keeps doing this until I pay attention to it and adjust. 'Mr F' has thought me more about my riding position than anyone else.

When we finished with our session I asked 'Rupert' if there was anything that I did do wrong or was there anything I could do to help 'Mr F' getting his feet sorted? The answer was: "No, it is his job." I didn't quite agree with that (hence why I in some other post mentioned that I am not an easy pupil to teach), while yes, moving his body was his job, but being not in his way (not interfering with his balance) was my job. Imagine wearing a heavy back pack while you climb up a steep mountain path with loads of big stones to climb over. Each time the back pack slips to one or the other side (because it is heavy after all) you have to balance not only yourself but also the weight on your back. This must be how it feels to the horse.

The 2nd clinic:

This time I shortened the stirrups, remembering how I lost them on that Christmas ride because they were too long to cope with on a bumpy ride. 

'Lillian' and I went for a short ride prior to the session.  'Luke' hadn't been out for a few days and she wanted to get a feel for his mood. It was a very windy day but both boys were fine.

The shorter stirrups felt odd at first but by the time we arrived at the menage, I had become accustomed to the new set up and the slightly new positioning of my body. I felt quite a lot freer actually.

We did the usual warm up with walking over the poles and me learning which direction to go - 'Left' and 'right don't work with me and I even managed to confuse Rupert.

This time we had 'Alex' on 'Rose' in our group but sadly, 'Rose' was having a bit of a hissy fit and bucked. 'Alex' came off and hit her head on the fencing on the way down.  I did not see how it happened but she was very pale and dizzy. After we made sure she was OK she decided that she would go back home and give any further riding that day a miss. I don't know why they let inexperienced and insecure people ride 'Rose'. That's the last she needs ... but that's a different story.

With only 3 of us left, we continued.

The poles were this time set a little higher compared to last time ... it was mine and 'Mr F's turn. The first round was not very successful with 'Mr F' trying to avoid it again and I wasn't focusing enough. The 2nd round was better. I was able to get out of 'Mr F's way because I could rise higher due to the shortened stirrups.  It was very noticeable that this was much more pleasant for him. And he was suddenly very keen on jumping even though they weren't very high. 

He did a great job this time, now that I finally was out of his way and actually moved 'with him'. And Rupert's cheering us on as though we were on the final hurdle of an important race certainly made 'Mr F' excited. It worked for me too, in my head I was running towards the last hurdle, focused, head up, go with the movement ... et voila!

I absolutely LOVE the take-off ... and the landing. I was concentrating hard to land softly in the saddle. I always feel sorry for horses with heavy (or clumsy) riders.

The shorter stirrups made a huge difference!

'Mr F' was surprisingly affectionate afterwards and rested his head on my shoulders, while I was waiting for 'Lillian' do sort out some administrative matters.

Even in the evening when I went to do the night check, 'Mr F' came and stood besides me, resting his head on my shoulders. I wonder if he was telling me that he was pleased with either himself, with me or with both.