No, not the horses, me! But up until yesterday we'd had a rather good week...
On Tuesday morning I thought I'd better see if the stand still for mounting lesson had translated successfully, so off we went to the road where Finn duly stood like a pony-shaped boulder for me to get on and was rewarded with a bit of carrot fed from the saddle. I rode off down the road feeling rather chuffed with my l33t p0ny sch001ing ski11z, only for him to grind to a halt 10 yards later and look round going 'Oi! More carrot!' I asked him to walk on, he started nibbling my boot!
Twenty minutes later I'd tried waiting him out, flapping reins and legs, growling, slapping my whip on my boot, waving it around his backside...and we'd got another 70 yards down the road, at which point he decided if he wasn't getting any more carrot he was going home and turned round. At that point he got a smack on the bum and told to effing well get on with it - and he was a total angel for the rest of the hack!
Having won that battle, I'd hoped for an easier time on Thursday morning, but he'd decided that the turning round and heading for home trick was one he wanted to repeat and tried it every minute or so for the first quarter of a mile, so we waltzed down the village in a series of small circles until he got to a manhole cover that he's walked past at least eight times before without noticing and decided that it was a pony-eating dragon that I needed protecting from and therefore he was taking me home. I'd planned to take him out of the village and a little way up the main road, but didn't think it was particularly safe to be circling my way up a road where logging lorries come down the hill at 60mp, no matter how much high viz stuff I was wearing, so after I'd got a reasonably sensible five minutes out of him, I turned him round. And, you guessed it, perfect hacking pony all the way home, until he realised that I was going to make him walk past our drive. He tried a half-hearted dive to each side, got a strong leg and a growl and then gave in, so I rode him down to the road fork, gave him another bit of carrot and then went home.
The weather forecast is great for this week and I was hoping to ride at least three times, but yesterday rather put paid to that idea. My husband stuck his head round the office door mid-morning to say that the breeze had dropped and the midges were horrendous, so I picked up the fly sheets and headed out to the field. I'd done Merlin's and was just finishing up with Finn, who was standing at the small gate between us and the neighbour's field. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Merlin stalking up the field with his "I'm going to bite the pony on his arse" face on. What I should have done was left the last strap on the neck cover, chased Merlin off and then gone back and done it up, but I thought I had time to get the strap done and then jump out of the way. Wrong. Horse teeth met pony bottom and Finn's only exit route was through me. He barged past, knocking me over onto the stone dyke wall and then trod on my foot, which was sideways on the ground rather than flat.
By 3pm yesterday afternoon it was hurting like you wouldn't believe and alternating between nearly numb and almost pins and needles, so I took myself down to the surgery where they pronounced it probably not broken. I'm hobbling around the place with the assistance of a wooden staff and swearing a lot! I'm guessing that's the running knocked on the head for a few weeks - I'd just started really getting going with it again - but since it's the right foot, I may be able to scramble back into the saddle by the end of the week.
Showing posts with label hacking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hacking. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Sunday, 26 August 2012
*crackle* *crackle* Is this thing on? *crackle*
I was a bit over-optimistic about my recovery, it actually took a MONTH for me to feel normal again! Anyway, 10 days ago I took Finn out for a hack, he did his usual trick of walking off while I was mounting, this time before I'd even swung my leg over. He then got a bit un-nerved by the human wobbling along beside him trying to get her foot back out of the stirrup (the dangers of riding in hiking boots...) and started to trot - fortunately "WOOOOOAHHHHHHH!" worked, otherwise I'd have face-planted into the tarmac. Attempt number two was successful and we had a nice hack to the end of the village and back. I'd planned to go further and was all high-viz'd up, but I'd forgotten that the Scottish schools went back that day and after the circus of getting on from the normal picnic table, I didn't fancy trying to remount after the gate with a bus shelter full of kids and parents watching me!
So this morning I decided it was time for Mr Finn to learn that I wasn't like his previous owner (18, weighs about as much as a twig, very athletic, able to jump on a moving horse with absolutely no problems) and took him into my neighbour's school armed with a pocketful of carrot sticks. As it turned out, being fed carrot sticks in return for standing still while I leaned on stirrups, bounced up and down beside him with one foot in them and then being rewarded from the saddle when I was finally up is just about Finn's ideal schooling exercise and after 10 minutes he was standing like a rock in the middle of the school on a completely loose rein :o) He's obviously been taught it before, it's just not been enforced for a while. The next step will be to see if I can replicate the lesson outside the manege, but as long as I have suitably orange bribes on me, I think all will be well!
We only had a short schooling session after that, we'd done what I wanted to achieve, so we walked a few shapes, I practiced a bit of trot (my balance is slowly coming back) and then we called it a day.
I was thinking about bonding the other day. Merlin seems to have appointed himself my bodyguard when I'm in the field now; he'll walk next to me or just behind me as I push the wheelbarrow around (unless I've just moved the electric fence!). I'm not sure if he's really bonded that closely or whether he's just protecting his food source from Finn though ;o) However, he'll really try his hardest to do anything I ask him to these days, which is a real change from when he first arrived. It gives me hope that one day I might be able to hack him out once I have my confidence back properly. Finn hasn't bonded enough to want to try for me yet, but it's still very early days - he's only been here two and a half months and it took Merlin two years.
Robbie the farrier came out to do their feet the week before last. Merlin was, as usual, good as gold, but Finn was a slightly different matter and played up, not wanting to stand, snatching his feet away and generally being a bugger. Robbie has been his farrier for a couple of years, so knew that Finn could be problematical but was definitely trying it on as he didn't usually act up quite that much. Every time Finn snatched a foot back and walked off, I made him trot a circuit of the field - if he chose to move, he was going to be made to move more than he wanted to - and eventually we got the job done without too much grief, but this is something I need to work on. Robbie has shown me the trick to getting reluctant cobs to lift their feet and Finn will now give me a front foot loose in the field (previously I could only get him to lift the backs). At the moment I'm either lifting it, holding it for a moment and then putting it down or lifting, tapping with a hoof pick and putting down and I'm sure we'll get there eventually - Merlin was a sod with the farrier when he first arrived.
What else? Finn has two new rugs courtesy of eBay, a fleece cooler to dry him out and a shower sheet to go over it. Both almost new, the most expensive was £14.50 including postage :o) But he's been moulting like mad over the past fortnight and the bristly clipped coat he arrived with is now mostly gone, replaced by a lovely soft, thicker coat which is far more waterproof and windproof. As long as we have a dry, cold winter, he probably won't need rugging, but at least I now have some options on hand if he does. Both of them have lost a little bit of weight this week, Merlin's down to 467kg and Finn to 402kg, but they're both looking good. If there's another loss next week I may start them on a handful of breakfast each again. At the moment they're having a handful of Speedibeet, half a handful of Greengold and two heaped spoonfuls of the homemade yeast/linseed/magnesium mix in the evenings and that's it.
So this morning I decided it was time for Mr Finn to learn that I wasn't like his previous owner (18, weighs about as much as a twig, very athletic, able to jump on a moving horse with absolutely no problems) and took him into my neighbour's school armed with a pocketful of carrot sticks. As it turned out, being fed carrot sticks in return for standing still while I leaned on stirrups, bounced up and down beside him with one foot in them and then being rewarded from the saddle when I was finally up is just about Finn's ideal schooling exercise and after 10 minutes he was standing like a rock in the middle of the school on a completely loose rein :o) He's obviously been taught it before, it's just not been enforced for a while. The next step will be to see if I can replicate the lesson outside the manege, but as long as I have suitably orange bribes on me, I think all will be well!
We only had a short schooling session after that, we'd done what I wanted to achieve, so we walked a few shapes, I practiced a bit of trot (my balance is slowly coming back) and then we called it a day.
I was thinking about bonding the other day. Merlin seems to have appointed himself my bodyguard when I'm in the field now; he'll walk next to me or just behind me as I push the wheelbarrow around (unless I've just moved the electric fence!). I'm not sure if he's really bonded that closely or whether he's just protecting his food source from Finn though ;o) However, he'll really try his hardest to do anything I ask him to these days, which is a real change from when he first arrived. It gives me hope that one day I might be able to hack him out once I have my confidence back properly. Finn hasn't bonded enough to want to try for me yet, but it's still very early days - he's only been here two and a half months and it took Merlin two years.
Robbie the farrier came out to do their feet the week before last. Merlin was, as usual, good as gold, but Finn was a slightly different matter and played up, not wanting to stand, snatching his feet away and generally being a bugger. Robbie has been his farrier for a couple of years, so knew that Finn could be problematical but was definitely trying it on as he didn't usually act up quite that much. Every time Finn snatched a foot back and walked off, I made him trot a circuit of the field - if he chose to move, he was going to be made to move more than he wanted to - and eventually we got the job done without too much grief, but this is something I need to work on. Robbie has shown me the trick to getting reluctant cobs to lift their feet and Finn will now give me a front foot loose in the field (previously I could only get him to lift the backs). At the moment I'm either lifting it, holding it for a moment and then putting it down or lifting, tapping with a hoof pick and putting down and I'm sure we'll get there eventually - Merlin was a sod with the farrier when he first arrived.
What else? Finn has two new rugs courtesy of eBay, a fleece cooler to dry him out and a shower sheet to go over it. Both almost new, the most expensive was £14.50 including postage :o) But he's been moulting like mad over the past fortnight and the bristly clipped coat he arrived with is now mostly gone, replaced by a lovely soft, thicker coat which is far more waterproof and windproof. As long as we have a dry, cold winter, he probably won't need rugging, but at least I now have some options on hand if he does. Both of them have lost a little bit of weight this week, Merlin's down to 467kg and Finn to 402kg, but they're both looking good. If there's another loss next week I may start them on a handful of breakfast each again. At the moment they're having a handful of Speedibeet, half a handful of Greengold and two heaped spoonfuls of the homemade yeast/linseed/magnesium mix in the evenings and that's it.
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Weight target reached
Thanks to bad weather and a day and half on box rest (of which more in a minute), Merlin weighed in at 451kg today and since he's about right on the fat scoring front (I can finally feel his ribs but can't see them and nothing else has gone too skinny) we'll try to maintain from now on. Without going back over all the posts, I think he topped out at 511kg (though he was chunkier than that when he first arrived), so that's 60kg gone since last summer or 9st 6lbs which is only 5lbs short of a whole me!
I came over all May-ish and started a new fitness regime this week. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are Merlin exercise days, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday are running days. I'm taking it very gently, so I'm doing Couch to 5K from the beginning again to break me back in, aiming for the Aviemore half marathon in October, and Merlin is doing 20 minutes' walk in hand around the village.
Or that was the plan. We managed the walk Tuesday and Thursday, then on Friday evening I thought he was moving slightly oddly when he walked up the field for his supper. Sure enough, when I got closer I saw that his left front pastern was so swollen that if you looked at his leg from the front it looked straight between the bottom of his fetlock and the top of his hoof.
Since he seemed reasonably happy walking around on it, there was no cut and it was fluid rather than hard, I sloshed it with cold water and shut him in the field shelter overnight to make sure he rested it. The next morning it had filled up further, but drained almost immediately as soon as I led him out and sloshed it again, leaving a slightly less swollen pastern.
We were heading into Thurso anyway, so I called in at the vet to check if there was anything else I should be doing. As luck would have it, Bridget-the-eventing-vet was on duty. She nixed my idea of giving him a little bit of turnout on the flat area behind his shelter, advising a short walk in hand on Saturday afternoon and then a restricted turnout area on Sunday if it continued to improve. Plus stable bandages overnight to stop his legs filling.
A quick trip to the tack shop later and Merlin met his first cold water boot. What a brilliant idea, especially for those of us who don't have hoses or mains water available at their field shelter/stable! Merlin wasn't entirely convinced by the feel of it going on and the first one went sailing through the air and landed in the mud (now I know why they sell them in pairs...), but once it was on he decided it was A Good Thing and I had very little trouble when I did it again last night and this morning.
The stable bandages were a slightly different matter. I'd only bandaged a horse's leg once; I was about 11 and the leg was plastic. Still, I knew the theory, I'd found some videos on YouTube to refresh my memory - how hard could it be...? As it turned out, the bit that flummoxed me was wrapping the bandage round in the correct orientation to end up with the velcro tabs on the correct side of the bandage, the first one took me three goes to get right! I was concerned that I hadn't got the tension right, so popped down a couple of hours later to check they weren't in a tangle round his ankles. They looked fine, so I fed him an apple and went to bed, relieved I didn't have to worry about him tying all four feet together overnight.
This morning I went down to find the gate half off its hinges and no horse! He'd lifted it off the top bracket so it swung off the bolt and the bottom bracket, jumped it and taken himself off to graze on a ledge on the near-vertical part of the hill in the bottom field. The stable bandages had stayed put - result! He allowed me to catch him with reasonably good grace and when I unwrapped him, his leg looked completely back to normal :o) I stuck the cold water boot back on for 20 minutes as a precaution while he had his breakfast and I mucked out and wondered, given his overnight antics, whether it was worth restricting his turnout or not, but decided better safe than sorry and gave him an L-shaped area of flat field to potter around.
This evening his leg still looks normal, he's still being ever so slightly careful with it over the rutted areas, but he's definitely nearly mended. If nothing changes overnight he can go back on normal turnout tomorrow and we'll pick up the walking round the village again on Thursday.
I came over all May-ish and started a new fitness regime this week. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are Merlin exercise days, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday are running days. I'm taking it very gently, so I'm doing Couch to 5K from the beginning again to break me back in, aiming for the Aviemore half marathon in October, and Merlin is doing 20 minutes' walk in hand around the village.
Or that was the plan. We managed the walk Tuesday and Thursday, then on Friday evening I thought he was moving slightly oddly when he walked up the field for his supper. Sure enough, when I got closer I saw that his left front pastern was so swollen that if you looked at his leg from the front it looked straight between the bottom of his fetlock and the top of his hoof.
Since he seemed reasonably happy walking around on it, there was no cut and it was fluid rather than hard, I sloshed it with cold water and shut him in the field shelter overnight to make sure he rested it. The next morning it had filled up further, but drained almost immediately as soon as I led him out and sloshed it again, leaving a slightly less swollen pastern.
We were heading into Thurso anyway, so I called in at the vet to check if there was anything else I should be doing. As luck would have it, Bridget-the-eventing-vet was on duty. She nixed my idea of giving him a little bit of turnout on the flat area behind his shelter, advising a short walk in hand on Saturday afternoon and then a restricted turnout area on Sunday if it continued to improve. Plus stable bandages overnight to stop his legs filling.
A quick trip to the tack shop later and Merlin met his first cold water boot. What a brilliant idea, especially for those of us who don't have hoses or mains water available at their field shelter/stable! Merlin wasn't entirely convinced by the feel of it going on and the first one went sailing through the air and landed in the mud (now I know why they sell them in pairs...), but once it was on he decided it was A Good Thing and I had very little trouble when I did it again last night and this morning.
The stable bandages were a slightly different matter. I'd only bandaged a horse's leg once; I was about 11 and the leg was plastic. Still, I knew the theory, I'd found some videos on YouTube to refresh my memory - how hard could it be...? As it turned out, the bit that flummoxed me was wrapping the bandage round in the correct orientation to end up with the velcro tabs on the correct side of the bandage, the first one took me three goes to get right! I was concerned that I hadn't got the tension right, so popped down a couple of hours later to check they weren't in a tangle round his ankles. They looked fine, so I fed him an apple and went to bed, relieved I didn't have to worry about him tying all four feet together overnight.
This morning I went down to find the gate half off its hinges and no horse! He'd lifted it off the top bracket so it swung off the bolt and the bottom bracket, jumped it and taken himself off to graze on a ledge on the near-vertical part of the hill in the bottom field. The stable bandages had stayed put - result! He allowed me to catch him with reasonably good grace and when I unwrapped him, his leg looked completely back to normal :o) I stuck the cold water boot back on for 20 minutes as a precaution while he had his breakfast and I mucked out and wondered, given his overnight antics, whether it was worth restricting his turnout or not, but decided better safe than sorry and gave him an L-shaped area of flat field to potter around.
This evening his leg still looks normal, he's still being ever so slightly careful with it over the rutted areas, but he's definitely nearly mended. If nothing changes overnight he can go back on normal turnout tomorrow and we'll pick up the walking round the village again on Thursday.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Hmmmmmmm
I went to the local tack shop today to pick up a couple more bales of shavings. The owner was in and we had a chat. She had the saddle fitter visiting yesterday (missed her AGAIN! Back in March, so not long to wait.) and took a thumping fall off her Welsh D, to which she casually added that Merlin chucked her off into a cement mixer once and he'd had her in the ditch often enough. Now, she's one of the better riders in the county at sticking on horses that want to get you off them, so if she was having problems hacking him out I'm not entirely certain I'm ever going to be able to do it.
On the plus side, he's a dope on a rope if I'm leading him (apart from when we meet a strange gelding) and does seem to love being out and about, so if I do ever get a ploddy native or cob to amble around the moors on, it's possible I'll be able to ride and lead and he can expand his world a bit that way. I did clean his bridle yesterday, so that's a step closer to getting back on him ;o)
Weight today smack on the marker between the 498kg and 490kg bands. He's got a coat like a yak, is plastered in mud like a swamp donkey and seems very content with his life at the moment.
On the plus side, he's a dope on a rope if I'm leading him (apart from when we meet a strange gelding) and does seem to love being out and about, so if I do ever get a ploddy native or cob to amble around the moors on, it's possible I'll be able to ride and lead and he can expand his world a bit that way. I did clean his bridle yesterday, so that's a step closer to getting back on him ;o)
Weight today smack on the marker between the 498kg and 490kg bands. He's got a coat like a yak, is plastered in mud like a swamp donkey and seems very content with his life at the moment.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Up and down
It's been a horrible week weather-wise - rain, hail, high winds, you name it. Yet somehow my unrugged, out 24/7, doesn't-do-winters horse has managed to put on weight and is now in the 498kg band again. Back to 4 large handfuls of beet per meal then.
I was very proud of him on Monday. The salmon fishing station at the end of the road put in a concrete loading dock last year which I was eyeing up as a perfect mounting block. Would Merlin set hoof on the concrete? Would he hell. Every time I've gone that way walking him out he's carefully side-stepped the concrete area and flatly refused to walk on it if I asked him to. I tried again when we were down there on Monday and he walked straight across it with no hesitation at all. No idea what's changed, but he got lots of praise and we did it again on the way back just to prove it wasn't a fluke.
I finished the last bale of hay in the storage side of the pig palace this morning. Just the bales in the pig-sleeping side now (I think that's 27 or 28, I can't remember) plus 10 bales of HorseHage. It should be enough to get us through to the good grass.
I was very proud of him on Monday. The salmon fishing station at the end of the road put in a concrete loading dock last year which I was eyeing up as a perfect mounting block. Would Merlin set hoof on the concrete? Would he hell. Every time I've gone that way walking him out he's carefully side-stepped the concrete area and flatly refused to walk on it if I asked him to. I tried again when we were down there on Monday and he walked straight across it with no hesitation at all. No idea what's changed, but he got lots of praise and we did it again on the way back just to prove it wasn't a fluke.
I finished the last bale of hay in the storage side of the pig palace this morning. Just the bales in the pig-sleeping side now (I think that's 27 or 28, I can't remember) plus 10 bales of HorseHage. It should be enough to get us through to the good grass.
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Summer plans
I think I'm married to the most wonderful man in the world. He's announced that this year's big summer project is going to be sorting the drainage in the 3rd field, building another field shelter in the gap between the current one and the feed/tack shed, expanding the hardcore area around the shelters, fencing it in and then covering with pea gravel. So I'll have enough shelter space for three horses and an area where they can choose to be in or out 24/7 regardless of the weather and sogginess of the rest of the fields. Time to start saving up for some company for Merlin :o)
Mr M himself is still happily naked and muddy. I took him for a 3 mile walk on Friday, down to the layby for the beach and back. We didn't go down to the beach itself, because the farmer who has the field we have to cross has got an enormous pile of neeps stored by the gate and I decided not to risk him trying to snag a neep on the way through and sending the whole pile avalanching into the burn. Good decision, as he wound up her horse spectacularly on the way back home - Boxer came thundering down the hill to see who this new horse was and Merlin grew a hand, screamed his head off, waved his willy and started passaging down the middle of the A836. Fortunately no logging lorries came through while he was being a prat. He seems to do this whenever he meets a new gelding, whether it's because he was gelded late or because he got beaten up so regularly by a Shetland stallion and HighlandxWelsh colt in his last home, I don't know, but he's determined to be boss horse over any other gelding he encounters. I guess I'll just have to keep walking him past there until he gets used to it.
The good news is that his feet looked great when we got home, 3 miles on tarmac is obviously no trouble at all for him. Mine weren't so happy after 3 miles in wellies with slipping socks!
Weight loss is going well for both of us. I've lost 4lbs so far this year and am running three times a week - just a mile each session while my body gets used to it again, but I'm planning to make today's run a mile and a half. Merlin is now down to the bottom of the 490kg band, which is coming off a little bit too quick, so he's now on 5 handfuls of beet flakes per feed. Hay supplies are holding up well, I have 3 bales in the main shed plus however many are in the pig bedroom side of the shed (I *think* it's 28) out of 50 purchased at the start of autumn, plus 12 bales of HorseHage, so that should be enough to see us through to the grass coming in properly.
Mr M himself is still happily naked and muddy. I took him for a 3 mile walk on Friday, down to the layby for the beach and back. We didn't go down to the beach itself, because the farmer who has the field we have to cross has got an enormous pile of neeps stored by the gate and I decided not to risk him trying to snag a neep on the way through and sending the whole pile avalanching into the burn. Good decision, as he wound up her horse spectacularly on the way back home - Boxer came thundering down the hill to see who this new horse was and Merlin grew a hand, screamed his head off, waved his willy and started passaging down the middle of the A836. Fortunately no logging lorries came through while he was being a prat. He seems to do this whenever he meets a new gelding, whether it's because he was gelded late or because he got beaten up so regularly by a Shetland stallion and HighlandxWelsh colt in his last home, I don't know, but he's determined to be boss horse over any other gelding he encounters. I guess I'll just have to keep walking him past there until he gets used to it.
The good news is that his feet looked great when we got home, 3 miles on tarmac is obviously no trouble at all for him. Mine weren't so happy after 3 miles in wellies with slipping socks!
Weight loss is going well for both of us. I've lost 4lbs so far this year and am running three times a week - just a mile each session while my body gets used to it again, but I'm planning to make today's run a mile and a half. Merlin is now down to the bottom of the 490kg band, which is coming off a little bit too quick, so he's now on 5 handfuls of beet flakes per feed. Hay supplies are holding up well, I have 3 bales in the main shed plus however many are in the pig bedroom side of the shed (I *think* it's 28) out of 50 purchased at the start of autumn, plus 12 bales of HorseHage, so that should be enough to see us through to the grass coming in properly.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Pictures
I needed to take some pictures of himself today as I suspect his saddle doesn't fit any more and some kind people offered to give me their opinion. He hasn't rolled for several days so I thought I'd just flick the dust off him this morning and take the dry mud off his legs so I'd have a nice clean horse for the photo session at lunch time.
You can guess what happened can't you??
I took some without the saddle as well, so just for reference here's a muddy Mr M at 498kg:
We've been out for a 20 minute walk today, his frogs have got thrushy again thanks to all the mud, but his walk is still completely regular on tarmac, so we'll keep treating with gentle road work and hibiscrub. Just for reference, here's the worst one (near hind) today.
You can guess what happened can't you??
I took some without the saddle as well, so just for reference here's a muddy Mr M at 498kg:
We've been out for a 20 minute walk today, his frogs have got thrushy again thanks to all the mud, but his walk is still completely regular on tarmac, so we'll keep treating with gentle road work and hibiscrub. Just for reference, here's the worst one (near hind) today.
Monday, 26 December 2011
Merry Crimble
Weigh-in day was a day late this week, but the tape this morning was right on the top of the 498kg band, which I'm happy with. I've had a nice horsey Boxing day - this morning I spent an hour gently working through his mane and tail with a comb. His mane still looks like a bad David Bowie wig, but at least the dreadlocks are gone. Then this afternoon I'd planned to go and poop scoop the bottom field, but the wind was so strong it snatched the shovel out of my hands and flung it half way across the field, so I abandoned that idea and went and had half an hour of scritchies in the shelter instead.
I asked for Kelly Marks' Perfect Manners and Perfect Confidence for Christmas. I've read Perfect Manners today and it's made me realise that we've made some quite large steps forward this year - a lot of the exercises that she recommends are things we do now that he wouldn't do at the beginning of the year, like respecting my personal space, moving his feet when asked, yielding to pressure and so on.
I've been thinking that it might be an idea to do some long reining and work in hand to gently start building up his muscles rather than just plonking a saddle plus 10 stone of me on top, so I've got the two in-hand schooling books by Hinrichs and Hilberger on order from Amazon as well as the new Enlightened Equitation book. The idea is that we can walk down to the beach, which will give his feet some road time (they're going to need a trim next month unless I start getting some tarmac miles in), do a little bit of work on the sand and then walk back home, gradually increasing the length of time I ask him to work - and if I can eventually long rein him down and back then I *hope* that will translate to less/no napping when I try hacking out again.
It's a good theory...
I asked for Kelly Marks' Perfect Manners and Perfect Confidence for Christmas. I've read Perfect Manners today and it's made me realise that we've made some quite large steps forward this year - a lot of the exercises that she recommends are things we do now that he wouldn't do at the beginning of the year, like respecting my personal space, moving his feet when asked, yielding to pressure and so on.
I've been thinking that it might be an idea to do some long reining and work in hand to gently start building up his muscles rather than just plonking a saddle plus 10 stone of me on top, so I've got the two in-hand schooling books by Hinrichs and Hilberger on order from Amazon as well as the new Enlightened Equitation book. The idea is that we can walk down to the beach, which will give his feet some road time (they're going to need a trim next month unless I start getting some tarmac miles in), do a little bit of work on the sand and then walk back home, gradually increasing the length of time I ask him to work - and if I can eventually long rein him down and back then I *hope* that will translate to less/no napping when I try hacking out again.
It's a good theory...
Sunday, 11 December 2011
The food chain
The UKNHCP forum reckoned if it ain't broke, don't fix it, so we're carrying on with the Greengold. I'll get another bag ordered for when I'm next down at the dentist in Inverness. Merlin has a definite order of preference with food at the moment. Grass is at the bottom of the food chain since the beginning of November, he'll make sure his haynet is empty before he goes in search of the green stuff. There's always HorseHage hidden in his net somewhere and whether it's top, middle or bottom, that'll get carefully picked out and eaten before the drier hay. And if, like this evening, I've done his haynet in advance so he could tuck in as soon as I took him into his shelter, he'll even abandon HorseHage in favour of his feed skip.
He has lost a little weight now, we're at the top of the 498kg band. His moobs have shrunk and there's a suggestion of shoulder starting to appear, but I still can't feel ribs and he still has fat pads on his bum. It's supposed to be a fairly mild week this week and then cold again the week after, so I shall continue to feed him the same this week and then add another handful of beet both ends of the day next week and up the HH to hay ratio if required, as he still has weight to lose.
I have another forum to thank this week: HHO or Horse and Hound Online. We were forecast gale/storm force winds on Thursday night and I posted to ask whether I should keep Merlin in (as there's a byre roof breaking up up-wind of the field) or leave him out as normal to make his own decisions. Every single reply said leave him out and I'm so grateful to them because his very solid 18x12 field shelter, which weighs a couple of tons, migrated TWO FEET south. I can't get the mats to fit back inside, so I've cobbled them together in a new configuration which only leaves a little bit of bare floor but at least has no lumps he can trip over. Mick thought we might be able to move it back with a land anchor and a pulley system, but the ground's too soft behind it and we just ended up dragging the land anchor out! Once it freezes solid again he's going to take his Navara down there with chains and hooks and pull it square.
We went for our only clop of the week this morning and he was really pleased to be out and about again; ears pricked and a really good even stride. We did the mile to the health centre and back which was obviously no problem for his feet, so we'll start adding on a few minutes on the Polouriscaig track, which is stony, and see how he does with that. Feet are still smelling better despite the mud. I nearly, nearly, nearly tacked him up and got on this afternoon, but I think he would have thought going out twice in one day was taking the piss and I had to catch up on the post-snow poo picking in the bottom field.
It's been an expensive week though, he's running out of Total Eclipse so I've got micronised linseed, brewer's yeast and magnesium oxide ordered from Pro Earth on eBay, then got a bag of Speedibeet from CLB because Hilltop Horses weren't sure if their delivery was going to arrive in time for me to have one from them, went to Hilltop the following day and it had, so got another bag of beet and two bales of shavings. £85 in short order, but at least that's all the feed I'll need until I run out of linseed in about 3 months' time. Next purchase will be an Enlightened Equitation forum subscription - I've rejoined the forum there as well after a 10+ year absence.
He has lost a little weight now, we're at the top of the 498kg band. His moobs have shrunk and there's a suggestion of shoulder starting to appear, but I still can't feel ribs and he still has fat pads on his bum. It's supposed to be a fairly mild week this week and then cold again the week after, so I shall continue to feed him the same this week and then add another handful of beet both ends of the day next week and up the HH to hay ratio if required, as he still has weight to lose.
I have another forum to thank this week: HHO or Horse and Hound Online. We were forecast gale/storm force winds on Thursday night and I posted to ask whether I should keep Merlin in (as there's a byre roof breaking up up-wind of the field) or leave him out as normal to make his own decisions. Every single reply said leave him out and I'm so grateful to them because his very solid 18x12 field shelter, which weighs a couple of tons, migrated TWO FEET south. I can't get the mats to fit back inside, so I've cobbled them together in a new configuration which only leaves a little bit of bare floor but at least has no lumps he can trip over. Mick thought we might be able to move it back with a land anchor and a pulley system, but the ground's too soft behind it and we just ended up dragging the land anchor out! Once it freezes solid again he's going to take his Navara down there with chains and hooks and pull it square.
We went for our only clop of the week this morning and he was really pleased to be out and about again; ears pricked and a really good even stride. We did the mile to the health centre and back which was obviously no problem for his feet, so we'll start adding on a few minutes on the Polouriscaig track, which is stony, and see how he does with that. Feet are still smelling better despite the mud. I nearly, nearly, nearly tacked him up and got on this afternoon, but I think he would have thought going out twice in one day was taking the piss and I had to catch up on the post-snow poo picking in the bottom field.
It's been an expensive week though, he's running out of Total Eclipse so I've got micronised linseed, brewer's yeast and magnesium oxide ordered from Pro Earth on eBay, then got a bag of Speedibeet from CLB because Hilltop Horses weren't sure if their delivery was going to arrive in time for me to have one from them, went to Hilltop the following day and it had, so got another bag of beet and two bales of shavings. £85 in short order, but at least that's all the feed I'll need until I run out of linseed in about 3 months' time. Next purchase will be an Enlightened Equitation forum subscription - I've rejoined the forum there as well after a 10+ year absence.
Saturday, 8 October 2011
I've got a theory...
Anyone else now singing 'that it's a demon, a dancing demon - no, something isn't right there' gets bonus points :o)
It's vet day on Tuesday, which I'm getting increasingly apprehensive about, so I've been reading, reading and reading some more and have come up with the following hypothesis:
- as the ground started to dry up and he moved into the top fields (away from the rocky track down to the bottom field and the gravel around the field shelter) his frogs started to contract. They are slightly but noticeably narrower than they were in March. This made it less comfortable for him to walk on them and he started to land more toe-first. Landing toe first puts more stress on the ligaments and this was exacerbated by starting to bring him back into work. Voila, one lame horse.
If it was a really serious tendon issue, I don't think he would have come sound from hopping lame in 3 days. Currently his right fore is very, very slightly swollen at the fetlock, but you have to really look hard to see the difference - it's maybe 3 or 4mm.
Anyway, if I'm right, and the scans and x-rays show nothing major, then I'm going to start walking him out in hand on the road on a schedule something like this (5 days out of 7 each week):
Week 1 - to the road fork and back (0.25 miles)
Week 2 - to the Pouloriscaig track and back (0.45 miles)
Week 3 - to the salmon station and back (0.7 miles)
Week 4 - to the medical centre and back (1 mile)
Week 5 - down to the medical centre, back past the house to the road fork and home (1.25 miles)
Week 6 - down to the medical centre, back past the house to the Pouloriscaig track, up to the gate (on stony track rather than tarmac) and home (1.5 miles)
Week 7 - as week 6, but extended to the salmon station (1.75 miles)
Week 8 - as week 7, but add in the loop down past John Angy's house (2 miles)
Week 9 - tack up, walk week 8 backwards, get on at medical centre and ride half mile home. Increase over the week to riding the whole route. If that goes OK (previous attempts at hacking have not been spectacularly successful...) then work out some hacking routes which go over lots of different surfaces (the farm tracks and route up to Pouloriscaig spring to mind, as does the beach).
Of course, I've picked possibly the worst time of year to start this - we're losing 5 minutes of daylight every day and retail is about to hit silly season, but if I can get the work in at this time of year then it'll be a doddle to do in the lighter half :o)
No breakfast-induced bouncing this morning, so I hope his system has adjusted, but I probably need to look at the amount of sugar in his diet. Going to try double-rinsing his beet to get as much of the molasses out as possible.
It's vet day on Tuesday, which I'm getting increasingly apprehensive about, so I've been reading, reading and reading some more and have come up with the following hypothesis:
- as the ground started to dry up and he moved into the top fields (away from the rocky track down to the bottom field and the gravel around the field shelter) his frogs started to contract. They are slightly but noticeably narrower than they were in March. This made it less comfortable for him to walk on them and he started to land more toe-first. Landing toe first puts more stress on the ligaments and this was exacerbated by starting to bring him back into work. Voila, one lame horse.
If it was a really serious tendon issue, I don't think he would have come sound from hopping lame in 3 days. Currently his right fore is very, very slightly swollen at the fetlock, but you have to really look hard to see the difference - it's maybe 3 or 4mm.
Anyway, if I'm right, and the scans and x-rays show nothing major, then I'm going to start walking him out in hand on the road on a schedule something like this (5 days out of 7 each week):
Week 1 - to the road fork and back (0.25 miles)
Week 2 - to the Pouloriscaig track and back (0.45 miles)
Week 3 - to the salmon station and back (0.7 miles)
Week 4 - to the medical centre and back (1 mile)
Week 5 - down to the medical centre, back past the house to the road fork and home (1.25 miles)
Week 6 - down to the medical centre, back past the house to the Pouloriscaig track, up to the gate (on stony track rather than tarmac) and home (1.5 miles)
Week 7 - as week 6, but extended to the salmon station (1.75 miles)
Week 8 - as week 7, but add in the loop down past John Angy's house (2 miles)
Week 9 - tack up, walk week 8 backwards, get on at medical centre and ride half mile home. Increase over the week to riding the whole route. If that goes OK (previous attempts at hacking have not been spectacularly successful...) then work out some hacking routes which go over lots of different surfaces (the farm tracks and route up to Pouloriscaig spring to mind, as does the beach).
Of course, I've picked possibly the worst time of year to start this - we're losing 5 minutes of daylight every day and retail is about to hit silly season, but if I can get the work in at this time of year then it'll be a doddle to do in the lighter half :o)
No breakfast-induced bouncing this morning, so I hope his system has adjusted, but I probably need to look at the amount of sugar in his diet. Going to try double-rinsing his beet to get as much of the molasses out as possible.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Pushing the edges of confidence
At the bottom of our fields is a beach. It's half a mile of golden sand and there's rarely anyone on it. For a few weeks now I've been looking at it and thinking that I really should start riding on it, but I've wimped out every single time.
Tuesday it rained, so I didn't ride. Wednesday was gorgeous, but I was off into town to visit the waxing salon and let's just say that certain bits of me were too sensitive to even THINK about riding! Thursday I just plain wimped out to the point where I spent the afternoon in my pyjamas on the sofa eating chocolate and shivering.
So when the sun beamed down on me this morning I got my gung-ho head on and after giving Merlin an hour to digest his very tiny breakfast of a handful of soaked beet and a tennis-ball sized handful of chaff, I went down to the field to catch him.
He clocked the jods and boots and had other ideas. Five minutes of unscheduled loose schooling later he decided that cantering round the field was harder work than being caught and let me stick his headcollar on in return for a bit of carrot. He perked up when we didn't take our normal route to the school next door but went through the back garden, through the gate separating our house from the croft on the other side (before we had our own drive, the only access to our house was down their driveway and we still have a right of way) and then down through the fields to the gate at the bottom.
He'd behaved extremely well up to that point, but while I was re-tying the gate he gave me a massive head-butt, my arm jerked and I got a really deep scratch on my finger from the barbed wire strands wrapped round the gatepost. Bleeding quite hard, I led him down the quad tracks to the seat made out of a plank nailed to two old buoys I was going to use as a mounting block. And he was a prat. Swung out, wouldn't stand near it, stepped over it, turned his back on it, tried to graze round it - I had my schooling whip with me and even tapping him over wasn't working. Eventually he got close enough for me to give it a go and I hopped on.
Before I had a chance to pick up my reins, he turned round and power-walked off in the direction we'd come from, away from the beach. I got him to halt, but when I tried to turn him back round he stuck his head in the air, napped and then carried on in the opposite direction to the one I wanted to go in. So I thought I'd go with it, carried on riding him up the path by the stream and for a minute or so it was all quite relaxed until he realised he'd missed the quad tracks and had gone past the field. He stopped and spun, leaving me hanging out sideways with my head far closer to his knees than his ears and about 50:50 odds between being able to get back into the saddle or sliding in an inelegant heap to the ground.
Managed to sit back up (yay!) and as soon as he felt me get my balance back he trotted back down the path. I got him to walk and to stay on the path rather than cutting straight across the meadow as it's riddled with rabbit holes. He spotted the quad tracks from this direction and headed up them. I made him stop and got him to turn. He battled me and turned back again and we yo-yo'd up and down the path with his stride getting shorter and shorter and his head going ever more skywards until he grabbed hold of his bit and essentially ran away with me in walk - VERY embarrassing!
He stood at the gate looking round at me with the smuggest expression on his face and 'what are you going to do about THAT?' ears. If I'd been the confident rider I was years ago, I'd have hauled him round, given him a smack and booted him all the way back down the path to the beach. As my brain was going OhShitOhShitOhShit, all I managed to do was turn him round again and make him walk a few steps away from the gate before jumping off.
At this point he thought he'd won. Nope. The reins went over his head and we did the hack I'd intended to do on horseback in hand instead. He was marched round the beach for 20 minutes and then marched back up the hill, past his field (I'd got angry by this point!) and straight into the neighbours' school. The look on his face was a picture!
He wasn't too much of a pain with the mounting block and I told myself if I rode two circuits on each rein, in walk, that would be enough to settle my nerves and my brain would remember it as finishing on a good experience. And guess what? He was as good as gold.
So, lessons to be learnt from today? Well, I think I tried to take too big a step. I should have tried hacking him around the top two fields rather than going straight to the beach - if he'd napped there, which he probably would have, I'd have been happier giving him a boot because there was only about an acre and a bit of space for him to bugger about in rather than half a mile of open sand and my neighbour was doing her garden so was within earshot if anything disasterous happened. But even three months ago I would have jumped off straight after the spin rather than carrying on trying to sort the issue and I certainly wouldn't have got back on in the school. I'd have left it, cried my eyes out and probably not ridden again for another six months. So there are definite improvements, I just have to remember not to try and canter before I can walk, as it were.
Tuesday it rained, so I didn't ride. Wednesday was gorgeous, but I was off into town to visit the waxing salon and let's just say that certain bits of me were too sensitive to even THINK about riding! Thursday I just plain wimped out to the point where I spent the afternoon in my pyjamas on the sofa eating chocolate and shivering.
So when the sun beamed down on me this morning I got my gung-ho head on and after giving Merlin an hour to digest his very tiny breakfast of a handful of soaked beet and a tennis-ball sized handful of chaff, I went down to the field to catch him.
He clocked the jods and boots and had other ideas. Five minutes of unscheduled loose schooling later he decided that cantering round the field was harder work than being caught and let me stick his headcollar on in return for a bit of carrot. He perked up when we didn't take our normal route to the school next door but went through the back garden, through the gate separating our house from the croft on the other side (before we had our own drive, the only access to our house was down their driveway and we still have a right of way) and then down through the fields to the gate at the bottom.
He'd behaved extremely well up to that point, but while I was re-tying the gate he gave me a massive head-butt, my arm jerked and I got a really deep scratch on my finger from the barbed wire strands wrapped round the gatepost. Bleeding quite hard, I led him down the quad tracks to the seat made out of a plank nailed to two old buoys I was going to use as a mounting block. And he was a prat. Swung out, wouldn't stand near it, stepped over it, turned his back on it, tried to graze round it - I had my schooling whip with me and even tapping him over wasn't working. Eventually he got close enough for me to give it a go and I hopped on.
Before I had a chance to pick up my reins, he turned round and power-walked off in the direction we'd come from, away from the beach. I got him to halt, but when I tried to turn him back round he stuck his head in the air, napped and then carried on in the opposite direction to the one I wanted to go in. So I thought I'd go with it, carried on riding him up the path by the stream and for a minute or so it was all quite relaxed until he realised he'd missed the quad tracks and had gone past the field. He stopped and spun, leaving me hanging out sideways with my head far closer to his knees than his ears and about 50:50 odds between being able to get back into the saddle or sliding in an inelegant heap to the ground.
Managed to sit back up (yay!) and as soon as he felt me get my balance back he trotted back down the path. I got him to walk and to stay on the path rather than cutting straight across the meadow as it's riddled with rabbit holes. He spotted the quad tracks from this direction and headed up them. I made him stop and got him to turn. He battled me and turned back again and we yo-yo'd up and down the path with his stride getting shorter and shorter and his head going ever more skywards until he grabbed hold of his bit and essentially ran away with me in walk - VERY embarrassing!
He stood at the gate looking round at me with the smuggest expression on his face and 'what are you going to do about THAT?' ears. If I'd been the confident rider I was years ago, I'd have hauled him round, given him a smack and booted him all the way back down the path to the beach. As my brain was going OhShitOhShitOhShit, all I managed to do was turn him round again and make him walk a few steps away from the gate before jumping off.
At this point he thought he'd won. Nope. The reins went over his head and we did the hack I'd intended to do on horseback in hand instead. He was marched round the beach for 20 minutes and then marched back up the hill, past his field (I'd got angry by this point!) and straight into the neighbours' school. The look on his face was a picture!
He wasn't too much of a pain with the mounting block and I told myself if I rode two circuits on each rein, in walk, that would be enough to settle my nerves and my brain would remember it as finishing on a good experience. And guess what? He was as good as gold.
So, lessons to be learnt from today? Well, I think I tried to take too big a step. I should have tried hacking him around the top two fields rather than going straight to the beach - if he'd napped there, which he probably would have, I'd have been happier giving him a boot because there was only about an acre and a bit of space for him to bugger about in rather than half a mile of open sand and my neighbour was doing her garden so was within earshot if anything disasterous happened. But even three months ago I would have jumped off straight after the spin rather than carrying on trying to sort the issue and I certainly wouldn't have got back on in the school. I'd have left it, cried my eyes out and probably not ridden again for another six months. So there are definite improvements, I just have to remember not to try and canter before I can walk, as it were.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Back up the hill
He wasn't particularly happy about being caught again today, but allowed himself to be tempted into the field shelter with a carrot where I closed the gate behind him. We went for an in-hand bimble up the hill again, he was very forwards until he slipped twice coming back down after which he decided that walking at my pace might be a good idea. On the way back we went past his field, down to the fork in the road, turned and came back again - I don't want him learning to zip straight back down the drive the moment we pass it because therein lies the road to him tanking off homewards!
First thing he did when he was back in his field? Have a really good roll to put back all the mud I'd groomed off him before we went out... Tomorrow I'm planning to ride again if the weather permits and he hasn't twanged anything when he slipped.
First thing he did when he was back in his field? Have a really good roll to put back all the mud I'd groomed off him before we went out... Tomorrow I'm planning to ride again if the weather permits and he hasn't twanged anything when he slipped.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
What we've done to date
Last week I gave myself a good talking to and told myself that I was going to stop being a wimp and get on with it. The grass is coming through, Merlin is getting podgy and I either had to start exercising him or put him on strip grazing. Neither option was going to make him particularly happy with me, but I took up running so I could carry on eating cake and I decided to take the same approach with my horse. This week we've done the following:
Thursday 12th May
Rode. For a very low value of 'rode'. One of the things we've been having major problems with is steering; he's learnt that if he sets his neck and opens his mouth he can choose what direction he goes in and there's not a lot I can do about it. The bridle he came with has a loop for a flash strap and I've seen photos of him being ridden in Hungary in a flash, so I bought a strap last time I was in Inverness and this was the first time I'd tried him in it.
Tacked up, led him up to the school (my VERY lovely neighbours knocked a hole in the wall between our fields so I could get through to their manege easily) and took 10 minutes to get him lined up with the mounting block. I led him up to it, jumped on the lowest step as his head came level with it, he stopped and when I asked him to step forwards, he swung his quarters out so he was facing me. I hopped off the block, asked him to step over and he moved on, past the block. Eventually we got it right, so lots of praise once I was on board, especially because he stood still while I tightened the girth.
And then, a miracle! Nearly a whole circuit in walk without any arguement about direction! Then we got back to the mounting block, he decided it needed a Hard Stare and stopped dead while he looked at it. After that it was really tough to get him going again and then he started arguing about direction again - even though he couldn't open his mouth, he could still walk round like a giraffe with his head bent in the direction he wanted to go. So the flash might have initially helped the steering, but I also gained a handbrake and reverse gear!
In the middle of it, I got about 60 seconds of really nice walk - he mouthed his bit (he's in a French link snaffle), stretched down and started to swing through from behind. Then something caught his eye in the valley and he went back to doing giraffe impressions again.
Friday 13th May
We went for an in-hand wander around the village. Merlin is unshod and his feet are great, but he's not used to roadwork and the farrier had suggested that five minutes on the road every so often would help him harden them even further. Just over the road from us is part of the village common grazings, a steep hill which has the young sheep on it in winter. At this time of year it's empty, so we mooched over and walked straight up it on the grass rather than taking the stonier track. I don't know who was breathing harder at the top, him or me! Eventually I'll be hacking him up here, but a) I didn't want to ask him to do it with 10 stone of me on top and b) I've been told he's not brilliant at hacking out alone.
We went across the top of the hill and back down through a different gap between two croft houses, past the Grazings Clerk's cows. There's a cow in there with last year's and this year's calves, the calves came cantering over to the fence to see what was coming past and over-protective mum saw a possible threat and came charging over after them. Merlin grew about a hand and did a bit of piaffe - we were so close to the fence that he probably couldn't see it was there - but went past them after having a good look.
Back home down the village road, which surprised a few people. They're used to seeing me running or sometimes walking the dogs, but a horse on a rope is something new!
Saturday 14th May
Day off. Had a nice half hour with him in his field shelter just scratching up and down the roots of his mane while he went gooey.
Sunday 15th May
I was planning to ride today, but two bars of chocolate and a bag of Kettle chips tells me that it's PMT time and after an unfortunate experience last year I don't ride when I'm hormonal - it's better for both of us. Lunging, however, I can cope with, so I put his bridle on (minus the flash strap, that's gone back in the odds and sods box) and because Mick had lit the incinerator, decided to lunge him in the field.
Bit of history here. We first tried lunging him when he was on loan and he only had two speeds - stopped if the lunge whip was on the ground or flat out wall of death if it was pointed in his direction. His owner told me that he was scared of whips, so I carried the lunge whip with me the following morning when I went to feed him and he didn't bat an eyelid. I rubbed it all over him. Not a flicker. Back in the school - wall of death. The most I'd ever got out of him in the past was half a cirle of walk, but someone on HHO (Horse & Hound Online) suggested going back to basics and lunging and long-reining, so we need to get it cracked.
We had the expected warp-speed take off and by the time he'd come back to a stop I was so dizzy that I swapped reins straight away. Amazingly I got walk from the off, calmly, obediently, for two whole circles. Lots of praise and then stop for a bit of carrot for being such a good boy :o) Tried it back on the other rein - disaster. He kept coming to stand in front of me with a slightly confused expression on his face and nothing would persuade him that he needed to be away from me and side on, so I took him up to the school, despite the incinerator, to see if having the fence there would help.
Nope. Totally non-plussed horse. After about 10 minutes of trying to communicate what I wanted him to do without success, Mick appeared at the back door and I commandered his help. He came over and led Merlin round, letting him walk on his own for a few steps and then taking the reins again when Merlin tried to turn in. Two circuits, lots of praise and a carrot and then back onto the left rein for another couple of circuits under his own steam before we called it a day.
Thursday 12th May
Rode. For a very low value of 'rode'. One of the things we've been having major problems with is steering; he's learnt that if he sets his neck and opens his mouth he can choose what direction he goes in and there's not a lot I can do about it. The bridle he came with has a loop for a flash strap and I've seen photos of him being ridden in Hungary in a flash, so I bought a strap last time I was in Inverness and this was the first time I'd tried him in it.
Tacked up, led him up to the school (my VERY lovely neighbours knocked a hole in the wall between our fields so I could get through to their manege easily) and took 10 minutes to get him lined up with the mounting block. I led him up to it, jumped on the lowest step as his head came level with it, he stopped and when I asked him to step forwards, he swung his quarters out so he was facing me. I hopped off the block, asked him to step over and he moved on, past the block. Eventually we got it right, so lots of praise once I was on board, especially because he stood still while I tightened the girth.
And then, a miracle! Nearly a whole circuit in walk without any arguement about direction! Then we got back to the mounting block, he decided it needed a Hard Stare and stopped dead while he looked at it. After that it was really tough to get him going again and then he started arguing about direction again - even though he couldn't open his mouth, he could still walk round like a giraffe with his head bent in the direction he wanted to go. So the flash might have initially helped the steering, but I also gained a handbrake and reverse gear!
In the middle of it, I got about 60 seconds of really nice walk - he mouthed his bit (he's in a French link snaffle), stretched down and started to swing through from behind. Then something caught his eye in the valley and he went back to doing giraffe impressions again.
Friday 13th May
We went for an in-hand wander around the village. Merlin is unshod and his feet are great, but he's not used to roadwork and the farrier had suggested that five minutes on the road every so often would help him harden them even further. Just over the road from us is part of the village common grazings, a steep hill which has the young sheep on it in winter. At this time of year it's empty, so we mooched over and walked straight up it on the grass rather than taking the stonier track. I don't know who was breathing harder at the top, him or me! Eventually I'll be hacking him up here, but a) I didn't want to ask him to do it with 10 stone of me on top and b) I've been told he's not brilliant at hacking out alone.
We went across the top of the hill and back down through a different gap between two croft houses, past the Grazings Clerk's cows. There's a cow in there with last year's and this year's calves, the calves came cantering over to the fence to see what was coming past and over-protective mum saw a possible threat and came charging over after them. Merlin grew about a hand and did a bit of piaffe - we were so close to the fence that he probably couldn't see it was there - but went past them after having a good look.
Back home down the village road, which surprised a few people. They're used to seeing me running or sometimes walking the dogs, but a horse on a rope is something new!
Saturday 14th May
Day off. Had a nice half hour with him in his field shelter just scratching up and down the roots of his mane while he went gooey.
Sunday 15th May
I was planning to ride today, but two bars of chocolate and a bag of Kettle chips tells me that it's PMT time and after an unfortunate experience last year I don't ride when I'm hormonal - it's better for both of us. Lunging, however, I can cope with, so I put his bridle on (minus the flash strap, that's gone back in the odds and sods box) and because Mick had lit the incinerator, decided to lunge him in the field.
Bit of history here. We first tried lunging him when he was on loan and he only had two speeds - stopped if the lunge whip was on the ground or flat out wall of death if it was pointed in his direction. His owner told me that he was scared of whips, so I carried the lunge whip with me the following morning when I went to feed him and he didn't bat an eyelid. I rubbed it all over him. Not a flicker. Back in the school - wall of death. The most I'd ever got out of him in the past was half a cirle of walk, but someone on HHO (Horse & Hound Online) suggested going back to basics and lunging and long-reining, so we need to get it cracked.
We had the expected warp-speed take off and by the time he'd come back to a stop I was so dizzy that I swapped reins straight away. Amazingly I got walk from the off, calmly, obediently, for two whole circles. Lots of praise and then stop for a bit of carrot for being such a good boy :o) Tried it back on the other rein - disaster. He kept coming to stand in front of me with a slightly confused expression on his face and nothing would persuade him that he needed to be away from me and side on, so I took him up to the school, despite the incinerator, to see if having the fence there would help.
Nope. Totally non-plussed horse. After about 10 minutes of trying to communicate what I wanted him to do without success, Mick appeared at the back door and I commandered his help. He came over and led Merlin round, letting him walk on his own for a few steps and then taking the reins again when Merlin tried to turn in. Two circuits, lots of praise and a carrot and then back onto the left rein for another couple of circuits under his own steam before we called it a day.
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