Walk the walk

Went to check Rodney and his soon-to-be-new-friend were still on the correct/opposite sides of the electric fence this morning. Rodney stomped over moving super well after yesterday's monster massage. Then he stomped off again and I sat in my spot drinking coffee and pretending not to be a mentalist horse stalker (sidenote- I am officially not the weirdest person hanging around my horse. On Wednesday a man walked past playing his mouth organ)

I left feeling all was well and then got a text explaining new friend had breached the boundary and been thoroughly chased by Rodney who gets angry when people mess with his mares in the next field i.e. look at them, he is like a horrible pimp.

When I brought him in for a ride in the afternoon he had a cut on his left hind from the morning's shenanigans so I took him for a short walk to a nearby copse which turns into a nice loop ride. It was windy and he was cool, a bit looky at first but then forward and walking out well. My plan is to hack his bottom off over the winter, mainly at walk, with lots of hill work, so he becomes very fit but remains (cross fingers) injury free.

Hopefully the field situation will resolve. There has been so much change in his field all summer and I think it melts his brain a bit.

Happy horsing everyone x

Loveliness

I loved my horsey afternoon. I gave Rodney a really long groom before his physio and he seemed to relax and enjoy it. Probably my fault as I never normally spend much time brushing him and he seems indifferent - but today he was a happy monkey with all the fussing and polish.

While we waited for Joanne I pottered about and then read my book in the corner of his stable. Or tried to - he kept nudging me as if to say, "No, talk to me!" So I did, and we had a really nice few minutes where he let me scratch his face all over.

Joanne then arrived and spent two hours making Rodney the most chilled out horse ever. She did loads of work on him while we chatted and he had a very blissed out expression in between yawning and peering round at Joanne to see what she was up to.

I took note of the bits he particularly enjoyed and will try to recreate. So, a truly great afternoon. My week off from work and the extra time I'm spending with him is making a big difference.

Happy horsing everyone x

In praise of praise

Some of you might have seen this new video from Emma Massingale Click Here

And if you haven't  it's is well worth a watch. One of my favourite things in the video (and in Emma's other training videos) is how visibly and enthusiastically she praises her horses.
Those horses know they're amazing because she keeps telling them...

As I often do, I filmed a bit of Wednesday's spell in the school. It's good to work out how I'm doing with my position and if what I feel matches what's actually happening. The riding was ok but at the end I got off with a very stoney face and no pat, no neck stroke for Rodney - all caught on camera. Bad me :(

I feel like normally I do give lots of praise but maybe I often forget, so yesterday's ride was about having fun and rewarding efforts. I built a little obstacle course of oil drums, bending cones and canter poles and we walked round it a few times before I tried it without reins, just for a bit of fun.

More often than not Rodney (sensibly) decided it might be better to just stand at the gate hoping for rescue but with a bit of messing about we had some good moments and he got OD'd on neck rubs. 

He's got some physio booked for today so will be interesting to see how he's doing.

Happy horsing everyone x

Day three - why rushing is no good for horses

Today Rodney showed no visible interest when I took up my perch. I wondered if he had grown bored of the novelty and thought he might just stay on the other side of the field.

Over the next twenty minutes I realised he was gradually grazing his way over to my spot. To me it seemed to show that Rodney's life moves at a very different speed to mine. He can have a direction in mind but take his time getting there. 

Sitting at my perch for the past three days has made me realise that all the horses at the farm move in a much more glacial way than I have ever appreciated. For the 23 hours a day when we're not bothering them, they just take it pretty steady.

I bet they often feel quite rushed by us...

Happy horsing everyone x

"Horses are great equalizers. They don't care who we are, or what we know, or how much money we have, or which trainer we follow, or how new or fancy our tack or training tools are. They only care about how they feel when they are around us. It's one of the only places in horsemanship where we all begin, more or less, as equals."

Mark Rashid

Day two

I cycled to the yard today to give myself some nice fresh air and Nancy the chance of a good blast. 

When we arrived Nancy stayed outside Rod's stable for a rest on her towel and it was rinse repeat for me. I took Mark Rashid's book with me to read, Horses Never Lie, because I just love it and it's very much in the spirit of my experiment.

Rodney came very close to graze today, I could just about see his nose under my book, and then casually grazed his way in a semi-circle. He must like the company. I enjoyed it too and felt less of a weirdo today ;)

Happy horsing everyone x

Day one

Today was the first in my new experiment so once I'd been for a lovely, rainy walk with Nancy in the forest I popped to the yard armed with my waterproof coat, a mat to sit on and a book to read.

Rodney thought it was pretty shocking behaviour for me to set up camp in his field and did some snorty heavy breathing when I unfurled my mat and settled in. 

I was surprised how hard I found it not to just stare at him the whole time, which is where the book came in handy. After deciding that I was just mad rather than harmful, Rodney grazed no more than five feet away the whole time I was there. I think he misses his field friend and likes company.

I loved listening to him munch too, there's something really satisfying about that sound. After ten minutes or so I just quietly left, and he kept on grazing. 

After today's riding lesson (on Hudson -really starting to enjoy riding him and he was super dooper) the girls came to meet Rods for the first time. He was good to catch and stood for a long time while they gave him a really nice fuss. He seemed perfectly calm and happy. A couple of times he started to walk back, as if to say "ok, I'm done now, I'd like to leave," but the friend who had his leadrope was really good and just asked him to come forward again.

All good :)

Happy horsing everyone x