It's been a while.....

I seem to have been very busy the last few months, and been a bit remiss updating my blog.
My time has been taken up with the horses and the sax - it's a great life!

The big news is that we now have 4 horses.
Bentley has come to live with us from a friend (thank you Gail), as, after an injury he can no longer compete as an eventer, which, unfortunately is what he was bought to do.
He's a lovely big chap (hehe, he's very big - makes my quite large horses look like ponies), very kind, genuine and reliable and, I'm sure, will be a wonderful influence on Remy and Bonbon when we're riding out.
It's taken time for him to recover after his injury, and he's spent a while in the field so we're working on stretching and suppling exercises and building him up slowly.
Jim has agreed to ride with me, and we have had 3 or 4 short rides, and I have to say, up to now, it's going very well.
Here's a picture of Bentley the day after he arrived, out in the field with Remy, Corky and Bonbon.

Remy has done very little recently as I've been concentrating more on Bonbon and Bentley. I have ridden him out a few times, and he's been fine, and taken him in the school a few times, but not his usual work routine.
I took him in the school today, and he was pretty good. He was a little reluctant to flex right, but he started to loosen up as we went on. His walk work was good, better on the left rein, with good shoulder in, travers and renvers. His reinback was good too, and we got good carriage after reinback/walk-on transitions.
We did a little work on walk/canter transitions, and I was pleased with his balance. He got a little spooky as the session went on, so we had to work through it slowly, as he was wanting to rush, especially in the trot.  I asked for lots of walk/trot transitions and he started to rebalance himself nicely. We finished with walk on a long rein and he was bending and flexing nicely on each rein. A good session.

I've been spending a lot of time with Bonbon, grooming and massaging, and groundwork in the school. She's more or less back to herself. The sensitivity has gone and we've come to the conclusion that her seasons played a very big part in her behaviour this summer. It's something that we'll have to investigate and be prepared for before spring next year.

It was quite extreme behaviour, and it has certainly highlighted her lack of confidence in general,  and her lack of trust in me. I feel bad that I've missed something so important and that I should have known that she wasn't as confident as she appeared.
We've been working on her confidence issues, and it's a slow process, but It seems to be working.
I feel that our relationship is improving and she's starting to look to me for confidence and support.  I realise that I'm only now starting to know and understand her, and , obviously, it's an ongoing process, but I already notice a difference in the way she is with me. I know that I feel different, I have more confidence in her, and I look forward to working with her every day. I hope that I'm starting to gain her trust, and we can begin to form a partnership based on mutual trust.

Catch up

Again, it's been a while, I've had other things on my mind and not really had anything to say.
Summer has arrived with a bang, it's hot, lots of flies and it drains the life out of you. The sun is welcome though and we've just got all our hay in the barn so good reason to celebrate.

Remy's had a week off because of a bang to his eye. There's no cut, but a lot of swelling, mainly around his eye socket. He's obviously banged it somehow, but the swelling has started to subside so hopefull it'll not be too long before he's recovered.
Bonbon has been particularly uncooperative and having taken everything into consideration, It looks like she might be a little bit hormonal and I'm hoping we can rectify it with a herbal supplement. She's been very sensitive to the touch and the leg recently, not happy when I've been riding her , withdrawn and uncommunicative in the stable, and generally quiet and withdrawn.
I've taken her up to the school the last couple of days though to do some in-hand work, keeping everything quiet and calm, and she's been very sweet and willing. The supplement is on order, so we'll see.
My parents have been here on holiday, they had a road trip, and they seemed to have a lovely time. Jypp (our collie who went to live with them last year) came with them, and had a lovely time too, and once the pups had accepted him, they never stopped running and playing.

I'm enjoying playing the sax, more than ever, it makes it worthwhile when you have others to play with.
This is the latest 'ballad of the month' on the sax forum.  It's called 'You Don't Know What Love Is'

Things going on as usual here, had a short break from riding and now back to it.
Both are doing fine, but the weather is very hot at the moment so having to ride early.
I've joined together with two others, a keyboard player and a drummer and we've formed a little combo playing swing, jazz and blues tunes.  They're both pretty good and they're hoping we'll get some gigs. It seems bizarre that someone might want to pay to hear us play......well hear me play really, I've never done anything like this, I started playing just a few years ago and just played for my own 'pleasure' so to speak, so it feels a little strange, but in a good way.
Anyway we have a little exercise going on my sax forum which is to play a ballad per month - this month it's 'Reflections', a Thelonious Monk tune. I've never heard of it, but I quite like it.

A new year - Spring's arrived and we're back in the school

It seems like a long time since I've ridden in the sunshine. It's been a long winter, and work in the school has been a little hit and miss.
Now that Spring has arrived ( in theory, that is - we're still getting a lot of wet weather) I've finally got around to getting a vid and some pics.
So, we have 2 slightly overweight, unfit horses and 1 definitely overweight, unfit rider - I'm sure we'll improve over the summer! :-)

Remy

 

Bonbon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dodging the showers

I rode Remy out for the first time in months yesterday. He needs to get fit, he's come out of winter looking like a pudding. It's strange as he's never held his weight well over the winter, but this year he's actually put weight on (not good, I know). I kept looking at him and thinking, great he's doing well this year, and then one day I looked with fresh eyes and realised that he was toooooo fat!
So, spring is nearly ( nearly being the operative word, as we're back to the cold and rain at the moment) here and I really do need to get my arse in gear and get him out and about and back to the work in the school. It's been a bit intermittent the last couple of months.
He was a good boy, despite the fact that the world and his wife were out and about too, tractors, trailers, woodcutters etc, etc, etc.

Today, I dodged the showers, and actually got some decent weather to ride both Remy and Bonbon in the school.
I rode Bonbon first - she's being a little bit grumpy as she's on her first season of the year, but she was great in the school. I warmed her up with some work in walk, small circles and giravolta on both reins, then some walk/trot transitions. Better today with her keeping her inside shoulder up into the transition, and the trot feeling more balanced.

I did a little bit of groundwork with Remy first, just wanted to give him a few minutes on the lunge and a little in-hand moving quarters and shoulders. He was soft and relaxed on the lunge, a nice easy trot and a few trot/canter transitions. I finished by riding for a few minutes, a bit of lateral work at walk followed by a trot on each rein.

Happy with both sessions!

Dentist coming tomorrow, not looking forward to it.

Some good work in the school

A session each in the school with Remy and Bonbon this morning. That's twice this week I've managed to ride them both, and today was extra nice because the sun was so very warm and relaxing.

Bonbon was a little tense and distracted, but once she started to relax we got some good work. She's started to really soften in my hand, giving her mouth and relaxing through the neck. When we get it right, she's like flowing water, moving with ease and a quiet power which is lovely to feel. When we don't get it right, she's a little bit like  an oil tanker trying to turn in a small space, heavy against my inside leg, wanting to look outside, and falling on the inside shoulder.
It's becoming less like this though, it's very early days in her riding career and I have high hopes that we'll make a good partnership.

Remy softened immediately when we started, he stretched down and flexed easily on both reins. We did a small amount of work at walk to get him nice and relaxed and bending easily, concentrating on keeping it slow and accurate, allowing him to raise his shoulders. The reinback was fluid and the shoulder- in was good with correct bend and even steps.
I moved on to walk/ canter transitions, and was really pleased when he immediately raised his energy without pushing against the hand. I wanted to start to address the rushing  in the canter, as, after a good transition, we get a few well balanced strides and then he loses his balance and starts to rush.

A well timed visit to the 'Horse Listening' blog reminded me of the use of transitions as a balancing tool, and something I need to be doing.
Well, today, I asked for the transition, let him canter a few strides (aiming for three, but not always accurate) and then asked for a transition to trot. After a few attempts, he started to rebalance himself into the transition, and gave me an active, well balanced trot. Because he started to listen and anticipate the transition, his canter remained well balanced. A timely reminder, as, although I know that this works, I'd sort of forgotten, gettin lost in my attempts to ride and rebalance the canter.

All in all, a great morning, made all the better by the weather.

Temporary loss of enthusiasm

I awoke to a bright day, but it was Cold, very, very cold and the ground was rock solid. I'm now getting to that stage where if spring doesn't come soon I'm really going to get grumpy!!
I could have done something with the horses, but I'm ashamed to say that my enthusiasm was sadly lacking.
We did have a constructive day though, we played with the pups, took them for a long walk down the field and through the wood. They have so much energy! Then I played my sax for a couple of hourse, absolute bliss, lost in the music.
We've been missing the taste of home recently, so this afternoon, I made some crumpets. I made my first batch a week or so ago, and they were ok - they're not as easy as you might think - but this batch look very tasty indeed.

More pics of the girls...

Its been a strange week or so.
We've been teased by the weather, a few lovely days, sunny and warm which really made me believe that we were there - spring had come at last. But no, we've now had some very cold weather and more snow. The cold weather really came as a shock, an icy wind straight from Siberia, I think.
Anyway I got a couple of lovely rides in with Bonbon, going nicely out on a hack with company, and a good session in the school with Remy.
More pics here of the girls, Izzy and Scarlett, it's been just over a week since we got them and they're really settling in. It took Elfin a few days to accept them, but now she's treating them like her own, it's lovely to see.

                                                    
                                                                   Scarlett

 

Izzy

                                                              Playing ball with Elfin                                            

                                                            Izzy and Scarlett

                                             Uh oh...... Frankie getting a little too much attention.        

Better news, and even better news.

The better news it that we now have two little rescue pups to keep Elfin company. Our Jypp went to live with my parents about a month ago (he's having a wonderful time) and with losing Obi, she was left on her own. She's a very maternal dog, so we thought that she'd be great with a puppy.
I contacted several animal refuge centres as to the availability of a puppy, and within about 30 minutes received an email from one of them saying that they had two puppies that had been found dumped on the road the week before. They were about 9 weeks old and as luck would have it, they were in a foster home only 25 mins up the road.
We had to go and look at them, and as Jim said, we can't take just the one......so we have them both!
They're called Scarlett and Izzy, the vet thinks that they're probably beauceron x lab and they're absolutely gorgeous.
This is the pic they sent me, how could we resist!

Once we'd got them home,they started to settle in immediately.

The even better news is that today I rode out on Bonbon with my friend on her horse, and Bonbon was brilliant. I'm hoping for many more rides like today and if she carries on she'll really start to get fit and we can go farther afield! :-)

Obi

We lost Obi yesterday.  It was all over very quickly, he didn't suffer, and three days before he started getting ill, he was playing with me and Elfin in the field, a very happy boy.  The vet diagnosed leukemia. He was nearly 10.
We're devastated, and I can't say how much I'm going to miss him. I love my boy so much.

Snow, snow , snow

Well, you guessed it, we've had snow, quite a lot of it, and really miserable weather, so the last few days have been useless for riding.  It's starting to clear now though, due to the huge amount of rain we've had over the last dayt. I managed to ride Bonbon in the school this morning before it started raining again, and she was a very good girl.
She is naturally more well balanced than Remy and it's nice to be able to trot in reasonable balance, although she is falling in on her inside shoulder. It's something that we'll be working on quite a bit, I think.
Obi and Elf are feeling the cold, so have been wearing their coats the past few day, but Obi managed to rip his. We found a temporary solution, although I'm not sure he's not too happy with it.......

Poor boy

Elfin thought it was very strange too..

It's done a good job of keeping him warm though.

A couple of days to remember

I'm posting as I want to remember the last couple of days.
I've ridden Bonbon a few times in the school. We can walk, trot and canter - in no great style, but it's a good start.
I've taken her up the track, only about 15 minutes, but yesterday we went for our first real hack. Jim came with us on foot, which was great as it gave both of us confidence. He stayed back and only a couple of times went ahead if we reached a scary spot. We were out for an hour or so and Bonbon was brilliant. She was looking at things, but was really willing and forward. Coming home, as is the norm, she was much more forward, but I sat quietly and she remained nicely balanced and soft in the hand with a good forward stride. I was pretty chuffed.

Today I rode Remy in the school and ( i know I've said this before, but this time it's really happening and is much more consistent ) we had good walk work with nice shoulder-in and some well balanced trot, with some nice transitions from reinback. To finish we practiced some walk to canter transitions and he gave me the most balanced and responsive transition we've had.  I've said this before too, but I really feel like it's all starting to come together.
So, a really positive couple of days with the horses.

On another note, after getting my first tenor sax  (I've got alto and tenor now) at christmas, I'm really enjoying it and looking forward to playing some duets with Ricky......I've got some nice old jazz standards lined up - can't wait!

As we prepare for the new year..

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness..

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

A little Update

It's been a month or so since I posted, so a little update.
I've done very little with the horses, due to horrible weather the last few weeks, and also I've been to the UK for 10 days to see family before christmas.
It was my nephew Thomas's 18th birthday, so we all went out for a meal to celebrate.
It was great to see everyone and catch up, and although I'm always ready to come home, I wasn't quite ready to leave, if that makes sense. I enjoyed spending time with my Mum and Dad, and it was difficult to say goodbye.
Because of the weather and the fact that I was going to be away, we sent Bonbon to the centre equestre near to Ross. She teaches there and we decided it would be good if she could go and get some experience and some confidence riding out. It was hard to see her go, and it goes against all my instincts, but in the long run, she needed someone who could take her out, get her used to everything and give her the confidence. Unfortunately, I'd already decided that it wasn't going to be me, as she's been quite challenging at times! :-(
On friday I went over and rode her out with the yard owner and she was fine. He really likes her and all the staff kept telling me that she was 'une tres, tres gentille jument'  ( a very, very nice mare) with no hint of malice at all. Well I knew that, but sometimes it needs someone else to spell it out to you.

Anyway, we went to collect her yesterday and she loaded fine and not a murmur all the way home. It was also my first time towing with a horse onboard ( I have practiced, obviously, without a horse!) so I was very relieved when we got back home.

Corky and Remy were really subdued for a few days when she went, and were glad to see her back, although she was on edge and alert, squealing and kicking out at Remy, as she re-established her place in our little herd.
After a night in the field she seems much calmer, and she settled down for a snooze in the stable this morning.

I know it must have been quite a trauma for her, and I feel bad, but I think it has done her good. I rode her up the lane and into the school this morning and although she was looking at things, she was forward and willing. We had a walk and trot on both reins in the school, and then came back home. She was fine.
She's lost quite a bit of weight too and looks very fit now - where did my cuddly little girlie go?

I also rode Remy in the school - it's been three weeks or so since I've ridden him, but he was a good boy and we had a walk trot and canter on both reins. The sun was out and it was nice to feel the sun on our backs.  He's a very hairy boy though, he looks like a chubby little teddy bear!

Yes, it's a sadness

It's been an emotional week for several reasons.  We're getting through it and things are ok, but when emotions are heightened it's easy to overreact and think too deeply about things. I do that anyway, so this week has been tough.
I like to think that I'm a good friend to my friends. I try to be as supportive as I can, and try to understand where they're at and how they're doing, but sometimes you try to be the best friend you can be and you suddenly realise that it's more than likely been for nothing, as your 'friend' doesn't really care about how you're doing, where you're at or how you're feeling. For some reason it doesn't seem to matter, and your 'friend' has moved on and left you wondering where you went wrong. It's a sadness.