Back In the Orchard

So here we are back in an orchard just like we'd never left, still on the plus side lots has changed like Pippin our dear Gypsy Vanner has finally been gelded. It was hard getting his owner to agree and pay to have him gelded but this summer he started to become very aggressive towards the other male equines, so his owner caved in the end, although Pippin is still chasing the other horses he isn't nearly as aggressive and I hope that given time he will calm down.

On another note my riding has been going very nicely this summer and Niko is working beautifully for me, above is a photo of him standing rather well for me in his new padded bridle. We've also found a great place to hack so I can try to keep things more interesting for Niko by going on hacks with him every now and then. He really is in good form this summer, I think it might be time to have a few more lessons, to help us both with some lateral movements that I am sure Niko would benefit greatly from performing.

Although these photos aren't of my most recent ride which was actually today they do let you see how his head carriage is coming along nicely and is becoming more consistent, after just a little bit of warm up he is getting very comfortable and going forward onto the bit for me.

And here is Niko above going forward onto the bit for me, you might just be able to see from the way my hand is actually slightly open on the rein how he is on a very soft contact at this point, normally I like to think I have good hands and it's important to remember to be soft with your hands when he is soft. It's nice to see him salivating a bit to.

Here we are again, I think this shot shows Niko off quite well, he is a little skinnier than I'd like but it seems to be a never ending battle to keep the weight on him, still he is 16 now which I believe makes him a veteran. We've got Tipper and Niko some Dodson & Horrell build up cubes which have been helping with the weight a bit. Just as well they aren't competing isn't it after Dodson & Horrell's muck up that I'm sure most of you horsey folks have heard of.

 

One last photo of Niko and I, well a bit of me anyway, as you can see reasonably clearly from this shot Niko is a little below/behind the vertical normally a bad thing, but to be honest it shouldn't really be of concern during schooling like this so long as you have sympathetic hands and aren't putting too much pressure on the horse in anyway, remember going below the vertical is still a form of stretch for a horse and although you shouldn't ask your horse to do this sometimes horses prefer to stretch more below the vertical than they do outwards, this said Niko isn't really stretching here he just sometimes slips below the vertical

 

These next two photos I wasn't sure about posting but in the end decided it would be nice to have a record of this on my blog. So here is Murphy and I, we've just started to do work under saddle and I'm really rather happy with him, he can be very cheeky but overall he is a good lad. Due to Murphy's small size I don't feel that I can ride him for long and of course never at a show, but I am still capable of  beginning his work under saddle and hopefully getting him off to a good start.

You can see here that I'm slightly uneven this is because I'm trying to give Murphy all the aids in as clear a way as I can so I am perhaps over doing it a little with my seat aids here by leaning to one side slightly. Also see how light I'm being with his reins, this is to let him get used to and comfortable with the bit, at this point in his training I won't ask him for a true contact.

And the very last photo of us, I'm riding without stirrups, due to the size of the saddle and length of my legs the stirrup leathers restricted my legs and made it hard to give good clear aids to such a small pony like Murphy, at this point I feel that very few but very precise aids with the legs will help Murphy to understand.

I just have to try and remember it's not about how good I look on him it's just important that he understands. Well that's it from me today, as always I hope your all having a great time with your equines.

How's My Riding?

I was doing a bit of flat work yesterday here are some of the photos. As no doubt you can see we've been rather lackadaisical towards getting the ragwort up due to the fact that we will soon be leaving, and our horses and ponies don't have a taste for it anyway. but back to the part of this post about flat work.

  

Niko was a fairly good sport about it, although I would have appreciated having my schooling whip but it seems I've misplaced it again still I was happy with the way it went. I don't currently have a instructor so I've got no one to tell me about the multitude of things I am doing wrong, so feel free to really go for it with that creative criticism.

A few things I am already aware of, one, I keep looking down, two, I haven't got Niko's hindquarters engaged enough, and three, I perhaps lean forward a tad too much sometimes, so any tips or advice would be rather helpful.

  

On a note unrelated to this photo when I try walking Niko on a long rein he is happy to have a good stretch and go nicely long and low but I find it hard to keep him this way, I was under the impression that when a horse is walked on a loose rein his poll should be lower than his withers which Niko's is but never for as long as I'd like, so any thoughts or help on that I would appreciate.

Visibly leaning forward in this photo bad me. I guess I need to get myself a instructor but that won't happening at least till the move so I've got a bit of waiting to do.

And now we come to the end of the post with this last photo, Niko looks nice I think, but he could do with being more engaged, and I am looking down. anyways that's it for my post today I'll have more up soon if all goes to plan.

Joy of a British Summer

We’ve been having some quite terrible weather here, it’s been rain nearly everyday now for what seems like an age. Here is a photo of Murphy soaked and about to be taken in, it was still drizzling when this photo was taken but the camera doesn’t show it up. All the bad weather has stopped me from riding most of the summer so far which means I haven’t been able to get Niko fit, which is quite annoying because Niko is a roarer. He has had the operation to help him but he still makes the roaring noises unless he is fairly fit and then they go away.

  
Also with all the rain our paddocks have become waterlogged but on the plus side we still have the portable fencing so they are still getting grazing without sinking into mud. We’ve been feeding a lot of hay rather than haylage which we normally feed because lots of our haylage has been going mouldy.

  
But onto a slightly more cheery note, when I have been able to ride, Niko has been going really well for me, and I’ve been getting a really nice slow canter out of him and he has been doing a fairly comfy collected trot which is very nice because Niko is not normally a comfy horse to sit on.

So all in all I haven’t really been posting much for quite sometime now because there hasn’t been a lot to report with this bad weather, I am hoping it’s going to clear up soon.

Ps I am not falling off of Niko just giving hugs.

All Dressage

  
Today is all about dressage so with out further ado here’s a book I have recently been reading, the book is called Dressage A Study of the Finer Points of Riding and is by Wynmalen.

  
This book is brilliant it’s really easy to understand just what the writer is trying to get across, and I have to say it’s quite refreshing to read such a sensible and kind horseman’s writings.

  
As you can see it has some beautiful photos of many talented riders, I especially love this photo. The book doesn’t restrict itself to just ridden work and has advice to help you with your horse in other ways. All in all I am really enjoying this book

  
But enough of the book, check out these two, I would hope you all know who they are but for those of you that don’t, the lady on the left is Charlotte Dujardin, and the gentleman on the right is Carl Hester. They are both shining examples of British dressage riders and I hope to see them both coming back from the Olympics with medals, but that’s not why I’ve posted about them. Horse & Country is currently showing a TV series called Carl and Charlotte: Dressage Superstars, the first two episodes are now available to watch at Horse & Country. I’ve really enjoyed it so far.

Well that’s about it I guess oh and you might need to make an account with H&C should you decide you want to watch it but it’s free ;) and now I’ll leave you with this charming photo from Wynmalen 's Dressage book.

Time to Ride

Recently we cleared an area of the orchard that had plenty for the horses and ponies to graze so I haven’t had to spend time moving the equines and fence around, which means I get time to ride. Here’s a shot of Niko and I, he has his grumpy face on but he loves it really ;)

  
Here we are doing some trot I find it very hard to tell if I’ve got Niko in the correct head carriage, as you can see in this photo he is not in correct carriage. If you look you can see his head is ever so slightly below the vertical and his poll is not the highest point. For those of you that are unsure of the correct carriage his head should be on the vertical not below or above and his poll should be the highest point, that said you don’t what to be riding your horse like that all the time, because he should be flexible and also you're likely to cause damage to him if he works in such a high level of head carriage all the time.

Anyways here we are having some fun in the canter Niko really does love to canter and fast too. But check out how nice he looks with his bling, you might also notice he’s grown an ok tail but he does look a mess sadly because he is really starting to moult now. On the bright side he’ll be able to do more work with out getting too hot when he looses his winter coat.

In other news I’ve got a post on War Horse and Pippin that I want to do but that’s all for another day.

Niko’s Back in Business

After a very long holiday Niko has finally returned to work, he’s been back in work for a bit now and I’ve mostly just been doing flat work with him but the other day I did jump him a little but more on that in a moment.

  
Here are a few photos of Niko and I on day two of Niko’s return to work, I was really happy with how well he behaved.

  
Here you can see I am leaning back too much but I still rather liked the photo, Niko certainly has a lot of energy in his canter work at the moment, perhaps too much.

  
After a few days of work I took him into the big paddock to do some work and it went very well. But, he did do a very big buck, which I was not expecting in the slightest, so off I went over the front and under the hooves. I am quite bruised now but nothing is broken and I had a lovely ride and popped back on after the trampling and it all went very well.

  
Also I’ve done a little bit of jumping with him, it started very well and then went down the plug hole so to speak and was absolutely horrible, but we finished on an ok note so I shall be happy with that.

 In other news I’ve got a load of the rings fitted to the stables so I finally have somewhere to tie my horse :)

And everyone is feeling their feet now spring is here.
 
Anyway that’s all from me now I hope you are all enjoying the nice weather.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

  
I recently watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the most recent of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and I can say it did not fail to please, with a great cast of new characters and of course a few of the old ones it really was good.

  
While it isn’t a horsey movie it did have a few of our four legged friends in it, with a very exciting chase through the streets of London, after Jack Sparrow.

Here Jack Sparrow was making his escape atop many different carriages, I won’t say anymore so as not to ruin the movie for anyone that may have not yet seen it, but I would say it is well worth watching.

Seeing this movie reminded me of Heath Ryan’s freestyle dressage performance, which was inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean with its music.

2010 Bates Australian Dressage Champs - Heath Ryan wins FEI Hamilton Island Grand Prix Freestyle from Peter Haynes on Vimeo.

Take a look, he is certainly riding a “black pearl” of a horse ;)

Why Not it’s Free

  
We’ve had another layer of fluffy white snow here, and the horses are still all enjoying their long holiday. So not a lot going on really.

  
But in other news I have now created a Horse & Country profile which I couldn’t recommend more highly, it’s completely free and there’s over 300 hours of quality videos, from master class on dressage to training your dog.

And I’ve also become an associate member of British Dressage, which is also free.

So why not they’re free!

Moorlands Totilas

If any of you keep up to date with dressage news you will most certainly know of Moorlands Totilas one of the world’s greatest dressage horses. For those of you that haven’t heard of him he is a Dutch Warmblood, nicknamed Toto, with a host of gold medals and many world records, here is a link to Moorlands Totilas’s Wikipedia page for more info.

Totilas experienced his great success along side dressage rider Edward Gal, together they made a truly stunning team, and here is a video of them.

WorldRecord Edward&Totilas-Olympia-London-English Comment from Anne Hesten on Vimeo.

 

As you can see for yourself they were very good at what they did, and you can see how happy Totilas is with himself after the performance.

Sadly Totilas’s owners sold him to the Germans, and the riding rights were handed over to German rider Matthias Alexander Rath. (read wikipedia page for further info on sale and ownership) here is a video of Totilas and his new rider Matthias Rath, please feel free to stop watching after a bit, you’ll probably want to.

Matthias Rath & Totilas at the Vechta Show from From Aachen on Vimeo.

 

I think it’s very sad to see this performance.

These Boots Are Made for Walking, Riding, and Maybe Sometimes Running

Sometime ago I bought a pair of second-hand Tredstep gaiters, and today my jodhpur boots arrived, they are not Tredstep. Anyways here are my new foot/leg wear I know that to many of you it probably looks a bit tatty but it was cheap and I prefer this to my old riding boots.

The boots are just standard jodhpur boots, they are very comfy but they do have grippy treads, which I have been advised against because they can stick in the stirrup iron and you’ll be pulled along with your horse. Still the other pair were out of stock so I just went with these, and at the moment I am not really going to fall off doing what I am doing. I think if I was to go cross-country I might have to worry. Well I am happy with the boots anyway.

In other news Tipper’s still sound from the walk work I have been doing with him, he’s still not ready to go up a pace but it’s coming along nicely.

I’ve also been trying to get Murphy’s mane to stay on the right side, it really, really doesn’t want to, I tried plaiting it and leaving it for a few days but when I un-plaited it soon went back to the wrong side.

And I am going to have a lesson tomorrow so let’s hope that all goes well. Now I must be off to clean my tack, I'll try to catch up with your blogs over the next few days and reply to your comments.

My Riding

So here’s the post I said I was going to do about my riding. It all seems to be going very well, but I have concerns. I am concerned about the use of spurs, my instructor has me ride with impulsion spurs. I don’t mind the use of spurs as long as they are being used in the right way, they aren’t there for someone that can’t ride properly to bully the horse into doing as they wish, so I am left wondering should I be using spurs, but anyway enough about the spurs.

As you can see from the photos he is going rather nicely for me and I am delighted with him, remember to look at the horse not the ugly mug on top, I think he’s looking more round as well so that’s good. My instructor says his trot is great so I was pleased with that, I do love to trot but must remember to do lots of walk too. My instructor was trying to explain how to do a leg-yield today they decided to show me so hopped on Niko to do a leg-yeld but sadly he threw a paddy so they decided not to stress the matter and go on to different work. They said that someone else has probably tried leg-yeld with him before but not done it right, so it might take a bit to get him leg-yelding nicely.

All in all I am having a great time riding and I am really enjoying my lessons, but I do just worry a little about the spurs, the rest is going great and I couldn’t be happier. If any of you have an opinion on the spurs please feel free to comment it.

My Newish Dressage Saddle

Hello everyone I am back for now, I have been reading your posts so sorry to hear about the bad news some of you have had and happy to hear the good.


Now on with the post, I have just recently agreed to the purchase of this Thorowgood dressage saddle from my riding instructor. They are selling it with a saddle cover, girth, stirrup leathers, stirrup irons, and a pair of roller spurs.

I like this dressage saddle because it is a lot comfier than my old saddle and it puts me in a better position, I also find it a lot easier to get my legs around the horse, my old saddle makes it very hard to get close to the horse.

The saddle is regrettably synthetic but at least that means it is easier to clean, I guess I’ll just have to wait for a Bates Innova Dressage Saddle, but for now I am happy with this saddle.

And finally before I go, hello to my new followers and thanks for following hope you enjoy my blog.

The Instructor Meets Niko

Today I’ll be telling you about what’s been going on regarding my riding instructor, but the photos will be of my saddle, with and with out its saddle pad, because my follower allhorsestuff said it would be interesting too many, so none of the photos will be relevant to what I am telling you.

My instructor arrived as planned, first of all they wanted to see me ride Niko in walk trot and canter on both reins, and then jump in trot and canter, so with all that done they were ready to get on and give him a go.

I never really get to see Niko being ridden, so it was really nice to see, at first he was a little bit cheeky and did try to get out of working from behind but only for a little, and then he was good. He really does look stunning when he is on the bit and working nicely, but then he is my horse so I would say that.

I was surprised at how floaty he looked obviously not as floaty as some dressage horses but still a very pretty picture. My instructor really liked him, they said he was responsive and had a lovely mouth, they also said he was quite rusty, understandably with me on him for the past couple of years, but that he could be quite good in sometime.

I rode him after my instructor for a little and they told me more about trying to get him on the bit. Afterwards my instructor took me back to their yard, where I was able to see them getting Spike ready for a one day event that they were going to. I saw them jumping Spike and then bath him and plait him and what sort of products they use.

I got to join in with bathing Spike and I cleaned their dressage bridle while they did the other tack. My instructor also took a look at all of our other equines, and gave us advise on them, which was all very interesting.

So all in all it was a lot of fun, and I like to think I have learnt some useful things, plus this was the first time I have see my instructor ride, so I was happy to see their riding lived up to their qualifications.

And on a completely different subject KK if you are having difficulty finding the right sort of saddle pad you might want to take a look at this blog’s post which is about saddle pads.