Riding on Stubble

 Only a short time ago Niko and I were given the great opportunity to go riding on a stubble field. It was my very first time riding on a stubble field, I am sure the same can't be said for Niko as he is a ex- point-to-pointer so no doubt it was nothing new to him.

 Niko was an absolute star for me and I can honestly now understand why some people go on about stubble fields the way they do, although none of the photos show it clearly the field was a great size for Niko to really go for it and let me see how fast he could go.

Here we are again not going at any real speed here but I'm sitting comfortably and Niko is going nicely for me. Speaking of going nicely I've bought Niko a new bit, it's called the Verbindend and is made by Neue Schule, it's a very good bit but more on that in another post.

And finally here we are all finished after a great time out on the stubble field, I think we both had a lot of fun, I know I did, and considering Niko's love of running I'm pretty sure he did too


More details on Niko's new bit and how he is finding it in my next post, till then I hope you're all enjoying life with your equines.

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.

One Fast Horse

The other day I went on my first hack with Madeline, it was the first time Madeline had been on a hack since we bought her. She was very well behaved, a bit excitable but she was still well behaved. I have been on quite a few hacks with Niko, and he has always seemed pretty fast when I have been cantering, but let’s just say he didn’t seem so fast after I cantered on Madeline. She is a very fast horse, and takes some stopping, anyway all was well and I was happy with her. Sorry about just the one photo but I went for most of the hack by myself.

Thanks for all the comments on my last post.

Abby, yes it is a sturdy jump, it is very nice indeed to do some jumping, just for a bit, and as you mentioned Niko does look like he is enjoying himself so that is a plus.

Sherri, yep it is always good to be able to make something with things on hand, and it is nice to see that it works, well I was a bit worried about making our own jumps, but I think it has worked out pretty well.

Happy Hacking

Hacking can be a lot of fun, that said it can be a lot of trouble. I think it is normally trouble for me as Niko is not really a happy hacker, he will spook at the smallest thing such as wood pigeon, gardeners, or a magpie that he doesn’t like the look of, but when it comes to cars, tractors, and lorries he is good as gold which is just as well because all my hacking is road work.

Anyway the photos I have taken are pretty poor, I find it very hard to ride and use a camera at the same time. I did not take many photos as I was worried about dropping the camera, I should probably get a camera that has a neck strap if that is what it’s called so that if I let go of the camera it doesn’t mater.

Thanks for the comments on my last post, Abby, it is quite easy to do, I use Photoshop which when you get the hang of it it’s easy to use the basic stuff which is all I have done.

allhorsestuff, I am probably being quite stupid, but what does (makes waver) mean? Oh and you commented on my post “Muddy Horses”, you said about a pressure mark. The mark you saw is on Niko my gelding, he has two white freeze mark stripes on his withers, they were there when we bought him.