a beejah update
ergh. it's late. i should be in bed. must clean house. rent inspection on tuesday. urgh.
...
stayed inside until 4.30pm when i drove out to beej. had the aforementioned Great Snake Debaucle and then went and played with beej. he was so not interested in me and didnt even give me a cursory glance when i called out. meh.
Being In My Pocket
but was all over me like a rash when i went into his yard to do poo duty. funny pony. he stuck RIGHT by my side; stop start, forwards backwards. even whilst i struggled to the laneway with four massive bags of his poo (for my garden), he kept right up. he also thought he'd scratch my back for a while there, which was quite sweet, but it soon turned to attempted nipping, so i had to er, nip that in the bud. haha.
gave him a hose down - he'd sweated up and his coat was all nice and salt crusty from the sweat.
Carrot Addict
THEN there was the fiasco with the carrots. CLEARLY my horse is a carrot addict because as soon as they appear he visits 'cute fluffeh beejahland' which is a far cry from crazy_eyes beejyland of yore, but still demonstrates his ability to fuckoff from the here & now.
well. it was my fault for getting the carrots & thinking "o i just want him to lead to the right & yeild & blahdy blah blah" which he has done a MILLION TIMES up to this point. anyway, we spent SOME TIME trying to understand that JUST BECAUSE I WAS HOLDING CARROTS did not mean that all his training & hard work over the past year just evaporates.
i had to resort to grabbing the carrot stick & weilding it on my hand (with 3 rather large carrots) whilst i had his lead in the other (and no rope halter either, just his 'bathers' or nylon buckle halter). THEN he decided it was easier for him to OBEY THE LAW OF THE CARROT STICK, but he did think it was a stupid law and spent much time muttering under his breath and eyeing me with disgust.
bunged him into the empty field near the sheds to graze whilst i sorted his dinner.
Saddle & Bridle issues
grabbed him, brushed him. grabbed my AP saddle & once he registered what i was holding he marched right off. i hobbled after him to catch him then spent some time investigating what the fitting prob is. it's not balanced in the back & i *think* it's bridging. it's plenty wide enough tho & doesn't appear to be pinching across the gullet which is where the problem was initially.
so i put the saddle back. then grabbed the bridle & he decided to wander off when he saw that! bugger. played quite a bit of friendly game with it & he was SO NOT INTERESTED, in fact, he backed right past my car and into one of the tie up bays. silly horse. after a while he was not fussed, so when i went to put it on, he sucked the bit right up and put it on himself. he's very clever.
dunno what that was about - i'm thinking he either a) thinks that by running off he gets out of riding or b) he remembers the last time we rode in it i spent some time doing some yielding & also forced him to face the OMFGSCARYLALALALA side of the arena.
or there could be option c) he's in pain from it. i dunno about that? bridle fits, bit fits, teeth are fine - tho prob due for a visit from the dentist. i don't hang on his face or jab him or anything? idk.
Riding Out-ish
anyway. took him to the round yard and we spent a lot of time mounting/dismounting/sliding all over him. 'rocked' him & did some reverse psychology with mounting from different sides and yielding him away/to the mounting block.
finally got on and stayed on and then just rode around the yard for a while. halt, move etc. turn on the HAUNCHES - omgfuck! how cool is that???@!
then he was in QUITE the hurry (you can tell he still gets worked up about things, he's very 'body conscious' and flings at flies and clamps his tail if i even think about making him go at my pace rather than his) and we walked into a low tree before getting sorted out and onto the driveway. went RIGHT TO THE END and onto the road. turned around, came home. he was a bit zoomy on the way home (hrm, this is a familiar feeling - not with blitz, but with every other bloody horse i've ever ridden - that silliness that ensues once you turn about to come home), but didn't break from the walk.
then we addressed some obstacles (practiced SUPERbending [bends thru poles about 1.7m apart]) and then headed over to the OMFGSCARY bush section up the side of the arena...
and he walked right through it without a blink! so last week i led him thru & today i rode him thru. so proud.
finished up right there. love my horse. looking forward to a ride tomorrow... see what he has to say about the bit?
oh, he managed to strike me today (by accident). i think we were in the paddock or somewhere & he brought his hind leg up to swat a fly & i was near his barrell & he totally got me. not bad, but enough to feel it.
Riding With Purpose
funny, his body felt so much more relaxed once we were riding with a purpose (with direction). i def feel he gets bored within about 0.2seconds and he needs to have direction with what he does. perhaps this is why he was so good on his trail ride last week - we rode in a straight line to a particular place. pottering about in the arena is so not his style at all... so now we've just gotta work on his CONFIDENCE (and mine, my heart races if he so much as sidesteps!) so that we can go out and about and not just potter.... and to that point, if we DO "potter" in the arena, he definitely wants jumps and obstacles to keep his brain working.
a SADDLE would be helpful with that. as much as i love bareback riding, he is very fast & nimble & bloody spooky & i really don't take that great a confidence in sticking on him if he decides to leg it in an open space (even on the driveway - it's a long hard road you know).
Things To Do Now
hrm. so we have to get Charity (another saddle fitter) out & i would like to get the equine chiro out as well. she's been well recommended & it won't hurt. another bowen session is in the cards too... AND i would LOVELOVELOVE to have fiona adams come out to analyse his feeds (in case he does have gut issues, penella22 - i don't feel he does, idk his poos SEEM well digested & he doesn't give the appearance of having gut ache? although obviously i am not a horse communicator & don't know the ins & outs of his tummy). Fiona is a specialist herbal nutritionist. she's apparently very good & works for our local horse mag, Hoofbeats.
so yeah, a number of things to do, but hopefully if we do one or two things a month he should be good once the cooler weather starts & we can get serious about riding.
...
stayed inside until 4.30pm when i drove out to beej. had the aforementioned Great Snake Debaucle and then went and played with beej. he was so not interested in me and didnt even give me a cursory glance when i called out. meh.
Being In My Pocket
but was all over me like a rash when i went into his yard to do poo duty. funny pony. he stuck RIGHT by my side; stop start, forwards backwards. even whilst i struggled to the laneway with four massive bags of his poo (for my garden), he kept right up. he also thought he'd scratch my back for a while there, which was quite sweet, but it soon turned to attempted nipping, so i had to er, nip that in the bud. haha.
gave him a hose down - he'd sweated up and his coat was all nice and salt crusty from the sweat.
Carrot Addict
THEN there was the fiasco with the carrots. CLEARLY my horse is a carrot addict because as soon as they appear he visits 'cute fluffeh beejahland' which is a far cry from crazy_eyes beejyland of yore, but still demonstrates his ability to fuckoff from the here & now.
well. it was my fault for getting the carrots & thinking "o i just want him to lead to the right & yeild & blahdy blah blah" which he has done a MILLION TIMES up to this point. anyway, we spent SOME TIME trying to understand that JUST BECAUSE I WAS HOLDING CARROTS did not mean that all his training & hard work over the past year just evaporates.
i had to resort to grabbing the carrot stick & weilding it on my hand (with 3 rather large carrots) whilst i had his lead in the other (and no rope halter either, just his 'bathers' or nylon buckle halter). THEN he decided it was easier for him to OBEY THE LAW OF THE CARROT STICK, but he did think it was a stupid law and spent much time muttering under his breath and eyeing me with disgust.
bunged him into the empty field near the sheds to graze whilst i sorted his dinner.
Saddle & Bridle issues
grabbed him, brushed him. grabbed my AP saddle & once he registered what i was holding he marched right off. i hobbled after him to catch him then spent some time investigating what the fitting prob is. it's not balanced in the back & i *think* it's bridging. it's plenty wide enough tho & doesn't appear to be pinching across the gullet which is where the problem was initially.
so i put the saddle back. then grabbed the bridle & he decided to wander off when he saw that! bugger. played quite a bit of friendly game with it & he was SO NOT INTERESTED, in fact, he backed right past my car and into one of the tie up bays. silly horse. after a while he was not fussed, so when i went to put it on, he sucked the bit right up and put it on himself. he's very clever.
dunno what that was about - i'm thinking he either a) thinks that by running off he gets out of riding or b) he remembers the last time we rode in it i spent some time doing some yielding & also forced him to face the OMFGSCARYLALALALA side of the arena.
or there could be option c) he's in pain from it. i dunno about that? bridle fits, bit fits, teeth are fine - tho prob due for a visit from the dentist. i don't hang on his face or jab him or anything? idk.
Riding Out-ish
anyway. took him to the round yard and we spent a lot of time mounting/dismounting/sliding all over him. 'rocked' him & did some reverse psychology with mounting from different sides and yielding him away/to the mounting block.
finally got on and stayed on and then just rode around the yard for a while. halt, move etc. turn on the HAUNCHES - omgfuck! how cool is that???@!
then he was in QUITE the hurry (you can tell he still gets worked up about things, he's very 'body conscious' and flings at flies and clamps his tail if i even think about making him go at my pace rather than his) and we walked into a low tree before getting sorted out and onto the driveway. went RIGHT TO THE END and onto the road. turned around, came home. he was a bit zoomy on the way home (hrm, this is a familiar feeling - not with blitz, but with every other bloody horse i've ever ridden - that silliness that ensues once you turn about to come home), but didn't break from the walk.
then we addressed some obstacles (practiced SUPERbending [bends thru poles about 1.7m apart]) and then headed over to the OMFGSCARY bush section up the side of the arena...
and he walked right through it without a blink! so last week i led him thru & today i rode him thru. so proud.
finished up right there. love my horse. looking forward to a ride tomorrow... see what he has to say about the bit?
oh, he managed to strike me today (by accident). i think we were in the paddock or somewhere & he brought his hind leg up to swat a fly & i was near his barrell & he totally got me. not bad, but enough to feel it.
Riding With Purpose
funny, his body felt so much more relaxed once we were riding with a purpose (with direction). i def feel he gets bored within about 0.2seconds and he needs to have direction with what he does. perhaps this is why he was so good on his trail ride last week - we rode in a straight line to a particular place. pottering about in the arena is so not his style at all... so now we've just gotta work on his CONFIDENCE (and mine, my heart races if he so much as sidesteps!) so that we can go out and about and not just potter.... and to that point, if we DO "potter" in the arena, he definitely wants jumps and obstacles to keep his brain working.
a SADDLE would be helpful with that. as much as i love bareback riding, he is very fast & nimble & bloody spooky & i really don't take that great a confidence in sticking on him if he decides to leg it in an open space (even on the driveway - it's a long hard road you know).
Things To Do Now
hrm. so we have to get Charity (another saddle fitter) out & i would like to get the equine chiro out as well. she's been well recommended & it won't hurt. another bowen session is in the cards too... AND i would LOVELOVELOVE to have fiona adams come out to analyse his feeds (in case he does have gut issues, penella22 - i don't feel he does, idk his poos SEEM well digested & he doesn't give the appearance of having gut ache? although obviously i am not a horse communicator & don't know the ins & outs of his tummy). Fiona is a specialist herbal nutritionist. she's apparently very good & works for our local horse mag, Hoofbeats.
so yeah, a number of things to do, but hopefully if we do one or two things a month he should be good once the cooler weather starts & we can get serious about riding.