Fun and fine weather

 We have been having fun with the horses over the last few days.  On Thursday we called Dee in from the 12 acre field.  She probably started ambling over as usual, but then the whole herd decided to follow her, so she put on a turn of speed.  The picture shows them heading round the corner at full pelt – Dee at the front closely followed by the rest of the herd (Red is in the red rug on the right).  We climbed the ridge and let them head past us – we didn't fancy getting in their way!  Dee stopped as soon as she reached us and the rest of the herd broke like a wave around her and settled down.

 

She's looking good – a good weight and with a nice shiny coat.  There are a few places where her rug has rubbed a little – but nothing serious.

 

Today we called her and there she was waiting at the gate for us when we got to the bottom of the field.

 

She walked up on her own without a headcollar.  'ö-Dzin kept trying to jog ahead to get photographs and she thought this was a great game and started trotting by him every time he tried to get in front.

 

Today was the day to try out the new saddle.  We've bought a Thorowgood Maxam.  It came with a wide gullet, but we have changed this to a medium for Dee.  Nicky checked it for me and said it looked a good fit on her.  The Thorowgood website said to try the saddle at all paces to check that it didn't move or lift up at the back.  So we did that.  It gives her good wither clearance and fits really well.  I decided to pop Dee over this little jump a few times as a final check.  Dee so loves to jump and she really enjoyed this.  The arena is waterlogged so there wasn't much room to get a good distance for a run up on the jump, so this one was a bit of a bunny hop.

 

On our way out we gave Red a few treats.  He'd been out on a hack for the school.  He decided it was too slow being given a treat one at a time, and decided to snaffle the rest straight out of the tub!  Today the weather has been bright and sunny – and even quite warm.  If it continues like this we may actually ride them both out next weekend.

Magical moments

I have had a few wonderful visits with Dee over the last week.  One day I was going out to the field to get Dee and Nicky asked me to bring Red in as well to see the farrier.  I knew Red would follow us in, so I only took Dee's headcollar.  I still do not feel too confident about leading both my horses at the same time – they are so much bigger than me and I am not always confident of my footing with my dodgy knees!

I arrived at the second field and called them both.  Red defers to Dee, so she came to me first.  Usually I would put on her headcollar and then struggle to hold her and deal with the gate while I ushered Red through.  Because I inherited the notion of Dee being a difficult horse to manage when I bought her, I have always tended to feel I must make sure I have her fully under control.  I think this can make me tense and her naughty.  So this time I opened the gate and just let Dee wander through while I waited for Red.  The worst that could happen was that she was in the wrong field and wouldn't be caught.  When Red arrived I guided him through the gate and shut it.  My intention had been to then go and put on Dee's headcollar and lead her up to the yard, but she had already set out.  And so I had a lovely, relaxed walk up the field with Dee slightly ahead of me, occasionally stopping to look back and check we were still there, and Red walking right by my side – both happily going up to the yard of their own accord.  Magic!

Each time since then I have been letting Dee walk up to the yard on her own.  Today she was in what I call 'the wet field'.  It can be quite awkward getting them in from this field as there is a stream running through it which has formed a couple of deep trenches in the meadow.  If your horse comes to you by the car park, the only way to bring them in from there is to go all the way to the bottom of the field, across the stream and then back up – a steep and muddy walk.  Dee was at the bottom of the field.  She came to call, but stopped about 20 metres away, on the wrong side of one of the stream trenches.  I knew she could get across it and didn't fancy going down there to struggle in the mud.  She kept looking as I called, but didn't move and eventually turned her butt to me.  'Two can play that game,' I thought, and turned away from her and started to slowly walk back to the yard, still calling her.  Suddenly she remembered how to cross the trench, did so, and trotted up the slope to me.  Sensible mare – not to miss out on a feed for being stubborn.

I know she will not come to call so easily when the spring grass begins to grow – but I am enjoying it at the moment.  It is still very cold, so no riding yet.  I'm having fun looking for a saddle.  There are a few I like on ebay, but cannot decide whether to go for those or pay the extra £100 - £150 to get a brand new one. 

The fields at Briwnant are starting to look rather well cropped, but both horses are looking a good weight – as good as they did last winter when they lived at Wyndham.  The livery care at Wyndham was excellent, and there the horses had hard feed twice a day.  I'm pleased that they are doing just as well at Briwnant on grass livery with hard feed less often.

Healthy horses

We had a lovely visit to Briwnant yesterday.  Red was being used for a hack, so we met him half way down the field being led in.  He accepted treats and cuddles.  He looks really well and fit again.  Dee was also pleased to see us and happy to come in.

I was interested to read Victoria's recent post on Teachings of the Horse.  It made me think about how I approach Dee.  Because of her history as a 'difficult' or 'challenging' horse, I think I can tend to approach her with this in mind.  Having given myself permission not to ride for a while, I feel I have time to just enjoy being with her.  If she decides she doesn't want to come in, does it actually matter?  Well I guess it does from the perspective of having asked, one should follow through.  But does there need to be a time element?  Do I need to feel rushed?

With this in mind I asked Dee to accept her headcollar by holding it open and did not make any attempt to put it round her neck.  At first she turned away a little, but she wanted to stay with me.  After only a few minutes she gave me her head, placing her nose in the headcollar.  We then had a pleasant stroll up the field on a looped leadrope that was practically companion walking.

I was keen to get her rug off and see how she looked.  At around this same time two winters ago, after I had been away for a week and left her in the care of the livery owner, she was looking thin and scrawny.  I knew she would be fine – the care at Briwnant is first class, and I was correct.  She is a good weight and her coat has a lovely shine.  She has a slight sore spot on her chest where her under-rug has rubbed, but her proper winter turnout rug has been repaired now so I shall be able to put that back on her tomorrow.

Another blog I follow is the Carolyn Resnick blog.  Currently she is teaching her Uberstreichen exercises and I have been looking forward to trying them with Dee.  We tried the first one yesterday, and considering it was so busy at Briwnant with a lot of distractions, we made a good start.  I also hope to find time to work with Red with these exercises as well.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I am going to buy Dee a new saddle.  There are several reasons for this:

• I feel I want a saddle with a little more substance under me
• I worry that the treeless saddle does not give Dee sufficient clearance at the wither.  She has never become sore, but it is a concern.
• The padded numnah necessary under a treeless saddle is quite inconvenient for washing.  They take a long time to dry and only just fit in my washing machine.  It would be nice to go back to a simple numnah that it is easy to change regularly.
• The padded numnah must be accurately placed over the spine so that the padding is each side of the spine.  As I am not very tall I cannot see how well it is placed until I mount, and then if it is wrong and not central so that the padding is over the spine on one side, I have to get off and re saddle her.  This is a real nuisance.
  
• The Torsion saddle I have uses a dressage girth, and I have never succeeded in learning how to tighten it when mounted.  It is just too far down for me and too awkward.

This saddle that I am going to replace has never been my favourite.  The previous Torsion that I had stolen from Wyndham was a beautiful saddle and is sorely missed.  If I still had that one I would probably be sticking with it, but I cannot afford to buy another like it.  Nicky is going to help me measure her up for a saddle and I'll let you know what I buy.  No excuses for not riding then!

I'm still here!

I'm feeling guilty that I have neglected my blog since November and completely failed to offer my readers Seasons Greetings.  I hope you had a lovely Christmas and belated Happy New Year wishes to you all.  I hope everything is going well for you.

It has been a busy time here in Wales and both horses have been ill.  I was also ill at the beginning of December, then we had a trip to Nepal, then Christmas happened and new year, then the weather got really wintery... so all in all life has been happening, but not blogging.

Dee had a snotty nose in December and a chill.  We kept her in for a few days and then brought her in just at night for a few more days and then she was fine.  Red's illness was a little more serious as he has had strangles.  He was confined to his stabe for about 6 weeks, and considering how much he hates being in the stable for a long time, he behaved very well.  The strangles abscess on his throat was huge and produced a bucket-load of pus when it burst.  The folk at Briwnant have been amazing and nursed him so well.  I am eternally grateful for their expertise and care.  In all I think it was five horses that had strangles, and they have all come through it with no long-term problems.  Red is still convalescing, being given extra feed to build up his strength again, but is back out with the herd now.  He has been declared fit by the vet.  He definitely wants to be out in the field and not kept in.  He looks fine and has only lost a little weight.

As Red is on full working livery at Briwnant he is groomed every day and fed as necessary, whereas Dee is just on grass livery.  So Dee tends to get more attention because she needs it.  Just after Christmas we went up to give Dee a feed and groom her, but as we led her in from the field Red followed us.  He didn't want to miss out on the family gathering.  If anything he is more affectionate since being ill and likes to come in as well for some TLC.

I have not been riding because the yard has been on quarantine and the fields were so wet, but I have decided I'm not going to ride until the weather gets warmer anyway.  I find that I get clumsy and tense in the cold and feel that I am a bit of a liability in the saddle.  I think I may not clip Dee next year and simply not ride for the coldest months of the year.  We have had such a lot of snow, that I have not been able to get my car up the lane to Briwnant.  I tried one day last week and nearly ended up in a hedge.  I miss seeing the horses but know they are well cared for and that Paul would let me know immediately if there was any problem with them.  If the snow continues till the weekend, we may try hiking over to see them.

The whole family went on the week's trip to Nepal which was wonderful.  Our sons liked it there and had a good time.  Straight after we returned home it was into Christmas preparations, and we had a lovely family Christmas.

A lot more snow arrived yesterday and more is forecast for Sunday.  It has thawed quite a lot today though, so hopefully it will go away for long enough that we shall be able to get up and see the horses.  We so rarely have snow in Cardiff that lasts for more than a day, that we are not really set up for coping with it.  It has not snowed like this here for nearly 30 years.  I think it is quite good to have a 'real' winter for a change though, and we are nice and snug in front of the wood stove.  I hope you are all snug and warm too.

Shaken up

I'm feeling a little shaken up this evening.  I rode Dee this morning – this is becoming a regular Monday morning ride.  This morning we had a lesson rather than going out for a hack.  The lesson was great.  I learned a lot and Sarian of Briwnant is a great teacher.  I understood things that I think they had tried to teach me at Pontcanna but never clearly enough – or perhaps I was just being dense.  Dee responded so well to the slightest aid it was a pleasure to experience what might be possible if I knew more about what I was doing.  I had given up on lessons because of the frustrations of trying to progress when different teachers would contradict one another, but I might have a few at Briwnant.

Unfortunately Dee clicked into riding school mode and became a mare I haven't seen for a few years.  When her ears went back, I got scared and let Dee get away with being aggressive.  I sat the bucks as she kicked out at another horse – but only just, and it left me feeling quite shaken.  The other riders kept well away from her after that and I don't blame them, but I feel sad and embarrassed that they had to.  I think I feel shaken from two perspectives – the first is that I felt unsafe, and the second is that Dee hasn't behaved like that for such a long time and I find it upsetting that it happened.  I thought we had moved past that.  Sure she is a dominant mare in the field with the herd, but I have had no trouble with her with other horses on rides for years.  It feels a bit like a failure.

It's made me think that I need to get a different saddle.  Now that Dee is getting fitter and I am riding several times a week regularly, I need a saddle that has a bit more substance to it.  I guess as Dee gets fitter her strong personality comes through more, and I need to know I am in control.  I need to know that if Dee spooks or plays up that I have the best chance possible to sit it and be in charge.  My treeless saddle is too close to riding in a bareback pad.

The rhythm beads have arrived and the new hoof boots.  It was too wet and wild today to try the hoof boots, but I wore the rhythm beads around my neck while I groomed Dee so that she could get used to the sound they make.

I've posted a picture of the Briwnant duck pond today.  Dee seems to be fascinated by the ducks, and always asks to stop and watch them for a while when I lead her past the duck pond.  She steps up onto the bank so she can get a good view.  She's such a sweet mare in so many ways.

Long and short rides

I don't seem to find much time to blog at the moment.  Fortunately I am finding time to continue riding Dee three times a week mostly and she is getting a lot fitter.  Last Monday I hacked out with a couple of Briwnant friends riding Bella and Duke.  I didn't think to ask how long a ride it would be.  When we took the trail down across the stream from the Wenallt I knew we were going as far as the Ganol.  When we carried on down through the Ganol, I guessed we were going to Fforest Fawr.  This meant a two hour ride – longer than Dee and I had been for a while, but fine.

However when we got to the end of Fforest Fawr—where I expected us to head back to the Ganol—Gail took us along a trail that I did not know.  Fforest Fawr is clearly well named (Fawr means big in Welsh) because we rode for another hour.  It was a lovely ride and I did enjoy it, but I kept thinking that I was sure we were still in Fforest Fawr and it was an hour's ride back from there.  All in all it was a three hour ride and getting gloomy by the time we arrived back at the Wenallt trail.  To my amazement Gail wanted to turn left as we came up the hill from the stream and complete the rest of the Wenallt trail.  This would mean a couple of very steep hills on the trail and finish with a long steep bit of road.  Dee was tired and so was I, so I asked if we could go home along the first part of the Wenallt trail which is flatter and has less road work.  They agreed and this was what we did.

I was pleased with Dee's level of fitness.  It had not been a fast or hard ride—mostly walking with a good few trots and a couple of short canters—but still it was more than she had done for about 18 months.  She was hot and sweaty, but not excessively tired.  It was really dark by the time I decided she had cooled down enough to feed her. 

It was after this ride that I decided I had to have her clipped because I was concerned about her catching a chill, and this was done this morning.  I bathed her after my ride yesterday and kept her in Red's stable overnight, so that she would be clean, dry and ready for us this morning.  She was an absolute angel and looks lovely.  I feel a bit sorry that she now needs to be rugged to live out, but am happy that she will be more comfortable when we ride.

Yesterday we tried hacking out alone again.  This time I decided to try the ride in the more challenging direction – beginning with the track.  She was very slow going along the track, taking short, tense steps.  A couple of times she stopped and I wondered if that was it, but then she carried on.  Eventually we arrived at the little gate and went up into the fields through the bracken, where Dee adopting a more relaxed gait.  She would not go up through the top field so I compromised and let her cut across it.  We then went down and along a new track that Paul has recently cut through the bracken.  She took this completely new path without hesitation.  It is not finished yet, so we had to turn at the end.  We then returned to the gate and back down the track – a complete hack alone again.  Woohoo!!!  I think I'm going to do this little hack once a week as I believe it will slowly build up her confidence about going out on her own.  I think there are a couple of other little hacks on Briwnant land that we can try as well.

The first set of hoof boots I ordered for Dee were not satisfactory and I have sent for a different type.  I'll report on those when they arrive.  I've also ordered some 'rhythm beads'.  These may be a weird new age fad or they may be an amazing native american idea – we shall see.  It looks like a horse necklace and jingles.  The theory is that a. the constant gentle sound stops a spooky horse being so sensitive to the noises they hear when they are out hacking, and b. that the sound of the beads being in rhythm with the natural movement of the horse has a soothing and claming effect.  Interesting.  I'll let you know how that turns out as well – something to try in the arena first I think!

Hoof care

I'm feeling exhausted.  Last week we had a retreat at our home, which was delightful but retreats are always tiring.  It finished on Saturday and I have been out on a hack three times since then.  I rode Dee and Red on Sunday. So it is not surprising that I am feeling so tired. 

We are now into week four of the get-Dee-fit campaign, and there are signs of progress.  She is not puffing so much up the hills and not sweating up so much.  Also she has been a dream to catch the last couple of weeks, so she must be enjoying it.  She is still struggling with the stony parts of the Wenallt trail, so today I have ordered her some hoof boots.  I had to wait until today in order to get a hoof measurement straight after her having her feet trimmed by the farrier. 

Dee had a lot of hoof attention today.  After being shod at the front and trimmed at the back, I cleaned the cracks with hibi scrub, applied hoof hardener, and then filled the parts that needed filling with hoof putty once her feet were dry.  Her hooves are gradually improving and the farrier is happy with them.  He says that her hooves are good and strong and this should only be a temporary problem.  His estimate of the timeframe to which her hoof problems relate, based on an average growth rate, does correlate with her move back from Cornwall.  So I think all this was due to that unsettling time and will indeed be a temporary glitch.  Her feet have always been healthy previously.

Tonight Dee is tucked up in Red's stable because it is worming time.  I'm sure she will not mind this for a night or two – especially as it is pouring with rain at the moment.

Dee has now been sound for five or six weeks.  I've been checking her back regularly as she is doing more work than she had done for quite a long time, and everything is fine.  No swelling, no pain.  I will never know for sure whether it was the Equissage massage equipment that brought on her lameness – it may have simply been coincidental.  I returned the equipment anyway and did receive a full refund.  So that is the end of that little saga.

On Monday I rode with Charlotte, one of the helpers at Briwnant.  She tells me that the horse I pictured in my last post Bareback Riding, 9th October, is not Molly, but Deanna.  Apologies to both mares!  Also my Beloved mentioned that I have not credited him for photographs recently... Practically every photograph used on my blog was taken by my husband, 'ö-Dzin Tridral.  He is becoming quite a skilled photographer and you can see a gallery of his work at Red Bubble and at Zazzle.  Lluniau Naturiol means 'Natural Pictures' which refers to the fact that he does not edit his photographs in any way – they either work or they don't.

Red is seeing the equine dentist on Friday.  It will be interesting to see how he feels about that.  No more riding now until Saturday, so my body has a couple of days to rest.