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.

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!