Progress Journal

14th May
It was left a bit late in the afternoon but I went for a short ride with my mum who was just walking around on Pepper who kept getting excited and wanting to take off. I rode Sammy and I lunged him first and he appeared quite hypo and naughty. He kept rushing in at me and throwing his head around. (looks like we have a bit of touching up to do since he has had a couple of weeks off) I'm not sure if he was just fresh or if he was just feeling good after having his back fixed a few days ago and having a different saddle on to usual, I think it was a bit of everything. Anyway I did a bit of ground work until he was focused on me and listening. I then got on and walked off with my mum. At first he kept flicking his tail and and slightly pinning his ears he also stopped for a second and hunched his back up a bit, I'm not really sure what he was doing but he got over it as quick as he started it. Mum thinks he was just being silly because I had only just got on. We walked around for awhile and he was being good though sometimes not paying a lot of attention to me so I had to get him to focus on me again. Next doors horses came running over and he looked but didn't get excited about it. We walked around a bit more and then I asked for a little trot and he chucked his head around a bit as he made the transition (he hasn't really done that in awhile) and tried to break into a canter but it didn't take much to keep him in a steady trot which was a bit suprising. He was also very easy to bring back to a walk considering he hasn't been ridden in awhile yay. I focused a lot on keeping my shoulders back and keeping my elbows by my sides and I think that really helped with his responsiveness, I have a bad habit of hunching forward which I am trying to fix. He trotted a bit more to catch up to pepper when she cut corners the twirp. We then walked around a bit more and got off because it was getting dark. I am quite happy with how he behaved today since he appeared to be a bit silly when I first started with him today.

17th May
Well today was interesting. I didn't get to go for a long ride but I went out and caught Sam. I put the other two out of the way and took him out to the big paddock to ride. I jumped on and didn't try to move at all whilst I mounted. I then flexed him. I walked him around the paddock for ages constantly turning and stopping. I was just focusing on keeping my position correct by keeping my shoulders and elbows back. I was trying to use my seat and legs to get him to do everything with minimal use of my hands. I did have to use my hands but not too much. He was listening enough to slow his trot down just by listening to my seat. I trotted a little bit randomly doing this so he wouldn't start doing it of his own accord in the one spot. He was doing very well and behaving himself very well. Then I was down near the dam simply getting him to walk in a circle and move out of the circle by moving off my inside leg whilst bending. It took him awhile to get it but he did eventually and the moment he did a couple of steps correctly I stopped asking. I then went to turn him in the other direction simply to walk back to the gate when the moment I started to turn him he bucked. I was completely taken by suprise, he has never offered to buck undersaddle before he rarely even does it out in the paddock. There was no warning either it just came and went the moment it was over he just acted like nothing had happened. It was a good all four feet off the ground one. I think the only reason I didn't end up on his neck was because I had been really concentrating on keeping my position correct, I was also lucky it was just the one otherwise I probably would have ended up on the ground. As it was I lost a stirrup and half landed on the ears at the front of my saddle. After it happened I fixed myself up and just continued on with my ride, some more walking and trotting then I got off. He didn't try to play up at all after that either. The only thing I could put it down to was he spooked at I don't know what or he was feeling fresh and happy and since he had just seen the chiro he felt good to buck. I'm not sure it was just so random I have never seen him do it before and his old owners said he never bucked. Oh well here are some photos of his face.
Also he isn't tied to the fence if he had of pulled at all he would have come undone straight away. Sorry for the blurriness.

18th May
Ahh today I got very frustrated and I'm not very happy with myself. I was going to go out and lunge both Sammy and Apache. I caught Sammy first and it turns out I had to work with him quite a bit so I didn't get time to lunge Apache. Sometimes Sam can have good days and be a perfect angel but today was one of his days where he just would not focus. I lunge Sam using just the end of of the lunge rope because I find the whip to awkward to use when he acts up. When Sam acts up on the lunge he speeds up and comes in at you. Normally once he starts showing signs of turning to either come in or simply stop and face me I hit him on the shoulder. At first he was working well with me but within 5 minutes max he wouldn't focus on me. He kept trying to go back to the other two who were standing quietly by the fence, he also kept moving us so we would end up to close to a tree. Eventually I got so frustrated I started yelling, it made it worse when I was having trouble with the rope because it kept just winding around my hand not actually getting Sam's attention so I don't think he was taking me seriously. He also kept making it harder by turning and trying to walk to his buddies then turning and looking like I attacked him because the halter put pressure on him when I didn't just let him walk off. It took awhile but I eventually got Sam to circle around me at a walk in both directions. Some of the time he was also turing his bum to me I couldn't believe he was being so disrespectful. It looks like he really needs some work with his lunging. He really seems to have no idea when it comes to bending whether it be on the ground or under saddle. He is very stiff and doesn't seem to bend a lot. I have gradually gotten him to bend a little bit but when riding him most times any sort of leg pressure to him just means go faster, he isn't as bad now but if he doesn't know how to respond to what your asking its almost like he just tries to run out from underneath you. I'll see how he goes tomorrow during my lesson and when my instructor is there to help me.

27th May
Woops I forgot to add a couple of entries over the last few days. Not much was missed just a bit of work with Sammy.

Today was a bit of a bummer day all over. My instructor got there a little early and worked with Sam a little before I got there. The little turd behaved almost perfectly making me look like a liar, lucky she knows what he's like. I got there and lunged him for a bit and he played up a little but otherwise went very well.

I then lunged Apache though that didn't go very well. (By this time my mum had gotten back from the vets where she had dropped off my dog who had been attcked by another dog. He didn't lose a lot of blood but they were pretty serious injuries, I hope he doesn't lose his leg and I hope my baby doesn't go into shock and not make it through the night. We thought it was our other dog but he doesn't have and scratches or anything and patch wouldn't have gone down without a fight. So we suspect maybe it was a neighbours dog because the vet said it was definitely a large dog that did it.) I was lunging Apache and it went ok at first but he picked up I wasn't fully concentrating and started playing up. I brought him back in to fix up something then when I went to send him back out he kicked out and just got me on the arm. I think I'll have a bit of a bruise tomorrow but it wasn't too bad. I worked with him a bit more after I caught him again but I was crying a lot by this stage embarrassing as it was. My instructor came over and said she would work with him while I calmed down and maybe I shouldn't ride today. I went and stood with my mum and Sammy and calmed down while she worked with Apache and he was very naughty bucking and pulling etc the whole time. Eventually once I had calmed down I said I would like to at least ride a little bit and she rode Sammy while I got on my little girl Pepper. Pepper was well behaved for me this afternoon and the ride made me feel a lot better. We walked, trotted and cantered a bit. For the last few minutes she rode pepper and I rode sammy while we coolled them down because Sammy seemed to be behaving himself for the ride. Hopefully next time will be better. :(

2nd June

Today's lesson was great after last time and all the rain we have had since. We lunged the boys and they were both pretty good though they chucked some minor tantrums. I rode sam and my instructor rode apache as usual, she commented that the whole time (he didn't attempt to rear once from my knowledge) he was a bit lazy but would do as he was told.

Sammy on the other hand wasn't bad as such but was being a bit silly. Whenever I wanted to go faster he didn't, if I wanted to stop he wanted to go and if I wanted to go this way he wanted to go that way. He wasn't real naughty about it but did try. We walked a little at first but otherwise did a heap of trotting in circles (more like triangle cross oval for sam at the moment) Sam was ok with his speed he didn't try to break gait but he did keep either speeding up when apache went past or slowing right down when apache was behind. I wasn't too worried about the speeding up because he got a bit heavy on my hands but otherwise didn't break into a canter which is pretty good for him. We also attempted a large figure of eight just to see how the boys would go. Apache was good though lazy, sammy on the other hand was really trying to race ahead because he wanted to catch up to Apache. I can't even name the shape his figure of eight turned into lol.

I also had a go at cantering Sam for the first time since falling off him when he took off at a canter. I have been so nervous about going faster then a trot on him but I felt very happy after having a little go this afternoon. I also know from past experience he doesn't always have the smoothest canter. The first attempt wasn't too bad though a bit uncomfortable because I think he was on the wrong lead and my instructor was behind me at the time so didn't see. The second time was pretty awful the moment he broke into a canter he was trying to really stretch out and run which I would have just sat back and let him do but I don't have room for that and he was going too fast to just turn and go down the the other long side of the paddock. (I was sitting there for awhile thinking you do know there is a fence at the end sammy that you can't really go through hehe ) It was ridiculously bumpy/jerky for me to sit to and I could feel myself bumping hard on his back argh. He eventually softened and and came to a nice stop a couple of metres from the fence, I was happy with that. When I went over to my instructor she said his front legs looked very stiff instead of the usual kind of curling up underneath him, so I'm not sure what happened there but anyway. I was very happy with my lesson other then a few minor things he was very well behaved after what he has been like recently. I can't wait until next time I get a lesson on my birthday which will hopefully turn into a big trail ride.

4th June
My ride wasn't long today because it got darker a bit sooner then I was expecting. It was still pretty good though. He lunged pretty well on his bad side he was a bit funny but otherwise good.

Then my ride I only did walk and trot but it was fun, I only walked around a little bit. I then trotted him in the direction I was going and he was good about it only rushed a little bit in places otherwise was a bit lazy about it. Also the whole time whenever we went past the horse next door who was wstanding at the fence he would try to stop if I was paying attention but didn't really chuch a fuss about it. When I went in the other direction he really was rushing the trot a lot. I think because the new horses over the road were calling and he was doing it in their direction but I slowed him down with my seat. He did quite good and at a walk he was really getting the hang of bend and doing a nice circle. Hopefully monday I'll have more pictures and info.

12th June
I know I haven't been here for awhile I have forgotten to add a few entries and I it has been raining a lot. I also started this journal about my two boys but (recently) has also started to be a bit about me too.

Today has nothing to do with the boys, I just went for a ride on my little Pepper. She was good though she decided to chuck in a few barrel racer turns in the middle of the paddock and tried to run so close to the fence my leg would nearly get scraped off along the way. She is a little twirp like that. I like to ride her to work on my seat and legs etc without having to worry about my horse randomly bucking,rearing like the boys would :roll:.

I just went for a bit of everything walk,trot and canter. She is an awesome horse for someone to learn on. She can be quite crumby if you don't ride properly and she can be very smooth and correct when you do ride properly. She is very fun to ride. She can also teach you a lot about balance, if you have bad balance you can fall off her quite quickly. She is quite sensitive to seat and leg aids so you can basicly direct her and everything with just them (though I have some trouble because my legs are a bit long for her). I worked a little bit on my 2-point. I have kind of taught myself how to do it. I think I am getting a bit better, though I'm not sure if I am leaning forward a bit too much.

I had quite a bit of fun with the little twirp hehe. Here are a couple of picture of her little face afterwards. She was very interested in the horses across the road running around like psychos. (she has almost all her winter fuzzies)

15th June

Hopefully with the school holidays coming I will be able to write more down about riding the horses. All my exams will be finished and I hope the weather will be good.

Anyway this afternoon was good and bad. First the bad, Sammy seems to have come up lame. He was all good yesterday when the farrier came. My instructor thinks maybe the farrier cut his feet a bit shorter than usual (it didn't seem any different to usual though) or something so we are going to leave him a day or two just to see if he comes good. I lunged him before getting on and he appeared to be off in one of his front legs but I wasn't sure because it kept coming and going and it was only slight. I got on and within the first few strides I knew he was lame so he was unsaddled and put out in the paddock.

We resumed the lesson with just Apache. He was a bit lazy and I never got him to canter but it was good. We had taken the cones out and set them out in a rectangle. I was doing big ovals and figure of eights using that as a guide. We were trotting just about the whole time with a little walking. Apache only really tried to stop when we went passed the horse standing next to the fence or when we went passed my instructor. I managed to keep him going though. I tried to get him into a canter at one stage and he chucked a minor tantrum by kicking one leg out just as I was raised out of the saddle so that threw me forward a it. I'll have to work on getting him to canter but I did keep him going. He was pretty alert and forward most of the time which is pretty good for him. My instructor said he looked like a pretty little show pony tucking up and bending around the corners hehe. I am very with how my ride went with him this afternoon.

I forgot just how bouncy his trot is I hope to be able to sit to it eventually. It was also weird being on a horse who was very willing to stop and wasn't trying to take off every five seconds . I also bought new boots last week that have very slippery soles, that made it very difficult to mount and my feet were sliding around in the stirrups a bit while I was trying to ride grr.

I have a few photos of them eating dinner afterwards. The boys after their ride and Pepper with her new hair cut.
Oh the thing poking out of peppers neck is my dog with the vet cone on his head sniffing the ground.

30th June

Wow oops I can't believe I forgot about this, I have missed quite a few sessions with my horses.

I'll talk about my lesson today, I am a bit bummed because I didn't get any pictures. It was annoyingly windy but otherwise a nice day. Sammy was actually kind of lazy which was different and considering he normally gets hypo when its windy. We worked a bit on getting his circles looing more like circles at a trot and he was doing very well. Then we had a little go at jumping. My instructor had a go on him first just to see how he would be about it all and he was good other then the fact that he seemed to think it was ok to stop straight after the jump. I then got on to have a go and he was goo other then trying to avoid the jump a couple of times he was good. He stopped a few times after the jumps but I managed to eep him going after awhile. Then we worked a bit on just letting him walk calmly around on a loose rein and he was very good about it. I can't wait until my next ride.

1st July

I was planning on going for a ride on Sammy this afternoon but it had rained a bit and due to other things I couldn't so I lunged him. He was very good at first he was doing an almost perfect circle just about the whole time. I was very proud of him. I then lunged him over the jump and he refused to jump it he simply trotted over it when he had only jumped it yesterday while I was riding.

So I thought I would take the time to teach him to canter while lunging. He only walks and trots. I figured he seems to be doing well with the lunging we will work up. I was being very firm and would blow a kiss then hit the ground with the whip, then since he didn't react I would give him a tap on the butt. He was just doing a faster trot for awhile. I eventually got a couple of strides of a canter out of him. I then tried to ask one more time for a canter one more time and he was getting frustrated and he either kicked out or I did get one stride.

Due to his frustration and because he had worked quite hard he suddenly decided he didn't want to do it anymore. He tried to tried run out of the pen but I stopped him, so he resorted to backing his butt up to me which I knew would easily end with me being kicked. We ended up having an arguement for awhile about that. He took awhile but eventually figured out it was better to face me then get a good whack on the butt with my whip. I won't be suprised if he tries it again though. I then did some other ground work with him. He was soon turning his haunches away from me very well. I also worked on the voice aids a bit. By the end I was very happy. We are still working on walk, trot, woah but he got back by the end of the session. I simply faced him took a step into him and said back. He did it for several steps without hesitating. I was very happy I didn't need to use pressure on the leadrope at all. So I ended it with that.
Until next time