Spring...

...appears to be in the air!

Went to fetch the little darling in this afternoon to hack out with a couple of friends - it was highly entertaining.
If there is one thing my girl is not, it is hard to catch - I've never had to follow her even a couple of steps to get hold of her.  Not so today!

Betty's guide to winding up Mum:

Step one:  Stand in middle of mud-bath with head in giraffe-pose
Step two:  Spot mum with headcollar and trot towards her
Step three: Decide small elderly pony standing near the gate is Far Too Scary to go past and bugger off in opposite direction.
Step four:  Have stand-off with dominant mare, then gallop at Mum shouting at her to Save Me From the Vicious Standardbred.  (At this point I flung the lead rope at the two mares charging towards me and retreated several paces)
Step five: Pretend to give up and resume giraffe-stance in middle of mud-bath.

Repeat several times until bored of game.

Eventually got hold of the flippin mare (she stood like butter wouldn't melt as soon as I actually got close enough to get the headcollar on), and she dragged me through the gate, charged up the lane and proceeded to  stomp all over the yard, knocking over hoof oil and snapping a mane comb until I relented and gave her a hay net, at which point she suddenly became sweetness and light.

So got her semi-clean and tacked up with aid of Magic Haynet, and set off on hack.  In fairness, she was really good considering her general demeanor, but we had some silly spooks at stuff she passed yesterday without blinking, and lots of jogging sideways on the way home!  I dread to think what would have happened if we'd gone on our own...

Arrived home rather wet but intact, whereupon Madame decides that waiting for her tea is not acceptable, unties herself (the only time I forget to thread the lead rope back on itself!) and scoffs my friend's horse's bucketful before anyone's spotted her wanderings.  Thankfully it was only the same as she'd have had anyway, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing at her cheek.  She's normally so well mannered, but I think she'd had a brain transplant tonight.

Anyway, she won me round in the end by coming to say goodbye and nuzzling into my chest, then she stood for ages submitting to kisses and general fuss, and really did look a bit upset when I had to leave her.  Love her, even when she is being a twit!

Progress!

Ah, I have such a fab little horse!

Lesson on Tuesday night was amazing - we're working on balance and steadiness in canter especially at the moment, and my instructor had us doing a brilliant polework exercise - simple but effective :)

Four poles laid out in a cross shape, one at E, at right-angles to the track, and one opposite at B, then two along the centre line, leaving a gap in the middle that you could squeeze a small circle into.  The exercise (started in trot) was to ride round the outside of the poles in approximately a 20m circle, then bring the circle smaller into the middle of the poles, and then come into the centre and ride a tiny circle within the four poles.

Well Bets absolutely loved it - dragged me over to the poles and really picked her hooves up over them, all flicky toes and pointed ears!  It really helped when we did it in canter as well, as she started to think about where her feet were going, and steadied up really well.  I was able to sit up and not get dragged forward and it really did feel like we clicked.

She even offered to drop onto the bit a couple of times in canter - we have a pretty consistent outline in walk and trot now, but she normally gets very flat and hollow as she speeds up.  This time we had a few strides of her working nicely and rounding, and when I hopped on for a few minutes yesterday she did the same without the poles too - finally feel like we're starting to crack it!

Lunge session is the plan for today, the one thing she really is terrible at!  We're persevering though :p

Introducing Madam...

Meet Betty :)

We've been together six months, and she's come on in such strides that I thought it would be good to steal some bright people's ideas and start a progress diary.

As some background, Betty came to me as a not-quite-six year old, rather green but totally willing horse, and we've been working hard on building a trusting relationship, and  getting her schooling going in earnest.  She tries so hard, but we've still quite a long way to go with balance/confidence etc.

She now works consistently in an outline in walk and trot, and has just mastered the art of cantering on the right leg on both reins(!)

We're veeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrryyyyyyy slowly learning to jump, but being not the most confident of jumpers (either of us!) it's a case of slow and steady on this in particular.

Goals for the next few months... 

- Get her cantering STEADILY and in a rounder shape, rather than hollow in llama pose at 100 mph

- Add a little height and a significant amount of style to our jumps...

- Learn to cope with hacking alone for short distances - currently she's very nervy and will spin and rear and charge for home at the slightest provocation - an angel in company though!

- Sort out my position and aim for quiet consistency, especially in the leg - it's getting better but I am very easily unbalanced

- Score some reasonable marks in prelim dressage tests

- Continue to build trust and confidence in one another

Today was a bit of a fun easy day, as we just went for a short hack (with a fabulous gallop!) with a friend and her horse, so I guess a bit of work towards the trust goal and not much else! 

Lesson tomorrow, so hoping for some specifics to work on for the next few days at least.