#110 - riding in the autumn sunshine

I had a lesson on the horse named Dick this morning and it was a challenge. I don't know if it's because I haven't ridden him in a month or the new arena had gotten him out of sorts but he was trying everything on. We concentrated mainly on the canter and stretching out his legs at a trot to lengthen his stride. It was interesting but difficult getting a horse that just wasn't into the ride to go through witch hats and sticking to the 12 metre markers that I was being instructed to do paces at when called out.

I'd love to try and practise a modified version of these exercises on Teddy but I have to go interstate on business tomorrow morning and will be gone for a few days so Steve will be left on farm duty. When it comes to Teddy I think this will pretty much be Steve looking out the window to make sure nothing terrible has happened to him and that's it.

So it looks like I wont be back in the saddle until Thursday (late meeting Wednesday night). Wouldn't it be great to not have to work! I can dream all about it because that's as close to retirement that I'm likely to get for quite a while.

P.S. I like the pic of Teddy with the sun behind him.

#109 - You have to be quick these days!

That horse I was looking at this weekend is already gone! Damn! You have to be quick!

Not so lucky for me when I have to work and cant get to visit places until the weekend. But Teddy doesn't seem to mind, when I told him he was following me through the paddock and I was chatting away, I said a new horse might be coming and he stopped dead in his tracks! I know it was a coincidence but it did make me laugh!

As for the horse, ahh well wasn't meant to be.

#108 - Your horse can only be as brave as you are

Another coffee table lesson for Teddy and we had a success! I draped myself over him and he didn't move a muscle until I decided to stop. It's one big step forward.

I've noticed that he's preferring to do it from the usual side I mount from the coffee table so next time I will do it on the opposite side, then start trying from different locations. Then it will be time to saddle up. Actually the timing is pretty good as I received my new gullet for the stock saddle in the mail today so I will have fitted that and be ready to ride.

The other big new is I'm looking at another horse this week. If this works out I will have another stock horse to keep Teddy company as well as one very experienced in dressage so I can continue learning dressage on the new horse and do western riding with Teddy, which I think he is more suited to. I'll also be able to go to ARC while Teddy learns to curb his excitement. The new horse is bigger and wiser than Teddy too so he might learn a few things from this potential new paddock mate.

There are no guarantees this horse is going to be suitable for me yet as I haven't even met him but I'm looking forward to finding out. Oh yeah, Teddy's no longer for sale. I want to keep my bear.

#107 -If your horse says no, you either asked the wrong question or asked the question wrong

I had a lot of guests over for a BBQ on Easter Saturday and Teddy enjoyed all the attention that was heaped upon him. After the initial comments of "He's huge!", "I didn't realise he was so big" and "I'll stay on this side of the gate thanks" and few brave souls including a 13 year old girl and a one year old in her mother's arms came into the paddock with me to see for themselves what a sweet soul my Teddy really is.

I think at times this log does Teddy an injustice and portrays him as a maniac, which isn't the case at all; he's just very bright and at times can have other ideas about the way things should work. He also can be a bit stubborn or excitable. As Maxwell Smart once said, "Give him an inch and he thinks he's a ruler!" - Well that can be Teddy! But 70% of the time he is a well behaved boy who tries very hard and the other 30% - well he has me as an owner and I'm always learning how to ask the right questions to get the desired response. I never claimed to be an expert horse trainer but I'm doing pretty damn well so far.

Tamsyn, the 13 year old, had a nice time learning how to lead a horse, the baby adored reaching out and patting Teddy and Jen almost let her finger become Teddy's lunch! Everyone was patting Teddy and giving him treats so he was lapping it all up.

Then yesterday I had two friends, Caroline (aka Crow) and Shane spend the night and Crow came out with me while I did more ground work with Teddy. I continued on with the mounting coffee table exercises and he was much better. No circling the table this time and each time he got in the correct position and stood still while I leaning over him. I already think that the next lesson will include me draping myself over his back and seeing how long he will stand for and build on the time. For a second lesson he's doing extremely well though.

#106 - Fun at the mounting coffee table

I'm slowly recovering from this flu so I went out and worked with Teddy for the first time in days; this was prompted by me looking out the window to find him rounding up our cows. The poor boy must be a little bored.

I've be thinking about how I'm going to tackle his mounting problem and head tossing at a canter problem but as I wasn't riding today I started work on the mounting.

I took him out with my carrot stick and on a 12 foot lead and did some ground work with him. He started off distracted by the paddock across the road which I have discovered has a horse in it now so there were no surprises there, however what was a surprise was the neighbouring property's cows held a little more appeal to him. He is totally fascinated by cows the weird horse! So this time to get him focused I had him trotting along side me as I jogged and stopping at my side when asked. Quickly we went on to our regular ground work but this time I included the mounting coffee table in the mix.

I stood on the coffee table and got him to stand still beside it, if he stepped sideways I took the carrot stick and tapped his far hind quarters toward me. At first he resisted and just kept walking around the coffee table. As soon as he got to the right spot in a mounting position I praised him with heaps of rubs, jumped off the coffee table and took him to do another activity. Then I went back to the coffee table and repeated the exercise but adding a wobble of his withers to insure his feet were planted. When it worked, again I praised him, jumped off the coffee table and played a different game. Back at the coffee table we ended with me draping my body over his back. He stood still for just a moment and then I took the pressure off and gave him praise and a bit of liquorice! We played a few more games and then called it a day.

Teddy did pretty good today though there was some resistance at times. I'm sure after a few lessons he will get the idea of what I expect of him. Once that happens I will add other things around the paddock that I might like to mount from and teach him to allow me to drape myself over his back at each new area so that he doesn't associate the coffee table as the place he's getting jumped on, but also a place he might have some fun and affection.

When I go for a ride I will discover if this all translates into actually mounting in the saddle. I can't see why it wouldn't.

Well done Teddy Bear!

#105 - What to do when you're sick with the flu?

Once again my plans had to change as I've got the flu and am only getting up to relieve the ache in my back. So what to do? I should be at work and then coming home and riding Teddy and improving on our saddle work but instead I'm online splicing little bits of video footage that I have of him until I need a lie down.

This footage wouldn't normally see the light of day because I look so ridiculous in those clothes that I threw on the other week to catch Teddy... but what can I say... now I just don't give a toss what I look like! I must be sick! LOL!

So here is a quick demonstration of Teddy who has been learning that he is not to walk past me but along side me and that he needs to stop along side me when I stop. The test this day was would he do it while being loose and able to do as he pleased. I had never done it loose before. So will he know what to do or even care to try? Watch and see.

#104 - Teddy and I consistently cantering!

After a lovely sleep in (7am for me) I laid in bed thinking that it has been almost 2 weeks since I'd been for a ride. I had even missed my last two dressage lessons, once because of me and once because one of Kim's horses got sick. I hadn't ridden Teddy because I gave him a week off due to his girthiness and then I just got either lazy or it rained after work or something happened where I couldn't leave work in time to have enough day light to ride. I so miss daylight savings time!

So looking out the window I could see the sun was out and thought I had to take advantage of it before the weather turned.

Catching Teddy was a breeze and I spent some time sprucing him up. As Teddy stood to be brushed he was fixated on the neighbours property. I wanted his attention on me so I took him through some ground work - yields, stops, backing up, etc. until he was totally focussed on me. He is getting to the stage with those exercises that I don't even have to touch him to yield, just raise my hand and he moves, particularly the back end. What a bear!

I put the stock saddle on him as it has a pressure ease girth and then I tried to mount. Once again this was our issue, thankfully it was the only issue for the day (that he was doing on purpose anyway!). Each time I got him to the mounting coffee table and put my foot in the stirrup he stepped sideways away from me. It seriously took a good five minutes of walking him around then back to the block, getting angry and having to do deep breathing so I wouldn't start yelling at him and then trying again. I held it together but I bet he felt the pissed off vibe I had going. Then the last try he just did it all perfectly while looking around at me as if to say, "Well get on then". I bet he also realised that we would have been there all day if he hadn't just conceded defeat. And the scoreboard says Tania 1 - Teddy 0.

I have to marvel at this attitude of his sometimes because when I was on his back and using a loose rein he was totally into it. Ears forward, alert and happy. The loose rein has been the key to our recent riding progress as there was absolutely no head tossing. As a warm up we walked the boundaries of all the paddocks and along the dam hill. I tried to make sure he was focused by going through water, mud, up and down hills and ditches, and he was loving it. At one stage I thought he was eyeing off the cows to round up but he didn't.

Next I warmed him at a trot in the top paddock, which even after only two weeks without a ride was as quick a trot as they get and took a bit of easing into. Shortly after I decided to canter. One leg aid and he was straight into the canter and all I could think about was shortening the reins. The moment I collected them he skidded to a stop so suddenly that his head went back and I thought I was going to cop a head-butt to the face! I thought that could mean to canter on a loose rein but I didn't have the confidence for that with Teddy being such a fast moving horse, so I tried to find some middle ground. Using the length of the paddock I gathered the reins but kept my hands outstretch and took him into a canter. Being so far removed from the rocking horse canter that I've become accustom to with the horse named Dick, I wasn't as relaxed as I normally would be. At first I felt like a bloody jockey but as Teddy found his stride it didn't feel so rushed. Pulling him up wasn't going so well though as it caused him to toss his head. We cantered up and down the paddock a number of times, each time I got a bit more confident which helped me try and work out a good way to do this effortlessly that also worked for Teddy.

I'm sure the purists out there will be saying that Teddy has to do what I ask and that's that. To an extent I agree and by no means do I let him have it over me but I also feel that to work well with Teddy I have to listen to him and work with him and that is exactly what I do.

I have a lot of practise to go on Teddy at a canter as I am stiff in the legs and not able to concentrate on relaxing while trying to work out how to pull him up while maintaining a loose rein and not having my arms out to give him his head. I feel my knees lock up as I pull in his tossing head to the extend I was up and out of the saddle on more than one occasion. When I wanted him to walk after pulling him up I basically had to give him his full head as if I'd drop the reins before he would go back to a normal non-head tossing walk.

We ended our ride on a high with me calling out for Steve to come watch us LOL! I'm such a little kid! Look at me!

I'm very proud of our efforts today and I have learned a lot - mainly questions that I don't have answers to yet, but at least I know the questions now.

Well done Teddy and well done me!

#103 - So did Teddy pass the catching test?

Watch the video and find out.

Warning, there is an F Bomb on this video.

Also note that the sound of dogs barking at the start of the video is actually from about 4 acres away from the horse.

#102 - The real test begins...

Now that Roger has gone I have opened the whole property up so that the cows and horse can roam anywhere they like. This will be the true test to see if Teddy is with me or will not want to be caught. Fingers crossed he continues to come to me and just let me put the halter on like he has for the last week and a half.

I'm feeling positive.

#101 - Teddy and the umbrella

Teddy's was fluffing about in another paddock while we prepared for Roger the bull's farewell. When we got Roger in the crush where we needed him to be the rest was pretty easy and our two cows got drenched while Teddy looked on. Meanwhile Roger was quite pissed off to be leaving and was make a drooling racket in the back of the truck. Lets hope he's done his job and we have babies around August/September.

Once all the cow stuff was done, by Steve I might add as I worked late, I went and got Teddy to do some work with an umbrella for the first time.

I have to admit I was prepared for the worst, though quietly confident that he would do fine - and he was. He was on a 12 foot lead but was up close to me with plenty of slack. First I let him sniff the umbrella and then I opened it by his neck very slowly. I did this a little faster each time and he was cool. It was only when I did it very fast that he lifted his head in surprise. He didn't get scared or anything and through the whole process he didn't attempt to leave. I don't even think he moved his feet.

It was only a 5 minute exercise (too many mozzies eating me!) and was with an umbrella that was silver on the outside and red on the inside so I exposed him to sudden flashes of the colours from all directions and all was great. I hope to get to the stage where he has that much trust in me that he doesnt even flinch. I have a feeling that wont take long as he has been superb lately; really interested and wanting interactions. He had no fear at all and at one stage I let him explore it with his lips then opened it again and he was good. He got lots of love for doing so well.

The catching is also going wonderfully but the true test will be soon when I open up the whole property to him, which I will do when I have settled the cows again.