#125 - filming that just didn't work

#124 - But he's a horse!

It seems that a horse wanting to eat hay is just not on when it's meant for the cows!

I left Teddy's feed in the front paddock but he didn't got to it by the time we took hay out to the cows. On the way to the back paddock we walked right past Teddy with the hay practically under his nose. By the time we threw it out for the cows Teddy came and started eating it.

Steve cracked it!

Why Steve didn't think that a HORSE would want to EAT HAY is beyond me!

I took Teddy by the coat and lead him away and then he followed me to his feed. Shapelle and Mercedes got their hay after all. Crisis over!

Teddy Log: #123 - a giddyup weekend!

Teddy Log: #123 - a giddyup weekend!: "The woman holding this horse is about 5 foot 6 or 7. Now that's a big boy! ****** I've had a very horsey weekend, which I love. Yesterday T..."

#123 - a giddyup weekend!

The woman holding this horse is about 5 foot 6 or 7. Now that's a big boy!

******

I've had a very horsey weekend, which I love. Yesterday Teddy and I had a great ride after my initial problems with him stepping away from the mounting coffee table. Once that was overcome it was great, but while it lasted it was total frustration! I just cant get enough ground work in to correct this due to all the rain we've been having. I'll keep at it.

I tested how well Teddy would serpentine through the witches hats I had set out. This was done using only my butt as his guide. He did it that well that I had him doing complete circles around each witches hat before changing direction to the next hat. I'd change the direction of each circle and mix it up, keeping him thinking as much as I could. He was loving it. We would trot up the side of the fence to do the next series of exercises and he went really well, only starting to toss his head at the trotting stage. His motion in trot was a lot smoother then it has been and that is probably a direct result of my improvements in riding.

Today I went for a coaching ride on the horse named Dick and I was learning how to do a transition from trot to walk then back into trot without using my hands or arms to slow him down or bring him to a halt. It was a while before it felt normal to use my body to ask these things of a horse as I am used to pulling a horse up by pulling back on the reins with my hands. This new approach worked very well and I can see how I really need to think about "as little as possible to just enough" when asking a horse to do something. The horse named Dick is a school horse so he tends to take any opportunity he can to go from trotting to a complete stop! Once I worked out this technique (albeit my first lesson trying) it was great to not pivot forward when the horse named Dick would transition from trot to stop. I'm now thinking of this part of my riding in a whole new light.

This got me wondering about Teddy and his head tossing on the drive home. I think it may be a case of Teddy only knowing how to be stopped with the position of the rider's body and weight shift rather than having the reins pulled back to slow him down or bring him to a halt. I have always pulled on the reins with him so this could explain why he tosses his head when I do this... a bit like Teddy saying "what are you pulling on my mouth for? What do you want from me?!" It will be interesting to see how Teddy responds on our next ride when I put this to the test. After all, Teddy has proven to be excellent with leg aids, weight shifts and he will change direction just with the turn of my head. I can't wait to see if this is the case and I finally have an answer to his head tossing. I best not get my hopes up yet though.

The only down side this week has been the delay, or even the possible inability, to get my horse float as the one I had lined up has now doubled in price. I don't have the extra money now so I hope I get a great tax return and can get it as soon as possible! If not that one then maybe another, though I really like this one and know it's in great order.

Also I have had my allergy in a shocking way. After riding Teddy yesterday I had some friends over and I was itching and sneezing and spluttering all night, which was kind of embarrassing. I woke this morning to discover that the symptoms hadn't gone away and it progressively got worse as the day went on. Right now I am typing this with Steve telling me I look as pale as a ghost with puffy red eyes and red nose... or as he so gently put it, "you look shocking!" The tears haven't stopped and the sneezing is so frequent that I sometimes wonder if the latest sneeze round will ever stop! But then again, how many people will just sneeze once? Six sneezes in a row gets a bit much though! It's a strange time of the year to be like this so I think that it may be the result of a winter flowering plant - possibly a wattle tree or something like that. My mum was allergic to jasmine but I don't think I've inherited that. I've definitely got something that is in my paddocks because I don't get this at Kim's place unless I've gone there from home. When I go to a lesson after work I don't have any real problem. I'll have to go back to the allergist as soon as I can as I don't want this interfering with my time with Teddy, the weather is doing that enough as it is.

#122 - It felt great to be riding Teddy again!

It's been a while since Teddy and I have had a ride so when I went to get him he was elusive. It wasn't like he ran away or anything he just seemed wary and standoffish.

I saddled him up and did some ground work with him and he was so hyper he was rearing/bunny hopping along near the front fence when he heard a car come. I took it easy and asked him to lower his head whenever we stopped and it only took a few goes for him to trust me enough to keep those nasty cars away from him and relax.

In the saddle it was the Teddy of old; continual head tossing and extremely forward, so the lesson for today was to walk. Am I the only person who has a horse that wont walk?

I made him stop completely whenever he broke from walk into trot without being asked. He didn't really accept that but improved slightly. Next I went through the steering with my butt cheeks exercise and I discovered he knows it well. Keeping him working with continual changes only improved his head tossing slightly at the end or it could have been simply that he was tired of doing it, I dont know. If it wasn't for the head tossing I'd say he did fairly well under the circumstances.

After when he was pampered, rested and sent on his way I thought I'd go get his feed. My property's paddocks form a horseshoe shape around the house and we were in the front paddock which is right beside the shed the feed is in. I went to get the feed and when I got back Teddy saw me with the bucket and ran through the paddock, down the the side of the property, around the back paddock and into the paddock on the right, stopping right beside his feed bowl!

What a dag! He could have eaten from the bucket I had the feed in but he's so used to eating from his bowl he must have thought he better get to it quick smart or he'd miss out! As I'm walking over to him he's knickering to me as if to say, "Come on! I want what you go in that bucket!"

You gotta love him!

#121 - the fraidycat horse!

I was feeding Teddy and doing his rug in the front paddock this morning while the electrician was at work. Teddy was happily eating away when the electrician came to get a ladder off the top of his car. The sound or something scared the absolute crap out of poor Teddy! He jumped and bolted from the front paddock all the way to the back of the back paddock! The cows saw him coming and this scared the hell out of them so the started running across the back paddock and the dogs were in their paddock having a fit!

Teddy finally stopped and just stood by the far back fence line looking at me. I called him but he just stood there. I had to laugh. I went and got some carrots but that didn't entice him either. Finally the electrican left and Teddy came moseying back to the front paddock to finish his feed as if nothing had happened.

What a big baby!

#120 - so ground work it is!

It's still busy and wet in my neck of the woods so I have only been having a dressage lesson once a week and doing ground work with Teddy. Even the arena across the road is water logged. He's been a good boy in all ways, so I have been doing the ground work in the front paddock by the roadside as there is evening traffic and it will get him used to the sound of trucks. He has been pretty good, only one truck gave him a fright on Friday but we stuck to it and he worked wonderfully. I have also been training him to run at my side without getting frisky and playing about. I think he's got that one covered as it's easy for him. It's great to know that I keep his attention that way.

Now I am going to arrange to borrow the float and start working him with that. Being an ex polo horse he is used to be trucked in large groups so he needs to learn that float are ok, that only a window is ok and traveling forward is ok. It should be interesting.