Striker is Sold :(

Well, Monday was an exciting day for Striker. He had a young girl and her mum come and look at him as a prospect for a pony club/jumper/show horse. I hadn't actually put him up for sale as such, but these ppl had heard through word of mouth that he was here, so contacted me and came down for a look. He didn't put a foot wrong! What a good boy he was. I was so proud of him. The young girl instantly fell in love, but i told them to go away and think about it. They rang me the next day and said without a doubt they wanted him. I took him to his new home on Tuesday. I was sad to see him go but happy for him too, as he now has a person that loves him dearly. Another happy ending

Mango
Mango had his first ride today and what a champ he was. I had done some ground work with him on Wednesday and followed up today with same ground work (yielding to feel and circles) all done with the saddle on. Then I stood in the stirrup to get a gauge of his reaction. He was tense so I lent across and stroked the opposite shoulder. Did this until he relaxed, then lent across the saddle and asked him to move in a circle for me. Again tense, but I repeated this until he was relaxed with it, making sure I never quit while he was tense. I then graduated to sitting on him and rubbing, while flexing, left and right, and eventually he was ready to move off. What a good boy! Just walked around, making sure he was always bent to the inside, for 10 minutes and quit while he was relaxed. I will follow this up tomorrow with more of the same. He is proving to be worth his weight in gold just as Striker did.

Striker goes to his first show :)

Well yesterday I took Striker to his first show. We just went in hand and although he was a little nervous and fidgety, he behaved himself so well, I couldn't have been happier! He ran out for me well, was a little difficult to stand up for the jugde but afterwards he had to stay at the float while I rode Trix and he didn't bat an eyelid. What a good boy.

Today he had some people come to look at him to buy and he was perfect! This horse just has the nicest nature, I am going to be really sad to see him go. The people were really wrapped with him but I told them to go and talk/think about it and to call me in the next couple of days. I won't be too upset if they don't take him but it will be a nice home if they do.

Mango

Naughty me has picked up another one for retraining. Mango is a 7 yr old gelding that was one foot in the knackers due to a suspensory injury. The same lady that i got Striker from rang me about him so i went and had a look. He is very much a "WOW" horse. She didn't want to send him off, but due to the injury, told me I was pretty much the last port of call for him. He is staying at a friends while the suspensory heals and i finish Striker. Won't have much to report on him at the moment, but will give updates if anything comes up.

Strikers last couple of weeks

Well I haven't been able to blog for a week or so, so there is a little catching up to do.
Striker has been going extremely well despite a couple of setbacks. For some reason, over the last couple of weeks, he keeps managing to bang his legs around. I have no idea how he is doing it, but almost every day there is a new bit of skin off. Nothing serious but one of his legs has had a little bit of swelling for the last couple of days, although he hasn't been lame. Anyway, over the last couple of weeks I have spent much of the time on the ground with him, going over the yielding and voice cues for the canter. I got back in the saddle with him about 3 days ago and he is so much improved! He now jumps into his canter from a nice slow steady trot and although he does lose it he always makes an effort to pick it back up. He is only losing it because he is not quite strong enough yet to hold it. His trot work is great! He could almost go out in a walk/trot ring now. He is probably working a little low but I am encouraging that at the moment as I want him to build up the strength and reverse the frame from harness racing. I am so pleased with this little horse. He really does try his heart out to please. He is quite introverted but is slowing coming out of himself the more we get to know each other. It will be extremely hard to let him go when the time comes. Will get some more pictures in the next couple of days. The great thing is, he seems to be no longer lame!!!

Now to Envy. I have also gone to the ground with Envy and have yet to get back on, but I will be riding her on Wednesday. I have concentrated on yielding and getting her more forward online as i was finding that very hard on her back. Wednesday will be the day that will tell me whether or not this has worked. Still finding it a little hard to lighten this mares front end. She just goes looking to lean on what ever she can. It is a hard habit to break from a horse that relied on a headcheck for balance.........but we will do it!!! Hopefully my next blog on Envy will go something like this..............................YAY!! Lol.

More saddle work for Striker

Start of session

Saturday afternoon I got back in the saddle with Striker with fingers crossed that his lameness had at least improved, if not gone. I was presently surprised. Although not gone altogether, he was still a little proppy, it had improved enough that I decided to do some light work. Today we just focused on rhythm and relaxation. To begin with he was hollow back, head high, but about 15 minutes into it, using the lift, reach, relax method of NH, he really started to relax and come through from behind. I was very tentative on the right rein as this was his lame one so I only did a little to keep some sort of balance but worked pretty much 70% on the left. We worked for most of the session in trot and only did 2 canter transitions on both reins. He stills falls out after 10 meters or so but at this stage i am only after the easy transition with no "run on". His rhythm in his trot work is really good now, I'm not working hard to keep him going. I have him on willow bark, celery seed and comfrey leaf so this is probably making him a bit more comfortable through his body. This little horse never fails to astound me. His temperament and willingness is second to none. He is still quite shut down, so I will contact Rosemary for some essences for him. Mind you, I should just use my own intuition and delve into my Bach flower essences!

End of session

Striker goes to the beach!

Friday I took Striker to the beach. I'm not sure if he had ever been before, I would guess not, but in true Striker form, he took it all in his stride. He was a little hesitant at first but having Trixie with him really helped as she has no problems at the beach and he followed her straight in. It is times like this that you can really see that he is only a baby as he really relied on her for support. Trix was great as she gave him all the confidence and support he needed, she did me proud. Leading was a little difficult as I had only just started to teach him at home to lead with me and not behind me, so when leading off Trix he wanted to lead from pretty much up her bum! Lol. He did well in the end and I had him leading right beside her. I jumped on bareback which he was very unsure of! He was very tense and a little frightened, so i just took him for a little swim and let him be.

Envy also had some work Friday. Today I played with her online. Mainly yielding to feel which she finds a little difficult and confusing but after about 10 minutes she had softened considerably, so I let her be. Next I taught her to canter online. She was surprisingly good, maybe it was all the canter work we had done under saddle? She broke over pretty quick, with minimal "run on" so i was pretty happy. It ended a good session.