Goals

Short term - from now till the end of summer

1. Get Fox on a float!! More than this really, get Fox consistently going on a float.
I think this will be my biggest challenge as it involves so many elements of training. Getting his groundwork and training his responses is really going to be key, as well as heaps of time and patience.

2. Get rid of his thrush
Keep persevering with the treatment. It needs to be done and it won't go away by ignoring it as much as I would like it too.

3. Work at least 4 times a week with Fox whether riding or groundwork.
This may have to wait for daylight savings but that's not too far away. I haven't decided on a riding/groundwork ratio yet. He needs a lot of work on the ground but I don't want to give up riding either.

4. Make a training program
Have a clear focused approach on what I want to improve and the ways in which to improve it for both Fox and I and both groundwork and riding.

5. Have fun over summer, no pressure.
Just that, have fun, go to the beach, the river, long hacks and hang out.

6. Go to a fun showjumping day
I know there is one in Jan/Feb that would be great to go to. Fox and I both love jumping and would be great to meet some more people.

7. Join local Adult Riding Club
Meet more people, do some different stuff and have some fun.

8. Go on a competitive trail ride for fun
I did one of these a couple of years back and loved it. Fox isn't the right kind of horse for it but as long as he's relatively fit we should be able to do the Training course.

9. Find an instructor
I have heard on the wind that there MAY be a classical dressage lady willing to come over this way and teach. That would be awesome but need to find out more. And need to find money to pay her LOL.

For next year

1. Compete in the Winter Dressage Series - all four
I did the first two this year before study got in the way and had a blast. Will have to make sure my study is a lot better planned next year.

2. Do some more eventing
Did one ODE this year and LOVED it. Fox and I had a blast! We had a terrible dressage but our show jumping was magic and once Fox figured out what he was doing with the Cross Country we had an amazing run.

3. Compete in the Winter Show Jumping Series - all four
This is new for this year but I couldn't make it due to study. Will really need to get that sorted for next year.

4. Have a crack at showing
I'm not sure that this is really my thing, but I want to have a go. Not sure whether Fox is a hack or a hunter, I prefer the idea of a hunter but if he's not that's cool. Will need to get a height certificate and learn heaps more about workouts and turnout and such.

Andrew McLean

The boys in the danger paddock. Even though we taped off every hazard we could find I am still grateful neither of them got hurt.

I've heard his name bandied around forums and such but kept forgetting to research him. I finally Googled him the other day.

Wow, now this is what I'm talking about. Here is a man who's training principles are totally synchronised with what I am wanting to achieve. And I said I would never drink the Koolaid LOL.

The website that I have linked to is for his facility in Australia so a lot of it is not really relevant training wise and he is selling DVD's and books but hey, you can't win 'em all. Check out the article page though. Loads of information on training principles and it's free!! Eat that Pat Parelli and Linda Tellington-Jones!! Nothing makes me more frustrated then trying to find out about a particular practitioners theories and methods and coming to one of these sites. Pretty much the only way you can find anything out is by paying money and I actually want more information before I part with any hard earned cash.

Here's what Andrew McLeans principles sum up as:

The AEBC approach is unique in that it combines classical training with a strong emphasis on scientific understanding of animal psychology and horse behaviour.

I think the really key thing here is that his training is based on horse psychology and behaviour and that the welfare of the animal is paramount. (Though the picture of him with Anky Van Grunsven is a bit if a downer, I do not like that lady!) There is no point training a horse in a way that it doesn't really understand so I like the fact that he has thought about how a horse thinks and acts which makes a lot more sense than some of the other garbage I have read.

Best of all, he does clinics in NZ! Not that I'm going to have any money to go to one anytime soon but it will definitely go on my wishlist. And I'm going to put his book 'The Truth About Horses' on my birthday and Christmas lists. LOL he's really got me hasn't he!!! Well just take a look for yourself and you'll see why :).

On another note, I've been treating Fox's thrush with copper sulphate out of a drink bottle. Boy he hates it. It's a real struggle to get it onto his feet. To do all four I'm looking at at least 40 minute at the moment. My process is pick up the foot, clean it out, very gently squirt liquid on then wait while he has a spazz then try and pick foot up again which takes ages. And once I've done the first one, he's leery of me picking up any of the other ones. It is so exasperating. I've tried squirting it on a cut of mine and it doesn't hurt so I'm not sure what his problem is, maybe the sensation. I'm hoping after a while he will get desensitized.

I'm also hand walking Fox a couple of times a week now in preparation for finally getting some riding done and to work on his leading. Because his legs are so long he does have a tendency to leave me in the dust even though I'm a pretty fast walker myself. This is frustrating because one of the things I'm trying to teach him is where he should be walking and that is definitely not pulling me along!! Work in progress though as everything is.

Moving

The move is all confirmed for Monday.

The new place is the same price, has a lot better facilities and is closer. I should have moved a long time ago but I really did like it where I currently am.

Only problem is that means I have to put Fox on a float. That's going to be fun!! I've got a friend coming to help me so we should be ok. At this point it will be just about getting him on there and I'll work on his float problems when I've got a whole day.

The owner seems ok, bit of a negative guy but fingers crossed there will be no problems.

Funny Video

Check this clip out. I was looking to see if people who practised Parelli actually rode their horses.
The commentary is hilarious!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwJNrui2v5c

Riding

I think I had better explain the type of rider I am. I have been riding since I was little, on leased and borrowed horses and ponies. I went to Pony Club for a year or two when I was seven or eight, got my D certificate somewhere along the way too. But I never had any lessons. I mean someone must have taught me how to ride but I don’t remember any lessons as such.

Because of that, the way I ride and the way I think about riding is very unstructured. I can ride and can sit a buck and most spooks but I’ve missed some of the really basic things. Trotting on the right diagonal for example. I didn’t even know what that was until about a year ago. Using your legs to ask your horse to do things other than go...huh?

So despite the fact that I can walk, trot, canter, gallop and jump I am essentially a beginner.

When I got Fox, I realised I didn’t want to just hack out and muck round like I had in the past. Here I had a horse, that whilst unfit could actually do something.

So I started getting lessons with a local instructor. We started very slowly, getting Fox fit and bending. He still isn’t the most supple horse but that’s a work in progress. We also worked on my legs, me learning how to use them to keep Fox on a circle and to prevent him falling in or out. That didn’t last too long as I decided to move Fox somewhere closer to where I live.

It was tricky finding another instructor but I did eventually. We worked on lengthening my leg, my hands, my posture, pretty much everything but that only lasted for a few lessons. She would cancel lessons at the last minute, change days and generally just muck me around. And through it all, I got a huge sense that she just didn’t want to be there which was awful. Eventually I just couldn’t really be bothered with all of it and stopped organising lessons with her.

Then friend of mine came back from England and she gave me a few lessons. We progressed hugely until it came to asking Fox into an outline. It seemed like Fox hadn’t really been asked to work that way before, so essentially we were starting from scratch. Her method was to pull one-two on one rein one-two on the other and getting harder and harder until Fox listened. I had a bad feeling but didn’t really know what about.

Then she moved away and we stopped the lessons and I started my quest on the internet. I realised what I had been doing. I had been forcing his head down when he wasn’t ready. According to a more classical approach, he should be collecting by himself before you ask him into an outline.

So this is where we stand now, I have one approach that is hard and heavy on my horse and doesn’t sit quite right with me but does work. Before I came to my realisations, Fox was starting to go really well. The other way seems better, kinder, more in keeping with the style of riding I would like to achieve but slower and I don’t really know very much about it and don’t have an instructor who can teach me this way.

In the end it’s an obvious decision, the longer, better way is the way we will take. I want a horse that is willing to work, not one that is sour from harsh pressure. It looks as if I will be doing LOTS more research and trying to teach myself this new way.

But it is the right thing to do. The right thing for me and the right thing for my horse.

Grazing

The place I've had Fox for the last year hasn't really worked out unfortunately. A lot of the paddocks were resown and we completely ran out of grass. So we've been moving from paddock to paddock some more suitable than other but this last one really takes the cake.

We were told the only hazard in there was a old post hole. The day we were to move the horses, I walked the paddock and got the shock of my life.

Machinery, wire, pipes, posts with tin around them, pretty much anything you don't want in a horse paddock was in there.

Here is just a sample of what I found:

Pipe, just right for hooves getting stuck and legs cut.

More wonderful leg slicing materials

Warratahs freak me out after hearing a local story of a horse getting a fright in a storm and impaling itself on one of these. It had to be destroyed.

And best of all

Let me give you a close up of that blade.

NICE!!!

So this and a few other issues including arena being constantly closed but only for us, nowhere to put our tack and feed but other people have places, our horses not being allowed in paddocks by the owners horse but other horses are fine and having to remove our poo from the property ourselves WTF..... means I'm having to look for new grazing.

The problem is that the only other place that has a decent facility, the owner is apparently a bit of a knob. I really don't want to move from one place I have problems to another place I'm going to have problems. But I may not have any other choice because I've had it with paying good money for a terrible service and ridiculous passive aggressive tactics.

Sad News

The storm I spoke about the other day caused this:

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/5866480/horse-crashes-through-windscreen/

So I guess I had good cause to worried about my fellow.

Condolences to the owner. Very sad sad news.