Lin's blog

Full of enthusiasm I brought Namara in to play after our wonderful follow the rail experience the day before yesterday and o oh hormones were almost as high as her head and her rbe state so we stayed in the arena playing follow the rail until she relaxed - approx 45 mins, so we stopped there.  I went out today and found (very deperessingly) that she was unlevel on her near hind - probably twisted it when her hormons were high and she was rbe, so play with the horse you have - I grommed her and gave her an Equine Touch treatment and let her back out with her friend.  Hey ho I wonde

I'm concentrating more on ground work while we're waiting for Namara's sarcoids to heal.

Nancy's scargoids are slowly going and she is no longer sensitive on her girth area.  I'm now wondering is they have been irritating her for some time as she can be stroppy when being saddled.  It will be interesting when I use the saddle again.  Which brings me to my comfort zone.  I love riding and we have a wonderful relaionship when I'm on board - she is SO sensitive, so I have taken the plunge and have started riding her bareback - no pad, no nothing and as I've said befoe she is croup high, completely circular is RBE/RBI and is gifted with the beautiful soft silky

While waiting for the green balls to be available I've introduced Nancy to a smaller silver ball (the ones that you can use for keep fit purposes).  She will sniff it, touch it with her foot, be happy with me rolling it around her and bouncing it and also placing it on her - I've just started to bounce it gently on her, BUT she will not attempt to push it.  Both Billie and Hatti push it around, but this is a definate no no for Nancy - she can't see the point.  Any suggestions?

So, although me and the 45' line are developing a relationship, Namara obviously thinks otherwise.  She will hind quarter yield beautifully on the 12' and 22' lines but is very slow on the 45' line.  Her attention wanders and at this greater distance I think my timing is way out.  When she does register my requests she is only too happy to oblige so I must think more about this and maybe play with the line without her.  On the plus side it was worming day today and she took it as if it was an apple.  Lovely Girl.

So decided to have some time with Namara.  I am useless with the 45' line so have decided not to use anything else until I feel more competent.  Yesterday Namara decided to be very RBE so we practiced our circling and canter games - her canter was 10/10, my rope handling was 1/10 but we had a little fun with some liberty work.  Today Nan was RBI so her canter was 3/10 but I delighted to say my rope handling was 4/10.  Again we played with the liberty and I found she is quite happy with leading by the ears, front legs and hind legs which was a surprise knowing how RB

As everyone knows in se uk its been rather hard to do much.  I've been doing passenger game at trot, which is quite enjoyable now, and am working at the canter - just one lap of the 20x40 arena after which we both need to regain our equibrium but there is definite improvement.  We've also been working on the her draw, which is now pretty good.  This has enabled me to look at the liberty work again which is quite a comedy act.  Sometimes she is very responsive, but then will lose concentration and drift away to do look at oyher things.  I learned the hard way a

I was going to call this blog "Allowing Nancy to be Wrong", but then I realised that she is never wrong.  She is either not ready emotionally or phsycally or I have not been clear enough with my requests.  We were practicing my pushing passenger game as I am useless at it (or am I?).  Nancy was following the rail on her difficult rein, but would not maintain gait (the trot).  I allowed her to drop into walk whenever she wanted to and gently asked he up a gait every time.  She responded everytime  immediately.  After 15 or so laps (I totally lost

Any one living in Kent will know exactly what I mean.  The all weather surface has dried out and the sun was shining.

The thaw has started and every thing is wet and slippery, plus the water still isn't running, but hey ho that's life.  Continues playing with Nanc with the back up and draw.  I have a strong suspicion that I have never actually taught her the draw as she has gone very introverted about it - normally a sign she doesn't understand and needs lots of thinking time, so this is the ideal weather for practicing.  I'm covered in all my ski gear and so can wait for the 4 - 5 minutes she needs to assimilate my requests.  This is the 3rd day we have worked on this game, and there i

Slight thaw today which meant the water was running in the old kennel yard half way down the hill, so not so far to drag water, about 500 meters.  Played out in the field on the 22' line today just to check hind quarter yields and the draw and drive - at last I understand the importance of these 3 and their uses.Nancy was brilliant and happily did circles with slack in the line, moving up and down paces with a finger point, but I must work on the draw.  She comes in to me, but off to one side without looking at me so I have to look at out relationship in context wit

Still it snows and still th ground is frozen luckily the water is still running and we have taken every possible way to ensurewe can get accessto water for the next week or so.  Little Billi is confined to the all weather area as he is laminitic/cushings so has been separated from the girls, We're plodding through the Level 3 discs and just trying one or two games a day and those that need more practice I'm noting downto deal with when the weather is better, but interestingly the short periods of very short games is suiting Namara and she is very alert and interested.  If I leave

Everything is frozen and the ground is hard again so to keep us warm I called her and worked round the field practising our traveling circles and falling leaf which pleased her.  We had a few bucks but mostly she was very collected and watching me for the next move - a lovely session.