Schooling

Galahad has a Haircut

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It has got to the point where Galahad needs clipping.  I am able to ride every day now and it is warm enough to make him uncomfortable in his fur coat, even if we just go out for a short hack.  I have never clipped anything myself so the ponies went away to my riding instructor’s this week.  I spent the few days before they went trying to get Galahad used to the sound of the clippers.  Since we don’t own any I used a drill instead.  Without the actual drill in it of course!

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I arrived for a lesson after work on the day the ponies went to find Galahad half clipped.  He had so much hair that it had taken an hour and three quarters just to get this far.

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It wasn’t until the next day that he was finished.  He wore out three sets of blades in the process but as my instructor pointed out he has ten years worth of hair which has never really shed properly. Next year it should be much easier!

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He has completely changed colour but is looking rather smart and his dapples are showing up rather well!  The training with the drill apparently paid off as although he was obviously rather scared about the clippers he stood very still.  He also seems to be coping pretty well with his lack of hair.  I didn’t know how he would react to being ridden but he behaved very well.  Now we should hopefully be able to get some proper schooling done without him getting too tired.

Sunday Adventures

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Galahad and I finally made it to our second trec event. It has only taken us three months!  We couldn’t make it to the training this time so we had to go straight in for the competitions without a look at the obstacles first.  There were some we had not seen before and hadn’t even tried at home so I was a little apprehensive.

Our first class was the pairs – I had asked for a sympathetic partner!  Galahad was very good with the new obstacles,  even the maypole which was the one concerning me most.  It is made up of two posts with a length of rope between them.   We had to pick up one end of the rope and ride in a circle round the other post, replacing the rope at the end.  Galahad was very good about letting me play about with the rope and the only trouble we had was that the rope wasn’t rotating properly and got tangled round the pole.  That wasn’t our fault so we got another go which went much better.

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Tackling the maypole

The only real problem we had was with the side pass – walking sideways along a pole.  Galahad didn’t have a clue what I was asking him to do!  We didn’t score anything for that but we did get a few tens – for the immobility, tarpaulin, rein back,  leading under low branches and double U bend – and with our pair we came second so I was thrilled.

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The water crossing – complete with rubber ducks!

Our individual event was outside near an apparently very scary (it was rather noisy) tractor so there was some spooking but in general he behaved very well.  We didn’t score nearly so well this time but it was our first attempt at trec in an outdoor arena and there were a lot of distractions.  We still got a ten for the immobility though – dismounted this time – and were third out of four.

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I had another fantastic day and enjoyed it just as much as our first attempt.  This is definitely something I want to keep doing!

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Coughs and Colds

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Both of the ponies have developed a cough and runny nose.  It is not really surprising given the weather and they are actually fine but it can’t be very nice for them.  I want to tuck them up in bed with a lemsip!  They however are behaving entirely as normal and getting absolutely covered in mud.

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Our rides have now been reduced to a gentle poddle along the lanes.  I think a bit of exercise is a good thing but we can’t do too much.  I am rather enjoying myself!  I have withdrawn from the dressage at the weekend though.  For one thing, nobody would appreciate me taking a coughing pony to spread his germs!  He is also obviously even less fit than he was and it just wouldn’t be fair to him.  It is a shame but there will be plenty of other things we can do in the future.  Hopefully by then there will be more light, I’ll be able to ride a bit more and Galahad will be rather fitter!

Dressage in a Puddle

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I don’t think I have ever seen the fields so wet.  Every so often we get a rain free day or two and things start to dry out a bit.  I get very optimistic about it and then it starts raining again.  At the moment my schooling field  looks like this.

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It makes schooling a bit difficult.  We have another dressage competition soon and this time I am doing two tests I have never ridden before.   Given that I forgot part of the test I was riding for the first time at the last show I am not too confident about this one!  Obviously trot and canter are out of the question but I have managed to ride through the test at walk which hopefully will be enough.  Galahad doesn’t really like being ridden on slippery ground but once we get started he has been settling fairly well.

I am still only managing to ride a couple of times week but it is definitely getting lighter in the mornings and it shouldn’t be long before I have time to ride before work.  In fact, I am hoping to get a couple of sessions in before our competition just to get Galahad’s fitness up a bit.  Fingers crossed!

Working Hard

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Way back before Christmas when the ponies were away I managed to squeeze in another lesson.  Actually two more – I split my lesson in two and did half on each pony.

This time it was daylight so Galahad was concentrating a bit more and worked really well.  We still have issues with him escaping through his right shoulder but I think it is improving.  My riding and ability to deal with any wobbliness is certainly getting better!  My instructor made the interesting point that Galahad’s trot work is so much freer and looks a lot nicer after he has done some cantering.  Even if it is just halfway round the ring it really makes a difference.   I would have liked to take advantage of this and have a bit of a canter before my walk-trot dressage test but the waterlogged warm up ring made it impossible.  Still, it is good to know for the future.

We also had a jump over what was quite a twisty course my instructor had built.  She was impressed with how Galahad had improved since the summer.  He is now much better able to hold the canter round corners between jumps and the whole course was much more fluid than before.  The jumps were slightly bigger too – this was more of a 2’3″ – 2’6″ course and in the summer we were jumping 2′ – 2’3″.  We even had a pretty decent spread as the last fence – which we probably jumped better than anything else!

in fact, our only trouble was caused by me.  I know that if I look down he is more likely to run out but it can be quite hard for me to act on that.  Something to work on.

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The shorter lesson actually worked out pretty well as Galahad was starting to get tired.  A clip will definitely be in order once I can start working him a bit more consistently.

Galahad Goes Paddling!

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On New Year’s Day my sister and I planned to go for another tinsel ride, this time with half time snacks and hot chocolate.  However, the weather was absolutely vile and the idea of standing about in the driving rain wasn’t exactly appealing.  We scrapped the snacks part but still rode – we are not fair weather riders!

There was a rather large puddle at the end of our lane when we went out.  More of a flood really as there was no way round it.  By the time we came back it had visibly grown and we had great fun splashing through it.  I did anyway.  Galahad wasn’t too sure at first – he thought the main road looked more fun but was persuaded otherwise.

I am actually wearing a riding hat underneath the hood but I didn’t want rain going down my neck!

When we got back I had a go at practising the dressage tests for an upcoming riding club event.  The fields are definitely too wet to do any proper schooling but I ran through both my tests in walk just so we could get the shapes.  The first test is Intro A which we have done a couple of times before but the second is Prelim 12 which I have never actually ridden.  I am a bit concerned about remembering that one.  I run through it in my head all the time and am constantly drawing it in the air but it isn’t the same as riding.  I won’t get a chance to do that until the competition itself so I’ll have to hope for the best.

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Galahad behaved fairly well.  He was a bit cross as my sister’s pony had gone back to the yard and he doesn’t really like being ridden on slippery ground anyway but in general he was listening to me.  There wasn’t much more I could ask of him.

When we got back we had our hot chocolate and mince pies indoors.  It wasn’t quite the same but much warmer and very cosy.

Lesson in the Dark!

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This week the ponies went away for a few days which meant Galahad and I were able to have our first lesson in months.  It had to be after work which meant Galahad was also ridden under lights for the first time ever.  He has never been particularly keen on things like torches which I have always assumed is because he can’t see anything behind them.  I wasn’t at all sure what he would think of the floodlights but actually he wasn’t too bad.  We had a bit of stopping and staring and quite a lot of bending away from the lights but he settled pretty quickly.

I was very pleased with him.  He was looking at everything very carefully but felt very relaxed and not as if he might explode at any moment.  My instructor was impressed with him too and thought he was moving better than the last time she saw him which was very gratifying.  I was paranoid for a few days before that he would have stiffened up again.  In fact the only problem – and is wasn’t really an issue – was that he is starting to grow more of a winter coat and is obviously not as fit as he was a few weeks ago when I could ride every day.  He did get a bit tired but was working hard.

We even managed a little bit of jumping which of course Galahad enjoyed very much.  Again my instructor could see an improvement in him.  At one fence we saw a really long stride but he now has the strength to keep going and not send everything flying.

It was a very good lesson and I came away feeling very positive.  Looking forward to the next one now!

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Brrrr!

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Didn’t it get cold suddenly!  I was not at all prepared for that.  Obviously I knew that cold weather was forecast but somehow that didn’t translate to, ‘Wear more clothes.’  It was rather chilly riding on Saturday!

Monday morning was absolutely beautiful.  The ground was completely white with frost and the sun was beginning to think about coming up so the sky was turning pink.  It was magical.  I was rather cautious when riding though – once last winter we went up the hill and hit a patch of ice at the top.  Poor Galahad had a proper Bambi moment and I definitely do not want to repeat that!

I am doing less work without stirrups this month than I had hoped simply because the field is too wet to school.  What we have done has gone well though.  Walking is no problem at all and trotting is fine as long as I remember to cross my stirrups.  Galahad is not a fan of them dangling down and hitting him!  My sister’s pony seems to find the whole thing fascinating; but then he has always been a fan of boots.

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Trec Training

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Galahad and I have signed up for our first trec event in December.  Both a training day and a mini competition.  I have no idea how Galahad will cope with all the scary obstacles but he will never cope if we don’t try.  It will also be his first time in an indoor school but hopefully that won’t be too much of an issue.  He has been in barns before which ought to help.

There is no real way to prepare him for what we might find when we are there.  Any obstacles I create will be different to the ones we find elsewhere and no matter how comfortable he gets with mine he will be back at square one when we go out.

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However, I am hoping that by introducing Galahad to as many scary obstacles as possible I can make it easier for him on the day.  Today I built an obstacle course along our lane – it is now definitely too wet to use the field.

We had a rope gate – which went a lot better than I expected.  We managed to open it and go through without dropping the rope.  I couldn’t close it again because the bank was in the way but Galahad was brilliant.

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We also had cones to weave through, a tarpaulin to walk over, a board to walk on, things to step over, narrow spaces to squeeze through and a rope to duck under.  A lot of the obstacles were similar to things he has seen before so were navigated without too much trouble.

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The only real issue we had – and he wasn’t panicking – was walking under the rope.  The rope itself was fine but I had draped a sheet over one end which was a bit too scary.  I got off and led him under a few times then got back on and he went under with no fuss at all.  I was so proud of him!

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After all that hard work I was a bit irresponsible and let him eat some grass which is not normally something he is allowed to do when wearing a bridle.  I hope it doesn’t put ideas in his head!

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Gate Troubles

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I was rather short of riding time the other morning – I think I have mentioned before that I am not the best morning person!  I decided that it would be a good use of our time to do some work on opening gates or – more specifically – rope pretending to be a gate.  I have booked a trec training day with mini competition in December and I know that one of the obstacles is likely to be a rope tied between two posts which needs to be opened and closed like a gate.

Galahad is normally pretty good with gates but not so great if I try to keep hold of them – which I would need to do with the rope!  One of our gates has a piece of rope tied to it and I have been getting Galahad used to me moving it about.  I have never actually managed to use it like a gate and it seemed  like a good time to try.

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Unfortunately though, I picked a bad day weather wise.  It wasn’t raining that hard but the wind was blowing well and so Galahad wanted to turn away from the rain.  That was unfortunate as it meant he absolutely would not stand parallel to the gate but was determined to face it and so I couldn’t reach the catch to open it.

In the end I got off to open the gate.  Galahad doesn’t really have an issue with gates and I wanted to spend the time playing with the rope.  I finally managed to be in the saddle holding the rope when  Galahad spooked.  It was only a very small spook but it was enough for the rope I was holding to slam the gate hard – right in his ear.  I then dropped the rope – which probably hit him – and we went charging across the field.

I decided to call it a day.  I was already going to be late leaving for work and it was clear by that point that I wasn’t going to achieve a great deal.  We’ll have another go soon but I’ll pick a day when it is neither windy nor raining!