Follow the leader

 I came to visit Flag today because we're going away for the weekend and I cannot ride him because he bent one of his shoes again... it was the cutest thing ever - I kept backing up to try and get a nice picture of him but he just followed me and I couldn't manage to get far enough to take some descent pics.

Winter training show - 5 June 2011

Me and Flag had our first "proper" show yesterday.

We did the prelim 1 & 2 dressage tests and the 30 and 40cm course. I borrowed some white jhods and a jacket from Veronica so we could look the part as well :)

I was so nervous I felt like I could vomit - but as soon as we were done with our warm up and the first test it was much much better. I got off inside the arena this time - and walked him back to his stable. Before the jumping classes began I walked him out to the arenas again to show him the people and horse boxes that started arriving, walked back to the mounting block and got on.

He was so super sweet in the jumping - he LEAPED over one of the 40cm crosses and got very excited - after which I brought him back a bit too much and he knocked the next jump, but all and all he did very well and I couldn't have been a more proud mom. :)

Lesson with Tossy Raynor

So... me & The Flag, together with Emma & Sox, Tristan & Lilly and Veronica & Monty had our first group lesson today from internationally acclaimed Tossy Raynor.

Tossy Raynor in our arena :)

Now those of you who know Tossy, will understand how absolutely awesome this opportunity was for all of us!!! None of us can afford to take 4 lessons a month from her, but at this stage, with the babies, we were thinking once a month would be a good start. We don't want to start jumping them too high too soon. None of us are really that experienced either, so to be able to take jumping lessons from an internationally graded rider is really great and we can pinpoint our faults early on and fix them accordingly.

The group lesson.

We didn't jump at all - but she worked on our seat a lot and reinforced some of the advice Pam's given us as well - like RIDE WITHOUT STIRRUPS at least 5 minutes every time you ride!!! She made us CANTER without stirrups for the first time - so that was quite a challenge for us. Then we did canter poles - but I couldn't get Flag to keep on cantering over both poles - he would break into a trot after the first pole.. so she hopped on and showed him who's boss. I think he got a big irritated with us because we also had an hour lesson this morning with Pam - so he was probably a bit tired...and I was very cautious to smack him with the crop too hard in case he tries to buck me off again.



She was wearing spurs obviously - so he was nice and forward!!! Went on the bit immediately and cantered beautifully!!!

Me & Flag riding in the lesson.

Don't think he's ever had someone ride him with spurs... he did try some tricks with her but she showed him who's boss and he cantered over the poles beautifully twice!! She says she can see he's sometimes very stubborn and that I'm too soft with him - I need to show him who's boss... so I guess that's going to be my next step - pushing us both out of our comfort zone and riding him much, much more forward... I think he's getting lazy the little shit :) She also suggested I get spurs, but there is no way at all that Pam will allow me to ride with spurs at this level! :) So crop and legs it will have to be...


The lesson was awesome and she promised to be back again soon to help us. Next time the group lesson will be for longer as well since we ran out of time - but I also think Emma would prefer taking private lessons since she can already jump... so with one less person I'm sure we will also have more time to spend on us individually.

I'll be doing the 30cm, 40cm and prelim 1 & 2 in next Sunday's show - so that's bound to be exciting! :)

First grass canter

Saturday morning (14 May 2011) I got to the yard, fetched my boy, tacked up and as I bent down to do the final check and see if the martingale was in the middle of his tummy - I saw it!!!!!!....... he pulled a shoe AGAIN.... so I had to untack and couldn't ride.. :(

Moral of the story? Check your horse's feet first before tacking up!

Luckily our farrier - Jono - could fix him up that afternoon still... so I managed to work in a ride on Sunday.. and WOW!!! What a ride!?? I had my first canter in the grass arena! (Remember I said the grass was very scary for them for some reason). We also did lots of transitions, I worked on my seat by doing rising and sitting trot without stirrups and I tried to canter in light seat... I can trot in light seat, but the canter still throws me off balance a bit - so I'll have to work on that.

6-8 May 2011

Friday 6 May 2011
I got off work early, so I went and rode quickly. Everyone was super impressed with how well my boy was doing! He did the transitions flawlessly and responded to all my aids almost immediately. He's going round / on the bit for longer periods of time now, and he's also starting to go round in the canter - which he's never done before!

Saturday 7 May 2011
We started introducing some more challenging work today... canter half a circle, change rein in the canter, trot two steps and canter again straight away etc. Flag coped very well and it was so much fun to do something different that required a bit more concentration and skill. It's also helps them to develop balance and concentration.

We did a little (very little) jumping course, but we still have a lot of work to do here because he still just trots over it - he doesn't JUMP... so I'm sure Pam will help me work on this before the next show.

Sunday 8 May 2011
Our last couple of rides have been so amazing, I can't believe how everything is just coming together all of a sudden! All the hard work is starting to pay off now and I'm just loving it more and more every day!

I got onto my Flag bareback today, with only a halter on. It was quite a mission getting on - cause he didn't quite understand why I'd try and get on if he hasn't been tacked up - but eventually I manged to get on (in a very unglamorous way of course) and we walked around for a bit.

It was such fun! Sore... but fun! I decided I should do this much more often from now on :)

Rest of April 2011

Sho.. it's been forever since I last wrote!

Let's see... it's been a very good month. We've confirmed that my boy has the attention span of a flea and that he's way too clever for his own good :) But I have no reason to complain whatsoever!

Cantering is coming on great and we even started doing little 30cm jumps. He trots over them nicely but he doesn't "jump" unless you canter him - but that's also okay, baby steps! We're doing much better than the first time around when he just ran straight through the jump, not even bothering to pick up his feet.


Our next show is on the 5th of June 2011 - so I'm hoping to enter two dressage classes and perhaps a 30cm and 40cm jumping class.

Will keep you updated!...

Lesson 9 Aril 2011

Holy crap! Pam almost killed me today!!! Remember I said I struggle to keep him cantering for more than one circle? Well today we ONLY cantered...

We started the warm up as usual, then we started cantering... a couple of small circles, go large - 2/3 circles, change rein, trot in the middle, pick up the canter again - trot small circles, go large, change rein... and so it went on and on until it felt like all I did was just flopping around in the saddle and every time it felt like he might die I just kicked - although I must admit by this time I didn't have much kick left :)

When we were eventually done it felt like I ran the comrades!!! Shows you (again), how unfit I am!

Winter has arrived!

Not impressed with the duvet or the camera!

The last couple of days have been absolutely miserable!!! Luckily I bought Flag a winter duvet last weekend (a purple one of course),  because they had to put their pajamas on 2 nights this week already!


I didn't ride the day after my fall, but after that we got straight back into the swing of things. I'm still a bit cautious of cantering - but the fact that I know it was my fault and I know what I need to do to prevent it from happening again, helps a lot...
I had my first proper lesson again  on Saturday - and my dear husband was kind enough to record it for me (link to follow).. steering issues seem to be pretty much sorted, legs still bumping a bit, but a lot better, and I'm also much more relaxed in my back!!! I still struggle to KEEP him in the canter though (you'll see I ride a bit like a cowboy in an attempt to hold the canter... seriously need to work on my fitness and muscle strength!)

Lesson 6 April 2011 (Wednesday)

Today we had a lesson in the rain (miserable weather like I said), and considering the horses all had their blankets on the entire day, I'm sure you can imagine that Flag wasn't very impressed with being tacked  up and ridden at 17:30!!! Nevertheless, he was awesome! We did a little mini "trotting pole" course, and it became very clear how unfit we both were!!! The lesson went very well though and I have no reason to complain.

My second fall

So... I had my second fall today - and worst of all is I KNOW it was my fault and I could have prevented it.

I lost focus for one second and he tossed me!

We were going so nicely!!! Nice and forward, perfect transitions, comfortable canter, everything... and then mr. Flag decided to ignore me because there were other horses in the arena - so when he ignored me for the 4th time, I gave him a smack with the crop when I asked him to canter... hahaha... yeah right!!! He went: ok, screw you lady, stuck his head between his legs, kicked both legs in the air and merely tossed me straight over his head! I clung onto the reins for dear life - which I think prevented me from landing flat on my back!!!

I lay there for a while, making sure I could move my hands, arms, legs, toes, fingers etc... caught my breath, jumped up and walked him back to the mounting block. I knew I had to get back on immediately, no matter how scared / nervous I was, so I decided to just trot him at least! As we stepped into the arena and started trotting, I realized that I HAD TO canter him straight away - otherwise I might be scared the next time we ride... so I did... concentrating on looking up, sitting back and keeping the crop away from him in order to prevent a replay.. and voila, he cantered perfectly! Naughty little man!!! I can promise you he won't get me off again anytime soon with that trick!

I can feel I didn't hurt my back this time, but the muscles are definitely very bruised and sore. Epson Salts bath for me tonight!

Lesson 26 March 2011

The weather was miserable today - but nevertheless - off we went to the yard for my 8am lesson.

My lesson went very well. Perfect circles, perfect transitions and he even went round in the canter! He stroke off on the correct lead every time and he's calming down in the canter now as well, it's not so rushed any more and it's actually starting to feel quite comfortable!

Today's problem/challenge: I'm struggling a bit to keep my contact even and consistent sometimes. I have been holding the reins on the 3rd  cleat for the past couple of months... now he's suddenly going round by himself without me even applying pressure or asking him to come on the aid... with the result that I now have to hold it between cleats - so there's no grip for my fingers really... will have to work on that.

The other thing I really need to concentrate on is my lower leg position... I tend to bump him with every stride i.s.o keeping my legs away from his body, unless asking for a transition or giving an aid. Luckily he's now so much more balanced and his back is much stronger - so I can start riding without stirrups every now and then to help my seat develop.

Gait clarrification

Just something interesting I found... so often we hear a rider asking about the foot falls of the horse etc... especially us with our babies - when we struggle to get them to strike off on the correct lead.... how do we know when we need to give the aid?

Read more about gait clarification here

Outside rein against the neck

Lesson 16 March 2011

I'm struggling to keep on the circle lately!!! He falls out of the circle and it's almost as if he carries on going straight i.s.o. turning when I ask him to... 

Today, I almost ended up inside the tenant's flat (which so happens to be right next to the arena) because I needed him to go right - he tried to go left... I panicked and we ended up going straight... doing a sliding stop right in front of the glass door of the flat, luckily not jumping over the "fence"!...

The problem? My hands...I don't keep my hands together... what I end up doing, is not giving him enough support with the outside rein - thus pulling him off balance because I'm actually pulling on the inside rein... I also seem to drop my weight to the inside - so I end up riding completely skew and therefore pulling him off balance...So basically I'm making it impossible for him to stay upright and go in the direction I need him to...

The solution? I need to keep my hands together - outside rein against the neck to push him in the direction I want him to go, inside leg on the girth to push him into the contact with the outside hand (while trying to create an inside bend of course, though this is still a bit of a foreign concept for us) and I need to put more weight on my outside leg...

I really struggled to keep him on the circle in the canter today - almost resulting in a nap of some sorts.. so Pam suggested that I don't school in the canter circle when I ride on my own - but I need to do plenty 20m circles and serpentines in the trot. I can canter him large just for the fun... but no 20m circles.

Lesson 23 March 2011

My lesson today was so super awesome!

I am now holding the neck rein as well as the reins while I ride - so I'm forcing myself to keep my hands together and in the process, turn him with the outside rein against his neck.

I've also been concentrating a lot on distributing my weight evenly - but I still need to focus very intensely on not dropping the contact and "throwing the reins at him".

Our circles were much better today and Pam is very impressed with our progress.

Hoof issues

18-23 January 2011

Flag pulled a shoe and in the process ripped half his hoof off - so he's out of commission for at least a week. It's been raining so much lately that their hooves seem to be very weak and brittle.

In our group lesson I rode Veronica's horse - Monty. I'm still a bit petrified of horses that I'm unfamiliar with, so even though I did hop onto Didi during the week, I was very apprehensive to canter him. The fact that he threw Tarren off just the other day and she got hurt pretty badly didn't help of course.... so I think that's why Pam decided I should ride Monty rather. I've watched V ride him so many times, I felt quite comfortable to ride him. His trot wasn't great - very bouncy and unballanced, but his canter was absolutely devine!!! So slow and soft, it felt like I was floating! That would be my next goal with Flag - to soften his canter, even though I have to admit it's so much softer and smoother than it was the first time I rode him!

Lesson 1 March 2011

We had SUCH AN AWESOME lesson today. We cantered for most of the lesson... no bucking of any kind! Canter through X, canter large, canter in a 20m circle (though this is still a bit lopsided), change rein in the canter, spiral in in the canter (which was also a little bit lopsided).

I still think there is something wrong with my balance! Even in the trot he falls out of the circle, so I need to concentrate on my weight distribution and turning him with my hips!!!

Flag's balance and rhythm has improved so much! I'm very proud of my boy, even though I realize we still have a long, long way to go!

  



2 March 2011

Flag pulled a shoe AGAIN... we decided to take his shoes off and see if we can't get some growth to the hooves but the farrier I got for a second opinion said this was a very bad idea, because all he was doing now, is bruising his soles.

So, we threw all the advice we've received so far together (I mean seriously, it HAS been 2 months!!!) 

1. Replace normal shoes with racing shoes , which is thinner and lighter than the normal shoes
2. Put him on a hoof supplement (Pam started him on a Biotin supplement)
3. Apply Stokholm Tar once a day to harden the hooves (though they have already been doing this for a while)

Evening of 5 March in his stable.

5 March 2011

Today was Johan's 48th birthday party at the stables and I had the most awesome experience with Flag ever. I went to say hi to him in his stable and he was lying down - now usually, as you may or may not know, the horses jump up when you go into their stables at night. Flag however, just lay there and actually allowed me to cuddle up next to him! It was such a special moment!

Charlene, myself and G went back 5 min later to try and get a picture of the moment - but alas he stood up. Still got a cute pic though :)

16 March 2011

I rode Flag today for the first time in 2 weeks... his hooves are better now - I expected a frisky little beast, but luckily it was so damn wet we couldn't do much more than a light trot...

Five things I've learnt

1. Purple Spray works for everything

2. Always expect the unexpected

3. Never underestimate yourself

5. There is no such thing as a calm Thoroughbred

February 2011

Little Flag is still out of action, so today I had a lesson on Dee Dee... one of Pam's horses.

Dee Dee is very sweet - but he's a very forward going and a very strong boy. It was quite a challenge - I struggled to get him to slow down in the trot because he is so bouncy... and in the canter he is extremely strong, but once you get him to settle he's awesome!

I will be riding Dee Dee until Flag gets better - hopefully my boy will be fine by this weekend.

Little chicks in Flag's stable.

5 February 2011


I had my first lesson in three weeks' time on Flag today. He was nice and fresh :)... I so very nearly came off!!! He bucked me twice - BIG ONES!!! To such an extent that I was hanging over his neck... looking at the ground, thinking: okay... how am I going to do this without hurting myself. Luckily Pam yelled... hang on!!! Which I did.. and I managed to stay on. Bit nervous now to canter the little brat again, but let's see  how it goes tomorrow.


6 February 2011

Today we swapped horses out in our self taught group lesson: Emma on Monty, Vee on Sox, Beatrice on Lily, Tristan on Flag and me on Flight. This was also a rather large achievement for me - since I'm still quite nervous of strange / unfamiliar horses... Flight was awesome though. He's much older than Flag, so obviously way more balanced. Flag was very naughty with Tristan and refused to canter on the left rein - so after our lesson I decided to hop back on him and make SURE he canters! He bucked again, but luckily I managed to stay on.

After the lesson myself, Veronica, Beatrice and Emma took our babies for a little walk down the road. They all behaved very well!

13 February 2011

Schnoz

I've concentrated a lot on the canter transition this week. I've come to the conclusion that I need to look up!!! Because at the moment I'm looking down at his head to see what he's going to do... i.e. when he bucks I'm immediately thrown forward! I also tend to throw my reins at him - which I'm sure confuses the hell out of him... so for the next few days I'm concentrating on sitting back, looking up and keeping my hands still.

Lala - Johan's parrot.

I'm lunging him twice a week now -  also concentrating on making him listen to my voice commands. This week was a bit too wet to canter, but either way, it's a good bonding exercise.

In today's lesson I realized that my aids are not precise enough... I tried holding onto the saddle in order to keep my hands still - and in the process I realized that I don't put enough pressure on him with my legs and my outside leg is very weak! It was extremely hot as well - which made him lazy!!! Had to give him a smack with the crop to get him into a canter, which is not ideal but it worked.

15 February 2011

I had such an awesome ride today - we even trotted in the grass arena (which is still a bit of an issue for me), and then he lost a shoe again.... so.... will have to wait till tomorrow to see what the farrier says. 

16 February 2011

No riding for 2 days... back to riding Deedee! After that I'll do very light riding every second day until Flag's hoof is strong enough again.

Random pic I found: bunch of us at the 2010 Avis Derby.

23-28 February 2011


We haven't been able to ride much lately - either because of the weather or because myself or Pam was sick. I have however come to the conclusion that the next thing we need to work on is our shapes and circles.

Flag keeps falling into the circle or out of the circle, but I suspect it might have something to do with me and my balance... gotta work on that now! I need to concentrate on keeping my shoulders parallel to his, my weight evenly distributed, my hands still and even and I really need to concentrate on my legs: the amount of pressure, when I apply the pressure and how that pressure corresponds with my use of the outside rein.


Things are going much better in the lunge and I've even started adding little trotting poles in an attempt to try and keep his attention (not always that successful but at least I can now see that he's responding much better to my voice commands)

 

Lesson 12 January 2011

I had my lesson in the bottom part of the arena today, while Veronica was riding Monty in the top half. My heart almost came to a standstill! Flag tried to nap again... twice - purely because he wanted to go join Monty, but I gave him a hard pull with the inside rein and an even harder smack with my crop (which was in the outside hand luckily!) and he did not try it again!

I was about to say to Pam that I think we should rather not canter him with Monty in the arena - when I realised that she would obviously know best and if she thought it was a bad idea, she wouldn't let me do it... so when she told me to pick up the canter I did - and guess what! - he didn't nap once! I was so happy but also realised that, yet again, my own seat has improved so much and that I was now steering him with my body as well, and NOT my reins!!!

Cantering again!

Give me a carrot!!!

We decided it's time to start cantering mr. Flag again. He's been doing so well in his 20m circles at the trot... Nevertheless... just to be on the safe side, we only cantered him large.

In order for me to overcome my fear of cantering.. we took baby steps. First I'd only canter him down the long sides - even if it was only down the one side of the arena. We gradually increased this until we could do 3 / 4 rounds and during the December holidays, we attempted a 20m circle - and although he was still very rushed and kept falling out, HE DIDN'T NAP! This was so super awesome and it was such a relief to have my horse back! 
 I'm so impressed with the progress we've made in the last couple of weeks! His canter is becoming more controllable, less rushed, more balanced and he's not falling into the circles anymore... given I've also started consentrating on my own riding skills: I've learnt to put more weight on my outside leg to help him balance and keep him from falling in and I've also been concentrating a lot on my riding position. Take a look at this video, which I found very helpful on how to improve your classical seat.


It's also been going so well in the 20m canter circles, that we've decided it was time to loose the second crop, but, just as a precaution, I keep the crop in my outside hand, in case he attempts to nap again.

G & Kyle came with me to my lesson today and took turns recording my lesson on the video camera so that Pam could evaluate me. The one thing that caught my attention immediately, was how stiff I was in my back but my leg position have improved a lot. I've also had to lengthen my stirrups by one more hole - whether this was due to Flaglet picking up weight or my legs becoming longer and the muscles more flexible I do not know, either way, it's definately improved my position!