Hotter than snot!

Susan can often be heard saying "it is hotter than snot!" on the really hot days, of which we've had two in a row. Yesterday, the temperature was about 29 degrees Celcius. As such, I was completely fried after spending 10am through nearly 2pm at the barn, working the horses in the sun. Thankfully, due to lack of Ozone hole on this side of the world, going without sunblock for more than 10 minutes doesn't mean you get burnt to a crisp. Even so, it was HOT and we were all running on empty in the afternoon/evening.

At the barn in the morning, Peggy started The Great Tack Room Clean Up, the remainder of which has been scheduled for this week (with Karen and Lana). The motivator for the clean up is Jill, who arrives next week with three horses (and their belongings!), so the tack room will go from 4 owners/5 horses to 5 owners/8 horses. We ended up with a pile of stuff to bring home and store and several empty saddle racks and bridle hooks.


While she got stuck into the tack room, I gave rems, turned horses out, bought Sully in, groomed him and tacked up. Sully had a wee doze until we were ready to go. He gave some really nice responses during groundwork: I did a lot of slow stuff on his head and neck. He is really coming into his own now and showing a lot more of his processing. He is less inclined to move off when you start exercises, takes more 'calculated' or collected steps and is easier to stop when he does move off. It's really nice to see his progress.

Peggy then got on and demonstrated asking for the four corners under saddle. The process goes one step further than I am used to, as she also asked the horse to be in counter bend (rather than having "only" counter rotation of the rider, or the horse's head looking out and in but their body in a true, not counter, bend). it was a little mind blowing, especially in the heat, so I need to go over it with her again to be sure I understand the process. Sully was a great example of why we need to ask for various exercises, even if the horse cannot do them yet... How else do you start to prepare (or, train) the horse to give these things, if you don't start asking? In that respect, it is like teaching the horse to take one step at a time. Initially, they may take fifteen steps, then ten, then three, and then they can offer *just one* step. He softened and offered more each time she repeated the parts of the exercise. I got on and felt his back was more lifted, his head and neck were softer and he was more responsive - so that I could then ask for some of the things, and GET THEM (oh, to have Peggy get on my horses every day and warm them up for me!!!), which was really cool.

Peggy continued tidying and I took Fon down to move her. I did a tiny bit of groundwork on the walk between the pasture and the field, then sent her out on the lunge, to the right (her more difficult side). She is in a GREAT space at the moment and her hind legs are pretty much "there" at the beginning of each session. I asked for a few minutes of walk (with out/in to both move her within the circle, and do tighter and looser "corners"), before asking for trot. Normally she is quite rushy to the right and holds her head higher than to the left, but she found her slow trot button and allowed her head to be significantly lower than usual. I am still over the moon about the way she moved (considering I haven't put her out on one line or the lunge for about a week). She was as good to the left and I put her away with a few bits of carrot - VERY happy!

I went to the barn early this morning to move/groundwork before it got too hot (the forecast said today was supposed to be hotter than yesterday, and boy, it is! Up to 32 degrees C at 2.00pm (though I've been getting distracted so it's already 3.00pm).

Fon gave me the same deal as yesterday: we were both pleased as punch. She likes to be told she is a good girl! I spent about 40 minutes with her as I wanted to start doing more trot to help build muscle, now that she's releasing more.

I turned out the other horses (Sully needs to go out so he can pee before he is expected to work) and took Chico down to the field in the serreta for some movement. I unfortunately haven't done anything with him for several days due to the way the schedule has worked, so I was pleasantly surprised to see him almost all there in the "Bringing In" stakes. He is a little rushier than Fon; his conformation and years spent using the wrong muscles mean he a good measure of whether you can bring a horse through, or not. In saying that, his trot was fairly rhythmical, a reasonable speed, he listened to me and I got some good trot, nice trot-canter transitions, balanced canter without him falling down to trot, and good walk to finish.

Sully got some a very short session in his halter. I asked him to start moving his feet one at a time. At this stage, he can't take "just one" step - he takes at least two, if not five. However, after a couple of attempts, he was picking up and placing his feet much more carefully and deliberately, which is exactly what we want!

I must have been more fried than I expected as it's taken me at least 90 minutes to write this, between talking to Susan, or Peggy, or getting distracted by emails and the forum and facebook! Oops! Peggy and Susan are currently working on the 101 course, then we're heading over to Silverdale to shop (groceries and clothes) before dinner and time at the barn when it's cooler (Fon needs a ride, as does Chico).

PS. Mum sent me a couple of emails to update me on Ollie's catches - he's brought in 3 rabbits over the past three days. Good cat!