[Monthly Review] April 2015

Woah, how fast has April gone?! I know I was late posting my March review but I cannot believe we are already in May! We are literally flying through 2015! 

April has been a pretty good month with Pea. He is so enthusiastic with his schooling (even if he doesn't always look it when he's waiting in his stable!) and his canter is coming along really well. As I mentioned in my post following my lesson (read it here), I need to learn to push him more in the canter and not worry about him bucking which I've previously done making me back off. I have focused on this for the past few weeks, which has included a few pony club kicks being involved when he's really tried it on with me, and we are slowly getting better at increasing the length of time we spend cantering. 

I've also been working on flexion and getting him to bend more. Some days Pea is very cooperative and goes really nicely, other days he pretends that he's got a wooden board attached to his neck and that he can't possible flex and bend! However, small progress is better than no progress and the majority of the time he does go well! If he does act up, it's for a short while during a schooling session and I need to remember to keep soft and relaxed and not argue with him about it as then he becomes more stubborn! 

I also try to lunge him once a week with the side reins on just to get him to learn to soften and move
forward - quite a mean feat where Pea's involved! He is getting better with the side reins as before as soon as they were on he'd just shuffle along but now he's learning that they are not preventing him from moving, it's just to give him something to think about. He still mucks about and fell over one week with them :/ Luckily, he was completely fine and I think it made him realise that he cannot motorbike round the bend when he's cantering which he tended to do in one particular corner when on the right rein but since that episode his canter on the lunge has improved drastically! 

April has also commenced Pea's 'lie-ins' which he does every year during summer and refuses to get up! All of the above photos were taken during one week! The first one he was actually laying up when I went down, and after a photo and cuddle he realised he was going to have the headcollar put on so flopped down instead - a common trick with Pea! Luckily, Bailey's treats came to the rescue and he got up fine but that didn't work for the next two! He's such a pain when he's lying down though as it can take me forever to get him up! I've been in the field for over half an hour before attempting to get him up and even had other horses come to pester him but he still refuses! Such a lazy boy!

I'm thinking about popping Pea over a few fences in May as I've not jumped him properly in a year and feel that he's long overdue a jump! We're also going to see if Dad's care is able to manage towing the trailer to a local competition but we'll have to wait an see! 

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx