[Monthly Review] July 2016

Horses never like to make life easy...! Pea has been, in general, going quite well this past month, however, he also decided it was time he had a bit of a holiday whilst we were having a heat wave and pulled a shoe off so had to wait a few days for the farrier to re-do his feet.

I was on holiday for the first few days of July, but came back with a few days before work so Pea got in a bit of hacking and schooling. With work, I find it harder to find time to ride or have the same motivation and at the moment there's a lot of holidays so some long days but hopefully it'll all work out. I think the minimalist work does help Pea a bit as he's slightly less ill-mannered. 

As mentioned, Pea gave himself a week off after pulling a shoe and then me doing a few 14 hour shifts but it seemed to have done him a little bit of good. We hacked the first day and he was reasonably well behaved other than spooking at very silly things (such as a patch of grass!). I've also decided to forego lunging him before schooling and hoping for the best. It does seem to be going well, he still has one or two arguments which are to be expected but I'm hoping we can push through this and start working on getting him more forward on his own. 

We've also had a couple of lessons where one started off badly (as in Pea decided to well and truly deck me) but luckily learnt his lesson and went rather nicely afterwards! I'm now hoping to get him a bit fitter and working a bit softer (he's currently decided that he'll behave but it will be more on his terms and as soon as I ask for a better contact he locks against me!) and work towards getting him out to a few winter dressage tests. 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Lesson Report] Unexpected Dismount

Pea's slowly improving with his work now and starting to work more forwards and does less arguing, but today he decided to push the boat out by well and truly chucking me off! More on that in a bit...

We used to lunge him before riding but I've now decided to just hop straight on and hope for the best. He walks out well and starts trotting nicely but does throw in a quick stop and stomp at some stage. Luckily but holding his head up high and strong leg aids he soon gives in and moves off again with less arguments. Today was no different with a tiny stop but then moving forwards really well. We played around with plenty of changes of rein to keep him guessing and pushing him forward in the trot.

He then started to offer canter so I allowed him and pushed him into a working canter. There's one corner on the left rein where he backs off a bit and tries to throw in a bit of a buck, As we came round the corner, I felt him tense so I nudged him on, however instead of getting the reaction I wanted of him continuing to go forwards, he slammed the brakes on and threw in a massive buck. Needless to say, I did a rather gymnastics worthy somersault and ended up on the floor. I think there were a few swear words by both me and my instructor after that but luckily I don't think I injured myself much (though my arm is rather painful now)!

I hopped back on board and I think Pea knew he was in trouble and started to jog off! As he was trotting, I asked for a bit more out of him and he responded by cantering. Again, I asked for a bit more to have a proper working canter and we came back round to the corner where he rather nicely dumped me five minutes prior. I felt him back off a bit again so I sat deep and pushed forward, this time getting the right reaction of him shooting forwards and still cantering forwards! 

We came back to trot and changed rein to the right rein. As he wasn't giving me much of a trot I gave him a sharp tap with the whip and he went into canter instead. Claire

encouraged this but told me he has to really work in the canter so I pushed him forward down the long side and then came back to trot in the corner. Again he fell into a bit of a lack lustre trot so I asked for a bit more and he decided to canter again. I think we continued this for about three rounds of the arena before he finally caved and gave me a working trot! 

We then had a walk round so he could stretch his neck as we tend to work him with his head high to prevent him from stopping and bucking. Weirdly, Pea actually does some good work like this and stretches out more in his paces - he's always been an oddball! Typically it then started raining and so Pea got rather hopeful we were finishing but instead I gathered the reins and asked for trot. He had a mini grumble before realising I meant business and we worked on doing some 20m circles with him keeping a consistent rhythm. We then went up to canter again and this time he was much better behaved so we incorporated large circles. Normally Pea tenses when we try to canter a circle but as we kept them quite large and didn't ask for too much, he stayed quite relaxed and didn't back off at all - progress! 

As he had given me 20 minutes of really good work we finished him there whilst on a good note. It's a shame he was so naughty at the beginning as he gave me some great work towards the end! 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

8 Years

8 years with this crazy bean! I think it's safe to say that it's been a roller coaster, and the past year has probably been one of the toughest. It even reached a stage where I seriously considered whether it was worth putting Pea up for sale but luckily we battled through and now he's going better than ever. Sure, he still argues and just this morning he very nearly launched me off after leaping over a pole and then slamming the breaks on but hey, he'd be pretty boring if he didn't do that, right ;)

Here's hoping I have many more years with the goofball. 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Monthly Review] June 2016

If you live in England, like me, then you're probably fully aware of what a wash-out June proved to be! We had to reschedule lessons last minute when I got soaked getting Pea in and he was drenched from not having a rug on, we had to try and work round flooded arenas or get lucky with the indoor being free so it wasn't quite as productive a month as I envisaged. Luckily, I got to escape the rain for a week and jetted off to Tenerife where it was a lot warmer and sunnier! Pea had the majority of the week off, although my instructor did ride him twice for me, more on that later. 

Our lessons throughout June have been amazing. We tend to use the indoor as it's an enclosed 20x40 arena so Pea can't run off anywhere and if need be, Claire is close to give him a reminder with the lunge whip should he ignore me. Luckily, she's only really had to do that once when he seriously tried it on (no bucks, luckily, just ignored my leg and whip!). He's more energetic in his work and we're both far more relaxed in cantering round the arena and are now working on keeping us both relaxed in turns and half circles. 

Outside the lessons, we've had fun out hacking, free jumping and lunging. He's had the odd schooling session where we've kept it light and fun with pole work as we're still working on keeping the forwardness when Claire isn't there to help out. 

The last week of June, I went away on holiday and asked Claire to ride him for me. I got a text the first day to say that he had tried it on a bit on the lunge but soon moved forward well. Once she was on board, he walked out great, had a short forward and free trot before suddenly slamming the brakes on and bucked. Oops! She told me she bought him back to walk where he still tried it on a few times but she eventually got him forwards with his head high and he soon realised it was easier just to work properly! Friday she rode him again and it sounds like he was much better behaved! In a way I am quite glad that he did try it on on Monday as it means that Claire has also felt what he does and how it literally comes from nowhere! 

I'm now back from my holiday feeling much more positive about things. I'm hoping to make some changes over the next few months as I've done some re-evaluation of my life so fingers crossed I can ride more and also blog more! 

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx

[Lesson Report] 08.06.16 & 14.06.16

8th June 2016:

Due to long work hours, I hadn't done a lot with Pea in the two weeks before my last lesson so wasn't too sure how it would go. He was a bit reluctant to get going on the lunge at first, but after a swift tap with the lunge whip he soon realised to get his bum into gear! He only lunges for about 5 minutes now before being ridden as he's learnt that we mean business and that I want him moving forwards. 

We started on the lunge again and he had a small grumble and a lot of swishy tail syndrome (his tell for thinking about misbehaving), however a sharp tap with the whip soon made him switch into work mode and he went forward nicely. Walk is definitely his weaker pace in moving forwards as he will slowly creep into more of a shuffle so we worked on getting him to listen to my leg aid and produce a sharper reaction. 

Half way through, Claire unclipped the lunge line and we worked on getting him forward by listening to me more but having Claire on the ground as a back up. This was rather nerve wracking I found as we were in the indoor so Pea couldn't drift too far away from Claire in case he tried any naughty tricky, but having concrete walls around makes it feel very enclosed!! It didn't help that each time we went past Claire, Pea tried to shy into the wall and raise his head like he was ready to bronc! 

However, by the end of the lesson we both learnt to relax as I realised it helped to keep Pea forward and not tense and Pea realised that Claire wasn't going to flick the whip unless he didn't pay any attention to me! The first couple of canters on our own were slightly tense as I expected him to stop - not the right frame of mind! However, once I realised he wasn't going to try anything and relaxed in my lower back we had a much nicer canter and used more of the space resulting in fewer motorbike turns! 

14th June 2016:

I think it's safe to say that yesterday's lesson is the one that really made me remember why I've stuck with 'the spotty one' and made me fall in love with him all over again! He hadn't been ridden since last lesson due to me being ill and only got lunged once on Sunday when we did some pole work. 

As soon as I popped him on the lunge he was off and was the most forward he has been since starting lessons with Claire. I hardly had to ask for more out of him and he was so willing to go. We went straight off without being on the lunge first and he worked so hard! I'm now able to work out if he's giving me his all or if he's backing off a bit and needs a bit of a push. 

Our canters were so much more relaxed and I actually felt really comfortable cantering him which I haven't for a rather long time! We had a bit of an issue in the left rein walk. He was rather sluggish in his walk and despite being tapped a few times with the whip he didn't give me enough of a forward response. This was where Claire stepped in and ever so lightly flicked the whip causing Pea to do a very nice walk to canter transition! A short pat and relaxing my seat bought him back to trot and we tried the walk again. He still wasn't as forward as I wanted in the walk, but a small tap with the whip resulted in a very nice trot. Not quite what I wanted but as we're focusing more on getting a forward response, it's not something we're going to hassle him over!

We cut the lesson short to just half an hour as he worked so hard and was puffing a bit at the end (he's got a bit of a grass belly and needs fittening up again!). I'm so happy to finally have a ride able pony again and fingers crossed the rest of the year continues in the right direction!

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Monthly Review] May 2016

May has genuinely flown by! I have been so busy with work as we were down a member and I feel like I've hardly seen Pea :( I have, therefore, decided to make the decision to get someone to lunge/hack him once or twice a week. There's no one in place at the moment and as Pea is so quirky I need to be 100% confident with who it is. I'm going to have a chat with my instructor next week as she might know someone or she's happy to exercise him for me. I don't think Pea seems to mind his easy life right now though!

May has bought some progress with Pea. We have been having quite regular lessons with Claire and he has really improved through the lessons. He's a lot more forward thinking now and we're starting to use my seat more to get him going up the gaits and down the gaits without using my leg/hands as much.

In between lessons he's getting much better at behaving! We can quite happily do thirty minutes of walk and trot work with no arguments. We've still got to work on canter as he gets quite tense and that's when we have the arguments. It's small steps but at least we're heading in the right direction!

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Lesson Report] Claire Adams 16.05.16 & 23.05.16

After only my second proper lesson with Claire, I'm already so excited about the potential for the rest of the year! Since my last lesson two weeks prior, Pea's not done a lot due to me having to do more hours at work. All he had done was lunge three times, one hack and one schooling session (where the only arguments came in canter so major progress!).

I popped him on the lunge first to get him moving forwards and knowing what I expect from him. Without realising, I tend to let Pea go at a mediocre pace on the lunge so it's good learning that I need to get after him a bit more and seeing what he can produce! We spent quite a while on the right rein as he was a bit slow at getting moving. After a good few trots and canters we came back to walk and then ended up having another cycle of walk-trot-walk when he broke into trot rather than giving a better walk. A couple of times were a simple misunderstanding when I flicked the whip a bit too much so Claire explained that when I want a bit more of a walk on the lunge then it's a good idea to gently roll the whip so it slides a bit over the arena but doesn't create too much motion which he would interpret as going up a gear. Swapping onto the left rein and Pea was much quicker at reacting and went really well so we didn't spend as long on this rein.

I then popped on board and we kept on the lunge as it means that I can work on using my seat more and getting him forward but Claire's there for a bit of back up. He went really well in walk and trot and we had a few canters. I tend to tense in canter and have tight hips so without realising, I end up digging my spur in. This causes Pea to tense and buck as it's his way of saying that he doesn't like that. Claire said that if Pea was a sharp horse I would have worked out straight away that it was my spurs causing the issue but as Pea is a bit more of a backward thinker and backs off the spur it wasn't obvious that that was the issue. 

Once we took the spurs off, he was a lot more relaxed and not quite as tense in the canter. We finished it not long after as he worked really well and was starting to tire which would cause more issues if we pushed him. 

A week later and I had another lesson. This time we popped indoors as when I first popped him on the lunge the pollen was causing him a few issues. He's currently on a supplement which is, hopefully, helping to calm it a bit but as with any hayfever sufferer, some days are better than others! He was much quicker off the mark today than what he has been and is really starting to learn that once we start work he has to move forwards. We didn't spend much time lunging first before popping on board, again still on the lunge. 

We're now progressing to me giving him a sharp aid with the whip if he's not being as responsive to my leg as he should be. Before, he normally backs off from the whip and instead of reacting to it the correct way, ie by going forwards, he'd stop and buck more! Claire explained that he needs to respond to it as though it was an annoying fly rather than a horse trying to bite him. If' it's a sharp tap, like a fly, then he'll respond by moving away but if it's an annoying smack then he'll react as though it's a horse biting him and so retaliate. Pea's getting a lot better and moving forward when I want him to now but Claire's noticed that I'm tight in my hips which isn't allowing Pea to move forward as much as he should be. 

She asked me to drop my feet from the stirrups and explained that the tightness is coming from my lower back. If I relax there, then my hips will open up and my seat bones will be looser. She moved my legs around, putting them in front of the saddle, before letting them drop naturally so they hung loose at the side of Pea. This helped to loosen my lower back and hips and felt a lot different. We practised keeping this position round in walk and compared it to if I tense in my back where you could tell the difference. When I tensed, Pea shortened his stride and slowed, but as soon as I released he softened and stretched out more. We took my stirrups back and rather than having my stirrups on the ball of my feet properly, I end up having them more just behind my toes which causes me to grip with my toes and therefore hard to keep my feet in the correct position. By moving them back slightly, it was much easier to keep loose in my lower back and use my leg effectively without turning my feet out and using the back of my foot. 

We practised in each gait with me staying loose and contrast to what happens if I tense so I'm aware for when I'm on my own. We had a small buck in canter on the right rein where my saddle slipped so he reacted to me tensing for it. Claire explained that I wasn't sitting centrally and Pea didn't help by pushing me more to the outside. Once we came back to walk, I sat straighter and focussed on pushing my outside shoulder back so balance Pea better. When we tried the canter again, it was a lot more balanced and my saddle didn't move. 

Now, we've just got to keep putting it to practise when we're on our own! 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Monthly Review] April 2016

Somehow it has come to the middle of May and I've not written my monthly review! How is time flying so fast?!

April bought many questions and if I'm honest, I seriously started to doubt whether to continue pushing with Pea or whether it was time to think about selling or loaning him. Numerous people also told me that maybe it was time to let him go to a new home and find something I could go out and do what I wanted on. However, I want to say a massive thank you to those who told me what a stupid idea that was and pushed me to keep trying!

After having an impromptu lesson with someone (read about it here), May is bringing a new change with regular lessons and a fresh outlook on how to handle Pea. We're now getting him going a lot more forward and relaxing so that he doesn't feel the need to stop and be quite so opinionated all the time!

Fingers crossed that May's review will bring better behaviour!!

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Lesson Report] Claire Adams 03.05.2016

After Claire gave me a free lesson a couple of weeks ago, I scheduled in for a proper lesson with her to see how we got on and for whether to use her on a regular basis. I think that with all the issues I've had with Pea, it hasn't helped that I've neglected booking in lessons. I felt as though that it might be a bit of a waste with him playing up so much, when in fact, that's the ideal time! I originally booked a lesson with Claire for last Monday, but typically Pea pulled a shoe the day before and ended up being on box rest for a couple of days until he could see the farrier. He then also had the physio so had another day off after that and then weather and work got in the way so it wasn't rescheduled until this past Tuesday. 

We started out by popping him on the lunge for ten minutes with Claire starting on one rein to explain what we were after and I took over for the second rein. As he had gone well on the Sunday but still had a couple of stops, Claire thought it would be a good idea to pop him on the lunge first to get him going and learn that that's what we're after. It's good to see how she gets him going on the lunge as I think I tend to let him go at a more mediocre pace rather than getting after him and make him really work. 

I then popped on board and walked round a bit. She emphasised the importance of me letting my legs just hang and give him short, sharp squeezes and get a reaction from that. Without realising, I tend to keep my leg on which he ends up switching off to. When I then squeeze him forward, he should react straight away and when he doesn't, he gets a sharp tap from the whip to emphasise that he needs to move. Pea can be a quick learner and so he did give a great walk which was miles different to his normal work! The only issue with him is that he can also be reactive so if he decides to object to the whip, that's when we have the stops and stomps! 

We then progressed to trot and he had a mini moment of 'do I trot or stop' but luckily realised trotting was the better answer! After a few rounds, Claire asked how I would feel about riding him round on the lunge. After never having done this I was slightly worried as it's a very weird thing feeling like I'm giving up control and a bit sceptical in case anything happened. However, it was actually a really good learning curve for me as Pea went into a great trot that is vastly different from his normal trot and we even had some canters where I actually learnt to relax. Normally, I tense in the canter forever expecting him to buck, which of course, doesn't help! When we swapped to the right rein, I mentioned how I felt rather unbalanced in the trot so we came back to halt and Claire explained that he tends to lean a bit and pushes me to the outside. This causes my left hip to drop and my right hip to over-compensate which is why I feel off balance and as though I'm on a motorbike. We worked on me pushing my outside shoulder back a bit and imagining that I was pushing my left elbow into my ribs. I felt that this really helped and the trot felt so much better. We then did a quick comparison and it's amazing the difference I felt. 

We finished the lesson there as he had worked incredibly hard and it's always a good idea to finish on a good note. I now have another lesson booked in for next week which I'm rather looking forward to now! 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Lesson Report] Rather Unplanned!

I set out today with the plan that I was going to get on Pea, handle any of his naughtiness, but hopefully have a half decent schooling session. Unfortunately, as often is the case with horses, Pea didn't seem to be on board with that idea and instead spent five minutes stomping, reversing and nothing was working in an attempt to get him to go forward. I had just dismounted and on my way to grab my lunge line when an instructor popped in with lunging equipment, asking if I wanted a hand. I accepted and I popped him on the lunge to check there wasn't anything physically wrong and to get him moving.

I went to swap reins and Claire stepped in and asked if I minded if she had a go lunging the other way. I passed the line along and she mentioned that it seems like he's not really moving forward enough, just at a mediocre speed and hence it may be why he plays up a bit. She got him to really get going forward and really bring his hind leg under which is something he often avoids. She got Pea to really move forward and flicked the whip every time he started to back off and slow down. It wasn;t long before he was really moving forward and with little encouragement (it was trying to stop that took the longest!). 

I then popped back on board and Claire walked at the side with the lunge whip trailing behind her. She noticed that I often keep my leg on, without really noticing, and so to relax and take my leg away, only giving a squeeze with each heel every now and then in order to get the desired effect of him taking note and picking up the pace a bit. We walked round with a long rein and let him walk wherever he wanted and if he wanted to change rein, then to act as though it was something I wanted rather than try to keep him straight. By doing this, it means that he's normally expecting me to tell him 'no, we're going straight' which causes an excuse to stop, but acting like it was part of the plan takes this away. 

We then progressed into trot, still keeping with a long rein and relaxed body position. Again, I didn't direct Pea in a certain direction and let him go round the arena as he pleased. Typically, he went down to the far end of the arena, away from Claire and I could feel him start to tense to stop. Immediately, Claire shouted to just relax, squeeze a bit with the leg but not make a fuss. By doing this, Pea realised there was no need to misbehave as I hadn't tensed and so carried on quite nicely. Each time he slowed a bit, I popped my leg on and if he didn't respond properly, Claire was there to gently flick the lunge whip as a reminder that he had to pay attention rather than just ignore me which is his usual response. 

We even had a short canter, although not asked for, when Pea didn't quite respond properly and had the lunge whip slightly flick him. This made him take notice and so moved up to canter. My initial reaction was to grab the reins and tense slightly but Claire said to just pat him and relax - something I find rather hard with canter! I explained my reaction as to the fact that he often chucks me off in canter by launching off but she explained how it's harder for them to buck when they're actively moving forward and if they do, it's a fly buck which is slightly easier to sit to but not something Pea is likely to do when he's a lazier horse! I agreed and said he does tend to slam the brakes on to buck! 

So whilst it was an unexpected lesson for me and Pea, I'm really grateful for Claire popping over as I feel as though I may have had a mini meltdown otherwise! She was really nice and did the lesson for free (I've never had her for a lesson before!) and I think I may be in touch with her again to book a proper one! 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Monthly Review] March 2016

March has not been a good month. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you will most probably know that Pea has started to play up again quite badly. It's really frustrating as I felt like we were slowly moving forwards but now we've gone straight back to the beginning where I can hardly get a few strides of trot, never mind anything else. 

At the minute, it's such a struggle to really do anything with Pea. The other day, I went in the arena with the intent of just walking him over some poles and do various exercise over them to engage his hind legs. The first five-ten minutes weren't too bad and then as I went to change the rein, he randomly stopped and played up :( He did it a few other times and a sharp tap on his neck made him behave a bit better (after upping his bucking game first!). 

Therefore, there is very little to report for March as our acomplishments are being able to do 15 minutes of schooling with no stops! I'm not really sure what to do with him now so I think April is going to be a case of seeing how he goes and maybe having another chat with the vet and my instructor to see what the best course of action is. 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

One Step Forward, Three Steps Back

This picture popped up on my pinterest at a rather fitting time! Pea has been going quite well the past few weeks and was progressing well with his schooling. He then had a couple of days off and a lunge before I was able to ride again. As it was a lovely evening, I decided to go for a hack and thought he might be a bit excitable but not too bad. That turned out not to be the case seeing as he got half way down the drive before slamming the breaks on, spinning round and trying to buck! 

No matter how much I tried to get him to continue, he wasn't having it at all and nearly slipped a few times on the road in his attempt to buck. Another horse went past and I thought Pea might be happy following but that wasn't to be the case! In the end, we went back to the yard, had another big fit when I tried to go in the arena and resulted in me fetching a lunge line to pop Pea on the lunge for a few minutes. He went firing off into canter and stayed cantering for a while before swapping reins and doing the same in the opposite direction. I then hopped back on board but we ended up having another argument so I popped off again and lunged him again for 10 minutes before getting back on. Luckily, he seemed to have learnt and we did 10 minutes of half decent schooling before I called it a day and finished on a good note. 

The next day I went a bit more prepared and put my spurs on as well as took the lunge

line just in case. He did actually do five minutes of nice trotting before stopping and trying to dig the arena up or see if he could get me off.. He refused to move forward and after a couple of minutes of not getting far at all unless we reversed or spun round, I decided to pop him on the lunge again for a few minutes. This time when I got back on board he was better behaved and we did a further 15 minutes before calling it a day. 

Friday morning when better as I managed to do 20 minutes of work without having to lunge him. He still played up a bit but didn't resist for long and wasn't really bucking as much, more just cow kicking and stomping. Although he only did 20 minutes, I left it there as it's better to do a shorter session where he behaves, than push him further just to end up getting into arguments. 

He then had a day off and today played up again quite badly. I had Dad come down to take photos and also pop poles out for me in the hope it would distract him but unfortunately he still played around. I lunged him for a few minutes after about the fifth argument where he flat out refused to move at all before getting back on board. Luckily, he wasn't too bad and although he had one or two bucks after, we did manage to get over the poles a few times on each rein. 

Someone at my yard saw him misbehave and asked whether it could be linked to the grass. This is something I have been questioning as he had been full of energy and now suddenly refuses to move and is very lack lustre in his movement. She's suggested looking into a gastro supplement as she mentioned that her horse used to be quite tense to the leg but since being on one he's been much better. So I'm not off to do some research and see whether it's worth trying one out on Pea! 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Monthly Review] February 2016

February seemed like a short and sweet month and flew by with me hardly noticing! Things have started to look up with Pea and he is slowly starting to work better. There are still the odd days where he'll misbehave, but after seven and a half years, I've learnt that it's just who he is! 

I've been trying to vary his work load more so that he only schools twice a week and then we also lunge with side reins and hack more as well as doing various pole work exercises. I've also started to jump him again after more than a year which he seems to enjoy and the break from jumping seems to have done him some good as he's a bit calmer about it! 

I'm hoping to get him out to a dressage competition again in March, mainly to do an intro test but we'll see what his canter is like at home for whether to try a prelim. At the moment, I'm mainly focusing on keeping him relaxed in his work as when he does he goes quite nicely. He just prefers trying out a giraffe pose too much to stay relaxed! 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

No Turnout Days

Sometimes, when the weather is extra bad, the yard ask that any stabled horses are kept in for the day. Being on a large livery, we do have grass liveries and luckily we do get great turnout. However, there are those days when it just pours and pours so limiting the number of horses out helps to keep the fields from getting badly churned up.

Luckily, Pea is generally quite calm about the odd day in but I do like to give him a stretch and also some entertainment. Below are some tips on how to keep your horse occupied when they can't go out:

A Large Haynet:
I'm a big advocate of ensuring that Pea always has hay/haylage on offer throughout the year. Horses are trickle feeders and therefore it's best they eat little and often. During the winter, Pea has a big haynet over night and then on the odd day he is in, he has one on offer then as well. In the summer, he's in during the day and will still have a haynet in the stable. He doesn't tend to really eat it but I prefer that it's there for him and hope that it means less gorging on the grass! I remember once, we had the Spillers team out for weighing and feed advice and she told me not to give him anything when he's in. I was quite shocked by this as it was drilled throughout uni nutrition courses to always ensure horses have something on hand, even if they're overweight! There are now the little fibre blocks you can get so I might give those a go this year!

Licks:
Pea currently has a likit, a horselyx and a salt lick in his stable. He doesn't seem at all fussed in the likit which is slightly irritating and the salt lick hasn't altered much over the months but he does occasionally have his horslyx (only noticed by the stains on his legs when he finds it entertaining to wipe the lick over him!). I'm aware these are quite high in sugar but seeing as Pea doesn't gorge on them, I'm not exactly fussed! He's also a really good weight this winter which I always like as he seems to suddenly fatten out within a week once spring grass arrives! 

Vegetables:
I often hide carrots in Pea's haynet for him and he also has a swede hanging from a rope to give him a bit of entertainment during the day. 

Leg stretches:
On the days Pea has to stay in, it generally means the weather is awful and riding is off the cards. I do, however, like to ensure that he gets a walk round (and seeing as he hates the walker, we have to do it in hand). I tend to give him a loose lunge in the morning if it's not too terrible or we go for a walk round over poles for 15 minutes. This is especially good for Pea to keep him supple and ensure he doesn't get too stiff behind which I'm sure you are aware we've had issues with. In the evening, I then take him for a spot of grass and walk before popping him to bed for the night. 

I hope these help if your horse ever has to stay in for a day or two (or the dreaded box-rest!). 

If you have any of your own tips then I'd love to hear them!

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx

[Monthly Review] January 2016

January saw us finally getting some potential answers for Pea's behaviour over the past 7 months. The vet visits our yard once a month as I'm on quite a large livery so I decided to put his name down to get him checked for whether there could potentially be a shoulder or back issue. You can read the full post here but as a summary he ended up having back x-rays which showed a few vertebrae closer together than normal and so he had steroid injections to try and help. 

We then had to lunge for a few days following including some work with the side reins on before I could ride. However, riding was put off longer due to the cold weather we had freezing our arenas and we haven't had our indoor back. He then had the physio out which the vet recommended we keep and she carried out some work on his back (read it all here) as well as suggesting I do regular carrot stretches. 

Again, it was a few days until I could ride again due to the weather, resulting in him not being ridden for two weeks (though he did get lunged). In typical Laura fashion, I decided to take him for a quick hack when he'd been in for two days...not quite the most sensible thing to do! I think it's safe to say that Pea was feeling very fresh after trotting off down the drive and then threatening to spook and run at every little thing... 

Since then, I've schooled him a few times. The vet recommended that I trot round on a

long rein as soon as we get in the arena for a short while and then have a canter round to loosen him up before slowly gathering him up. So far, he seems to be going quite well. He still has the odd grumpy moment but I've come to learn after 7 years that that's never going to change! He's a lot freer in the canter, and I'm slowly working on getting him to canter round large circles so we can hopefully progress to him comfortable cantering a 20x40 such as if he was doing a dressage test. 

The plan for February is to do more pole work, keep up lunging him once a week in his side reins and work on smaller circles in both trot and canter. 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

Physio Time!

First of all, apologies for the delay in this post! Procrastination is my worst habit and then with work I just never got round to it! Oops!

On Tuesday, Etti was doing another routine visit and I popped Pea on the list after agreeing with the vet that it would be a good idea for him to see her after the injections in his back. Etti mainly focused on Pea's back and finished the session by placing a magnetic pad on his back. He wears the Equilibrium magnetic pad during the night but Etti explained that hers is slightly stronger as the magnets are placed strategically to repel each other, causing a stronger current which helps increase the circulation. 

Pea's not done much work recently due to frozen arena's and work but after hacking him yesterday, he feels pretty good. The real test will come when I school him but fingers crossed we'll be on the right track. I'm also focusing on remembering to do some carrot stretches everyday to really open his back up and strengthen his core which will also help. 

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx

Pea Sees The Vet....again!

Oh the joys of horse ownership! I popped Pea on the list for the monthly vet visit to have a look at his front end seeing as that's where my instructor reckoned there could be a problem. I kind of expected Alex, my vet, to trot Pea up and declare there not be much of a problem. However, we ended up spending about 2 hours doing various tests, etc!

We started off by trotting him up and then doing a flexion test on each hind leg before popping Pea on the lunge. As expected, Pea was fine on the lunge and went into each gait on each rein as good as gold. After a brief chat with Alex where I said that he does tend to be fine on the lunge and that it is mainly just ridden that I have the issues, he decided to see me ride him. 

After tacking Pea up, Alex said to keep a long rein and as soon as we were in the arena we were to head off into trot. Typically, Pea decided to be as good as gold and willingly trotted off as if to say 'I don't know what that crazy person on board is on about'!. He did have one mini napping episode towards another horse but other than that, he was quite well behaved. We then had a little canter on a long rein and whilst he behaved, he did still break into trot regularly. Alex then said to gather the reins and school him more, so do more circles, etc on a shorter rein so that he could see the difference. We did a few circles and puddle dodging before finishing off. 

Alex agreed that he is definitely uncomfortable under the saddle compared to what he was on the lunge and asked if I was happy for his back to be x-rayed. Seeing as I want to get to the bottom of Pea's 7 month bucking stint, I decided to agree and luckily he had the portable x-ray machine with him as he was x-raying another horse on the yard. Pea was as good as gold to be x-rayed this time and didn't need any sedation. He had three pictures taken along his back, two of his left hock and one of his left stifle. His hock and stifle were fine but his back showed a couple of vertebrae that were slightly closer together than normal. Although it's minor and not kissing spine, Alex suggested trying some steroid injections as it could be that causing the issue. Pea does have a bit of a low pain threshold (he tries to kick over me cleaning a little cut!) so I'm hoping that maybe this is the answer. The x-ray also showed an old wither injury that I had no idea he had, although it's nothing to be concerned about. 

Now Alex has been doing Pea for 7 and a half years and knows what a little monster he can be...however, he decided that it would be perfectly fine to inject Pea with just a twitch being used and no sedation. I don't think it went quite as well as Alex predicted seeing as he had to dodge a hind leg coming at him once or twice and I had to try and avoid being knocked out by the twitch as well as try and keep Pea still! However, he had all four injections and unfortunately for Pea had to stay in for the day. He didn't seem too fussed returning to a stable with a large haynet in though! 

Pea's allowed out tomorrow and I'm to lunge him until Monday. We're lunging with no tack tomorrow and Saturday and then with side reins Friday and Sunday. He's also got the physio next week which Alex has suggested we keep so I'll let you know next week what Etti says. 

I'm really hoping that this works and gives some answers! 

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!

2015 was a funny year full of disappointments but also some high points mingled along the way. We only competed once which resulted in me landing on the floor at C rather than cantering a circle but hey ho! We're still no clearer to knowing if there's anything major with Pea and the past month I've been so busy and just lost a bit of motivation to ride if I'm honest. However, this pony still means the world and hopefully we'll get a few more answers in 2016. 

So, this year, I'm not making any goals with Pea. We're just going to see where the year takes us and have fun (hopefully) along the way. 

However, I have made a resolution for myself which is to push myself out of my comfort zone more. I'm generally a more reserved person and worry about putting myself out there and doing things outside my comfort zone so I'm going to work on changing that :) 

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx

Pole Work Exercises

As both my physio and instructor have recommended doing lots of pole work with Pea, I like to come up with new exercises with them so he doesn't get bored of simply doing the same thing. So Saturday morning, I dragged down with me to take photo's and I set out the below poles:

Basically, it's four long stride poles one way and then four trotting poles the opposite through the middle of the long poles. The trotting poles also help to ensure that we stay straight whilst going over the long stride poles. 

This exercise was really good for Pea as we started with the long stride poles which helped him to loosen up and realise about picking his feet up properly. As i've mentioned previously, Pea tends to not pick his legs up properly and will bunny hop over the poles at first as he thinks it's easier. By starting with the long poles, it gives him more time to loosen up between them. Once he loosened up over these, we moved onto the trotting poles and he went so well over them. 

We kept it varied by circling round going from long to short and in different directions so he really had to think about what he was doing with his feet. We only did the exercise for about 15 minutes as he tires quite easily with pole work as it makes him really pick his legs up. However, we did manage to finish off with a few canter strides as he loosened up enough. He's still very reluctant cantering on the left rein and is so much better on the right but we'll get there (hopefully!)

I'm aiming to do poles twice a week. Once ridden and once on the ground. There's a great page on facebook called horsephysio which post videos of lots of polework so it's great to get some ideas of how to play with poles :)

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

[Lesson] Wednesday 2nd December; Cathy Lammie

This is a few days late but I was super tired after my lesson and then have been busy with work so have only just had chance to write up about it now! If you follow me on Facebook (search for LB Equestrian) then you will already have an idea!

Unfortunately, Pea has started to misbehave a little lately but I booked in a lesson as Pea was in the last week of his bute trial so I wanted to have a chat with my instructor so see her opinion about him. Unfortunately she believes that there is definitely something wrong with Pea and that we should definitely stay on the bute long-term. However, she thinks there may be an issue in the front end as when we got round to trying a bit of canter, Pea tripped a lot when I went to get off his back and she reckons it looked like he was finding it really hard to keep his balance in front. 

As we often do, we did some pole work again using four poles. We started by doing one, then building up to the four, firstly spaced apart before bringing them closer together. This really helped him to loosen up over the poles and by gradually bringing them closer together it stopped him from hopping over them so much. Pea has a bit of a defence mechanism of hopping over the poles rather than lifting his legs correctly as he finds it easier. Unfortunately for him, it's not what we want and it won't help him but the more he does the poles, the easier it becomes. 

Once he loosened up a bit in the trot, we decided to try a bit of canter after we had gone over the poles. On the left rein, he was really reluctant and this was when Cathy suggested getting off his back. I was a bit reluctant as I always worry about him bucking but after we realised he was getting unbalanced we decided to take a short break. We then swapped reins and went onto the right rein where we had a bit of a longer canter, although it was still only about 5 strides! 

We finished the session off by looking at doing some in-hand work. Cathy suggested that we do some in-hand poles either before a schooling session or just as a session on there own. We put three poles together and walked over a few times before gradually raising one pole at a time. We then did the raised poles in the middle before moving to the higher end of the pole to really get him picking his feet up. 

Pea is now on the bute long-term and we might look into getting a vet to look over his front end in the future. For now, he's been trotted up and seen by the vet numerous times that I don't think it's a matter of urgency as they've never noted anything so we'll see how winter pans out. It might mean no dressage, or I might do a couple of walk-trot tests but for now, I'm looking into lots of ways to keep him supple. 

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx