Progress

We're really starting to make progress at cantering. Lately I've been able to ask Nalle to take the canter from walk and today he started to get how to do it from halt and back-up. When doing things like that Im glad that I've got a small, light and fast horse. He might not be the ultimate horse for high-level dressage but the goal is to prove everyone wrong ;) I was smiling and laughing the whole time and when he took his third nice canter from back-up there was nothing to do but to jump off and eat grass.

I fell off and Im glad I did

Nalle has not been well for the last couple of days, he caught a cold so we have just spent some undemanding time and a little bit of trailer loading. Today he seamed better so I took him to the paddock to just hang around for abit. We played at liberty, it felt really nice and Nalle was full of energy.

I walked over to the stool and asked if he would let me on, at first he hesitated (perhaps he remembered the last time we rode and I didnt understood that he wasnt feeling alright) but then he came to me.
Im abit unsure riding totally freestyle without a halter since Nalle got a history of bucking, I've been afraid that if he would get scared and run off he would buck me off. But you have to enlarge your comfort zone! It felt nice and he was listening well, but suddently he saw something in the grass next to the paddock and got scared.
When he got scared I got scared and took a "monkey-grip" at the string around his neck and he got ever more scared and started to run off. I did an emergancy dismount/fell off and landed on my feet, Nalle stoped and came back to me.
We walked to the stool and Nalle was soon to help me back up, we did some more freestyle riding so that I could get over my shaking legs. When it felt at its best I got off and gave him a carrot.

Im now glad that I fell off so that I dont have to worry about that part anymore, he didnt buck, not even with me riding bareback with NO balance at all in canter. We've come a long way, I just have to realise how far and learn from Nalle how to live in the moment.

Sleepy

 

I found Nalle sleeping in the pasture today, he use to take a nap before lunch after eating grass the whole day ;) Did some friendly game and he was ok with me sitting on him, after a while he relaxed soo much that he layed down on the side and feel asleep. "Ah excellent, I've got someone to watch my back so that I can sleep". 

When will I ever learn...

We've got a girl who's studying to become a horse-masseur coming to our stable every now and then and stays for a couple of days to get some working hours done, today was the second time she gave Nalle massage and the 4th time for him and he's finally starting to understand and really enjoy it.
Last night I rode, we started with a short trailride with the dog and then we spent some time in the paddock doing IP-games at trot and canter. We also did alot of sideways, Nalle was alot better going in one direction so we worked more on the other side. No mather what we couldnt get it to work and I started to feel frustrated, then I got sad because I got emotional and it just went downhill... I didnt want to end with a feeling of failure, I want my horse to be able to feel proud everytime and I cant lie to him so I asked him to go just 2 steps sideways in both directions with just my seat and leg as aids. He did that very nice so I got off and felt abit better but I was still very upset with myself for getting frustrated. I know that when something isnt working as well as it use to/should it has nothing to do with respect anymore, Nalle respects and trusts me 100% but I still dont KNOW it. I still blame myself for being a bad leader/horseman/friend instead of thinking outside the box to find the real reason. We walked back to the pasture and I was sure that Nalle would run away when I took the halter off, but he didnt. We did some liberty and when I walked away he neighted, at first I thought he spoke to the other horses, but then I heard that it was another sound and saw that he was looking at me. Oh what a feeling! I turned around and walked back to Nalle to scratch him abit and then we could both sleep abit happier.

No suprise the masseur found something, she found tensions under Nalle's belly that made it hard for him to engage his hindquarters. I felt really bad for pushing him yesterday instead of looking for answers on why what happened happened. I really have to learn what I learn so that I can know that I know...

Oh and we did some trailerloading aswell, the time we spent hanging around in the trailer the other day when it was raining really payed off, he walked in with the same confidence as he did last year, he didnt even bother when I closed behind him nor when I opened again.

Dual-loading

When I woke up I started the day with a ride at freestyle and finesse, after warming up mentally and emotionally for about 30 min. Figured out a way to make my saddle fit better, it's a little too wide so it moves abit when cantering. Then I let Nalle back in the pasture and did what I had to do, late afternoon I decided to trailerload Nalle and our little friend Gestora. I did it without alot of pressure, I just wanted to give them food in the trailer and play abit. Both horses did it at liberty and with excellence! Gestora did it without hesitation and Nalle loaded at liberty with Gestora cantering around beside the trailer.

Dentist, loading and a ride in the evening.

Today Nalle and I went to the dentist so check his teeth out, they're doing fine but there's still abit to fix. Hopefully alot will happen during the summer when he can eat grass, that dont get stuck between the teeth and they can move to their correct place.
When we were loading to go there it was raining and we havent done as much trailerloading lately as we should have so he wasnt as calm in the trailer as he use to, since we didnt have alot of time to fix that before the dentist and he wasnt too worried I loaded him and spent that time trailerloading on our way home. At first he didnt want to load, he was still abit gone from all the drugs..., but since we've spent so much time training I've got confidence from knowing what to do, when to do it and how. That makes is alot easier to be that alpha that dont loose it.
After a while Nalle got it and the same second that he walked in to the trailer he relaxed and rested one of his legs, then I could close the gate without him getting worried or turning (he always travel "at liberty"). Hopefully we took one step closer to being where we were when we had to stop trailerload because the snow came... We also have to get past last weeks incident when he got stuck with the halter in the trailer, now he dont want to stick his head to far into the trailer, at least not with a halter on.

When we got back I let him out into the pasture again, I've got vacation for two weeks so I've got alot of time that makes it possible for me to ride when the tempature drops or between the rain.
So I waited until the evening, then we had a nice playtime doing online, freestyle and a little bit of the fancy stuff ;)
Nalle did a few nice flying lead changes at online, I asked him to back up and then move out in circling game at canter. That gives him alot of energy and the flyings lead changes comes easier for him.
When we rode we did some bending and moving different parts of the body at walk and then we played with the walk to canter transitions, he's doing them great but starts to canter at a fast pace.
After a little while he offered me a nice collected (mentally, emotionally) canter and we were done.

We went for a nice walk around the pastures together with a friend and her horse,
but that nice walk changed to something else when we were passing the stallion who's missing his ladies... Both horses reacted strong, Nalle got up on two legs so I did an emergency dismount and then we turned and walked another way, after that they calmed down pretty fast and we could continue the nice walk at the sunset...

When we got back to the paddock we did some stretching on the horses, that's good for Nalle not just because of the stretching but also because he used to have problems with people lifting and doing things with (to) his hindlegs. That goes alot smoother now, but I still want to put energy on that and do things that he could enjoy, like stretching. Suddently the other horse started to act differently, it took us humans abit longer to see that the sprinklesystem was running and it came water from one of them.
Since Nalle doesnt love water I went to check it out with him, but he didnt bother at all so I let him back in the pasture and said good night. Perhaps all the other drama was enough for one day ;)