meaning it

This morning I went over to see Di and her lovely horses. Allegedly she needed some help with the gorgeous Remy and his in-hand work!
A coolish morning gave us plenty of time to look at the man in action and I was really pleased to see how forward thinking he was, this was a marked improvement since my last visit and it was clear Di had been working on the right lines. That's the thing with training horses, it's all there to see and there's no place to hide if it's not right...lucky for Di the only thing missing was a pat on her back!!

There were a couple of things that could be worked on going forward but really it's all about intention. Just like we are with our kids and discipline it's the same with our horses; if you're bothered enough to say it, MEAN IT. As long as you reward handsomely and define it well then meaning it is what works.

It was great to see Jim looking so much better and out in his veggie garden and he assures me he will be back blogging soon, hope so Jim as you always make me smile.

hurrah for friends

I've had a lovely day today. Di came over and brought food parcels...homemade soup, crusty bread and cakes...so we lunched well on delicious grub and put the world to rights! I had forty winks on the sofa when Di left and now I'm feeling beautifully rested and about to go and do hay etc.
Thanks Di it was great and really cheered me up.

friends

Well finally I'm back (thanks to my friend Ray) online. Sadly :-( I've lost every bit of data off my hard drive (Oliveira book, Baucher research and lots of 'photos plus all my email addies) but we're back in business.
On the friends front, I spent a lovely morning with Di yesterday. A cool morning (rare around here at the moment) meant that we could work Anky and Remy in the school. Despite Di's feelings of apprehension, she is doing a great job with both. Anky is such a willing girl and in spite of her health problems it was easy to see what a star she's going to be. Remy is another story, like his mum (Anky) he is very trainable but being a total baby he is just so much fun. When he got away from me on the lunge (my fault) he showed just how extravagent his natural paces are. Good job he's not 2 hands shorter or I'd be horse napping him. Lydia was our video queen until she found Jim, the chooks and picking produce a more entertaining prospect. Thanks Di.
Today I walked Moo round the triangle hack. Kids, cars, trailers and bikes but he was (as always in hand) a good boy. I guess I'll just stick with it until he chills, hopefully soon.
On the 'goat' front he will now pick up each rear foot when tickled with the whip and I guess he'll work out the stepping under soon enough.

:-(

Oh dear I gone broke my 'puter. I'm typing on hubs laptop (english keyboard) and it's making my brain hurt. Normal service will resume when it's fixed.
Brief communication....had a lovely day with Di, Moo behaved'ish and we drank beer and wine (ha nothing new then) and she brought most of her garden with her (green beans, toms, beets, plums and of course chook eggs) ta Di.
Thanks for the disc Claire, it arrived today. Anyone needing to email use the patrick. instead of trudi.

That's it folks.....ah excpt, Cabruze mentioned the other day about downsizing her equestrian bookshelf. My question to all you bloggers......if you were only allowed to keep one equestrian book, which one would it be and why? I'll start by keeping Waldemar Seunig's Horsemanship; so much common sense and superb equitation that it stands the test of time.

yay, back online

Well the holiday's over, the Languedoc Rousillon was it's usual sunny self and this time we ventured just into Spain to Port Bou and it's supermecado stocked with our favourite Faustino vino tinto...yum. So now I'm relaxed and ready to deal with horses, family and life for the next year.

Just before hols we had a lovely day, Claire and Allison arrived the day before and Di came over for lunch and playing pones. Sadly Moralejo had other ideas and hobbled in on 3 legs and a hop. To say I was stressed is probably the understatement of the century, lol. I won't bore you with the details but basically I left for hols with a horse on bute, only marginally less lame than the day before and one hundred, or more, thoughts doing my head in. Well we had various texts and chats between Claire, Di and I and I decided to avoid the horrors of travelling Moo to the specialist horse vets in Pompadour and instead went for some manipulation with Di's new found masseuse Lucinda and it was well worth the trouble. It seems that Moo has put out his wither and probably something behind too and so we will be having an osteo visit and exercises/massage and ridden/lunging therapy too.
I am just so glad that I had Claire at home to keep everything ticking along and updating me and also glad for Di's offer of taking him to Pompadour to the vets....thanks guys.

Well this entry is already long enough but I want to end on a positive note. I rode Moo very briefly on Sunday afternoon (in Claire's Heather Moffett saddle!!) and he was still a little stiff in walk and decidedly short in trot. Yesterday we lunged and it was almost imperceptible and today I rode again; lots of stretching and he was such a good man and about 95% so I think we may be doing the right thing.

friend to play

It was so lovely to see Di today, we played with Moo (Di sat on too) and she kindly shot some video for me. Afterwards we laughed lots and put the world to rights over a bottle of wine.

I've had a b*gger of a job with the video because movie maker seems to have uploaded it as lots of tiny clips of a couple of seconds each so I'm afraid it's the best I can do tonight.

Anyway, he wasn't quite right today and felt a little unlevel before he loosened up; after we finished and took him back up to the yard he seemed to be foot sore and I can only surmise that he is bruised.....so day off tomorrow and see him on the lunge Sunday.

He was, as always, FULL of beans and as you will see he tucks back behind and rushes on. However, it may be rather fast but he ISN'T leaning on me and it is slowly getting there.

Too tired to add anything constructive but thanks for coming over Di, great to see you.

satisfaction...

...is a day spent with horses and friends!! A beautiful spring like morning spent tootling around the chemins of the Dordogne, mounted on Di's girl Corky and non-stop chatting, lol.
Tonight Lydia whipped up eggs, fresh from Di's dove grey chooks, and we made *kitchen sink* omelette with fat home cut chips and great dollops of ketchup *sigh* end to a perfect day.
Gorgeous eggs, thanks Di.
Finally ordered the new camera so I'm looking forward to posting more 'pics again soon.

Winter sun and a friend to play with

Yay!!! Di came over this afternoon and the sun shined on us......
I'm hoping that Di may give me a few words to say about this afternoon but basically we nattered (lots) and played pones with Moralejo. It was really good to see someone else on him and to see the corrections I've been making actually work for someone else too. He looks incredibly *up* and proud and carries his back well throughout all the higher hand work and I think Di found him rather nice to ride as he is so responsive. We had some great walk work, still not consistent enough but getting there and Di experienced his tension in the trot but luckily, like I've said before, he really isn't scary just full of raw energy. Like she said, you can learn such a lot from a horse like him. Here's hoping then :-)
We finished the afternoon with a cup of tea , sorry it was French tea Di :-( and some cakes that Di treated us to. In all a fab day and I'm all keen to continue so that the next time Di comes over we have improved some more. Hopefully we can continue being *eyes on the ground* for each other and I can repay the favour with Di's mare Anky.