The boys watch the girls while the girls watch the boys who watch the girls go by

The girls with the boys in hot persuit

It is all change with the fields recently. At the end of April Sofies worst fears came true as Mat left with Serenade and Sky leaving the girls field down to 5 horses. Sofie coped with the loss of her beloved Serenade surprisingly well. In fact for a blissful fortnight she stopped her separation behaviour in the yard. Unfortunately she then fell in love with the new mare next door and it all started again. I am beginning to think that Sofies’ owners’ plans to breed from her may be thwarted by Sofie clearly bating for the other team!

Anyway the two driving ponies are due to be sold, dwindling our numbers to just three horses. This becomes problematic as chances are two horses will taken out to ride leaving the last horse alone which does not work with neurotic mares who freak out when alone. In order to prevent this from happening, the yard owner suggested putting the girls out with the boy field liveries. Unfortunately one of the owners has refused to mix her horse, and so it is just Sofie and Rosie who have been put out with the field of boys.

Again this is a new herd dynamic to introduce you to. The boys field is, by in large, occupied entirely by fat cobs. Tonto is king fat cob, all the others do as he commands. Fred is Tontos henchman, and is generally in fairly close proximity to Tonto. Ernie is the resident clown and gets on with everyone. Buttons and William are the teenagers who are always playing. William is particularly annoying and is generally getting into mischief.

Tonto thinks all of his Christmas have come at once - girls in his field! He is utterly convinced that he is a beautiful big black stallion and has been prancing about like an idiot. He is showing all the alpha stallion behaviours. Herding and circling the girls, making sure none of the other boys get to talk to them. Making repeated approaches, desperate that one might accept his advances – not a chance, but Tonto is ever the optimist. Arching his neck, whinnying and prancing about in a continual display of his manliness. None of the other fat cobs have shown the same level of interest in the girls, no more than they normally show to any new horse. It is only Tonto who has forgotten that his bits are missing.

Sofie is, as usual, taking this in her stride. Rosie and her are now attached at the hip. Any unwanted advances (any advances from Tonto) and they turn in unison and scowl at the unsuspecting male who then goes and cowers. By in large she ignores Tonto’s constant circling and just gets on with enjoying the grass. She will fit nicely as alfa female in this herd.

In fact I think it would all be very calm indeed expect that a new boy has also been added. Doc was placed into the herd the day after the girls arrived. Whilst Tonto is a black stallion trapped in a cobs body, Doc is a cob trapped in a race horse body, he is far too relaxed for racing so he is now going to have a go at being a pleasure riding horse.

The problem is, the girls seemed to rather like Doc, he is far more attractive than fat old Tonto, and they have been trying to sneak off to talk to Doc every time T’s back is turned. Tonto is not happy about this, not happy at all, and has reacted by waging war on poor old unsuspecting Doc who only wants to quietly eat the grass. Every time Doc is anywhere near, Tonto launches at him teeth bared. Tonto has rallied his henchmen to support him in his crusade. Luckily Doc is a lot faster than the fat cobs and can trot away without breaking a sweat but it must be stressful for him to be constantly harassed. Tonto can’t be doing his legs much good either. In his quest to be a stallion he is also forgetting his legs don’t work and is charging up and down the field. His arthritis must be really hurting him, but he is too stubborn to relent despite the pain.

I don’t want to give Tonto painkillers though, as I think he will just do himself, and potentially Doc more damage. In any case I can’t get Tonto away from his mares long enough to have a feed with painkillers in, so he will just have to put up with the discomfort.

Crisis of confidence

I have realised of late I have been following fad after fad with Sofie.

·         First it was the going barefoot decision, which seemed to result in me reading endless stuff on the internet and believing all of it.

·         Then I dabbled in natural horsemanship to deal with her behaviour issues rather than using my normal methods.

·         Then there was the enlightened Equitation way of riding – I instantly bought and read the book and thought everything I have learnt thus far is wrong.

·         Recently I have changed Sofie’s saddle to a leather tree FlexEE having read about the daemons of traditional saddles (daemons being that the stirrup bars are too far forward for a decent position, and that the tree can interfere with the horses movement).

·         And now I am fiddeling about with her bit and considering bitless.

 

Sofie Modelling some of my recent fad buys

 

There is a phrase:

barefoot, bitless, treeless, clueless

 

Is this what I have become?

I used to be quite straight forward in my horsemanship. Horse is misbehaving, be sure it knows what you want it to do and make that the easiest option. If it doesn’t do it – tell it off. I always kept gadgetry to a minimum – snaffle bit, standard gp saddle (and sometimes forwent the saddle when it didn’t fit). Horses had shoes on the front, and on the back it they needed it. Plain shoes, none of this fancy nonsense. Riding was effective if not pretty. I never doubted myself.

Even when Tonto was really challenging I never looked to fads for answers - actually that is not true. I did once have a behaviourist out, but soon gave that up as I didn’t really have the time to draw little circles all over my horse daily and I didn’t think this would prevent him from charging down strangers in any case. I suppose I did develop some strange habits with Tonto. I learnt how to use my body language to communicate with him, and took to singing to him when he got scared. But other than that I was pretty conventional.

I guess what has suddenly woken me up from my fade chasing is that I have just ordered a Pelham bit for Sofie because the EE book suggested it. I have always hated Pelhams. I hate over-bitting your horse. The EE book tells me that a well-used Pelham is kinder than a snaffle.  This is going against everything I have known and I do find it hard to believe that the long held wisdom that the snaffle bit is the soft option is, in fact, a lie.

And now I am in a state of turmoil. Is bitless the answer? Do I actually know anything about horses? Who is the right person to believe?

Oh I do miss the old days, when my old instructor was around. To me he was the Yoda of horses. Have a problem, ask him, that was definitely the right way to do it.

Now I have to weigh up different view points and make my own decisions. Growing up is pants.

Enlightened sack of potatoes

So a couple of posts ago I was talking about getting some lessons to help with my riding, since then I have done some more reading about the classical seat and have been viewing some photos of me on a horse. DEAR LORD I NEED HELP!

I’ve been eagerly reading Enlightened Equitation by Heather Moffett. The whole ethos of the book and her technique is to develop a seat where you can move with the horse and communicate effectively. Heather seems to use skill rather than force to encourage the horse to move correctly, resulting in a more free and relaxed movement then the pinned down and stressed performance you often see in the dressage ring. I have noted that every one of the horses displaying the correct way of riding in the book have relaxed and listening ears when they are. All the leg aids make sense and the descriptions of common problems and the effects they have on horses all ring true with my experience (I have expansive experience of what not to do). The riders are gentle and elegant and the horses are both powerful and relaxed. I want to ride like this.

So I’ve started by looking at some photos and thought about how I currently ride.

Back in the day Schooling T:
legs really far forward and my right hand is all wrong

Trotting along on Stu: Legs too far forward again

Me on Sof: look how wonky I am!

No wonder Sofie’s back is sore! I sit like a poorly stacked sack of potatoes. I seem to be collapsing on one side. All of my weight is in my arse, my thighs lollop in front of me and my lower limbs swing and flap at will. When the horse moves I seem to be polishing my saddle with my bum, scrubbing both seat bones forward and backwards effectively blocking Sofie from being able to move her back. I saw habitually with my hands, though admittedly not as viciously as most. Poor little princes has been trying her hardest with me but I really am atrocious. I feel awful, all the horses I have schooled must have been uncomfortable with me on top. Poor Mr T put up with it for years and years.

I never realised how bad I was.

So yes, I feel pretty deflated right now. In many ways I failed poor Mr T. But I guess the flip side is at least I have recognised my faults and I have a chance to correct my riding. Sofie is like a second chance for me, I can train myself to be the rider she deserves. I can spend the rest of my days with T making up for it with cuddles and carrots. All is not lost.

Trying very hard to sit properly

Yvonne helping me with my seat