schooling jan 2012

the 28th Jan. she's basically grown a whole hand since I've had her - and that is exactly why I haven't pushed her or let her do the jumping she wants me too

obviously this is mid way through our schooling session, I don't just canter my horse around straight away haha she was buzzin so I wanted to get some energy out of her :) also I'll point out I'm not pulling her head around at any point, that's actually her own decision to do that. the very foundation of my training is to leave her head completely alone except to support her - that's why she's 5 and not going round in a consistent outline - that's not what I want to see. I ride from my seat and her hindquarters only, I firmly believe you do not need to touch a horses head to establish their movement

she's working really well at the moment, as you can see she also proves that even the most well behaved horses have their moments ;) she's a very sensitive mare and she has balance issues in canter in that it's so big she struggles to contain it on a circle - if she can't do something she is more than likely to try and get out of it and do what's easier for her both mentally and physically. If you stay calm and supportive of her, she'll then try again and 9 times out of 10 get better at it straight away

it's a case of mind over matter with Indie haha

you can see I actually pull her up both times to check it wasn't her stifle playing up again or something else, so I turned the camera off and jumped off but she was fine, just having a tantrum, so I continued working her off camera and finished by taking her on a little cool down hack with her fieldmate

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• indian
• angel
• piratesmith

[piratesmith]

@TrampasTV definitely! Indie's a welsh D x so she's probs realistically got another year to grow, maybe she will, maybe she won't, I dunno! lol but I don't have her to compete, we just have fun at our own pace :) xx

[TrampasTV]

@piratesmith she def is talented. ;) mine's turning 8 this year, so I'm going to start upping my game, but he has been very typically irish in how slowly he's matured. He's my forever horse, so like you said I don't want to burn him out. I want him to be pottering around happily into his 20s! xox

[piratesmith]

@TrampasTV thanks! yeah it wouldn't surprise me if she grew even more to be honest, we all thought we'd probs get another inch out of her but it turns out to have been basically an entire hand and she's still only 5! she could be out competing at 1m+, she has the talent and brain for it but I'd never allow her too, she's still so young and I want her to last forever, I don't want to burn her out

[TrampasTV]

shes looking great. think she has a lot of maturing to do, I wonder if she'll grow anymore! I would say my cob didn't stop growing till last year at 7yrs. had the opposite problem when I bought him, he went around with his nose on his chest; it might have looked pretty but it's a bloody hard habit to break, still working on it now and I've had him just over 3yr. I think it is really important not to ask a horse too much outline wise when they're not strong enough. causes more harm than good! xox

[piratesmith]

@xEnchantedEquine thank you :) xx

[xEnchantedEquine]

she's so so beautiful- you ride her so well :) xxxx