Ohh dear, behind on the blogging again!

My baddd... been like 2 weeks, eek. Can't really remember what I've done each time I've ridden, so I'll talk about it as a whole lol.

Well I am very pleased with his flatwork, he's been veryy good and nice and soft now that he can hold himself a bit more, which is always nice :), been working on more lateral movements to try to get him to concentrate more, I like to think it's working haha. Generally start with some shoulder-in, on a long rein, he's getting nice and supple already which is loovvellly :) And then do some turning on the forehand, half pirouettes etc, which we're getting there, so yeah happy happy ;D

Last weekend managed to get a little pop in too, always a bonus. Though it was just a one off for the time being, I'm going to wait til the Spring so that he'll have more energy and less fur/flab to drag over the jump too hehe. Only up to about 2ft3 but Red did seem to enjoy himself haha.

I've got a lesson booked for Tuesday, so I guess that will show more our situation right now, how much work needs to be done before we start jumping more challenging exercises and heights, but yeah considering we're only a month and a week in I'm really pleased. :)

Ohh and managed to hack out for the first time today, with Tanya and Sirocco, kind of showed how unfit Red really was but it seemed to perk him up a bit :) Just did walking with a little trot up the road, but Red was veryy well behaved considering that a) it was raining, b) we went the road way and came across some lorries and other scary creatures, and c) well Rocs was hardly in the best of moods, she nearly swung her bum out in front of a car a couple of times and was walking sideways a fair bit too. But hey ho, I'm aliiive :D haha.

We'll get some more footage on Thursday; my mate is coming down for a wonderful sort out session in the tackroom too haha. Good stuff.

Naww Fluffy Ponyyy.

Red was a good'un again today, though I think he noticed me turning up 5 minutes late, how dare I?! He saw me walk into the tackroom to get his breakfast and started neighing and snorting and banging away, haha. What a dear. He was also a bit surprised at the size of his breakfast; obviously I didn't want to give him a full brekkie because I didn't want to have to wait for 1 or 2 hours to ride, so just gave him a handful of pony nuts to keep him quiet; he did not look impressed hehe.

And then while he was tied up outside I mucked out, except he kept backing his bum into the stable and being a general pain lol, not the most patient of horsies I have to say. Managed to keep him satisfied with some haylage while I finished, I swear his life just revolves around food!

He was fairly good when I rode him too, gave him a long rein to begin with and he felt like he was reaching through his back nicely so a big change from the pent-up pony I came back to a few weeks ago! Did some lateral work - half pirouettes, shoulder in and a teeny bit of leg yielding, though he seems to find it very inconvenient to keep straight right now, grr. Haha, but it will come :D Kept a nice outline alot of the time too, again sometimes went too overbent or too deep with his head and neck, but he didnt lean on me this time, which made a nice change, I think working on a long rein to begin with helped him alot. We still had some stubborn moments, but it's Red, what do you expect haha. Got a lesson booked for during half term, just a half hour one while we're both coming back into work, but I've asked it to be a no-stirrups one, to make sure my seat is correct before we move onto anything else. But yeah, I'm pleased with our progress, my leg seems to be getting stronger with every ride; that's the main concern right now :)

Another post tomorrow; will be riding in the morning again, will try and get some footage. x

Well I'm going to ache in the morning!

Aww well the pony was a good boy today :) He neighed when I went to get him from the field, don't know if it was because he thought I had food but still quite a novelty hehe. Brought him in and gave him a nice brush, as you can probably tell by the background of the photo, he has a very muddy field, all to himself, to roll to his heart's content. Bless him.

I started riding as usual, just with my stirrups, though tbh I wanted to do something a bit more intense to really get me motivated to ride again, so after a couple of laps in walk took away my stirrups and did some of the old riding school exercises, as you do :P Worked as I had planned though, after a few laps my seat felt much more relaxed and less forwards, so hopefully the benefit will be worth the aches I'll undoubtedly have tomorrow :D

But yeah, did some little exercises getting him to come off my leg, like turning on the forehand then sending him away in trot and things like that, which after a while he did nicely; obviously right now he's still in half asleep old man mode a fair amount of the time :P But he was coming down onto the bit easily, though occasionally a tad overbent but right now at least he's giving to me rather than fighting the bit all the time, and with a bit of leg he usually comes back up into a nice outline anyway.
Canterwork was also a bit of a drama to begin with, he's got a horrible habit of leaning on my hands, especially round corners, which makes it very difficult to get him to carry himself nicely. Though I expect this is again, a lack of balance, something which hopefully will correct itself in time.
After that I took my stirrups back, and gave him another couple of canters, my leg and seat felt much more relaxed after this so the no-stirrups definitely helped him and me. So in the end I got some nice paces out of him, considering the amount of time he's had off I think we're coming back into it nicely, at least it's going well for the time being :)
After riding I did his bed; while he was waiting outside he had a lovely fat parsnip to sink his teeth into, which surprisingly does take Red quite a while to get through! And then made his dinner the way he likes it, with warm water and grated carrot in it, well at least no-one can say I neglect my pony :P a tad spoilt, but he seemed to enjoy it :)

So the plan right now is to see how we progress during the weeks up to half term, at which point I'm hoping to return to the 3/4 times a week riding pattern we had before, and I'm arranging a lesson during that week too. And then hopefully we'll see some jumps in March/April time. Woahhh will be 6 months since jumping by then :O How have I coped?! But yes, left a very cosy Red in his stable, the usual remains of his food round his mouth... he's like a toddler really, I think he needs a bib :P