Shadman End of April

Well, Dentist came out today. Shadow's passport says that he is 4 in June- ah- but the Dentist said he's definitely four! So Shadow is 4 and I don't know when his birthday is! Cassie was really good, Longlined her today, I took the long lines and Kel walked with her, she didn't batter an eyelid! Loved it, Shadow, again got scared, so we're going to have to work on how we're going to get him used to them- desensitizing him to them, and telling him that they're not snakes- thing is, he was petrified of it, turned round after putting them down and he began eating.... Oh Shadow <3 How I do love this pony!!
Tomorrow, I might let him eat the deadly ropes, and throw it over my head, and round me, make myself look really silly! Whilst he's watching, Kelly will be there to help anyway :) 


Wish me luck, Blogger ;)..
I will update myself tomorrow :) 

Shadows first time wearing a bridle! ( && bareback!)

Shadow was such a sweetheart today, tried the bridle on him again today and sat on him bareback and let him get used to it, he absolutely adored having the bit in his mouth and loved it.
We went into the field and walked round that, it was lovely and I really enjoyed it. He was so sweet and so behaved and it was so magical to ride with him like that. He's never done this before, and he took to it so well. Tomorrow, if it's still warm, we'll be having baths!! Want to walk him in the bit again tomorrow, or lunge him possibly.
I love Shadman <3

Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling

So my Dancing with Horses book arrived on Tuesday, and it's great, it's beautiful and so well laid out, and really, really quite an inspiring book to read and enjoy and makes me think that my goals for myself and Shadow are achievable, with perserverance, patience and being happy along the way. Riding collected on a loose rein. Riding  in a halter and rope, would be my dream, eventually we will achieve this. It won't take months, but take us years to develop our relationship and trust. When I've finished the whole book, I'll post my review on it to here as well as Amazon.

Gemma gave me her old new ( if that makes sense) Cavesson bridle, it's beautiful, Cob size and will use it for Shadow to wear with his Snaffle tomorrow. My boy was so good the other day on the lunge for me, and it ended on a high. Eventually we'll be doing free lunging with a rope. One day....

It's funny how inspiring and thought provoking words can be. Which is also another thing, how our body language is a word, sentence, paragraph to our horses- how every movement and gesture we make is horse language. So we have to 'learn the lingo' and speak horse. We have to learn that, not the horse has to learn human ( even I struggle with that!!!).
The horse is really a magnificent animal. Beautiful. Pure and powerful.

Lunging Shadow

Today I got in my boy and lunged him. The vet gave him the all clear and said he wasn't actually lame- just sore- so maybe I got a bit overworried ;). He hasn't been worked or done anything for a week, so I did 10 minutes of lunging in the school. Shadow was such a good boy, he was listening to me, he walked and trotted and halted when I asked and although a bit slow to begin with was such a good boy. Let him try his sweet iron bit on today, and he loved it- salivated all over and got it all sloppy- but what was funny, was that when he had the bit in, he was trying to eat his hay, but couldn't quite get to grips with the strange metal thing in his mouth and trying to get mouthfuls of hay at the same time, was quite funny and the face he pulled! I took it out and he carried on munching. Going to borrow and possibly buy my friends Hunter Cavesson- for Shadow- I think that's suit him and I quite like the Cavesson type noseband- so I think he'd look smart in that. Lunged him in his Dually and he was really well behaved in it as well- so going to gradually introduce the bit into his mouth and then wean him into it. Lunging and in-hand work first. Once we're over the scariness of the longline issues- we'll then attempt to longline and ride him with the bit- I don't want to ruin his mouth, so I'm going to try and do as much on the ground with him as much as possible.
We're going to achieve it and we're going to achieve what we've wanted to do. I will make this work and so will Shadow. We're now a team.
I love him lots- and he is becoming my best friend- not Shayden and will never replace my handsome boy, but Shadow is different to Shayden and I love Shadow how he is. He's perfect the way he is-
As himself.

Ideas

So, going to try Shadow's Sweet Iron snaffle and then lunge him this week- eventually attempt to long-line him.
Vet's out tomorrow morning- to do boosters and can check over Shadow's leg! Hopefully nothing majorly wrong, just stiff! 

Love Shadow.

I like quotes!

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

There is no determining how many miles we have to run in order to chase a dream.

It doesn't matter how slow you go, as long as you don't stop.

Funny thing is- I could sit and read quotes all day long, but they've helped me discover and think in new ways- when I lost Shayden back in October- I spent so long- and still do sometimes now- thinking about it- how I wish I could have him back, how I wish I hadn't messed up- how I wish I could turn back time- but unfortunately that isn't going to happen- I'd love to have Shayden back- of course I would! But then I have something else now- something to look after and love, to cherish and care for- I spent to much time comparing Shadow to Shayden- I shouldn't and musn't- there not the same horse, Shadow is young, green and curious and slow- Shayden was fast, funny and experienced. But both are a challenge- they both challenge me- Shayden I gave up on. Therefore I've had to learn from my mistake- and make sure I don't make the same one again- obviously I will make another mistake- but this time I will get back up- you can never trip over a mountain- and I'm still at the bottom.

I'm going to stop dwelling on the past- but also try to stop thinking about the future- I can dream it- and I can think it up- but the only way I can make it- is by living for now. Which is what I'm going to do.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.

Shadow's now lame :(

Poor pony, was a silly billy and whacked into a fence post- so a prescription of grass eating and field rest is in order- he's not severely lame, but we have no stables- and the wee lad did himself no favours running around like a raving looney the other day- but horses will be horses- he's just a bit stiff, putting weight on it, we've got the vet out Monday for boosters and so will ask him nicely :-).

Shadow Progress- 3rd April 2010

The rider starting to train a young, green horse must have a definite idea of what he requires from his horse and the method by which he proposes to achieve it. The greater his knowledge and experience, the more quickly he will obtain success. But the thoroughness of the training should never be sacrificed to the temptation to gain results too quickly. Above all the rider must be warned against trying to hold too rigidly to a pattern and should give priority to individual education. Only then will he be able to perceive the many fine characteristics that will reveal to him the latent talent of his horse and will help him to obtain the best results from his training in the easiest manner. Throughout the entire training the rider must develop his horses mental and physical proficiency so that he will not only obey but also want to obey to the limit of his powers.

That paragraph comes from Alois Podhajsky's book 'The Complete Training of Horse and Rider'

which is going to be my bible for the next God knows how many years! I think it's true though

and really does refer to how we should train our horses and that we shouldn't be rushing into

things directly and just to take things slow, I know how it feels to be rushed into things and

then ending up confused trying to do to many things at once and getting brain freeze,

which poor old Shadow also suffers from, so small chunks- small steps make big steps- that's

what I keep saying in my head. Patience IS a virtue and I know it'll be worth it in the end.

So anyway, Saturday we had our first lesson with a women named Pennie, it was good, she

was okay, and was quite helpful, and I understand he's young so we musn't rush these things

but what I did is what I do with Shadow anyway, I did pick up a couple of tips, but I am

not going to spend my money on lessons for a while, I might go and have some on other horses

to help my riding, but for the time being, we're going to work on the basics and take it

in our stride. Our issue has been at the moment that Shadow struggles to listen and respond-

his reactions are slightly delayed and he has to think about what he is being told, he will

walk on beautifully, but is still ever so dependent on someone walking next to him, even

with a rider on his back, he'll want somebody walking round next to him in the school, so we

need to wean him off that issue, so I think the solution to that will be to lunge him with me

on him and then he will get the idea that he doesn't need somebody next to him all the time,

so that's the plan and my idea for the time being.

We also need to work on our halting- it's all well and good having a nice walk, trot, but the

halt is my main priority at the moment.

Our other task is to stop power walking to the gate to get out- he wants to get to his hay and again, I know it will take some time for him to learn not to do this, but I hoping that he does stop this eventually, but again, these things take time and however long it takes, we'll just keep going at it, hopefully we'll overcome it though in the not to distance future.

So our tasks for the end of April are as follows-

• Halt and Walk on when asked.
• Walk past the school gate without stopping.
• Be able to walk round the whole school and walking on and halting when asked.
• To begin working In-Hand.
• Walking and Trotting on the lunge.

I don't expect him to achieve this all by the end of the month, so even by May time would be nice ;).