21st March

A week of horrendous weather, thought we were gonna blow away in the gales!!

So have done no riding or groundwork, but today marked the beginning of a journey to a truly natural haflinger, and Giddy's shoes have been removed, so I now, after 2 years of thought have a barefoot horse!!

She was really very cuddly whilst farrier was here, and after he left and I took some photos; I may well be anthropomorphising, but maybe she was thanking me for taking the metal off her feet!!!

Walked out nicely in the yard, and had a good old run around when I turned her out

Have been feeding a "food state" type biotin supplement rather than an isolated one and hopefully this will help

I really hope we have a smooth transition, and that this could perhaps be part of the puzzle with this very challenging mare

13th March

Had a dreadful session earlier in the week, so much so that i didnt even write down my notes! Once again it was Gidy's new game of taking me off the the left, she took me into the electric fencing (off), I got really mad, so got off, and then made her move her feet on the ground, hopped back on, did some LFs and then got off

Today, I had a plan, cuz if we dont get through this soon, it is going to become a really ingrained pattern like the grass eating used to be... as I am finding it impossible to be effective with stick / string etc, I decided to change approach and took down a long dressage whip. Set things up so I was at the top of the field to give me more room to try and stop her getting to the fence on the left, so literally just tried to ride straight lines along the top, there it was, she tried to set off to the left, so I gave her a good old firm tap on the outside quarters, and held the right rein.. bingo, this seemed to do the trick, tried once more, again got a good result, so rode that unbraced body to the top right, then released and got off. Releasing and turning her out when we have achieved something, even if tiny on the ground has made a big difference, so made a point of doing this

So whilst a dressage whip is not my first tool of choice, it is much kinder than getting into a kicking pulling, bracing, unhappy situation, so I am happy with my decision making on that

3rd March

Group lesson today with Ali Jones at Cholwell; had literally done nothing since last post as the mud and rain has made anything literally impossible, really is getting depressing now!

It was a great morning; particular highlight was 5 horses, on 22ft lines in a carousel, circling and with a jump to negotiate, initially it was a bit chaotic, but after a short time, horses and humans all settled and went without fuss - great stuff!! And considering the group - all pretty complicated, it was pretty impressive

When we started this game, Giddy went into overdrive and showed how she can move when she really wants to, she was trotting with real power and beauty, tail up, head arched - looked fabulous; I hope one day she may look like this under saddle - could take a few years ;0))

Also played with dragging objects which was interesting to see how it really got all the horses curiosity up!!

My ridden session was pretty frustrating, was asking for some more speed around the school - at one point she went straight into the wall at the end as i was trying to ask for a canter - she is so strong willed!! Right rein was awful, and she just kept pulling to the inside, but Ali helped us through and it did improve; but I was very disappointed that I did get very frustrated with her!!

Trailer loading was good both in the morning and going home