Some horsey treats coming up

[liz]

Over the next month or so I've got some excellent outings lined up.

On 26th Feb I'm going to see Monty and Kelly in action at The Hand near Bristol and Martin Clunes will also be working with his horse (for IH members only, before the main event) so should be good. Kelly did some filming with Martin recently - he is making some programmes on horses in a similar vein to the ones he did on dogs.

The following weekend I'm going to Heather Moffett's place in south Devon where she has kindly agreed to have a horsey coffee morning to raise funds for this years IH charities, Heather will be giving a demo, too,of riding and ground work. She is a wonderful classical rider and it will be good to see, I'm sure. She has some very beautiful Iberian horses.

Yesterday I bumped into an old friend who used to have a training/livery yard run on NH principles. She moved to Spain for a time but has returned to continue her work here. She has a lovely grey Lusitano stallion who is the kindest horse imaginable but when he arrived in the UK from Portugal he was a neurotic mess. Thanks to her kind and thoughtful re-training he is now a very good horse Anyway, she's invited me to her new yard for a gossip and a nose around! I'll look forward to that!

After I've been to Heather's place, the very next day I'm going on a short whale watching trip on the Plymouth to Santander ferry for 2 days, across the Bay of Biscay and back - please pray for reasonable weather or no-one will be allowed on deck! Not horsey but animal related!!! ;D

[nellie]

Hi Liz,

Lovely to hear from you, I was wondering how you were and by the sounds of it the answer is jolly well!

What a lovely programme of events you have lined up. I hope you let us know how you get on .

Very interesting about Martin Clunes. If you find out when his programmes are to be screened on TV, do update the forum, it would be lovely to see them.

Funnily enough, I have a friend who did the Plymouth - Santander ferry as a "cruise" with her family - they really enjoyed it. When I first read your post, I thought "dolphins" and was going to say:

"I have seen dolphins only once. I was travelling by ferry from Thessalonika to Lesvos in Greece and, early in the morning, I went up on deck and saw them playing in the wake of the boat: magical, especially in the early morning light! Sadly I haven't seen them since but I live in hope!"

And then I twigged that you had said WHALES! Wow! How exciting!

Have fun!

[liz]

Dolphins as well, Nellie. There are around 30 species of whale and dolphin in those seas

[avril]

You are going to have a "whale" of a time, Liz, and please tell us all about it. As you say, Heather Moffatt is a very good Classical rider, we need more people like her to help turn the tide against this upsetting trend with hyperflexion.

We're certainly praying for better weather here in snow-bound Kent. The farmer is stuck on the lane as we speak with fodder for the horses. I can't bear to think what will happen if he can't get up here.

[Erika George]

It has been a long winter Avril but I have to say that the horses seemed to have coped extremely well. Certainly I have had to buy more hay than normal but now that we are beginning to ride again the horses are fit and raring to go. Wandering about knee deep in snow doesn't seemed to have bothered them half as much as the constant rain of last winter.
I am very excited because George is getting a new friend this week, a 15hh cob gelding, Arthur, is coming to stay. George will be so happy to have some male company I am sure. Whilst he manages with his three mares he does get a bit confused about their mixed hormonal messages!
Arthur is going to be a mother/daughter share and he is supposed to be an absolute gem. They previously shared a 16.2hh Cleveland Bay who at the age of 24 has gone into retirement. I have quietly explained to them that they won't need the 2 hard feeds a day and half a bale of hay as they will find that their cob will be quite happy on grass and a bit of chaff.
The vet's view was not to feed him for the first 2 weeks, but that does seem a bit harsh.
I had a lovely ride on George today. I went out with my two non-horsey boys aged 12 & 10. Eldest son rode his bike, youngest son ran ( he likes x-country). What great trainers they are! George who is non-competitive with horses was quite keen to keep up with the children so we had a smashing trot along the road. We had a lovely canter through the woods and did a bit of schooling whilst we waited for the boys to catch us up. Youngest son decided to jump out of the hedge and surprise us! Ha, he failed! Then we had a fab high speed trot home following eldest son on this mountain bike. Great fitness training and also excellent training to deal with mountain bikes and runners.
George just gets better and better.
Erika & George

[liz]

Erika -

I loved your story of George, your sons and your ride out together. It sounds such fun

I hope the new cob, Arthur, and George settle well together. It's always a bit heart in the mouth introducing a new horse to the herd, isn't it? Will you have company out on hacks?

[liz]

Well, I went to see Monty last Friday with a couple of friends and had a very COLD but enjoyable evening. When we arrived Monty was teaching Martin Clunes' young daughter with her very sweet palomino pony - they were both having such a good time Monty then started a very, very nice brown filly. She had a simply wonderful temperament and it was her first time off the farm! She didn't object to anything and will a wonderful riding horse one day. He then had a very spooky coloured cob who soon settled. As Monty often says, train the owner and many a problem is solved! After that Martin brought in his dear old cob and Monty taught him Join-up. He seems such a very nice man and sat through the evening with a huge smile on his face and being very nice to the few who asked him for an autograph or to have a pic taken.

After the interval, Monty did a hsort demo of western riding ion a wonderful quarterhorse loaned to him by the Mendip Stud which is in North Somerset. What a horse! He did stupendously fast spins, immediate halts with NO pressure on the mouth and even did one time changes. The piece de resistance was a counter canter on a circle - very hard to do. Amazing! Kelly did a bit of trek on Pie and the evening rounded off with as usual with a pony who wouldn't load - she did after about 15 minutes, very easily, and even took herself into the trailer ;D

Another great evening!

[juliabick]

That sounds like am amazing evening. I think I might try to convince hubby to take me to a demostration.

[liz]

P.S. The Martin Clunes programmes are due to be broadcast in September.

[liz]

Last night a friend took me to our local RDA where a lady musician gave a talk about dressage to music with horses being free schooling and ridden. I did a bit of the free schooling and also had music going during lessons when I kept a horse with a friend who ran a yard on NH principles - it was fun and I'll swear the horses did enjoy it.

The first two horses in were let loose and music of different tempi was played. They were not that reactive to the music to start with, being fascinated by their reflections in the mirrors of the indoor school but one did seem to pick up a rythym from time to time.

An ex racehorse was ridden and he was a delight to watch. His schooling had come on very well and he was probably prelim level but was nice and light in the hand. By happy coincidence his name was In Tune!!! His rider was very quiet and nice. In contrast, the next horse was a big warmblood competing at Grand Prix level. She had terrific paces but looked quite crooked when doing lateral work and looked very tight in the neck the whole time. The rider had hard, immovable hands and sat behind the vertical an awful lot, especially when driving the mare forward A real pull me, push me scenario. The mare was grinding her teeth nearly the whole time but the timekeeping was good.........................

I kept thinking of Monty riding Copy when just the very lightest of touches was needed to do one time changes.

[liz]

I've been on my trip to Santander where it was snowing on arrival but I had a good rest if nothing else! Practised my Spanish a bit! Here's a pic........



Now, how many whales and dolphins can you see? None? Yep - same as me!!! I think it may be a bit too early in the year to see much

Quite honestly, apart from the rest and a nice few hours wandering asround Santander it wasn't my cup of tea. It was a bit of a booze cruise which just ain't me! Did some quiet reading - rarely seem to do that in recent years - and spent lots of quiet, cold and windy hours sitting on deck contemplating the sea in the lee of the wind! It was relatively calm with just a bit of a sea for a few hours in the return journey on Monday night.

[avril]

Great pic, Liz, and just as well it wasn't me because I felt seasick looking at the wake, and horizontal is the only way to travel.

[liz]

On Saturay I went to Heather Moffett's which is near Totnes, very close to my late sister's home. It was a lovely day if a bit wet and cold! On arrival we had a cup of coffee and a chat and then went to watch Heather working her stunning Lusitano gelding. The horses were lunged and then had a ridden warm up before the hard work! Heather demonstrated how she worked the horses and that included plenty of transitions from walk, trot, canter to more advanced stuff including collections and extenions. The horses did half pass, flying changes, piaffe and also spanish walk. Amazing and so fluent. Heather is a very, very balanced rider and hardly shifted from the saddle. We broke for lunch and then watched an American gentleman riding her Lusitano x warmblood, a stunning horse. heather rode him first and he was just wonderful. The guy was a relatively inexperienced rider and the horse was such a good schoolmaster. If his rider didn't give precise aids he simply didn't do anything - you could see it all over the horse's face: "What on EARTH does this plonker want me to do!" It really emphasised just how good a rider Heather is!

Next, a working pupil rode a welsh cob x

The lad had only been riding for about 5 weeks and his standard of riding was unbelievable for someone of such limited experience. He started on Heather's simulators and this meant he understood the principles before he even sat on a horse so once on board he could concentrate on riding the horse and didn't have to worry so much about the usual beginner stuff such as position, aids etc as they had already been instilled.

I had to leave before his lesson finished as the friend I took had to get back to her horses. It was such an informative day and I have to say that were I still slim, fit and riding then I would certainly like to do one of the simulater courses to improve my position etc

[lisandsaf]

Sounds very interesting Liz.. are the courses held all over the country or just near to you?

I would like to have a go on a simulator at least you now your not going to hurt or confuse the horse by giving wrong or strong or not enough strong aids as the case may be,, and wonderful for beginners to gain that intial balance ..

It would be a bit like having a driving lesson after all these years when you thing you drive ok!!!

Lisa and Saf

[liz]

Heather holds the simulator courses at her yard which is near Totnes in South Devon but she does have Enlightened Equitation teachers around the country. Have a look at her Enlightened Equitation website.

I'm off to Yorkshire next Sunday to see my sister and other family (my Mum comes from Yorkshire) including my newest great nephew born on 1st April Some of my IH friends are meeting up with me the following weekend at the Lancashire farm/livery yard of one of them. Should be fun!

I've also been invited to go to Badminton horse trials but don't know which day yet - I quite like the dressage days as it's not usually so busy but there's a change this year. Dressage is Friday and Saturday, XC in Sunday and SJ on Bank Holiday Monday.