Tuesday 28 July 2009

Video

I spent a bit of time yesterday putting some of our stuff to music, its basically what we learnt at the Bissell Wood course, and a few extra things at the beginning. Enjoy :)

Sunday 26 July 2009

Quick Photo Update

Here are a few of my own photos that I took at Bissell Wood, all of them taken on the first day :) It was a really beautiful place and these pictures definately don't do it justice.


June's personal stable yard, this isn't a good angle. But you can still see how pretty!


One of the hundreds of billion avenues


Looking back into the house, and a lovely view of my dads rear!


The paddock Olivia had ALL TO HERSELF!! And baasically all you can see is Bissell Wood. And more.

That place was just amazing! I'm getting more and more impatient about the photos Larissa had, so believe me when I get them you'll see them!!

Jo x

Friday 24 July 2009

Well...

Where to start?

It's been a hell of a week. I'll write my highlights because if I was to write everything trust me you'd be here tomorrow!!

I finally UNDERSTAND understand the patterns! I now know what I'm looking for before I want to take a rest. We were supposed to be trotting the rail, but me and Olivia got put on a bullseye because she was being too impulsive. So after doing the bullseye for a while she found this really nice, slow, balanced trot which she could just maintain forever. And just as Lyla and Rachel said, she fell in love with it. On the last day, we were at the back of the ride trotting. A week ago Olivia would have been rushing about and ignoring me, but yesterday she just picked up her speed and thought 'hey, I don't care how fast they go, this is MY speed'. And I could have cried I was so proud!

I also tried my cradle bridle on the last day, and she just went beautifully in it. When we were practising soft feel and vertical flexion it finally gave her busy brain something to think about.

I can't write much more, I am SOOOO tierd. But I'll try and say more later. And when I get the 1000 (honest truth) photos that were taken, I'll put some up.

Love a super happy Jo xx

Monday 13 July 2009

:)

What a week its been! Although the amount of 'work' I've done with Olivia has been minimal thanks to weather, distractions etc., our relationship has soared! In Poland all I had to do was call her name and she'd come to me, and now we're back on track again. All I need to do is go OLIIVVVIIAA, wait a little for her to figure out I'm not gonna be the one that moves, and voila, she saunters over!

I was looking over the self assessments the other day for inspiration, and online I'm totally done with L2. So I thought, how can I challenge myself? And the answer was obviously bring out the 45ft line which has been gathering dust a little bit. And was it a success? HELL YES! We did figure of 8, weave and a bit of circling. I also worked on backing her out farther, but not the whole distance because thats a bit much to do so quickly. Anyway, she was soo responsive, and I was just thinking why couldn't my mum be there to film my audition THAT day? It was awesome.

I'm a tad annoyed I might not be able to get down to the stables today because of the faboulous NHS system, where a nurse may turn up some time after 12 to see my granddad. So I don't know what time she'll be here, and then when she does arrive I need to help translate. So, knowing the system, she'll probably turn up about 3/4ish or later, which will leave me not much time for the hour journey to sunbury. :(

OH WELL. Gives me time to pack which I really should do since we are leaving first thing on Wednesday, and then tomorrow I'll spend most of the day at the stables. But, I HATE PACKING. Olivia has it lucky, all she has to do is walk onto a trailer and stand there eating hay for a few hours. Ahh, to be a horse!

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Rain, rain go away!

What a load of tosh! School finishes and so the skies greet us with rain and thunder. Hardly fair!!

Anyway, gives me plenty of time to watch parelli dvds, read about horses, brush up on my polish etc. Also, to plan my future :)

AND...to get more and more excited about the course NEXT WEEK!! WOOO!! haha

Anyway, I'm gutted that the fast track course won't be available in the UK next year, especially since my mum offered to help me pay. But never mind, there'll be other opportunities. I'm on too much of a summer high to be very bothered.

So, since next summer currently has no horse plans, I've been thinking whether I will embark on a road trip across Europe with my horse and base myself in Poland for the summer. Because of A-levels I'll be finished VERY early, and I have friends out there who will look after her for me if I want to dash off to majorca or barbados with friends. It would be exciting, but I haven't even looked into the cost. We'll see!!!

So the rain means little time has been spent with Olivia, so I've not got much to update with. Hope everyones having a fab summer! x

Monday 6 July 2009

Photo Update !

Whayy, so I finally got my friend to come and take photos (a bit of tit for tat since she needed them for a school photography project!) So here you go:













I like the last photo - looks like shes doing extended trot :P I also got my mum to film me ride, and I noticed my lower legs really aren't still. From the ground it does look as if I'm constantly pumping her to keep going, which obviously removes the responsibility of the horse to maintain gait. However when I'm on her I definately don't feel myself doing that, so I'm going to ask Rachel/Lyla about it next week (yayyy!!)

Also, she is quite on the forehand and I want to know a natural way to bring her weight into her hind so that she can become more collected etc. I'm gonna be bombarding the instructors with questions next week!

Jo x