Wedensday 26th March

Eddy Modde Horsemanship day 1!!

Today was the first of the horsemanship days with Eddy Modde – we started at 9.30 without horses and just had a little chat about what we are working on just now and any problems we are having and would like help with.

I said I was just starting level two groundwork, currently working with change of direction on line and transitions. I would like some help with change of direction as every time I go backwards Blossom stops – not sure if this is because I am in the wrong position.. I would also like some help with my riding. Blossom still has lots f go and I feel that I’m not on my balance point so think I could be making things worse.

We then got the ponies and headed out to the play field and started playing with our ponies. I had to work quite hard at the start to get Blossom's attention on me, as she was more interested in eating the grass than playing with me. Eddy then came over and showed me the fallen leaf pattern as this should then help me with change of direction and will also help get Blossom to pay attention to me. Me and Blossom quickly got the idea of this game and I could really notice the change in her she really seemed more relaxed and more focused on me. Eddy then showed me an S pattern which involved me walking backwards and getting Blossom to walk with me doing a S shape. This took us a little longer to get the hang off, but once we got it the difference in Blossom was amazing she was really focused on me and was waiting for me to ask her to do something.

I didn’t want to bore her so we moved on and played with squeeze game over logs and up and down the drop jumps. She really was enjoying herself; by this stage everybody else had moved to the round corrals and was playing at liberty so I thought I would give it a go too. I started with the halter just round her neck and played the seven games, everything went well so I took the halter totally off. We managed to play the first 3 games and then moved on to playing stick to me which she done really well and we managed walk, trot, stand and back up.

After lunch I saddled Blossom in three stages and played with the new patterns from this morning, which went really well. We then played with squeeze game with obstacles and yo yo’s so she was backing up into the logs. She wasn’t very confident with this so this is something I need to work on more.

I then went up to the round corral and mounted and just sat there and let her relax. I then checked my bends in both directions, a little stiff so worked on them as I walked round. Once I was happy with her bends I asked for trot and would then ask her back to walk before she got too fast. Eddy then came over and helped me with my position and also helped me with holding the reins. The little simple things that will make all the difference, I guess its just getting used to riding with just one rein and only using one hand at a time. My main problem was when I was asking her to stop I was being to strong and not asking her with phases I basically was going straight to phase 4 and instead of asking by lifting the reins, combing the reins etc. So I got some help with that, once we got that sorted we moved back to by position in the saddle. Eddy got my to ride round with my hand on Blossom’s bum to try and encourage me to sit back more on my balance point and when it came to canter I was to have my outside hand on her bum and inside hand forward so it was more like I was cantering in my body. But I found it sore to sit with the outside arm back, but can do it with my inside arm back in both directions – how strange think there might be a problem in my body not allowing me to do this. Overall I need feel that I was able to relax more in my body today and felt it had an impact on how Blossom went. Nearer the end of the session in the round corral it was becoming her idea to stop and not mine, which was nice to see for a change.