Opening communication lines....

What a couple of weeks for me.  I've been out with Ernie nearly every day, in one way on another.  What a happy boy am I!  And we've been everywhere it feels.  Highlight definitely being 2 and a half hours out going to the Swanley gallop with Sophie, who borrowed Marble - Ernie's new best friend by the way! Excepting yours truly of course! ;-)

I have now done some more lunging, properly this time, without losing all coordination, without feeling sick and without risking physical injury at the hooves of my pride and joy.  So what is this illusive grail, what lock do I hope will be unpicked by the subtle whip-lick from the lunge line, it is voice activation.  We've talked of that before.... its been a constant theme I think.  It is the way I have always enjoyed working, but have only every achieved it with some of the horses I've ridden down in the Pyrenees.

So after my first lesson we're making some progress I find a way of say KAAAN-TA which seems to hit the spot - walk and trot already working.  Though stopping him seems to be a little challenging, or at least I can stop the canter, stop the trot, but the walk just keeps on-going.  Weird.  I am beginning to realise voice commands need two distinct syllables.

So we take these learnings out into the woods where they have slowly taken on new life.  At first we had to be very demanding, so I rapidly became more the Horse-Bellower than Whisperer of my dreams, but....  As a hack-horse Ernie has now become almost completely voice activated, in two weeks, gentle squeeze and say the word.  To the extent that when I tried to take him for a gallop over the golf course, I forgot to ask and just kicked him so he tried to throw me off, so I kicked again this time he tried harder to unseat me - we definitely have established a clear two channel of comms and I ignore his at my peril!  Despite being a big horse I think he demands gentle handling - he's not so much dead to the leg but irritated by too much of it.

I am trying to listen more and more to him, rather than tell, tell, tell.... The fuss I make the less he does, the more heavy handed I am, the more he resists.  I try more and more to accept everything as a communication, he is honest and tends to act with purpose, so I now I always seek the intent.  We end up in a much happier place. 

I took him out on his own yesterday beyond the safe confines of Joydens, across golf course, roads and farm land.  What an experience, yes he was jumpy ... builders dropping scaffold poles, farm shop shoppers emerging a little too enthusiastic about their organic acquisitions, itinerant eastern Europeans farm workers working where they don't work at weekends but .... that's a lot to get through without the safety of fellow equine company!!

So notwithstanding the challenges of young-green-horse having to put up with a rider whose competencies are the wrong side of intermediate (in text book terms) I personally have to observe that my time with Ernie ever more rewarding, every time we work he gives more, I think the feeling is mutual.  Really it feels like we can take on the world (but i'll probably leave that bit to Sophie!!).

The dizzy dummy.

So I'm now learning to lunge.

Officially it starts mid-week.  Unofficially it started on Saturday.  My good friend Leighton offered me a first taste.  Despite a lot of man-handling sadly I could not quite stay still.  Particualrly as the drunken giddiness kicked in.  I ended up completely seasick, L taking the lungeline from me and trying to assume control whilst I was stumbling around trying to even take two steps in the same direction..... get out of the way.... yeah right!

More like, wobble telle-tubby, wobble Tinkie-Winkie.... wobble towards the hooves of that cantering horse!

He had said to keep looking at the horse, I did, but i was also determined to take in the beautiful spring morning scenery around me.  Or was I trying to check for some kind of validation from the gawping gallery.  The rest, history...

Was I pleased with my first steps into horsemanship ... well I kept my breakfast down! 

I was Laurel, to Leighton's Hardy on this morning. 

The real thing'll kick in this week.  Light breakfasts planned.

Lost in translation...

So I'm recommended to try and get more voice control over Ernie.  Which means, when out in the woods say "Can-ter!" loudly and clearly when I ask for it and reward him accordingly if he does it.  (Remember in the school when we go for this transition we tend to get lots of bucking! .... but I do tend to try and voice activate to a degree when I'm schooling anyway.... )

Off I go to the woods determined to try this out.  So we're off cantering and I remember that I forgot to say anything, so I say it when I nudge him to keep going ..... And, what do you know - HE BUCKS! - mid-canter.

So it appears I have taught him voice activation, but it just activate the wrong bits!  Re-learning's going to be fun (not!), god help both our backs!!  :-)

Perhaps I brought two horses ....

So perhaps there are actually two Ernies - and I brought both of them but the only let one out at a time!  There is the one that I fuss over and potter about with at the weekends, trying to sharpen transitions and mumbling about how I might sustain his implusion, and then there is the other who is the focussed and motivated competitor.

Why do I say this?

Well I went to watch him show-jumping under Sophie's command at the MM  Friday red-nose event... and what a performance that was - I didn't sleep most of the night - such was the impact on me.  From his "on-his-toes", prancing, "i've just grown a whole hand" arrival into the arena through the determined spirit displayed and drive throughout his clear-round of the course. Even on the tighter turns and subsequent jumps, in some cases with a grace not displayed by peers. 

OK, he still needs to be fitter and can definitely improve his balance but lets remember he's a very big young horse, that was one hell of a display.  No rosettes but hey this is just the beginnning of the journey.

I had expected to see a slightly laconic but neverless good-natured clearance of the jumps - clearly not so!  As spectator I was stunned, as a rider I was humbled.  As an owner I felt that wonderful feeling of pride that I guess TB owners experience greeting their horse and riders in the paddock after a postive first public performance over 20 furlongs - I sat there mumbling to Courtenay "that's my horse that is, that's my horse that is...."

Well perhaps there are just two riders.....  So thanks to Sophie!  I have seen others ride Ernie too, but never have I seen the partnership and that willingness or enthusiasm he displayed for the task on Friday.

Anyway watching that performance has convinced me of the incredible honesty and potential for the big lad - any talk of laziness should be commited to the domain of gossips and idle whispers - and I have to say the word from the saddle is similarly robust.

It also convinced me that we need to loosen his back up, his brief stint as a school horse needs to be undone.  Yes Ernie bucks out of high spirits, let it always be so for those spirits are his very essence, but there was also some that came over as perhaps some slight resistance and/or discomfort.  I had been willing to believe it was more my cumbersome seat.  So we are starting some osteopath work this week.  If by some chance he is experiencing some discomfort I want to relieve that now, not after of a few months of pushing and fighting for no reason - what's to lose.... OK I know £50!

And for my riding? Watching Sophie was the best lesson in ages.  I saw the potential in Ernie and in that I saw opportunities for my personal improvement.  Ernie is young and Ernie is willing.  I think he wants to do what is asked of him, I am beginning realise properly through the performance of others that perhaps my sometimes lacking personal discipline as a rider is confusing this young horse, I am at best giving him too many signals, at worst conflicting ones.  I have started this weekend positively trying to say less, early feedback from down below was promising.  Someone remind me of this lesson next week when I have my next obsession!

Writers for centuries have observed that horses are both generous and humbling - it is that which has driven me to this place.  It is that which will keep me moving forward.

Idle thoughts on hacking with Ernie

So I've been hacking with Ernie for nearly a year now - though for much of that time mainly as an escorted school horse. 

When I started thinking about buying I looked up some useful sites on the internet with key questions that should lead the prospective purchaser objectively to the correct decision.  Not far into the list were the questions: does he rear? buck? bolt? - well what could I say, he ticked all boxes, especially when riding out and not just once!  Decision made.

Yes he's been a bit of a character in the woods and certainly has earned himself quite a reputation, which slowly became more and more apparent as my escort started to bring lead ropes and get very uncomfortable when I would suggest taking the lead; this then further emphasised by comments such as "well I hadn't expected him to be that good" to the more extreme "if he did that to me I'd be on the floor now".  There were times I admit where a good hack simply constituted all four feet remaining on the floor, or least never further from the floor than expectation within the measure of our employed gait.

What can I say, clearly we were meant for each other.  But for all this I never really felt him more than high-spirited or playful, at the end of the day you can feel the difference between when a horse wants to do something and you're holding it back as against it's decided to unseat you.

So when he was vetted, what was the answer to, what would be his principal proposed use ..... Yes, you guessed it!

And then I brought him, and he has become Mr chilled, the equine manifestation of "Yeah, whatever..."  So here I am with what seems to be the a dream hacking horse, who is equally happy alone and in company...... Famous last words.

Anyway so the I have a growing list of observations on Ernie's view of the world which I am compiling from experiences when riding out with him ....

What doesn't spook him: Gates; Girl guide troops flapping maps; Parrots in cages; Parrots not in cages; Cars; Llamas; Big lorries with cranes on them, passing him in a narrow country lane; Other horses misbehaving; Bikes; Joggers; Other horses cantering away from him; Golf carts, small dogs.....

What does flap him: Other horses cantering up from behind him (this is the life before your eyes moment usually); Ramblers sneaking through undergrowth; Plastic bags in trees; Children on the rope swing in the woods by the Joyden's gate; Other horses treading on twigs; Golfers in play (then again I never liked 'em either, even when I had an eight handicap!)....

Lets see which list ends up the longest ... the ones i'm not looking forward to trying (but previously experienced) helicopters, dog going for legs, quad-bikes and other spooked horses bolting past .....

NO WHOA WITHOUT A GO

So my teacher has come up with an approach to making Ernie a little more "off the leg".  And first blush it is showing promise.

"No whoa without a go" loosely translates to don't worry about stopping  if you're not going forward.  So kiss goodbye to those you love and put your personal affairs in order.  The approach originates from within the french classical riding school I'm advised, typical, just showing off I say!

In practice, reins in one hand, crop in the other, offer hands and relinquish contact (in novice rider world, the brakes....); then drive forward with legs, supporting with crop as required.  Hope you're pointing in the right direction!  Not to be undertaken in a busy school.  Anyway the big E picked this up quite nicely, with only one or two uses of crop and we were off and only one buck, he does try very hard really.  Personally I found this faux western style much more straight-forward and I'd say E responded in kind.

This relatively non-confrontational training approach really appeals the aspiring natural horseman in me.  So am going to take my life in hand this weekend and try it up in the woods and see if we can release the canter potential which has been lying a little dorment over last week or so (or at least hiding behind some very signifcant bucks).

Lovely knowing y'all!

One tired horse

So a tough weekend for the big E. 

After some very successful clear round performances on Friday - with Sophie, so not at my hand I modestly point out - schooling on Saturday and Sunday, so sadly by the time we then took him out for a hack he was clearly not quite as up for it as usual.  Firstly perfectly happy to drop in and follow Barney around the woods, not storming to the front or bucking till someone lets him (can this be Ernie); then the whole idea of trotting up the hill in the chalk woods was too much.  Thought I broken him for one second.  How many times in the next few years will I actually consider that I may be in better shape than my horse, let me have my brief moment in the sun ....

His schooling has been excellent this weekend, really trying to get back to basics - both of us.  We have largely got him through his napping - the trick in this case, deep seat, look ahead and tactical crop support.  Short bucking bursts on Saturday but largely clear today.   However we then got compalcent and went for the the school canter, much bouncing ensued.  That said there was a vague hint of promise there, especially as I began to feel for the first time that my seat (again) may make a difference .... dare I hope.

He already feels like a different horse.  We are very close.  It is special.  I am a lucky man.