Striving for connection

Morgan, 21, from Australia Loving my horses and two gorgeous greyhounds. Into equine and canine science and behaviour. I am way more active on my other blog random-acts-of-random currently..

[mylittlehony]

A lovely ride today with Jane. 

We took Dakota into the cobra field for the first time, though today the wildlife of note were all birds, and included - you’ll never guess what - an escaped emu. What a surprise. 

You could have an emu jump up under Abba’s feet these days and she wouldn’t turn a hair, she has seen so many of them by now. They are smaller than ostriches, for a start. Dakota was also pretty unflapped, but she is always unflappable, though she did have a moment when she was out in front cantering, and suddenly the emu was there again. She stopped, and took half a step backwards, and requested that Abba take the lead, and did not bat an eyelid as we passed the emu again. 

Abba is back to being her sweet self. We had quite a few trots today, always looking for softer ground, to cushion her foot as it heals, and one really good canter, which wasn’t supposed to happen, but as she had taken a nice contact and was not pulling hard, I just let her roll. I did have a moment of regret where it felt as if she was quickening and tugging right, to curve away and go for a gallop across the cobra field, but I took up on the left rein, she acceded, and was in fact the one to pull up at the top of the slope. After that, she was a very happy Abba, with a jaunty step, and while she was not easy to hold down to a trot, it was less of a battle. Mostly. 

I am really very happy with both mare and filly. Jane is doing a super job of bringing Dakota along; Dakota is doing a super job of getting fit, even if she can’t keep up with Abba yet; and Abba is doing a super job of looking out for the filly and being calm in company. Could not ask for a better pair.

[fausthound-deactivated20191026]

I really tried reading the rest of the post but I got so distracted by “the cobra field” that I just -

[mylittlehony]

#the cobra field #imagine having a cobra field #with cobras #who are venomous #the worst thing you could come across here is 1. a bee if you’re allergic or 2. happen upon #a herd of wild boar when they have piglets but that’s about it and both are easily avoidable

I had a good laugh at this, thank you. Yes, they are venomous, specifically neurotoxic, and if you are bitten by one, you might die within half an hour from suffocation, as I think their venom paralyses you. At any rate, I think it safer not to find out by experience, and so we just steer clear of the snake holes. Plus, Abba notices them before I do, so I just trust her if she says we shouldn’t go somewhere, because arguing with her has led to nearly stepping on a cobra, and also having the ground give way beneath us and drop us two feet into a hole. 

Also, I am allergic to bee stings. And I would rather not meet a wild boar, with or without piglets. And, in all fairness, the cobras generally don’t want to meet me or Abba, so we mostly stay out of each other’s way. Now the occasional rogue male ostrich on the other hand …

[theriu]

You live far too fascinating of a life for this to be anywhere other than Australia.

[mylittlehony]

I actually live in South Africa! Though with all the emus that keep escaping from two of the neighbouring farms, Australia is a perfectly logical guess. 

[sense-equus]

Oh my goodness, for all of Australia’s snake reputation, at least I’ve never come across a cobra field!!

[rhodesianridgeback]

[sense-equus]

Cria alert!!! I got THE biggest shock when I was riding Concord today..!

Aggie gave birth! She WAS pregnant!

There were some challenges with Aggies milk production and baby latching on to suck, but the vet checked everything and helped us out and we know what to do now, whether she takes to sucking herself or not.

Was a brilliantly freezing day to be born 😬 We got them into the big shed to get them out of the wind and everything and they are happy there. They’ve been SO good, Aggie has been a legend. Considering how little handling they’ve had, she’s been such a saint despite being stressed.

Absolutely so in love with this little bub. She has to be THE most precious thing I’ve ever seen. Fingers crossed she makes it through the night and goes on to be a strong healthy girl ❤️

[llamanonymous]

the best kind of surprise, I hope. Welcome little cria

[sense-equus]

Definitely the best surprise!!

[sense-equus]

Cria alert!!! I got THE biggest shock when I was riding Concord today..!

Aggie gave birth! She WAS pregnant!

There were some challenges with Aggies milk production and baby latching on to suck, but the vet checked everything and helped us out and we know what to do now, whether she takes to sucking herself or not.

Was a brilliantly freezing day to be born 😬 We got them into the big shed to get them out of the wind and everything and they are happy there. They’ve been SO good, Aggie has been a legend. Considering how little handling they’ve had, she’s been such a saint despite being stressed.

Absolutely so in love with this little bub. She has to be THE most precious thing I’ve ever seen. Fingers crossed she makes it through the night and goes on to be a strong healthy girl ❤️

[sense-equus]

Developing a balanced seat

I’m teaching one of my friends how to ride, she has the basics of walk, stop, steer, a bit of rising trot. She has quite a good natural position but I’m wanting to really focus on her balance and working towards a balanced, independent seat.

Exercises/activities I’ve thought of:

- taking feet out of stirrups and moving legs forward/back/away from horse, at halt and walk

- leaning forward to touch horses ears, back to touch horses tail, down sides to touch toes, etc, at halt and walk

- no hands on lunge- arms crossed or held out to sides, at walk and trot

- 2-point, at halt, walk and trot, going in between 2 and 3 point.

- obstacle activities such as reaching down to pick an item off a barrel and move it to another one

Anyone think of anything else I’m missing, it want to emphasise any of these? Maybe @mylittlehony ?

[mylittlehony]

Well, I appear to have misplaced my book on pilates for horse riders, so you will have to do without those exercises, and be content with the advice of Arthur Kottas-Heldenberg, formerly of the Spanish Riding School (Kottas on Dressage, 2010, Kenilworth Press), some of which basically repeats what you have already said!

Kottas says that to develop a good seat (”deep and balanced”), a rider should ride without stirrups as often as possible. He has a bunch of exercises to be done on the lunge, and I am copying them down here.

At the walk (pp. 33f.),

Rotating the head slowly in a circle, right and then left. 

Circling one arm backwards, then forwards. Repeating with the other arm, then with both arms together.

Circling both shoulders backwards. 

Holding the arms out at the shoulders, then turning from side to side from the waist. 

Lifting one leg away from the horse while ‘growing upwards’ with the upper body, then closing the leg back again. Repeating with the other leg. 

Lifting one leg away from the horse and swinging the leg backwards and forwards from the hip. Repeating with the other leg.

At the rising trot - use the stirrups at first (pp. 38f.), 

Dropping both arms by the sides and relax for a while, then lifting the hands to the correct rein-holding position without actually holding the reins in the hands. Repeat several times.

With the hands in the correct position, taking time to perfect the feeling of rising correctly - that the seat is not lifting too far out of the saddle, but rather that the hips are moving a little way forward towards the hands. When rising, weight of rider’s upper body should be allowed to ‘drop to the knees’. This can be done with one, or both, hands on the saddle until the rider is in balance with the horse. 

Practising slowing down the rhythm of rising; the horse’s rhythm should slow down accordingly. 

Practising walk/trot/walk transitions by slowing down the rising trot, then sitting to trot, and asking for a transition to walk by sitting a little more heavily and allowing less movement in the lower back. Then asking the horse to trot on again. 

Going from rising to sitting trot, and back to rising again. 

Rising trot without stirrups - this is a good way to learn how to close the knees.

At the sitting trot - with or without stirrups (pp. 39f.), 

Letting both arms hang down at the sides, behind the legs. 

Holding one arm at riding level and the other behind the back. Changing arms (without holding the reins). 

Holding on to the front of the saddle with one hand, circling backwards and forwards with the other arm. Changing arms. 

Circling both arms backwards and forwards. 

Holding both arms above the head. 

Putting both hands on the hips. 

With elbows bent, putting the fingers on the shoulders. 

Holding both arms sideways from the shoulders and turning the upper body from side to side. 

Transitions from trot/walk/trot using the seat and back. 

At the canter - use stirrups at first (p. 41), 

Holding onto the front of the saddle with one hand, circling the other arms forwards and backwards. Changing hands. 

Rotating both arms backwards. 

Placing both hands on the hips. 

Lifting both arms above the head. 

Transitions canter/trot/canter using the back, seat and legs, with the hands held in riding position without the reins. The aids should be given by the person lungeing the horse. 

So there you have Spanish Riding School-approved exercises for developing a good seat. 

I like to have riders do sets of five-five-and-five. At the walk, this means five strides sitting, five strides in two point, and five strides standing straight up in their stirrups. At the trot, it means five strides sitting, five strides rising, and five strides in two point. I am also fond of having them stretch down towards the horse’s ears on a slow count of eight, have them hold for a slow count of five, and then come back up to a slow count of eight - all the while keeping their seat in the saddle and their legs at the girth, which is hard, as tipping forward will often see the rider rotate around their knee. To do the exercise correctly, they need to bend from the waist; I have found for myself that thinking of thrusting the stirrups forward counteracts the tendency of the lower leg to slide back, and helps the rider to stay in the saddle while genuinely stretching forward. 

Something I would love to do one summer as well is have riders ride with ice cream cones in their hands at the trot, both sitting and rising. Just to see who can actually keep their ice cream in the cone. Have yet to buy a sufficiently frosty cooler bag to keep the ice cream from melting on the drive to the yard, though, so this has not yet happened. Though I suppose plastic cups with water might be equally entertaining. Or maybe just the good old egg and spoon trick, with hardboiled eggs for the sake of cleanliness. 

A rider can keep practicing their balance and independent seat off the horse as well. Shoulder bridges, squats, planks, and push ups are all good for developing core strength, though I am giving no advice on how to do them correctly, as I still need a lot of supervision when doing them myself. But I can tell you that you know you have an independent seat when your trainer bites a loose thread off your cuff while you are doing squats, and you manage to hold your hand steady relative to the floor as this is happening. 

Also, I find riders often need reminding about their upper body, particularly chest and shoulders, due to our increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Shoulders back, chest lifted - pretty much the antithesis of how we sit at desks, hunched over our computers and papers. Any exercises that open up the chest tend to be good. And for legs, I like to tell students to let their calves drape like wet spaghetti around the barrel of the horse, particularly if they came up through the school of gripping with the knee, and thus being rigid through the upper leg and bouncing in the saddle. Also, thinking of sinking weight down through the thigh and the knee can help with gripping and leg position, and thus improve the rider’s security in the saddle.

[sense-equus]

This is incredible thank you so much!!

Heck I think I should do these exercises more tbh!! Could definitely improve my seat...

[mylittlehony]

Abba may still be in the light walking work stage of her rehab, but the endurance bug has bitten me. Which means that Jane and I went to the Klapmuts ride today, and fortunately fell in with the official photographers, who let us ride with them around the course, which meant increased photo opportunities with prettier backdrops, and a lot of laughter, accelerating through puddles, and a very good morning.

[sense-equus]

Developing a balanced seat

I’m teaching one of my friends how to ride, she has the basics of walk, stop, steer, a bit of rising trot. She has quite a good natural position but I’m wanting to really focus on her balance and working towards a balanced, independent seat.

Exercises/activities I’ve thought of:

- taking feet out of stirrups and moving legs forward/back/away from horse, at halt and walk

- leaning forward to touch horses ears, back to touch horses tail, down sides to touch toes, etc, at halt and walk

- no hands on lunge- arms crossed or held out to sides, at walk and trot

- 2-point, at halt, walk and trot, going in between 2 and 3 point.

- obstacle activities such as reaching down to pick an item off a barrel and move it to another one

Anyone think of anything else I’m missing, it want to emphasise any of these? Maybe @mylittlehony ?

[forests-in-neverland]

pet portrait commissions

Hey guys, I’m opening commissions again from now until I go back to college! I mostly do horses and dogs but if you want a different animal ask me and I’ll see what i can do! I won’t do cats at the minute though unfortunately.

Options -

A) Small Watercolour Portrait 180 x 240 mm 30€ + shipping (extra horse/pet 15€, max 1 extra per page)

B) Large Watercolour Portrait 240 x 300 mm 50€ + shipping (extra horse 25€, max 1 extra per page)

C) A4 Graphite Pencil Portrait 35€ + shipping (extra horse 15€, max 1 extra per page)

D) A4 Colour Pencil Portrait 50€ + shipping (extra horse 25€, max 1 extra per page)

Shipping costs-

Ireland - 4€

Rest of the world - 6€

Payment in full through PayPal before I start your order. You’ll be kept updated on the progress of your order as I work on it to make sure you’re happy with it.

Email me [email protected] or dm me on here with any orders or questions!

Examples of my work 🥰

[sense-equus]

These are so gorgeous ❤️

[all-the-horses]

Moss Rose Triumphant

Sunup Neptune x Jacques Lor -Don-Lin

Morgan, Stallion

15.2hh

Born 2001

[chaosacres]

We set ourselves and our horses up for success when we start small, start slow, start from the ground up, reward every effort, raise criteria slowly, and don’t do too much in one go. Fatigue is a dangerous thing. At best we risk shattering a horse’s confidence, at worst we risk serious injury to horse or human (or both). More about this in my upcoming article for the @usihc magazine, about safely and effectively using jumping as cross-training for Icelandic sport horses. Photos by @epotts1 🌟

[mylittlehony]

@forests-in-neverland, here are some of the exercises in Bell and Day’s 101 Schooling Exercises that you might find handy for getting the canter less orbital and more rideable. 

[sense-equus]

How’s this for morning light :)

[sense-equus]

Spur of the moment purchase of a new jump saddle for Tina last week as we found a second hand Tekna in the right size advertised. Her old one fitted reasonably okay but the panels were rock hard (flocking probs needs redoing). This one fits even better and she seems to really be much happier in it!! What’s even better is that her old one will sell for more than we bought this one for lmao

[sense-equus]

Garfield you’re PINK

[sense-equus]

The sweet boy ft. Joeys saddle

Also he is SO clumsy he struggled with the pick up sticks activity so much.. you gotta learn where your feet are buddy

[sense-equus]

Finally got a new helmet!!

[sense-equus]

A collection of photos of Goofy in the last week. And no he’s not meant to be on the couch...