Lunge lessons

...are what I need! In the sunny, dry spell between showers today, Michele, Rags and I headed over to the horses. Michele locked Cheyanna in the garden to remove temptation from Rags, and then took in J.B and tacked him up. The poor horses in the field were plagued with horse flies (or Cleggs, as the country folk call them). They were all standing in a line under the trees, tail to nose, sheltering from the sun and helping each other out against the flies with their tails. Humphries was getting his fair share of grief from the cleggs, but he didn't let them get in the way of his pursuit of food.

Michele closing the door to the garden

I had a couple of carrots with me when I arrived. Harvey and Nellie and the goats came over to say hello to me first, so Harvey got some carrot, and then Humphries wandered over, so he got some too. He followed me into the stable (it was nice and cool in there, so he liked being in it for a change) and Harvey hung around outside peeping in, hopeful for more carrot. It was nice to see him getting so brave, even if it is for food. I decided to lunge Humphries today so, while Michele tacked up J.B in the next stable, I put the bridle onto Humphries. He was really good and lowered his head to help me get the bridle on. He was much better than the last time I tacked him, which made it a lot easier for me. I got the lunge line and lunge whip and went to lead him out of the stable into the arena. He was a little hesitant and Michele had to give me a hand and likewise at the gate to the arena Michele needed to provide some gentle prodding, but once in the arena he followed me around very well.

Gerry has a good scratch

Michele did a little leading with J.B and then got on board and started to warm up. I led Humphries into the corner of the arena and started to lunge. In lunging, the horse is supposed to walk, trot or canter in a circle around you, while you keep the horse between your hand holding the lunge line and your hand holding the lunge whip. That is how it is supposed to go. I tried my best to keep the correct position but Humphries ambled in an irregular circle around me and, slowly, we moved laterally across the arena. When I asked for trot, nothing happened and then a pitiful jogging walk was produced. I know I was at fault, my signals weren't clear (I was tired and my body was all over the place) and Humphries was hot and bothered by flies, but I knew I could get him to trot, so I tried harder and he trotted around me (finally in a circle). With difficulty I changed rein (he kept on coming in to me and nuzzling my hands for treats) and trotted him on the other side and I left it at that because I thought it was better to quit while I was ahead. After lunging, I thought I would long rein him around the arena and, if that went well, I would walk him up and down the avenue. Long reining did not work, however. I gathered up the lunge line, held the whip in my hand and moved to his hind quarters, which would have been perfect, except Humphries moved to keep with me and it ended up with both of us running around in circles and neither of us getting anywhere! Leaving the long reining, I led him around the arena instead and, apart from getting the lunge line wrapped around his legs a couple of times and standing on the whip (all of which was my fault) he went well. Things weren't going well enough to tempt fate and lead him up and down the avenue flanked by long luscious grass, though, so I took him back into the yard and led him around there. He was confused by that, being used to walking free, but he went ok and then I led him back into the stable and took off the bridle.

Humphries waiting to be groomed

He stood happily in the stable (with open door, no breast bar and not being tied up) while I groomed him and brushed his face. He was very intrigued by the smell of the face brush. He wandered out to the barn to peer through the door at Cheyanna while I was combing his mane, so I followed after him with mane comb and hoof pick and finished off grooming him there. He followed me back to the stable, so I cleaned out his eyes, nostril and dock with a couple of damp sponges. I took some photos, but it was hard because he kept on following me and coming right up to me (which doesn't make for great photography). I was about to take some pictures of Michele on J.B when my battery died, so I put away my camera and went into the arena to watch Michele jumping without it. J.B was spooky and tense, so Michele was working on relaxing him and getting him working. She popped him over a few jumps. They were low to boost his confidence. His jumping was nice and he really relaxed and got into it after a few jumps.

Humphries just loves the camera!

When Michele was finished riding, she fed J.B. While he was busy eating, and Michele and I were standing outside the stable chatting, Humphries, Harvey, Nellie and the two goats came over to us and surrounded us looking for food. While Harvey nibbled at Michele, I put my arm over Nellie (who stood between me and Harvey) and scratched Harvey's face and neck. He didn't move away or seem to mind, which is the first time I have ever been able to do that. Humphries was on my other side looking for carrot (which was all gone). When J.B was finished, Michele led him back to the field (leading Rags too) and I opened the door to the garden to let Humphries back in with his field. I thought Cheyanna might rush out to see him, as she had been calling for him the whole time (without reply), but she stayed in the garden and Humphries stood at the door peering out. He had tried to muscle his way out of the yard after J.B when Michele was leading J.B out and he looked very disappointed that he wasn't going out to the field with 'the big horses'. I said my goodbyes to him and Harvey and went out the front where Michele and Rags were waiting by the jeep and we headed home.

Day 27

It was a lovely sunny day today. Michele and I went over to the horses in the afternoon. I was feeling really stressed and that translated into fear when I arrived at the yard. J.B was in the yard and he whickered hello when we went in. Michele offered to put him in the arena, but I said he was fine. I got the head collar and went out to the field. Cori, Megan and Sky were all grazing in the lower field and Cheyanna and Humphries were in the upper field on the furthest side from the gate. Humphries walked a little towards us when I called, and then stood watching us, so we had to troop into the field to get him, but he led out well after that.

Leading Humphries in from the field

I led Humphries into the stable and he didn't try to rush out or anything, and behaved very well. Michele took J.B into the arena to lunge and ride, so I let Humphries out of the stable to wander about the yard.

Even though free to wander, Humphries goes back into the stable!

I watched Humphries nosing around the yard, poking his head into everything and sniffing around the goats and dogs. He kept on coming back to me to nuzzle my pockets for treats, and then he would use the gate into the arena as a scratching post, while watching Michele ride. I wandered around with him and he followed me for a while. He was so sweet, it was hard to be afraid of him. Especially when all the animals came and crowded around me and followed me around, with the sun shining and the swallows flying, it was so peaceful.

Humphries and Tom

I did some filming of Humphries in the yard and then I put away the camera and stood leaning against him. He stood perfectly still, just sharing the moment with me. He is so good. After that I went into the arena to see how Michele and J.B were getting on.

J.B trotting

Michele was warming up J.B on the flat. Things were going well. J.B was behaving well but not going forward with a lot of impulsion. He twists his head to the side, evading the bit, which makes riding him really hard work. Michele gets energy from him, and then it fizzles out because he is blocking the rein.

Taking a breather

After she had warmed up on the flat and put him through his paces, she did some jumping. J.B is still quite new to jumping and only beginning to enjoy it, but he has oodles of ability.

Then on to canter work
And popping over some jumps

The jumping went well, but I didn't get to see it all as Humphries started to kick the wheelbarrow at the gate into the arena to get some attention. I went back into the yard and decided to groom him. I didn't tie him up or put him back into the stable, but tried to groom him outside. He behaved really well, standing still while I brushed him and picked out his hooves. He even followed me up to the water trough when I wet the sponges for his face and dock. I cleaned around his right nostril and he tilted his head so that I could clean around his right. By the time I had finished grooming him, Michele had finished riding, so I led Humphries into the arena while Michele looked after J.B. Humphries walked really happily into the arena and then stopped just short of the gate and wouldn't walk all the way in. He stood on the threshold sniffing the air for a while and then pottered into the arena. I walked around the arena for a bit and Humphries followed me. It was nice. Then I decided to lead him back into the field. I didn't have a lead rope or anything, but Humphries was being so good I didn't think I would need one. However, as soon as we left the arena, Sky and Cori cantered up to the gate, followed by Megan and Cheyanna, and Humphries walked briskly off into the bull field. It was a tricky situation, but I felt I had to do something to resolve it rather than running for help, or lose control of Humphries completely. Using my trusty buff head covering, I ran along the fence chasing Cori and the other horses away from the gate. Then I waded into the bull field and took hold of Humphries head collar. He was quite happy grazing there, so pulling on the headcollar wasn't enough to get him moving (but it did pull off the headcollar). Once again employing my buff, I used it as a rudimentary lead rope and led Humphries back to the gate and into the field. Feeling pleased that I had managed to do this, and also discovered two new uses for my buff, I rejoined Michele in the yard and helped her fix up the stable before we left for home.

Day Nine

It was a beautiful morning this morning, but as I headed over to the horses with Michele, it started to pour with rain. I was feeling really nervous going over to the stables. It was my first visit after my unsuccessful attempt at mounting, and my stomach was like an angry wasp nest. Eithne and Fiona had both had riding lessons in the morning, so Eithne's horse - Harry - was in the yard when we arrived.

Harry says hello to Humphries

I took Humphries in. He was down in the far end of the field on his own, and it was a long walk there and back to get him, but he led very well. He was too wet to groom, so I picked out his hooves and then sat with him in the stable for a while. Harry came over and nibbled him and squealed for a little while. Tom and Gerry, the goats, kept running into the stable to shelter from the rain, and also for some company. They are very curious, friendly animals and I think they are lonely now that the donkeys are out in the field with the horses, rather than in the yard with them. Harvey used to let Tom scratch his horns against his head, which is rather sweet.

Tom decides to eat some plastic

Rags shelters from the rain

After sitting with Humphries for a little while, I started to clean the tack in the stable. I cleaned two leather head collars, two bridles, one pair of half chaps, the saddle and girth and both my boots and Michele's.

Nice shiny clean bridles

While I cleaned the tack, Michele tackled Humphries' tail. It was in a terrible state, really filthy and all chopped up by the people who had hired him last.

Michele washing Humphries' tail

When Michele had finished with his tail (she did a fantastic job, it looks great now) I led Humphries back out to the field and helped Michele bring in Cori and JB. Cori was hesitant to come in at first (all the horses were sheltering from the rain under the trees at the far end of the field) but with Michele's gentle coaxing and me leading JB, we got them both safely into the stables. JB kept on walking after Michele rather than following me. It was very sweet. I'm not surprised that he preferred to follow her, as he knows her a lot better than he does me.

JB potters about the yard

Michele wormed and fed JB and then wormed Cori. Cori put up a big fight about the worming. It was not so much that he objected to the wormer or the easy wormer bit, it was more a matter of principle to him that he couldn't do it easily, so of course it took three times longer than it should have. It was funny, because he would spin away from Michele and then come over to me and lick my hand. Then Michele would come up to him and he would spin away again. We also noticed that he had a swelling between his front legs.

Lumpy Cori

Close up of the swelling

Michele fed Cori and then we led Cori and JB back to the field. Humphries was grazing with the mares and the two boys went racing down to chase him off. Cori stopped before he even reached Humphries, and started grazing, while JB chased Humphries away from Cheyanna and then started to graze. His chasing was half hearted and not at all hostile.

Practising my riding position on a barrel

Humphries Arrives

Michele and I went to collect Humphries today. It was the first trip of Michele's lovely brand new horse box and Humphries was the first horse to get into it. It was a beautiful sunny day. Humphries was in a loose box when we arrived. I couldn't believe how good he looked (apart from the hogged mane). He also seemed much bigger than I remembered! He didn't know us, so he was a little nervous, but he behaved well when I led him out of the loose box. Michele helped me get him into the box because he was a little hesitant.

Humphries first meal in his new home

Humphries was quite wound up when we arrived in Dromiskin. Tom and Gerry (the goats) came up to the horse box to say hello, and Humphries was very nervous of them because he had never seen a goat before. Michele led him out of the box and put him in the stable, but he still behaved very well. We put the bar across the stable and immediately he slipped underneath and went for a potter around the yard. After exploring for a few minutes, he came back to us and I put him in the stable (with the door closed this time) and gave him a little bit of food to make him feel at home.

Cori talks to me and the goats while J.B chats to Humphries in the stable

We brought Cori and J.B in to the yard to meet Humphries. They all sniffed noses over the stable door, but Cori got bored after a little while and came to chat to me, while J.B stayed to chat with Humphries. Things were going well, so Michele put Cori into the stable with some food and let Humphries out to meet J.B properly.

J.B and Humphries explore the yard together...

Then have a friendly sniff...

and do some more exploring

J.B and Humphries got on really well together, and it was a joy to watch them wandering around together, mirroring each other and matching pace. J.B kept on nuzzling Humphries and rubbing his head against him. It was very sweet. We decided to let Cori say hello, so J.B went into the stable and Cori came out. He ignored Humphries at first, and then went over to say hello. He was not quite as welcoming as J.B to begin with.

Cori says hello

Humphries didn't react aggressively to Cori, and soon things settled down.

Gerry the goat watches as Cori and Humphries wander around the yard

It was very encouraging how well the two boys got on with the newcomer, so in light of such a good introduction, we're going to try him out in the field with the mares tomorrow. But for tonight, Humphries is staying in the yard with the goats.