Poll Results

Looks like dogs are your favourite animals, readers, with horses not that popular at all, only beating out poor cats. Pigs and ducks have come out as being surprisingly favoured (were you voting Harvey and Webster?)

Riding Lessons

Humphries gave another riding lesson today, this time to a complete beginner. I wasn't there to see it, but I believe it went very well.

Riding Humphries

Ha!Ha! Fooled you! Bet you thought the title of this post meant that I was riding Humphries, but no, I have not clambered upon the death train that is known as the horse. Madeline did though. She rode Humphries this afternoon and got a great lesson from Michele. He has lovely paces but is very slow (lazy or unfit, I'm not sure which) so Madeline had to work hard to keep him going, which is hard when you are riding a horse you are unused to and especially when you are riding one that is so wide!

Teacher and student

trotting standing up - tough work!

Michele put Madeline - and Humphries - through their paces. At the end of the lesson, Madeline tried some canter. As Humphries was so difficult to get into canter on the lunge, Michele and I were on hand to give her a hand with the transition. We stood at one corner of the arena and Madeline rode in walk towards us on the outside track. We were all ready to encourage Humphries into canter, but it was like he already knew what was expected of him. I don't know if he is a keen observer of body language, incredibly sensitive to the rider's aids, or can understand English, but when he came to that corner he went straight into canter. He only kept it up for a couple of strides, but the next time round Madeline kept him going for the long side of the arena and she left it at that. The whole incident reminded me of a time when I was learning to ride. I was on Humphries in a group lesson. All the other riders were either more advanced or more confident than me because we were doing walk to canter transitions. I didn't like canter very much and the thought of going into it from walk did not appeal to me, so as I waited in line for my turn to come, I let Humphries know that I was against the whole idea by clamping my body tight around his back. When my turn came, I told the instructor I didn't want to canter. I don't think he even wanted me to try a walk to canter transition, I was allowed trot, but I still didn't want to canter. He tried to persuade me to reconsider, so I reluctantly agreed and relaxed my position. Immediately Humphries went into canter, and I was the first person in the lesson to complete a walk to canter transition. I think Humphries had been watching the proceedings and knew what was expected of him, so he was just waiting for me to give him the word. He is a very intelligent horse.

J.B and Cori are glad to see Michele Don't they look lovely!

After the riding lesson Michele went out to the horses in the field and fed Cori and J.B some treats. They were glad to see her. They must think it is odd she hasn't been out to see them in a quite awhile.

Bad News

Michele had a bad accident today while riding J.B in a lesson. They had just completed a jump when J.B humped his back and took off at top speed. Before Michele could regain control, he swerved sharply and she came off, hitting the fence at speed. In an effort to save her head, she twisted and hit the fence with her shoulder and back. She dislocated her shoulder and bruised her back badly. I am very shocked. Thank God her injuries are not worse, but it was still a bad accident. I can't get over J.B. It is so unlike him. I can't help but think that this justifies my belief that horses are dangerous unpredictable animals.

Monday 16th July

I shouldn't have gone over to the horses this evening. I was tired and cross and in a foul temper. I didn't want to have anything to do with Humphries or the other animals. I feel so inadequate that I'm not riding or lunging or doing anything useful and productive. I watched Michele riding J.B. She was jumping him and some of the jumps were really beautiful - harmony, grace and balance. J.B has such scope.

Relaxing Evening

Saw the horses this evening. It rained this morning but it dried up in the evening and turned out nice. I was tired and didn't want to groom or lunge. Michele locked Cheyanna in the garden so Rags wouldn't chase her and then took J.B in, tacked him up and started riding. I chilled out with Humphries, the donkeys and the goats in the barn. I sat down on an old log and they all clustered around me looking for treats. Oscar and Rags came over periodically to say hi. On one occasion Harvey moved away from Rags quite fearfully, so she started barking at him. I got up calmly and picked up an old piece of wood. I walked towards Rags and waved it at her. She got the message and stopped barking at Harvey and a few minutes later came running up looking for attention. However, Humphries was a bit shocked by this behaviour (even though I didn't feel cross or wave the stick at him) and he ran out of the barn. He walked back into the barn very slowly, his ears pricked and body tense for flight. I felt bad because he has never been nervous of me before. I waited and Humphries came back into the barn and the donkeys and goats came back too. Rags ran in to say hello and sat at my feet licking the equines' noses, which they didn't like very much. Harvey rolled in the barn and I could see that Rags really wanted to bark at him, but she didn't.

Then I went into the arena to see how Michele was doing. She had just finished doing some lovely canter work when I went in. She started doing some jumping. J.B went over the first couple of jumps a little lazily and then he started to focus and jumped beautifully, finishing up really nicely with a double.

When Michele was finished riding she untacked J.B and fed him in the field. I said hello to Cori and then we headed home.

No Show

It was raining this evening, but it wasn't raining hard and it was warm, so I headed over to the horses with Michele and Rags. When we arrived, Fiona told us that a friend was coming to use her arena. Humphries and Cheyanna had been locked in the garden so that they wouldn't spook the new horse when it arrived. I didn't feel comfortable working in the yard with the strangers and I couldn't lunge with the arena in use, and Michele couldn't ride, so we just said hello to the horses and went home. Harvey, Nellie and the goats got lots of carrots. The entrance to the garden was really muddy and I didn't want to wade through it, so I waved at Humphries from afar while Michele and Rags braved the mud and gave him and Cheyanna some carrots. Then I walked Rags up and down the avenue while Michele braved the mud in the field to say hello to Cori and J.B. It was a disappointing evening.

On another note, Michele read an article in a horse magazine about a woman called Helen Spence. She is a horse behaviourist and riding instructor. She seemed to have a very sensible approach in training both horse and rider. I wonder if she could help with my mounting problem/riding phobia.