TW really fancied a lie in today. But yesterday the rain was pouring down and this morning it is super sunny so she sensibly decided to get her butt moving and up to the yard. good plan.
The only problem was that my headcollar has gone walk about so she eventually bought me in with my big pink rope necklace. I was a very good boy and didnt try and bog off or anything :)
Back in my bed I nommed down my new supplements which was a relief as TW said they were very expensive! Slurped down the soup at the end and everything. Did a few carrot stretches - my head bends to the left all the time on the girffe stretch which needs sorting but TW said i did very well on the other ones and bent my head and neck all the way without moving my feet. She says my feet are starting to look better but my right shoulder is still sore. We had some cuddles and I was nice and chilled which is good.
TW had a letter from a horse communicator person this morning about me -
this is some of the stuff she said I told her
“ I most want you to know that improvements take time. I don’t like the shoe thing, it
needs to be lower down.”
I’m not quite sure where the last statement comes from, but he shows me what it
refers to: a tall hoof stand, and in the image, Tommy keeps knocking it over when the
farrier tries to put his hoof on it. Tommy also tells me he doesn’t mind having shoes
on, it’s just having them trimmed that’s a problem.
“The next thing is don’t take my food away when I’m still eating it.”
This occurs when you want to take him out of the stable, and tell him that he can
finish it when he comes in again. “I don’t want to go out straight away, I want to stay
in and have a little bit of hay for after my carrots, then I am happy to go out and play
and learn some new things.”
Tommy’s ambition is to jump 4ft in a combination. He is very good at jumping, but
has sometimes lost his concentration. He used to lose his balance, but that’s got
better since he learned the half–halt. He likes show jumps, but prefers galloping fast
on the flat, not over cross–country fences, though, just galloping.
Although Tommy appreciates the need for schooling, he isn’t very keen on doing it:
“It’s boring.” He seems to be unbalanced in trot, falling in on the left rein and stiff on
the right. He most certainly unbalances if he is longed. He would benefit from
groundwork lateral exercises that make him use his front and back end separately:
turns on the forehand and around his hindquarters are a good start.
Tommy wants you to know that you worry about him too much. Instead of enjoying
what you are doing; you are hoping you aren’t about to fail, or forget something. You
shouldn’t try to be a perfectionist, then you would soon be perfect is Tommy’s opinion.
Tommy likes being out with his friends, I expected a picture in a field grazing, but it’s at
a competition or clinic of some sort: in a group of people riding in a lesson. “You learn a
lot more that way and everyone tells you you are very good and will do well.” When he
is home, he doesn’t seem to have one special companion but seems calm and settled
in a field: there’s a grey horse in the distance, who he may look to for security and a bay
horse — seems smaller than him — at whom he flattens his ears, to say keep away.
In the stable, he is fine with his companions there, but wants to be out if they are gone.
Tommy says he’s pleased with the new saddle, it has freed up his shoulder. His right
shoulder was quite stiff until recently and is one reason why he didn’t like to lift his foot
high to be trimmed. Leg stretching exercises would help him though, as would carrot
stretches, as his forehand could still be freer. He still needs work to get him in balance
and bring his hindlegs under him more, so plenty of trot work with upward and
downward transitions will help once he has perfected the ground work to disengage his
hind quarters on the corners. This exercise can also be used ridden, though aim to be
able to use your weight and seat to get him to do it eventually; he’ll have to have a
nudge from your boot or a flick from a schooling whip to teach him it ridden at first.
Tommy says your riding position isn’t perfect, but you are not the fidget–bum that you
used to be. The thing you need to correct most, is don’t tilt your head, always
remember if you are not straight, your horse is not straight, so Tommy tilts his head too.
As Tommy’s head is much heavier than yours, it a greater on his balance. He seems to
tip his nose to the left, so you must be doing the same with your head tilted to the right
slightly, as if you are looking at something on your left. Curiously, as he falls in on the
left, his head looks straight as his head balances the fall inwards. On the right rein, the
tilt in his head is more pronounced. If you straighten the tilt of your head, don’t forget to
lift your right shoulder as well. Bring them up to your ears and then drop them down.
