Autumn hacking

Two quite interesting things happened today. First of we went for a hack with Magda. It has been a while since we both had time to go for a trail ride with the boys during the day. Now with the time change we will have to hack out in the darkness more often. Today however, we could finally take things slow and the weather was perfect. Both Juliano and Dum were very energetic. We could feel they would just love to gallop and buck but they were very obedient and respected our choices of pace. Juliano was leading and at first Dum was not happy with slow trot but soon he learned that J would not give up the lead and just went with the flow. After a long walk we went down our small cross country road where we allowed the boys to canter and blow off steam. Than trotted deeper into the forest to arrive at a field for a bit of grazing. Juliano spooked a few times but it looked more like he wanted to do something crazy then actual spooking out of fear. He would jump, buck, canter few strides and than stop and turn his head toward me with a face saying "Look how cool that was now give me a treat woman". We both agreed with Magda that with this amount of energy in our horses we would probably have ended in a dead gallop if we had less respect from our horses. So, well done to them for putting their relationship with us before their need to run.

After the hack I took Juliano to the paddock where Marta was playing with Drezyna. I turned J loose and helped Marta with the idea of sideways game. Drezyna was doing great. She was trying so hard and understood the game very quickly. At first we thought she will have problems with her blind side but even though she could not see us she felt our "go sideways" energy very well and when she got confused she would turn her other eye to us. In the meantime Juliano got bored with no one paying attention to him and started showing off. He started putting his feet on the palettes which were scattered around the paddock. He than stood on one and was looking at me if I was watching or not. He is a true rock star and constantly needs to shine. By the way, yesterday Juliano learned sideways towards me which I thought we would never do. So for Drezyna it was the first day of sideways and for Juliano sideways towards a person. One interesting note: even though you thing something is impossible to do, especially with a horse, if you give yourself time and take it slow at first it all falls into place pretty quickly. Just go out there and try it, you will be amazed.

Sunday hack

Like every Sunday, we went on a hack and allowed our horses to choose which way they wanted to go. We ended up in the big field. Juliano and Dum love to go there. I think they like the open space, tons of grass and visiting 3 gray Arabians who live there. Seeing other horses used to be very nerve recking for Juliano before, he would get very excited, shake and sweet. Now he likes to visit other stables and observes other horses.

Happy hackers

For these past few days Juliano has been amazing! He is so obedient and focused. I'm still a bit puzzled by that. Now I have to be careful not be a direct line thinker and not to take too much advantage of his obedience. I also have to think of something new for Juliano to learn. In the meantime we have focused on the fun part of riding - trail riding!

Last week we went on 3 trail rides. One was with Pressing which was fun and quite exciting as we ended up on a big field where Juliano could show off his speed. Juliano came back home wet, all the excitement of running in the field and bucking got him tired a bit or that's what I thought. I got of him after our last trot to help him cool down faster. When we arrived back at the stables he still wanted to go out and play with Dum. Maybe he wasn't as tired as I thought after all.

Next two days we've spent hacking out with Magda and Dum. Both horses were perfect. We allowed them to choose their own speed in trot and canter. They've done a wonderful job keeping their paces rythmic and calm. One thing worth mentioning is Juliano's motivation to keep Dum under control. Dum is a LBI but when he starts cantering in the woods he easily goes into "I'm not stopping" mode. There is nothing a rider can do to stop him because his neck is so tense that you can't bend him. Juliano on the other hand is more likely to explode, go very fast but he soon slows down or looses interest in running all together and stops. So we've always had our back-up plan if things went wrong with Dum and Juliano was our secret weapon. When Dum was out of control I would overtake him on Juliano, stop Juliano and J would stop Dum with a kick. Now Juliano thinks it is his responsibility to keep Dum under control and I don't have to ask him or guide him. It even got to the point where Juliano learned to canter sideways in order to keep Dum second and prevent him from over-taking. It's one of these things I mentioned in my past posts. You don't even sometimes realise what you are teaching your horse. I used him before to stop Dum but I didn't think I could teach him that. Juliano understood his task very well, him dominating nature kicked in very fast and now he thinks it is his responsibility to control the situation.

Juliano is a super horse!

I'm still smiling after today's ride in the woods. I went on a hack with Juliano and an Arabian gelding called Eparol. Both horses used to race so you can only imagine what could happen on a long straight trail in the wood if both horses decided to have a little race.

Juliano was leading and he was quite energetic but instead of going fast he would go more up, he was very exuberant in his trot and in canter he would collect himself. I could feel his energy but it was more of a playful, fun energy. It was quite windy so there were times when I felt Juliano was loosing confidence, but a gentle stroke on his neck and me saying "It's OK"and he would march on as nothing was happening. He was very brave. He also went through paddles which is very rare for him.

You probably wonder why I call Juliano a super horse after just a simple hack. Well to ride an off-track TB on a windy day on a trail and have a calm ride is pretty amazing. Today I didn't use reins of the hackamore to control J, we did all our transitions just with my energy going up or down. Juliano also did a canter-stop transition which made my day. Canter-stop transition on a long, straight path, without using reins - I have a super horse :)

Our first 2-day trail ride

For some time we have been thinking of going to Brzózki for a longer trail ride. It's about 22km from our stables. This year we finally decided to go (Asia & Wisełka, Iza & Rossini, me & J).

We set out just after 12PM armed with food, water, horse treats and maps. It was warm and the sun was shining. The night before I sat down and studied the road through the woods on Google Maps. I've been to Brzózki before, when I was in pony club, but this was ages ago. This time I had to choose the road on my own as Asia and Iza didn't know the way. I learned our route almost by heart so the next day we had no problems in getting from point A to B.

The way to Brzózki took us 5 hours. There was a lot of walk, some trot and canter. We also stopped a lot for grazing. Juliano spent most of the time we walked with his nose in fresh, green grass - he mastered eating and walking. There were parts of the trail when we had to go through villages or on tarmac roads. I got of and walked with J, it was cool, walking besides a horse, not holding him, just with rope from natural hackamore under my belt.



All three horses behaved beautifully. They immediately assigned roles between themselves. Juliano was leading, but when he was unsure to go over a bridge for example Wisełka would take over the lead for some time. Rossini was in the back all the time and Juliano made sure that he wouldn't get to close to Wisełka, he is very jealous of her. It was a calm ride. The forests in that area are more wild, there are no people around just deer and roes.



I was worried Juliano would go extreme right-brain at a different stable, especially this one as they also keep cows, pigs, goats and sheep. We arrived to Brzózki and turned our horses out to a small paddock. They all rolled in sand and drank water we brought them. To my surprise Juliano remained left-brain. He was curiously looking around. He pranced in collected trot around Wisełka for a bit to show the horses in the next paddock who is boss. We were amazed to see our horses approach the opposite fence of the paddock. In the paddock on the left hand side cows were kept. Juliano has seen cows before, about 4 years ago and he was scared to death than. After an hour we took our horses to the stables. Juliano and Wisełka got boxes side-by-side in an English stable so they could see the area all the time. They got their evening feed out in the paddock so now we gave them plenty of hay and water. They were happy in their boxes, eating hay so we went to unpack. I was also worried Juliano wouldn't lie down in this new, strange environment but when I went to check on him at 10PM he was fast asleep on his belly.

Next day it was raining cats and dogs all morning, we were thinking of calling for a trailer to get home. Just our luck, it stopped reining just after 12. There was an exam going on at the stables that day, sort of like British BHS Stage 1 & 2. A lot of people had horses from Brzózki to pass their badge on. I was sitting outside the box with Joanna when a lady came with tack and went into J's box. She must have confused him with a different horse. We didn't say anything until she started brushing J. We were just waiting to see what will happen. It was quite funny to see expression on Juliano's face when she got in "Wait a minute, you are not my rider!".

We left Brzózki at 1PM. It took us 4 hours to get home. Horses were happy and relaxed and though it was a second day of intensive riding for them they were still full of energy. Back home Juliano went galloping and bucking down the field.

It was a great experience, the scenery, silence, wilderness and spending time with our horses. Trips like this create an even stronger bond between humans and horses. After all we are going into unknown together and depend on each other. I was pleased to see Juliano brave, calm and interested in new surroundings. What more can you ask for :)

Best winter ever!

Day after day we have tons of fun, is this what riding is about? For us, yes! We focus mainly on freestyle and it is paying off. Snow helped us improve our walk to canter departures. We can't do much of sideways or backing up as it is to hard in the snow, but I'm sure perfecting the upward and downward transition will came in handy in spring.

Today we went on a short hack with Joanna and Magda. We managed to canter down the field in deep snow, there was no overtaking all three horses kept distance and maintained good rhythm. After the ride horses wen't for a quick roll in the snow and we went for a cup of hot coffee.

Asia and Wisełka

Magda and Dum Dum

Me and Juliano