holiday

summery skies, green grass, and a warm breeze. yes my horses are on holiday. we drove zani down to lianne's stables so he too could get a change of scene for month. he has enjoyed his stay so far. he has managed to jump his paddock fence (that was about 150 cm high) and tare through his hay net. but hasn't injured himself at all.
but i'll give a much more detailed report soon. but now i'm on holiday :D

woohoo!

ok! since i haven't had lots of time to update i'll try to sum up this past few weeks of blank. i'll start with my excursion on my own to the field next the stables. our stables owns a few good sized fields around the area. my stables is actually a mansion that has a farm (which has been many years ago turned into a stables) attached to it. the owners of the whole establishment owned at some point much of the land around the stables.

zani has become very chilled out and very happy going out on the field, first i got him used to the field by walking him in hand and letting him look at everything around the field, including a busy road, pedestrians and lots of forest. i did it for a few months and then i walked him under the saddle a few times with a person next to him so he had some support from the ground too if things got messy. the next step was to go out with a nice calm horse that was a good example for him. to take the steps further i went galloping with the older horse pulling zani, as in the older horse galloping in front of us and then me letting zani gallop right behind so that zani would feel confident and if something were to go wrong i would have something to stop him with without having to jerk at the reins.

then last week i took zani out on my own and rode him in the field. he had been a bit nervous in the back arena ( a old arena at the back of the stables without fences) so i was hesitant to take him on the field. i had a old friend who was visiting me with me when i was riding and so we went to the field and my friend stood in the middle of the field and i rode zani around technically on my own. he was a bit tense in the beginning but once i started to work him he was just amazing. he just let loose and worked his whole body. it was such a achievement considering that i had a nasty fall and it took me a long time to get my confidence back and trust in zani. it felt good to enjoy a good outing!

now lets skip to today. since the weather is lovely here and its been quite warm i didn't want to ride zani too long. there was a course left in the arena with allot of different fillers (like planks and walls) so i thought that i could desensitize zani a bit more. he doesn't really mind any fillers or spook fences but he does look at them and finds is difficult to jump them straight. so i took him one jump at a time and worked him at a slow and relaxed pace so that i could concentrate on things that my trainer had mentioned on our last lesson. since turning and cutting corners had been key issues of that lesson i took my time to ride all of the curves and lines very carefully and well prepared. then once i was sure that he was comfortable with the jumps i jumped the fences as a course. first a line with a plank upright, 4 strides, and a upright with a rainbow filler. then a upright with a gate and then a oxer with a plank. he didn't look at a single jump and had such good rhythm and good manners that i was thrilled with him. i took him on a nice walk around the field and let him cool down. then showered him and let him graze. so all in all it was a lovely day. :D

rocking horse

well yesterday zani was most definitely a rocking-horse. with all this saddle humbug i've ridden zani quite lightly for the past week and i've let him be quite free with his neck not asking for allot of collection. so now that we are set with the saddle and i'm sure he isn't hurting i've started to ride him normally again.
yesterday when i started working him i let him canter since he only wanted to canter and not concentrate on trotting with a long neck. i pushed him into a good long canter and sat in a 3 point position and let him go. i felt that he was a bit crooked and i wanted him to straighten out so after a good warm up i started to canter him and collected him a bit. zani decided that he didn't want to straighten out and work through his whole body so i flexed him to the outside to encourage him to move his hind legs underneath him. zani ofcourse being the 'steam engine' that he is decided he didn't want to do it so he started to rock as in he lifted up his hind to buck but then bounced with his front so it felt like i was sitting on a rocking horse. ofcourse this is not the way he should canter so i pushed him with my seat a bit stronger and he came nicely onto the bit and flexed his neck into the right bend.
so we worked through our issues yesterday and today he was super. i took him to the upper arena that doesn't have any fencing for the first time to ride and he didn't spook anything or lose concentration. the arena is basically in a forest so you can just imagine the rustling and fun sounds you can get. i worked zani on large circles making them smaller and bigger in both trot and canter. zani still has the habit sometimes that he leans on the right rein so i didn't let him by using my right leg and flexing him to the outside so he had to take the left rein into contact. othewise he worked very well and i was really pleased with him today.
and yes a rider can have other hobbies so i'm off to a martial art seminar for the weekend. i believe that along side riding every rider should have some other form of exercise since your riding muscles need to be supported by other muscles that aren't worked while riding. for me the nice counterpart to riding is a martial art (bujinkan) that provides further teaching in body control and maintaining flexibility. so with that note i bid you a good weekend and a summery day! :D

110 upright

Hello again,
Now that i've gotten the saddle insanity over and done with i've been riding with the new lovely for a couple of days. the first day that i rode zani was quite green since he had had a few days rest and we rode in the indoor arena because the outdoor has been a pool with all the rain that we've gotten. i couldn't feel exactly what was happening underneath me since zani was tense and i had to concentrate on getting him to concentrate on me and my aids. but he move in a completely different way. his canter was very round and it rolled very smoothly. no choppy bounces. the next few days i just did flat work and just getting him to move relaxed and forward. then other day i thought that i would jump a few small jumps if zani was concentrating. so we put up a small cross and i popped over it. zani bearly jumped as he has gotten the hang of small jumps and is convinced that he can just trot over them. so we put up the cross to a 80 cm upright. zani jumped just fine and so we just put up the jump to 90, 100, and 105. now i haven't jumped a higher fence than 105 with zani so i thought that we could just try a 110 since there is no trouble in reaching zani's scope. so we just popped over the upright twice and it was so rewarding. it was like flying. the new saddle supports me and zani and lets him use his body through the jump.

Wait for the bell

When i mention trouble in finding a good saddle for Zani fellow riders cringe in fear and run off screaming. well not exactly but most who i talk to have trouble finding saddles that fit their horses. i am aware that some riders and some stables can ride many horses with just one saddle. i have done this too, when i was working at a sales stables. i brought my own saddle with me so that there were enough saddles for all the riders. my saddle, a old nelson pessoa jumping saddle is such a treasure that it sat on every horse that i put it on. though its about the hardest saddles ever rode on its still remarkably comfortable, especially when riding young horses that have big jumps.
now though zani has outgrown my saddle. i've been keeping a eye on the saddle since he is a young horse and young horses tend to change as they grow. so for the past month i've been noticing zani a bit uncomfortable under the saddle and the only reason that i can think of is the saddle. so i tried a few other saddles on my own and none of them seemed to fit. i called a saddle fitter that i used for limppu when i was looking for another saddle for her. they were very professional and came yesterday to fit saddles for him. even before they took the saddles out they interviewed me about zani's facts and if he had had any health problems.
while we were fitting the saddles zani just stood still like a good boy and was very interested about the saddles himself. so we found good saddle for him. it just needs to be adjusted abit so it'll be perfect.
hopefully zani will be more comfortable with this one.

X Halt and Salute

Zani being a five year old is anything but the push-button pony that every young rider dreams of in the few first years of riding school. Having lived all around the world I started riding in m'asia, not very known for producing olympic golds in the equine disciplines i must admit.
in those years of riding ponies and being introduced to the life in in the showring i never rode one of those push-button ponies. and now i am glad. sure at the time i bit the dust of the arenas plenty of times and cursed why i couldn't have those pretty, pristine, pampered push-button ponies. my experiences with difficult horses and ponies started early. ofcourse, i learned the basics on well trained and safe ponies and horses but once i got past the walk, trot, canter phase and staying in balance i moved onto the more difficult cases. my first favorite was lady, a little mare with lots of attitude. she was my first pony that i jumped with. i don't have too many memories of the first time besides that lady saved me a couple of times. she was notorious for taking off towards the jump as she loved jumping so she took off and would jump when i was not nearly ready so i flew onto her neck but she wouldn't put her head down or buck.
my next favorite was picnic. he was the gentlest pony but he had had some bad experiences in his days before the poloclub i rode at. he taught me how to ride with my seat.
the stories of picnic, lady, mico, tootsie, faldo, romerius, romantico, kimi and limppu will be told. but not in one post.
Now back to the point of this post. Zani is like i stated a 5 year old now. i bought him when he was still 3 so theoretically i bought a very young horse. He is no where near grown up yet, but he has grown in leaps and bounds since my first ride on him. The fact that he isn't a push-button pony (or horse) or a show ready package gives me so much gratification when i see his development because i have brought him this far.
my passion for riding comes from the work that i put into it. i think showing a horse is wonderful but if i would just sit on a push-button horse and look stunning in the show ring it would not be as fufilling as riding my own horse that i've trained in the ring even if it would take a few years longer to get into the ring.
so no push-button ponies for me, please

Enter at C at working canter

Hello,
I guess this entry should be the starting point, well it is considering that this is the first entry, for my journey with a young horse. This blog though should have been started a year earlier since this young horse has been in my life for a year but this is a good place to start. Most blogs that i've read state goals that can be achieved through the blog but i won't try to set any as this story of mine continues and has it's twists and turns.
Ok. now off to introduce the cast, Zani (the young horse), me (the owner and writer), Limppu (and Noni, my two other horses), Siiri (the dog), and then the crew whom shall remain covered in the veil of mystery for the reader.
And now a bit into detail about the cast,
Zani, 5 year old, Zangersheide bred gelding, showjumper.
me, (yes i have a name, lets just leave it at that since the people who probably will read this know me on a personal level) young rider (devision 18-25), from a country in northern europe, both showjumper and dressage rider.
Limppu, 16 year old, KWPN bred mare, dressage horse.
Noni, two month old, KWPN bred stallion, no idea what he will be!
There, now lets see how this blog will develop.