Having got the horse to James it was time to get to work. On the Monday we spent the morning watching James and his team start working with the young colts.
Day1 is accept the human as a friend and give them a general assesment. I was like a nervous father waiting for James to tell me all that I had done wrong in her early training and how much he had to undo. In the event she was an angel, with a slightly tarnished but serviceable halo. James worked her for a good time off the back of Princess. She responded to the yields very softly after only a short time. Afterall she had never been ponyed before and I was a little nervous as to how she would take to be in the vicinity of another horse. After James had got her nice and soft with her yields he got off Princess and after getting a good standstill jumped onto Fillys' back and just stood there rubbing on her. After a few minutes that was day 1 over for Filly. I say Day 1 over but you have to remember that all the staff there are well trained so all interactions with the horses are done in a very Savvy way. Thus Filly is being trained all the time she is in contact with a human, not just when in the school.
Day 2 was back check day. John Hankinson always checks the colts out physically before they are properly ridden. In the case of Filly he found a mis-aligned pelvis, which he corrected. He also found that her left front leg below the pastern is slightly out of alignment. The implications of this are that it can be corrected with shoeing, but will never go away. I asked what limitations it placed on riding her and he said, apart from not racing her, none. If they had raced her she would eventually have broken down. After having their backs checked and "crunched" James decided to introduce just the bareback pad so that they called all feel the girth. Once they all had a pad on they were allowed to move around at liberty to get used to it for a while. Then they were moved with more purpose at walk trot and canter, again a liberty and as a herd. So the shy little Filly found herself trotting around in front of two young geldings. One kept getting a little close behind her. Even Ritchie and I could read the signs, but the gelding apparently could not. Eventually he got double barrelled by Filly. He can't say she didn't warn him ! Once they were relaxed and comfortable they were mounted one by one and James again worked them from the back of Princess, but this time with a rider onboard.
Day 3 was saddle up day. Each colt was saddled with a western saddle, and then all let loose at liberty at the same instant. The two young geldings immediately went into a strong bucking fit. Filly initially got out of their way, but after a few seconds decided to join in the fun. 10 Seconds later she stopped dead with the most comical look on her face. She was clearly looking at the others and saying "why are we bucking" :). Once the initial frolics where out of the way they were again all moved around at walk trot and canter until the appeared relaxed. Then, as on the previous day they were all ridden one at a time with some initial ponying off Princess. Today however they were also ridden "solo" at walk trot and canter. As James says this gets walk trot and canter out of the way and now they can start their ridden education in earnest.
Day 4. More of the same really, but with more emphasis on getting them forwards in both their mind and their bodies. Also the start on inside leg isolations with lots of indirect and direct rein patterns.
Day 5. Dentist. On her initial examination it was found that Filly had a wolf tooth and 4 baby teeth that needed to be removed. For this she needed sedation so the vet was called as well as the dentist. She was not happy about the injection, but eventually it was done. Given the amount of dental work carried out she was given the rest of the day off.
Day1 is accept the human as a friend and give them a general assesment. I was like a nervous father waiting for James to tell me all that I had done wrong in her early training and how much he had to undo. In the event she was an angel, with a slightly tarnished but serviceable halo. James worked her for a good time off the back of Princess. She responded to the yields very softly after only a short time. Afterall she had never been ponyed before and I was a little nervous as to how she would take to be in the vicinity of another horse. After James had got her nice and soft with her yields he got off Princess and after getting a good standstill jumped onto Fillys' back and just stood there rubbing on her. After a few minutes that was day 1 over for Filly. I say Day 1 over but you have to remember that all the staff there are well trained so all interactions with the horses are done in a very Savvy way. Thus Filly is being trained all the time she is in contact with a human, not just when in the school.
Day 2 was back check day. John Hankinson always checks the colts out physically before they are properly ridden. In the case of Filly he found a mis-aligned pelvis, which he corrected. He also found that her left front leg below the pastern is slightly out of alignment. The implications of this are that it can be corrected with shoeing, but will never go away. I asked what limitations it placed on riding her and he said, apart from not racing her, none. If they had raced her she would eventually have broken down. After having their backs checked and "crunched" James decided to introduce just the bareback pad so that they called all feel the girth. Once they all had a pad on they were allowed to move around at liberty to get used to it for a while. Then they were moved with more purpose at walk trot and canter, again a liberty and as a herd. So the shy little Filly found herself trotting around in front of two young geldings. One kept getting a little close behind her. Even Ritchie and I could read the signs, but the gelding apparently could not. Eventually he got double barrelled by Filly. He can't say she didn't warn him ! Once they were relaxed and comfortable they were mounted one by one and James again worked them from the back of Princess, but this time with a rider onboard.
Day 3 was saddle up day. Each colt was saddled with a western saddle, and then all let loose at liberty at the same instant. The two young geldings immediately went into a strong bucking fit. Filly initially got out of their way, but after a few seconds decided to join in the fun. 10 Seconds later she stopped dead with the most comical look on her face. She was clearly looking at the others and saying "why are we bucking" :). Once the initial frolics where out of the way they were again all moved around at walk trot and canter until the appeared relaxed. Then, as on the previous day they were all ridden one at a time with some initial ponying off Princess. Today however they were also ridden "solo" at walk trot and canter. As James says this gets walk trot and canter out of the way and now they can start their ridden education in earnest.
Day 4. More of the same really, but with more emphasis on getting them forwards in both their mind and their bodies. Also the start on inside leg isolations with lots of indirect and direct rein patterns.
Day 5. Dentist. On her initial examination it was found that Filly had a wolf tooth and 4 baby teeth that needed to be removed. For this she needed sedation so the vet was called as well as the dentist. She was not happy about the injection, but eventually it was done. Given the amount of dental work carried out she was given the rest of the day off.
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