Sid's diary

Nearly murdered in cold blood today by two hangry horses. I was putting in posts for the new inner track, and posts mean GRASS! Sid did not understand at all that in this case the posts meant "Grass tomorrow, or possibly on Saturday." He was not happy.
 
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Headed over this morning to get some fencing done while my sharer was riding Sid. Imagine my surprise to see Sid in the field eating hay and sharer stomping away towards her car. I called her (she was a long way off) and she said he had "trashed the fence" overnight and got into the long grass, wouldn't let her near him because he was running about like an eejit, and she was too angry to ride.

While I spoke to her Sid walked up to me and said hello. I offered to bring him in for her but she said no, she didn't want to ride now, she would come back this evening and clip him as arranged.

She had put the fence back up, but I don't think he can have trashed it as nothing was broken. Trashing a fence for Sid = at least 6 broken poles and broken tape, too. I understand that he was excited when she arrived and got the hay because he couldn't figure out how to get out, but he certainly wasn't hard to catch.

I don't really know how to manage her at the moment so I think I will leave well alone. I might offer to walk out with her tomorrow if she would like company.

Sid was so full of grass that when I took him for a walk later with Sonne and her owner he could hardly move and dawdled along at the end of the 12foot rope like a large heavy Zeppelin. Sonne's owner and I finished the fencing and gave them both grass, so he should cheer up for the next couple of days.
 
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So nice to have support! I am glad I have someone to share my field, and a sharer too.

Sonne's owner's friend promised us some old hay (last year's) free to collect. But I can't collect it, I have no means of transporting 18 bales of hay. They didn't have a trailer they could use. Today her friend and husband borrowed a trailer from some other friends and brought us the hay. And drove it down to my hay store and stacked it for me! I gave them a couple of nice bottles of wine which seems to me quite cheap for 18 bales of decent old hay, delivered to me doorstep.

And this afternoon my sharer overcame her wrath with Sid and gave him another excellent clip. There was enough fluff to fill a small duvet. Sid was his usual dudeness to clip and R was quite fond of him again by the time she was done.

So a good horsey day all round!
 
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Very unusually, a riding lesson on a Saturday. It was booked for Saturday so my sharer could come, but she didn't want to.

Her loss, I have to say. We were in the little school nearby, where we haven't been for ages, and Sid was whizzy as a result. This is great for me because he has lots of impulsion, but I have to practice getting his legs under my control and getting him to lift his back and drop his head.

Today I found that when he whizzes or I get anxious, I squeeze my bum and pinch my legs together like a pair of scissors closing. This lifts me out of the saddle and I can't sit deep and use my back = more whizzing. So I was practising softening my lower body, letting my shoulders slide downwards, and sitting more vertical.

Sid is such a dude: when I do it right, he does it right. We were trotting round a 20m circle with my RI shouting, "That's excellent, great, look at him move!" which is a big improvement on the last time we were in the school (he bucked and tried to canter everywhere).

Such a Good Boy to learn on. And there is always more to learn!
 
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ETA, thinking about it, no comment at all about my contact today. Usually I am told to shorten my reins. But if Sid is happy with the contact he softens, and then it doesn't feel as if my reins are short at all because there's no pressure, no pull. He lifts himself into the shape, I don't have to restrict his head to keep him there.
 
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I haven't been riding much as it has been bitterly cold and the ground very very hard. Today is was foggy too. Also our lane has been being dug up for the past two weeks and even at the weekends most of my favoured routes are not accessible, so Sid has had a holiday.

He has spent the time breaking out of his field. He tests fences with his whiskers. If they are not energised, he walks under them. If they are energised and he can bear the zap, he steps on the lower line and ducks under the upper one. Only a really strong zap will keep him in. We have now proved this by experiment and my field sharer, Sonne's owner, is going to buy her own energiser as a "mobile" to back up my inner and outer track energisers.

This morning Sonne went for a walk with one of the other horses on the yard, Cody. Sid got a lot more exercise than he would have done if he accompanied her! He galloped around the newly-completed inner track, calling and calling, then ran up and down the top edge with Smarty in his field mirroring him, and they spent a happy few minutes throwing shapes. Then Sid was puffed and just stood in the top corner of the field (Mattie's safe corner) waiting and calling.

No pictures as I was too busy admiring him! Sonne's owner commented to me today that for a lazy cob he spends a fair bit of time cantering here and there, and she admired his "effortless-looking" canter. It's so nice when someone else admires your horse.

I am looking forward to the evenings drawing out again. Only a couple of weeks to go....
 
Jane&Ziggy said:
He has spent the time breaking out of his field
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Oh, good luck with that! Ramsey, though bottom of the pecking order, was the hero of the field - like Sid, he felt the zap was worth it, and would break through so his buddies could follow. Was still doing it at 30 years old.
 
Jane&Ziggy said:
I haven't been riding much as it has been bitterly cold and the ground very very hard. Today is was foggy too. Also our lane has been being dug up for the past two weeks and even at the weekends most of my favoured routes are not accessible, so Sid has had a holiday.

He has spent the time breaking out of his field. He tests fences with his whiskers. If they are not energised, he walks under them. If they are energised and he can bear the zap, he steps on the lower line and ducks under the upper one. Only a really strong zap will keep him in. We have now proved this by experiment and my field sharer, Sonne's owner, is going to buy her own energiser as a "mobile" to back up my inner and outer track energisers.

This morning Sonne went for a walk with one of the other horses on the yard, Cody. Sid got a lot more exercise than he would have done if he accompanied her! He galloped around the newly-completed inner track, calling and calling, then ran up and down the top edge with Smarty in his field mirroring him, and they spent a happy few minutes throwing shapes. Then Sid was puffed and just stood in the top corner of the field (Mattie's safe corner) waiting and calling.

No pictures as I was too busy admiring him! Sonne's owner commented to me today that for a lazy cob he spends a fair bit of time cantering here and there, and she admired his "effortless-looking" canter. It's so nice when someone else admires your horse.

I am looking forward to the evenings drawing out again. Only a couple of weeks to go....
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I find they generally don't bother about battery zaps, only when it is mains. Now we have put in post and wire they stay where they are meant to.....
 
Bad Sid, Good Sid

Yet again today when I got to the field the horses were where they shouldn't be. Sid had broken a gateway (his preferred MO) and they were on the outside track.

How annoying! What a bad horse!

But when I called him, he came hurrying down at a canter even before I opened the hay store door. He brought Sonne with him and they both trotted helpfully through the restored gateway and let me close it behind them.

They got stuck into their hay while I gave them a few more poles of grass. Sid didn't see me doing it, but when I called him off his hay he gave me a sceptical look, but still came obediently to call and trotted after me when I jogged over to the new grass.

I sat and watched them grazing for a few minutes before the rain started again. I don't know who was more contented.
 
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He's cheeky! Check the Joules output on your energiser, under 1j will only keep the most respectful in or chickens! 1-2j is ok-ish but still often ignored, 5j cured Dan of his antics overnight! Dan hardly looks at a fence now days unless I have left it off for ages, before he was going through them at least twice a day! My 5j energiser doesn't matter if it is on mains or a battery, it's just as effective either way.
 
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It was R's birthday yesterday. She had the day off, and since it is one of my work days, she also had Sid. They went for a splendid long ride. He was full of the joys of spring and stroppy with her because she didn't always let him trot and canter when he felt like it! They ended up with a long long canter up the gallops, 4 minutes according to Equilab, which is a long time for a canter, and a super medium dressage-horse trot. He was less fizzy today but just as much fun, she said.

I went over this afternoon to give him a pamper and help him stay calm when Sonne went out for a walk with another pony. He had a massage, which he loves, and a mane and tail brush, which he can live without, and I cleaned up his mall enders scabs, which he actively dislikes but will tolerate as long as I am gentle.

He is looking in good fettle for the end of January, I think.

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And just to add, we shut Sid and Sonne into the section by the shelter while the fence got moved to give them 2 small squares of grass. This section is about 25m long and 5m wide. Sid GALLOPED up and down throwing shapes, charging the fence and generally being a total (delightful) prat the whole time we were moving the poles. When I let them out he CHARGED up to the grass, full gallop with a buck on the way. Sonne ran the wrong way and ended up at a fence. Being a draught horse, she shrugged and walked around to join Sid. No rush, no stress.

I love my sportive cob though.
 
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