Bonjour's Blog

Pictures are taking a little time to upload to photobucket so, here's a couple of pictures of roo's Mum, Ereka, that I took week before last while I was in France.



[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

What a lovely girl, she does look a lot smaller than Roo though although still pretty chunky

Yesterday after breakfast Joey and I got Rhubarb tacked up for long-reining and, after an initial few minutes of me working her, to settle her down, Joey had a go.



[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]



Joey did very well long-reining her in the paddock and so we opened the fence and let him take her out into the big field. She was as good as gold.



Joey is very fond of her and she responds very well to him. She certainly remembers him and i think she regards him as being higher in the pecking order than her.



[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]



Next I got Joey to take her into the round pen and we took off the long-reins and put on the riding reins. I hopped aboard for a few circuits round the pen, then it was Joey's turn.



I'm having trouble with adding the next picture, so I'll post this and open another post.





Bill

Just look at the smile on that boy's face!



[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]





Here's a vid of Joey riding her in the round pen




[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Then we let them out of the round pen. Joey did really well and Roo was mostly very good for him but did trot off to the gate with him. He couldn't do a lot about it with his reins too long

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]



Later in the day we had another short ridden session, this time without the long rein prelude. No problems, so today we might try something new.



Watch this space.





Bill.

Fantastic photos, Joey looks so happy and what a star Roo is

The links don't work though

have a great time today

My IT incompetence is now sorted . Links are working now (for me anyway).







Bill.

They are working now, brilliant, well done Joey and Roo

my golly you must need a massively long girth. the saddle almost looks miniature on her!! she looks on lovely condition. her mum tho looks way to small to be her mum...ouch!!!!!!

The saddle is an 18" thorowgood T6 Cob. The girth came from Pen (Azaria) and is, I think, 62" long.



Yes, her mum looks too small to be mum. I think she gets both her coat colour and her height from Dad, but even he is only 16.1hh or so (165cm) Roo's about 17hh.



[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]



Powers, Rhubarb's (and Mossy's) dad

A fantastic update bill thankyou. I can see were roo gets her good looks her mum is adorable and her dad is stunning.
pen

what an apt name - powers - he certainly is!!! you can see he's her dad !

He is a stunning chap Powers Moss must get his colour and ganglyness from his mum, I would love to find a photo of her.

How did it go today?

We had a bit of an exciting session this morning



I got on Roo in the round pen and walked her around for a few minutes. then we got Blue tacked up in her paddock and I rode Roo over there while Joey got mounted on Blue.



After walking them up and down the fence line a couple of times, Joey brought Bluey out and I tucked in behind them with Roo for a ride in company round the perimeter of the field. This was roo's first ridden session in company so she was a bit excitable and kept wanting to overtake, so I ran her into Blue's bum a couple of times and she kind of got the idea that she was not to set the pace, that's my job.



All went well for the first couple of circuits, so I thought maybe she'd be OK leading for a bit. I told Joey I was going to turn right and hat he should fall in behind at a safe distance but it didn't quite work like that.



as I turned, Roo took the opportunity to reverse at Blue and kick her Fortunately, with my weight on board, the kick was pretty ineffectual and no harm was done to Bluey.



Mel caught it on video but it's a bit distant and not great quality.



[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]



After that tantrum I kept her firmly behind Blue for a couple more circuits of the field and she was much better behaved. I even had to chivvy her along at one point to catch up with Bluey.



We finished off by venturing out the gate into the next field and made a big circle back to the gate and back "home".



I don't know who was the more sweaty, me or Roo She got rewarded with some treats and a sponging down, I had no such luck



We gave her the rest of the day off as her first "mini hack" had obviously been quite a taxing experience, physically and mentally, for her. she'll have time to think and process the experience and I hope we'll do more of the same tomorrow morning, hopefully without the tantums! If she's good, we may venture a little further afield.





Bill

Naughty, naughty girl, tut, tut Thank goodness no harm was done.

phew, it was a bit "taxing" physically and mentally for you guys aswell, wasn't it ?

Hope she's been a good girl today,( no squealing) will look in later for an update

pen

It was too hot this morning to do anything intensive with Roo, so Joey and I took Buster and Bluey out for a gentle hack, nearly all in walk. a lovely outing but even with the gentle pace the horses were well sweated up when we got back and needed a nice cool sponge bath and scrape off to cool them down before we could put them back to graze.



This afternoon I helped our friend, Jo, with lunging her mental ex-racehorse. I think the hot weather must have sapped his naughty instinct because he was surprisingly well-behaved.



At tea-time I had a lecture with our club instructor for a riding clubs exam, then it was straight back up the field for a little session with Joey and Roo. Joey rode her in the round pen and we did some trotting pole work, which was moderately successful, then tried a little cross-pole hop, which she couldn't quite get the hang of. she got to the point of hopping over with the front legs and ploughing through with the back ones.



Rather than labour the point, we finished off with Joey riding her round the field a bit then back to her paddock.



By the time i'd done feed, water and moved fences it was 8.30 (BST) and getting dusk. I was too knackered and "horsed out" to bother poo-picking, that can keep till morning.





sorry no pictures or vids this time.





Bill

The "Little Madam".......... more like Bronco roo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well sat that man

pen

Azaria wrote:

Well sat that man

Yes, he did well there. Joey's a good young rider. He puts me to shame He's been a real asset to have around this week. Roo's made real progress with us being able to do a little with her every day. I shall miss having Joey to help when he goes home on Monday.

We had a session in the round pen tonight to try and get her canter work started. Joey rode and gave the leg aids while I took the centre with the lunge whip and gave the voice commands.

We got her walking and trotting then asked for canter. As expected she had a few bucks but did manage a few clumsy paces of canter on each rein.

We didn't want to overdo it on her first attempt at canter with rider, so Joey took her out in the field to walk and trot for a bit before we called it a day.

Joey's Mum, Sarah took some video but her camera card doesn't seem to be compatible with our card reader, so we'll have another try at getting her footage onto computer tomorrow.


Bill.

Gosh you have done really well this week, Joey is a fab little rider, he and Roo get on so well too It is hard when it's only you to do stuff, you will miss him next week,
I love Roo's little buckaroo stuff, from the comfort of my chair that is

She did it with me a little while back. To be honest, it's a bit like being in the comfort of an armchair, an armchair that has hiccups.

We tried another card reader and it worked! Here's the video.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Bill

Moss mum's info [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Moss has a half brother by her who is 6 yrs old "SYMBA DES MARECHAUX" and has 2 others (4 in total with moss), she was a broodmare from 2003 to 2009 (moss was her last).
He is pure CN on his mums side but maybe he has a bit of breton (or something like that) on his dads side.

Brill vid Bill, Well done Roo and Joey

When is he back?


Yep I had found that Saz it's a photo I would love to see, she has to be the thin and gangle type, because I see no Breton in him.

Joey goes home this afternoon so, when they've had breakfast, I'll see if he wants to have a final session with Roo. Once he's gone it will be up to me and Mel to keep up the momentum with her.

In your search for pictures of Mossy's mum, have you tried contacting her breeder or Mossy's breeder? He/they sjould be listed on the HN records. Even if they sold her, they should be able to put you in touch with the current owner.


Bill.

Roo got out again last night. My fault, I knew the battery was running low on her fencer and I forgot to change it. Never mind, as usual she didn't go far and was found visiting little Cara.

Joey and I had our last session with Roo this morning. We took her, in company with Blue, aroud the field out across the next field and down the track about 300-400yards. I think we can class that as her first proper hack out. She was a total star

Here's us about to set off up the track.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sarah and family have gone home now but we're hoping they'll come and visit us and Roo again. I've given them the web address for GFree, so they can keep in touch with Roo through my blog.

There will be a few days off for Roo now, partly due to changing weather and partly because I've got to play catch-up on some (borrrriiiing!) work stuff. then i'll see if I can get our friend Sue organised to ride Bluey so we can get some more gentle hacking in with Rhubarb.



Bill