Saturday 9 June 2012

Anyone for a quiet hack!?

Things have been going pretty well. We are now up to 45 minutes long-reining (which is boring, but we are now doing some trot, rein-back and pole work on the long-reins, so it's not too bad) and 20 minutes ridden hacking.

Echo has been a bit spooky, but thankfully she is back to her old self in terms of how she spooks - when she was lame, she started spinning around or taking off, which I found scary because that wasn't like her at all. She still shies at things, but she just jumps, or stops dead - much more manageable!

I know I always moan about the hacking where we are - I know it looks beautiful, but it is full of scary Echo-eating monsters and so I thought I would make a little video on our hack tonight, to show you what I mean. Bear in mind it was 7.30pm on a Saturday evening, so usually there would be farm machinery all over the place too. Please excuse my rambling on...might not be very interesting, but I got quite carried away chatting to myself and the camera!



But I am pleased with how she is coming on. The physio is happy that she is getting more even in her muscles, although still some tension through her back which she works on every time she comes out. Long may the improvements continue!

7 comments:

Suzie said...

Not quite sure why there are those weird moving black bits at the bottom and top of the video. Think it might be where youtube tried to fix the movement of the camera...to try to avoid giving you all motion sickness!

Having made this video on Saturday, I hacked her out Sunday evening too and she was an absolute star. Rocky came galloping up to us again and trotted up the hill beside us and I didn't feel a single muscle tense in Echo - she didn't take a step out of her rhythm and completely ignored him. Even the pigs were out and shot away from us and that didn't bother her either. Very clever pony.

Achieve1dream said...

I'll be back to get caught up, just wanted to say YES your comment (about backing Chrome and working on forward, forward, forward) was very helpful!! I really appreciate it! :D

Achieve1dream said...

I really enjoyed listening to you talk. :D I'm from the US so it's fun to hear your accent. :D

I'm glad Echo was so good for the video. I can definitely see where there's a lot for a horse to spook at. Those pigs would bother me lol. They are huge!! I can imagine how unpleasant it would be if they were all squealing and fighting over food. Sheesh.

Thanks for sharing the video. It was fun to go on a hack with you. :D

Cat said...

I'm so glad Echo is continuing to get stronger and you'll be getting fit too with all that long reining! I'm very jealous of your hacking but I think Wolfie would have a melt down at that farm machinery and he's never seen a pig before, but I can't imagine he would be too thrilled. I found it quite hard to video and ride at the same time...I'm not very good at multi tasking. I have filmed some bits which are like something out of the blair witch project when all you see is crashing through bushes and hear breathing! It's nice to see where people are instead of trying to imagine it.

Suzie said...

Haha I was thinking about that when I made the video actually- about how lots of my readers are in the US so I must sound weird!
Thank you for all your comments- that was quite a mammoth catching up session- will answer all your questions soon I promise!

Glad you enjoyed the video- it was nice to have you hacking with us!

Achieve1dream said...

No problem, take your time! I get so behind on reading blogs that when I have time to catch up I try to read all of the ones I missed. I love reading your blog and didn't want to miss anything lol. :D

Achieve1dream said...

Silly! Feel free to hand out advice, that's one reason I blog lol. I like your ideas and will definitely use them. :D

Daily adventures while training my young horse.