Box rest fall out

Three weeks or so on box rest seemed to have left Ali and I with a flaky Mr Merlyn last week. I went up for my Monday ride on a lovely sunny morning and was pleased to find him in a nice mood while we groomed, so well behaved apart from snatching one foot back early a couple of times.

Then came tacking up when he took a fit of the grumps with me. The sun vanished, it started raining and things started to look a little less idyllic than ten minutes earlier. It took me fully five minutes to do up his bridle and flash while he threatened to bite, and although he didn't follow through I was as narked as him by the time we were done.

I got on for our little walk up the lane - he hadn't been out a while so we were breaking him in gently - and by now the weather was dry again but very windy. He can get spooky in the wind so I wasn't entirely surprised when he got a bit nappy with me....we had both lost our sunny dispositions, though, there was no fooling yourself by now try as you might. I pushed him on with a feigned sack of potatoes 'I ain't worried by your carry on' seat.

What I didn't bank on was him spooking, bolting and bucking just ten minutes up the road.

We stayed put, it was over fast and I got him back together and made him go on a bit further past the things he was taking issue with - and there were a few - before turning back for home. A horse of his size bucking on a road is no laughing matter, even if they were little ones, I had no desire to see his more forceful versions, but I knew we had to go on further, he couldn't get away with it.

He had mellowed a bit by the time we got back down the road, and I was in half a mind to turn him back and take him out again....sometimes I have to check myself. I love riding and I know it involves pushing past fear at times, but as Mum I also have to weigh up the risks.

Ali took him out he next day and had just about concluded that I must have been a bit wound up when out of the blue he did exactly the same to her. Happens to the best of us, it seems!

So, we are 'on a break'  Merlyn and I, while he works through his little issue in the hands of his much braver owner. I have don't have the bottle to take him out on the roads while he is being quite so daft but  I am sure if she can get him back to his cross country and run off some energy, he will mellow again.

Anyhow, I am not letting up on my riding I have been at Hazelden and having some great fun lessons on Dennis, Monty and Rocky, any of whom I would quite happily keep in a moment...

A right good blether while you jump....

Does jumping make you nervous? Last night I had a jumping lesson, which I haven't had in a while. It started with a plea of 'I'm a little bit nervous' and ended with a whoop of 'That was brilliant, I can't believe I did that!' 

So I now know the answer....the cure all for eradicating jumping nerves. It's a very Scottish cure, a specialist riding technique which we call blethering.

It may be a uniquely Hazelden technique, as expertly practised by owner / instructor Rob, who can (and I am sure he wouldn't mind that I say so) blether for Scotland. It starts before he gives you a leg up, and doesn't stop for the full hour.

Our collective group waffle last night covered all sorts of inane chatter .....holidays, T in the Park, how much it costs to park your car at T in the Park, what might happen if you didn't pay the parking fee, the horrors of accidentally shutting your kids fingers in car doors, the horrors of accidentally shutting the boot on your dad's head, forthcoming weddings, drinking too much, hangovers, pakora, mushroom pakora, loathing of fish pakora, and so on.....

Jumps are punctuation, the focus is the utterly mindless chit chat.

Blethering in order to be effective in this way must absolutely not be about riding, although you can pepper your blethering with a generous sprinkling of ' heels down' or 'just hold him a bit there' or even 'three, two, one' on the approach to the jump. You can even follow up after jumping with post jump corrections, as long as you don't let it interrupt the very arbitrary flow of the conversation. I doubt the BHS gives any certification in this particular skill, but in terms of the confidence that distraction can bestow on the rider, I think they should.

While blethering you can easily jump up to 40 times almost without noticing you have. In no time at all I was jumping 70cm jumps 3 in a row, and noticed that not only was my mouth no longer dry, but I was loving it and on a complete high!

The footage was of Ice, who I rode last night...not my video, not me riding, although looks about the same height and I am pretty positive that Sarah has benefited from this little known technique. I'll leave you with some more of Ice jumping...my head is still right there, another of Sarah's clips helps me hang onto the moment a while longer!

I will miss my Hazelden lessons for the next few weeks, but when I come back, it will be for a blether and a jump, that is for sure.

Shaping up for Summer



Arnie



I have had a week now where the art and the riding have both taken a back seat, so was delighted to be back in the saddle tonight.

Even more so when we got there and decided to take them to the outdoor school for the last half hour of light on a beautiful sunny day.

Bombproof Arnie  and I lead the way, the brave boy of the herd.



We are still collectively on our flat work roll, and as a credit to our instructor Kerry, it is still something a little different every week. We ride a lot more in our own formation to begin with, working alongside each other of transitions, leg yields, circles and the like, somehow Kerry with eyes on all of us, always asking questions "How did that shallow loop feel to you then?" I ponder "Felt like he might have led too much with his shoulders" I hazard? "That's right, he slowed down too"she points out. Yes, he did that, and I think that means he was moving out to the side too much, not forward enough.....it all starts to make some kind of sense this strange language week after week.

Then, usually we move on to work at a canter with and this week came up good with cantering in straight edged 'shapes' again.  Squares first - no cones, you had to work it out yourself  as you go, loose focus and you round those corners off very quickly  - and then harder still triangles. Amazing what a difference an extra 30 degrees makes on a turn, it certainly  made us all work a lot harder. Leg on hard for the straight edges, and strong inside leg to push them around the tight angle, a little outside leg if the back end drifted too far, then quick as you can, leg on hard again for the straight side. Sometimes it worked, sometimes I lost it and dropped out of canter, but it was such hard work we were not that fazed when it happened.

hazelden horses

Pablo

We were all exhausted, and most extremely sweaty and grateful for the cooling air as we walked them up the lane to turn them out for the night as there is finally enough grass.  As we turned them up Pablo and Larry charged to say hello, with Pablo screeching to a halt a foot a away from the electric fence, the recent shock of an encounter with it yesterday fresh in his mind. I am thinking of getting one fitted on the fridge, or perhaps the biscuit tin to get in shape for summer.

Happy horses, happy riders, summers a coming.

Portrait of an Appaloosa / Cob

I haven't posted any art for a few days, and this blog is serving well to keep me focused on my art.This is one I did a few weeks back of Rocky, a lovely little Appaloosa / Cob cross who is one of the school horses up at Hazelden. He has beautiful colouring and a lovely neck, which if why I wanted to draw him.




Horse Portrait, Rocky, Hazelden
Copyright EquineArtPortraits

   

Rocky, Hazelden

He is a lovely little thing, nice temperament and quite fast, although steady and close enough to the ground not to alarm , and he does listen to you. First time I rode him I though 'wow, push button horse, can I keep him?' He is a great little jumper too.

I quite like the weight of this piece, working in pencil, gives a different effect from mixed media work as you can build up the layers quite softly, which I find works well for horses or animals with a lot of white in them.

Rob, up at the stables thought this was my best until I took Monty up this week, when he said 'He'd look nice on my wall' ....bartering art for horse riding is something I would definitley do!

Nervous energy

I think I was still a bundle of post riding nervous energy when I posted last night.

Thing is, Monty was really charging it towards the end as we neared the jumps.....what I would call the the 'oh dear god, don't let him change his mind whatever happens' approach to the jump.

It was only a cross pole, really not too high, and we were taking turns at twice around each.The first time he would be barely into a canter as we rounded the corner, we would have a nice sensible approach and a good jump, landing well. He would be great on the way around keeping a nice steady pace all the until he rounded the corner towards the jump for the second time and then absolutely tear at it, not at all collected, completely in the driving seat.....'hello Monty, outside rein here, can you feel me?'

It all worked out fine seeing as he jumped (and to be fair its not like him to refuse) but the wrong pace of approach is just the sort of thing which tips the balance of probability.

Not the kind of pace you would slide off gently at either.

More half halts on the way around might be worth a try next time, or back into a trot until the corner, maybe......just so long as it doesn't wind the lovely big boy up.

The Lovely Monty, Hazelden

Monty in Watercolour and Pencil



Monty, Watercolour
Copyright EquineArtPortraits



Here is Monty with a bit more work done to him....I am swithereing over whether I have to do a bit more of his neck (which is not visible in the photo) or darken the background to avoid any dismembered head effect!




Riding night....Arnie

It was riding night tonight, and I was on Arnie....a low key affair, all flatwork, no jumping after a couple of the horses were a bit too full of beans.  Arnie was going really well, a bit quicker off the mark than usual and good on the leg yeilding.

I think somebody threw and extra handful of oats in their feed.... Ah well, will campain hard for a little jump course next week!

Less is more...the charcoal challenge.

I thought I would take the painting that I had started of Ice back to basics and do a charcoal study of him. I like this photo I am working on as it has a lot of contrast around the cheek and he has a nice bend in his neck. 




Charcoal study of Ice, Hazelden
copyright A. Cairns

 As ever the less you draw, the more important each mark becomes, so this is different to building up a horse portrait in coloured pencil, where you can build up the artwork in layers, adding depth as you go. 
Less is more, but often harder to pull off well!

Charcoal work can look great when it works out well, so well worth putting in some practise .... little an often is best,as with all in life! It also means I can take what I learn from the study and use it to add depth to the painting.

 

Horse Portrait of the month: Dee Dee

 "He is terrific....You are very talented"

Elaine Stevenson, of the Portrait of her Daughters Horse Dee Dee



Copyright remains with Artist, Antonia Cairns 2011



Dee Dee is a livery horse up at Hazelden Equestrian Centre in Glasgow, where I ride. I was lucky enough to take some framed work to the stables just at the moment that Elaine was thinking about commissioning a portrait as a Christmas gift for Abigail........  as ever in life, timing is everything!

It was tricky to find a time to visit and photograph him, as Abigail was never away from the stables. When I met him I could understand why....he had the most beautiful face and such a curious nature, with his ears pricked up in the snow. What a lucky girl!

 Elaine and I had some discussion about which photo to use, he looked so nice in all of them.

We settled on this one as he looked very sweet in it, which Elaine felt suited his lovely nature.

To my delight, Elaine tells me Abigail loves the artwork and has taken it to the yard to show it off......Dee Dee was a joy to meet and to draw, and working on him brightened up the days of the most ferocious cold snap in December!