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Living Diaries |
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Loui- 15.2hh Arab Gelding. Born 2003 Started his education in March 2009 and reached Level 3 HRCAV pulling 63% Sept09. A pure pleasure to experience and such paces! FOR SALE - click here for more details
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Loui |
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| Loui is FOR SALE | ||
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| 18/10/09 Dragged Loui out of the paddock, loaded him on the float and off we went to the PURC Oct Rally. He was such a star in his Dressage lesson. He did his lengthen/shorten trots like a real Gem and we did the most sitting trot we have ever done in one hit and he happily gave me his back and we sailed around. His lengthened Canters were a little confusing at first as he was doing flying changes but then he settled. I am so proud of him having the time off and simply going straight to work with no thought, other than always putting his best foot forward. | ||
| 28/9/09 Weather still wet and miserable so day off today. Loui is now up for sale so am putting together video footage and details of him. The DVD of his performance yesterday doing 3C will hopefully arrive in the mail this week so I will have a link to it as soon as it arrives also. The person who purchases Loui will have bought themselves a very good, loyal, friendly horse with the most amazing paces and Endurance. | ||
| 27/9/09 Dressage Comp' at Glenbrae Indoor. 13 deg C, bitter rain and mud to the fetlocks (and that was just at the float). Warmed up like he had done it forever and entered the Indoor with out any fuss, then the rain came down so heavy that my 'caller' could hardly even be heard. This on the tin roof was rather unnerving but he stayed focused so I was pleased. He did become tense and lacked forward movement so we scored 62.85% in HRCAV Test 3C which meant we were only 3% off placing. Very good for his second day out. | ||
| 18 &19 & 20/9/09 Dressage Comp at Wangaratta. Friday A mammoth day yesterday getting here with 2 car breakdowns and the horses being unloaded in the Basket Ball Centre Car Park on Stud Road, Melbourne for 30min (he stood so quietly whilst tied to a car park tree), then reloaded into a different float to continue to Wang, left in the cold (winter rugs were in the other vehicle with float) I traveled back down the highway for 90min, collected the other float and then 90min back to Wang. Warmer rugs on at 11.30pm at night, fed and tucked in for the night. Saturday I rode Loui over to the warm up arena with Tino (his brother) and he was quite looky and felt like a ball of energy waiting to escape, so I warmed up gently whilst Tino stood in the warm up with us, then after 10min he was working down and relaxed and very focused so Tino was taken back to the yards and we continued to warm up so well that I am not even sure he realised at which point Tino had left. He coped so well with the lower level riders nearly riding into us on a few occasions. We presented to the Judge and he stood obediently. Time to tell now how much he trusts his rider... yes he does! He trotted straight through the entry to the arena like a real Gem and we did our test - a little tense as he has never ever done anything like this before and just wanted to look around. 30min later we presented to the other arena and did that test. By now he was out of energy and struggled but tried very hard and was very obedient so I was extremely pleased with him. Sunday Loui casually walked over to the warm up area, warmed up perfectly, presented to the judge as if he had been doing it all his life. Not a spec of tension or loss of concentration any-where. After presenting to the judge we rode between the dressage and Show Jumping arena to enter at A when a refusal in the SJ arena brought a jump down, now Loui was looking and quite tense as he was in a very tight lane way. He was very obedient and walked, then trotted forward for me and we entered at A and began our test. He was quite good but didn't truly settle until the back half of the test where he pulled scores of 7 out of 10 for the last 4 movements, finished superbly and walked rather casually back to the yards. At all times in the yards he stood quiet and relaxed with no bad behavior of any kind (had never shown any bad behavior ever to my knowledge). Into the float after Minnie's presentations and home we went. | ||
| 17/9/09 Inside reins are brilliant now so very pleased. Evidently I was being a little too nice and after our lesson Loui has a much clearer understanding of inside with supporting outside rein and comes so soft to it so quickly. Also our start yesterday on changing length of stride in the trot has stuck so am extra pleased. He learns so quickly. We have some lengthened strides across the diagonal. | ||
| 16/9/09 Had a lesson with Roger East and we worked on establishing a better Inside Rein and finished off with some shorter longer trot steps. | ||
| 29/8/09 Rode around the large block today and did roughly 8km in 27min very easily then caught up with Victor on Indi and rode home at a much more subdued pace. Loui did the whole thing as if he had been doing it all his life, even after 3 days off and on full feed. He was ready about a week ago to take any-where and do anything on and now he is just proving it. | ||
| 23/8/09 Did an Endurance type of ride with a friend on Loui through very hilly county. We did 41km in 4 hours and Loui did the lot with incredible ease. During the last 3km he flicked the ears a couple of times to let me know he was getting a little tied but he still didn't ask to stop, he just kept on going with his walk phase not as lengthened as normal. He has pulled up brilliantly and we are 2 days later so I will give him some light dressage work again now. Now I am excited about doing Endurance riding on him so I am not so keen for him to be sold. My Dressage training on Loui is finished after the competitions late next month so he is for sale from October 1st onwards. I will continue to campaign him until he is sold as he is a pure pleasure and I don't want him to go. Oh yeah, as well as angle and straight load floating he now 'Trucks' as well. | ||
| 17/8/09 I am not well today so Loui is having the day off. | ||
| 15/8/09 Rode with a couple of others around the Show Jump arena in the most windy of conditions and he coped very well. Started off ducking his rump from the wind but within 5min he was focused on working. After we had ridden for a little while I dismounted and we stood in the Centrex of the arena whilst the others jumped around us and he stood like he had done this all his life. I am really getting very excited about competing next month. Bring it on!!! | ||
| 13/8/09 Loui had a massage today and yes, he is very sore. Tonight when I let him free walk to the stables he came up to them, stood just outside and watched until I had finished. He always comes straight in and lines himself up in his tie up so I think he was so sore even through his massage that he just didn't want to be handled - wanted to around me but not handled. I gave a big hug and much loving when I put him to bed tonight. | ||
| 12/8/09 concentrated on leg yielding then moving into shoulder in. Loui won't shoulder in on the wall but will happily give it a go any-where off the wall so did some up the center line. I did a few things around the edge of the arena and found he has a fear of what is around his back end. He does display this with my dog Sharpie who often drops from a heal to the working behind us. Also, he is very watchful of where his rump is when going through gates. Job now is to do some work on assisting him to understand where his body is and what size it is. When I brought him in tonight he was a little off and seemed quite flat so I think he is a little sore after all his brilliant work today, so tomorrow he can have off. | ||
| 11/8/09 Loui got a break today. He spent it knee deep in green grass! | ||
| 10/8/09 Worked more on the Canter departs and they are coming along but the balance in the circle to the right is lacking so I did some 'in-hand' work along the arena wall to teach him to come off the leg better. Wow, that made a difference. He is such a quick learner and tries very hard. He did a funny thing last night so if you want to read about it go to www.junelamb.com and read on my blog the Horsing around post. | ||
| 9/8/09 Rode Loui at Lindawarra Equestrian Center today as part of the Cardinia Riding Club Rally and he we very good. Wanted to be with the other horses at the start but after about 15min he was happily working by himself and stayed focused. Canter departs to the right a slow in coming but to the left are great. | ||
| 6-8/8/09 Loui has been training well over the past few days so haven't written up notes here. | ||
| 5/8/09 Lunged Loui today for 20min to allow him a lighter work load with no weight of a rider to interfere with his movement. | ||
| 4/8/09 Poured with rain during our workout today so we got very wet. Loui tried very hard for me and even better as I used draw reins on him today. He played with them for the first couple of minutes and I just sat steady and allowed him to and then he moved into very nice forward work for me. The draw reins to remain loose so that they only engaged when he would raise his head and he worked out in the first couple of minutes not to do that so he worked very solid and was really reaching out over the top line. He worked so well we finished after 20min and he was rather tied. Loui is a high head carriage horse so teaching him long and low means he is using muscles that he doesn't normally use so it will take quite some time to build these muscles up. | ||
| 3/8/09 Lots of Cantering today and he is going very well to the right with a bit of loss of balance to the left. He is holding the canters much better now and his canter/trot transitions are coming along well. We had the Donkeys from next door running around, rolling, bucking etc about 10m from the arena so he was very watchful for about 3min and then returned very nicely to work. I did have a giggle as when I dismounted after our warm down, he just stood there with his head down as he was so tied. It was just like working an older horse and being able to dismount, loosen the girth, run up the stirrups and he didn't move a muscle. | ||
| 2/8/09 Loui was a bit looky today as he has just had the past 2 days off and remained so loyal and just kept trying for me. Did a few trot/canter transitions and he struck off every single one of them on the correct lead. Trotting is slowly becoming more balanced and not so rushed. I am finding myself thinking about campaigning him now. | ||
| 30/7/09 Due to Minnie coming up lame I will give Loui a break today. He is much younger and bounces back quite fast. I did lunge Loui again last night under the arena lights to loosen him up just in case. | ||
| 29/7/09 refer to Minnie's for today as well. Loui went great, a bit looky at new things and took his lead from Minnie for staying relaxed really well. Amazing to see my big Mare taking more Canter steps to Loui - Loui just has so much air that he covers the ground with incredible ease. Re started Loui back on Muscle X after this ride to help his young body build muscle. Also added salt to his feeds now. | ||
| 28/7/09 Loui has just had 4 days off as I was at a Seminar in Sydney. He was fed his usual feed mix as I am still putting weight on him so I expected him to be a bit jumpy today. As the days are still so short here (winter) I ended up lunging him quite late, so about 10 minutes into the session we had to turn on the arena lights. I must admit I was expecting him to be a bit bouncy but he didn't do anything other than look up for a few strides and then kept working. I had the light on at the middle of the side of the arena and he was doing really well until all light faded. It fades fast here as we are in the base of two small, narrow hills. Any-way, my fiance came down and retrieved the long power lead from under quite a bit of mulch so that he could set up another light for me at the end of the arena where we were working. Did Loui look then... YES!. He came in from the outer circle each time he went past for about 10 circles but never broke the trot stride so I am so pleased with him. He really is a star as he sees every-thing, processes it in his brain all the time whilst staying obedient and working hard for me. He is back in the stable tonight after spending the past 4 nights outside and so he should be nice and comfortable and ready for a good ride out along the road tomorrow. I will take Loui and Minnie together by riding one and leading the other so I do hope it doesn't rain to much in the morning! | ||
| 19/7/09 Rally Lesson with Anne Leviston at PURC today. We rode to the grounds to make sure we would be nicely warmed up for our first lesson in these new grounds with so much activity taking place. Loui entered his lesson, worked exceptionally well and even stood still when asked to stop. The first time he was almost breaking his neck to see everything that was going on even though body never moved and the second time I asked his to take a break he stood with his head lowered and relaxed (not tied) and I did smile to myself because it was if he had been doing this all his life. He did most of his work searching for connection to my hands and in really good frame and great self carriage - a gift after riding Minnie who lacks such light and airy paces. He worked through trot/walks with correct flexion on the circles, did around half the transitions fully in frame and relaxed and moving forward. | ||
| 18/7/09 Didn't Lunge Loui this morning but did take him out along the road again. He is now heading out like he has done it all his life and is such a pleasure to ride. The wind was howling today and I am sure we were nearly blown sideways a few times! Rode into the PURC club grounds as the opportunity presented itself which was nice so we rode around the large open arena for him to have a quick look before riding home. I am so pleased with him, he is very smart and is an honest little horse. | ||
| 17/7/09 Have been lunging Loui for the past week and a half over 6 ground poles which he does with great ease. The past 2 days I have lunged him in the morning and ridden him for 20 minutes in the late afternoon and he is coping very well with the exercise. His shape is changing and muscle is now starting to become visible in areas where there was very little before. Tonight I rode him out along the roads and he coped very well with cars, Trucks, dogs and even an irrigation pump located within 3 meters of the fence we had to ride along to fit past the rather large overgrown trees. | ||
| 24/5/09 Rode Loui for 1.5hr trail ride (6 riders on the ride) and he was very alert and obedient. Tied up patiently to the float whilst we all sat around for lunch. Very sure footed so a real pleasure to ride. Giving Loui a break now until I come back from my holiday in early July. He still needs to put on more weight. | ||
| 21/5/09 Rode Loui around the roads with Victor and Indi. We did lots of cantering transitions going up hill and on the flat. Running into the first few canter transitions but got it in the end - he has lots of air in the canter and is so soft to ride the canter. Very open walker and I have to say that it is a pleasure to ride such a 'free' moving horse again as Minnie is a bit lazy. Have had him up a the farm for the week and he is great in the stables - very patient and 'laid back'. | ||
| 14/5/09 Karen lunged Loui the past few days and 2 days ago he had his dental check up. He had a wolf tooth and some nasty hooks removed from his mouth and tonight when I lunged him he didn't do any of the head tilting and tongue poking that he had been doing. The weather was very cold and windy and he didn't have his mind on lunging so we did a long session and ended up with some trotting. The only cantering was when he was deciding that he should canter so I asked for quite a lot of transitions and walking. He can move so light and cover the ground with such ease that he is an absolute pleasure to watch.& | ||
| 10/5/09 Rode Loui in the indoor today along with Karen riding Tino. Started on the lunge for 20min then mounted. Loui was a little resistant at first to stretching over and down so we moved into figure eights and then he settled into it quite nicely. Once we started trotting, he did his hind leg 'flicking thing' a couple of times and I get so excited because after Minnie, Loui has such energy and flexibility that I just can't wait to get into some more interesting training. Then he settled and did some really nice trot work for me. He finished off stretching out really long and down and so comfortable. | ||
| Week 7 - Lunging: walk/trot/canter/halt all by voice command now. Spirals in and out and I use a piece of gear called an 'easy round', roller and his bridle. He is getting his teeth done next week. | ||
| Week 6 - Giving Loui a bit of a break as he is struggling to cope with the work load. We have increased his feed as well as he was starting to drop condition. Back to lunging 5 times a week for 30 min. | ||
| Week 5 - He is a little sore after such a big Easter camp and all the riding. Also I have taken him out along the roads for up to 4 hours at a time, some of it by himself, some with another horse, some leading Minnie and some being led from Minnie. | ||
| Week 4 - Lunging every second night and riding every other night. Took Loui with me for Easter Camp so he traveled 6 hours (including breaks) in the float and unloaded in the dark in a strange place (camp site) full of noise and people and lights and dogs and .... yes, it was all there and he just watched and did what was asked of him. I was so proud of him. We did some really serious hill riding (some of it I was on foot as it was so steep and rocky), rode in the river, dealt with camp dogs coming at us (he learnt to just stand still and they would go away). I kept him in an electric fence yard next to our camp and he always neighed to us and was so friendly that at least one person on the camp wants to buy him but I said no, not yet as he has so much more to learn. He really does have the best nature - he reminds me of my old horse 'Baldy'. | ||
| Week 3 - Lunging in the arena now | ||
| Week 2 - Lunging with gear on now and learning to walk/trot/halt on voice command | ||
| Week 1 - Took Loui into the round yard to free lunge. He has some really nice movement and I would definitely say that he is free moving. Very focused on everything and such a honest fellow. | ||
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
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1901-1966, Cartoon Artist and Producer
