Mr Good Boy..

..is Rubi's new nickname - said in the best French accent, of course!

Took him out on a short 4km hack last night on his own and he went round pretty much the whole ride on a loose rein with no daft spooking whatsoever. He had one moment where he planted and wouldn't go forward, but it's on a path where the farmer has left some electric fencing on the floor at the side of the path and it makes a really loud clicking noise where the current is earthing itself. It sounds like you'd get a proper good thwack from the electrical current if you accidentally touched it so Rubi prefers me to get off and go first! hahaha

He's also started standing like a ROCK for being mounted, whether from the ground in the middle of a field somewhere or if I climb on to something to get up. He even stood really well for me when I managed to get my knee on the wrong side of the knee roll getting up and basically was tangled up in my saddle and had to half jump, half fall off the side of him and try again.

But he's really managing his emotions well at the moment, when there's something a bit spooky. He'll have a look and arch his neck out but he's really managing to hold on to himself and not spin and peg off. I think he needed to understand that the whole violent spooking thing was NOT what I was looking for - he must have thought he was doing a good job as a prey animal, trying to get us out of there ASAP when he thought something was a bit scary. For some reason, the act of circling him calmly when he spooks has taught him, without any harshness, that the spooking was not desirable. Then he's been rewarded every time he keeps control of his emotions and so now, he's going more in that direction of staying relatively calm even when he's not sure about something. We've also taken some advice from another endurance mentor we've met, who makes a point of making his young horses examine objects out on a ride if they're scared of them, so if Rubi has been spooky about a road sign or a pile of something, we've taken the time to stop and have a look, relax for a moment and realise that the object isn't a horse-eating monster.

But the most interesting thing for me is to see just how quickly he learns. It really does seem that he hardly ever needs something explaining twice and even something like the spooking, which I thought might always be the same because it was a 'temperament issue' is actually more of a training and learning issue and he's learned a new and much more acceptable response to situations or objects that he's not sure about, which is 'go and have a good look but stay calm' rather than 'run away as quickly as possible'.

So, we'll see how this continues. I think that we will benefit from doing some serious de-spooking work this winter with umbrellas and tarpaulins and barrels and all manner of bizarre objects.

10km naked 'milestone'

Mixing my measuring systems here - imperial and metric.

But Rubi did a 10km ride yesterday evening with naked feet - walk, trot and canter - and about 7 - 8km of that was on the lanes so tarmac rather than dirt track. He was also pretty much rock crunching over any stones that we encountered. So, his feet are getting there!

Will be interesting to see what happens in winter once the wetter weather arrives, but we have flagstones ordered for the barn area to give them more dry hardstanding. I started him on magnesium oxide supplementation about 4 weeks ago and have been using a hoof hardener on his feet too. With the dry, hot weather we've had, his feet have really toughened up. All I have to do for this trim after his 10km storm-athon, is extend his naturally worn mustang roll around his toes and trim a tiny little bit of flare off the inner wall on his left hind. The rest I can leave up to him.

Rubi has a girlfriend..

He's dating a supermodel.. a tall redhead.. aka Lutine, our Anglo Arab. He looks after her, making sure the other mares don't pick on her, he's always grazing with her, follows her about and grooms with her. Even when she's not in season :-) And she waits in the top paddock for him when we go out for a ride.

Pretty sunset photos

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my tack

Funny how relatively small things can bring so much happiness! LOL

I have been using the Free n Easy Endurance Pro Lite saddle since June now, and it is just the best saddle I have ever owned. Full stop.

Rubi seems totally happy and comfortable in it. No slipping issues with it at all. He's totally fine about being tacked up and mounted; happy to stand rock solid for both. Now that I have a breast plate for him, I ride with a relatively loose girth, which he seems to prefer as well. He bowls along at any pace in it, up and down steep hills with no slipping. I have lost count of the times it has totally saved my ass when he puts in one of his mega-spooks because the seat is so secure and it has large knee rolls to tuck my legs behind. And it is so, so comfortable on my backside too!

I just LOVE that piece of kit!

We've also just got a new endurance bridle and breastplate in black and forest green and he looks very smart in his new gear. Ready for his first competition on (hopefully!) 3rd October. Just a 20km ride at 10 - 12 km/hr. We are hoping that some friends will also be going to the ride so we have some company to ride out.