Sahara made more progress yesterday, and Jane and I are simply thrilled with her. She still finds having a rider on her back a little weird, and it does upset her balance, but once she starts moving and has a chance to work out how her feet go, she improves very quickly. 

Yesterday’s session was short, and after making sure that Sahara was ok with the rope being flicked up and over and down her back and haunches, we went directly to legging Jane up, and Jane went straight to sitting on Sahara’s back. And she was fine. A little tense at first, head high, back down, but within a very short space of time, she was starting to take properly independent cues from Jane’s seat and legs, capable of going to the outside of the lunge ring while I (and the carrots) stayed in the centre. She did get stuck at first, but with positive and clear leg aids, and a couple of gentle taps on the haunches with the flat of her hand, Jane managed to communicate to her what the cues meant, and she unbraced through her body and went forward. 

Another highlight was the fact that Jane managed to ride her forward over two ground poles. At first, Sahara did not think she could step over them with Jane up, but I lured her with carrots, and she finally managed to move first one foot, and then the next front foot - and then the hind feet came unstuck and she was fine. She did not hesitate when going over the poles in the opposite direction, just following her mobile carrot dispenser with little urging. Very happy with her for being brave. 

Jane and I continued to back Sahara today, which is to say, I stood on the ground and Jane did the risky bits. We’d spent the first part of the afternoon working Abba and Shakira - I walked Abba, lunged her, massaged her, did some more bodywork, and then brought the saddle out, she walked off, and Jane started laughing, because Abba was malingering today, wanting, not unreasonably, to start her annual holiday. It has been delayed this year because we cannot currently vaccinate against AHS, due to an outbreak in the control zone, so Abba gets to stay in work until such time as our AHS permissions come through. 

Whilst I was working on Abba, Jane took Shakira out for a walk to the reservoir and back. Shakira received a very important lesson, which I had not yet taught her, which is what to do when your handler trips and falls over. The answer is to stand still, watch the human pick themselves up and dust themselves off, and then make sure that you stick close to them and nuzzle them repeatedly the rest of the walk, to keep them on their feet. 

Sahara was saved till last, because we like to make sure that when she is done with her backing work for the day, she is rewarded straight afterwards with her grain, to create a positive association between work and very yummy food. She was impatient and wanted to do stuff while the others were out of the field, and was very happy when it was her turn to be led out. 

It was very windy, so I wasn’t certain quite how much work we would get accomplished. I was even less certain when Sahara tried to kick out as Jane picked out her off hind, but, after some minor theatrics on Sahara’s part about how the numnah and surcingle were trying to eat her, we got everything fastened on her, and enough of my doubts disappeared that I grabbed my camera. 

Sahara was very sweet in the ring, very happy to engage with Jane as she perched on the fence. She came in for forehead scritches, which led to her making the funniest camel faces, though she didn’t like it when Jane swung her legs or jumped off the fence. She was not, however, having very big reactions to these things, which was good. I then hung up my camera, as we were going to move on to having Jane lie across her back, and everything went a little sideways. 

I was at Sahara’s head, preparing to leg Jane up. Sahara was cross that I wasn’t giving her the carrot that she wanted now now now, and suspicious about this activity at her side. As I started to give Jane a leg up, Sahara moved forward, got us in her firing line, and cow kicked, striking both of us on the leg. That was that. Kicking humans is not ok, and Jane hopped out of the way, to give me room to tell Sahara how unacceptable her chosen expression of frustration and unwillingness had been. It did not take more than me squaring up to Sahara to make her realise she had made a bad mistake, but I drove the point home by making her yield her haunches rapidly in each direction, smacking her on the flank if she did not move fast enough. Being a sensitive little Arabian, this was very distressing for her, and I did not need to get after her more firmly. Instead, I progressed to flipping the tail end of the lead rope over her back and haunches, to remind her that stuff could move in that area and touch her there and she would be ok. She was very stiff and tense, but still relaxed enough to eat the carrot pieces she received for being good. 

Once she had softened enough, I led her back into the centre of the ring, and Jane and I tried again. She was a reformed character, remembering how well she had done in previous sessions, and allowed Jane to lie draped over her side while I led her around the lunge ring. She had no problems with Jane sliding off her either, so we repeated the exercise from the other side, Sahara was even better, so, since things felt good, we went ahead with having Jane actually sit astride her. 

Sahara was not worried by Jane swinging a leg over her back. She was a little surprised at being touched by legs on either side, but, after Jane had petted her and fed her some treats from her back, she was very quiet while being led around the ring, with Jane giving cues from her legs and seat to complement the cues I was giving from the halter. She did not even mind when Jane dismounted, taking care to swing her leg high over Sahara’s haunches and avoid touching them. 

After Sahara had consumed her treats, I gave Jane a leg up on the other side, and this time, we made makeshift reins out of the lead rope, so I could give signals from the ground, and then phase them out to let Jane see how Sahara responded to all signals coming from her back. It seemed to go quite well, but Sahara then became a little confused and stuck when I stepped away and asked Jane to ride the mare to me. 

There was also a minor issue with the lead rope reins turning back into a lead rope, which Jane sort of solved by tossing the lead rope over Sahara’s head. This was not Sahara’s favourite part of the experience, and she made it harder for herself by going full giraffe, but that was all. Jane sorted the lead rope out, so she had some sort of steering aid, and perhaps five or six minutes after she lay across Sahara’s back, she was able to cue Sahara to turn and to go forward. Stopping currently is achieved by Sahara arriving in front of me and getting a treat, but frankly, that’s no big deal, and she will learn all the correct aids in due course. 

Jane and I have not seen each other in more than a month, I think, so it was lovely to finally catch up, while putting Sahara’s first ever saddle on her back. This she accepted with no fuss at all, as it apparently is not very different from the numnah and surcingle, and, being a good girl, she then led off at a walk quite happily, without any discomfort. 

As she was so unbothered by the saddle, I then pulled down the stirrups and thumped them against her sides. She flinched at the first one, but Jane had the treat pouch, and soon Sahara had found that not only did stirrup thumping not hurt her, but that if she stood quietly for it, she got a treat. So we moved on to me drumming on the saddle flaps, and that finally bothered her. She took three quick running steps sideways in a quarter circle around Jane, and then stopped. 

So I scratched her neck, in the places she likes, so that she remembered I didn’t always do weird things, and then started patting the saddle flaps instead. She wasn’t keen on that either, but after allowing her flight room once, I then resumed patting the saddle, and when she went sideways, went with her. And she discovered that this did no harm either. So she ate more treats, and got more neck scratches, and within a couple of minutes, I could drum on the saddle flaps again, without bothering her. And that was where we called the saddle work a day. 

Very happy with her and how she has progressed. Back in the field, she allowed Jane to remove the bot eggs, quite without restraint, which is marvellous, considering how snatchy she was about her legs being touched at all when she first came to us. 

First ride back since March for Abba and Dakota, and Dakota’s first proper ride since October last year. Jane and I took them out bareback, walking only, to the reservoir, to let them splash, and then rode home. Stella and Shakira both yelled a lot about being unfairly left behind, and Stella took herself for a gallop round the field, but they’re both getting used to the two mares leaving them, and neither of them do much except yell. 

Jane was full of praise for Dakota, who was honestly amazing. She was soft to the hand, and quick off the leg, and had so much more co-ordination and balance. She’s lacking topline right now, but as she and Abba come out of their month and a half long AHS no-sweat period, we can start working on their fitness and strength again, and rebuilding them both. Dakota also went in my cavesson noseband for the first time today; when I reintroduced the bridle to her a couple of weeks ago, I felt that she was not enjoying the drop, and that she didn’t really need it to help stabilise her bit any longer. She was less unhappy about it last weekend, but as her departure is drawing nearer, it is time to start seeing how she takes to the tack she will wear in her new home, so the cavesson went on today - and she seemed perfectly content. I think she can have a few more outings with the cavesson and her baby bit, as she eases back into work, and then we can see what she thinks of a double jointed snaffle with an elliptical link. (Which also means I can use the apple mouth to let Shakira play around with having a bit to nom on, the little sharkface.) 

For me, swinging a leg over my little woolly mammoth was a homecoming of sorts. To feel Abba’s energy, to know that I am sitting on a horse who is all contained lightning, ready and eager to move off, but to also feel the softness in the reins, to know that all that speed is there, but that Abba is content to ask and to wait … I don’t know, I am simply incredibly fortunate to have a horse like this one. She was so keen to go, and yet she was prepared to just walk when I sponged the reins and shifted my seat bones ever so slightly in response to her questioning “We go now?” jig. 

Abba and Dakota rode out this afternoon as though they had never missed a single day of training. Dakota did not mind that her daughter was calling for her - frankly, Dakota has never minded leaving Stella behind, since she reached about four months. Like most parents, she appreciates the occasional kid-free hour, where she is pampered and gets to do the things she likes best, viz. being with the people. They passed a flock of guinea fowl without doing more than pricking their ears, and they waded into the reservoir and splashed around very happily. Dakota even floundered in deep enough that the water went over the top of Jane’s boots. The only thing that either of them gave a side-eye to was a patched-up piece of ground which eroded in the last massive rain storm, and all it meant was they looked at the undermined part of the road, and sidled around it on the solid part. Barefoot horses are fantastic judges of footing, and I suspect that both of them felt the ground was unstable there. 

Jane and Dakota went on a fun ride with the other boarders on the farm today; Abba and I stayed behind to babysit, because my subluxated collarbone has now subluxated at both ends, and is currently free-floating, so my arm is in a sling while the joint stabilises. 

We now know that Dakota travels happily in a group without Abba, doesn’t care if other horses get excited around her, is more reliable than seasoned older horses when another horse is loose, because you can catch and hold the loose horse on this very green not yet five-year-old, and she doesn’t bat an eyelid, and is ho-hum about a quad bike on her tail. 

Also, you can drink a stirrup cup of sherry while mounted, in the middle of a group of horses she mostly doesn’t know. We’re going to have to take her hunting next year, clearly. 

Saturday was a big day for Dakota, because it was her first venture off the farm since March 2018, her first time riding in a horse box, and her first 20km ride. It was a less big day for Abba, because, ho-hum, she does 40km rides, and she knows Darling surprisingly well for a horse who has been there three times now. It was a nerve-wracking day for me, as I wasn’t certain how well the collarbone would hold up, and jumping straight back into things with a 20km ride seemed rather ambitious; Jane, however, thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The weather was rather unpleasant yesterday - howling west-north-westerly winds off the Atlantic that drove heavy clouds overhead, and brought bitter showers of rain. I elected not to ride, but Jane and Dakota went out for a half hour of fast work, and had a great time. 

Dakota had so much fun cantering under saddle, and is really learning to move out. Before I rode endurance, I would never have appreciated the value of taking a young horse into a big empty field and letting them go as fast as they possibly could, because most of my riding had been about making sure the horse never really got going at speed, thanks to suburban traffic when hacking out. (There were also the years at a hunter barn, where a horse with a nice swing to its stride was deemed to be going too fast, but that came later, and in all fairness, they did want impulsion, rather than letting the horse get strung out like a piece of spaghetti.) But then I started this endurance journey with Abba, and discovered that all my life I had never actually allowed a horse to be genuinely forward, and learned the value of getting into a light seat and opening the horse up. 

For Dakota, this kind of work is excellent. She is not a horse who thinks forward, unlike Abba. Instead, when Dakota wants to express uncertainty or unwillingness, she puts herself into reverse, and a very impressive reverse it is. She will never have issues with the rein back in a dressage test. So Dakota is learning how to move faster, and to go forward instead of backward. And the weather yesterday certainly helped. A hotter horse would have been rather alarming in such a strong, cold wind, but all that happened was Dakota gained a spring in her step and was happy to zoom. Not that her zooming is very zoomy. At one point I told Jane she could really just let her gallop, if Dakota wanted to. Dakota never broke from a canter. 

After several excellent brisk canters up and down the field, Jane called it a day, before Dakota started to puff, and we walked her back to the field. Dakota was very happy, and had clearly enjoyed herself. Abba was rather put out that she hadn’t been invited to go galloping, but she just has to suffer slow work until I know that I can stop her without losing the use of my arm.