Myka showed off her funky moves occasionally, but most of the time was focused and tried hard. I’ve said it before, but Joe is a genius! He was able to see tension in Myka, that I was completely oblivious to, because she was responsive and obedient. He took over and identified what she was worried about very quickly then, for a while, it all got a bit more lively as he worked through her worries. But by the end she was much calmer with more clarity. She was far more worried about the flag than I had realised because she stood still to it and did not overreact when I used it, but things like flared ribs, breathing, diaphragm movement etc showed him the areas where she was still wary. And though her eruptions are often triggered by stuff outside the arena, even in the arena she is too close to threshold too much of the time. So we are not going from calm to spooky but from just about coping to not coping. He took her and did the same movement patterns I had done, and he said that while what she did looked almost identical, how she felt while doing it was very different. So that was really useful to know. His overall verdict is that a significant proportion of her dramatics would disappear with more of the work we were doing today, particularly with the flag. He felt that at the beginning of the lesson any attempt to get on her would end badly and quickly, whereas by the end, she was a lot closer to being ready. Can't wait to be onboard!! But she'll be ready when she's ready. There is no rush.
Funny how things turn out. Legrande was the stallion I chose for Amber. She went there to be covered and Mylo was conceived there. A few weeks ago Myka appeared on the Legrande stud page as her owner planned to start her education. Lottie had just been retired. A friend said to another friend: ‘AE is going to buy that horse’ before I even knew she existed. After Lottie had to retire I new I wamted a new horse, and that Mylo was a bit too far off being ready to back for me to want to wait. But that I could not afford a ready-made horse. So I posted on FB wanting breeder/producer recommendations, and Legrande's owner contacted me Myka. I went to view, fell in love and decided she was coming home with me. I only found out about my friend's prediction after I had bought her In the meantime I was looking for somewhere for Mylo to go as his current companion is 30 and I think he needs younger playmates. Turns out they do youngstock livery too. So today I dropped off Mylo and picked up Myka. Mylo met his dad, said hi to his sister, and I brought Myka home. I can’t believe these 2 utterly gorgeous horses are mine. Feeling very lucky.
My aim for Mylo was to instill some very basic foundational skills that will make life for us both so much easier when he comes to be a ridden horse. Trust and connection mean more than just having a good relationship with your horse: it also refers to attunement and clarity of communication, to boundaries, to the horse being mentally and emotionally 'with you'. So there are the WHAT skills - what the horse can do. And the HOW skills - the quality with which the horse does it. Mylo's WHAT skills were reasonably solid - he leads, he yields, he flexes, he backs up, he is gentle to touch all over and comfortable with my training tools. But at the last Joe lesson, we had to work on HOW skills - he was doing the 'right' thing through memory, not by carefully watching for instructions and working things out in the moment. Joe demonstated this by mixing things up a lot more - working on back up for a while and then moving off, with Mylo expected to follow. He got his feet a bit stuck because his mind was still on back-up. Showing that his leading skills were based on expectation and memory - when Krissie does X I am expected to follow her around the field - and not on him taking cues from me moment by moment. That level of subtlety blows my mind! But we worked on it a bit and the next day I put him to the test as we had to load him as he is moving to young-stock livery. He has not been trained to load. The inital plan was to follow his field mate on. But I was curious as to whether he could follow instructions and work it out. And, bless him, he did. He loaded easily and comfortably with no specific loading training. Just trust and communication. He is now off to join his siblings at the stud where he was conceived till he is 2. Joe assures me he has all he needs till his starts more formal training. And so now he is going to go away and grow up. I'm going to miss him, but I think being in a herd of youngsters will be really good for him.
A small selection of my library.
After weaning, Felix and Mylo were turned out with other youngsters. My aim for them at this early stage of their life was ‘feral but friendly’. And they were both certainly that! They were curious, affectionate and totally unafraid of people. They both loved a scratch and groom, and were good for the farrier. They accepted a halter willingly, even though they had no idea at this early stage how to give to any pressure or follow a feel. The focus remained building healthy bones, joints through 24/7 turnout, access to mixed grazing (supplemented very slightly in winter for minerals and protein) and to stay relaxed and happy with friends.
The priority for babies is to be healthy and happy in body, mind and soul. Felix and Mylo were both turned out 24/7 with Amber on mixed grazing and on a hillside. They lived mainly on Dr Green: we had access to well rested fields, bounded by hedges and trees, where they were able to graze and forage. Not to mention shelter from the Derbyshire weather! Both wintered out un-rugged perfectly happily. The hills and 24/7 turn out helps build a strong musculoskeletal system – essential for their future ridden careers. It also builds sure footedness, proprioception and balance. Though watching them hurtle down steep hills, turn on a six-pence and fly back up again was heart-stopping at times!
A real head turner, Mylo is chestnut with a white face and 4 long white socks. The name was initially just a temporary joke name. But it grew on him. His damsire is Beachball (OBOS Quality X Echo Beach) and he is bright orange, like the cocktail. He is by Legrande: a versatile, athletic warmblood who has competed at FEI levels in all 3 disciplines. Mylo is performance bred with the hope that I can ride him, but if not I will happily pass the reins to someone more capable and enjoy an ‘owned by, ridden by’ relationship with him.
Little Felix could not work out how to suckle at first and needed help from the vet. Hence his name – he needed some Liquid and we needed some Luck! But once he was up and began to feed, he rallied rapidly and from then on was fine. He is by a Class 1 RID (Ebony Duke) out my ISH mare, Amber, who has OBOS Quality/Echo Beach/Classic Vision lines. The RID genes should add calmness to Amber’s pretty full-on temperament!