Benney's Diary April 13th and 14th, 2019

For those of you who do not know Benney he is the youngest of our three horses. He is a seven year old New Forest gelding with an enthusiastic love of life and boundless energy. He is a pocket rocket. A mini racehorse. He is intelligent and needs to be kept busy. He is not a ride for a passengers and draws down on all my riding experience from Welsh Section D’s to racehorses.

He even manages to bring back voices of instructors from the past when he challenges me. Voices from when I first got on a horse over thirty years ago. Voices piercing the dust laden air of indoor riding schools. Voices in ear pieces barking like irate sergeant majors when a racehorse on the gallops ‘smoked off’ with me. They all echo in my mind during those split-second moments of crisis that Benney manages to instigate.

As his previous owner told us after we bought him:

‘Benney, he loves a good party.’

Saturday, APRIL 13, 2019

At the yard where we are liveried there was an Easter egg hunt organized. This involved hacking around the nearby part of the New Forest. Not looking for real Easter eggs, but for pictures of eggs tied to trees and bushes. The ‘hunt’ involved trying to find as many of the 24 eggs as possible. The proof they had been found were photographs on phones. To ensure no one cheated, and just took 24 pictures of one egg, perish the thought someone would, every hidden egg was different.

Benney and I joined a group of four others on this fun adventure on a sunny afternoon.

It has been quite a while since we have gone out in a group of this size, and as we set off from the yard I could feel Benney getting excited. Within 200 yards of the farm, which was still in view, we made a short stop to allow the slower riders and horses to catch up. While we were standing still I could feel Benney wind himself up even more. His head went down, and he put in a small buck. Then another and another. Before the others caught up with us the safety of the farm so close almost tempted me to retire on grounds of health and safety. Then, I thought about things in between bucks. If I went back now I may never go out hacking again, and I'd just confine us to the arena. Conversely, it was time we started hacking out again, and anyway, Benney should go to a party and enjoy himself.

We were able to tuck in beside one of his best friends, Pasco, who is a real softie, and that seemed to settle Benney.

Soon we were in the forest, and we were moving with Benney and I taking the lead. I had hoped to be able to take pictures of the various eggs, but that hope was dashed at the first egg when Benney felt like he was going to either take off or buck again. So, I had to keep both my hands on the reins.

He did settle properly after about twenty minutes. As long as we kept moving and he was close to Pasco, Benney was happy, and so was I. I could still feel him wanting to move off at a trot, and even canter or gallop, but with patience I managed to keep him at a walk.

It was when we turned for home that his excitement began to explode. To work on trying to settle him I kept a constant conversation going with him. Vocally I talked to him quietly telling him absolute rubbish. The nonverbal communication consisted of applying and releasing the lowest possible pressure on him through the reins, and with my legs. Right hand left leg, and then left hand right leg just to get him to work into the bit rather than holding his head up looking all around for an excuse to take flight from fear with me on board. Other non-verbal communication was stroking his wither just in front of the saddle, or patting his neck with the hand that was not applying pressure on the reins. When the track was wide enough I made him yield back and forth across the track to try and get him to concentrate on me, which also worked; a little bit.

Those were all of my coping strategies, and they did take the edge off of Benney’s excitement. We returned to the yard safely at the end of the 'party.'

Sunday, APRIL 15, 2019

After the excitement of Saturday it was time for some serious concentration in the school where we had a lesson with the instructor, Thea.

I was able to walk Benney around the school in hand for a few minutes before Thea arrived. I always try to do this when I have a lesson. It gives the horse a good chance to warm up and stretch before they have to carry anyone in the saddle. In racing yards in America they have specialist staff to do this called ‘hot walkers’ who will walk the horses in hand before they do their work. The best lessons I have had on Benney are when I have walked him in hand for about thirty minutes.

Also, if you are paying for an instructor by the hour you could be spending fifteen or twenty minutes under their instruction just warming up your horse and yourself.

Once mounted, we did do some more walk, but only for two circuits of the school. All the time we worked in circles, loops and serpentines with plenty of halts in between. Both of us were settled and relaxed, so the pace was stepped up to trot. On his right rein Benney is loose and fluid. Whereas on his left rein all of his balance and collectedness disappears. We both look like a bags of spanners for a few minutes until we sort ourselves out. Just like on Saturday, but in more controlled circumstances, I kept a conversation going with my reins, my legs, my voice, and my hands, which worked.

After a few maneuvers at trot on both reins, we had to up the pace to canter. Go into a corner at rising trot, sit, and then give the aids for canter. After a couple of attempts we were able to canter for three or four strides, before it lost all elegance. Benney, being the smart pony that he is, anticipated where he was going to be asked for canter, and soon was able to manage more strides. As balance seems to be the main issue, once we established canter coming out of a corner, we would go down a long side of the school and then transition down to trot just before the next corner. If any of the transitions didn’t work it didn’t matter. Without fuss we would return to basics, forget about what went wrong, and look forward to what was going to go right.

Our concentration, that is Benney, Thea, and myself must have been full on. It was only after we had finished that my wife, Heather, told us that chaos had broken out on the road when a herd of cows were being moved, and all the horses in their paddocks were galloping around. None of us saw or heard a thing.

That is what I like about Benney. He challenges me. He stretches me. He makes me think. Despite all of that I trust him, and I guess that is a sign of true friendship.

An Introduction to Benney

To read another piece about Benney, you can go here.