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Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Going commando aka "Champion the Wonder Horse"

Over the last week I've been trying the next stage of riding with no bridle.  I must say its the best fun and I wish I'd tried it years ago!
We've gone out riding and leading and can now go round the farm too.  I do have a bridle on when I am leading another horse, for safety and because we are on the roads, but I am using it less and less.   Round the fields we go commando - or at least Felix does...

I never thought it would be possible to have my own personal "Champion the Wonder Horse"  - with Winston as Rebel - a childhood dream come true :-)


I was especially pleased that we managed a bit of trickier stuff - going off piste, in and out of the gorse and stopping mid canter on the way home  - without too much difficulty!  Lots more practice required, but I think the Dare is taking shape :-)

When I posted our first attempt at riding with no bridle, last week, there was a complete meltdown of Blogger, so I hope this latest clip won't have the same effect :-)  Although the blog came back, all the comments that people had put up were never restored, so apologies if yours was one of the ones that got lost...
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14 comments:

  1. Val18 May 2011 at 01:28

    You have such beautiful countryside to explore. I like your hand signals. Beautiful harmony with your horse.

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  2. Dom18 May 2011 at 02:09

    Looks like so much fun! And puts my bridleless work to shame. Haha.

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  3. Anonymous18 May 2011 at 06:33

    How lovely!
    You two look great.... can't wait for the hunting video!

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  4. Lucie18 May 2011 at 08:00

    Go Felix!!!
    He looks fab :D

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  5. Dare Gothic Clothing18 May 2011 at 10:06

    Lovely :)

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  6. Nic Barker18 May 2011 at 10:55

    Glad you all like it :-) Braithwaite is asking why I didn't jump ;-) The ground's still too hard but its raining now - maybe next week?!

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  7. amandap18 May 2011 at 12:43

    Go Nic and Felix. Fantastic. Yay!
    Am I allowed to have a super hero? lol

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  8. jenj18 May 2011 at 14:51

    LOVE the music you chose to go with that. How about Rossini's William Tell Overture for the next one, with movements to match the music? ;)

    And Felix is such a star!

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  9. Cristina18 May 2011 at 15:24

    Better than Champion the Wonder Horse, he had a sneaky wire bit and bridle that you had to look closely for ;-)

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  10. Nic Barker18 May 2011 at 17:23

    I never know that, Cristina...bit of a disappointment! Yep, Felix is definitely a star and don't he know it (!)

    Love the soundtrack suggestion - could do with more of those ;-)

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  11. amandap19 May 2011 at 10:55

    I never knew that either Cristina.
    Very disappointing. I'm off to look at clips on you tube now. lol

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  12. Nicky19 May 2011 at 14:33

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. Cristina19 May 2011 at 15:27

    Sorry didn't mean to shatter any childhood illusions but he was galloping around with a child on board.
    Look in the shots where they turn or slow down, you can see Champion throwing his head up and opening his mouth to evade the bit and sometimes catch a glimpse of a thin rein when it catches the light.
    Then they'd take it off for the close ups.

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  14. Nicky19 May 2011 at 18:26

    Wow, wow, wow!! This is what I am dreaming to do one day along a beach or something equally romantic. We are progressing nicely through the Quantum Savvy programme currently riding away with just a rope halter and 1 rope rein at all gaits so not long now :-)

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