Happy Basse

I often write about the fact that I want to give my horses the best and most fun life that they can have. Since we are lucky enough to have the horses at home, we aim to have them out as much as possible and every week I try to engage their brains in different ways so that they don't get bored with their work. Yes they need to focus when we are training (2-3 times a week), but especially with Basse I don't want him to turn sour from work and like it's often said "variety is the spice of life".

Since hacking on the roads is too risky (read as: lethal 💀) here, I like to take the boys to our neighbour's sand track in the middle of their woodland. It's only a short track, but it's bloody hard work with really steep hills that makes them focus on where they are putting their legs! I really love going out for a hack and sometimes I miss going hacking like we used to in England, but it's SO nice not to have to worry about silly car drivers who try to overtake you on a blind corner. Here the biggest thing I have to worry about when hacking in the woods is that I don't fall off when either of the boys decide to have a sneak snack attack when I'm not paying attention and they just suddenly stop and put their head down to eat!

Aside from our weekly hack (weather permitting) I also like to lunge him once or twice a week and as you can see, he really enjoys this!! 🐎💨 During this particular lunging session one of his overreach boots had fallen off and then every time when he went past the boot he proceeded to either to jump over it, buck whilst going past it or try to kick it further away from him! #fluffyoverreachbootofdoom

And to help with his general 'I don't want to lift my legs more than necessary' attitude, I try to do poles with him once a week too. This horse was never going to be a jumper or an eventer, that's for sure! Because he finds it quite hard/boring, we don't do anything more difficult than one or two poles 🙈 His legs are too crappy to do any jumping and honestly I think he would crash into every single jump if he was ever asked to jump...

So this is how Basse stays happy! He doesn't have a vey intense schedule, but since my main aim with him is to keep him happy and healthy it works for us 👍🏻 He doesn't need to prove himself to anyone so it's not like I need to get him fit enough to do a weekend competition, he does training to stay fit and supple (to help him deal with his shitty back and shitty legs) and he does fun stuff to keep him happy!

What about you? What do you do on a regular basis to keep your horses happy?