Hi Marija. My experience is to have a plan & then be flexible with it. Horses are individuals, like us they have days when they just don't feel like doing it! If we are truly in tune with them we will recognise this & adapt our plan accordingly. Both your boys are still young - I had the pleasure of my beloved Apollo for 24 years & I didn't rescue him until he was 13 years old. Don't regard the plan as work. Make it playtime, keep it fun for them. They will repay you by the shed load. Study the lessons on the Uni, take Monty's challenges & earn the accreditations. Great that you record yourself - you can review what went well & learn from what went not so well. Not so well is good. It's how both horse & human learns. Whatever you want to achieve, always start with something familiar & gradually introduce the new stuff, incrementally. Be very generous with praise. I feel you want advice on topics to address - the Uni will cover that but if you don't yet have a copy treat yourself to "From My Hands To Yours", it's invaluable. This is the 21st century. There will be times when you feel frustrated, when things just don't seem to be working. STOP! Walk away. Have a rethink & change your approach to the subject (please note I didn't write problem, I wrote subject). When dealt with with respect & love horses are generous to the extreme but unless they are raised from birth with respect & love each one carries some baggage. This is not their fault - this is what humans have done. The horses are blameless. Someone has taught them the wrong lessons & it's our responsibility to gently show the horses the better lessons. You're beginning a wonderful journey, a journey I have been on for a number of years now. Kirk & Holy Moley have never known violence in their lives whereas older Humphrey & Max offer different challenges. I'm having the greatest fun with all 4 ponies & I know you will reap fantastic rewards from your 2 boys. Cheers Jo.

Hey Jo,
Thanks :) I wholly agree with everything and my goal is of course to make things interesting for them, not bore them or work them so hard that they'll refuse every little thing I want to try out. I'm also of the opinion that the horse's mood should be respected. If, for example, I wish to do some long rein work and Jesse is recalcitrant, I'll take him for a nice walk instead and still do some groundwork. Being flexible and patient are probably two of the most important things with horses.
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I have taken lots of challenges already but I don't know why my "medals" don't show up here under my name (maybe I haven't taken enough? I don't really know how it works...). And I already have "From My Hands To Yours" - love it! I read a lot of horse books in order to gather knowledge and keep what works for me and my horses. And watch a lot of videos too - I find it more helpful to see both the trainer and the horse in action.

Hi Marija. Each lesson, when it ends a 'Done' button appears in the top left of the screen. Press that & a button 'Montys Challenge' appears. Press it & you'll get questions about the lesson. Correctly complete 100 & you'll get your first rosette. If you're already doing all of that then perhaps it's just a numbers thing. Cheers Jo.

Yes, I am :) But maybe I just haven't gotten to 100 yet.
Cheers ;)