Close Call
I almost had a meltdown at work yesterday when it started raining like crazy at around 1 PM. I mean seriously, two weeks in a row? Thankfully at 5PM it was gorgeous out and I headed to the barn fully expecting to find a mostly soaked Breezy covered in dirt. I was happily surprised to find my expectation only half true, not wet just head to toe filthy : )
I hurried to clean her up as the sky, while clear over me, was looking like it wanted to crowd around barn. I decided to wear my tall boots to start beaking them in and I also thought I'd leave the riding crop in the barn so I could really concentrate on using my leg to get her to wake up.
Once on it took me a minute to get my feet in the stirrups as they felt so different in the boots. I really must wear them more. We went for a walk around the barn then went to the ring which was newly mowed (yay!). We walked over some ground poles that the owners put down and saw that they had also gotten some cones which I will really have to rearrange and play with.
Somethings I noticed about starting the trot with Breezy: If it's the very first trot of the day she seems really short strided and rides that way for a couple laps around the ring; Most upward transitions to the trot are preceded by a hopping step, like a mini canter step; Too many of our downward transitions from the trot seem to be heavily on the forehand, like she's digging in with her front feet instead of stopping with her butt.
This session I really tried to keep my head up at all costs, no more looking down! There is nothing to see down there, fer god's sake! I also made a conscious effort to keep my hands closed. No more 'soft' open hands.
Although Breezy wasn't acting like a clown yesterday like she was last week, I am starting to notice more when I have lost her attention. She likes to look around, slow down, and take swipes at greenery. To keep her from getting bored I worked on her straightness by trotting her directly at trees, which I think she thought was pretty interesting since I wouldn't ask for a whoa until we were right on top of it. We worked on some more bending by doing some spirals which she seemed to like. I also did some serpentines mostly for my sake, trying to develop some better timing of my diagonal changes.
We did get a little canter in though I was a little wary of the footing. I've decided that I am just not coordinated enough with my aids when asking for the canter. I think I get tense, set my hands, twist, lean forward and just generally suck. I think my body thinks it needs to DO something to make her go when in my head I know that if I just relax and ask correctly that she will do it. Argh, I will work on it. I think part of my problem as well is I am not sure which aids I should be giving to get the canter from her. I need to experiment more precisely with what makes her go.
I have a lesson tomorrow that I am vaguely dreading. We'll see how it goes.
I hurried to clean her up as the sky, while clear over me, was looking like it wanted to crowd around barn. I decided to wear my tall boots to start beaking them in and I also thought I'd leave the riding crop in the barn so I could really concentrate on using my leg to get her to wake up.
Once on it took me a minute to get my feet in the stirrups as they felt so different in the boots. I really must wear them more. We went for a walk around the barn then went to the ring which was newly mowed (yay!). We walked over some ground poles that the owners put down and saw that they had also gotten some cones which I will really have to rearrange and play with.
Somethings I noticed about starting the trot with Breezy: If it's the very first trot of the day she seems really short strided and rides that way for a couple laps around the ring; Most upward transitions to the trot are preceded by a hopping step, like a mini canter step; Too many of our downward transitions from the trot seem to be heavily on the forehand, like she's digging in with her front feet instead of stopping with her butt.
This session I really tried to keep my head up at all costs, no more looking down! There is nothing to see down there, fer god's sake! I also made a conscious effort to keep my hands closed. No more 'soft' open hands.
Although Breezy wasn't acting like a clown yesterday like she was last week, I am starting to notice more when I have lost her attention. She likes to look around, slow down, and take swipes at greenery. To keep her from getting bored I worked on her straightness by trotting her directly at trees, which I think she thought was pretty interesting since I wouldn't ask for a whoa until we were right on top of it. We worked on some more bending by doing some spirals which she seemed to like. I also did some serpentines mostly for my sake, trying to develop some better timing of my diagonal changes.
We did get a little canter in though I was a little wary of the footing. I've decided that I am just not coordinated enough with my aids when asking for the canter. I think I get tense, set my hands, twist, lean forward and just generally suck. I think my body thinks it needs to DO something to make her go when in my head I know that if I just relax and ask correctly that she will do it. Argh, I will work on it. I think part of my problem as well is I am not sure which aids I should be giving to get the canter from her. I need to experiment more precisely with what makes her go.
I have a lesson tomorrow that I am vaguely dreading. We'll see how it goes.
posted by shortround at 11:03 AM
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