I had a lesson!! Tuesday morning, Kathy, my instructor, made it up here, it wasn't raining, Jeeves had all four shoes on and we actually had a lesson!! Yippee!! We hadn't had one since April, so this was long overdue.
The good news is, we're not as bad off as I had feared. He is indeed as supple as I thought he was feeling. :-) And, while he is moving forward, he needs to be more energetic with shorter, quicker strides. Kathy had me kick him with my heels in rapid succession--kick-kick-kick. Or, use the whip, but not just one or two hard taps. Again, a series of quick taps--rat-a-tat-tat. This helped give him the idea that I didn't just want forward, I want quicker. This worked wonders and he was moving in a nice, medium trot in no time.
We worked on some trot 1/2-pass, she upped the ante and had us go from the rail all the way to the center line. This helped with the collection that we're going for. After the 1/2-passes in both directions, she had me ask him to cover less ground but keep the legs active--short, quick strides. Lots of ab work for me--I was sore the next morning! But, it worked. He maintained the rhythm, the energy, and stayed light and soft in my hand and round in his back. We didn't do much of this, since he needs strength, so about a 1/2 circle, then forward into a medium trot, then slow again for 1/2 a circle, and forward into a stretchy circle, then repeat in the other direction.
Then, we worked on canter. Same thing--forward with active, quick steps. This is what I've been missing in the canter work--he's been feeling sticky on me. The quick steps un-stuck him! He was round and balanced and forward! He tends to hang, so I did a lot of giving with one rein, then the other, being careful to use leg as I gave with the rein. That reminded him to step up into the bridle, even though I was relaxing the connection.
Then, she pulled a fast one on me. Sent us down the long side, 10m circle in the center, walk on the 10m circle, change the bend and pick up the counter-lead and continue down the long side and through the short side. Hey! We're not ready for the counter-canter, yet!! Ack! Counter-canter is the bane of my riding life. We just fall apart at counter canter. But, he did very well on the right lead counter canter. Made it through that short side in balance. She was kind and let us go across the diagonal to get back on the true canter. The left lead, we kept falling flat and he'ld break to trot. After a couple of attempts, we did manage to get it together and got through a short side and then across the diagonal. Far from pretty, but we did it. We'll work on pretty later.
She even had us try some changes, but those didn't work very well. We ended up doing lots of bouncing around as he kept throwing his hind end in the air trying to figure out what to do with his legs. :-) We'll have to work on those.
All in all, it was an excellent lesson. I hope to have another in a couple of weeks. Because of the uncertainty about his mystery lump and craziness at my work, I didn't ride him again until this morning. I did everything except for the counter canter and changes. I'll try the counter canter tomorrow...maybe. ;-)
The good news is, we're not as bad off as I had feared. He is indeed as supple as I thought he was feeling. :-) And, while he is moving forward, he needs to be more energetic with shorter, quicker strides. Kathy had me kick him with my heels in rapid succession--kick-kick-kick. Or, use the whip, but not just one or two hard taps. Again, a series of quick taps--rat-a-tat-tat. This helped give him the idea that I didn't just want forward, I want quicker. This worked wonders and he was moving in a nice, medium trot in no time.
We worked on some trot 1/2-pass, she upped the ante and had us go from the rail all the way to the center line. This helped with the collection that we're going for. After the 1/2-passes in both directions, she had me ask him to cover less ground but keep the legs active--short, quick strides. Lots of ab work for me--I was sore the next morning! But, it worked. He maintained the rhythm, the energy, and stayed light and soft in my hand and round in his back. We didn't do much of this, since he needs strength, so about a 1/2 circle, then forward into a medium trot, then slow again for 1/2 a circle, and forward into a stretchy circle, then repeat in the other direction.
Then, we worked on canter. Same thing--forward with active, quick steps. This is what I've been missing in the canter work--he's been feeling sticky on me. The quick steps un-stuck him! He was round and balanced and forward! He tends to hang, so I did a lot of giving with one rein, then the other, being careful to use leg as I gave with the rein. That reminded him to step up into the bridle, even though I was relaxing the connection.
Then, she pulled a fast one on me. Sent us down the long side, 10m circle in the center, walk on the 10m circle, change the bend and pick up the counter-lead and continue down the long side and through the short side. Hey! We're not ready for the counter-canter, yet!! Ack! Counter-canter is the bane of my riding life. We just fall apart at counter canter. But, he did very well on the right lead counter canter. Made it through that short side in balance. She was kind and let us go across the diagonal to get back on the true canter. The left lead, we kept falling flat and he'ld break to trot. After a couple of attempts, we did manage to get it together and got through a short side and then across the diagonal. Far from pretty, but we did it. We'll work on pretty later.
She even had us try some changes, but those didn't work very well. We ended up doing lots of bouncing around as he kept throwing his hind end in the air trying to figure out what to do with his legs. :-) We'll have to work on those.
All in all, it was an excellent lesson. I hope to have another in a couple of weeks. Because of the uncertainty about his mystery lump and craziness at my work, I didn't ride him again until this morning. I did everything except for the counter canter and changes. I'll try the counter canter tomorrow...maybe. ;-)
4 comments:
Congrats on the great lesson! Those days always leave me feeling vindicated and glorious. :)
Hi, thanks for coming by 20 meter. The barefoot journey has been amazing. It took me monthes to accept that was what I needed to do, and more monthes to find the right trimmer. The more I read and the more I study it really made sense. Abu could not keep a shoe on, usually with in a day or two of a new set or reset he would lose at least one if not more. Email me if you want more details, thats how my journey began, with Mrs Mom.
Great lesson, I am looking forward to my next lesson.
dq4abu@gmail.com
Jewel
It's always good to have a lesson, it sort of gives us direction and gives us movements to practice. Sounds like you had a really productive lesson and fun too.
Great blog Ann, Jeeves looks great and glad to hear that your lesson went well.
Have you identified the mystery swelling?
Caryl & Tyler
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