Friday, August 20, 2010
August Lessons Part 1
Wednesday. august 4th.
This was the day after I got home from being in Canada for four days. Carino had a much needed jump training ride with Erin one of the days I was gone and a good half hour walk by Annie just so he can get out and about. However, this didn't change the fact that I didn't ride for four days. I went into the lesson not knowing if I would be a little rusty, sore, weak, unfocused..who knows..but to my surprise every time there wasn't an issue and I had another one of the best lessons. I guess sometimes a good little break or time out for both horse and rider is needed. It keeps you both from getting bored, keeps things fresh, interesting and fun.
This was another lesson with Jenn and we started off in the indoor due to the dust bowl of the ring again. (this lack of rain is killing us!) We worked on the flat and Carino started to develop that wonderful flowing, swinging, powerful trot that I love so much. We then wanted to do some pole and cavaletti work and Erin wanted Jenn to jump again so we went to the top sand arena. We trotted and cantered a line of poles and Erin would add a pole every few time we went down the line. We then set them up as small cavalleti's and then even small jumps to make a small grid/bounce exercise. This was great for Carino so we could work on keeping a consistent canter and try to prevent rushing or changing the canter. Lesson was great, both Carino and I learned and made another huge improvement.
Friday.august 13th
This was an half hour lesson at 8:30 in the morning the morning we were going to head off for GMHA. I got out to the ring before Erin was there to warm up and It just wasn't clicking...
His trot was short choppy and quick but he felt lazy and unresponsive. He just didn't feel like he was listening at all. He wouldn't use his hind end and push into the bridle, the shoulders were everywhere..and no matter my correction he would go right back and continue to do it. Erin came out and we made some progress but I still felt like a mess. We then started to jump... Erin had us come to a jump that was set in a line so we had to go in between the line. He came to it all wigly and just wasn't listening and I was still frustrated and he refused it. And so this is when my already built up frustration is on the verge of boiling over. So I come to it again and give him a good squeeze kick and he goes over it..but not pretty. He continues to jump it weird for the majority of the time over that fence...
But then we go to a bending line from a vertical to an oxer and he dose it pretty spot on. We play around with it a little so I can play around with keeping the canter consistent and with what canter I have where to come to the oxer. We then do a line and a one stride and he does those perfect too. Super relaxed, most consistent canter he has ever had and listening very well. I work on keeping my leg around the corner to the one stride so he doesn't lose the canter over the first fence and then have to make a bigger effort over the second.(never thought of things like this) Erin and I really talked about the jumps and why I should do this or why things were a little sticky and was it my mistake or his and so on..and it really made me more confident and I really started to be able to think about what I was doing instead of "okay, jump this and then turn jump this" or "one jump, second jump" I could now think the corner will do this. the oxer in the beginning of the line will effect the canter this way...If the canter is 'this' way on my bending line alter the line slightly to fit the canter. Good ride, made me think and no more of Carino flying around like a mad man.
This was the day after I got home from being in Canada for four days. Carino had a much needed jump training ride with Erin one of the days I was gone and a good half hour walk by Annie just so he can get out and about. However, this didn't change the fact that I didn't ride for four days. I went into the lesson not knowing if I would be a little rusty, sore, weak, unfocused..who knows..but to my surprise every time there wasn't an issue and I had another one of the best lessons. I guess sometimes a good little break or time out for both horse and rider is needed. It keeps you both from getting bored, keeps things fresh, interesting and fun.
This was another lesson with Jenn and we started off in the indoor due to the dust bowl of the ring again. (this lack of rain is killing us!) We worked on the flat and Carino started to develop that wonderful flowing, swinging, powerful trot that I love so much. We then wanted to do some pole and cavaletti work and Erin wanted Jenn to jump again so we went to the top sand arena. We trotted and cantered a line of poles and Erin would add a pole every few time we went down the line. We then set them up as small cavalleti's and then even small jumps to make a small grid/bounce exercise. This was great for Carino so we could work on keeping a consistent canter and try to prevent rushing or changing the canter. Lesson was great, both Carino and I learned and made another huge improvement.
Friday.august 13th
This was an half hour lesson at 8:30 in the morning the morning we were going to head off for GMHA. I got out to the ring before Erin was there to warm up and It just wasn't clicking...
His trot was short choppy and quick but he felt lazy and unresponsive. He just didn't feel like he was listening at all. He wouldn't use his hind end and push into the bridle, the shoulders were everywhere..and no matter my correction he would go right back and continue to do it. Erin came out and we made some progress but I still felt like a mess. We then started to jump... Erin had us come to a jump that was set in a line so we had to go in between the line. He came to it all wigly and just wasn't listening and I was still frustrated and he refused it. And so this is when my already built up frustration is on the verge of boiling over. So I come to it again and give him a good squeeze kick and he goes over it..but not pretty. He continues to jump it weird for the majority of the time over that fence...
But then we go to a bending line from a vertical to an oxer and he dose it pretty spot on. We play around with it a little so I can play around with keeping the canter consistent and with what canter I have where to come to the oxer. We then do a line and a one stride and he does those perfect too. Super relaxed, most consistent canter he has ever had and listening very well. I work on keeping my leg around the corner to the one stride so he doesn't lose the canter over the first fence and then have to make a bigger effort over the second.(never thought of things like this) Erin and I really talked about the jumps and why I should do this or why things were a little sticky and was it my mistake or his and so on..and it really made me more confident and I really started to be able to think about what I was doing instead of "okay, jump this and then turn jump this" or "one jump, second jump" I could now think the corner will do this. the oxer in the beginning of the line will effect the canter this way...If the canter is 'this' way on my bending line alter the line slightly to fit the canter. Good ride, made me think and no more of Carino flying around like a mad man.
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