Did not win at riding tonight.
Riding tonight was one of those rides. You know, the ones where you are mad you're not a perfect rider so your horse doesn't have to put up with you. And the horse is cranky.
*started with him going into Rex's stall instead of his own, so I chased him out. then when he wouldn't come into his stall, I put Rex in his-temporarily-and shut Rex's stall gate. The good part is Zolar stayed there, looking into the barn. (those who remember last year in December I spent almost a month working on him coming in when I wanted him to)
*I'm still thinking about what warmup is the best for us-home/show, so I went with the loose reign walk/trot/canter, but skipped the bending work in a circle. Did do a few turns on hind.
*worked on the same two exercises we did in lesson week before last. However, he was really not moving well on the leg yield, especially to the right. He'd move the shoulders, but not the hind so much. Lots of spur. Took me until almost the end to figure out he was probably sore from one of the exercises I did yesterday. Very frustrated, though.
Plan: if we're having trouble with lateral work. stop and stretch-turns on fire and hind. if that doesn't work, then go down a speed. if that doesn't work, then do circles in walk/trot to work on balance and control.
*he wasn't listening as well in the canter part of the second exercise. he kept wanting to go straight along the wall. usually a little wiggle will work, or a tug up, but this time it involved a big tug and some spur. I think he likes to go fast when he's tired/frustrated/etc because that's easier. I also didn't let him use the wall most of the time, which is harder.
*the while I was walking him out. long rein, working on listening to seat and legs. I was trying to keep a straight line and halt. did not go well. I got really frustrated. finally got a few good ones when I kept my arms back
Plan: if I get frustrated I will just get off. Maybe work on backing up.
Luckily I don't think he's too frustrated. He talked to me, and totally did not act like he does when I put drops in his ears (that leads to not talking to me for three days.
Oh, and I totally think my coach underestimated how weak my left hip is. She thinks it should be easy to use my left hip in the trot like the right (both hips forward depending on which leg I'm not!posting with). I had done a hip forward with each leg, and she wants me to do it the other way-says he works better. Poor Zolar, though, is probably so confused because it's really hard to keep the rhythm with that hip, so I am actually doing a combination of the new way, the old way, the right hip in control, and no way.
Need more practice.
Also, I'm watching Quarantine, and I totally want to slap the *shit* out of the woman because all she's doing is screaming and whining, and wailing, and totally not using her brain. While all the men-who are conveniently getting killed off one by one-are the calm-ish ones.
*started with him going into Rex's stall instead of his own, so I chased him out. then when he wouldn't come into his stall, I put Rex in his-temporarily-and shut Rex's stall gate. The good part is Zolar stayed there, looking into the barn. (those who remember last year in December I spent almost a month working on him coming in when I wanted him to)
*I'm still thinking about what warmup is the best for us-home/show, so I went with the loose reign walk/trot/canter, but skipped the bending work in a circle. Did do a few turns on hind.
*worked on the same two exercises we did in lesson week before last. However, he was really not moving well on the leg yield, especially to the right. He'd move the shoulders, but not the hind so much. Lots of spur. Took me until almost the end to figure out he was probably sore from one of the exercises I did yesterday. Very frustrated, though.
Plan: if we're having trouble with lateral work. stop and stretch-turns on fire and hind. if that doesn't work, then go down a speed. if that doesn't work, then do circles in walk/trot to work on balance and control.
*he wasn't listening as well in the canter part of the second exercise. he kept wanting to go straight along the wall. usually a little wiggle will work, or a tug up, but this time it involved a big tug and some spur. I think he likes to go fast when he's tired/frustrated/etc because that's easier. I also didn't let him use the wall most of the time, which is harder.
*the while I was walking him out. long rein, working on listening to seat and legs. I was trying to keep a straight line and halt. did not go well. I got really frustrated. finally got a few good ones when I kept my arms back
Plan: if I get frustrated I will just get off. Maybe work on backing up.
Luckily I don't think he's too frustrated. He talked to me, and totally did not act like he does when I put drops in his ears (that leads to not talking to me for three days.
Oh, and I totally think my coach underestimated how weak my left hip is. She thinks it should be easy to use my left hip in the trot like the right (both hips forward depending on which leg I'm not!posting with). I had done a hip forward with each leg, and she wants me to do it the other way-says he works better. Poor Zolar, though, is probably so confused because it's really hard to keep the rhythm with that hip, so I am actually doing a combination of the new way, the old way, the right hip in control, and no way.
Need more practice.
Also, I'm watching Quarantine, and I totally want to slap the *shit* out of the woman because all she's doing is screaming and whining, and wailing, and totally not using her brain. While all the men-who are conveniently getting killed off one by one-are the calm-ish ones.