Notes from Two Lessons
i have been infuriatingly busy lately & it will continue for the next few weeks at least. because of this, i am several Livejournal entries behind. i've had two lessons & other horsey events since the last time i updated, but just haven't got around to typing it up... as a result, i think i have FORGOTTON things. yuck! oh, i've also had a student teacher who is a bit of a flop (nice person tho) and i must update about her!
anyway. had a lesson on saturday with carly. beejy was quite antsy at the start, so she had us working on the buckle. any buckle time = time out. hahaha. he's sore thru his back at the moment so we spent a lot of time at walk, doing loads and loads of bend to help soften him. you could really feel the difference in his trot quality from the start-end of the lesson.
THEN she made me work with super wide, high hands, focusing on maintaining flexion thru change of rein. his right side = very weak, so the aim is to have it as soft & supple as he is to the left.
things to remember:
* wide hands straighten the bit in the horse's mouth so they can't lean on it
* inside leg ON the girth, not in woop woop like i am prone to doing. if i have to stretch out my leg & literally straighten it before putting it back on, do so.
* LOADS of inside leg when asking for change of rein... BEFORE we change rein, so he yields (or at least THINK yields) over. reinforce with outside rein.
* basic shit like thumbs up, chest open, head up etc.
* she thinks my flailing lower leg is residual from the defensive hunch i've been riding in for the past 2 years. i noticed in this lesson that it seems to be improving.
* on the forehand??? more impulsion then.
watching the vid i can see i need to think about keeping my hands STILL - or at least, less upper body flailing around. my inside leg is fairly jerky on him - i need to PUSH it over rather than kicking it back (his right side is weakest, therefore, a shitload of inside leg to stop him falling in).
more pics under the cut. as usual, constructive critiques welcomed. cheers.
9th May
last week, carly got on and had a ride (her first on him). i watched very closely to see what she did with her legs & hands. you can also tell she's used to riding in a dressage saddle.
OH i sold my isabell too!
a) not using
b) doesn't suit beejy - it's too deep.
c) need the money
so yeah. it sold in like 0.12343 seconds so clearly i had it way underpriced. o well. the girl said, "why is it so cheap?" and i was like, "it is??Q@#$@????"
hrmph. prob could have got another $200-300 for it, but prob would have had to wait a while to sell it. wanted to get rid of it asap. o well.
it was great watching her ride him because i could see what she meant by 'getting after him' - he tried a NUMBER of evasion tactics & his efforts lasted about 4 seconds before he gave up & complied to her requests. and she was very polite and kind to him when he tried. i am still WAY too soft & inconsistent... but still, we are getting there.
then i rode. unfortunately, a whole 8 days has passed since this lesson, so i remember fuck all except that carly was super happy with how we were going. she said that the pictures didn't do the ride justice because we were getting some super nice work out of him.
apart from my crazy position, this is my favourite pic... i think he's going QUITE nice here.
apparently he's starting to lift his wither & actually work uphill. i didn't even KNOW horses could work uphill - i thought they were just built that way... so this is promising. i can kind of see spots of it here and there.
so there was quite a lot of this:
and much LESS of this:
16th may
he was a bit off yesterday - he'd given me some MIND BLOWING work on friday night (like, i was GIDDY with how awesome he was) so his patience must have run out, lol. anyway, i really felt in this lesson i could start to work on ME, which was good. he was really starting to come together too, as evidenced by not one, but THREE hooning horses in the paddock right next to the arena & although he FELT wired, he didn't show it at all & worked beautifully for me.
flexing to new zealand here.
idk wtf i am doing here, lol.
can i rise any higher???
i can see a visible improvement in my lower leg here tho... which is good. but then... MY ARMS. argh. it's one fucking thing after another. anyway. that's why i have an instructor.
rode tonight & although he was quiet, that kangaroo/emu must have been back because he was !@#$)!(@#$*!)@# every time we passed by that end of the arena. to get his mind on things i took him over some jumps (about 2'?) but probably should have refrained from this & just worked on the flat because he was RUSHY & lacking concentration and i was WIRED. honestly, i felt like i was on speed! my lower leg kept flying back so i had to hoike up my stirrups & i was literally shaking whilst doing so. idk... and then riding around with the world's deepest ankles - holy mother of god, the PAIN!!! you jump/event riders who ride with crazy short stirrups all the time must just have INCREDIBLE lower leg strength, jesus christ. plus, cos my stirrups were shorter, i felt like my calves could not operate independently, so i had all this leg on him, & then had to sit deep to use my ass, and as a result we were both all over the place.
i kept holding him back over jumps & as a result riding too deep & as a result of that we had hideous deer/giraffe jumps. add into the mix HIGH hands... YUCK! he'll probably be more sore tomorrow as a result. he even threw in a little bolt after one such jump (i'm sure the kangaroo probably sneezed at him) and i had about 2 strides of "o sweet jesus i am gonna die" before i managed to sit down and redirect that speed into a nice controlled canter.
so yeah. do not just go and randomly start jumping when the sensitive redhead is worried about kangaroos. he was SO crooked when trying to ride the dodgy corner too, jesus christ. i was like, "can i GET ANY MORE FUCKING INSIDE LEG ON???" and hoiking his nose around to the inside, only to have it wack out like an S bend as soon as we got back to the dodgy corner.
anywho.
karen was hanging around & came over & said we looked good & connected. HAHAHA. i told her that LESSONS WITH CARLY is the solution to all the world's problems. i really do hope she makes some time somehow & gets lessons with her (or anybody really) because she does need some help with schooling & how to do it properly.
anyway.
it's my dad's 85th on wednesday & jed and Rhiannon and i are driving down on friday night for a big PARTAY on saturday. then it's my 30th the week after. awww yeah.
and question... should i put my mother in law on board beejay?
hahaha. i chucked her on tazzie bareback the other day. jeeeeeeeeeeez you'd of thought we all smelled bad, the looks he was giving us BOTH. i get why his old owner was reluctant to sell him to a beginner - if i didn't know better, i'd think a pony with a face like that was out to kill me...
anyway. had a lesson on saturday with carly. beejy was quite antsy at the start, so she had us working on the buckle. any buckle time = time out. hahaha. he's sore thru his back at the moment so we spent a lot of time at walk, doing loads and loads of bend to help soften him. you could really feel the difference in his trot quality from the start-end of the lesson.
THEN she made me work with super wide, high hands, focusing on maintaining flexion thru change of rein. his right side = very weak, so the aim is to have it as soft & supple as he is to the left.
things to remember:
* wide hands straighten the bit in the horse's mouth so they can't lean on it
* inside leg ON the girth, not in woop woop like i am prone to doing. if i have to stretch out my leg & literally straighten it before putting it back on, do so.
* LOADS of inside leg when asking for change of rein... BEFORE we change rein, so he yields (or at least THINK yields) over. reinforce with outside rein.
* basic shit like thumbs up, chest open, head up etc.
* she thinks my flailing lower leg is residual from the defensive hunch i've been riding in for the past 2 years. i noticed in this lesson that it seems to be improving.
* on the forehand??? more impulsion then.
Click to viewwatching the vid i can see i need to think about keeping my hands STILL - or at least, less upper body flailing around. my inside leg is fairly jerky on him - i need to PUSH it over rather than kicking it back (his right side is weakest, therefore, a shitload of inside leg to stop him falling in).
more pics under the cut. as usual, constructive critiques welcomed. cheers.
9th May
last week, carly got on and had a ride (her first on him). i watched very closely to see what she did with her legs & hands. you can also tell she's used to riding in a dressage saddle.
OH i sold my isabell too!
a) not using
b) doesn't suit beejy - it's too deep.
c) need the money
so yeah. it sold in like 0.12343 seconds so clearly i had it way underpriced. o well. the girl said, "why is it so cheap?" and i was like, "it is??Q@#$@????"
hrmph. prob could have got another $200-300 for it, but prob would have had to wait a while to sell it. wanted to get rid of it asap. o well.
it was great watching her ride him because i could see what she meant by 'getting after him' - he tried a NUMBER of evasion tactics & his efforts lasted about 4 seconds before he gave up & complied to her requests. and she was very polite and kind to him when he tried. i am still WAY too soft & inconsistent... but still, we are getting there.
then i rode. unfortunately, a whole 8 days has passed since this lesson, so i remember fuck all except that carly was super happy with how we were going. she said that the pictures didn't do the ride justice because we were getting some super nice work out of him.
apart from my crazy position, this is my favourite pic... i think he's going QUITE nice here.
apparently he's starting to lift his wither & actually work uphill. i didn't even KNOW horses could work uphill - i thought they were just built that way... so this is promising. i can kind of see spots of it here and there.
so there was quite a lot of this:
and much LESS of this:
16th may
he was a bit off yesterday - he'd given me some MIND BLOWING work on friday night (like, i was GIDDY with how awesome he was) so his patience must have run out, lol. anyway, i really felt in this lesson i could start to work on ME, which was good. he was really starting to come together too, as evidenced by not one, but THREE hooning horses in the paddock right next to the arena & although he FELT wired, he didn't show it at all & worked beautifully for me.
flexing to new zealand here.
idk wtf i am doing here, lol.
can i rise any higher???
i can see a visible improvement in my lower leg here tho... which is good. but then... MY ARMS. argh. it's one fucking thing after another. anyway. that's why i have an instructor.
rode tonight & although he was quiet, that kangaroo/emu must have been back because he was !@#$)!(@#$*!)@# every time we passed by that end of the arena. to get his mind on things i took him over some jumps (about 2'?) but probably should have refrained from this & just worked on the flat because he was RUSHY & lacking concentration and i was WIRED. honestly, i felt like i was on speed! my lower leg kept flying back so i had to hoike up my stirrups & i was literally shaking whilst doing so. idk... and then riding around with the world's deepest ankles - holy mother of god, the PAIN!!! you jump/event riders who ride with crazy short stirrups all the time must just have INCREDIBLE lower leg strength, jesus christ. plus, cos my stirrups were shorter, i felt like my calves could not operate independently, so i had all this leg on him, & then had to sit deep to use my ass, and as a result we were both all over the place.
i kept holding him back over jumps & as a result riding too deep & as a result of that we had hideous deer/giraffe jumps. add into the mix HIGH hands... YUCK! he'll probably be more sore tomorrow as a result. he even threw in a little bolt after one such jump (i'm sure the kangaroo probably sneezed at him) and i had about 2 strides of "o sweet jesus i am gonna die" before i managed to sit down and redirect that speed into a nice controlled canter.
so yeah. do not just go and randomly start jumping when the sensitive redhead is worried about kangaroos. he was SO crooked when trying to ride the dodgy corner too, jesus christ. i was like, "can i GET ANY MORE FUCKING INSIDE LEG ON???" and hoiking his nose around to the inside, only to have it wack out like an S bend as soon as we got back to the dodgy corner.
anywho.
karen was hanging around & came over & said we looked good & connected. HAHAHA. i told her that LESSONS WITH CARLY is the solution to all the world's problems. i really do hope she makes some time somehow & gets lessons with her (or anybody really) because she does need some help with schooling & how to do it properly.
anyway.
it's my dad's 85th on wednesday & jed and Rhiannon and i are driving down on friday night for a big PARTAY on saturday. then it's my 30th the week after. awww yeah.
and question... should i put my mother in law on board beejay?
hahaha. i chucked her on tazzie bareback the other day. jeeeeeeeeeeez you'd of thought we all smelled bad, the looks he was giving us BOTH. i get why his old owner was reluctant to sell him to a beginner - if i didn't know better, i'd think a pony with a face like that was out to kill me...