(no subject)
had a great lesson at adult riders today. i only stayed for the morning lesson as i had to get home and get shit done, but that's okay. we still made it.
firstly, i pretty much grabbed beejay, bunged him on the float (using a bum rope, which was awkward & he had his heavy weatherbeeta on & he needed a bit of a pull around the bum to get him on) & were the first ppl to arrive at pony club.
he was crying out, all lonely & depressed, but then a few more horses arrived, so he stopped thinking he was dying. saddled up, took him down to the grounds & popped him on the lunge for 10 mins to get the sting out.
this is not a normal tactic for me, but i think i might get into it because he responds quite well to it. i put him on a conventional lunge line & went in the arena for 'practice' last night & he was SUPER good. we normally stay in the round yard & muck about with free lunging, or i use double lines/running reins in there. i have never taken him in the arena as Paul doesn't like it. apparently Karen (barn manager) is working on him in that regards, so he's a bit less anal about us tearing up his arena by lunging.
anywho. so today it was COLD and windy & threatening to piss down the whole time. we lunged for 10 mins & he went around like a giraffe for a while but had a few hooners & pigroots when the wind changed.
went for our lesson. jenny had set up an 'arena' in the grasssed area, marked with cones & she had a 20m circle with cone 'gateways' marked at each end. unfortunately, one 'end' of the arena butted right onto a massive horse eating bush & was our bugbear for most of the lesson. even just walking around at the start had him totally boggling it and worrying.
anyway, he was working frigging GORGEOUSLY (if that's a word) at the other end of the arena, but as soon as we got near the massive horse eating bushes he would go slightly mental. i started out by wacking my (ineffective) inside leg on and hauling him around into small circles, but jenny didn't like that & was all about the inside leg & increased flexion & half halts etc and so on.
and i was like, "dude, i can't! it's like a wall of concrete & then he drops in with his shoulder & evades and starts frigging RUNNING!"
so she went to her car & got out some... SPURS.
which we then put on & beejay responded with, "OOOOOOH, you mean THAT inside leg?" and promptly started leg yielding all over the place. he STILL got very rushy & worried in the dodgy corner, but we worked thru it & as long as i kept on his case he was fine.
i am quite excited by this development. when he's not worried about something, he's absolutely gorgeous, but i've always found it a challenge to keep him flexed to the inside & not running thru my hands/popping his shoulder & totally EVADING when he has a 'spot' that concerns him. by reminding him that my leg was there & using the spurs, it was so so so helpful!
we then did a bit variation in stride during trot. i found i was letting go with the front end when i'd ask for more impulsion, so jenny talked me thru that & i have to make sure i maintain the contact & not let him go. she also got me to trot REALLY REALLY REALLY slow on the 20m circle before asking for lengthen along the straight so i could really feel a difference. it was good.
so yeah, little pony handled it all very well. he felt pretty awesome & amazing & i think it might be time to start setting some goals with him, competition wise.
i'd LIKE to get into some hacking, but not sure about that - the whole cantering in groups thing. i might have a go at the summer series dressage comps that come up - tho i tend to be frightened of the extraordinary hot weather that always seems to coincide...
we'll see.
oh, bj was a bit of a piglet loading up on the way home, so i got a friend to walk around behind to bring his ass up. i won't use my long lines again, they're a bit light & flat to use as a bum rope. i have a regular dodgy lunge line to use instead.
anyways.
firstly, i pretty much grabbed beejay, bunged him on the float (using a bum rope, which was awkward & he had his heavy weatherbeeta on & he needed a bit of a pull around the bum to get him on) & were the first ppl to arrive at pony club.
he was crying out, all lonely & depressed, but then a few more horses arrived, so he stopped thinking he was dying. saddled up, took him down to the grounds & popped him on the lunge for 10 mins to get the sting out.
this is not a normal tactic for me, but i think i might get into it because he responds quite well to it. i put him on a conventional lunge line & went in the arena for 'practice' last night & he was SUPER good. we normally stay in the round yard & muck about with free lunging, or i use double lines/running reins in there. i have never taken him in the arena as Paul doesn't like it. apparently Karen (barn manager) is working on him in that regards, so he's a bit less anal about us tearing up his arena by lunging.
anywho. so today it was COLD and windy & threatening to piss down the whole time. we lunged for 10 mins & he went around like a giraffe for a while but had a few hooners & pigroots when the wind changed.
went for our lesson. jenny had set up an 'arena' in the grasssed area, marked with cones & she had a 20m circle with cone 'gateways' marked at each end. unfortunately, one 'end' of the arena butted right onto a massive horse eating bush & was our bugbear for most of the lesson. even just walking around at the start had him totally boggling it and worrying.
anyway, he was working frigging GORGEOUSLY (if that's a word) at the other end of the arena, but as soon as we got near the massive horse eating bushes he would go slightly mental. i started out by wacking my (ineffective) inside leg on and hauling him around into small circles, but jenny didn't like that & was all about the inside leg & increased flexion & half halts etc and so on.
and i was like, "dude, i can't! it's like a wall of concrete & then he drops in with his shoulder & evades and starts frigging RUNNING!"
so she went to her car & got out some... SPURS.
which we then put on & beejay responded with, "OOOOOOH, you mean THAT inside leg?" and promptly started leg yielding all over the place. he STILL got very rushy & worried in the dodgy corner, but we worked thru it & as long as i kept on his case he was fine.
i am quite excited by this development. when he's not worried about something, he's absolutely gorgeous, but i've always found it a challenge to keep him flexed to the inside & not running thru my hands/popping his shoulder & totally EVADING when he has a 'spot' that concerns him. by reminding him that my leg was there & using the spurs, it was so so so helpful!
we then did a bit variation in stride during trot. i found i was letting go with the front end when i'd ask for more impulsion, so jenny talked me thru that & i have to make sure i maintain the contact & not let him go. she also got me to trot REALLY REALLY REALLY slow on the 20m circle before asking for lengthen along the straight so i could really feel a difference. it was good.
so yeah, little pony handled it all very well. he felt pretty awesome & amazing & i think it might be time to start setting some goals with him, competition wise.
i'd LIKE to get into some hacking, but not sure about that - the whole cantering in groups thing. i might have a go at the summer series dressage comps that come up - tho i tend to be frightened of the extraordinary hot weather that always seems to coincide...
we'll see.
oh, bj was a bit of a piglet loading up on the way home, so i got a friend to walk around behind to bring his ass up. i won't use my long lines again, they're a bit light & flat to use as a bum rope. i have a regular dodgy lunge line to use instead.
anyways.