(no subject)
it's been ages since i've done a horsey update.
soo...
had a lesson last sunday & we focused on SLOW and RELAXED. carly wants us to start developing the same SLOW & RELAXED warm up routine every time, with as much long & low as possible, so that when we go to shows/pony club/out we have the same boring stuff to go thru & the pony stops getting so wound up. we've established that the pony likes FORWARD & that going FORWARD helps to get the kinks out, but now it's time to rein it all back.
(yeah, good luck with that! hahaha)
so. lots of halting, lots of really steady, swingy walking, lots of outside rein & inside leg to try & control that tendency to giraffe-up when he's anxious.
REALLy have to work on my hands. i swear, i try so fucking hard to keep my hands as still as possible, but they STILL have about 10-15cm (and that's generous) of movement. i'm trying the "hinge" visualisation but have probs thinking about how the hinge works exactly. like is it in my elbows going back to front or up & down... i just don't know.
anyways.
Rode on monday & he was being a bit of a space cadet so i chucked on some spurs. mostly, all we did was walk, but i'm glad i had those spurs on, cos he just kept trying to RUN thru my inside leg. every goddamn spot on the arena was a scary mofo spot. we also had a bit of an argument because he decided it was all too much & did a lala & i gripped on wth my legs and VOILA - spurs in the sides, so that was rather uncomfortable for all & probably the very reason why carly hasn't encouraged me to wear spurs regularly - too unstable in the lower leg esp when the pony has a tanty?
watching videos & thinking about my riding too - i can see how MUCH i use my inside leg, with loads of kicking & 'pressure' because he just wants to fall thru it & i've noticed in the 3 times i've worn spurs how much i *don't* need to do that. i've been quite self conscious when riding lately of not kicking & doing a "squeeze" and only kicking to say "OI I SAID MOVE OVER" and it appears to be working a bit better. we'll see.
then, didn't ride all week until yesterday, which was unfortunate. he was quite wired, so of course *i* had the BRILLIANT idea to chuck him on the lunge first. well.
it was night & i had the lights on - last time i lunged at night (well, only other time i've ever lunged him in the arena & not the round yard - and by lunge i mean with a lunge rope & not just 'playing games' which we are quite good at doing).
anyways, he jumped & humped & was generally cold backed all over the place. not sure about this cold backed stuff - he does it when i ride too, but will always work out of it in a few minutes. thing is, he doesn't ALWAYS do it, and he certainly doesn't ALWAYS do it when on the ground.
after the humping, he then got very spooky & would fall in DRASTICALLy so i was having to chase him when he got to the 'scary spots'. on top of the falling in was random bolty things and in general, other silly behaviours.
after we got all that sorted, he gave me about 3 mins of LOVELY work before deciding that he'd had enough.
so, for all lunging sessions hence, we will use a LUNGE WHIP. goddamn silly pony. i'm sure it would have been very entertaining for anyone watching - he would mooch off at a very sad little pace, i would chase & try and flick with the lunge rope, he'd surge forward for about 3 strides and then would come to a COMPLETE HALT & look at me saying, "yes? we're done, right?"
so i had to get very big and loud & we FINALLY managed several circles of a reasonable pace.
then onto the RIDE! mad bugger.
we just stayed in walk the whole time, trying to be as relaxed and calm as possible. he's such an easy pony to read because he really wears his heart on his sleeve. we have to practice extreme flexion because if he has an ounce of give to the outside, he'll BOGGLE. when he boggles, his head comes up, he starts jackhammering & it's all downhill from there.
so yeah, he was VERY DISTURBED by something in the bushes last night. fortunately we didn't have any mega shies or anything outrageous & he managed to keep himself contained, but it's like riding a coiled spring... for 5m of a 20m circle. woot.
i've also been riding taz a bit & wow, he is looking completely MINT. i should have taken some pics of him just after his colic because he looked awful. he's been on chaff, lucerne, pony cubes & full fat soya plus min supps, and appears to be thriving. he's also getting quite a lot of hay.
ppl on my facebook would have seen the pics, but i'll upload some here as well... we went on a great ride out in brigadoon on tuesday.
soo...
had a lesson last sunday & we focused on SLOW and RELAXED. carly wants us to start developing the same SLOW & RELAXED warm up routine every time, with as much long & low as possible, so that when we go to shows/pony club/out we have the same boring stuff to go thru & the pony stops getting so wound up. we've established that the pony likes FORWARD & that going FORWARD helps to get the kinks out, but now it's time to rein it all back.
(yeah, good luck with that! hahaha)
so. lots of halting, lots of really steady, swingy walking, lots of outside rein & inside leg to try & control that tendency to giraffe-up when he's anxious.
REALLy have to work on my hands. i swear, i try so fucking hard to keep my hands as still as possible, but they STILL have about 10-15cm (and that's generous) of movement. i'm trying the "hinge" visualisation but have probs thinking about how the hinge works exactly. like is it in my elbows going back to front or up & down... i just don't know.
anyways.
Rode on monday & he was being a bit of a space cadet so i chucked on some spurs. mostly, all we did was walk, but i'm glad i had those spurs on, cos he just kept trying to RUN thru my inside leg. every goddamn spot on the arena was a scary mofo spot. we also had a bit of an argument because he decided it was all too much & did a lala & i gripped on wth my legs and VOILA - spurs in the sides, so that was rather uncomfortable for all & probably the very reason why carly hasn't encouraged me to wear spurs regularly - too unstable in the lower leg esp when the pony has a tanty?
watching videos & thinking about my riding too - i can see how MUCH i use my inside leg, with loads of kicking & 'pressure' because he just wants to fall thru it & i've noticed in the 3 times i've worn spurs how much i *don't* need to do that. i've been quite self conscious when riding lately of not kicking & doing a "squeeze" and only kicking to say "OI I SAID MOVE OVER" and it appears to be working a bit better. we'll see.
then, didn't ride all week until yesterday, which was unfortunate. he was quite wired, so of course *i* had the BRILLIANT idea to chuck him on the lunge first. well.
it was night & i had the lights on - last time i lunged at night (well, only other time i've ever lunged him in the arena & not the round yard - and by lunge i mean with a lunge rope & not just 'playing games' which we are quite good at doing).
anyways, he jumped & humped & was generally cold backed all over the place. not sure about this cold backed stuff - he does it when i ride too, but will always work out of it in a few minutes. thing is, he doesn't ALWAYS do it, and he certainly doesn't ALWAYS do it when on the ground.
after the humping, he then got very spooky & would fall in DRASTICALLy so i was having to chase him when he got to the 'scary spots'. on top of the falling in was random bolty things and in general, other silly behaviours.
after we got all that sorted, he gave me about 3 mins of LOVELY work before deciding that he'd had enough.
so, for all lunging sessions hence, we will use a LUNGE WHIP. goddamn silly pony. i'm sure it would have been very entertaining for anyone watching - he would mooch off at a very sad little pace, i would chase & try and flick with the lunge rope, he'd surge forward for about 3 strides and then would come to a COMPLETE HALT & look at me saying, "yes? we're done, right?"
so i had to get very big and loud & we FINALLY managed several circles of a reasonable pace.
then onto the RIDE! mad bugger.
we just stayed in walk the whole time, trying to be as relaxed and calm as possible. he's such an easy pony to read because he really wears his heart on his sleeve. we have to practice extreme flexion because if he has an ounce of give to the outside, he'll BOGGLE. when he boggles, his head comes up, he starts jackhammering & it's all downhill from there.
so yeah, he was VERY DISTURBED by something in the bushes last night. fortunately we didn't have any mega shies or anything outrageous & he managed to keep himself contained, but it's like riding a coiled spring... for 5m of a 20m circle. woot.
i've also been riding taz a bit & wow, he is looking completely MINT. i should have taken some pics of him just after his colic because he looked awful. he's been on chaff, lucerne, pony cubes & full fat soya plus min supps, and appears to be thriving. he's also getting quite a lot of hay.
ppl on my facebook would have seen the pics, but i'll upload some here as well... we went on a great ride out in brigadoon on tuesday.