Tru-D's erste Unterrichtstunde
I was finally able to noodle in a ride with Carrie on Thursday. Up to now we have been working with Kitt except for one ride with Kash. Tru-D has done a few tag-alongs where she has chilled (hahaha, ran around and whinnied!) in the roundpen during my rides on Kitt. With all the trail rides I was able to put on her this winter and spring I felt like we could finally get a productive ride done away from home.
She was alert coming out of the trailer and a bit distracted by the horse in the arena, but was fine tacking up. She still can be occasionally cinchy. I did find a great deal on a Total Saddle Fit dressage girth for $35 and it fits her fine.
I lunged her a bit first, working on keeping her shoulders and hips out on the circle and requesting her focus to come in to me. It didn't take her long to settle enough for me to feel good getting on. We started out with mini transitions in the walk, getting her to come back and go forward again. We then moved on to the same at the trot. She was wanting to fall out towards the gate a bit, but it slowly improved as Carrie had me keep her neck straighter and ensure that she is coming through with her shoulder and not just her nose. She did almost go head first into a jump standard as we were having some minor directional discussions.
As we worked the trot I felt a couple fancy steps in there! I haven't done too much forward and back within the gaits up to that point, but itnwas pretty cool to feel her try a couple more lofty steps. I got a bit excited when Carrie suggested Tru-D might be able to start working half steps by the end of the year. That means I better bust my butt, right?
To finish off she asked if I had done some lateral work with Tru-D so we worked nose to the rail leg yields, halt, back, walk on, leg yield, etc. sometimes going straight back to the leg yield from the halt.
I asked Carrie if she thought Tru-D was in a good spot for a five year-old and she did.
It was pretty refreshing not having to go through nearly so much suppling exercises as I did with Kitt! Instead of spending months building some semblance of a leg yield the base was already there and we went right to it.
Our homework is lots of transitions within the gaits and also playing eith the lateral work we finished with to help further educate her to the aids and encourage her to engage through her lumbar instead of faking it because she does have a long, sloping hip that can give the illusion of engagement when it really isn't there. Carrie does think that she will have an easier time of it than Kitt moving up since Kitt, despite having a nice hip, is a little top heavy with her thick, short neck and jug head. Tru-D's head is also pretty big, but doesn't look it!
I'm a little excited. I am debating on just taking Tru-D now or shifting between her and Kitt. We'll see!
She was alert coming out of the trailer and a bit distracted by the horse in the arena, but was fine tacking up. She still can be occasionally cinchy. I did find a great deal on a Total Saddle Fit dressage girth for $35 and it fits her fine.
I lunged her a bit first, working on keeping her shoulders and hips out on the circle and requesting her focus to come in to me. It didn't take her long to settle enough for me to feel good getting on. We started out with mini transitions in the walk, getting her to come back and go forward again. We then moved on to the same at the trot. She was wanting to fall out towards the gate a bit, but it slowly improved as Carrie had me keep her neck straighter and ensure that she is coming through with her shoulder and not just her nose. She did almost go head first into a jump standard as we were having some minor directional discussions.
As we worked the trot I felt a couple fancy steps in there! I haven't done too much forward and back within the gaits up to that point, but itnwas pretty cool to feel her try a couple more lofty steps. I got a bit excited when Carrie suggested Tru-D might be able to start working half steps by the end of the year. That means I better bust my butt, right?
To finish off she asked if I had done some lateral work with Tru-D so we worked nose to the rail leg yields, halt, back, walk on, leg yield, etc. sometimes going straight back to the leg yield from the halt.
I asked Carrie if she thought Tru-D was in a good spot for a five year-old and she did.
It was pretty refreshing not having to go through nearly so much suppling exercises as I did with Kitt! Instead of spending months building some semblance of a leg yield the base was already there and we went right to it.
Our homework is lots of transitions within the gaits and also playing eith the lateral work we finished with to help further educate her to the aids and encourage her to engage through her lumbar instead of faking it because she does have a long, sloping hip that can give the illusion of engagement when it really isn't there. Carrie does think that she will have an easier time of it than Kitt moving up since Kitt, despite having a nice hip, is a little top heavy with her thick, short neck and jug head. Tru-D's head is also pretty big, but doesn't look it!
I'm a little excited. I am debating on just taking Tru-D now or shifting between her and Kitt. We'll see!