I FINALLY got ALL of the bridles clean, ALL OF THEM!!! It may have taken me a combined total of 6 nights and probably a total of 10-12 hours, but I had a lot of bridles and the schooling bridles took 3x longer than normal because I hadn't cleaned them in so long. When I cleaned TWH's schooling bridle, it took me 30 mins to clean a single braided rein. On the second rein I tried rushing and only took 15 mins to do it. After it dried, I realized I had to clean it again because it still looked so dirty and grungy, eww. Note to self, make the horses clean their schooling bridles more than once a year!! (I am such a bad tack owner). On the plus side, I have accumulated really good brands of leather over the years so at least it holds up well even when neglected.
After our really good ride on the road, it was time to work on dressage again. Since I had all of these new (to me), clean bridles to play with, I wanted to try Mia's new dressage bridle. I currently ride her in a full cheek, copper mouth snaffle and she really likes it. I started her in a loose ring, french link snaffle and she hated it. I think she didn't like the loose ring and the full cheek was the only other non loose ring snaffle I had available at the time. It should be noted that while there is absolutely a place for full cheek snaffles, I really hate them. I don't like their look, I don't like that the shafts tend to get stuck in the noseband or in nostrils, I don't like that you have to use keepers with them. I have no intention of showing her in a full cheek so I had bought an Augarian D ring snaffle. Not a cool Sprenger Augerian but a decent bit anyway (Metalab maybe?) Augarian, copper, not exactly the same but maybe similar enough, the mouthpieces are also close in diameter so that was to be my dressage show bit.
I hopped on with my new bridle and new bit and off we went. Mia seems to hate it. UGH! She tossed her head, shook her head, pulled on the bit, dropped behind the vertical, rooted the bit. I pushed her into a trot and she was super strong and super unhappy. Figures! It got bad enough that after 15 mins I gave up and got her normal, schooling bridle and put it on. She pulled a little bit but then settled right into work and stopped fussing. Oh mare, you realized I spent good money on that bit right?
RB4 had also joined us for this particular ride and brought with her a new bit for TWH. She had a Myler D ring snaffle laying around and thought it would be a great bit to try on TWH. I told her that when I was training him, we went through a lot of bits (luckily we were in a large boarding barn and had a ton of bits we could borrow) and he really didn't like a single jointed snaffle. With his big lips and big tongue, he was much happier in a french link but I was up to try something new. We hadn't changed up bits for probably 4-5 years so why not try?
RB4 hopped on TWH and started riding him around, as soon as she picked up contact and asked for a trot you could see TWH was not happy. He was sticking his nose out, gaping his mouth a little and was extremely inconsistent in his contact. Even RB4 said that he really, really didn't like the new bit. I grabbed his normal schooling bridle and after a quick switcheroo, TWH immediately changed back into his old self with his mouth firmly closed and accepting of the contact.
Apparently you shouldn't fix what isn't broken! I am keeping TWH in his loose ring, french link snaffle for dressage and a hackamore for jumping. He seems to really, really like the hackamore! I am going to try Mia in the Augarian bit one more time before trying the SS eggbutt I bought for her for jumping. It is also just a plain snaffle, maybe she will like it? Maybe not? I will also try the Myler on her to see if she likes it though I think it is going to be too big for her. She is a solid 5" bit and TWH is a good, solid 5.5". I am really hoping I can find something she likes because I don't want to have to show in a full cheek. Maybe she will now be happier in one of my many loose rings? Changing a bit? Horses say no.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Courage success
The number one priority on my agenda for the weekend was to ride both horses. My number two priority was to put my big girl panties on and finally canter Mia on the trails. My hesitation? Her random bucking/kicking in the canter that she has given over the past few months, her unsteady, unbalanced canter she has had over the past few months and no walls to stop her if things go badly. I kept telling myself it wouldn't be too bad, she hasn't actually bucked/kicked in almost a month now. She is also rocking the canter in both directions, she is now giving me a pretty nice canter even to the right which is her bad direction! The final straw was that if I wanted to event with her or even go cross country schooling NEXT WEEKEND(!?!) then I need to grow a set, put on my big girl panties and deal with whatever she gave me. Time to
On Saturday I grabbed Mia and also a crop for our trail ride, our last/first trail ride went awesome until the sign incident where she had a meltdown and I almost couldn't get her by it. I wanted a crop in case it happened again so I had some sort of reinforcement if I had the same issue. Apparently having the huge spook at the big sign shook her confidence, she wasn't a confident horse at all. She would go a minute or so and would then either shy away from nothing on the side of the road (STICK!!!! LEAF!!! ROCK!!!) or would stop and stare hard at something/nothing. I used the crop to remind her to go forward off of my leg, staring does not equal ignore the person riding you! She was fairly decent about trotting until she found something that made her grind to a halt, I guess this isn't a problem that I mind having. I finally talked myself into it, I trotted her and gave the cue to canter.
Mia responded to my canter cue by trotting. Uhhhh.... I asked for a canter again, trot. Well, at least she wasn't taking off I told myself. I gave her a pretty solid kick in the ribs and brought her down to the walk. I messed with her head position and made her do some lateral work, if she was going to ignore me, she can try ignoring me through dressage. After a few minutes I bumped her up to a trot again and asked her for a canter, this time she want into a fast trot for about 6 strides and picked up a nice left lead canter. It certainly wasn't an arena canter as it was a bit fast and not completely balanced but I also wasn't holding her position for her and it wasn't an actual hand gallop. She maintained the canter for about 4 strides before dropping back into a trot. I laughed and told her I will take a going problem over a stopping problem! She got a treat and a good rest for her effort.
After a walk break I asked for a canter again. This time she gave me the canter right away but also trotted right away, apparently my not holding her in a frame and making her accountable for herself is hard for our girl! I asked again and got a canter for about 6 strides before she broke into a trot. Again, this is not a bad problem to have. We got to the last third of our ride where there is a pretty decent hill going up in the road. I took the opportunity to use the hill as a way to canter and she picked up the canter and held it the entire length of the hill. Success! While she did shy away from (STICK!!! LEAF!!! ROCK!!!) nothing 3 times in the canter, they weren't bad in terms of a sideways scoot and I didn't feel like I lost control so I will take that victory.
I am very proud of Mia and also proud of myself. I have no idea why I was so anxious about cantering her outside but I really had to force myself to do it and I am glad I did. I need to do it again this weekend to prepare for our schooling next weekend, how exciting! There has been some changes, however, in our schedule. After schooling I am away for a weekend. Our May 4th show has been cancelled by the event holder and so I am now bringing Mia to a clinic for a dressage and xc lesson that weekend. It will be her first time hauling out alone, first time hanging by the trailer all day and first time being required to do something once we get to our destination other than being adorable. The following weekend, May 11th, is TWH's first show ad it is a big show, a horse trial! I have my work cut out for me, time to get riding!
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| Tallahassee from Zombieland |
Mia responded to my canter cue by trotting. Uhhhh.... I asked for a canter again, trot. Well, at least she wasn't taking off I told myself. I gave her a pretty solid kick in the ribs and brought her down to the walk. I messed with her head position and made her do some lateral work, if she was going to ignore me, she can try ignoring me through dressage. After a few minutes I bumped her up to a trot again and asked her for a canter, this time she want into a fast trot for about 6 strides and picked up a nice left lead canter. It certainly wasn't an arena canter as it was a bit fast and not completely balanced but I also wasn't holding her position for her and it wasn't an actual hand gallop. She maintained the canter for about 4 strides before dropping back into a trot. I laughed and told her I will take a going problem over a stopping problem! She got a treat and a good rest for her effort.
After a walk break I asked for a canter again. This time she gave me the canter right away but also trotted right away, apparently my not holding her in a frame and making her accountable for herself is hard for our girl! I asked again and got a canter for about 6 strides before she broke into a trot. Again, this is not a bad problem to have. We got to the last third of our ride where there is a pretty decent hill going up in the road. I took the opportunity to use the hill as a way to canter and she picked up the canter and held it the entire length of the hill. Success! While she did shy away from (STICK!!! LEAF!!! ROCK!!!) nothing 3 times in the canter, they weren't bad in terms of a sideways scoot and I didn't feel like I lost control so I will take that victory.
I am very proud of Mia and also proud of myself. I have no idea why I was so anxious about cantering her outside but I really had to force myself to do it and I am glad I did. I need to do it again this weekend to prepare for our schooling next weekend, how exciting! There has been some changes, however, in our schedule. After schooling I am away for a weekend. Our May 4th show has been cancelled by the event holder and so I am now bringing Mia to a clinic for a dressage and xc lesson that weekend. It will be her first time hauling out alone, first time hanging by the trailer all day and first time being required to do something once we get to our destination other than being adorable. The following weekend, May 11th, is TWH's first show ad it is a big show, a horse trial! I have my work cut out for me, time to get riding!
Friday, April 4, 2014
Getting this jumping action down pat!
I submitted my registration for cross country schooling on April 19/20th, after doing so I started to panic as I realized I need to be able to trot and canter Mia in an open field while jumping. Uhhh!?!?! My ride tonight set to work on that, I rode in my jumping saddle and set up a single jump in the middle of the arena. My goal was to do extended trot/canter sets and to trot and canter up to the jump and see how she did.
Our warmup started quite well, Mia is handling her speed when I am in two point with much more consistency. We started our canter to the left and after pushing for more power, she was really moving nicely. While she travels quite definitely with her haunches in at the canter, it is fairly balanced and she doesn't feel out of control which is a huge improvement from when we started the canter just a few months ago. The canter to the right, however, is really coming together! It feels like the canter I would expect to get a 5 in, not great but actually not too bad. She actually has some balance the majority of the time and has been able to slow down from a hand gallop to an actual canter (the majority of the time). As someone who has their first show in a month, this makes me extremely happy!
I mixed up our session by randomly trotting down the centerline and going over the little jump that was set up. After barely stepping over the 18" vertical, I set it up to a 2' vertical to get her to jump it. The first time over it she seriously over jumped it and RB4 said she jumped it like it was easily a 3' jump haha! Pointing her at it again did not yield the same results and while she was getting a bit close to the jump before jumping it, she never refused or tried to duck out and she jumped it each time. Success!
I continued mixing it up by jumping it at an angle, I wanted to introduce skinnies and angles as early as possible in her training so that they become no big deal as we move up in training. I pointed her at the jump while going across the diagonal and it was clear she wasn't sure what to do, she tried to go right and then left before just jumping over it. She got a lot of petting and a walk break, as a result when I went on the diagonal again she didn't even try to shimmy to the left or right and jumped it beautifully. The last task of the night was to jump the little 2' jump at a canter. I picked up the left canter and pointed her at jump, it was the moment of truth. Could she jump it at the canter with me on her back? Could she navigate to the jump and figure out where to take off? The answer was quick and positive, Mia jumped the 2' vertical without even tapping it and while she was a little quick upon landing, she stopped nicely. Success!
I am so proud of myself and my mare. My position was SO much better tonight than my previous jumping sessions, it is a boost in my confidence level that I can in fact still do it correctly. I am both excited and anxious to see how Mia behaves out in the open. I am really going to have to put on my big girl panties and try cantering her on the road. I am quite anxious about it as she has a BIG engine behind her but I really need to know how to control it. I guess I will see how the roads are this weekend, maybe that will be the day. T minus 32 days to our first show!
Our warmup started quite well, Mia is handling her speed when I am in two point with much more consistency. We started our canter to the left and after pushing for more power, she was really moving nicely. While she travels quite definitely with her haunches in at the canter, it is fairly balanced and she doesn't feel out of control which is a huge improvement from when we started the canter just a few months ago. The canter to the right, however, is really coming together! It feels like the canter I would expect to get a 5 in, not great but actually not too bad. She actually has some balance the majority of the time and has been able to slow down from a hand gallop to an actual canter (the majority of the time). As someone who has their first show in a month, this makes me extremely happy!
I mixed up our session by randomly trotting down the centerline and going over the little jump that was set up. After barely stepping over the 18" vertical, I set it up to a 2' vertical to get her to jump it. The first time over it she seriously over jumped it and RB4 said she jumped it like it was easily a 3' jump haha! Pointing her at it again did not yield the same results and while she was getting a bit close to the jump before jumping it, she never refused or tried to duck out and she jumped it each time. Success!
I continued mixing it up by jumping it at an angle, I wanted to introduce skinnies and angles as early as possible in her training so that they become no big deal as we move up in training. I pointed her at the jump while going across the diagonal and it was clear she wasn't sure what to do, she tried to go right and then left before just jumping over it. She got a lot of petting and a walk break, as a result when I went on the diagonal again she didn't even try to shimmy to the left or right and jumped it beautifully. The last task of the night was to jump the little 2' jump at a canter. I picked up the left canter and pointed her at jump, it was the moment of truth. Could she jump it at the canter with me on her back? Could she navigate to the jump and figure out where to take off? The answer was quick and positive, Mia jumped the 2' vertical without even tapping it and while she was a little quick upon landing, she stopped nicely. Success!
I am so proud of myself and my mare. My position was SO much better tonight than my previous jumping sessions, it is a boost in my confidence level that I can in fact still do it correctly. I am both excited and anxious to see how Mia behaves out in the open. I am really going to have to put on my big girl panties and try cantering her on the road. I am quite anxious about it as she has a BIG engine behind her but I really need to know how to control it. I guess I will see how the roads are this weekend, maybe that will be the day. T minus 32 days to our first show!
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Bad blogger strikes again - Update time!
The sad part is that I have lots to talk about but just cannot find the time to write it down in a story. Thus I am going to make some short and sweet comments about the past couple of weeks. The week after we hauled out for our lesson, the vet came out for spring shots. I also had him look at the App and the TWH for a lameness exam, I was pretty certain it was time to inject the App's hocks but wanted to make sure first. The TWH passed with flying colors as SOUND! He had no sensitivity to his suspensory ligaments and was moving very well. Go TWH! The App, however, was showing full body stiffness and Dr A isolated the majority of it to his hocks and stifles. His hocks were full of arthritis and his stifles are really loose. I had his hocks injected and was told I have to work him more to get his stifles tighter and to keep him in shape. Can do! The App had 2 days of stall rest, a day of being locked in the arena and then started working on a lunge line. He is now moving SO much better, it is hard to imagine it is the same horse. I am very happy I had his hocks done, he looks so much more comfortable.
In a continued effort to fix my position, I rode the TWH to work on my position even though it is really hard to jump multiple jumps in my arena. I set up a row of 3 bounces and have jumped them twice. The first time I wasn't great but worked really hard on fixing my position. The second time, however, really boosted my confidence level as I could feel that I was jumping correctly. Apparently my issues were just being rusty from having so much time off, while I messed up a couple of times, the majority of the time I am nailing the position. Go me! The TWH also did really well, making it up to 3 2'6" bounces. The first time through at that height he struggled as he knocked some rust off as well, he felt like he was lifting his knees to his ears! He then started jumping higher and more round and we finished on a really good note.
I also took the opportunity to ride Mia through the bounces, with it being the first time she would have had multiple jumps in a row. We certainly have our work cut out, she really likes to zoom through the fences and she is jumping them really wide however she never refused, tried each time I asked and really seemed to enjoy herself. We started at 12" then 18" bounces before ending on 2' bounces. For her very first time over them, she did really well!
Mia's canter is coming along fabulously, the cantering figure 8's recommended by H are really, really helping Mia find her balance. She can now canter almost an entire circle to the right and keep her balance while doing it! This is certainly a trick I am going to have to keep in my bag! We have started putting together our dressage test and it is coming along well, the canter is still our hardest obstacle but we have a month to fix it.
The dressage work for TWH really makes me happy that I decided to NOT got to the April 13th show. He is making significant progress in dressage and I am confident we are going to be ready for the May 4th show however he just isn't ready for an April show. He has needed some really hard work to get his trot back to where it needs to be, it is mostly there again but now his trot/canter transition is sucky?!? Add it to the list! In better news, however, his canter/trot transition is FABULOUS! I am so, so happy that I am not fighting that battle anymore AND he is also giving me 10m circles to the right without fighting this year. Win! I rode our dressage test a few times last night and I gotta say, we are getting there! I think we are going to be really competitive this year, I am excited to see how things go.
So sorry it took so long to update everyone, I will again try to promise to be better. Hope everyone is having a decent spring doesn't have nearly as much mud as I do :)
In a continued effort to fix my position, I rode the TWH to work on my position even though it is really hard to jump multiple jumps in my arena. I set up a row of 3 bounces and have jumped them twice. The first time I wasn't great but worked really hard on fixing my position. The second time, however, really boosted my confidence level as I could feel that I was jumping correctly. Apparently my issues were just being rusty from having so much time off, while I messed up a couple of times, the majority of the time I am nailing the position. Go me! The TWH also did really well, making it up to 3 2'6" bounces. The first time through at that height he struggled as he knocked some rust off as well, he felt like he was lifting his knees to his ears! He then started jumping higher and more round and we finished on a really good note.
I also took the opportunity to ride Mia through the bounces, with it being the first time she would have had multiple jumps in a row. We certainly have our work cut out, she really likes to zoom through the fences and she is jumping them really wide however she never refused, tried each time I asked and really seemed to enjoy herself. We started at 12" then 18" bounces before ending on 2' bounces. For her very first time over them, she did really well!
Mia's canter is coming along fabulously, the cantering figure 8's recommended by H are really, really helping Mia find her balance. She can now canter almost an entire circle to the right and keep her balance while doing it! This is certainly a trick I am going to have to keep in my bag! We have started putting together our dressage test and it is coming along well, the canter is still our hardest obstacle but we have a month to fix it.
The dressage work for TWH really makes me happy that I decided to NOT got to the April 13th show. He is making significant progress in dressage and I am confident we are going to be ready for the May 4th show however he just isn't ready for an April show. He has needed some really hard work to get his trot back to where it needs to be, it is mostly there again but now his trot/canter transition is sucky?!? Add it to the list! In better news, however, his canter/trot transition is FABULOUS! I am so, so happy that I am not fighting that battle anymore AND he is also giving me 10m circles to the right without fighting this year. Win! I rode our dressage test a few times last night and I gotta say, we are getting there! I think we are going to be really competitive this year, I am excited to see how things go.
So sorry it took so long to update everyone, I will again try to promise to be better. Hope everyone is having a decent spring doesn't have nearly as much mud as I do :)
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Happy 250th blog post! Giveaway contest!
Bad blogger again, though this time I have a semi valid excuse. I have seriously had no time whatsoever to write over the past week, between being super duper busy at work and having a commitment Every Single Night, there just hasn't been time to write anything down. No worries though, I have some updates. First being, WOW! I can't believe I have written 250 posts! I really don't have a lot to say and I know I am not a fantastic writer so the fact that you are coming and reading my posts and writing a response to say hi is amazing. Thank you so much! I am really excited about this upcoming show season so hopefully you will stick with me as I muddle through progress and attempt to document it. I should do a give away to celebrate, I have a new blue or black lycra helmet cover (your choice) that I will give to someone who responds to this post. It will NOT fit a Tipperary or similar style helmet but fits nicely on a Troxel or similar style helmet. Contest will end on Friday, 3/21 at 6p EST, tell your friends!
The horses are doing well, I have ridden 2-3 times each week for the past couple of weeks. I rode Mia last Sunday in a lesson and we did fairly well, H gave us some tips to try to fix her right lead canter that we will try. She said that her left lead canter isn't actually connected so she needs more power, so gotta work on powering it up a little bit. Her trot is much better as is her steering and once I can figure out how to ride with my hands TOGETHER (grr!!) on a regular basis, it will be much better. I need to work on keeping a solid outside rein to push her into and I should work on some spiraling out on a circle to really engage her hind end to work as she is still pulling with her shoulder. All that in mind, she is still a very green horse and so I need to keep resetting my expectations. I shouldn't expect top level work out of a horse with so little experience, even when she makes it so easy to raise the bar of expectations. Again, stuff to me to work on lol.
On Sunday I hauled both Mia and TWH over to another farm to use their indoor arena. I took a lesson on TWH with H and worked exclusively on my position. I have been frustrated that my position isn't as good as it should be over fences, for whatever reason I am standing in the stirrups as I come to a fence and get left behind. Despite knowing I am doing this, I keep doing it which adds to my extreme irritation at myself. H again reminded me that I shouldn't be so high with my expectations. I have only jumped 3, now 4, times since September and I am not in tip-top shape. She also reminded me that I am voluntarily staying with low jumps as I am aware of an issue so I am not hurting anything or anyone. She says most of my issue is being rusty, she expects with a dozen more sessions I will be much better as I didn't look like this last year when I rode. She said my homework was to go over 3 bounces so I have time to mess up at the first jump, fix it at the second and be correct at the third. I am also going to up the time I am doing two point to get my balance back to 100%, so I have some work to do. Overall it was a really good lesson and it made me feel better by having someone tell me I am making a mountain out of a mole hill in regards to my position, I don't really suck, I just think I do. She said even with my "bad" position, I am better than a lot of riders. So there is that.
I hauled Mia over to the barn for exposure only, I wanted to get her out and let her see things with very low expectations. She needs trailer loading/unloading work but I think one good session will fix the Stand And Stare issues. She walked into the new barn like a dream and settled into the stall without any drama. Win! At home, when left alone, she tends to weave in the stall and screams for the boys. There was a horse 2 stalls down, across the aisle that she could see so maybe that helped, but she only yelled once and behaved very nicely while I rode. When I was done with the TWH I put him in the stall under a cooler and tacked Mia up. She stood very well in the cross ties and didn't paw (WIN!), she even nickered at me when I walked back up to her after running back out to the trailer to grab her bridle. Awww! We walked into the arena and she took it very well. She was very looky and had to inspect every single mirror in the place. Of all of the new stuff she could see, she didn't spook a single time and was only extremely cautious of a jump that was set up that had pine limbs under it as a brush fence. Once she realized she could eat the needles, she stopped caring and didn't have a care about anything else. Awesome mare!
We finally loaded back up and headed home, she was a little worse loading on the way home. I was ready to have someone stand behind her and smack her with a lead rope when she finally decided to hop in. Even treats are not getting her in the trailer, yet anyway. As soon as some of this ice is gone we are having a trailer loading session! TWH now not only self loads, but also waits until he is asked and then self unloads. Love that horse! Going to ride tonight and work on my homework, happy 250th blog post everyone!
The horses are doing well, I have ridden 2-3 times each week for the past couple of weeks. I rode Mia last Sunday in a lesson and we did fairly well, H gave us some tips to try to fix her right lead canter that we will try. She said that her left lead canter isn't actually connected so she needs more power, so gotta work on powering it up a little bit. Her trot is much better as is her steering and once I can figure out how to ride with my hands TOGETHER (grr!!) on a regular basis, it will be much better. I need to work on keeping a solid outside rein to push her into and I should work on some spiraling out on a circle to really engage her hind end to work as she is still pulling with her shoulder. All that in mind, she is still a very green horse and so I need to keep resetting my expectations. I shouldn't expect top level work out of a horse with so little experience, even when she makes it so easy to raise the bar of expectations. Again, stuff to me to work on lol.
On Sunday I hauled both Mia and TWH over to another farm to use their indoor arena. I took a lesson on TWH with H and worked exclusively on my position. I have been frustrated that my position isn't as good as it should be over fences, for whatever reason I am standing in the stirrups as I come to a fence and get left behind. Despite knowing I am doing this, I keep doing it which adds to my extreme irritation at myself. H again reminded me that I shouldn't be so high with my expectations. I have only jumped 3, now 4, times since September and I am not in tip-top shape. She also reminded me that I am voluntarily staying with low jumps as I am aware of an issue so I am not hurting anything or anyone. She says most of my issue is being rusty, she expects with a dozen more sessions I will be much better as I didn't look like this last year when I rode. She said my homework was to go over 3 bounces so I have time to mess up at the first jump, fix it at the second and be correct at the third. I am also going to up the time I am doing two point to get my balance back to 100%, so I have some work to do. Overall it was a really good lesson and it made me feel better by having someone tell me I am making a mountain out of a mole hill in regards to my position, I don't really suck, I just think I do. She said even with my "bad" position, I am better than a lot of riders. So there is that.
I hauled Mia over to the barn for exposure only, I wanted to get her out and let her see things with very low expectations. She needs trailer loading/unloading work but I think one good session will fix the Stand And Stare issues. She walked into the new barn like a dream and settled into the stall without any drama. Win! At home, when left alone, she tends to weave in the stall and screams for the boys. There was a horse 2 stalls down, across the aisle that she could see so maybe that helped, but she only yelled once and behaved very nicely while I rode. When I was done with the TWH I put him in the stall under a cooler and tacked Mia up. She stood very well in the cross ties and didn't paw (WIN!), she even nickered at me when I walked back up to her after running back out to the trailer to grab her bridle. Awww! We walked into the arena and she took it very well. She was very looky and had to inspect every single mirror in the place. Of all of the new stuff she could see, she didn't spook a single time and was only extremely cautious of a jump that was set up that had pine limbs under it as a brush fence. Once she realized she could eat the needles, she stopped caring and didn't have a care about anything else. Awesome mare!
We finally loaded back up and headed home, she was a little worse loading on the way home. I was ready to have someone stand behind her and smack her with a lead rope when she finally decided to hop in. Even treats are not getting her in the trailer, yet anyway. As soon as some of this ice is gone we are having a trailer loading session! TWH now not only self loads, but also waits until he is asked and then self unloads. Love that horse! Going to ride tonight and work on my homework, happy 250th blog post everyone!
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Dressage progress
With it being in the teens on Tuesday evening, I ride Mia and had RB4 come over and join me. I am really glad, it gave me instant feedback and made me really happy with how we are progressing. I started the evening by brushing my yak AKA TWH. He is super duper hairy and is now in full shedding mode, you can't get within 6 inches of him without hair jumping off of him and attaching itself to you. Unfortunately I have almost 2 months of this to look forward to, since he has SO MUCH hair it takes FURever to come off. When I was done with my quick 10 minute brushing, I had a pile of hair the size of a decent cat and it took 2 full scoops of the manure fork to pick it up. Oh horse.
Mia, however, has not yet started to shed and doesn't have a huge coat so even when she does shed it shouldn't be that bad. As a result, it took a quick 5 minute session to get her groomed and ready to be tacked up. We started our ride nice and slow, working on changing the speed of the walk and doing some baby leg yields before picking up a trot. She started out really, really heavy and fast, I felt like I was holding a good 15lbs in my hands in addition to having a very forward horse who had no desire to be balanced. We worked on changing directions, figure 8's, rail-to-circle patterns and even some leg yields at the trot before she finally started coming back to me. We took a walk break while I coached RB4 in some work on the TWH and when we started trotting the second time, Mia was much more relaxed and seemed to have her brains between her ears much better.
We practiced leg yields from the quarter line to the wall and while she doesn't always get it, she is starting to and RB4 said that when she did it looked nice. Mia's head is pretty high and she is trying to invert herself but the concept is being understood and RB4 said she can really move her legs underneath of herself when she wants to. Gotta get this on film sometime! When she was finally balanced enough to give some 10m circles without falling in or out I gave her another good walk break and coached RB4. RB4 was just playing, giving TWH some exercise but when I was able to get her to position herself correctly and set her hands vs holding his face, TWH gave her some nice trotting circles.
I got Mia moving again and worked on the canter, the right lead canter is either pretty decent or pretty bad without too much in the middle. Now that she isn't kicking out, bucking and veering into the middle of the circle, her current evasion is to simply trot faster instead of picking up the canter. Oh mare. We fix one problem to only encounter another, almost forgot what it was like training newbies. Almost. We got the right lead canter on the first try and I thought we would have an easy session. So. Wrong. After the first canter she fought and either rushed, rushed rushed, didn't pick it up (most of the time) or picked up the wrong lead. RB4 helped me by reminding me to stay super quiet before I ask for the C and to mix it up with walk/halt transitions. After a good (long) while Mia finally gave us 3 good canter transitions and the canter was actually pretty decent so we gave her a good long break before switching directions, getting one good canter transition (since it is her good direction) and calling it a night. We were both tired and sweaty but I hope Mia's lesson stuck. RB4 did say, however, that I am looking like a professional rider on her and that Mia is looking great. I am so excited about our progress!
In other news, our jumping lesson with H was moved to next weekend and we are now doing a dressage lesson with Mia on Sunday instead. Keep our fingers crossed, I want to see what kind of help H can give us with this canter. Last night was much too cold to ride again but hopefully I can ride a time or 2 before our lesson since it is going to be warmer. Come on spring!!
Mia, however, has not yet started to shed and doesn't have a huge coat so even when she does shed it shouldn't be that bad. As a result, it took a quick 5 minute session to get her groomed and ready to be tacked up. We started our ride nice and slow, working on changing the speed of the walk and doing some baby leg yields before picking up a trot. She started out really, really heavy and fast, I felt like I was holding a good 15lbs in my hands in addition to having a very forward horse who had no desire to be balanced. We worked on changing directions, figure 8's, rail-to-circle patterns and even some leg yields at the trot before she finally started coming back to me. We took a walk break while I coached RB4 in some work on the TWH and when we started trotting the second time, Mia was much more relaxed and seemed to have her brains between her ears much better.
We practiced leg yields from the quarter line to the wall and while she doesn't always get it, she is starting to and RB4 said that when she did it looked nice. Mia's head is pretty high and she is trying to invert herself but the concept is being understood and RB4 said she can really move her legs underneath of herself when she wants to. Gotta get this on film sometime! When she was finally balanced enough to give some 10m circles without falling in or out I gave her another good walk break and coached RB4. RB4 was just playing, giving TWH some exercise but when I was able to get her to position herself correctly and set her hands vs holding his face, TWH gave her some nice trotting circles.
I got Mia moving again and worked on the canter, the right lead canter is either pretty decent or pretty bad without too much in the middle. Now that she isn't kicking out, bucking and veering into the middle of the circle, her current evasion is to simply trot faster instead of picking up the canter. Oh mare. We fix one problem to only encounter another, almost forgot what it was like training newbies. Almost. We got the right lead canter on the first try and I thought we would have an easy session. So. Wrong. After the first canter she fought and either rushed, rushed rushed, didn't pick it up (most of the time) or picked up the wrong lead. RB4 helped me by reminding me to stay super quiet before I ask for the C and to mix it up with walk/halt transitions. After a good (long) while Mia finally gave us 3 good canter transitions and the canter was actually pretty decent so we gave her a good long break before switching directions, getting one good canter transition (since it is her good direction) and calling it a night. We were both tired and sweaty but I hope Mia's lesson stuck. RB4 did say, however, that I am looking like a professional rider on her and that Mia is looking great. I am so excited about our progress!
In other news, our jumping lesson with H was moved to next weekend and we are now doing a dressage lesson with Mia on Sunday instead. Keep our fingers crossed, I want to see what kind of help H can give us with this canter. Last night was much too cold to ride again but hopefully I can ride a time or 2 before our lesson since it is going to be warmer. Come on spring!!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Bad blogger doesn't give updates but bad blogger does jump!
So sorry for the lack of posting, I am a bad, bad blogger again. I even have stuff to talk about and even had some time to blog but haven't had the drive to write it down. I am still very much on the fence about showing on April 13th, I think the TWH could be ready but we have been having such cold weather that there isn't any riding going on. I was riding when it was 10, when it was getting to be 6 and 2 in the evenings, I just couldn't bring myself to ride. Top that off with the fact I was sick again, riding 5 days a week went away pretty quickly. After today it is supposed to stay in the 20-30's for the next week (at least) so I am going to ride dang it!
I have successfully put both TWH and Mia over jumps and all in all it went well. I rode the TWH first and he is such a gem. I went only up to a 2' vertical as I found I really need to work on my position, apparently the time off since Sept has really affected my ability to jump? I have taken a lot of video and I am throwing my upper body forward at the base of the jump, almost standing in the stirrups as his front legs are coming up off of the ground. WHY? Who knows! Does the fact that I know I am doing it fix my doing it? NOPE! OMG I am so angry with myself over it, I have jumped him twice and each time I am doing the same thing despite knowing I am doing it and actively trying not to do it. Grrrr. As a result I have a lesson with H on Saturday, I told her I need the lesson completely dedicated to my position. Hopefully she can fix me because obviously I am a dork who can't fix themselves. On the plus side, at least my lower leg is 100% solid and doesn't move, even when I jump without stirrups. Yay for the little wins at this point lol.
Mia is doing really well with jumping, I think she will move right along without too much problem. The first session of jumping was having her trot over the poles until she didn't care and then trotting over the poles to a little 12" crossrail. The first time over she launched herself over it but then she realized she could just trot over it and was content to do so. I rose the jump to an 18" crossrail and my bad rider came into play as a funny story. The first time I pointed her to the jump (4 trot poles to the jump), I was hanging back letting her figure it out and didn't really even have a hold of the reins. She trotted over the poles and as she stepped over the last one she dropped to a walk and then very calmly walked around the jump. Doh! I had to correct her as she can't think that stopping is acceptable but I didn't give a hard correction because I was laughing too much and it was actually my fault. It was just so dang funny as she went through, as if thinking "why step so high when I can walk around?".
She brought the jump down a couple of times as she figured out what to do but once she understood it I rose the jump to a 2' vertical. She did quite well and despite knocking the pole down a couple of times, she understood the session. When I jumped her the second time she did much, much better. I went straight to an 18" crossrail to a 2' vertical and she didn't knock a pole over a single time. Success! We also worked on the canter and the right canter is actually coming along. I have found the combination that makes her not drop her inside shoulder so badly and with her picking it up, the right canter isn't that bad. We were even able to make it all the way around the ring instead of staying on a 20m circle. Success again!
After the last ride she was pretty pooped even though we hadn't ridden all that long so I took the opportunity to ride her out again. I wanted to ride her away from the boys and out of the arena and see if she was going to try the buck/kick again. I didn't think I would but you never know until you try so try I did. We road down the road to the first intersection, it is .7 miles one way, and then came back. She was a little suspicious of the plastic mailboxes (but okay with the metal ones) but didn't spook or shy at anything else. Good girl! She gave me no problems whatsoever and we made it back in one piece. I need to get the nerve to bring her around the block and then start trailering her out so she realizes it isn't a big deal. Preferably I won't have her first outing being a xc schooling but with the weather the way it is I may not have a choice. Here is to keeping our fingers crossed!
I have successfully put both TWH and Mia over jumps and all in all it went well. I rode the TWH first and he is such a gem. I went only up to a 2' vertical as I found I really need to work on my position, apparently the time off since Sept has really affected my ability to jump? I have taken a lot of video and I am throwing my upper body forward at the base of the jump, almost standing in the stirrups as his front legs are coming up off of the ground. WHY? Who knows! Does the fact that I know I am doing it fix my doing it? NOPE! OMG I am so angry with myself over it, I have jumped him twice and each time I am doing the same thing despite knowing I am doing it and actively trying not to do it. Grrrr. As a result I have a lesson with H on Saturday, I told her I need the lesson completely dedicated to my position. Hopefully she can fix me because obviously I am a dork who can't fix themselves. On the plus side, at least my lower leg is 100% solid and doesn't move, even when I jump without stirrups. Yay for the little wins at this point lol.
Mia is doing really well with jumping, I think she will move right along without too much problem. The first session of jumping was having her trot over the poles until she didn't care and then trotting over the poles to a little 12" crossrail. The first time over she launched herself over it but then she realized she could just trot over it and was content to do so. I rose the jump to an 18" crossrail and my bad rider came into play as a funny story. The first time I pointed her to the jump (4 trot poles to the jump), I was hanging back letting her figure it out and didn't really even have a hold of the reins. She trotted over the poles and as she stepped over the last one she dropped to a walk and then very calmly walked around the jump. Doh! I had to correct her as she can't think that stopping is acceptable but I didn't give a hard correction because I was laughing too much and it was actually my fault. It was just so dang funny as she went through, as if thinking "why step so high when I can walk around?".
She brought the jump down a couple of times as she figured out what to do but once she understood it I rose the jump to a 2' vertical. She did quite well and despite knocking the pole down a couple of times, she understood the session. When I jumped her the second time she did much, much better. I went straight to an 18" crossrail to a 2' vertical and she didn't knock a pole over a single time. Success! We also worked on the canter and the right canter is actually coming along. I have found the combination that makes her not drop her inside shoulder so badly and with her picking it up, the right canter isn't that bad. We were even able to make it all the way around the ring instead of staying on a 20m circle. Success again!
After the last ride she was pretty pooped even though we hadn't ridden all that long so I took the opportunity to ride her out again. I wanted to ride her away from the boys and out of the arena and see if she was going to try the buck/kick again. I didn't think I would but you never know until you try so try I did. We road down the road to the first intersection, it is .7 miles one way, and then came back. She was a little suspicious of the plastic mailboxes (but okay with the metal ones) but didn't spook or shy at anything else. Good girl! She gave me no problems whatsoever and we made it back in one piece. I need to get the nerve to bring her around the block and then start trailering her out so she realizes it isn't a big deal. Preferably I won't have her first outing being a xc schooling but with the weather the way it is I may not have a choice. Here is to keeping our fingers crossed!
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