It was absolutely gorgeous today - in the mid 60s, sunny, and a breeze blowing. Couldn't ask for better riding weather. Still, it was windy, so I thought it might be in my best interest to longe Oliver first, since he was frisky the other day, and it might not have been the bit. Shouldn't have worried - he was a bit lazy on the longe. I don't know why horses do this, but he was rolling his eyes at first on the longe and showing a bit of red inner-eye. Ben used to do this, too, when I (or Holly) would put him a bit deeper on the bit. Anyway, it was pretty apparent to me that Oliver needs to learn to stretch into the bit and lengthen his neck - he likes to arch his neck and pretend to be on the bit. A curse of his conformation, I guess.
Once in the saddle, he was a tad bobbly on the contact until I start "playing" with the reins a bit and softening him, instead of just bridging the reins and keeping my hands steady, like I initially did. He seems to like the livelier contact much better. I let him look at the crossrail with the brush underneath, which he predictably gawked at, and then trotted him up to it. He slammed to a stop, and then thought about cat-leaping, which would have been uncomfortable for both of us, so I turned him the opposite direction and trotted him at it again. He went over it beautifully, and when I turned him around and trotted over it from the other direction, he went on the first try. He seemed to cat-leap more in that direction, so I trotted him over it a few times until he started to settle. Rob Chase was watching me, and said that Oliver really sits down behind when he jumps - I wonder if it's a greenie thing or if that's his natural jumping style? I experimented with lightening the contact up to the jump, but Oliver seemed to be unsettled by it and started rushing, so I took a firmer hold and he seemed to like that better. I thought he was ready to try something new, so I walked him up to a little brush box. He didn't seem to be phased by it too much, so I trotted him at it and he put in such a nice little jump over it. Even did it the other way, too. So, after jumping that a few times, we went over the trotting poles on the ground, and then wandered out of the ring and over to the dressage ring, which involved jumping the little natural ditch by the driveway. Perfect. He was such a good boy in the dressage arena. A little wobbly, but went forward off the leg and even did a couple of nice 20 meter circles - he's never been in that field before, so I was thrilled that he was being brave.
I think he's going to take a little while to grow up mentally, but I also think that he's going to be pretty brave when it's all said and done.
With Sam, we worked on getting him to go from long and low to a more uphill frame and more between the hand and leg. He was in his Happy Mouth and seems to love it - he doesn't seem to panic with this particular bit. Lots of work on keeping constant communication with his mouth, keeping my hands in front of me but lively and active, and keep pressing him to the bit with my leg. He was perfect today - much rounder, with nice steady canter departs on the bit (gotta think about compressing the stride at the trot, keeping the hands low, and "talking" to both sides of his mouth while I ask for the canter depart). We have a lesson with Holly tomorrow so hopefully she'll see some progress on the flat.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
In which Sam and I are tricked into jumping a 3'3 stadium round
The NSE show was this weekend, and I thought (since I had to be there for Kelly anyway) that I would take Sam and show him in the 2'9 hunter division. He's definitely not a hunter, but after last weekend's near-disaster of a stadium round where I nearly missed fence 7, I thought we could use the practice to smooth things out.Things were still a little sticky with my lesson with Holly - I was still not riding forward to my spots and still sitting down a bit too much - and I needed the extra practice. Kelly and I painted a lot of jumps, and Kelly did a fabulous job of decorating them, so they were a real treat to jump. There were even a few that I thought Sam would gawk at, seeing as it was his home turf and he had never seen colorful jumps at home before. He did gawk over a couple, but he is such an honest boy that he went anyway.
As it turns out, there was nobody in our division. They had all stuck with the crosspole classes. So, Mary asked what I wanted to do, and I said set them at mostly 2'6-2'9 - wait, on second thought, set them at 2'9 with some at 3'0 - may as well start practicing over Novice height on a regular basis, since Sam was so obviously bored with the BN jumps at Longleaf. While they were setting them up, I thought that some of them seemed a bit high for 3'0, but Mary promised me that they were accurate, so in we went. Sam had been sitting around with his saddle on for over two hours, just grazing, as we waited for our turn (I hate that aspect of hunter shows), so he was basically going in cold. We cantered around our courtesy circle, and headed for the first line of jumps. He was perfect to the first, and cantered down to the second oxer and gave me a big jump over it, and we had a few sticky jumps due to me not getting into my corners deep enough, but he only took down one rail on the outside line. Of course, we placed first (it's sort of hard not to with being the only one in the class), and everybody on the side lines was cheering. So, we took a quick breather, and went over them again in the opposite direction. This time, it rode like a true hunter round - we nailed every spot and he was foot-perfect - again, to more cheers. I was grinning like an idiot over the last line, because I knew it was good. Sam really needs the challenge of the bigger jumps to wake him up. He's impressed, but not overly so, with the new height, and he's so darned honest about these things.
So, I found out later from kelly that some of those were set at 3'3 and 3'6 - namely, the last big NSE plank jump. Wow. Sam took those like they were a gymnastic exercise. I'm thrilled. Dani got a picture of us going over the last plank and his knees are up - thank God. Mary confirmed that he was "tucked" over every single jump, so that makes me feel better about his technique. I was worried about it since our hanging knees at Longleaf, but this just confirms that he's bored.
Now to work on our flatwork and get it as good as our jumping!
As it turns out, there was nobody in our division. They had all stuck with the crosspole classes. So, Mary asked what I wanted to do, and I said set them at mostly 2'6-2'9 - wait, on second thought, set them at 2'9 with some at 3'0 - may as well start practicing over Novice height on a regular basis, since Sam was so obviously bored with the BN jumps at Longleaf. While they were setting them up, I thought that some of them seemed a bit high for 3'0, but Mary promised me that they were accurate, so in we went. Sam had been sitting around with his saddle on for over two hours, just grazing, as we waited for our turn (I hate that aspect of hunter shows), so he was basically going in cold. We cantered around our courtesy circle, and headed for the first line of jumps. He was perfect to the first, and cantered down to the second oxer and gave me a big jump over it, and we had a few sticky jumps due to me not getting into my corners deep enough, but he only took down one rail on the outside line. Of course, we placed first (it's sort of hard not to with being the only one in the class), and everybody on the side lines was cheering. So, we took a quick breather, and went over them again in the opposite direction. This time, it rode like a true hunter round - we nailed every spot and he was foot-perfect - again, to more cheers. I was grinning like an idiot over the last line, because I knew it was good. Sam really needs the challenge of the bigger jumps to wake him up. He's impressed, but not overly so, with the new height, and he's so darned honest about these things.
So, I found out later from kelly that some of those were set at 3'3 and 3'6 - namely, the last big NSE plank jump. Wow. Sam took those like they were a gymnastic exercise. I'm thrilled. Dani got a picture of us going over the last plank and his knees are up - thank God. Mary confirmed that he was "tucked" over every single jump, so that makes me feel better about his technique. I was worried about it since our hanging knees at Longleaf, but this just confirms that he's bored.
Now to work on our flatwork and get it as good as our jumping!
In which Oliver is finally starts to grow a brain...
..and learnbs how to generalize. By generalizing, I mean that he is starting to understand that if I point him at something that's situated between two jumping standards, he's supposed to find a way across and over it. Preferably, without crashing or rearing on the other side. I guess it's my responsibility to find a way not to jerk his teeth out when he DOES go, and not to hold my breath and clench up when I feel him hesistate.
I tried him in Sam's Happy Mouth Fisher Price bit today, and he seemed to take it better than the fat KK loose-ring that I've been riding him in - he actually opened up his mouth without me pressing like crazy on his tongue or the roof of his mouth to get him to take the bit - but when we started trotting, he was racing around on his forehand (I don't know HOW he can manage that, since he is so uphill!) like a madman. Half-halts? What are those? Slow down? What? He sort of figured out that it was easier to balance and stay upright if he slowed his tempo down, but I figured that I wasn't going to get anywhere today with flatwork, so I walked him up to some trot poles set at about 4'6 on the ground. Since we painted them for the NSE show, Oliver hadn't seen them before, so predictably he stopped dead, gawked, and needed some coaxing over them at a walk (I even had to tap him behind my leg with the dressage whip). However, once he went through them, albeit a bit crookedly, he was happy to traverse them in in either direction. Picking up a trot, I wrapped my left fingers in his martingale strap (thank God for that) and tried to press my calves against his sides to keep him straight, and what do you know - the little bugger just trotted through them easily, and in balance, and with this lovely, lofty trot. We turned around and went through them again, and he was just as good the other direction. Yay! So, I let him walk up to the crossrail (again, painted, so it looked new, and it wasn't as tiny as the other ones he's been jumping), and he stopped, sniffed, and then I picked up the trot and trotted right up to it. This was a new approach, since I normally allow him to walk over it a few times before trotting it, but that was getting a lot of stutter stepping and launching, with his back feet getting caught in the poles and scaring him silly, so I thought that the added impulsion of the trot would help him sort his feet out.
Oliver trotted up, assessed the situation (yup, poles still there), and then used his God-given conformation and sat back, and jumped BIG over the crossrail, and landed cantering on the other side, and put his head down and bucked for fun - he was so proud of himself. I didn't mind - the jump was LOVELY - so round and uphill that it was easy to ride, even though it was big. Lots of praise and pats and I immediately hopped off (once he stopped humping his back) and praised him. Short ride today, but he definitely hit a new milestone. I really, really think that he might be "the one" for me, with his temperment, movement, and ability. I've got my fingers crossed. I really am enjoying this horse.
I tried him in Sam's Happy Mouth Fisher Price bit today, and he seemed to take it better than the fat KK loose-ring that I've been riding him in - he actually opened up his mouth without me pressing like crazy on his tongue or the roof of his mouth to get him to take the bit - but when we started trotting, he was racing around on his forehand (I don't know HOW he can manage that, since he is so uphill!) like a madman. Half-halts? What are those? Slow down? What? He sort of figured out that it was easier to balance and stay upright if he slowed his tempo down, but I figured that I wasn't going to get anywhere today with flatwork, so I walked him up to some trot poles set at about 4'6 on the ground. Since we painted them for the NSE show, Oliver hadn't seen them before, so predictably he stopped dead, gawked, and needed some coaxing over them at a walk (I even had to tap him behind my leg with the dressage whip). However, once he went through them, albeit a bit crookedly, he was happy to traverse them in in either direction. Picking up a trot, I wrapped my left fingers in his martingale strap (thank God for that) and tried to press my calves against his sides to keep him straight, and what do you know - the little bugger just trotted through them easily, and in balance, and with this lovely, lofty trot. We turned around and went through them again, and he was just as good the other direction. Yay! So, I let him walk up to the crossrail (again, painted, so it looked new, and it wasn't as tiny as the other ones he's been jumping), and he stopped, sniffed, and then I picked up the trot and trotted right up to it. This was a new approach, since I normally allow him to walk over it a few times before trotting it, but that was getting a lot of stutter stepping and launching, with his back feet getting caught in the poles and scaring him silly, so I thought that the added impulsion of the trot would help him sort his feet out.
Oliver trotted up, assessed the situation (yup, poles still there), and then used his God-given conformation and sat back, and jumped BIG over the crossrail, and landed cantering on the other side, and put his head down and bucked for fun - he was so proud of himself. I didn't mind - the jump was LOVELY - so round and uphill that it was easy to ride, even though it was big. Lots of praise and pats and I immediately hopped off (once he stopped humping his back) and praised him. Short ride today, but he definitely hit a new milestone. I really, really think that he might be "the one" for me, with his temperment, movement, and ability. I've got my fingers crossed. I really am enjoying this horse.
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