...and we both eat an entire field's worth of gnats. Yuck. Last year, they weren't so bad, but the rain this year has bred a healthy bumper-crop of gnats, and I feel like I'm boarding back at Denise Adomines' place again. It was so bad, in fact, that Sam launched a mini-temper tantrum and we barely walked through our schooling. I rummaged around in my tack trunk for the old "bomber-fly sheets" that I used to use on Miles when I was riding him with my broken leg (didn't want to get launched by one of those bomber flies landing on him), but when I finally found it, it turned out to be the Bullwinkle wise (read: warmblood) for Miles, so I immediately handed it to Kelly. It was slightly big on Miles, so it might have a real chance of fitting Czar. Off to Cabin Branch today to find a fly mask to ride in that will Sam's and Oliver's abnormally small heads.
Had to hop on Czar today, as he was being a real butt and Kelly was getting frustrated. He immediately started to tank off with me, so I had to sit him down on his rear pretty hard several times until he realized that I was sitting on his back and not Kelly. We worked on canter, and he slipped and slid around for a few circles until he stopped dropping his inside shoulder and spinning his haunches around to the outside, and then I gave him back to her. She's frustrated because he is such a big boy and he knows how to use his size and especially his neck against her. I tried to reassure her that it WOULD get better - it took me the better part of a year to get Sam's canter under control - but that it would take some time, because a) she's tiny, and b) he's huge, and c) he's unbalanced, and d) she's unbalanced. Drafts just weren't made to sit down behind and carry themselves, so she's got her work cut out for her.
Anyway, back to Sam - I tried running through my dressage test, and predictably, I tensed up my arms and he wasn't quite so soft today. There were definite moments of softness and through-ness, but our canter departs were definitely not as through and round. We still have a lot of work to do on those. On the whole, everything looked and felt much better than it did. I'm nervous about what the dressage judge is going to think about it - I'm riding with a much more uphill neck now, and to me, he feels relaxed into it and carrying himself, but I'm still not totally sure what it looks like. I'll have to get Joe or Kelly to tape me so I can see if there any improvements in his carriage. We still have a month to go before the show, which is a huge relief.
No comments:
Post a Comment