Oliver, for the last two times I've taken him schooling at Denny's, has been a bit tense and wanting to tighten up and jig around and just not pay attention, so I took a cue from Marissa (who has been so good about taking Brady everywhere and letting him chill) and took him over to the Horse Park where they were having their Pipe Opener II and let him take in the sights of a show. He's never been to the HP, so this would be interesting. I fully expected him to a) balk at getting on the trailer, as we had a disagreement the last time he loaded; and b) be very excited at the commotion at the HP.
He started off by just hopping on the trailer. No arguments, no backtalk. Whew. I had suspected at the last that he might not have gone completely through the "cycle" that John Lyons talks about, but I guess that was the last phase and he was fully trained to load now. When we got to the HP, it was REALLY busy and crowded with trailers, and the wind was blowing in strong gusts, plus it was chilly, so I expected the worst and thought I might have to longe him. Oliver sat on the trailer and learned to be patient while I went over and hunted down Christan and Co. over at the warmup arenas, watched a few rounds, and then after about 20 minutes decided to head on back and let him off the trailer. He apparently didn't do anything at all, not even eat hay (wish he would - maybe he doesn't like that little haynet), so I unloaded him. He immediately tried to eat the dead grass, so I knew he wasn't too upset. Keith was over in the big field working Spike, who apparently was a little overwhelmed by the atmosphere, so I took out the longe line and decided to longe Ollie, who wasn't very interested in being longed. He wasn't excited in the least, just interested in everything going on, so after a few circles each way, I decided that it was pointless and tied him to the trailer with his pink hay bag (which he seems to like) and saddled him up.
We wandered over to the warmup arena and saw lots of scary things on the way there, but Oliver was all grown up and when he looked, I legged him on and he just marche past them. He gawked at people coming out of the PortaPotties, jumped a little at the loudspeakers overhead, and stared at a sign, but other than that he was a Very Big Boy. We walked around the warmup arena a few times, and he offered a stretch almost right away. I had to remember to not allow him to just put his head down, but to march him into the contact so that he took the reins forward and down so that the stretch would go through his entire back. We picked up the trot and I was able to stretch him at the trot, too, which was a lovely surprise. Cantered both ways, even picking up the right lead, and I figured we were done for the flat, and we headed over to the warmup for stadium to pop a few jumps. Luckily, they were still set for BN. I trotted the crosspole without an issue, picked up the canter, and then cantered the oxer (for some reason, I was less nervou about jumping the oxer than the vertical). He grabbed the bit and ran at it about two strides out, which really annoyed me. After trying to keep him round the next time, I slammed on the brakes and pulled his head around to get him listening to me, and then we cantered at it again, this time staying round to the jump. He is letting him ride him a bit more, although he likes to take off just a tad long instead of sitting down in front of the jump. I have a feeling that this will change once he sits more at the canter on the flat.
I was thrilled. He was such a good boy. He stood on the trailer for a little bit longer while I went to go pay, track down Christan and Co. and say goodbye, and we went home. I think we may actually be able to do Lumber River, if not Longleaf, soon!
Oh, and obviously I'm talking about Oliver only now, you may have guessed that Sam has been sold on. I hated to do it, but I was getting very stressed out about campaigning two horses. Sam has a new mom, Jean Long, who seemed to click with him immediately (not hard to do with Sam) and I'm sure she'll love him just as much as I do and have just as much fun. I do miss his silly face around the barn, though.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Hacking out and four-in-hand Friesians
So, as I was hacking out today...
Oliver and I came head to head with a four-in-hand, Friesians too, with people hanging off the sides and the back of the carriage and everything. Needless to say, Oliver was bug-eyed about it, but he really did handle it quite well. He did jig a bit away from them (probably thought they were going to pop up again and surprise us). I tried bending Oliver side to side when he jigged, but he just kept on jigging, and I was getting annoyed, so then I thought, right, I’m going to shorten the rein and push you onto the bit, and that seemed to work, but he kept wanting to look behind him to see if that carriage was after him, so then I put him into a shoulder-in, our very first one, and that solved the problem nicely. I don’t know if it’s because it was harder work for him than jigging, or it got his mind on something else, but after a few steps of shoulder-in, I let him stretch into the contact and he did a lovely free walk along the trail a ways before I gave him a loose rein all together and we walked on home.
It was GLORIOUS today. Temps in the mid 60s, sunny, and this is where it gets really surreal – the trails had actually been groomed. I saw it happening on the way out – there were a few people with rakes combing all the pine straw off the trail and smoothing the footing down. Unbelievable. Only in Southern Pines do you have people out there raking the horse and people trails. Oliver hadn’t been on a hack in a while, so it was good for both of us to get out. We did some trotting, and he offered up this lovely stretchy trot for quite a ways down the trail, which was a challenge to my balance as he got very bouncy, and even picked up his right lead and cantered a stretch, and then cantered in a lovely balanced frame downhill on the way back on his left lead with very little help from me. Oh, and we jumped that fallen tree on the way out to the Woods. I was a little nervous, as I’ve never jumped it before on Ollie, just Sam, and he just pricked his ears and popped it in style. SUCH a good boy.
It has been the week for making huge progress. I had my lesson on Friday, flat. I asked Christan how she warmed him up, and Christan told me that it depended on whether or not he was offering a stretch. If he offered to stretch correctly (and she said he had been doing this more often, so I guess that means I’m doing something right!) she would stretch him right off the bat, but if he was being stiff, she would immediately put him on the bit. I had a revelation about how to keep my lower leg on all the time, and what it means to do that, and keep the thighs open. I was trotting around letting him stretch (he was having a limber sort of day) and I asked Christan, “Is it okay if I turn out my toes at first while I work on this keeping the thigh open thing? I can’t seem to keep my toes in and keep my thigh off him at the same time.” And Christan said, of COURSE it’s okay, why would you want to keep your toes turned in? I told her that ever single dressage trainer I’ve ever had has practically forced my toes in, so that it’s become a habit with me, and she said that if I turned my toes in, I would clamp my thigh against his sides. I know that the upper level riders are able to do it without closing their thighs, but I can’t, and it turned out that when I turned my toes out, it wasn’t like they were sticking out sideways or anything, so it was actually not as bad as I thought. And, when my toes are out, I can keep my entire leg back from the hip and keep my lower leg on Oliver. I thought I had my lower leg on, but not all the time, because when I did start to keep it on consistently, he would squirt forwards away from the leg and hollow. I thought about wrapping my lower legs around him and just holding them there, and if he tried to get quick and hollow, I would close my leg a little more firmly and keep my hands still and just keep doing that until he softened and gave. Oh, and I found out just how much I use my hands when I ride. I don’t think I’m fiddling, but even the squeezing I do with my hands is “knocking him off the bit”, according to Christan. I know I’ve been better about not sponging the rein anymore, but I guess I was still squeezing with my hands too much and I wasn’t getting consistent contact. When Oliver gets quick and hollows, or falls behind my leg, or pops his shoulder, I have to concentrate hard on NOT doing anything with my hands, even squeezing them, and use my leg and push him up onto the bit, and then when he softens, not to allow the reins to get too soft. In short, I have to stop releasing so much, and taking so much, and make everything a lot smaller and more consistent. We had some lovely uphill work, both up and down in the transitions, and got the right lead every time (although it wasn’t too pretty), and I was relieved. I’m still a bit irritated at all the people who have told me to ride with my toes in, thigh on, hands spongeing, blah. It’s all wrong! Sometimes I worry about what would happen if anything went south between Christan and me. I don’t want to go back to the old way of riding, ever. I know it’s wrong, and the way Christan is having me ride is more like what they talk about in the classical dressage books, like Klimke’s Schooling the Young Horse, and others – from back to front, leg to hand.
Oliver and I came head to head with a four-in-hand, Friesians too, with people hanging off the sides and the back of the carriage and everything. Needless to say, Oliver was bug-eyed about it, but he really did handle it quite well. He did jig a bit away from them (probably thought they were going to pop up again and surprise us). I tried bending Oliver side to side when he jigged, but he just kept on jigging, and I was getting annoyed, so then I thought, right, I’m going to shorten the rein and push you onto the bit, and that seemed to work, but he kept wanting to look behind him to see if that carriage was after him, so then I put him into a shoulder-in, our very first one, and that solved the problem nicely. I don’t know if it’s because it was harder work for him than jigging, or it got his mind on something else, but after a few steps of shoulder-in, I let him stretch into the contact and he did a lovely free walk along the trail a ways before I gave him a loose rein all together and we walked on home.
It was GLORIOUS today. Temps in the mid 60s, sunny, and this is where it gets really surreal – the trails had actually been groomed. I saw it happening on the way out – there were a few people with rakes combing all the pine straw off the trail and smoothing the footing down. Unbelievable. Only in Southern Pines do you have people out there raking the horse and people trails. Oliver hadn’t been on a hack in a while, so it was good for both of us to get out. We did some trotting, and he offered up this lovely stretchy trot for quite a ways down the trail, which was a challenge to my balance as he got very bouncy, and even picked up his right lead and cantered a stretch, and then cantered in a lovely balanced frame downhill on the way back on his left lead with very little help from me. Oh, and we jumped that fallen tree on the way out to the Woods. I was a little nervous, as I’ve never jumped it before on Ollie, just Sam, and he just pricked his ears and popped it in style. SUCH a good boy.
It has been the week for making huge progress. I had my lesson on Friday, flat. I asked Christan how she warmed him up, and Christan told me that it depended on whether or not he was offering a stretch. If he offered to stretch correctly (and she said he had been doing this more often, so I guess that means I’m doing something right!) she would stretch him right off the bat, but if he was being stiff, she would immediately put him on the bit. I had a revelation about how to keep my lower leg on all the time, and what it means to do that, and keep the thighs open. I was trotting around letting him stretch (he was having a limber sort of day) and I asked Christan, “Is it okay if I turn out my toes at first while I work on this keeping the thigh open thing? I can’t seem to keep my toes in and keep my thigh off him at the same time.” And Christan said, of COURSE it’s okay, why would you want to keep your toes turned in? I told her that ever single dressage trainer I’ve ever had has practically forced my toes in, so that it’s become a habit with me, and she said that if I turned my toes in, I would clamp my thigh against his sides. I know that the upper level riders are able to do it without closing their thighs, but I can’t, and it turned out that when I turned my toes out, it wasn’t like they were sticking out sideways or anything, so it was actually not as bad as I thought. And, when my toes are out, I can keep my entire leg back from the hip and keep my lower leg on Oliver. I thought I had my lower leg on, but not all the time, because when I did start to keep it on consistently, he would squirt forwards away from the leg and hollow. I thought about wrapping my lower legs around him and just holding them there, and if he tried to get quick and hollow, I would close my leg a little more firmly and keep my hands still and just keep doing that until he softened and gave. Oh, and I found out just how much I use my hands when I ride. I don’t think I’m fiddling, but even the squeezing I do with my hands is “knocking him off the bit”, according to Christan. I know I’ve been better about not sponging the rein anymore, but I guess I was still squeezing with my hands too much and I wasn’t getting consistent contact. When Oliver gets quick and hollows, or falls behind my leg, or pops his shoulder, I have to concentrate hard on NOT doing anything with my hands, even squeezing them, and use my leg and push him up onto the bit, and then when he softens, not to allow the reins to get too soft. In short, I have to stop releasing so much, and taking so much, and make everything a lot smaller and more consistent. We had some lovely uphill work, both up and down in the transitions, and got the right lead every time (although it wasn’t too pretty), and I was relieved. I’m still a bit irritated at all the people who have told me to ride with my toes in, thigh on, hands spongeing, blah. It’s all wrong! Sometimes I worry about what would happen if anything went south between Christan and me. I don’t want to go back to the old way of riding, ever. I know it’s wrong, and the way Christan is having me ride is more like what they talk about in the classical dressage books, like Klimke’s Schooling the Young Horse, and others – from back to front, leg to hand.
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