I started off by getting him really forward and marching up into the contact, because for some reason, today he wanted to mince alone and just arch his neck. I did a lot of shortening the stride and lengthening it within the gait, and each time I lengthened, I asked for a little more, really concentrating on wrapping my legs around him and riding every step up into my hands. Once he settled into the contact – he would get pissy and start to bob his head around, so I kicked him forward every time he did that – he started to have some nice lengthening. I also had to concentrate on riding the outside shoulder. Something that Bruce Mandeville had me do with Miles clicked with me today – you press your outside leg right behind the girth (instead of back, where the belly sort of swells out, which is where I keep my legs wrapped most of the time), and press the shoulder over around a turn, using very little hand. Of course, they’ll want to fall in, which is where you keep your inside leg back (where the belly swells out) softly and ride them between your inside and outside leg, to keep the bend. Once they get to the point of where they’re practically going around the turn with no hand at all, except to support, it’s pretty easy to ride them straight into both reins. Oliver has a bad habit of popping his shoulder to the outside around a turn, or the open part of a circle, tempting me to pull him through the turn with my reins. It also creates a kink in his body which prevents him from truly stepping through. Anyway, after getting some good trot work, I started on the canter by walking a turn on the haunches by pressing my outside leg right at the girth (well, it’s really slightly behind, but I imagine that it’s at the girth) and getting him to step cross over in front with very little rein. Once he was responding to that, I would allow him to take a few steps of walk and then immediately canter from there, keeping the outside rein, and just sliding my outside leg back to ask for the canter. If I truly have him on my outside aids, he’ll pick up the canter smoothly and without hollowing, and I’ll get the most lofty canter strides I’ve ever ridden from him, with very little effort. I also make sure that I really ride him forward into the canter to keep the inside hind jumping through, and instead of keeping my outside leg back, I’ll bring it back to neutral position so I can press his shoulder back in if it pops to the outside. By this time, he’s really understanding my outside leg forward, so when I walk him, I head down the long side, slide my inside leg back from the hip to think “push his butt down the rail”, and then press my outside leg at the girth to keep the shoulders off the trail. It worked like a charm. He eased his way down the long side in a wonderful, correct shoulder-in, and it seemed effortless.
I’m finding that I don’t ride with leg, like I thought I did. I read in the latest issue of Horse Journal that dressage judges are seeing an alarming tendency for people to ride without leg, and it’s why the halt is crooked and sprawly in so many tests. They had a picture of a person riding from behind, and the lower leg wasn’t really wrapped around the horse. It wasn’t sticking out away from the horse, like I had imagined, but from the mid point of the calf down, it wasn’t really touching the horse’s side. So, that got me thinking. Today, when I slid my legs back to where I could really feel his belly under my calf, he squirted forward. That told me that I wasn’t really, truly riding with my leg, since he really isn’t a very touchy horse. I immediately started to keep my leg there, and when he tried to canter forward, I would just keep my hands still (and NOT pull down, which is very, very tempting!) and keep my leg on and just wait for him to accept it. He started to pull and yank away, which annoyed me as well as had the effect of pulling me forward in the saddle, so instead of pulling back, I lifted my hands and put more leg on, and that made him sit back on his butt more, and when he did that, I immediately softened and put my hands back where they belonged. So, he started to accept that at the trot, and then I started riding trot/walk and walk/halt transitions with my legs back there. He hated that – wanted to pull and root and yank, and every time he did, I would boot him forward into the bridle (making him work harder) and then ask again. It got to the point of where I could just sit back, put my leg on, close my hand slightly, and BAM – he’d give me a beautiful, uphill down transition, and even a square halt. At the canter, he protested just as much, so much so that I think I may have gotten some Grand Prix collected canter work (he would rather canter in place than do a correct trot transition???), but in the end, his canter would get lofty and then he’d slide into his trot transition and have a beautiful trot with self carriage right off the bat.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
MacNair's CT
Well, we just finished the CT at MacNair's. I didn't go to Five Points, mostly because I'm a big weenie and missed the xc schooling in August, so didn't feel prepared, but a bit of that was due to finances (specifically, lack of). So, in spirit of working on Oliver's dressage and stadium, we did the BN CT at MacNair's.
Oliver was wonderful in the crazy warmup arena. He got a compliment from a very nice girl who said he was "adorable", and then someone asked me if I was riding a 4th level test, which made me go "hmmmm". Once we got down to the dressage arena, I quickly found out that the judge was MEAN. The ring steward and I apparently had watches that were about 5 minutes slow, so when I got down there, I found out that I had to go into the arena right away. I asked for time to finish walking around, but the judge looked straight at me and rang the bell, so I just shrugged and went on in. We had a lovely, lovely trot down the centerline when he caught sight of something and gawked, hard, and I had to overbend him to the inside so that we could turn right and not plow into the judge's stand. I think he saw the geese landing on the pond behind the arena. There were quite a few. In August, there weren't any geese, so I think he noticed the pond for the first time. We managed to get it back together for the short diagonal, and then had a nice remainder of the test. He had a very nice canter depart to the left - very prompt and obedient - and then had sort of a blurry one to the right, but the canter to the right was wonderful and uphill and light. However, after my halt/salute, the judge proceeded to give me a lesson about how my hands were too high and that I was stifling Oliver by holding his head up and in, and restricting his movement (huh?). She said that I need to ride the outside of him more than the inside, but that he was a lovely uphill mover. So, I had sort of figured out what score I got from her after that little chat.
Stadium seemed to flow better than last time. The "dreaded" yellow V panels and the stone wall were there. The stone wall was fence 3, off a bending line from a simple vertical, and the V panels were on the short side of the arena after a turn. I had recently practiced jumping Oliver over our stone wall at home, which looks a lot like this one, and also over a blanket tossed over the barrels to reinforce "jump no matter what" in his little brain. It had been going well, so I wasn't too worried, but I had to make sure that he saw the jump in plenty of time, and came in balance. I didn't realize you were supposed to check in with the gate steward, as last time it was complete chaos due to the absence of said steward, so I didn't get to go until the very end, because everybody else had apparently checked in. By this time, Oliver was thoroughly annoyed with me for using him as a couch, so when we picked up the trot, he charged over fence 1, leaving out a stride. I tried to balance him back through the turn to fence 2, but he grabbed the bit and charged over that, too, so I really sat him back on his butt for 3, which was the stone wall. I was afraid that if I didn't get him balanced and back, he'd duck out in surprise. He didn't seem to have any issues with the stone wall, and the rest of the course flowed beautifully, even those yellow planks. After the planks, we had a 90 degree turn to the last two jumps, and he popped his shoulder and we jumped the oxer a bit crookedly, so had a deep spot to the last fence, but we were double-clear.
After untacking, I found that we were in 3rd place with a 36. First place had a 32, and then 2nd had a 35, so I wasn't too far behind, even with the judge not liking the way I rode. She gave me a 6 for rider position, on account of my hands, which is funny since I got an 8 on my position last show. Oh well - you can't make them all happy. I have since reviewed the tape and I thought we put in a lovely test. I was very happy with Oliver and how well he went - his jumping is really coming along quite well.
Oliver was wonderful in the crazy warmup arena. He got a compliment from a very nice girl who said he was "adorable", and then someone asked me if I was riding a 4th level test, which made me go "hmmmm". Once we got down to the dressage arena, I quickly found out that the judge was MEAN. The ring steward and I apparently had watches that were about 5 minutes slow, so when I got down there, I found out that I had to go into the arena right away. I asked for time to finish walking around, but the judge looked straight at me and rang the bell, so I just shrugged and went on in. We had a lovely, lovely trot down the centerline when he caught sight of something and gawked, hard, and I had to overbend him to the inside so that we could turn right and not plow into the judge's stand. I think he saw the geese landing on the pond behind the arena. There were quite a few. In August, there weren't any geese, so I think he noticed the pond for the first time. We managed to get it back together for the short diagonal, and then had a nice remainder of the test. He had a very nice canter depart to the left - very prompt and obedient - and then had sort of a blurry one to the right, but the canter to the right was wonderful and uphill and light. However, after my halt/salute, the judge proceeded to give me a lesson about how my hands were too high and that I was stifling Oliver by holding his head up and in, and restricting his movement (huh?). She said that I need to ride the outside of him more than the inside, but that he was a lovely uphill mover. So, I had sort of figured out what score I got from her after that little chat.
Stadium seemed to flow better than last time. The "dreaded" yellow V panels and the stone wall were there. The stone wall was fence 3, off a bending line from a simple vertical, and the V panels were on the short side of the arena after a turn. I had recently practiced jumping Oliver over our stone wall at home, which looks a lot like this one, and also over a blanket tossed over the barrels to reinforce "jump no matter what" in his little brain. It had been going well, so I wasn't too worried, but I had to make sure that he saw the jump in plenty of time, and came in balance. I didn't realize you were supposed to check in with the gate steward, as last time it was complete chaos due to the absence of said steward, so I didn't get to go until the very end, because everybody else had apparently checked in. By this time, Oliver was thoroughly annoyed with me for using him as a couch, so when we picked up the trot, he charged over fence 1, leaving out a stride. I tried to balance him back through the turn to fence 2, but he grabbed the bit and charged over that, too, so I really sat him back on his butt for 3, which was the stone wall. I was afraid that if I didn't get him balanced and back, he'd duck out in surprise. He didn't seem to have any issues with the stone wall, and the rest of the course flowed beautifully, even those yellow planks. After the planks, we had a 90 degree turn to the last two jumps, and he popped his shoulder and we jumped the oxer a bit crookedly, so had a deep spot to the last fence, but we were double-clear.
After untacking, I found that we were in 3rd place with a 36. First place had a 32, and then 2nd had a 35, so I wasn't too far behind, even with the judge not liking the way I rode. She gave me a 6 for rider position, on account of my hands, which is funny since I got an 8 on my position last show. Oh well - you can't make them all happy. I have since reviewed the tape and I thought we put in a lovely test. I was very happy with Oliver and how well he went - his jumping is really coming along quite well.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
In which Kim finally learns how to do the free walk
First of all, my parade got a little rained on because Christan told me not to get too disappointed at the next show if I scored higher than this last one. I sort of expected that, and told myself that I would be happy with a score in the low 30s (like 30-33), but I didn't expect her to allude to the idea that the judge was a wee bit more than generous at MacNair's. Sigh. I guess sometimes you get really lucky and the judge just loves you and your horse, and sometimes you get a judge that you cannot please on any given day, and most of the time you fall in-between. Guess this was my lucky day. I've got to look at the bright side of things and remember that it just gives me something more to work on (not like I was going to sit on my laurels and take it easy), but still! So, I'm feeling a tad grumpy right now.
These were the phrases of the day: "Don't pull with your hands - use your leg and push him into the contact." "Up and out". "Keep that outside rein." "Elbows over hips." "If he wiggles into the halt, immediately trot on." "Shoulders back through the turn." "Hands up". "Throw your reins away like you're finished with your ride." "He's so used to you using your rein to correct him that he over-reacts to your leg." "Correct him with your leg, not the rein."
So, we did flatwork during my lesson today. Oliver felt a bit sticky, but then, I wasn't wearing spurs. Christan had me lengthen my stirrups one hole to really get me to wrap my legs around him. We started off by trotting and keeping my leg on, hands up with thumbs up, and not giving away my right rein going left, and keeping the bend going right. Oliver was dropping his inside shoulder coming off the rail on the right rein, and also popping his shoulder to the outside on the open side of the arena. I think I was letting him fall off the rail because I was trying too soon to catch that shoulder and keep it from popping on the open side. Again, I need to ride every single stride. I flexed him to the inside, used my inside leg, and then when we finished the turn, I thought "counter-bend" to catch that shoulder. Apparently, he was also dropping behind my leg because Christan told me "Leg!", so when I added some leg coming out of the turn, he straightened up pretty much on his own. To the left, it wasn't nearly the problem, except that I very badly want to open my outside (right) rein and push it forward. I could really see it on the video that Joe did for me last week, and boy, is it ugly when I do that. Christan said, "elbows over hips", so I concentrated on pressing my upper arm to my side and keeping that elbow over my right hip, and that seemed to straighten him.
During the canter, Oliver felt pretty heavy in the bridle, especially to the right, so maybe next time I will wear my spurs to boot him up. However, to the left, we had some very nice canter work. He is still wiggly in the transition, so the draw reins might need to go back on. Christan looked over my test and decided to work on free walk and halt. We started the halt work by doing it on a circle - trot a 20 meter circle, then halt. The first few times, he was pretty darn good, so Christan had me turn up the center line and then halt. The minute he turned up the center line, he threw his hips to the left and wobbled into the halt, leaning on my hands, so Christan had me immediately trot off. Of course, I had to tap him with my whip to get him to hop off my leg, so he trotted off, and we took a few strides in trot, then halted again, concentrating on shoulders back, hands steady, and leg on. It only took one more try and he was halting square consistently. I love the fact that you can correct him and he doesn't get emotional about it. So, we worked on free walk next. Christan had me trot down the long side, get a good, uphill walk transition, and then free walk across the diagonal. As we turned down the diagonal, Christan had me basically throw away the reins "like you're finished riding". This was totally against everything I was taught in the free walk (let them take the reins out of your hands), but I did it, and he marched on but I had to really check him with my left leg as he wanted to wander to the left. We did this a few more times and Christan said, "There's your free walk". I always thought that the free walk was more about them putting their head down and stretching across their backs, but Christan said that when I keep a contact, he curls and his stride doesn't get as long as it could. She said that if I free walked like that, I could get an 8 on it instead of the 7s I've been getting.
We ended by turning down the centerline one last time, and halting. Bam - he was perfectly square and straight, so we called it quits on that.
These were the phrases of the day: "Don't pull with your hands - use your leg and push him into the contact." "Up and out". "Keep that outside rein." "Elbows over hips." "If he wiggles into the halt, immediately trot on." "Shoulders back through the turn." "Hands up". "Throw your reins away like you're finished with your ride." "He's so used to you using your rein to correct him that he over-reacts to your leg." "Correct him with your leg, not the rein."
So, we did flatwork during my lesson today. Oliver felt a bit sticky, but then, I wasn't wearing spurs. Christan had me lengthen my stirrups one hole to really get me to wrap my legs around him. We started off by trotting and keeping my leg on, hands up with thumbs up, and not giving away my right rein going left, and keeping the bend going right. Oliver was dropping his inside shoulder coming off the rail on the right rein, and also popping his shoulder to the outside on the open side of the arena. I think I was letting him fall off the rail because I was trying too soon to catch that shoulder and keep it from popping on the open side. Again, I need to ride every single stride. I flexed him to the inside, used my inside leg, and then when we finished the turn, I thought "counter-bend" to catch that shoulder. Apparently, he was also dropping behind my leg because Christan told me "Leg!", so when I added some leg coming out of the turn, he straightened up pretty much on his own. To the left, it wasn't nearly the problem, except that I very badly want to open my outside (right) rein and push it forward. I could really see it on the video that Joe did for me last week, and boy, is it ugly when I do that. Christan said, "elbows over hips", so I concentrated on pressing my upper arm to my side and keeping that elbow over my right hip, and that seemed to straighten him.
During the canter, Oliver felt pretty heavy in the bridle, especially to the right, so maybe next time I will wear my spurs to boot him up. However, to the left, we had some very nice canter work. He is still wiggly in the transition, so the draw reins might need to go back on. Christan looked over my test and decided to work on free walk and halt. We started the halt work by doing it on a circle - trot a 20 meter circle, then halt. The first few times, he was pretty darn good, so Christan had me turn up the center line and then halt. The minute he turned up the center line, he threw his hips to the left and wobbled into the halt, leaning on my hands, so Christan had me immediately trot off. Of course, I had to tap him with my whip to get him to hop off my leg, so he trotted off, and we took a few strides in trot, then halted again, concentrating on shoulders back, hands steady, and leg on. It only took one more try and he was halting square consistently. I love the fact that you can correct him and he doesn't get emotional about it. So, we worked on free walk next. Christan had me trot down the long side, get a good, uphill walk transition, and then free walk across the diagonal. As we turned down the diagonal, Christan had me basically throw away the reins "like you're finished riding". This was totally against everything I was taught in the free walk (let them take the reins out of your hands), but I did it, and he marched on but I had to really check him with my left leg as he wanted to wander to the left. We did this a few more times and Christan said, "There's your free walk". I always thought that the free walk was more about them putting their head down and stretching across their backs, but Christan said that when I keep a contact, he curls and his stride doesn't get as long as it could. She said that if I free walked like that, I could get an 8 on it instead of the 7s I've been getting.
We ended by turning down the centerline one last time, and halting. Bam - he was perfectly square and straight, so we called it quits on that.
Monday, August 10, 2009
We break the 30 mark!
So, my news is that Oliver and I got a 27.9 on our dressage test at BN this Sunday. He had never been to MacNair’s before, and their lakeside arena can be a bit scary, so I didn’t know what to expect. The warmup arena was CRAZY – people weren’t steering or looking where they were going at all, so it was quite frustrating and I didn’t get the warmup I had planned on. Christan had three horses going that day, so she wasn’t able to help me much. I was also riding in my jumping saddle since I didn’t think there was much time between dressage and when they opened up stadium – my ride was at 9:15 and they started BN stadium at 9:30. He warmed up nicely, given the commotion – I started off my stretching him long and low, and then brought him up and really focused on keeping my upper body back and my hands higher. My friend, who’s not a horse person (in fact, she’s scared of them, but for some reason loves Oliver and I think the feeling is mutual), was there watching, and I think the little booger was showing off for her. We went in and put in a rather nice test – there were some moments where he sort of dragged me forward in the canter and I could feel him tipping onto his forehand, so I had to sit up tall and really keep my leg on and just drive him up into my hands – but all around I thought it was a decent test. I figured we would have scored in the md 30s, like around 35 or so, and I would have been happy with that since we scored a 39 last time, both times, and had fits of bucking in the departs. No bucking this time, and he stayed fairly steady in the bridle. Milanne told me he looked very steady – of course, she’s not a horse person so I didn’t give that much credit, but it did feel pretty darn good to me. There were still definitely areas for improvement, and I think that if I had been in my dressage saddle, he wouldn’t have been able to pull me forward like that.
We went into stadium, which was a bit twisty, and fence 1 was a brand new brick wall, and two was a yellow and purple V plank. I watched horse after horse prop or stop at those two jumps, especially the V plank. I couldn’t see anything especially terrifying about the plank . In fact, it was pained pale yellow and lilac, so it wasn’t even much of a contrast, and there were no fillers at the plank. Still, it told me to ride very strongly towards it, and sure enough, Oliver peeked at the stone wall and propped in front of the plank, but then we landed and had a nice, flowing round over the rest. He rolled a rail with his hind feet over jump 6, which was off a bending line and I still don’t know why he rolled it, but we were clear. He obviously needs to see more colorful stadium fences, since he was rather impressed with what was out there. He doesn’t look at flowers or anything, so I still don’t know what was scary about the planks, but the other horses were scared, too.
When I went to check the scores, I couldn’t believe my eyes. 27.9. I thought it was a mistake and that it was maybe a 37.9, but they put the “pure” dressage score by the penalty points and sure enough, it was a 72.1%. First place had a 26.8, and Christan told me later that it was a Grand Prix dressage rider on her 4th level horse. So, here’s my score sheet:
Enter – down centerline 7 little tilt in head
Short diagonal, change rein 7 same
A circle left 7 slightly short in neck
Canter left lead 7 balanced
Circle left canter 8
Transition to trot 8
Half diagonal 7
Circle right trot 8
Canter right lead 8 uphill
Circle right canter 7 Mouth open; against hand slightly (this is where he was pulling me a little)
Trot transition 8 uphill
Walk transition 6 unclear; almost early (I forgot where the transition was supposed to happen)
Free walk/medium walk 7 could stretch more but you have the right idea
Trot; turn up centerline 7 little crooked
X halt salute 6 haunches right
Gaits 7 for an 8, need uphill scope ?
Impulsion 7 nicely forward
Submission 7 behind vertical and mouth open at times, but uphill
Rider 8 Nice job. Skillful riding. Some loss of balance at times.
Can you believe it?!?!? An “8” on rider position? I’ve never, ever had an 8 on rider position. The halt obviously needs work, which I know, and the 7s could have been 8s if he hadn’t pulled me forward a titch, which I also knew. I hate it when they give you 8s, then switch to 7s, and then back to 8s, but don’t tell you what you did to lower it a point, or raise it a point. Of course, I’m thrilled with all the 8s, so I’m not complaining.
Finally. All the hard work is paying off. I’ve been so incredibly frustrated with my riding in general because I feel like I’ve been starting over from scratch. I’ve also seen very few results at the shows, and then we’ve had that weird problem with Oliver and him stepping short behind early last spring. I think those hypnosis CDS are working a treat, since this time I was able to realize when I was doing something, like tipping forward, and do something about it. It has also made me realize that just because you buy a Warmblood, doesn’t mean that you can RIDE one :^P. I think that it’s harder in many ways to ride a horse like Oliver than Sam, or even Bella.
We went into stadium, which was a bit twisty, and fence 1 was a brand new brick wall, and two was a yellow and purple V plank. I watched horse after horse prop or stop at those two jumps, especially the V plank. I couldn’t see anything especially terrifying about the plank . In fact, it was pained pale yellow and lilac, so it wasn’t even much of a contrast, and there were no fillers at the plank. Still, it told me to ride very strongly towards it, and sure enough, Oliver peeked at the stone wall and propped in front of the plank, but then we landed and had a nice, flowing round over the rest. He rolled a rail with his hind feet over jump 6, which was off a bending line and I still don’t know why he rolled it, but we were clear. He obviously needs to see more colorful stadium fences, since he was rather impressed with what was out there. He doesn’t look at flowers or anything, so I still don’t know what was scary about the planks, but the other horses were scared, too.
When I went to check the scores, I couldn’t believe my eyes. 27.9. I thought it was a mistake and that it was maybe a 37.9, but they put the “pure” dressage score by the penalty points and sure enough, it was a 72.1%. First place had a 26.8, and Christan told me later that it was a Grand Prix dressage rider on her 4th level horse. So, here’s my score sheet:
Enter – down centerline 7 little tilt in head
Short diagonal, change rein 7 same
A circle left 7 slightly short in neck
Canter left lead 7 balanced
Circle left canter 8
Transition to trot 8
Half diagonal 7
Circle right trot 8
Canter right lead 8 uphill
Circle right canter 7 Mouth open; against hand slightly (this is where he was pulling me a little)
Trot transition 8 uphill
Walk transition 6 unclear; almost early (I forgot where the transition was supposed to happen)
Free walk/medium walk 7 could stretch more but you have the right idea
Trot; turn up centerline 7 little crooked
X halt salute 6 haunches right
Gaits 7 for an 8, need uphill scope ?
Impulsion 7 nicely forward
Submission 7 behind vertical and mouth open at times, but uphill
Rider 8 Nice job. Skillful riding. Some loss of balance at times.
Can you believe it?!?!? An “8” on rider position? I’ve never, ever had an 8 on rider position. The halt obviously needs work, which I know, and the 7s could have been 8s if he hadn’t pulled me forward a titch, which I also knew. I hate it when they give you 8s, then switch to 7s, and then back to 8s, but don’t tell you what you did to lower it a point, or raise it a point. Of course, I’m thrilled with all the 8s, so I’m not complaining.
Finally. All the hard work is paying off. I’ve been so incredibly frustrated with my riding in general because I feel like I’ve been starting over from scratch. I’ve also seen very few results at the shows, and then we’ve had that weird problem with Oliver and him stepping short behind early last spring. I think those hypnosis CDS are working a treat, since this time I was able to realize when I was doing something, like tipping forward, and do something about it. It has also made me realize that just because you buy a Warmblood, doesn’t mean that you can RIDE one :^P. I think that it’s harder in many ways to ride a horse like Oliver than Sam, or even Bella.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The incredible complexities of a simpe in and out...
Just goes to show you how incredibly humbling this sport is, and how you never stop learning. I think I'm understanding just why it is that people play golf....
Had my lesson today, and we started off with flatwork, since that is (was?) my Number 1 Nemesis lately. A little harder to sit up and not tip forward in a jumping saddle, but easier to put my leg on. I've switched to little hammerhead spurs so that I'm not afraid to really put my leg on, and it seems to be working. I had a lightbulb moment the other day schooling xc at the Secrists - Oliver took off with me on the landing side of a fence and I really sat back, dug my spurs in, and lifted my hands in a half-halt, and I really felt him tuck his butt underneath, raise his withers, and sit DOWN. Wow. So, that's what Christan means by leg-to-hand! Anyway, I've been using that visual a lot when I've been flatting - at first, I had to use draw reins to keep Oliver from just bullying through my hand and accept the contact, but I've taken them off recently and he seems to still understand that when I leg him up into the contact, he must sit down behind and not hollow and grab the bit and run. Which, of course, makes it easier to ride leg to hand, since he's responding correctly. We worked a little on transitions - while I can get a lovely upward transition now, uphill and into the bridle, the trot-to-canter is still a little tough as I want to tip ever so slightly forward and drop my hands into it. When I think of really pressing him into the contact and then asking for the canter, thinking about lifting my hands (so they don't drop), he tends to strike off correctly and stay round. I also have this bad habit of riding the canter to the left a bit under the pace, so I've got to sit back, ride him UP, and keep my leg on, even if it's faster than I think I need to be. We also worked on the halt transition - coming around the turn, Christan noticed that I tip just a tiny bit forward when coming down from the trot, and then he swings his butt to the right and doesn't halt straight (or square). If I come around the turn, think "up" and keep my legs pressed into him, he halts squarely.
So, Christan had me trot a vertical 2'6, one stride to another 2'6 vertical. I came in at a spanking good trot, and then Christan told me that I was coming in too fast, so we sort of blew through the exercise with him falling on his forehand. I was to think about keeping the trot exactly the same, keep my hands up, and not goose him at the last stride and tip forward. It was bloody hard to do because I felt that the trot was underpowered and at the last second, I had this need to do something and I inadvertently goosed him with my leg, which resulted in a scrambling through the exercise. Then, I went the opposite extreme - instead of goosing him, I held onto him too much, so that he felt the need to pull his way through, resulting in a jump that was over his forehand. Christan told me to ride the first jump and not worry about the second - she even had my close my eyes over the first. I closed my eyes, felt him jump the first, panicked, opened my eyes, and LEANED at the second. I haven't leaned that badly at a jump for years! Christan told me that if I were riding a trot lengthening, I wouldn't goose him with my leg or drop my hands, so I was to think "dressage frame" up to the fence, and then on take-off, soften and allow him to jump up and around the vertical. Over and over and over we did this - at the last second I'm still leaning at the first jump (just a tetch, but enough to rotate my hands backwards and take my leg off), or I gun him over it without any support from my hands. We had ugly, two scrambly stride jumps, once where I completely threw my upper body at him and he went left and didn't jump the second jump (not that I blame him - there was no way he could jump it with me hanging around his ears), a lot of jumping the first jump and then plopping over the second, but at the end I finally got it (I think) - I did NOTHING except keep my leg softly on, even if everything in my body was screaming that I needed more speed, more leg, moreSOMETHING, softened my hand, kept my chest lifted, and we landed over the first jump beautifully, sat up, put leg on, and while the second jump still wasn't perfect, it was so much better than the previous attempts. The biggest and most obvious improvement was that on the landing, I sat up, closed my leg and hand, and lifted him into a lovely, balanced canter and then down to a walk, each and every time - yay! Before, I would be so happy with finishing the exercise that I would allow him to pull me forward, tipping onto the forehand, and sprawling to a walk or trot.
At the close, I asked Christan if I could canter a simple fence, and she agreed with the condition that even if I messed up, I had to call it quits. Of course that put the pressure on, so I picked up a lovely canter, cantered toward the crossrail, the whole time thinking "dressage canter". He did try and speed up a few strides out (probably relieved that he was no longer trotting through the grid), but I kept my leg on, half-halted him, and it rode beautifully. Now, I know I should correct the speeding up, but Christan said I handled it very well.
It is soooo frustrating. The easy way out would be to allow him to pick up some speed, and then just breeze through the in and out. It's so hard to keep riding all the way up until the last stride, and then soften without tipping forward or clamping on your leg. I wish I had another horse I could ride that I could work on this, because I could tell Oliver was getting tired towards the end, and he was being a Saint and putting up with me getting left behind, hitting him in the mouth (only did that once, but had to slip my reins a whole bunch), putting him at a bad spot, etc.
Bella seems to be improving slightly. Greg did a quickie adjustment on her and she walked out much better afterwards. She is out in a bigger paddock with grass, and seems to be content walking around.
Had my lesson today, and we started off with flatwork, since that is (was?) my Number 1 Nemesis lately. A little harder to sit up and not tip forward in a jumping saddle, but easier to put my leg on. I've switched to little hammerhead spurs so that I'm not afraid to really put my leg on, and it seems to be working. I had a lightbulb moment the other day schooling xc at the Secrists - Oliver took off with me on the landing side of a fence and I really sat back, dug my spurs in, and lifted my hands in a half-halt, and I really felt him tuck his butt underneath, raise his withers, and sit DOWN. Wow. So, that's what Christan means by leg-to-hand! Anyway, I've been using that visual a lot when I've been flatting - at first, I had to use draw reins to keep Oliver from just bullying through my hand and accept the contact, but I've taken them off recently and he seems to still understand that when I leg him up into the contact, he must sit down behind and not hollow and grab the bit and run. Which, of course, makes it easier to ride leg to hand, since he's responding correctly. We worked a little on transitions - while I can get a lovely upward transition now, uphill and into the bridle, the trot-to-canter is still a little tough as I want to tip ever so slightly forward and drop my hands into it. When I think of really pressing him into the contact and then asking for the canter, thinking about lifting my hands (so they don't drop), he tends to strike off correctly and stay round. I also have this bad habit of riding the canter to the left a bit under the pace, so I've got to sit back, ride him UP, and keep my leg on, even if it's faster than I think I need to be. We also worked on the halt transition - coming around the turn, Christan noticed that I tip just a tiny bit forward when coming down from the trot, and then he swings his butt to the right and doesn't halt straight (or square). If I come around the turn, think "up" and keep my legs pressed into him, he halts squarely.
So, Christan had me trot a vertical 2'6, one stride to another 2'6 vertical. I came in at a spanking good trot, and then Christan told me that I was coming in too fast, so we sort of blew through the exercise with him falling on his forehand. I was to think about keeping the trot exactly the same, keep my hands up, and not goose him at the last stride and tip forward. It was bloody hard to do because I felt that the trot was underpowered and at the last second, I had this need to do something and I inadvertently goosed him with my leg, which resulted in a scrambling through the exercise. Then, I went the opposite extreme - instead of goosing him, I held onto him too much, so that he felt the need to pull his way through, resulting in a jump that was over his forehand. Christan told me to ride the first jump and not worry about the second - she even had my close my eyes over the first. I closed my eyes, felt him jump the first, panicked, opened my eyes, and LEANED at the second. I haven't leaned that badly at a jump for years! Christan told me that if I were riding a trot lengthening, I wouldn't goose him with my leg or drop my hands, so I was to think "dressage frame" up to the fence, and then on take-off, soften and allow him to jump up and around the vertical. Over and over and over we did this - at the last second I'm still leaning at the first jump (just a tetch, but enough to rotate my hands backwards and take my leg off), or I gun him over it without any support from my hands. We had ugly, two scrambly stride jumps, once where I completely threw my upper body at him and he went left and didn't jump the second jump (not that I blame him - there was no way he could jump it with me hanging around his ears), a lot of jumping the first jump and then plopping over the second, but at the end I finally got it (I think) - I did NOTHING except keep my leg softly on, even if everything in my body was screaming that I needed more speed, more leg, moreSOMETHING, softened my hand, kept my chest lifted, and we landed over the first jump beautifully, sat up, put leg on, and while the second jump still wasn't perfect, it was so much better than the previous attempts. The biggest and most obvious improvement was that on the landing, I sat up, closed my leg and hand, and lifted him into a lovely, balanced canter and then down to a walk, each and every time - yay! Before, I would be so happy with finishing the exercise that I would allow him to pull me forward, tipping onto the forehand, and sprawling to a walk or trot.
At the close, I asked Christan if I could canter a simple fence, and she agreed with the condition that even if I messed up, I had to call it quits. Of course that put the pressure on, so I picked up a lovely canter, cantered toward the crossrail, the whole time thinking "dressage canter". He did try and speed up a few strides out (probably relieved that he was no longer trotting through the grid), but I kept my leg on, half-halted him, and it rode beautifully. Now, I know I should correct the speeding up, but Christan said I handled it very well.
It is soooo frustrating. The easy way out would be to allow him to pick up some speed, and then just breeze through the in and out. It's so hard to keep riding all the way up until the last stride, and then soften without tipping forward or clamping on your leg. I wish I had another horse I could ride that I could work on this, because I could tell Oliver was getting tired towards the end, and he was being a Saint and putting up with me getting left behind, hitting him in the mouth (only did that once, but had to slip my reins a whole bunch), putting him at a bad spot, etc.
Bella seems to be improving slightly. Greg did a quickie adjustment on her and she walked out much better afterwards. She is out in a bigger paddock with grass, and seems to be content walking around.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
King of the Hill (umm....pasture)
So, little Oliver is testing me….
We went to the dressage show (Antares) this past weekend, and he warmed up like a superstar. We went in, proceeded to have a very relaxed test, and then I asked for the first canter transition – buck, buck, buck. Luckily, they weren’t that big of bucks and I was able to stuff him forward out of it and we were okay to the next canter transition – more bucky bucky. Argh! I was surprised at how well I handled it, though – I just sat down, and rode him through. So, Christan came and watched me warm up for my next test (Novice A) and she watched as he bucked in the warmup arena for those canter transitions, too – now I was getting really irritated because he has NEVER done this before. It’s not like I was tense and digging my spurs into him, for Pete’s sake. Christan told me that I didn’t have him connected enough, and that I needed to ride him more “up” and “out”, especially in the canter. We had a lovely warmup – C said that if I rode the test like that, I would be in the 70% range. Of course, that didn’t happen. He tried to buck into his first canter transition – I nailed him, and he was okay. The next canter transition, he fell in around the turn, picked up the wrong lead, and I couldn’t bring him down until we almost completed half a circle. The rest of the test was okay, except that he fell in around the last turn down the centerline and we had a sprawly halt.
OK. I wasn’t expecting great scores, due to the disobedience, but he got the exact same score for both tests – a 39pp. Which, oddly enough, was enough to earn him 2nd place in both classes. I guess the judge was scoring rather high that day, as Christan won one of the classes with a 36pp. I guess there was some improvement as normally there would be no way I could get a 2nd place finish with lots of bucking J. So, now we need to work on connection – we’ve obviously got the relaxation. The judge’s comments were all along the lines of “get better balance and you’ll get higher scores”, blah blah blah, which all mean that he needs to be more connected. As least he’s not getting pinged on “tight back” or “tight neck” anymore.
Christan told me that when I get into the arena, I start to tip slightly forward, and my hands drop and allow him to fall behind my leg a bit. I don’t realize it’s happening, so I decided to download a hypnosis for the eventer MP3 online. It seems to be working – the first one I downloaded was on concentration and focus, and I’ve noticed that even my riding at home has gotten so much better. I had a flat lesson on Tuesday and it was probably one of the best ones yet. C told me that there was nobody in the world who could get their horses through by holding in front and kicking them up behind. She said that the only way to get them to soften over the back was to ride inside leg to outside rein, which meant lots of leg yielding to start. She said that she doesn’t do a lot of lateral work with her horses because she’s ALWAYS riding them from inside leg to outside rein, but when they get stiff, she incorporates it. So, to start, she had me leg yield from quarter line to long side, really focusing on keeping him straight and not allowing him to pop his head above the bit. We did this several times to each side, also concentrating on keeping him forward off the leg, and then we cantered. C had me canter as small as a circle as I could without losing the impulsion, and then allow him to spiral out into my outside rein, again keeping his body very straight. This worked wonders for keeping him solid in the outside rein, and also helped me realize when he fell behind my leg or got crooked. It was pretty intense work, but not once did C have to tell me to keep my shoulders back or to lift my hands – yay! I understand more than ever now why he’s not getting good marks in dressage – I’m too happy with allowing him to stay light in the contact and just passively ride him, instead of riding him every stride. C says that when she rides the little Appy mare she has in training, she is riding EVERY SINGLE STRIDE. She’s probably going to always have to ride this mare this way, whereas I won’t always have to do it with Ollie because he’s built more uphill. He just needs to be ridden that way until he gets strong enough to hold himself there. As far as jumping goes, he’s coming along really, really well. He’s allowing me to half-halt him back onto his haunches without him inverting, and we almost always get a perfect spot as a result. I took him for a hack today to ride the hills out back and to go over the biggish ditch back there. He needs more work on the hills, for sure, but it was really humid and hot and I don't blame him for running out of steam before the top. We jumped a few little Maiden/BN jumps, and then I cantered him up the hill and aimed for the grey bench at the top. Well, I made a mistake - first, that jump is much bigger than it looks at first glance, and second, I need a lot more impulsion up the hill if he's going to be able to rock back and jump it. We came in a little crooked, I took my leg off and leaned, and of course he ran to the side. No biggie - all my fault. I took him back over a little BN ramp a few times, and then attempted the grey bench again, this time with more impulsion and I really focused on keeping my leg on, sitting back, and framing him with the reins. He popped over it, but it was awkward and that tells me that it probably was too big for him. Afterwards, I walked him up to the ditch. Predictably, he stopped and tried to run out to the side, but I popped him on the right shoulder ( he naps to the right), made him face it, and within 20 seconds he went over it without too much fuss. I brought him around, trotted it, and he went right over. Went around the other way, and he did gawk and stop, but I stuffed him over it from a walk and then next time, he went right over, and landed so balanced that I hopped over the Novice grey ramp afterwards. He's such a good boy!
I think I’ve discovered why he’s acting naughty lately. C told me that she’s had to turn on the wire tape around the pasture, because Oliver apparently thought it would be a great idea if he grabbed it in his teeth and pulled it, post by post, off the fence. Not only was he doing that, he also decided to play “King of the Mountain” by climbing his front feet on top of the big Training level rolltop we have in the fenceline (it’s definitely max height, and it’s made of round timbers). He’s also trying to hop his hind feet up there, but it’s too slick. We were afraid he’d get tangled up in the wire – it’s mostly tape, but the jumps have wire across them so you can unhook them easily when you want to jump in and out of the pasture. Oliver is being really cheeky, and I think it’s because he’s out in that pasture with three other young horses, all younger than he is. He’s definitely King of the Pasture, and I think he’s testing his dominance by testing ME. He’s been sort of wiggling one step forward, inch by inch, in the grooming area (he’s ground tied), and so when I realized what he was doing, I had to nail him for it. He’s been much better since then.
We went to the dressage show (Antares) this past weekend, and he warmed up like a superstar. We went in, proceeded to have a very relaxed test, and then I asked for the first canter transition – buck, buck, buck. Luckily, they weren’t that big of bucks and I was able to stuff him forward out of it and we were okay to the next canter transition – more bucky bucky. Argh! I was surprised at how well I handled it, though – I just sat down, and rode him through. So, Christan came and watched me warm up for my next test (Novice A) and she watched as he bucked in the warmup arena for those canter transitions, too – now I was getting really irritated because he has NEVER done this before. It’s not like I was tense and digging my spurs into him, for Pete’s sake. Christan told me that I didn’t have him connected enough, and that I needed to ride him more “up” and “out”, especially in the canter. We had a lovely warmup – C said that if I rode the test like that, I would be in the 70% range. Of course, that didn’t happen. He tried to buck into his first canter transition – I nailed him, and he was okay. The next canter transition, he fell in around the turn, picked up the wrong lead, and I couldn’t bring him down until we almost completed half a circle. The rest of the test was okay, except that he fell in around the last turn down the centerline and we had a sprawly halt.
OK. I wasn’t expecting great scores, due to the disobedience, but he got the exact same score for both tests – a 39pp. Which, oddly enough, was enough to earn him 2nd place in both classes. I guess the judge was scoring rather high that day, as Christan won one of the classes with a 36pp. I guess there was some improvement as normally there would be no way I could get a 2nd place finish with lots of bucking J. So, now we need to work on connection – we’ve obviously got the relaxation. The judge’s comments were all along the lines of “get better balance and you’ll get higher scores”, blah blah blah, which all mean that he needs to be more connected. As least he’s not getting pinged on “tight back” or “tight neck” anymore.
Christan told me that when I get into the arena, I start to tip slightly forward, and my hands drop and allow him to fall behind my leg a bit. I don’t realize it’s happening, so I decided to download a hypnosis for the eventer MP3 online. It seems to be working – the first one I downloaded was on concentration and focus, and I’ve noticed that even my riding at home has gotten so much better. I had a flat lesson on Tuesday and it was probably one of the best ones yet. C told me that there was nobody in the world who could get their horses through by holding in front and kicking them up behind. She said that the only way to get them to soften over the back was to ride inside leg to outside rein, which meant lots of leg yielding to start. She said that she doesn’t do a lot of lateral work with her horses because she’s ALWAYS riding them from inside leg to outside rein, but when they get stiff, she incorporates it. So, to start, she had me leg yield from quarter line to long side, really focusing on keeping him straight and not allowing him to pop his head above the bit. We did this several times to each side, also concentrating on keeping him forward off the leg, and then we cantered. C had me canter as small as a circle as I could without losing the impulsion, and then allow him to spiral out into my outside rein, again keeping his body very straight. This worked wonders for keeping him solid in the outside rein, and also helped me realize when he fell behind my leg or got crooked. It was pretty intense work, but not once did C have to tell me to keep my shoulders back or to lift my hands – yay! I understand more than ever now why he’s not getting good marks in dressage – I’m too happy with allowing him to stay light in the contact and just passively ride him, instead of riding him every stride. C says that when she rides the little Appy mare she has in training, she is riding EVERY SINGLE STRIDE. She’s probably going to always have to ride this mare this way, whereas I won’t always have to do it with Ollie because he’s built more uphill. He just needs to be ridden that way until he gets strong enough to hold himself there. As far as jumping goes, he’s coming along really, really well. He’s allowing me to half-halt him back onto his haunches without him inverting, and we almost always get a perfect spot as a result. I took him for a hack today to ride the hills out back and to go over the biggish ditch back there. He needs more work on the hills, for sure, but it was really humid and hot and I don't blame him for running out of steam before the top. We jumped a few little Maiden/BN jumps, and then I cantered him up the hill and aimed for the grey bench at the top. Well, I made a mistake - first, that jump is much bigger than it looks at first glance, and second, I need a lot more impulsion up the hill if he's going to be able to rock back and jump it. We came in a little crooked, I took my leg off and leaned, and of course he ran to the side. No biggie - all my fault. I took him back over a little BN ramp a few times, and then attempted the grey bench again, this time with more impulsion and I really focused on keeping my leg on, sitting back, and framing him with the reins. He popped over it, but it was awkward and that tells me that it probably was too big for him. Afterwards, I walked him up to the ditch. Predictably, he stopped and tried to run out to the side, but I popped him on the right shoulder ( he naps to the right), made him face it, and within 20 seconds he went over it without too much fuss. I brought him around, trotted it, and he went right over. Went around the other way, and he did gawk and stop, but I stuffed him over it from a walk and then next time, he went right over, and landed so balanced that I hopped over the Novice grey ramp afterwards. He's such a good boy!
I think I’ve discovered why he’s acting naughty lately. C told me that she’s had to turn on the wire tape around the pasture, because Oliver apparently thought it would be a great idea if he grabbed it in his teeth and pulled it, post by post, off the fence. Not only was he doing that, he also decided to play “King of the Mountain” by climbing his front feet on top of the big Training level rolltop we have in the fenceline (it’s definitely max height, and it’s made of round timbers). He’s also trying to hop his hind feet up there, but it’s too slick. We were afraid he’d get tangled up in the wire – it’s mostly tape, but the jumps have wire across them so you can unhook them easily when you want to jump in and out of the pasture. Oliver is being really cheeky, and I think it’s because he’s out in that pasture with three other young horses, all younger than he is. He’s definitely King of the Pasture, and I think he’s testing his dominance by testing ME. He’s been sort of wiggling one step forward, inch by inch, in the grooming area (he’s ground tied), and so when I realized what he was doing, I had to nail him for it. He’s been much better since then.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Oliver goes XC schooling!
We went xc schooling at Mari Secrist's (here in Southern Pines) this afternoon, and we had a BALL! I’ve never been to her place before (apparently, you have to be a friend of hers, or be with your trainer who is a friend) but I’m impressed - it's a little gem. Nothing too fancy, but there are all sorts of questions, from BN on up, and a lovely, LOVELY water complex and several different sized ditches and banks, with a great big hill for those balance/terrain questions. And everything is immaculately groomed. You should see her barn – it’s nicer than a lot of people’s houses. TONS of land, all beautifully fenced with split rail, and all rolling hills.
I think all the flatwork with draw reins has paid off. We started by walking through the lovely water jump, back and forth, and Oliver apparently doesn't have an issue with water as he was threatening to paw and roll on me, so I had to keep him moving. Warmup in a slightly undulating field went well - he was listening to my half-halts, staying in front of my leg, and really listening. We started by trotting back and forth over a small log pile, then cantered it, staying uphill and balanced and really concentrating on getting and keeping a good canter up to and away from the jump. From there, we did the little ditch between the two feeder trees, which Oliver barely looked at, and then came down to the bigger ditch. Not sure why he planted the brakes on this one, but I guess it was wider than he's used to and deeper, but after a bit of coaxing he went over, and we trotted and then cantered over it several times. I think if I had been more insistent, he would have gone over sooner, but I'm trying not to make a big deal about things. We started to string some jumps together - pick up a right lead canter, over the ditch, right turn over the big log in the field, gallop out and then rollback to the little log pile, and then canter on into the water. He was lovely, just like a hunter, loping along and nailing his spots. After we got bored with the water jump and ditch, we walked up the steep hill to the top, where there was a picture frame (very small, but Ollie's first!). We trotted the picture frame, but I forgot to keep my leg on and we wobbled on landing, which brought us in a bit unbalanced to the bending line over the shale wall, which he's never seen before. He gawked, but I booted him over it, and then he did a lovely "out" over the hanging log. We cantered into this little combination, which is bending line question, a light-to-dark-question (from a sunny field into a copse of trees), and a slight downhill question - whew! Oliver had a beautiful jump over the hanging log in, saw the "out" (the shale wall), and then grabbed the bit and barreled down over it, which resulted in a chip. Argh. Christan had me do it in reverse, which rode very well, and then reversed it. We cantered in - again, lovely spot - I sat up, put my leg on, half-halted and got his butt underneath him, and although it wasn't pretty, we stayed balanced and then next time, I was able to give a slight half-halt with my shoulders and leg, and he rebalanced himself and jumped it like a pro. Yay! We finished with a bank question. Oliver cantered up and down a little bank, and then Christan had me canter up the bank, one stride over a hanging log, and then down the hill and left turn and drop into the water. Oliver has never done a one-stride like this, but I kept my leg on, sat back and the one stride rode beautifully, then gathered him back up and we trotted into the water. I love how he just locks on to the jump in front of him – he did the same thing at the Horse Park over the Novice bank complex. It felt like he sort of scrambled in, but he did go in without hesitating - such a brave boy - and the next time (just trotting into the water), he was brilliant. He trotted down, saw the water, and picked up a bouncy canter of his own accord and just popped in. I was pretty happy with that! So, two little bobbles (ditch and shale wall), but totally greenie moments. The best thing was that he was so rideable throughout the whole thing, so I guess all that flatwork is paying off!
I think all the flatwork with draw reins has paid off. We started by walking through the lovely water jump, back and forth, and Oliver apparently doesn't have an issue with water as he was threatening to paw and roll on me, so I had to keep him moving. Warmup in a slightly undulating field went well - he was listening to my half-halts, staying in front of my leg, and really listening. We started by trotting back and forth over a small log pile, then cantered it, staying uphill and balanced and really concentrating on getting and keeping a good canter up to and away from the jump. From there, we did the little ditch between the two feeder trees, which Oliver barely looked at, and then came down to the bigger ditch. Not sure why he planted the brakes on this one, but I guess it was wider than he's used to and deeper, but after a bit of coaxing he went over, and we trotted and then cantered over it several times. I think if I had been more insistent, he would have gone over sooner, but I'm trying not to make a big deal about things. We started to string some jumps together - pick up a right lead canter, over the ditch, right turn over the big log in the field, gallop out and then rollback to the little log pile, and then canter on into the water. He was lovely, just like a hunter, loping along and nailing his spots. After we got bored with the water jump and ditch, we walked up the steep hill to the top, where there was a picture frame (very small, but Ollie's first!). We trotted the picture frame, but I forgot to keep my leg on and we wobbled on landing, which brought us in a bit unbalanced to the bending line over the shale wall, which he's never seen before. He gawked, but I booted him over it, and then he did a lovely "out" over the hanging log. We cantered into this little combination, which is bending line question, a light-to-dark-question (from a sunny field into a copse of trees), and a slight downhill question - whew! Oliver had a beautiful jump over the hanging log in, saw the "out" (the shale wall), and then grabbed the bit and barreled down over it, which resulted in a chip. Argh. Christan had me do it in reverse, which rode very well, and then reversed it. We cantered in - again, lovely spot - I sat up, put my leg on, half-halted and got his butt underneath him, and although it wasn't pretty, we stayed balanced and then next time, I was able to give a slight half-halt with my shoulders and leg, and he rebalanced himself and jumped it like a pro. Yay! We finished with a bank question. Oliver cantered up and down a little bank, and then Christan had me canter up the bank, one stride over a hanging log, and then down the hill and left turn and drop into the water. Oliver has never done a one-stride like this, but I kept my leg on, sat back and the one stride rode beautifully, then gathered him back up and we trotted into the water. I love how he just locks on to the jump in front of him – he did the same thing at the Horse Park over the Novice bank complex. It felt like he sort of scrambled in, but he did go in without hesitating - such a brave boy - and the next time (just trotting into the water), he was brilliant. He trotted down, saw the water, and picked up a bouncy canter of his own accord and just popped in. I was pretty happy with that! So, two little bobbles (ditch and shale wall), but totally greenie moments. The best thing was that he was so rideable throughout the whole thing, so I guess all that flatwork is paying off!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)