This was my second lesson in the hackmore and since the chiropractors visit. I had told my trainer that I had decided I just didn't have the time to devote to making Secret into any kind of show horse and I wanted to spend all of the time that I do have just enjoying riding. So, we've been working on riding on a loose rein nice and relaxed, teaching her to neck-rein, bending, and balancing.
First thing we worked on was an exercise to help with getting her to stop off of seat and voice as opposed to pulling back on her face. Basically we turned a tight circle until I felt like she was wanting to stop, then I relaxed my legs and seat and said "whoa". Again, this might sound crazy-rita, but its working. At the very end of the lesson I cantered her a few laps and when I wanted to stop I just relaxed and said "whoa"... didn't even have to move my hands, she just stopped. Awesome! Homework is ten of these circles in each direction.
The next thing was working on actually getting her to bend. We did bigger (10-15meter) circles trying to get her to bend around my inside leg. So, I had to keep weight on my inside leg, move my outside leg back, turn my upper body pretty much all the way around without dropping either shoulder, and then micro-manage her -- moving her off first one leg then the other -- all the way around the turn. We did this for probably 30minutes and my legs were killing me!!! But, by the end she was actually bending really nicely, so that's homework too!
We ended the lesson with some canter work. We had done our trot work outside in the big arena, but I'm still too scared to canter out there. I had asked my trainer to get on and canter her outside, which she did, and we concurred that she is still too bouncy and pulls a little too much near the gate for me to go for it out there yet. So,we moved back into the smaller indoor arena for canter work. It was actually really nice! She is picking up on the transition cues right away now, instead of 8-10 strides away. She's still bouncy, but getting better I think. My trainer had recommended sitting a "half-seat", which is basically just forward in the saddle with ~70% of your weight in your stirrups... it's like half-way between full seat and two-point. I felt like I moved and bounced more, but since most of my weight was in the stirrup I wasn't really slamming down on her back. It was actually alot more secure for me and I wasn't as scared. We only worked in the counter-clockwise direction, Secret's good direction, but the last canter was "perfect" (a direct quote from my trainer!) right down to the "whoa". So we decided to end on a really good note!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Improving my seat
Because Secret spent so many months working totally off her front end because of a twisted pelvis, I'm trying to really be concious of getting her back on her hind end and re-building those atrophied muscles. I saw an episode of Downunder Horsemanship on RFD-TV the other day (I DVR all of these people... I don't sit at home and wait for them. DVR is the way to go BTW, by skipping the commercials these half-hour shows are done in 10 min!). Anyway, it was showing a more intermediate "lunging-for-respect" excercise where you make the horse do roll-backs to change direction. I thought it looked like I could kill two birds with one stone -- "lunge-for-respect" and get her working on the back. So I've tried it twice now and I'm actually pretty pleased. Yesterday she got herself all worked up because she's not used to being asked to do something so abruptly. But, even though she was upset and it took me ~15min to get her to just walk again, she was doing lovely roll-backs! So I think her pelvis is feeling better! I'll continue to do this exercise.
After I let her cool off from all that, I put the bareback pad on. I figured it would be a good day to work on my seat since she'd already tired herself out some. I've always heard, and its been my experience, that bareback riding is great for developing an independent seat and balance. Well, I must have been doing something right these last few months because last time I rode in the bareback pad the forward trot was a terrifying thing! Yesterday we trotted/jogged in the indoor arena for a few laps and I felt so good about it that I was adventurous enough to go out to the big outdoor arena (the one without a gate!) and trot out there. Even when she hit the forward trot, making a B-line for the exit, and we had to argue a bit about staying inside the arena on the rail as opposed to actually exiting, I still felt pretty secure. That was really great! I see alot more bareback riding in our future. I really won't be happy until I can feel comfortable cantering bareback!
Again, I know this sounds crazy-rita, but I really feel alot closer to my horse after the whole animal communicator thing. Yesterday I really felt like she was taking care of me... I don't know if I've ever felt that before. It was awesome. Now, this could all be psychosomatic... all in my head... but the reality is that, even if it is all in my head, it's improved my confidence (which is shaky at best) and made me love riding again. So, whether its real or imagined, its made all the difference and that's well worth $40 to me!
After I let her cool off from all that, I put the bareback pad on. I figured it would be a good day to work on my seat since she'd already tired herself out some. I've always heard, and its been my experience, that bareback riding is great for developing an independent seat and balance. Well, I must have been doing something right these last few months because last time I rode in the bareback pad the forward trot was a terrifying thing! Yesterday we trotted/jogged in the indoor arena for a few laps and I felt so good about it that I was adventurous enough to go out to the big outdoor arena (the one without a gate!) and trot out there. Even when she hit the forward trot, making a B-line for the exit, and we had to argue a bit about staying inside the arena on the rail as opposed to actually exiting, I still felt pretty secure. That was really great! I see alot more bareback riding in our future. I really won't be happy until I can feel comfortable cantering bareback!
Again, I know this sounds crazy-rita, but I really feel alot closer to my horse after the whole animal communicator thing. Yesterday I really felt like she was taking care of me... I don't know if I've ever felt that before. It was awesome. Now, this could all be psychosomatic... all in my head... but the reality is that, even if it is all in my head, it's improved my confidence (which is shaky at best) and made me love riding again. So, whether its real or imagined, its made all the difference and that's well worth $40 to me!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Gonna be some changes made!
There have been HUGE changes in my life since my last visit.
(1) I cut ALL of the narcissists out of my life. It's amazing how much time that has created for me to just be me!
(2) I'm switching trainers and methods and all kinds of things.
(3) I had an animal communicator talk to Secret and found out what was wrong.
(4) Got Secret FIXED!!!
So, the animal communicator... sounds crazy right? I found this woman totally by accident, reading a bunch of articles on a puppy in NJ who had been starved then thrown 22 stories down a garbage chute and survived. They had had an animal communicator call and "talk" to him. I thought it was fascinating so I started reading up and came across Colleen Nicholson who has some great reviews on horse forums. She charges $40 for 20min and I figured it was worth that much just for the story... I was obviously skeptical. Anyway, I set up the appointment and she calls. She was DEAD ON about alot of things! I said to her, "I really want to know what's wrong with her leg." I intentionally didn't say which one. She replies, "Oh! Is this the right hind?" NO WAY!!! Thats a 25% chance if she's guessing. She told me that Secret said that she had fallen and twisted her pelvis so now the right side is higher than the left side and that's why she's lame. I thought, OK, we'll see about that. I went online and found an equine chiropractor in my area who had GREAT recommendations and references (Dr. Heidi Bockhold, if anyone is interested). She came out last Thursday and worked on Secret. I didn't tell her what the animal communicator had said, instead I just told her that I thought something was up because her canter had been super bouncy and forward lately. That's when she said, "Oh, well its probably because her pelvis is so twisted. The right side is higher thant he left so she really can't work off her back end." NO WAY! It was all I could to keep my mouth from falling open. I'm not saying I believe it, I'm not saying I don't believe it, I'm just saying.
Secret is still a little sore from her adjustment, probably because she was twisted so badly. But she is doing SO much better! Even her trot is better and her attitude is GREATLY improved... probably because she's not in pain anymore!
The animal communicator also said, "Secret wants me to tell you, and she knows you're not going to like it, but she really likes pink." I HATE PINK "But, she says that she looks really good in Burgandy." That's true. "So she feels like that's a good compromise." Ok, fine, I went out and bought a burgandy headstall and saddle pad and told her that she damn well better like it! Maybe that's part of the reason her attitude has improved too???
I also got rid of the bit and the indian bosal. The bit had zero stopping power when she really gets upset. The bosal had no release when she was being good. So, I went to the tack store and spent an hour asking a whole bunch of stupid questions. I finally left with a Jim Warner Hackamore. Its a mechanical hackamore and so has the potential to be very harsh. But, I really want to see her riding on a loose rein and starting to neck rein. Not very English I know, but I'm kinda over the pretentiousness and just want to have fun with my horse. I may be converting to western (GASP!!!!), we'll see. So, I've ridden her in it twice now and I think she goes really well in it. I'm hardly ever touching her face, but when she does something stupid (like spins and bolts because a mini-horse scared her!) the hack has plenty of force to stop her. I'm trying to teach her neck reining and stopping off my seat. Its slow progress, but she's coming along.
I'm thinking about going to see a Ranch Versatility Horse trainer for some lessons or just to see what it's like. I think Secret might like it better as it is more mental stimulation doing different things. I also think it just looks fun... and it doesn't require leaving the ground, which becomes more important to me the older I get. We'll see.
Either way I am back to having fun with my OWN horse. You have no idea how much of a relief that has been!
(1) I cut ALL of the narcissists out of my life. It's amazing how much time that has created for me to just be me!
(2) I'm switching trainers and methods and all kinds of things.
(3) I had an animal communicator talk to Secret and found out what was wrong.
(4) Got Secret FIXED!!!
So, the animal communicator... sounds crazy right? I found this woman totally by accident, reading a bunch of articles on a puppy in NJ who had been starved then thrown 22 stories down a garbage chute and survived. They had had an animal communicator call and "talk" to him. I thought it was fascinating so I started reading up and came across Colleen Nicholson who has some great reviews on horse forums. She charges $40 for 20min and I figured it was worth that much just for the story... I was obviously skeptical. Anyway, I set up the appointment and she calls. She was DEAD ON about alot of things! I said to her, "I really want to know what's wrong with her leg." I intentionally didn't say which one. She replies, "Oh! Is this the right hind?" NO WAY!!! Thats a 25% chance if she's guessing. She told me that Secret said that she had fallen and twisted her pelvis so now the right side is higher than the left side and that's why she's lame. I thought, OK, we'll see about that. I went online and found an equine chiropractor in my area who had GREAT recommendations and references (Dr. Heidi Bockhold, if anyone is interested). She came out last Thursday and worked on Secret. I didn't tell her what the animal communicator had said, instead I just told her that I thought something was up because her canter had been super bouncy and forward lately. That's when she said, "Oh, well its probably because her pelvis is so twisted. The right side is higher thant he left so she really can't work off her back end." NO WAY! It was all I could to keep my mouth from falling open. I'm not saying I believe it, I'm not saying I don't believe it, I'm just saying.
Secret is still a little sore from her adjustment, probably because she was twisted so badly. But she is doing SO much better! Even her trot is better and her attitude is GREATLY improved... probably because she's not in pain anymore!
The animal communicator also said, "Secret wants me to tell you, and she knows you're not going to like it, but she really likes pink." I HATE PINK "But, she says that she looks really good in Burgandy." That's true. "So she feels like that's a good compromise." Ok, fine, I went out and bought a burgandy headstall and saddle pad and told her that she damn well better like it! Maybe that's part of the reason her attitude has improved too???
I also got rid of the bit and the indian bosal. The bit had zero stopping power when she really gets upset. The bosal had no release when she was being good. So, I went to the tack store and spent an hour asking a whole bunch of stupid questions. I finally left with a Jim Warner Hackamore. Its a mechanical hackamore and so has the potential to be very harsh. But, I really want to see her riding on a loose rein and starting to neck rein. Not very English I know, but I'm kinda over the pretentiousness and just want to have fun with my horse. I may be converting to western (GASP!!!!), we'll see. So, I've ridden her in it twice now and I think she goes really well in it. I'm hardly ever touching her face, but when she does something stupid (like spins and bolts because a mini-horse scared her!) the hack has plenty of force to stop her. I'm trying to teach her neck reining and stopping off my seat. Its slow progress, but she's coming along.
I'm thinking about going to see a Ranch Versatility Horse trainer for some lessons or just to see what it's like. I think Secret might like it better as it is more mental stimulation doing different things. I also think it just looks fun... and it doesn't require leaving the ground, which becomes more important to me the older I get. We'll see.
Either way I am back to having fun with my OWN horse. You have no idea how much of a relief that has been!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Kahlua Update
While my horse is being stupid, Kahlua is really coming along!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXNSEQBACX8
She's trotting willingly, as you can see in the video. Not shown in the video is her donig a medium trot, a working trot, AND and extended trot all very well. She's bending, doing circles and serpentines in the trot. The change in her is unbelievable.
I feel kinda guilty though because I feel like I ride better on her than I do on my own horse. I also feel guilty because I feel like I should spend more time riding my own horse than this one (its pretty equal right now), but this one doesn't scare me as much, which is kinda strange considering THIS is the one that had a serious bucking problem not to mention her sour attitude.
Who knew that riding horses as a hobby could create such an emotional mess!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXNSEQBACX8
She's trotting willingly, as you can see in the video. Not shown in the video is her donig a medium trot, a working trot, AND and extended trot all very well. She's bending, doing circles and serpentines in the trot. The change in her is unbelievable.
I feel kinda guilty though because I feel like I ride better on her than I do on my own horse. I also feel guilty because I feel like I should spend more time riding my own horse than this one (its pretty equal right now), but this one doesn't scare me as much, which is kinda strange considering THIS is the one that had a serious bucking problem not to mention her sour attitude.
Who knew that riding horses as a hobby could create such an emotional mess!
Time will tell
So, I've been MIA for awhile. We've hit some major hurdles. I had never ridden my horse with enough consistency to be aware of all the holes in her training, which have now become painfully obvious. In three weeks, I've been dumped three times.
The first time was a trail ride with some friends who are total beginners (three lessons under their belt). They were on dead-broke horses as was their instructor and yet somehow I ended up as the lead rider. My horse is wanting to run and so we're fighting about it. At about that same moment, the dog rushes out of the bushes to our right. Secret went sideways and I didn't. Now, there was nothing strange about that as she's always had problems with dogs and a year ago would have been back at the barn by the time I got up. So, I let that one slide.
The second time we were out on the trail really close to the barn alone. I don't like riding alone because you never know what can happen. But, I also think its important for her to be willing to go out alone. We were cantering along when all of sudden she just got really bouncy and really fast. It wasn't a nice canter, it wasn't a gallop, maybe she was cross-firing, I don't know. But off I went and she ran back to the barn without me. First time ever. B!^*H!!!! So I walked back to the barn, got on her, and went back out. We just walked and trotted the second time and all was well so I thought we were ok.
The third time was at the end of a trail ride, my friend and I were cooling down in the arena and she started cantering her horse. Well, maybe Secret thought it was a race because she took off like a rocket in that same super-bouncy whatever-it-is that she's been doing and I couldn't get her stopped. I tried pulling back and saying "whoa", which had no effect and I was too off-balance to one-rein stop her. So I just grabbed mane and held on as best I could. When she slid to a stop at the gate I kinda rolled off and hit the gate on the way down.
Well at this point I'm super frustrated. So, I ask my friend, who's been riding longer and alot better than me, to get on her and canter her. She was able to go exactly two laps before she was huffing and puffing and begging to get off. Apparently my horse wants to go into QH racing because she absolutely will NOT do the nice steady canter that was part of the reason I bought her in the first place!
My biggest concerns are (1) I can't define exactly what the problem is and (2) I don't believe that my seat at the canter is secure enough to fix it. The obvious answer seems to be to pay a better rider to fix it, but I've been the only one to ride this horse and fix her issues since I got her and I really don't want any one else to ride her. So, I'm caught between my fear and my pride I guess.
I thought that maybe it was a respect issue. Maybe integrating into this new herd, she's having a moment of trying to re-evaluate who's alpha in our relationship. So, yesterday I went back to the ground work. She moved off when I asked, lunged on-line, changed direction, free-lunged... although the free-lunging is where we ran into problems. Our arena doesn't have an actual gate, just a rope where the gate should be. So, on her first pass of free-lunging at the canter/gallop/crazy run-away, she jumped the rope and ran back to her pasture. I went and got her and put the rope up higher. On the second pass, she realized she couldn't jump it so she just ran through it and ripped it down. I realized this rope thing wasn't going to work. So, a friend helped me move three jump standards and two barrels into the gate opening. On the third pass, she sized that up and decided it wasn't worth it so I finally got her to go a whole lap. Then I changed her direction a few times. By now she's breathing hard, so I squat down and say "whoa" and she finally comes over and "joins up" following me around without the lead.
I hope that we are making some progress, but I guess I won't really know until next time. I also think that I just need to be more consistent with discipline. She's such a good natured horse, never ugly or mean, that I've always let her get away with alot and don't correct her until its pretty aggregious. I think she's realized that and is now taking advantage so yesterday I was really adamant about making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard EVERY TIME. There was alot of lip smacking going on so I think time will tell.
The first time was a trail ride with some friends who are total beginners (three lessons under their belt). They were on dead-broke horses as was their instructor and yet somehow I ended up as the lead rider. My horse is wanting to run and so we're fighting about it. At about that same moment, the dog rushes out of the bushes to our right. Secret went sideways and I didn't. Now, there was nothing strange about that as she's always had problems with dogs and a year ago would have been back at the barn by the time I got up. So, I let that one slide.
The second time we were out on the trail really close to the barn alone. I don't like riding alone because you never know what can happen. But, I also think its important for her to be willing to go out alone. We were cantering along when all of sudden she just got really bouncy and really fast. It wasn't a nice canter, it wasn't a gallop, maybe she was cross-firing, I don't know. But off I went and she ran back to the barn without me. First time ever. B!^*H!!!! So I walked back to the barn, got on her, and went back out. We just walked and trotted the second time and all was well so I thought we were ok.
The third time was at the end of a trail ride, my friend and I were cooling down in the arena and she started cantering her horse. Well, maybe Secret thought it was a race because she took off like a rocket in that same super-bouncy whatever-it-is that she's been doing and I couldn't get her stopped. I tried pulling back and saying "whoa", which had no effect and I was too off-balance to one-rein stop her. So I just grabbed mane and held on as best I could. When she slid to a stop at the gate I kinda rolled off and hit the gate on the way down.
Well at this point I'm super frustrated. So, I ask my friend, who's been riding longer and alot better than me, to get on her and canter her. She was able to go exactly two laps before she was huffing and puffing and begging to get off. Apparently my horse wants to go into QH racing because she absolutely will NOT do the nice steady canter that was part of the reason I bought her in the first place!
My biggest concerns are (1) I can't define exactly what the problem is and (2) I don't believe that my seat at the canter is secure enough to fix it. The obvious answer seems to be to pay a better rider to fix it, but I've been the only one to ride this horse and fix her issues since I got her and I really don't want any one else to ride her. So, I'm caught between my fear and my pride I guess.
I thought that maybe it was a respect issue. Maybe integrating into this new herd, she's having a moment of trying to re-evaluate who's alpha in our relationship. So, yesterday I went back to the ground work. She moved off when I asked, lunged on-line, changed direction, free-lunged... although the free-lunging is where we ran into problems. Our arena doesn't have an actual gate, just a rope where the gate should be. So, on her first pass of free-lunging at the canter/gallop/crazy run-away, she jumped the rope and ran back to her pasture. I went and got her and put the rope up higher. On the second pass, she realized she couldn't jump it so she just ran through it and ripped it down. I realized this rope thing wasn't going to work. So, a friend helped me move three jump standards and two barrels into the gate opening. On the third pass, she sized that up and decided it wasn't worth it so I finally got her to go a whole lap. Then I changed her direction a few times. By now she's breathing hard, so I squat down and say "whoa" and she finally comes over and "joins up" following me around without the lead.
I hope that we are making some progress, but I guess I won't really know until next time. I also think that I just need to be more consistent with discipline. She's such a good natured horse, never ugly or mean, that I've always let her get away with alot and don't correct her until its pretty aggregious. I think she's realized that and is now taking advantage so yesterday I was really adamant about making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard EVERY TIME. There was alot of lip smacking going on so I think time will tell.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Up to speed...
I was hoping to get to make a second post last week covering my lesson but I ran out of time, so let's get up to speed.
Sunday 1/20/2011: My lesson started out OK, but I was still having trouble getting Secret into her favorite corner. My trainer kept yelling at me about dropping my outside hand... I KNOW that I'm dropping it, I just don't know how to make it stop. I got really frustrated about this so we moved on to ground poles, but my whole lesson was tainted. Looking back on it now I feel like we have made ALOT of progress on two-point position and ground poles since we started on them just a few weeks ago. But, getting her on the rail and the canter, both the transition and my seat, need serious work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OaHuDVkyA&feature=autoplay&list=UL8_4IYp9Q6jk&index=1&playnext=4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1gwr_QL6K0&feature=BF&list=UL8_4IYp9Q6jk&index=2
After my lesson I went with my trainer to her place to ride one of her horses. This horse (Kahlua) had been broke to saddle three years ago and since then has been through a stream of riders who all quit because she bucked at the trot. When I first started riding her last summer EVERY time I asked for the trot she would buck. She had NO steering. She was stiff and her feet were stuck. I finally stopped trying to ride her through it and started doing alot of ground work... Clinton Anderson style! This horse is as stubborn as they come. I've literally BEATEN her with the stick and had her look at me like, "Whatever" My arms wore out before she did more than once. But I've finally gotten her yielding pretty well. She will back nicely and lunges quite well. It's not up to Clinton's standards, but its light years from where she started! I noticed when I lunged her with the saddle that she trotted with her nose on the ground. I don't trust her enough to let her get her head down like that when I'm in the saddle and I thought maybe part of the trouble is that she needs to stretch her back. So, lately I've been lunging her to let her stretch before I get on and it seems to really be helping. I've had two rides out of her now with no bucking and she's been very willing! I'm really pleased with her so that was a good way to end the day after a very frustrating lesson.
Sunday 2/6/2011: I was really excited for this lesson. I had just decided that I wasn't going to get frustrated or pissy and I would just go with it knowing that we are making steady progress. My trainer also decided that we would try using a bit. When I first got Secret they were riding her in a plain stainless O-ring jointed snaffle. When I rode her in that she had NO brakes. Everytime she would stick her head in the air, get it between her teeth and brace. So, to get more braking power I switched to an indian bosal. That put more nose pressure on so that she had to give at the poll and stop. After I got her brakes tuned up and working well I switched to a cross-under bridle for clearer communication while working and then to a side-pull for trails. But, no we're starting to ask for more sophisticated things in the arena that each rein needs to have its own meaning, so we decided to try putting a bit back on her. I was VERY apprehensive remembering her behavior last time and knowing she's not had a bit in her mouth in three years. So, I started with a rubber jointed snaffle.
I put it in her mouth, adjusted it, and she started chewing and looking at me like, "well... ok... if this is what you want I don't care" I just walked her a bit to let her think it over, then started with bending and backing so she could get the idea. She rode really well in it. When we started the lesson we were working on her favorite corner and FINALLY started to make some progress after my trainer told me to stand in my outside stirrup and push with my inside leg. Frankly, if she had told me that outside stirrup bit two weeks ago we could have saved everyone alot of aggravation! But at least its starting to get fixed! After doing a few circles in the corners we decided to switch her to a brass, egg butt, french link snaffle. She instantly relaxed and was REALLY working well by the end of the lesson. So well in fact that we almost got into that corner at the trot!
To round things out we worked on the canter... specifically transitions into and out of and keeping my ass in the saddle. All of which are improving! One piece seems to get better every time I ride... I just may take few weeks to put all the pieces together.
Overall my seat was better today, my hands are better but need work at the canter and forcing myself to not drop my outside hand, my legs are better if I warm up with them tied and I really felt like Secret did GREAT with the bit today.
A great lesson!
Sunday 1/20/2011: My lesson started out OK, but I was still having trouble getting Secret into her favorite corner. My trainer kept yelling at me about dropping my outside hand... I KNOW that I'm dropping it, I just don't know how to make it stop. I got really frustrated about this so we moved on to ground poles, but my whole lesson was tainted. Looking back on it now I feel like we have made ALOT of progress on two-point position and ground poles since we started on them just a few weeks ago. But, getting her on the rail and the canter, both the transition and my seat, need serious work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OaHuDVkyA&feature=autoplay&list=UL8_4IYp9Q6jk&index=1&playnext=4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1gwr_QL6K0&feature=BF&list=UL8_4IYp9Q6jk&index=2
After my lesson I went with my trainer to her place to ride one of her horses. This horse (Kahlua) had been broke to saddle three years ago and since then has been through a stream of riders who all quit because she bucked at the trot. When I first started riding her last summer EVERY time I asked for the trot she would buck. She had NO steering. She was stiff and her feet were stuck. I finally stopped trying to ride her through it and started doing alot of ground work... Clinton Anderson style! This horse is as stubborn as they come. I've literally BEATEN her with the stick and had her look at me like, "Whatever" My arms wore out before she did more than once. But I've finally gotten her yielding pretty well. She will back nicely and lunges quite well. It's not up to Clinton's standards, but its light years from where she started! I noticed when I lunged her with the saddle that she trotted with her nose on the ground. I don't trust her enough to let her get her head down like that when I'm in the saddle and I thought maybe part of the trouble is that she needs to stretch her back. So, lately I've been lunging her to let her stretch before I get on and it seems to really be helping. I've had two rides out of her now with no bucking and she's been very willing! I'm really pleased with her so that was a good way to end the day after a very frustrating lesson.
Sunday 2/6/2011: I was really excited for this lesson. I had just decided that I wasn't going to get frustrated or pissy and I would just go with it knowing that we are making steady progress. My trainer also decided that we would try using a bit. When I first got Secret they were riding her in a plain stainless O-ring jointed snaffle. When I rode her in that she had NO brakes. Everytime she would stick her head in the air, get it between her teeth and brace. So, to get more braking power I switched to an indian bosal. That put more nose pressure on so that she had to give at the poll and stop. After I got her brakes tuned up and working well I switched to a cross-under bridle for clearer communication while working and then to a side-pull for trails. But, no we're starting to ask for more sophisticated things in the arena that each rein needs to have its own meaning, so we decided to try putting a bit back on her. I was VERY apprehensive remembering her behavior last time and knowing she's not had a bit in her mouth in three years. So, I started with a rubber jointed snaffle.
I put it in her mouth, adjusted it, and she started chewing and looking at me like, "well... ok... if this is what you want I don't care" I just walked her a bit to let her think it over, then started with bending and backing so she could get the idea. She rode really well in it. When we started the lesson we were working on her favorite corner and FINALLY started to make some progress after my trainer told me to stand in my outside stirrup and push with my inside leg. Frankly, if she had told me that outside stirrup bit two weeks ago we could have saved everyone alot of aggravation! But at least its starting to get fixed! After doing a few circles in the corners we decided to switch her to a brass, egg butt, french link snaffle. She instantly relaxed and was REALLY working well by the end of the lesson. So well in fact that we almost got into that corner at the trot!
To round things out we worked on the canter... specifically transitions into and out of and keeping my ass in the saddle. All of which are improving! One piece seems to get better every time I ride... I just may take few weeks to put all the pieces together.
Overall my seat was better today, my hands are better but need work at the canter and forcing myself to not drop my outside hand, my legs are better if I warm up with them tied and I really felt like Secret did GREAT with the bit today.
A great lesson!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
More Happy Trails!
I didn't get to ride all week! That's what I get for having a job in healthcare.... alot of late hours and long weeks.
On Saturday the saddle fitter was scheduled to come out because my trainer had said she thought my saddle was too small for my horse. But, as luck would have it, the saddle fitter said it was fine and I could save my money unless I just WANTED a new saddle. Umm... thanks but I think I'll save that $1500!
After she had watched me ride in my saddle and I had paid her, a new friend at the new barn asked if I wanted to go out on the trail with her. It was a great ride. Mostly just a walk, but we explored alot more of the trails than I had been able to up until now. Secret actually broke a sweat a little!
Don't get much more free than that!
On Saturday the saddle fitter was scheduled to come out because my trainer had said she thought my saddle was too small for my horse. But, as luck would have it, the saddle fitter said it was fine and I could save my money unless I just WANTED a new saddle. Umm... thanks but I think I'll save that $1500!
After she had watched me ride in my saddle and I had paid her, a new friend at the new barn asked if I wanted to go out on the trail with her. It was a great ride. Mostly just a walk, but we explored alot more of the trails than I had been able to up until now. Secret actually broke a sweat a little!
Don't get much more free than that!
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