Equine Inspiration
Riding Diary #5
Sunday - lesson day
Had a great lesson on X. He has an issue with bending his neck behind his poll, so I simply have to avoid using my hands as much as possible, and keep him really forward.
Goal for the week is to improve shoulder-in. It seems that in the past he's been asked to shoulder-in more by pushing the quarters out, so I have to think about turning as if I'm going across the diagonal, then the inside leg stops him from going there.
It was good to do shoulder-in in a lesson, as I really want to develop my 'feel' for the movement.
Monday - day off...
Tuesday - day off...
Wednesday - Ride
Had a good ride, but I had to cut it short, so it was only about 20 min. Pretty much did long and low, and a bit of leg yielding then finished up.
Thursday - Ride
Had a good ride, really started to get a few strides of good shoulder-in happening. I rode quite a few serpentines, and the changes of bend are getting much better. He no longer runs forward or tries various crookedness/falling out through the shoulder manoeuvres, but does a nice smooth change of bend.
I'm not sure if it's wishful thinking on my part, but I think his neck muscles are looking a little better... although let's face it, that's not hard! He was so weedy when I got him!
I've booked in for a lesson on saturday. Wow, two weeks in a row! :P
Riding Diary #4
Canter circles were pretty good too. He stayed calm and listened to my 'it's the same bend, same turn all the way around' aids a lot better. Normally on the end circles I have to be really aware of making sure he doesn't drift outward, but this time it was a lot easier.
It's great to feel things starting to come together as we get to know each other better. I've only had the horse about a month now, and the opportunities to ride haven't exactly been consistent, so really things are going about as well as can be expected.
Lesson tomorrow! Eek! I have to forget that fear I've had of 'oh no, my coach won't like the horse, she'll say I'm riding dreadfully, etc, etc'. Lessons are meant to be helpful!
I have to accept that:
- I haven't got the fitness I once had because I've barely ridden for the last year! I can't expect to ride exactly the same as I used to when I was riding up to 4 horses a day. It's unrealistic and completely unfair on myself!
- The horse is what he is. A genuine horse with a really honest and trainable temperament who has a nice bit of cadence about his trot. I don't have unlimited funds for buying horses with big flashy (expensive...) paces. That's one day further down the track ;) I'm 'honing my craft' with the honest, quiet horses I have.
- I'm very grateful for having the opportunity to ride such lovely horses.
Ok, I'm very tired now and in serious need of sleep! I will of course update after my lesson tomorrow! *Cross fingers*
Riding Diary #3
Lunged V for about 5-10 minutes to see how he’d go on the arena. I’ve booked in for a lesson Sunday, so I wanted to test things out. I really feel that I need to be lunged without stirrups, because my position is really not what it used to be at all! I really have to be conscious of staying straight so that I don’t collapse my hip! The joy of a collapsed hip is that it affects pretty much your entire body, and therefore your position is soon completely out of whack. Poor horse… imagine trying to put up with someone asking you to do lateral work when they’re not even sitting straight! Talk about mixed messages!
So after the little lunge test I hopped on and rode for about half an hour. He was rushing in trot to begin with, but the canter circles were much better today. He hardly tried to fall out through the shoulder at all! I rode simple change through trot across the centreline to see how he’d go, and it was much better than I expected, so that was cool.
I rode down near the mirrors (at the scary end! :P ) and really tried to correct his tendency to curl his neck over and drop his poll instead of keeping his poll up. It’s going to take a while because he’s been ridden like that for quite a while before I got him, and he also needs to build up a lot of muscle to be able to carry himself easily! He’s got such a long neck that it must be quite hard for him to maintain the correct frame.
Leg yielding was ok, I did it from centreline to wall twice on each rein and left it at that. We still have the same things to work on with the leg yielding, so no new surprises there!
Soundness-wise he looked a little scratchy on the lunge, but then I hopped on and he seemed fine. I added the tiniest little bit of oil to his feed. He’s going to need it because it’s going to be 4 days in a row for the first time in a while!
Ok, best not write a novel! Better end it there! :-)
Riding Diary #2
It seems like every time I try to post in here I get distracted or my internet stops working... so, catching up!
Riding Diary #1
Today I rode V after he had 2 days off. It's good to see that he's still quiet enough to ride without lungeing first. Once I've given him a bit more consistent work I'm going to try adding oil to his feed. I've heard good reports on using oil, and I can't wait to give it a go!I rode for about half an hour, and it was a lot easier to keep him straight. As we get used to each other he's not trying to evade as much by falling out through the shoulder. Cantering was still a little bit 'exciting', and the right rein was a bit more 'sideways' than it needed to be! But I rode him forward and he settled down.
Ok, that's probably enough for today! I've spent too much time messing about trying to set up the blog, and now I need to go to bed!
Welcome to Equine Inspiration!
Let's start with a quick note to explain why this blog exists... I'm a horserider from Australia, and I've recently grown dissatisfied with my lack of progress towards my horsey goals. As such I've decided that a change is in order!
But then I've decided that before... before slipping back into the same rut!
So this time I'm taking a different approach and this blog will help me document my progress!
Ok, that's enough with the idealistic spiel!
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