Had some lovely work from her last week, including a lovely two hour hack in the woods on Christmas Eve with L, her horse O and her two bearded collies - lovable mutts!
Christmas day fell as a holiday for Kika after having been either ridden or worked for 6 days straight and getting out to the field everyday so she has been in great form. Not much eating left on bit of land we're being lent so ordered some Horselyx Original lick to keep the two from getting escapologist notions - I'm sure O can be trusted to behave, it's my wandering nosy-moo that would cause the trouble - what with the grass always being greener and all that!
Anyways as promised photos from our spin today! (Finally - I hear the chorused sighs ;-) )
Be warned, my sis came to barn with me today to act as photographer and she took over 300 photos on my phone - rest assured i have whittled it down to fifteen! But still eek!!!
Hopefully these capture what we have achieved and still show Kika in her quirky light. Please excuse my horrible position in almost every photo!
First things first, we have to show off her new saddle pad which was mentioned in previous post - love the colours!
As we walked a bit my sis played with the settings for a cartoon effect photo, hahaha
Dunno how the panoramic shots will work here, but here's link if bigger viewing sought - LINK
Probably my favourite picture of us to date (although my leg still needs a lot of work, darn heels creeping up!):
Some more panoramic - again may not be able to view properly at this size...LINK
Some cantering from our bad side - please excuse the giraffe impression and of course my position leaves a lot to be desired! In fact that most deffinitely does not help with her issues cantering on this rein! I've an awful habit of gripping with my knees which pulls up my heel if i could sort that mental block out i'd prob help her more!
Some more sitting trotting shots - cringe at my potision / sorry! Despite there being a mirror in the arena i never remember to look at it to correct myself!
Good rein cantering
We can do better
And after all that we still have our discussions...
Then back to some nice trot work
Just to prove she can still resemble a good giraffe when the mood takes her (more than i like)
Then two final nice shots
Hopefully you are not completely appalled by the awful riding displayed within these photos!
PS: I've just realised how to get the photos the same size as on my photobucket account so now you can all be horrified in full force at the awful position I have when riding *hides-muttering-to-oneself-about-posting-photos-for-all-to-see*
PPS: I'm hoping the photographer might get up early tomorrow morning with me and hopefully get a few jumping snaps if arena available! Must take advantage while i've someone to take pics, ;-)
Haven't jumped since October I'd wager so hopefully Kika doesn't get herself too excited, although we'll prob only be doing cross poles...
You shouldn't apologize for your riding position so much, most of us have faults (some of us many) but we are all working on them. I see a horse and rider enjoying each other's company :)
ReplyDeleteShe looks like she's getting a wee bit strong with you in the canter, D does that with me when his saddle is bothering him...
ReplyDeleteAm I right you're looking for, or just got a new saddle?
Thanks very much Kitty - you are very kind, many faults most deffinitely applies to my riding skills. But as you rightly point out I am now in a better position to correct them thanks to these photos and suggestions that have stemmed from them - so win-win in the long run!
ReplyDelete@ Siobhan - She can get herself hett up when cantering, but my eyes on teh ground and Guru L reckons this is mostly due to the fact that she still finds cantering difficult with a rider on board (am sure the fact that it is me doesn't help!) We got this saddle in August and so far so good, she goes much better in it than the previous one i'd gotten in October 2010!
Plenty still to work on though...watch this space, ;)