Friday 7 November 2014

Last lesson (aka #IV)

My wonderful week off came to a close today with my final (for now) lesson with Nancy this morning. It went really well, S (teacher) was very happy with how it went and so was i - truth be told. Although of course I wish I was less of a lopsided putz,  but hopefully one day I'll manage to sort myself out ;-)

Mirror Magic post-spin selfie
My biggest takeaway from today's lesson is TRANSITIONS with Nancy, lots of upwards & downwards transitions walk/trot and trot/canter.

And circles + serpentines, I need to help her learn to bend through her body (especially going right). We both need a lot of work on that side, so we shall buckle down together. Oddly (and actually really cutely) when S had me release my inside rein and pat N our bend on that rein would improve. Lesson to be learned from that is unsurprisingly i am the problem. But now that I know that is a solution for now, I shall work with it while praising her - win/win right?!

Headless Horse
There was also plenty of "long leg" comments, this is teachers way of saying heel down. Again my left leg is worse than my right. It is also inclined to sneak further back than it should. I need to really concentrate on keeping it on or near the girth and turn my toes out, heels in and of course down.

Another takeaway from the previous lesson with Nancy which I forgot to mention in that post (lesson II) was my sensation of when Nancy is carrying herself well. Where I wrongly thought her over bent or curling in on herself, apparently she was actually doing well.
BAD ME! :-/

S also suggested I put a flash strap on Nancy to help stabilise the bit in her mouth as we'll be doing a fair bit of turning while we work on circles and serpentines and we are not yet sensitive enough to seat and legs to undertake these tasks without some rein aids.

She just stood up from a roll, she actually
wasn't as cranky as she looks lol

I didn't end up riding Kika today as it was super cold and I was on a deadline to meet my mam this afternoon to go to an outlet sale for kitchenware. Plus I wanted the girls to get some turnout before I had to bring them in early due to a road race going past their field this evening.
This has definitely been one of the best weeks off work i have had in a long time ☺
I am exhausted but in a good way and feel like I got to spend plenty wonderful time with my girls and can hopefully check back on these haphazardous write ups to keep the lessons in mind and all going well schedule a few more before this month is over! We'll have to see what the situation is at the office when I get back in Monday morning...

10 comments:

  1. So glad you had so many good lessons! Stay-cations can be the best :)

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    1. Me too, I was terrified the teacher would take one look on Monday & say sorry, I cannot possibly sort out that mess. She was actually very nice & encouraging, maybe she just though ka$hing ;-)

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  2. I'm so happy you enjoyed your vacation! Staying home is sometimes better than going somewhere. :)

    Toes out? My dressage trainer always told me toes forward. Having my toes pointed forward put my calf and inner thigh on the horse instead of the back of my leg. Hmm. Maybe things are different over there?

    I think you're doing a great job! You know one of the reasons I haven't worked on contact with Chrome is because I'm terrified I won't know if he's behind the vertical without someone on the ground. At least you tried!!! Also I'm happy she isn't behind the vertical. :D

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    1. I tend to grip with my knees, so maybe I'm turning my toes in. Perhaps her telling me turn them out is actually putting them forward - who knows. I should probably use those mirrors for more than taking selfies at the beginning and/or end of rides ;-)

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  3. what an awesome week of lessons - almost like a mini bootcamp! glad you got so much out of it :)

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    1. Mini bootcamp was the plan ☺
      Now to check back on my lesson reports before I tack up in the future so I can remember what to work on!

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  4. Glad you had such a fantastic week! I *love* all your quarter sheets, so cute!

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  5. I seriously want those quarter sheets! So glad you had a fun vacation :)

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    1. Equitheme is the brand name, they are reasonably priced if you're in the market ☺

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