I wanted to KISS - Keep It Simple Stoopid ... yeah I get it spelled differently cos I'm speshul
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| Yikes I look preggers in this pic O.o |
We still had our sticky moments on circles although because i wasn't beating myself up about things not being perfect i probably wasn't tensing and bracing against her so all things considered they were much better than when I nit pick and generally harass her - who'd have thunk it?! *eyeroll*
We got some lovely canter work, even if i do say so myself. I tried to concentrate more on walk/trot trot/walk transitions as our downward transitions can be sticky and are typically where N gets quite strung out & heavy in my hands as we are not in tune enough nor sensitive enough yet to halt off my seat and she quite rightly takes offence to my hauling off her face to slow down and/or stop. I don't do that every time, not by a long shot, but she is a lot of horse and sometimes she needs a not so gentle reminder that when I ask for her to slow down and/products stop i mean now and not in 5 strides time.
She responds better to vocal cues than I give her credit for, I really need to get better at using vocal aids and not deaden my poor horses due to my abysmal riding ability.
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| The face of a Martyr = Saint Nancy |
Things I need to remember next time I'm in her tack:
- support her better with my legs on turns/circles/changes of rein;
- keep my hands steadier on the reins, keep them level. Watch my inside hand, keep it up and in line with the outside one;
- maintain contact, don't favour my inside rein over the outside one!
- use my inside leg to bend her from the ribs into my outside hand ... this will be a long work in progress as for some reason I still have it completely arseways in my head.
Oddly i feel I can work better on these things with N than K, as Kika is almost too sensitive. Any slight hand movement or shift in weight on my part that is unanticipated by her and she hollows, scoots or her head pops up etc - she often tries to pre-emptively guess what is coming which can also lead to strops when I don't do as she anticipated from me, makes me giggle more often than not.
Although Nancy is longer striding and covers the ground better than K whose defense is to hollow and get choppy, I feel I have the luxury of time while riding Nancy to make slight corrections and adjustments which I don't always feel I have on K. That seems weird written down and is not something I have actively thought about before. I shall have to pay more attention when I ride again on Thursday and through the weekend to see what i can do to change & improve on this possibly mental block of mine.
love this - seems like a great attitude for getting it done without fuss. another blogger recently wrote about having a clear idea of how you will judge your performance (she was talking about shows, but it translates to schooling too) - and saying: i will not judge myself on 'such and such' tonight bc we are just focusing on 'X.' seems like a great way to relieve pressure while still making progress. very nice!
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed i can use it as a building blog and not continue the regression kick i feel like we're on. Focusing on positives and not allowing myself get bogged down in the bad is hopefully the way forward - keeping my mind positive hopefully keeps my body loose and therefore not bracing against the ponies.
DeleteSo easy to overlook those vocal aids.I always feel like I'm cheating! But so helpful with youngsters. You have your work cut out for you, two horses and work. Never enough time! But you're positive attitude I love!
ReplyDeleteYou have to let yourself be bad before you can get good. (I don't think you're bad at all.) :)
Aw thanks hun, you're very kind. I need to remember to use my vocal aids more both in encouragement and scolding (when necessary) works so much better in my experience. They react so well to it, i really need to get back into "chatting" with my girls.
DeleteGood for you focusing on the positives! I need more practice at that hehe.
ReplyDeleteFor N's downward transitions could you not circle her (like really small circle) to bring her down instead of hauling on both reins? I think even a one rein stop is preferable to hauling on both... from what I've been reading (I'm researching how to teach Chrome to accept contact for the first time) hauling on both reins makes them not trust the bit and become resistant, where doing a one rein stop teaching them to flex and give to the bit. Here is a really interesting website I found https://aprilreeveshorsetraining.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/how-to-collect-horse/ I know it's not geared 100% toward dressage but it does apply. It would probably feel like taking a step backward for you and N, but going back to basics really is never a bad thing. Anyway I've only done a little bit with it so far, but I like what I'm seeing. I could be way off base or misreading what is going on with you and N, but I figured I would suggest it in case it's helpful. :D Keep up the great work!
I wouldn't haul off her every day or anything, but she is a lot of horse and sometimes I let myself get suckered into a power struggle with her where I ask her to halt and too many strides later she is still just leaning on my hands and completely ignoring my polite requests so i get a little firm with her.
ReplyDeleteI shall read that linked article with great interest, thanks for sharing :-)
Yeah I had the same problem with Chrome in the halter or bitless bridle. He would just charge right through my request to slow down or stop. Doing the one rein stop and lateral flexions have made such a huge difference!! When he started getting barn sour tonight all it took was once to remind him and he quit trying to dictate our direction. I'm amazed at how much more responsive he is. Also I hope you know I wasn't criticizing you!! I'm sure you saw in my canter/crow hopping video that I jerk the crap out of his face when it's necessary. I'm just happy to have found something that is helping make him more responsive to my requests to slow down/stop that I don't have to jerk on him anymore. :D We're still working on the stopping from body cues and he gets it sometimes when he's mellow and we're walking. He also will go from trot to walk without me touching the reins, but he either slams on the brakes or totally dies. There is no energy. So yeah it's all a work in progress. :)
DeleteNo no, no worries i welcome criticism...we'll constructive criticism which that was. ☺
DeleteI was just worried I'd painted a bit of an abusive relationship image *blush*
Nope you didn't! Even if you did I would never think that of you. :D
DeleteThat is very kind of you
DeleteI was just gonna say that N is probably the horse that its easier to work on yourself with and then transition what you've worked on to fiery K but you summed it up nicely yourself~
ReplyDeleteThanks pet, I do try to work on myself more with N for that very reason. Silly sensitive Kika ;-)
DeleteI was going to basically say the same thing as L. I'm glad that you had an insightful ride on N.
DeleteThanks J, fingers crossed we'll slowly make progress together the three of us ☺
DeleteI agree with L.! I think having multiple horses (or riding different horses) shows us different parts of our riding to work on.
ReplyDeleteIt sure does ☺
Deleteit's so hard NOT to favor the inside rein... :{
ReplyDeleteInnorite?!
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