Learning to Dance at Lannigan's Ball

I used to do Irish dancing as a child, Lannigan's Ball is a ceili dance/group dance that we had to learn for performances. There is a song that goes with it which has a line that goes something along the lines of:

"She stepped in and I stepped out

I stepped in and she stepped out again

Learning to dance at Lannigan's Ball"

Or something to that effect, in any case working with Kika can sometimes feel like Lannigan's Ball...for every step forward we make there can be a couple back or even side-steps.
After our enjoyable solo spin which I posted after our successfull unsuprvised outing on Monday evening, I asked L (aka The Guru) to ride Kika on Tuesday as we were due to go to dinner with another friend form the barn that night and between work and our dinner plans I wasn't going to have time to ride. As L's shift gave her the afternoon off (well she worked till 2pm) she agreed to ride Kika for me.
The friend who I have been borrowing the saddle from (which i hope to buy pending my saddler's opinion of it when he brings back my saddle in a week or so) was planning on using said saddle at 7pm - and L was riding between 6 and 7pm, so she decided against lungeing Miss Kika before riding.
Now she wasn't bad (meaning there was no rearing or refusal to work) but there was also 20-25 minutes where she refused to settle - meaning she kept her head up and blocked herself so that she couldn't work properly. L did manage to get some nice work out of her after that amount of time, but when you are on a time-limit it's not an ideal way to spend the time allocated 
My plan had been to ride without lungeing had i ridden, so the same would have happened me - so at least we have that much out of the way and can get to work on remedying it!

So my new task is to slowly wean back the amount of lungeing i do prior to riding from 10mins (as it stands) to nuthin and just walker and/or walking - lead around the arena for a couple of laps to get comfortable with saddle positioning and arena etc etc...

Keeping all this in mind, L and i had provisionally agreed to a supervised riding session this evening (Thursday - Kika had a good session in the pessoa with me yesterday evening). I had hoped to start eeking back the lungeing prior to riding from 10 to 8 mins, but didn't quite manage...I shall work on it 
So up i hopped anyway and we set to work, walking at first till we were both happy and I sorted out my contact so that my reins weren't drooping - I think I'm slowly getting better, L didn't have to remind me near as much this evening as she did Saturday just gone.
We started our trot work on a circle then changed rein a couple of time son the diagonals and continued looking our circles that was till Kika and I were working more like a settled team, then came the 'volts' - I use inverted commas as they are often larger than they should be and not exactly symetrical!
Obviously my weak aids fault, but Kika really doens't help me as she is a lazy bag of bones at heart - so unless i am 100% she doesn't see why she should compensate - which i guess is fair enough really
We stuck to the small circles till she relaxed her neck and into the movement, once she did that correctly we went back on track and restarted the small circle with a learning curve as we were both better for the second one so we circled for a smaller amount of time - reward!
Changed the rein, rinse and repeat - all much smoother as (a) I had the feel of what was being expected of us and (b) we had started on the bad rein so when we changed rein it became easier for both of us!

Mixed it up a bit with a couple of serpentines, making sure I used the track and the arena as we had the whole space to ourselves - being sure to keep Kika straight and not turning till I hit the track, cheating habit of mine (where is the list C gave me about fixing problem areas - just hit upon a cheat of mine!).
Then practised bringing Kika back to walk without letting off my leg - who'd have thunk you've to keep the leg on when slowing down? Probably common knowledge but lightbulb moment for me, plus L has me trying to make sure I don't allow Kika to trot unless she carries herself properly in striking off - aka: not throwing her head up in the air and hollowing - therefore not doing what is being asked of her...This can be a tricky one to work on and it is best to judge Kika's mindset prior to attempting it...if she's in resistance mode to many gear changes from trot to walk and vice versa can frustrate her and drive her batty - cue head tossing which can lead to rearing. Thankfully this was not on the menu this evening! Happy Days

L then asked how i felt about doing some canter work - to which my response was: no problem, rather work on it in this larger arena than the small lungeing one as I know she struggles in canter and balancing properly with my weight so the larger area we have to turn within the better she is and less choppy/resistant with her head up in the air. So she had me do some sitting trot first and then when I was happy, start my circle and give her the aids.
To begin with I was unhappy with my sitting trot and asked 'would I be mad to try it without my feet in the stirrups?' as i dsitract myself by trying to keep my feet in them as the weight doesn't stay in my heel cos i still grip with my knees! I just can't seem to stop myself!!
Turns out this was a bad idea, as L pointed out i tense up when i do this and she reacts and blocks herself - so no use in trying to get her to balance & relax if she has her nose stuck up in the air!
So she told me to take back my stirrups and that we'd have to continue working "en suspension" (aka my ass out of the saddle - sort of jumping position i guess...is this what is often referred to as 2 point I wonder?!)
First strike off was wrong to which she highlighted my leg is too far back to not exagerate it so much and that in fact I ride with my legs a little on the further back side anyway so there really isn't a massive need for me to move my leg back when asking for canter - so basically i've to move my legs forward more (another to work on tip! )
Each canter after this then we got right, although now that I think back on it bar the first one after being corrected I'm not sure i was as concentrated on being lenient with my leg movement as i should have been! But can't be perfect straight away or these updates would become fewer and a lot less wordy (Phew - I hear you sigh...Bring on the day - goes the chorus )

Lo and behold, I found out the not so pleasant way that cantering with my backside out of the saddle in a dressage saddle is considerably different to cantering in my GP saddle (and all previous GP saddles I've ever ridden in!). With my legs elongated in the longer stirrups (to have my knee in the right place for the rolls and as such not hurting that way!) I found it harder to find my balance and more tireing on my legs - as for using them...FORGET IT! They were no longer functional from the knee down!  As for keeping my heels down - or attempting to, YIKES was that an effort - to say I'll be walking like John Wayne tomorrow will be an understatement!
 
We kept at it for a couple of circles and then wide around the arena with my being advised to not have myself so far out of the saddle - which did help, but still the legs literally couldn't stand it for very long.

But basically this very long story not in anyway short is that the saying one step forward a few steps back deffinitely applies to both Kika and myself - although touch-wood we stay to going more sideways that actually taking a step back. Lesson learned that lungeing is still going to be required prior to riding - although i shall be trying to cut back to cut it out and see if we can get the same level of concentrated work from her without so much lungeing.
And I am uber-happy with our three spins under saddle since riding in the dressage saddle - even if i am finding the adjustment period challenging I can still feel an improvement and am hopeful of purchasing this saddle when the lady selling it gets her new saddle (a few weeks) and if my saddler says it fits Kika when he comes back with my altered GP (hopefully early next week!)

As to how Kika's and my dancing progress "One step in and one step out again" ... I'll have to wait and see which partner shows up for tomorrow evenings lesson with L!

Thanks for reading...sorry it's after getting novel length again - but all good news from my point of view!!

Solo Success

Perhaps setting myself up (quite literally) for a fall by posting this update under such a heading, but what the hey...Best live a little!
I rode Kika on my lonesome last night, or rather there was another horse in the arena at the same time as us, but no Guru to guide me! Said horse can be a bundle of energy and a sporadic nutjob under saddle, but a giant sweetie otherwise, he just gets himself excited and has to explode. So I was a little apprehensive of sharing the arena with him but Kika was not in a messing mood so all went well!


Lunged her for 10mins till she was giving me the smooth, striding trot we've been working on and cantering from said slow trot without doing her racing pacer impression - happy days i got both pretty much straight off the bat!
Up i hopped in the dressage saddle, keeping L's intructions about contact and heels in mind as i set about my work. I had already decided that I wasn't going to canter Kika on my own as I am terrible at recognising whether she is on the right lead or not. I used to be better able to tell but now her canter is pretty awful (when i ride) anyway so that when her head is up and she's choppy it's harder for me to know whether she's right or wrong

So  I settled on working mostly in trot, doing lots of rein changes on the diagonal, circles and our famous serpentines which were a little awkward due to ther horse in the arena but we did get one or two nice ones with very little resistance from K, which is an improvement!   No head tossing and front leg throwing as we reached the turn, and no jaw cocking refusing to bend round the corner - well not 100% but does happen more often now then before!
I also got some very nice sitting trot work (if i do say so myself!), the one time the other horse had one of his wobblies i was doing sitting trot without my stirrups and i am delighted to report that Kika did not so much as even look at the other horse acting the muppet, she kept concentrated, balanced and CALM! She was so good and we were concentrated on each other that it took a few minutes of farting and hoof pounding from the other fella for it to register in my mind also!

Therein probably lies the key, i hear you sigh when I focus solely on her - she focuses solely on me ...  ipso facto - sustained concentration by both parties!

She was so good not only in ignoring the la-la moment of the other horse, but in her cool calm consistent contact (all the c's together) - again I'm beginning to realise this was another one of my issues not hers! My contact with the bit was too lax and my reins were often drooping (thank you Guru for setting me straight) and i honnestly could feel the difference that simple change made during our lesson on Sat and then (attempting to) implent it myself.
My heels still need a lot of work - but hopefully as i get used to the saddle and stop gripping with my knees they'll sneak down of their own accord (saddle pushes them in that direction anyway - now to get my legs to cooperate and stop resisting, )

Hopefully this isn't too boring a read, but I am so happy you'd swear we'd accomplished something major!

Some Yard Show Pictures

Needless to say Kika and I are well off competing at the moment, but who knows...maybe some day!
Here are some photos I took of the yard show that went on at the livery yard I keep her on today.
Just a low key affair whereby liveries and lesson people could get a feel for competitive environment and prizes were awarded to everyone...it was mostly for feedback purposes, :)

Please excuse the quality of the photos, all taken on my phone which unfortunately does not have a zoom - and i appear to have had shaky-hands-syndrome!
Oopsy!

The dressage arena was laid out in the "main" arena - the largest indoor with full wall of mirrors behind the adjudicators.

Foreground (black) horse is Fabian and his owner/rider S, horse in the distance receiving prize is N and her mare Amy.

Next Amy and N (who I am buying the dressage saddle off all going well - although she didn't ride in her own saddle today) on the way out after their turn

Next we have adorable Layla warming up for her turn under working pupil, A, this fab little mare's owner was unfortunately ill with bronchitis and missed the whole thing!

Next are a few photos i took in my favourite arena to ride in which was the warm up arena for the afternoon's dressage riders. First up we have the other working pupil, H, who competes 3 or 4 of the livery horses in different dressage level competitions during the season. Here she is riding a young horse, Rimbeau.

The next two pictures are again, H on the black horse as above, and a wonderful young rider, L, who is 14-15yrs old and competes at the same level as the working pupil, H!

H and Rimbeau again coming towards me with L and Redford in the backgroound.

L and Redford

Next here is a sneaky peak at our outdoor arena with the RS instructor on her horse (although they may be too far away), can just see the blue of her gilet along the long side on the right of the picture, she is another L and her horse is Tao (beautiful creature and an absolute gent - sorry pic isn't clearer). Please excuse the weather we had a bit of a wet and grey day here today!

And last but by no means least we have a good friend of mine V and her lovely chestnut mare Whoopi Goldberg  (  I love the name!) getting ready!

As a reward for sharing pictures with you I think i should be allowed to post a "little" (inverted comas as it will probably end up being anything but...as usual!) update about last night and my second spin and first lesson in the secondhand dressage saddle I am hoping to buy.
Afraid I have no pics or videos of this - sorry!

We were in the smallest arena (usually used as a lungeing arena), with the "terrifying door" - which isn't actually terrifying just another excuse for Kika to be silly usually!
It went really well, I think, we have a lot to work on but baby steps and we'll get there!
My contact was better but of course concentrating on that allowed my legs go to pot - so have to try multi-task some more. I love the feel of the dressage saddle, much easier to sit into than my GP - I found the sitting trot was much easier even on our bad side!
We tried some canter too, but as the arena was small Kika stuck her head up and hollowed her back something awful on the bad rein (to a lesser extent on the good rein) yet she is well capable of cantering under saddle (without a rider) on the lunge - so we'll have to work on this defence also...starting in the bigger arena and working back down to this small one to give her the room she needs to improve her canter with a rider - mental block for us both at this stage, but another goal to work towards!

I gave her today off as with the yard show there was just too much going on, so tossed her out for some turn out with the "ball" full of carrots, her buddy O and some hay - best way to stop Miss Kika making faces at all the poor un-assuming and unsuspecting horses that had to pass her box to get the the warm up arena. Keeping her out of mischief - and by proxy myself out of trouble for having a cranky-assed horse! 
Win-win in my book!

I am also having a bit of a shopping crisis - perhaps you could post your opinions in the form of comment(s) and perhaps help me chose!
I was nosying through websites looking at rugs (Have I mentioned that Kika has outgrown all the rugs I currently have for her and have to re-invest in rugs 2 sizes bigger as she is just between sizes! Typical, eh?!  ) and I'm after falling in love with both of these fleeces - I can't decide which one I like best or if I should be bold and splurge on both (maybe over time as simultaneously now would be a massive expense considering I have stable rugs to get still!)
Here they are, lemme know what you think please!
First one (more expensive but heavier for cold winter months!) - Horseware Rambo Grand Prix Fleece Rug - I like both colour options, although leaning slightly more towards the brown...
Second - Horseware Newmarket Cooler - I have always loved the blue in this, but now I also find myself swayed by the brown!
I swear since getting the brown tack in August/November - I keep finding myself drawn more and more towards these colours - maybe it's more to do with my love of eating chocolate!
Hahahaha!

Please help me decide!

Ball Busting

Filmed three mini-video clips this morning after leaving herself out - here is the "ball" she plays with and doesn't let her field buddy, poor long suffering O get a look in! We put hay out and there is a 15kg Original Horselyx tub (LINK) to distract O from Kika's selfishness. Although I have no doubt that when Kika empties her ball of carrots she shoos O out of the way of her next prefered amusement for her belly - my horse really is a demanding diva!
I wonder what this says about me, seeing as animals are supposedly reflections of their owners!

I call it a "ball" but it is more like a hexagon or some such shape, there is one hole in it into which we feed loads of chopped up carrot pieces and some muesli which all come out of the ball when the hole faces downwards...probably doesn't make much sense when described...hence the videos, 

Without further ado, here we go:
(posted in the order in which they wer taken)

And lastly to better show off her footballing skills:

Sorry if quality is poorly, all have been taken on my phone!

Also an update, I haven't actually ridden her since my 10mins in saddle on Sunday and she hasn't been ridden since L's 15mins on Tuesday...long story not-so-short I lunged her in the pessoa in the outdoor arena under lights on wednesday evening, she was very good - a few spooks at lord knows what, but almost to be expected with the Windbag that she can be. She still worked very well and for about 25-30mins; as she can only do a max of 20 minutes under saddle so i tried to give her a bit more work on the lunge.
I had planned to ride on Thursday, but as there is a Yard Show being run on Sunday (jumping and dressage events are taking place - no Kika & I are not attempting to compete, maybe next year all going well!) so I was hoping to try and make that day a rest day and as Mrs B recommended that she only be worked two consecutive days under saddle I was going to do so Friday and Saturday.
So Thursday Kika ended up spending an hour in the walker - to change things up a bit as it's been a few weeks since she had a spin in there, then myself and L loose lunged Kika and O and they had a blast for themselves. Thankfully no messing, so neither of them tripped or undid the work Mrs B did in massaging (O got some accupuncture) last friday (24th of Feb) just nice walk, trot cantering use of the whole arena...and thankfully with the two of them egging each other on it meant very little encouragement (read:chasing) from the humans.

Friday again I had planned to ride, but as I am borrowing the dressage saddle from another yard friend I prefer to ask permission to borrow it (it is polite after all) and perhaps left it a littel late as I was also due to attend a concert last night (it was really good fun!) so when i didn't have an answer to my request after 30mins and time was running out i decided to lunge her just in the cavesson and no other gear or poles on the ground - i cannot tell you the last time i lunged her 'naked' without poles on the ground!
So we worked on our transitions in the lungeing arena with the terrifying door which of couse after an initial introduction she didn't pay a blind bit of attention to!
I particularly concentrated on getting her to lengthen her stride in trot while slowing the tempo "steady stretching strides" was my mantra. I also had her spiral closer to me and the spiral back out while maintaining the tempo - not perfect but balanced which helped her bend and stretch also. To top it off i got some nice canter transtitions from her steady trot, up and down which i was very happy with as she can sometimes do an awful long "running" trot where she speeds up and looks almost like a pacer without the buggy - not what I am looking for from her!
But we got there in the end and i was super happy with her. Fingers crossed all goes to plan this evening with my second spin in the dressage saddle. I'll lunge her in it for 5-10mins and then ride for 10-15mins under The Guru's supervision and report back tomorrow...maybe with photos from the show, or else perhaps just more of Miss Kika as I have been fielding requests for more photos of late.

Hopefully the videos go someway to satiating the apetite for Kika pictures!

Thanks for reading what has turned into another not so short update!

Wandering Wagon!

Perfect Title for Miss Kika who decided she was (again!) not content with the turn out organised for her!
L walked her dogs passed the field at 5.40 and all was well, she went back to bring the little darlings in at 6.15ish; do you think they were still in the field? She saw shapes in the distance and thought: 'odd that people be walking there' - and she was right. It would have been odd to have people walking in the middle of a field - and low and behold there were the two madams happy as larry with their meandering!

Was the fence electrified one might ask - the answer is yes, the top half of it is at the entrance and the second strand is to the corner where they had been getting out before we put current on the fence...so what does Miss Kika do? I am assuming it was her as L's horse O has a healthy respect for white tape and electricity, something my dear girl lacks to my detriment! She somehow manages to bust the lower wire (without the current) and shimmy under it while leaving the electrified strand untouched!
I swear it isn't a horse I have at all but Houdini!

All's well that ends well though and when they saw L coming to get them they came to her meek as lambs to go back in for the night - of course hard feed, hay and heat is always waiting for them in the stables, incentive anyone? 
As Mr Saddle Fitter was coming yesterday to find out what I want changed with my saddle I asked L (aka: The Guru) would she mind riding Kika for her allocated exercise time to see what she thought of her movement in a Dressage Saddle as depending on how my time goes without my saddle (borrowing another friends dressage saddle as fits better than my GP one - all explained in previous posts ) I can see myself being swayed into investing in a second hand dressage saddle - as the small spin I had in it on Sunday had me in such a good position that I think I could really benefit from expanding my riding repertoire!

Long story as usual not so short, I lunged Kika for about 10mins then L hopped up in the smallest of the arenas available to us and not really a riding arena, more lungeing but not a round lungeing pen...I'm not really making sense, sorry, I should prob just take a photo some evening! She rode for about 15mins walk and trot with lots of rein changes and smaller circles (as i said arena is smaller than average so tighter squeeze). Kika was a bit Giraffe-y as she tried to evade working and of course decided that a door was terrifying and would eat her but other than that behaved very well, no rearing or untoward messing occured.
L was happy with her movement in the Dressage saddle and said that she felt a lot free-er flowing and was moving better...all good signs.
We didn't do too much as we are still getting her used to the saddle and the saddle fitter was due to examine her own saddle on her, so cooled her down and got stuff ready for Mr Saddle Fitter. L stayed with me as she was there when Mrs B worked on K and was able to better explain (aka in Luxembourgish) why we wanted the changes made to the saddle and where we wanted changed. I also asked that if possible the saddle be made slightly larger than necessary so that we can compensate with padding and so should Kika fill out a little more the saddle shouldn't need to be altered again. Mrs B had also advised this.
L also wanted to talk to him (Mr Saddle Fitter) as she herself is now in the market for a second hand dressage saddle although she is finding finding on a little difficult as she wants a brown one - while not unheard of they are slightly scarce on teh ground. But He's going to keep an eye out for her and see what he can find. So happy days - I didn't mention my potential need for a second hand dressage saddle as this will very much depend on how we get on for the next fortnight with N's borrowed saddle while mine is being altered.
However N's saddler is coming to check the fit of her saddle (the one I've been borrowing) on her mare A this afternoon/evening and should it require altering I may not be able to borrow it anymore as it may no longer fit Kika if it is altered - and we all know how fussy Kika can be about her back so will play this one by ear! At the same time L let slip to me last night that N may be in the market for another saddle if her current one will require too much work...if this is the case, i intend to have a word and say that I'd be very interested in her saddle if this were to transpire 
So i guess we can only watch this space! *shrug*

L and i fixed up the fencing by car headlight last night and put out the hay, restocked the ball with carrot pieces and muesli to hopefully keep Miss Kika's stomach engaged and her mind off wandering!
I'll be going to let them out on my lunch break...so will keep my phone handy should the YM/YO need to ring to tell me the beasts are after going walkies again!
Fingers crossed this is not the case! As if it happens I'll be so annoyed with her, cos it's either stable or there...there is nothing else i can do to try and allow her turn out - it oftens seems no matter what I do it isn't enough for her ladyship!
So now they have a 15KG Original Horselyx to share, hay and the hexagonal ball type thing filled with carrots and feed to knock about the place to keep themselves entertained and out of mischief.
Maybe it being a day that only comes around once every 4 years - I might be forgiven for expecting a miraculous change!

Happy Leap Year Day!
(Is this even a thing?  ... It is now!)