Today ended up being a hack instead of a lesson. I had work meetings in the am and since trainer's daughter just brought home her adorable baby, we were left to our own devices in the evening.
Trainer suggested I should lunge Holly on the 'scary' side of the arena before hopping aboard. Since someone was running a very hyper horse around the round pen and the indoor was oddly devoid of riders, it was perfect.
Clearly my trainer had run some sense into her the day before because after a little bratty prancing and head tossing, she did some pretty nice laps, without making me work for it. I could see more lunging in her future :)
I got on before Karley or E made it into the arena. Holly was a little bright eyed, and had quite the speedy sitting trot the first few laps, but overall I couldn't be more pleased.
Lots of sitting trot then lots of posting trot, trying to maintain frame without losing impulsion. Not as easy without eyes on the ground. Holly barely looked twice at anything, and really overall was fun to ride.
Cantered both ways throwing in some circles and transitions back down to the trot to keep princess guessing what was next. Another trainer came in with a beginner lesson, so since I didn't feel like playing dodge the pony, we cooled off and cleaned up. I love that she's shedding out, dried time has improved significantly.
Was it a perfect ride? No. But I rode my horse and just enjoyed it. Very awesome.
Really haven't written because there just hasn't been that much going on. There's been lessons, and trainer rides, but mostly flatting, and really nothing special.
Mustn't forget to mention an awesome giveaway by She Moved To Texas :-) Because who doesn't love to win stuff. Especially in dreary winter.
Last week we included fun stuff like after a full lesson on the flat, going into the scary round pen and doing lots of sitting/posting/canter transitions, trying to stay in frame and not look like a giraffe when passing the side closest to the chickens (they live under a house!) which was uber scary apparently. I learned I really need to not raise my hands, get her head down, then just dump the reins back down. I am clearly not used to being in charge of maintaining contact.
Booooring stuff.... :)
This week the WS jumped Holly inside, up to 3ft and considering she just hopped on her, said she was bright eyed but good. I rode her Friday inside. She was pretty chill, very little spooking considering there was a ton of stuff going on outside (like big trucks unloading hay).
My trainer had me jump around 2'3", just a single vertical mid arena. We had to do some stopping before the jump so princess didn't rush the jump, but overall she is a quiet, willing jumper most of the time.
Out of the whole round pen,
she rolls next to the wall
Since my trainer wanted me to do simple changes (read: I suck at changes and she doesn't want me messing them up) so we got lots of bunny rabbit bouncing at the end of the arena as I tried to slow her down to a trot and Holly let me know she very was game to swap leads, even if I wasn't asking. Argh. I just worked on slowing her sooner before turning, so it was clear what we were doing.
Of course my human child was running amok through the barn so no video from the hubby (boo).
Saturday morning chill quickly gave way to 50-60F (70F by afternoon) weather during our lesson. Near cloudless skies, slight chill to the wind that inevitably kicks up as we make our way down to the outdoor, but otherwise a glorious January day. Remind me how much we enjoyed this when its stanky hot and we have a severe water shortage this summer ;)
Anyways, as usual I was running late to lesson, but everyone seemed to be kinda mellow, so I didn't end up too far behind the group (BTW, I am 99.9% always early to work, I do know how to be on time when I'm paid lol). Tacked up Holly and took her down to the big roundpen. She went nuts, having had a whole day off, she bucked and bolted and hot lapped herself around for quite some time. Its why I love how huge the lower round pen is, it could nearly pass for an arena, so they can really stretch out a bit.
Dragged a now tired looking pony up to the arena and hopped on. She wasn't fazed by the tractor finishing dragging the (hard hard) arena, (yay!) and we quickly got to work.
We did lots of sitting and posting trot while our trainer and a couple of the barn girls up from college set up and rearranged our mix of hunter and eventer jumps we now have spread across the whole arena.
Worked on that thing called frame, and keeping her up into the bridle. Cantering I had to work on not letting her fall into the corners, tried to circle at random times to keep her paying attention. I don't know if I'll ever be able to sit her canter, it simply rocks me up and out of the saddle, even when I try to relax (and think things like be a sack of grain through my lower body), but its at least getting more balanced.
Jumping! I didn't do anything big, apparently it was make Kat suck it up and work on lead changes day. We went back and forth over two different verticals (just L and I were jumping). They were at slightly funny angles in the arena which made me think a bit about where to turn in to get the right line. I finally felt comfortable on her again, even trying lead changes (ok I was still tense, but it was less tense lol).
If you want to see some cool jumping then hop on over to L's blog (I'm thinking her jumping video will be up Monday, Ramone got to do some fun stuff like bending lines). I'm excited to try stuff like that with Holly, and I'm even more excited that I'm excited to try jumping new stuff. :)
General consensus of the railbirds was I needed to just let go of her head and let her go forward more. Very hard for me to do apparently. Of course by the point we went into figure 8's for lead changes, there were a ton of other people in the arena, several just chilling on the ground (?!) and several others riding, making me a little paranoid about taking out other trainer's students.
I have been thinking a lot about how I feel about Holly lately. Two nights ago I looked at everyone's $100k posts, and thought, gee, I'd prob buy another horse. Then I read about other people losing their beloved horses and realized I really have been keeping a huge wall up between my mare and myself. I went to lesson yesterday morning with an intent to bond with my mare. And we rode better. Most of my problems are in my head (I know that much) and when I view her as my horse, who is trying her best for me, and that I am her rider, who needs to try my best to help her learn, I think it helped. I gave her more loving then usual after our ride, and realized I need to spend more time with her, more ground work and more relaxed, non-lesson time.
Not sure that all makes sense outside of my head, but hey, even though I sucked at lead changes, and my back is killing me now, I still walked away feeling like I had a good ride, which is huge for me, I found the positives and moved on.
Question: Ok, so since everyone has seemed to be trying new, often yummy smelling horse and tack products, what's everyones 2014 favorite leather/ tack care product? Just curious what everyone on the blogosphere is using now.
Tuesday night lesson. Holly was a nutball in the roundpen. She bucked and ran and bucked. Glad to see all this work is getting her more fit (insert eye roll). Finally she didn't look like a wild pony so we got to work. Thanks goodness there wasn't anything interesting going on outside, so there wasn't a lot of spooking. I seriously question if I'd even try to ride her on a crazy stormy night, she's so spooky.
Did lots of sitting trot, working on forward not upward motion. Realized I'm still really weak in a two-point, although having a standing martingale on now, I can cheat and grab it (extra nice when she scoots with my backside out of the saddle). Did some decent shoulder in. She's really starting to get the idea and doesn't feel so discombobulated. I need to work at keeping my eyes up, not watching her feet.
We cantered, lengthening down the long side, and shortening on the short sides. Holly really likes the speeding up part, and if I really sit back and keep my hands up she collects up decently too.
We warmed up over a little X, including special-ed cones set out for moi to remember to come off the jump straight. Then L and I did a slightly bigger vertical, I'm still really bad at telling how big jumps are from horseback. It was enough to get miss Holly to at least respect it . It went pretty well, even when another trainer's beginner moseyed nearly in front of me as I came off a jump, Holly just drifted a bit so we didn't collide. I did wuss out of lead changes, slowing to a trot if she was off her lead until I got yelled at. The last few jumps I really tried to apply outside leg over the jump and keep her set up to land on the right lead. Lucky for me it worked and no crazy lead changes were needed.
Cooled her out for a billion years because she's fuzzy and gave her sloppy grain.
Wednesday- Flat lesson. Holly wasn't as 'up' in the roundpen but since it was windy, we did lots of halting/ backing/ halting at the open end of the arena until she didn't care about whatever horse-eating monster was out there. There was another trainer working her horse and two beginners lessoning with my trainer. Lots getting tailgated and cut off, but hey, that's good for her highness to deal with.
Canter work actually felt really good at times, Felt her use her hind end and round her back, even staying in frame a bit. Ok, mostly heavy and fighting frame, but there was some good stuff there. Then we did lots of up/down transitions while maintaining frame. Something I am totally bad at because it takes lots of leg and arm, and paying attention. Too many hamsters running around in my head, lol. Got a rather irritated but proper frame out of my mare through a couple transitions and through turns and finally let her have her head and cooled her out.
Thursday- Had an afternoon lesson, with another gal. Luckily the jumps stayed low to accommodate both of us. Actually I'm not so scared of height now (within reason lol) but what goes on afterwards.
3 months in- need to get better shot
Holly had been a beast for the trainer ride the day before so she got a change up to a twisted wire full cheek. Holy brakes Batman. She learned real quick to be light and responsive, but still would frame up into the bit. I learned to keep my hands light and ask gently for transitions, which is good for me, I needed to work on my side of contact as well.
Canter work was decent, again hurrah to having a response to half-halting, I worked on trying to sit back more into her big, rocking canter stride and keep her off her forehand. If you can keep her head up and weight on her hind-end, its pretty nice. I am also enjoying my Fleeceworks half pad immensely.
Moved onto jumping. I'll totally admit I wasn't super excited given how our last jumping felt. I put the big girl panties on and got to it, It was just trot poles followed by an x. We worked on straightness, not our strong suit, but not bad. Since I had brakes, we mostly stopped and trotted after the jump, although coming off to the left ,she generally is already on that lead, so if she was on it, I cantered her around the turn a bit. Yes I was too chicken to work on changes. Baby steps, baby steps.
Shaggy beast took forever to cool out, got her mushy grain slop that she hoovers down like its a pie-eating contest she's determined to win, and put her away. I really need to get down to the barn on a warm afternoon and scrub all her nastiness away.
Saturday- Running late as usual, I don't know why I think I can get off work, drive home, change, eat, and make it out to the barn in the time I have. I was hoping to ride Magic since it was cold, but clear which meant outside jumping. (Ok, I feel bad saying cold, but 40's feels cold when you don't really have 'winter' riding gear). Arrived to find Magic already tacked by another occasional gal and went to drag my mare up. Space is at a premium on Saturdays, so at least when you're late, spots open up as people go run they crazies out of their ponies.
We ended up 'warming up' in the indoor arena, we had to take turns cantering, Holly was a little rushed at the posting trot but settled with some halt/ backing. I tried to work on really sitting back and getting her off the forehand, with some really nice moments. Then she gets a little heavy and I lean forward, and we both forget where we need to be. Luckily I have a trainer more than happy to remind me.
Where am I going?
After cantering inside, those of us jumping went down to the outdoor. It was colder and rather dreary, but at least it was dry since initially they had forecast rain. We did more cantering, until Holly and I were both panting, having to cut across the arena and ride straight toward our trainer, then circle which ever way she told us. It took me like 3 runs to even know what we were doing, but it was good once I figured it out.
Then we did little baby jumps, which Holly was pretty sure were still trot poles, making me have to use more leg then usual. I need to get more assertive, even when I'm super tired. Ah so many things to work on. Other then not understanding the first exercise of coming off the jump straight for a ways, then trotting and turning tight towards the rail, it was ok.
Lesson tonight, she is much more 'up' at night so this shall be interesting. Then lesson in the am, since my work week starts Wednesday night.
Trainer suggested I should lunge Holly on the 'scary' side of the arena before hopping aboard. Since someone was running a very hyper horse around the round pen and the indoor was oddly devoid of riders, it was perfect. 
Cantered both ways throwing in some circles and transitions back down to the trot to keep princess guessing what was next. Another trainer came in with a beginner lesson, so since I didn't feel like playing dodge the pony, we cooled off and cleaned up. I love that she's shedding out, dried time has improved significantly. .JPG)
