Figuring it out - Canter Transitions

Things have been a bit slow at the moment; but I have been busy at the riding school, teaching the Tiny Tots class and in return…  Riding lessons!

It’s so nice to ride a horse that isn’t going to fuss, or freak out unexpectedly - I am really enjoying it as a wee bit of a break from my never-quite-know-what-you-are-going-to-get Joey lad! 

Also, I get to practise cantering!!  Haha.  I know, I know – I sound like a total n00b saying that, but it’s true.  When I had Copper I had to go back and teach him the basics of using his body and balancing himself with a rider on his back.  While he liked to canter, it wasn’t pretty, nor particularly safe as he’d race around like he was a motorbike on a racetrack, leaning over on a really sharp angle.  I’d have to lift up my seat and plant my butt over on the outside of the saddle to counter-balance his weight so that we didn’t go over sideways!

Needless to say, I stuck with walk and trot work before moving up to cantering.  The only problem is that we were only just getting to that stage when I discovered that I had outgrown him, so then of course I leased him out.

Whereupon I replaced him with Joey.  Hmm, young, green, unbalanced horse?  Huh.  Guess we’re back at the walk and trot….  *sadface*   Not that I mind all that much, but it does mean that I haven’t done any serious canter work in years. 

And as a result I found out that my canter transitions suck when I got a horse that knew the job and I couldn’t get a canter out of him.  : /  
I fixed that by changing the rein, for some reason I find the right rein canter easier than the left, then when I switched back I got the left rein canter lead.  However, I was still not satisfied with that solution.  

I had noticed that when first asking for the canter transition I was dropping my left shoulder down and I knew that was the problem, but I didn’t know why.   So back home I did some research and felt like a detective when I figured it out!

I was actually tipping my shoulders forwards in an effort to produce canter, however, in doing that, I weakened my driving seat aid.  To compensate I dropped my weight down on the inside to try and strengthen the inside leg aid.  Of course this resulted in my dropping the left shoulder, blocking the horse’s inside shoulder which he needs to be able to LIFT in order to strike off with canter!   Also, in tipping forwards, my weak seat would have allowed him to string out in the back so he probably couldn’t get his hind end under him to lift his shoulders up either.   *whew* 

While all of this was happening, my instructor couldn’t actually see my shoulders tipping forwards, but I am hoping that the solution for me will to be “sit back”, keep my shoulders upright/slightly back, and drive with my seat. 

We’ll see if this turns out to be the cure for my crappy canter transitions, but I know for sure what I am doing wrong so at least we have half the diagnosis!

See ya,

bonita

A bit silly…

    

…And embarrassing to admit, but here’s the thing.  I sprained my left shoulder/bicep by reaching up to smack Joey for wiggling while I was cleaning out his hoof. 

Now I am in quite a bit of pain and can’t do anything much at all.  When I did it, it hurt so badly that I thought I dislocated my shoulder, but the doctor doesn’t think that I did.  I am not so sure…. 

Either way, it’s annoying. Can’t ride, can’t move properly, can’t pick up anything or even button up my pants!  I am in a bit of a pickle, aren’t I? 

I can’t even say it was because of a massive fall!   Oh well, I suppose I would much rather hurt myself in such an innocuous manner than by eating dirt, so we’ll leave it at that.  : ) 

See ya,

bonita

My First Days

 

I am totally excited – I just spent my midweek (Tuesday afternoon & Wednesday) shadowing two lovely riding instructors for my first taste of coaching training!  It been a couple of months coming, but I am sort of semi-employed at a local riding to learn coaching and start instructing. 

I will be starting with the tiny, tiny, tiny tots – a leading rein class for 2 – 6 yr olds.  The parents lead the children and I have to figure out how to teach them something (anything!) without going above their heads or tangling the parents/ponies up.  Hmmm… It’s going to be a challenge but I am sooo up for it!  I am beyond thrilled to have this opportunity!

Of course at this point I am busy trying to learn the names of the 30 odd herd of school ponies and horses, what their temperaments are like and what constitutes their good/bad behaviour.  I am also learning a different school routine; you know, how they muck out, tack up, teach a lesson, reprimand their horses (this one is more important than you might think!), etc.  It’s a lot to take in, but seriously, one and a half days into it, and the place already feels like a home away from home.

I love it.  I am really looking forwards to this new term coming up, and you can be assured that I will be jotting down all the details on the good ol’ blog. 

See ya,

bonita

P.S  - Joey is still going well; in fact I’m beginning to think that our lovely straight-ish walk and trot on the outside track (on both reins too!) is no longer a fluke and we have actually moved past the silly-shying-for-no-reason-phase!  Hip hip!!

Now I am working on:

• a driving seat aid for impulsion at all times – no slopping along allowed!
• hands together at all times to prevent over bending
• closed fingers and consistent contact (I tend to throw the reins away because I’m not used to providing a solid support for the horse to lean into.  I just figured out in my last lesson that that means that Copper was probably slightly behind the bit, thus, he had a hollow back and that’s why he such short strides and could never reach underneath himself properly!  D’oh!)
• and lastly, sitting trot practise for the win.   : D

He’s no angel…

 

But at least he’s not trying to kill me any more! 

I have been surprised and impressed with how well Joey’s been doing lately - perhaps it’s just that young horses take that much more time to really settle into a new place, or maybe that he’s finally decided that I’m not such a bad egg after all.

Either way, I’m seeing an improvement in Joey that I am very much liking at the moment.  He’s a lot calmer, and far more relaxed about things.

We’re seeing less of the bad attitude, and more habitual silliness now – like jogging when he’s fresh, spooking at the barrels for no good reason, or if he gets bored he’ll spook at nothing.  Plus, he’s a bit on the lazy side, so if you push him too hard he’ll buck and be jig around and be generally stupid.

I find that he really does need to be ridden at every moment your on his back, because if his mind is not engaged he’ll get into mischief and if you loose focus for one second, he looses his focus too!  I am discovering that this is the hard slog of riding a young horse; not that they are necessarily worse to ride then an older horse, but rather that they require that much more work under saddle.  You can’t ever switch off and leave it to the horse because they don’t understand that kind of partnership yet.  You must always be leading them – directing them and making the choices.

It’s exhausting mentally and physically, but it’s worth it when you realise that you’re making progress.  And we are! 

Currently we are working on forwards, (ie, legs, legs, legs), lowering his frame to bring him on the bit and prepare for the first stages of collection, and canter. 

I have cantered him a couple of times now and he’s been really good – no antics, just a nice medium canter, if a little unbalanced.  Joey really can be quite sensible at times which is nice!  Anyway, I must be off to ride my horse. 

See ya!

bonita

Getting the job done

So last Friday I had a lesson on Joey which turned out to be… interesting, to say the least!  He was very fresh (totally my fault), very spooky (totally his fault) and generally an all-around silly boy.

It started as I was longing him before the lesson, a couple mopeds came up the driveway, and he had a good whirl’n’spin to goggle at them in giraffe mode.  I knew it was going to be an iffy ride when he stood like a rock for five minutes staring after them even after they had long disappeared!  He wouldn’t even twitch an ear in my direction, so my first order of business was to ask for his attention when I hopped on his back.

I soon found out that that wasn’t going to be easy so my instructor got us trotting on and I do mean trotting!  I was asking him for forward – the shapes of the exercises we were doing weren’t important at this stage.  What we were looking for was forward movement from Joey, which would calm him down and get rid of the fizziness. 

I think we were trotting for a least 20-30 minutes straight, we did an hour glass figure (20m circles at A and C; changing diagonals across the arena), we did the 3 20m circle loop up and down the arena – basically we went around and around until I was dizzy and my legs were about to fall off!

It took quite some time before he started listening – we had arguments about which direction we were going to go in, and whether or not our circles where going to be 20ms rather than 18 or 15ms, and where or not we go past the “scary” side of the arena (which is TOTALLY not scary at all, it’s just the corner closest to all his paddock mates as well as being the corner he can see them from – ie, he was just being a moron.); these disagreements where met with one-rein stops, growling, and some rib thumping on my part.

No.  It was not pretty.  In fact, I felt like a right idiot snapping “Trot!! Get on!!!” rather loudly while thumping his sides repeatedly, but the fact of the matter is it got the job done.   No, I do not advocate that manner of riding if you do it without asking nicely first, but I follow Mugwump’s principles:

1. I ask with a whisper (actually, it's a touch, I'm not much on whispering). Once.
2. I say what's required with a firm explanation (using legs and hands). Once.
3. I make it happen. No matter what it takes, I make it happen.
  
Then I take a breath and go back to step one.

She developed this whisper, ask, TELL method from her own years of training experience and what she’s learned from other trainers, like Ray Hunt.

If anybody ever went to a Ray Hunt clinic they probably saw what would happen to one of his well broke horses if they quit listening. Ray got their attention, fast and hard. Whip, spur, bit, whatever it took to clarify his position, he was using it. His misbehaving horse would go scurrying back to soft obedience as fast as it could. Because Ray made the wrong thing very, very difficult if his horse knew better.

I think that the crucial principal is this:

Horses don't become soft if they don't understand there's a consequence for not being that way.  They need to understand the gentle touch of the rein or leg will be followed with a much firmer reminder of what's needed.

So even though I know my riding Joey in such a git-after-him manner wasn’t the best equitation, it was what he needed at that point in time.  Because when we stopped trotting, I took a deep breath, relaxed and softened my aids back to a whisper, and then he produced some soft, obedient walk work practising our 10m circles up and down the centre line.  By the end of the ride, he was listening to me. 

Like my trainer said; I had his number.  And if thumping his sides and growling at him was what it took, then so be it!

See ya,

bonita

P.S.  ~ All of Mugwump’s wise words sourced from here.

Training Schedules and Updates

A few dot points about what’s between happening with Joey while I’ve been on enforced radio silence.  

• We cantered!   It wasn’t great, but it was there.  I was very happy with it at the end because I was actually brave enough to canter him for the first time since I brought him home, and it was just me and him – no one else.  Go us!
• Contact -  Joey has basically started to disrespect the bitless bridle I’ve been working him in, so I switched him into a French Link/Double Jointed Eggbutt snaffle, and we are working on achieving soft, firm and consistent contact so that he respects the bridle, but more importantly, his rider!
• Trust under saddle –  On that note, I know that Joey’s disrespect is founded in the fear and distrust he has in his rider to be able to ride him without hurting him.  He basically feels that he has to control the contact, and keep it loose, or he will get hurt.  I think we are making progress in that direction; it’s taking time, but we are getting there.

Plans for moving forwards:

I have committed to working Joey five mornings a week – I get up at 6:00am and go straight to the horse.  The idea is to work him before I start my usual day.

So far, it’s there’s a 50/50 success rate.  The first week I said I’d do that, my 11 month old boy got sick, then so did I.  That was the end of that.  Then I managed to work him Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, NOT Thursday, Friday, Saturday…  Which brings us to this last week. 

Of course I got injured at soccer on Sunday and couldn’t use my left hand/fingers properly until Friday.  Even now it’s still sore, but at least I can get back into it.  Yeah, not a great if you think about it – that’s two weeks off and one week on, but I am trying and I am committed.

I’ve already seen some results with working him that regularly, so I know that it’s beneficial.  It makes me feel heaps better too!  There is something to be said for early nights and early mornings, even though I am a total night owl and I really don’t know how I got myself roped into this….. 

Oh, that’s right.  I just don’t have enough time to progress Joey’s training otherwise.  I literally have to MAKE the time, and the only way to do that is to cut two hours of night time activities – be it watching TV, or socializing -and then paste those two hours into the morning.  crtl + x, crtl + v = horse improving.   At least, that’s the plan.  I’ll keep you updated on how that goes. 

See ya,

Bonita

Offline….

 

Hey everyone, this is just a super quick post to say that I’ll be offline for the next two to three weeks.  My RSI has flared up in both my wrists and now my elbows too so I’m cutting all computer work to try and let it heal.

Talk to you when I get back!

Bonita