mud, mud, glorious mud....
well it's been a little windy and raining this week, and Fi managed to lose a shoe (we believe Friday sometime). The mud makes it highly unlikely we will find it. As she has extra support on the outside of her shoes, getting her reshod means getting a new shoe made for her as well, so it may take some time. It looks like she might have tweaked her front leg at the same time.
So this weekend I rode her in Saturday, but stuck to walk and a little trot in the school. And then long reined on Sunday.
Fi hates the mud and apparently often stands the other side of it looking plaintive when it is time to be caught and brought in for her dinner. Yet it doesn't stop her doing high speed exits out of the paddock onto the bigger field when they are let out for some grass. Which is probably how/when she pulled the shoe off..
She worked well in both sessions, offering some nice softness - especially in the long reining, which may mean I have some reflecting to do on my seat and legs when riding, or indeed whether I am using my contact differently in each situation. Her state of mind was good - calm and quite focused. (Even though it seems she is in season).
Anyway, on Saturday I also long reined Rosie and Dudley. I worked Dudley first, working him on a halter and (single) line around the arena in walk/trot/canter first before putting the long-rein on and working him in walk and trot, asking for softness. I worked on halt quite a lot with him as he was trying to walk through it and not really settling in the halt.
Then I set out some cones and blocks (with some help from Rosie's rider) and long reined Rosie. As I had not long reined her for a few weeks I started off with straight lines and getting forward and basic steering revised. And then I started doing shallow loops off the long side, across the diagonal and down the centre line. Building in halts, changes of pace and so on. She was a good girl and cottoned on quite quickly but still sometimes tried to dictate where we were going relating to a cone/block. At the very end her rider had a go as well, just in walk (as she would struggle to keep up with the trot) and it seemed to help with both "intent" (of where they were going to next) and steering.
The idea was to work on something on day 1 in long rein, and then do the same thing day 2 under saddle. In the event we worked more on 20m circles under saddle, but it was all in the same theme. The ridden work is improving, with trot her best (and mose forward) pace. They haven't cantered for a while as I feel they need to work on other things, especially steering, before we go there. (Cantering out on a ride has been fine, and steering is generally not an issue out - but we have not been going out the last few weeks due to the weather and the wish to not neglect Rosie's education). When we get a nice forward trot with some basic steering, that will be the time for canter in the school.
With the 20m circle in trot, Rosie was going out the edges across the width of the school, but turning short along the depth, so it was a bit of an egg shape. By riding quarters of a circle, and asking for transitions up and down from trot, we went from "make me trot" and an egg shape to "why don't we keep trotting" and a 20m circle :D
Its small steps - but those small steps soon add up.
So this weekend I rode her in Saturday, but stuck to walk and a little trot in the school. And then long reined on Sunday.
Fi hates the mud and apparently often stands the other side of it looking plaintive when it is time to be caught and brought in for her dinner. Yet it doesn't stop her doing high speed exits out of the paddock onto the bigger field when they are let out for some grass. Which is probably how/when she pulled the shoe off..
She worked well in both sessions, offering some nice softness - especially in the long reining, which may mean I have some reflecting to do on my seat and legs when riding, or indeed whether I am using my contact differently in each situation. Her state of mind was good - calm and quite focused. (Even though it seems she is in season).
Anyway, on Saturday I also long reined Rosie and Dudley. I worked Dudley first, working him on a halter and (single) line around the arena in walk/trot/canter first before putting the long-rein on and working him in walk and trot, asking for softness. I worked on halt quite a lot with him as he was trying to walk through it and not really settling in the halt.
Then I set out some cones and blocks (with some help from Rosie's rider) and long reined Rosie. As I had not long reined her for a few weeks I started off with straight lines and getting forward and basic steering revised. And then I started doing shallow loops off the long side, across the diagonal and down the centre line. Building in halts, changes of pace and so on. She was a good girl and cottoned on quite quickly but still sometimes tried to dictate where we were going relating to a cone/block. At the very end her rider had a go as well, just in walk (as she would struggle to keep up with the trot) and it seemed to help with both "intent" (of where they were going to next) and steering.
The idea was to work on something on day 1 in long rein, and then do the same thing day 2 under saddle. In the event we worked more on 20m circles under saddle, but it was all in the same theme. The ridden work is improving, with trot her best (and mose forward) pace. They haven't cantered for a while as I feel they need to work on other things, especially steering, before we go there. (Cantering out on a ride has been fine, and steering is generally not an issue out - but we have not been going out the last few weeks due to the weather and the wish to not neglect Rosie's education). When we get a nice forward trot with some basic steering, that will be the time for canter in the school.
With the 20m circle in trot, Rosie was going out the edges across the width of the school, but turning short along the depth, so it was a bit of an egg shape. By riding quarters of a circle, and asking for transitions up and down from trot, we went from "make me trot" and an egg shape to "why don't we keep trotting" and a 20m circle :D
Its small steps - but those small steps soon add up.
posted by seahorse | 1:09 PM
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