What happened next
Well I knew there were two possibilities when we got back... either Rosie was going to have worked through the patterns enough that we might get some new stuff thrown at us - but basically it would be a whole new ball game... Or she could attempt to revert to the patterns she had set up in our arena.
Week +1: on the Saturday after the clinic we just did some work in the arena. She wasn't perfect and did try some objections. She gave in relatively quickly with me and really only objected a couple of times. But with mum she still seemed to figure she could outwait her. I put some poles out in a "X" shape so that they could be ridden in many directions and got mum to do that exercise with her. On the Sunday I needed to practice the dressage test for a competition the following weekend. Rosie was not bad for me (just a few grumps early on) but was a real pain for mum. (I had been going to ride Dudley at the same time but kept him outside so he couldn't be used as an excuse/distraction). She (mum) finally saw it through and even ended up with a canter down the long side. This may not sound a big deal but Rosie had only been cantering 3 or 4 strides in the school with mum before falling back to trot, so this was actually a step forward. (I pointed out to mum that I was now 3 days ahead of her in the process so she would get a "worse" reaction than me for a while til she caught up).
Week +2: the dressage competition. It was forecast to snow so it was hit and miss whether we would make it or not. In the end it was cold but clear so off we went. Rosie was a bit miffed at being asked to load - not sure she was wondering if she was off for another 3 days of work !! She managed a few grumps in the warm up area - I had hoped to try a shorter whip but ended up swapping back to the 110cm one I normally use. There were horses out in the field, and some of the horses had a hooley at one stage - galloping towards the arena :o
When we went in to the arena for the test, it was about time for some of the horses to come in and this proved quite distracting. Rosie put the brakes on 3 times in total (twice in the same place) and we were seventh out of seven :( but the judge just commented "trot not maintained" and in the overall marks said "well tried" so my efforts with the whip can't have been too awful...
On Sunday it DID snow, so no exercise for the horses other than finding some grass to eat !
Week +3: freezing weather - literally. I just did some walk and trot work with Fi and then with Rosie. Rosie tried some pretty big objections with me (a couple of bucks) but then subsided. And she really didn't try it on much with mum, even though mum still tends to use the whip and then waaaaiiit for a reaction.
It seems Rosie is getting the idea that we BOTH mean it (fingers crossed). Sunday and Monday (St Andrews day holiday) were equally frozen...
Week +1: on the Saturday after the clinic we just did some work in the arena. She wasn't perfect and did try some objections. She gave in relatively quickly with me and really only objected a couple of times. But with mum she still seemed to figure she could outwait her. I put some poles out in a "X" shape so that they could be ridden in many directions and got mum to do that exercise with her. On the Sunday I needed to practice the dressage test for a competition the following weekend. Rosie was not bad for me (just a few grumps early on) but was a real pain for mum. (I had been going to ride Dudley at the same time but kept him outside so he couldn't be used as an excuse/distraction). She (mum) finally saw it through and even ended up with a canter down the long side. This may not sound a big deal but Rosie had only been cantering 3 or 4 strides in the school with mum before falling back to trot, so this was actually a step forward. (I pointed out to mum that I was now 3 days ahead of her in the process so she would get a "worse" reaction than me for a while til she caught up).
Week +2: the dressage competition. It was forecast to snow so it was hit and miss whether we would make it or not. In the end it was cold but clear so off we went. Rosie was a bit miffed at being asked to load - not sure she was wondering if she was off for another 3 days of work !! She managed a few grumps in the warm up area - I had hoped to try a shorter whip but ended up swapping back to the 110cm one I normally use. There were horses out in the field, and some of the horses had a hooley at one stage - galloping towards the arena :o
When we went in to the arena for the test, it was about time for some of the horses to come in and this proved quite distracting. Rosie put the brakes on 3 times in total (twice in the same place) and we were seventh out of seven :( but the judge just commented "trot not maintained" and in the overall marks said "well tried" so my efforts with the whip can't have been too awful...
On Sunday it DID snow, so no exercise for the horses other than finding some grass to eat !
Week +3: freezing weather - literally. I just did some walk and trot work with Fi and then with Rosie. Rosie tried some pretty big objections with me (a couple of bucks) but then subsided. And she really didn't try it on much with mum, even though mum still tends to use the whip and then waaaaiiit for a reaction.
It seems Rosie is getting the idea that we BOTH mean it (fingers crossed). Sunday and Monday (St Andrews day holiday) were equally frozen...
posted by seahorse | 4:03 PM
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