Things that make you go :)
Two weeks ago I had a lesson on one of my sister's ponies. I got the older more sensible pony, while she rode the "wall of death canter" pony. Which meant I got to work on me. I've ridden this pony before and always feel like he has this wry smile while I get back into sync with him. I "get it" eventually and off we trot !
Anyway - we worked on straight and forward, which made sense both to help me remember how to ride this pony better, but also as a "take home" for working with Rosie.
At one point the instructor said to me "You can't be responsible for everything".
Now he was talking about riding the three quarter line in trot. But
Hmmmmmmm
Over the Christmas break I had been mostly hacking Rosie out around any remaining stubble fields, just to keep her ticking over and not losing too much fitness. So it was really time to at least do a short stint in the school.
There is an NH trainer who talks about the horse having the responsibility to
- maintain gait
- maintain direction
So if I set the gait as trot, and the direction as either on the rail, or on the three quarter line, then I shouldn't need to manage every step.
I had already experienced in ground work that if I "nagged" Rosie I got a reluctant sulky pony. Whereas if I only corrected when she broke gait or direction ("don't make me pick up the stick !"), then she became much more loose and forward.
But this is a pony for whom trotting a whole circuit of our 40 by 20 was a Big Deal. Had we managed to improve fitness and willingness enough that I could ask for more ?
My warm up exercise was simple - three circuits on the rail at trot with a loose rein without breaking. A breather then repeat on the other rein.
I had done something similar a week before but without a clear target, although we had actually done three circuits. I was expecting it to be simple but made the tactical mistake of letting her choose the rein to start on, and we ended up on her "worst" rein - left rein.
At this point it becomes clear that you could quickly end up on a hiding to nothing if you insist on a target which is actually a bit of a stretch. If her breaking once meant she had to do a whole three more circuits, she was quickly going to tire and break more often and never get the "win". So the modified target was that if she broke, I asked her back into trot and then we had to trot round and past the place she broke at before. If at that point we were over the three circuits, we could walk. That was more sensible. I did still ask if I felt her thinking about breaking, but instead of being frequent, it was "by exception".
Right rein proved easier, and doing a similar exercise (but with a two circuit target) at canter helped get us fully warmed up.
Then we did the three quarter line exercise, but without too many repeats. She has a tendency to hang to the rail so this was actually quite a tough one for her. A good exercise to work on straightness - simple and very effective :) (Credit to the instructor).
Of course the circuit exercise is also helping with her fitness.
Out and about on hacks I've noticed Rosie is increasingly likely to "ask" me things. I'm not sure if I am listening better, or whether it is simple easier for both of us if she isn't doing the pony equivalent of putting her hooves in her ears and chanting "blah blah blah blah " ;)
Either way she seems to have worked out that if she "asks", I listen and answer.
So - we walk along the farm drive on our way out for a hack, get to the road and she asks "shall we trot ?"
On a stubble field she will ask to trot, or from trot ask to canter. Bearing in mind this is a pony that had a serious lack of forward, this is no small thing. In fact she sometimes gets a bit miffed when she asks about trot and I ask her to stay in walk.... but I know where we are going and when the next trot or canter is coming up.
We're still working on fitness so she will also fade into a lower gait. This is mostly a genuine lack of fitness rather than any kind of "make me", and after a dozen strides of walk I can ask for more again and off we go.
Anyway - we worked on straight and forward, which made sense both to help me remember how to ride this pony better, but also as a "take home" for working with Rosie.
At one point the instructor said to me "You can't be responsible for everything".
Now he was talking about riding the three quarter line in trot. But
Hmmmmmmm
Over the Christmas break I had been mostly hacking Rosie out around any remaining stubble fields, just to keep her ticking over and not losing too much fitness. So it was really time to at least do a short stint in the school.
There is an NH trainer who talks about the horse having the responsibility to
- maintain gait
- maintain direction
So if I set the gait as trot, and the direction as either on the rail, or on the three quarter line, then I shouldn't need to manage every step.
I had already experienced in ground work that if I "nagged" Rosie I got a reluctant sulky pony. Whereas if I only corrected when she broke gait or direction ("don't make me pick up the stick !"), then she became much more loose and forward.
But this is a pony for whom trotting a whole circuit of our 40 by 20 was a Big Deal. Had we managed to improve fitness and willingness enough that I could ask for more ?
My warm up exercise was simple - three circuits on the rail at trot with a loose rein without breaking. A breather then repeat on the other rein.
I had done something similar a week before but without a clear target, although we had actually done three circuits. I was expecting it to be simple but made the tactical mistake of letting her choose the rein to start on, and we ended up on her "worst" rein - left rein.
At this point it becomes clear that you could quickly end up on a hiding to nothing if you insist on a target which is actually a bit of a stretch. If her breaking once meant she had to do a whole three more circuits, she was quickly going to tire and break more often and never get the "win". So the modified target was that if she broke, I asked her back into trot and then we had to trot round and past the place she broke at before. If at that point we were over the three circuits, we could walk. That was more sensible. I did still ask if I felt her thinking about breaking, but instead of being frequent, it was "by exception".
Right rein proved easier, and doing a similar exercise (but with a two circuit target) at canter helped get us fully warmed up.
Then we did the three quarter line exercise, but without too many repeats. She has a tendency to hang to the rail so this was actually quite a tough one for her. A good exercise to work on straightness - simple and very effective :) (Credit to the instructor).
Of course the circuit exercise is also helping with her fitness.
Out and about on hacks I've noticed Rosie is increasingly likely to "ask" me things. I'm not sure if I am listening better, or whether it is simple easier for both of us if she isn't doing the pony equivalent of putting her hooves in her ears and chanting "blah blah blah blah " ;)
Either way she seems to have worked out that if she "asks", I listen and answer.
So - we walk along the farm drive on our way out for a hack, get to the road and she asks "shall we trot ?"
On a stubble field she will ask to trot, or from trot ask to canter. Bearing in mind this is a pony that had a serious lack of forward, this is no small thing. In fact she sometimes gets a bit miffed when she asks about trot and I ask her to stay in walk.... but I know where we are going and when the next trot or canter is coming up.
We're still working on fitness so she will also fade into a lower gait. This is mostly a genuine lack of fitness rather than any kind of "make me", and after a dozen strides of walk I can ask for more again and off we go.
posted by seahorse | 3:06 PM
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