Kim's dog had to go to the vet to get a C-section so I ended up not having a lesson today. So I rode on my own, practicing lots of transitions and some leg yielding. A little shoulder in, but I can't tell if the angle is right on my own, so not much. One thing that was helpful was cantering the long side and short side, then changing direction on the diagonal by coming to a walk at X. Then walked to the corner and asked for a canter halfway through the first turn, then cantered down the long side and the short side and did it again.
Another thing we did was practicing trotting the quarterlines. He was anticipiating leg yielding when we would turn early, so it was good to work on just going straight. Also made it easier to check us out in the mirror, lol.
One more thing we worked on while taking a walk break was gathering him up and then doing a free walk on the diagonal and practiced gathering him up again, we did X's like that. And of course, lots of circles and riding around the whole arena. A bit on lengthening, but not much. Overall it was a good ride. Started out rocky because he was calling for his new buddy again, but overall a nice day. It helped that I came home from class to my new saddlepads! If you don't already check it every day, http://www.tackoftheday.com/ is *the* place to go for deals. It's like an addiction, lol, but one that saves you money!
Showing posts with label horseback riding lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horseback riding lessons. Show all posts
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
No riding today...
We had a rough physical training session today (workout for you non-military types) and I have a big presentation for tomorrow, so I decided not to ride. I have a lesson tomorrow and Thursday.
Something I wanted to get down in regards to working on shoulder in and my last lesson, because I was kind of surprised that we were working on shoulder in, it seemed sudden, but then I was reading a shoulder in tutorial on the internet (http://www.geocities.com/gerrypony/shoulder-in.html) and it all made sense after that. You really should read the full tutorial, but I'll recap what we did in lessons leading up to the shoulder in, which really helped it fall into place.
We worked on encouraging Jessie to stay forward and round
We taught him to move off of my leg by sidepassing around the corners of the arena
We used that new willingness to move off the leg to begin sidepassing
Leg yielding to the wall from the quarter line and from the wall to the quarter line
Spiral circles, both in and out, changing the size of the circle, but maintaining the tempo
Counting strides on each half of a circle to see if they match
Learned how to really do a sitting trot
After that, it was easy. Kim explained the aids for the sitting trot, inside leg FORWARD at the girth (very hard for me to do), inside hand a little higher, twist torso to face where his head should be facing, but don't break at the waist when twisting, outside rein pushes the horse toward the inside and the inside hand asks for the bend, the outside leg stays still and heavy, encouraging the horse to bring it's shoulders over, but not really asking for anything unless correction is needed. The inside leg pulses with every step of the inside hind leg, to maintain the impulsion and momentum.
The hardest part was not bringing the horse too far over, the angle just doesn't seem like enough angle when there is the right amount of bend. Additionally, we lost a lot of the impulsion by the end of the wall, but that is due in part to needing to build up the stamina and muscle strength to maintain the movement, both on my part and Jessie's. It was very exciting though, the only thing more exciting than shoulder in will be half pass, but we won't be ready for that for quite some time.
Anyway, just wanted to recap my shoulder in experience, while it was still fairly fresh in my mind. One good thing about this blog is that it gets my thoughts together in one place for my review prior to my lessons.
Something I wanted to get down in regards to working on shoulder in and my last lesson, because I was kind of surprised that we were working on shoulder in, it seemed sudden, but then I was reading a shoulder in tutorial on the internet (http://www.geocities.com/gerrypony/shoulder-in.html) and it all made sense after that. You really should read the full tutorial, but I'll recap what we did in lessons leading up to the shoulder in, which really helped it fall into place.
We worked on encouraging Jessie to stay forward and round
We taught him to move off of my leg by sidepassing around the corners of the arena
We used that new willingness to move off the leg to begin sidepassing
Leg yielding to the wall from the quarter line and from the wall to the quarter line
Spiral circles, both in and out, changing the size of the circle, but maintaining the tempo
Counting strides on each half of a circle to see if they match
Learned how to really do a sitting trot
After that, it was easy. Kim explained the aids for the sitting trot, inside leg FORWARD at the girth (very hard for me to do), inside hand a little higher, twist torso to face where his head should be facing, but don't break at the waist when twisting, outside rein pushes the horse toward the inside and the inside hand asks for the bend, the outside leg stays still and heavy, encouraging the horse to bring it's shoulders over, but not really asking for anything unless correction is needed. The inside leg pulses with every step of the inside hind leg, to maintain the impulsion and momentum.
The hardest part was not bringing the horse too far over, the angle just doesn't seem like enough angle when there is the right amount of bend. Additionally, we lost a lot of the impulsion by the end of the wall, but that is due in part to needing to build up the stamina and muscle strength to maintain the movement, both on my part and Jessie's. It was very exciting though, the only thing more exciting than shoulder in will be half pass, but we won't be ready for that for quite some time.
Anyway, just wanted to recap my shoulder in experience, while it was still fairly fresh in my mind. One good thing about this blog is that it gets my thoughts together in one place for my review prior to my lessons.
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