(no subject)

[glenatron]

Yesterday we had a lesson with Silversand associate instructor Karen French, having a session each with our horses.

Zorro and I were first out and as we went into the school the heavens opened so we did some pretty damp groundwork. My objective was to work on getting us really going forward- Zorro is very good at backwards and vertically upwards, but he can be a little reluctant to really drive forwards - surely something that comes from me - so we started working on that.


Me working from a bit further behind Zorro to help drive him on a bit and create a really positive forward movement. You will notice that he looks quite damp and so does the saddle. It stopped raining before I started riding, having done a good job of making the saddle really wet.


Working on forwardness. Karen is indicating which way forward is.

I think at this point she was actually getting me to use things right on the horizon as my targets to keep us from petering out as we approach the side of the school.


This was just after I asked us to move onwards into trot. You'll notice that Zorro looks a bit stroppy here, but that is not entirely accurate- he was actually very stroppy. This picture was between bucks. The nice thing about him is that he bucks to indicate that he is furious rather than with any serious intention to unseat me- I've seen what he can do when he is really throwing himself around and it's a lot more hectic than that...

By the end of the lesson we were getting a lot more momentum in walk and trot, with me really trying to create the feeling of him almost moving out from under me and making sure that we always have direction and meaning in what we are doing. It will take a bit of work, but this is going to need to be my real work for the next few months.

sleepsy_mouse and Small pony were next up, continuing to work on helping him to feel confident in the school and to get away from the idea that any time he is asked for anything in that environment he should take it as a request to go forward.


Working to get a bit of lateral movement on the ground, with the aim of getting Small to understand that this is something he can do without needing to run away. With a little work where sleepsy_mouse was just walking out behind him if he got ahead he quickly started to realise that he could just stay with her and try some different things when she asked for something he didn't understand. That in itself is a big change for him.


Under saddle he is starting to realise that he can relax and reach a bit, he doesn't have to drop his back away, pick his head up and go along in a banana kind of outline. He still tends to do that in trot, but in walk he is getting better.

Karen used some of her Alexander Technique to help sleepsy_mouse get her seat more relaxed so that Small could relax more with her- the outcome was very interesting with his eyes actually starting to close and his head coming down as they worked on it.


He was really starting to understand a bit of the sideways movement, particularly on this rein.


On the other rein he was finding it harder so Karen was helping everyone involved find the best position to make it easy for him.


I just like this picture, very positive.


Until recently I would have had to pick out one or two pictures from a whole session to get ones where Small was looking this comfortable and focussed on his work rather than worrying about things. That in itself is a big step forward.

Sorry, evil_c, I forgot to ask whether she would be able to help with you and Piceur (though I'm sure she would ) - I kept meaning to then suddenly realised I had forgotten after Karen left. Bad glenatron :( - I suggest giving her a call on 01233 631101 and talking it through with her.


This evening when we brought the ponies in Zorro had Opinions which mean't I basically brought in a firework display. Mostly he was keeping a couple of feet on the floor, but which ones varied quite a lot. I think the combination of bad weather, excitement about dinner and the beginnings of spring grass went to his head a little. It was quite hectic for a little while, but there was a lot of energy there and had it been less of a swamp I might have been tempted to take him down to the school and just have a bit of a play.

Comments

[tempusxfugit.livejournal.com]

Seems like it went really well! I love Karen (hah, that's weird to say. it's my name, too) indicating which way forward is. It reminds me of a picture my dad took....

HAY THAR, KEN. I BE POINTIN' AT YUU.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

You look like you're doing one of those "you go girlfriend" kind of things.

[tempusxfugit.livejournal.com]

Ken is not my girlfriend. ;]

For the record, I don't know what I was doing.

[fleefloodle.livejournal.com]

Zorro bucks sound a lot like Willow bucks. Louise loves it because she knows the bucking isn't dangerous. In fact, my instructor is so concerned with my safety that whenever Willow decides to buck/take off/generally have a spazzy moment she stands and laughs at me. Better than her feeling that it's cause for panic though I guess.

It also sounds like Small's response to lateral work is very similar to what Ranger's used to be - "there is pressure on my side so I must run forwards as fast as possible!!". But Ranger is a horrible pony in many ways a lot of the time and a good chunk of his "not understanding" is, imho, more of a way to get out of doing any real work.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Probably Ranger never did learn otherwise, so often things like that are things that the horse never quite understood when they were started or never had explained adequately and then they just figure out their own ideas of what it might mean and do the best they can by it. If that gives them an opportunity to carry out their own plans then that's even better as far as they are concerned.

We think a gap at the start is probably why Small is such a banana when he goes trotting- he was very much started as a showjumper so he can do a real showjumper collected canter and all that stuff- except for the jumping, obviously - but it seems like he didn't do much trot and he's not very confident with it.

[fleefloodle.livejournal.com]

Ranger has pretty much worked out what he's meant to be doing now, he just uses it as a way of getting out of work. Because of the way he's built it's harder for him to use himself properly and he's very good at setting himself against the bit and dragging you about the place. He can do it when he wants to, but when he decides he doesn't want to he can pull every trick in the book to get out of it.

As far as we know Ranger was started as a school pony and he definitely wasn't started well. They put him in a kimblewick to slow him down rather than training him. He wasn't doing that for long, but a school life is not the place for a newly broken 5 year old. We got him when he was 11/12 I think and even then he hadn't really been trained properly. Then he went laminitic and everything went to pot for a while. Tbh, I think he's just suffering from the way his training's ended up being so sporadic. Now he's back in a weekly lesson he's improving drastically, and when I was riding him daily when he first came back into work he was bending and stretching into the beginnings of an outline. He's just too damn intelligent for his own good at times!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Poor little guy. Sounds like you're doing the right thing by him now, though. There is nothing like inconsistent riding as a school horse to teach a pony how to get around what humans are asking them to do and try to get their own way as much as possible.

[spirithorse21.livejournal.com]

I can see a definite improvement in your seat from all those other lessons you've been taking. Looking good!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I'm a lot more upright certainly and my leg position is getting better, though my weight isn't yet consistently as deep as I need it to be. I'm a lot happier with those pictures than older ones, looking back.

[evil-c.livejournal.com]

It all looks very good. Its nice to see Small so relaxed.

I'll give her a ring. I have the saddler coming out thursday 27th to re-fit Piceur's saddle and she'll need to re-flock it but by the way Piceur has been acting this weekend I don't know if I'll be able to get a head collar on her by then!

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

<3 Zorro - he's lovely!!

Sounds like a great lesson, and the improvement is wonderful. It's always so exciting to see progress, isn't it?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

He is lovely, in a somewhat grumpy and explosive way. Very charismatic and a whole lot of fun.

[penella22.livejournal.com]

What exactly did Zorro have such opinions about? I agree, your seat does look better. Its amazing how much you've improved in such a short time. Small looks like a palomino pinto again... :-)

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely no idea- he was just generally furious at the world.

I think it had been rainy, he hadn't been doing much all day and it is a bit spring grassy. Also our friend put them out in the morning and had to have words cos he kept trying to bite Small so it's possible he just wanted to let me know that all of this was simply not good enough!