The other point of this blog is for me to record the progress I've made in riding so that I (and hopefully others) can look back and gain some perspective or reignite old thought processes. Well this is a good time to do that. I've had a long string of great rides and really feel like some of the things I've been trying to learn are getting me somewhere.
Cross Country with Griffin
The first cross country schooling of the season was rained out and this one nearly was too, but I'm so glad it wasn't. This was my first cross country back post-injury (more on that in a future post) and I was taking a horse that had never been cross country but we were pretty sure would do really well at it. Well Griffin was a total ROCK STAR. We had so much fun! Don't get me wrong, it was far from perfect. We definitely refused almost every jump at least once before jumping. But that got a little better as we went. We also were not a fan of the water at all. And our chief concern was definitely that our friends might leave us behind so we needed to run as fast as possible back to them at every chance.
But what I learned was that just because a horse is fast, does not mean he is unbalanced or out of control (i.e. fast horse does not equal imminent death). There are riders out there who have a need for speed and that's what they love and where they get their thrills. That's not me though. It's been a slow progression to feel confident and "safe" on fast horses. It's still a work in progress so I am excited at how much fun I had with this speedy guy. In terms of trying to get rid of some of the refusals (he would blow past my leg and to the side of the jumps) I think the piece from my trainer that sunk in the most was something along the lines of don't move your upper body. If I could get myself upright and balanced, not leaning one way or another, that's when it would go well. It felt like I had to kick with the leg he was blowing past, but usually to get a more insistent kick I think I was leaning away from that side to free up my leg from balance. Which that weight shift would just cause him to veer even more sideways. Instead if I just hold steady pressure and dig in with the leg he's blowing past and just really keep my upper body focused and aimed to that jump, that seemed to work the best.
Seriously, So. Much. Fun.
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| Despite his nerves, Griffin felt like he was having fun too |
Free Ride with Piven
I haven't talked about Piven much yet but I have a horse-crush on him. He's the one I'm working with as I try to learn about liberty training so I'm sure he will come up more in the future. Also by the by he went on that same cross country schooling but with my trainer riding him and he looked AMAZING. So excited for him to level out so I can ride him more.
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| My trainer, Kris Wallace, and Piven |
Bounces - Short Stride Exercise with Ladybug and Destiny
The lesson for the week was bounces, but specifically tight ones so we could work on collecting the horse up. In my first lesson of the week I got to ride Ladybug, a little spitfire pony who I've never ridden before. She is so much fun.
Pony Tangent! I'm often a little worried on ponies, and not because of their sassy pony brains (although I probably should worry about that some days). There are two main causes for worry. First of all jumps just seem bigger from the back of a pony. It has nothing to do with the pony's ability to jump that high, it's just a mental problem for me. It's one of my favorite things about draft cross Jack, no jumps seem very big from on him. Cause number two simply has to do with size ratios. Of course our trainer is careful to make sure the pony is broad enough and strong enough to carry the rider's weight if it is a taller rider. But the bottom line is still that the ratio of how tall I am compared to how long the pony is generally seems to leave less room for error. It's like there's no neck to save myself with. At least it's a short way to the ground, but I swear I fall off ponies way more often than taller things. (End Pony Tangent)
Well thank goodness I did not fall off of Ladybug. She was super sweet on the ground and has a really fun jump. Although I did get the distinct impression that she was annoyed with me for being so bossy. My trainer said it was because she's mad that I won't let her go as fast as she wants. And she is a speedy little pony. But speed or no, I got her to collect up for the tight bounces and had yet another enjoyable ride on a fast horse. All smiles.
I repeated that same exercise on Destiny. She is also a pony I think but just barely so I'm never as worried about going over her neck. Destiny may be the epitome of a cranky mare. But she's not mean so I can deal with her grump. She's usually really crooked and is still learning how to use her body well over the jumps, but it seems like she's come a long way since I last rode her. We had a better lesson than I maybe was expecting which is always a nice thing. Another really fun ride.
Adjustable Canter Exercise with Gracie and Griffin
Since we practiced getting a very collected canter to make bounces work the previous week, this week we worked on consistent but rate-able canters. We had a five-stride line (which in the indoor puts us very close to each corner) and we had to push the horses to a pretty good canter to get the five stride and then collect them back up to get a six stride and even a seven stride. As the exercise progressed we added a line of two two-strides on the opposite side of the arena, so as you collect up your horse on one side you needed to extend back out for the other. It was a lot of work but a great exercise. The first lesson of the week I was on Gracie, a bouncy but ultimately wonderful palomino quarter horse. We had to work really hard to extend enough for that five stride but she proved to be much more rate-able than I would have thought. We were able to collect and extend as needed to get the course done. I definitely felt a little nervous about hurtling through the jumps with corners so close to follow, but this is a place where again my bravery for speed has improved. In the past I may have been hesitant to really ask for the speed we needed because I was afraid of it (which by the way is silly because being fast but not fast enough to find the good jump you need is way harder.) It didn't quite feel comfortable to me, but I was able to get past any nerves and get it done without being terrified which I think is huge.
The second iteration of this lesson was on Griffin. I am so glad we already had practice hurtling over cross country at top speed otherwise I'm fairly sure I would have been terrified of the speed we were getting in our small indoor arena. But since I know we've gone faster and it's turned out fine I was able to ride it confidently which felt great! We really struggled to collect enough to get the six-stride evenly in and our lesson group did not make it far enough to attempt the seven-stride which was a little disappointing but probably ok. Given how much we were struggling to come back enough to get a six-stride, the seven stride certainly would have been a challenge and we may not have been able to get it done. I love riding this horse, he is so much fun. And while we maybe didn't get as flexible in speed as I did with Gracie, I really started to get a feel for how to to sit deep and "be heavy" to slow him down. I love when I start to get the feel for something, because I know that is usually the start of really making breakthroughs.
Cloverleaf Exercise with Sherlock
So that takes us up to this week. This week we are practicing narrow jumps and proper turning aids. It's the cloverleaf pattern. There are two jumps that are crossed over each other to make a +. And we are supposed to jump each of the four half-length jumps that that creates, while rolling back to be jumping them all the same direction. I was on Sherlock, who is a very lanky, somewhat clumsy thoroughbred cross with a big, kind heart. I know I don't feel the most secure when riding him, (I'm still figuring out these lanky horses) and I know he can seem hard to steer, so I definitely was thinking I had my work cut out for me. Overall I thought it went really well. Our biggest problem wasn't the turns themselves but just keeping enough forward momentum. We end this exercise with jumping the center of both jumps in the +. I remember last time I did this exercise thinking that jumping the center seemed intimidating and I wasn't sure if I could convince the horse to do it. So it was great to do it this time, not knowing if it would go exactly right, but not being worried about it going terribly wrong. I knew we could jump it well enough that everything would be fine and there's always another chance to fix what wasn't great. What a great place to be.
And that catches us back up. I don't normally write about every lesson I have, but I've just had so many good rides lately that I wanted to document for myself. I want to remember what these good feelings are like. I want to remember some of these tip of the iceberg learning moments I've had so I can grow them. And I want to be able to remind myself at a later date that yes I can ride and no I'm not completely full of shit. :D
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