January Week 1 Review and Week 2 Outline

12/31/08(!)
Rode for 30 minutes. Focused on what I learned in the dressage lesson - keep the outside rein firm, sit up, keep the forward but lose the on-the-forehand. In all it went very well, got some really nice trot work and the canter is getting better. Some clumsy steps behind, but she's due for a farrier appointment tomorrow so that may be part of it. 30 minutes riding time total, each of us broke a nice sweat. Good ride.

1/1/09(!!!)
If everything in 2009 goes the way this ride did, things will be swell! We clicked really well tonight. I think she knows more than I've assumed (the whole time I've treated her as a mostly green horse), and now that I'm asking her for it, she's delivering. Much less leaning-on-the-forehand tonight, and here and there we got some steps where she was really pushing from behind. She gave me one beautiful canter depart, which is a Pretty Big Deal since previously her canter departs have been pretty rough. A much smoother canter today too, easier to ride, probably cause she's not pounding around on her forehand as badly. Again 30 minutes, nice light sweat, just a good solid ride. She felt really "together" tonight - we were just in sync. Moved off my legs nicely too. I'm excited for the lesson tomorrow!

1/2/09
Good lesson! We had an unmounted session beforehand focusing on conformation and how it affects movement. Quite enlightening, especially since we did some switch riding to find out how other horses moved and if our conformational predictions were correct. Interesting note - horses with training or condition issues didn't always move true to their conformation, i.e., Pandora tends to travel very heavily on her forehand even though her conformation doesn't necessarily predispose her to it, because she wants to snatch at the bit. The horses who have been consistently trained under the same rider and are in good condition tend to move exactly like their conformation suggests - interesting.
Pandora did quite well. A little anxious during the switch ride, but she still behaved, and gave her some nice lateral work. Take-home message: since she knows leg-yield and shoulder-in very well, use them to help her stay off the forehand. Need to half-halt with the seat more and the hands less to help her balance and stay. off. the. forehand.
Hopped around a small course of X's twice. She's calm and steady, locks on to the fences and doesn't hesitate. She'll be very fun to jump. I'm trying to get used to the feel of her still, and it was hard to keep her off her forehand, so there was some diving involved on the back side of the jump. Prescription: canter cavaletti/bounces and fences with landing poles.
Overall a great lesson, I was pleased with her and came home with some new ideas.

1/3/09
Lesson again, flat. I'll give you one guess as to what we worked on....staying off the forehand! We really got into it and I have a much better understanding of what to do now. She had me slow down Pandora's trot - get Pandora balanced and carrying herself first, then add some leg. A few times I was able to get some strides of light, springy trot after adding leg to a balanced trot, so I know we're getting there.
Stop worrying about contact/on the bit - don't let her tuck behind the vertical or dive down, but other than that, focus on self-carriage. LOTS of half-halts with the seat to ask her to not lean on the bit, then relax and allow her to push forward once we're there. Sort of like riding a teeter totter: slow with the half-halt till we're balanced, then move forward, then rebalance, then add leg...
She wanted to ignore my half halts and hands toward the end of the lesson, but it was an hour-long lesson and she'd been ridden four days in a row, so I think she was ready for a mental break! We made some good progress though, and I know what to work on. Ellen says that if we work on those half-halts and balance for a week or so, we should get to where we can add some leg and keep the balance in a bigger trot.

1/4/09
Finally, a break for the ponies. They got to go out in the round pen for about an hour while we mucked. Sadly, this is the extent of turnout lately - don't get me started. I hate winter. I love that she can behave while cooped up in a stall all the time, yes...but now that she's proven it, can we have turnout? Just a little?
Unfortunately the fields would be utter chaos if that were to happen while it's this wet. We just have to survive a couple more months, then they'll get to start going out again.
She'll get tomorrow off too, just some light longeing - Mondays are a long school day for me, and classes start again tomorrow. Woe.


This week will be much of the same: work on staying off the forehand, get a couple lessons, keep on truckin'.

Monday 1/5/09
Day off again. Free longe the ponies, let them spend as much time loose in the arena as possible.

Tuesday 1/6/09
Ride. Work on half-halts with the seat, staying in balance, neither tucking nor diving. Figure-8s are helpful!

Wednesday 1/7/09
Robin comes to give a group lesson at the barn. Not sure what she'll have us work on - probably lots of flatwork with a little jumping. I'll let her know what we're working on and hopefully we can just get some guided insight to more of the same.

Thursday 1/8/09
Longe and ride. I'll probably do some longeing over canter ground poles to help her with rocking back and forth, as was suggested to me in the Friday lesson. Then I'll ride doing much of the same: off the forehand, relax, off the forehand, balance, add leg, don't dive, don't tuck behind the vertical, balance....

Friday 1/9/09
Light flat ride, since I have a clinic the next day. Same thing.

Saturday 1/10/09
Clinic. It's an all-day affair: flatwork, a long lunch break, and then over fences work. I'm a little concerned about over-facing her, since she's not *super* fit, but I think if I let the clinician know what we're working on, she won't push harder than is fair.

Sunday 1/11/09
Day off. Free longe/turnout as much as possible, maybe some clicker work if I'm feeling creative.



This week will be a true test of my riding schedule. Can I keep up with this and school at the same time? We'll see!