January Week 3 Review and Week 4 Outline

1/12/09
Day off!

1/13/09
I had an okay ride. I've been working hard on getting her to transition down off of my seat and legs more than my hands, since she tends to get anxious and tuck when I get in her face. Still, it wasn't the most productive overall. Towards the end, she wanted to rush and was just getting anxious, and I was a bit distracted. A solid workout but nothing spectacular.

1/14/09
Tonight was fun! There were seven people in the arena. It seems crowded sometimes when there's four! So we had a nice and relaxed ride, just walking, trotting, and cantering around with the other horses. Pandora was nice and mellow, and we got some good canter work in.

1/15/09
Tonight was a really, really good ride. I decided to try switching her back to the metal eggbutt lozenge bit I'd had her in at first. She was definitely quieter in it - going to keep it for awhile. She still slobbers some (which is nice!) and gets a nice "lipstick" foam going on, but she's not drooling all over the place from so much mouthing on the bit.
I just worked on a lot of transitions. She's REALLY understanding downward transitions off my seat and legs now - I just sit up, close my thighs and calves, stop my back, and close my fingers, and she transitions nicely. We're still working on remaining off the forehand when we do this, but it's definitely coming along.
She's also settled quite a bit about her canter transitions. In the lesson on the 7th, she got very anxious about all the canter departs. This time, I made sure to sit up (NOT duck forward), and just quietly ask. She was slow to transition the first several times, wanting to move into a rushing trot before picking it up, but before long she was prompt and compliant with the transitions. She remained calm the whole time.
We definitely have some work to do on our canter-trot transitions! I have to be so careful to keep her going at the canter (if I relax too much she instantly breaks) that when I ask her to transition down, she just THROWS herself forward into the trot and onto the forehand. This will improve with time, but it's definitely a weak spot.

16 - 18, I was at a PC retreat and I learned so much. I got some great ideas for exercises to do with her, too. I'll write a post about it over on my other blog soon.

Okay! The week didn't start off that spectacularly, but I got a really good ride in on Thursday and was very pleased with the progress we've made. The mares have been able to go out several times this week, which makes me utterly pleased and less stressed that she just got three days off. My mom did longe her for me, though.

In any case, this week should be a good one. I'm going to be working hard over the next couple months to prepare for the PC Show Jumping Rally in March. After jumping 2'9 in the clinic last week (!!!), I'm excited to see what the future brings!


Monday 1/19/09
Ride. I'm going to try an exercise we learned at the ABC retreat this weekend to help straighten your horse. You ride (assuming tracking right) shoulder-fore right for 1/4 the arena, shoulder-fore left for 1/4, then repeat. Shoulder-fore is like a pintsize shoulder-in (which is traveling on three tracks, shoulders set to the inside - the three tracks are inside fore, then outside fore/inside hind line up, then outside hind). You just shift the shoulders ever so slightly to the inside, and then the outside, and so on. This helps get control of the shoulders laterally so you can straighten, since most horses travel naturally with their haunches to the inside.

Tuesday 1/20/09
Ride again! Work on my position this time, using another exercise we learned (it is apparently from Sally Swift's Centered Riding, which I plan to get soon). At the trot you sit for 8, post for 8, 2-point for 8, post for 8, sit for 8, etc. When done properly, the horse should not change at all when you change your position. Once you master 8, you go to 4, then 2, then 1! This goes for all 3 gaits; you simply use a half-seat instead of posting for walk and canter.

Wednesday 1/21/09
Day off. Free longe the horses around the arena.

Thursday 1/22/09
Longe and ride. I will set up some cavaletti to longe over, probably just trot poles, and then leave them up while I ride. Spend lots of time switching between 2-point and sitting today, work on transitions.

Friday 1/23/09
Ride. I think I will go to a PC lesson this week. The Pony Club show is next week, so it might be a good idea to get some instruction. Since this will be the first Christy lesson since I discovered at the clinic that the mare can actually jump (and oh goodness she tucked her knees up and rounded her back!), I'm curious to see what she'll have us do. It will be nice to find out how well Pandora goes around a course, you know? She seems to know her leads well - I have not been asking her for them over fences, but then again I've only just started going over things that aren't X-rails. I don't feel she's balanced enough for flying changes, but simple changes should be fine.

Saturday 1/24/09
Light ride. Chew over what I learned at the lesson, stretch out the muscles we worked yesterday, switch ourselves from H/J to a dressage frame of mind (which means transitions, transitions, transitions, and probably more shoulder-fore work).

Sunday 1/25/09
Dressage lesson with Melinda. The lesson with her was I think the first lesson I took Pandora to. It was before we'd made some good progress, so I'm eager to find out what she thinks of the changes we've made. I am sure she will have plenty more for us to work on! I feel that I'm a lot more focused now - I've really established my goals and am consciously finding exercises to help me get to them. I've got a much clearer picture in my head of what I want and what I'm doing to get there.