Tuesday, March 10, 2009

March Week 2 Review and Week 3 Outline

Monday 3/9
Ended up talking myself out of riding. I will end up riding a lot more next week - this is dead week so lots of studying to do. Free longed the girls, they had a good time running.

Tuesday 3/10
Day off. Free longed.

Wednesday 3/11
Flatwork schooling in the dressage saddle. The ride started off really nicely, nice and forward, just took her through everything at the walk (serpentines, circles, leg-yields, shoulders-in and out) then the same at trot. But somewhere along the way she got anxious and I got frustrated, and she was racing a lot. We managed to end on a good note. I think my stirrups were too long, and I wasn't using the ThinLine like normal under the saddle - wonder if that makes a difference?

Still resisting bend to the left, always. Very frustrating. I can get her to move off my leg, but she just will not take up the bend through her whole body with one smooth curve from head to tail. Chiro is coming out in a week so hopefully that will help fix things.

Thursday 3/12
Jumped with two of the girls at the barn. Pandora did very nicely over the low stuff, finding good distances, even volunteered the left lead on a pretty regular basis when going to the left. She did want to rush around when on the left lead sometimes, but I think that had more to do with cantering over a two-stride cavaletti line (all she has to do is yank her feet up, so she gets quick and careless).

Still, was resisting the left bend hardcore. Grrrr. I am patient with it -- Rome wasn't built in a day -- but it gets very frustrating when nothing I do can stop her from leaning over the left shoulder. At least she will take her left lead and canter nicely.

When we raised the jumps, she was just lovely. We had a vertical set on the diagonal and a single oxer. By the end, the oxer was just a hair shy of 2'9, with two barrels beneath, and the vertical was 2'6. Pandora did very nicely, considering I don't school her over these heights often. She tends to want to ignore my half-halts coming up to the fence, so perhaps I should set up some grids that encourage her to settle back. She's comfortable taking the short distance, and manages to suck herself up enough when she takes off super close, which is nice to know. I'd like to get some video of me jumping her over these - it feels like she is just tucking her legs up instead of rounding her back, but she may just not do that until the fences get a little bigger.

All in all, despite a few issues, I was very pleased.

Friday 3/13
Lesson at Poseidon. It ended up as a two-person lesson, as the third girl ended up sick. This actually turned out to be for the better, because our horses are very similarly-strided, so we got to do some gridwork!
We ended up schooling over a three-fence grid set up almost straight down the centerline, on a one-stride distance. She set the grid up a little bit short, because both horses need to practice rocking back and waiting instead of getting long and strung-out.
Eventually we had the grid set with a takeoff pole, then poles between each of the fences. So essentially it was five bounces, just that every other one was a pole. This was very helpful for Pandora, who needs to practice not getting all strung-out or diving down on her nose.
She did very nicely. I managed to push the height issue a little bit, and she raised the fences a little more than she normally does for me. I think I will have to either be very insistent about it, or just accept that I'll school higher fences at home! Or both, of course.
In any case, I felt like the grid work was very beneficial. I plan to set up some canter cavaletti at bounce distance for practice.

Saturday 3/14
Day off.

Sunday 3/15
Another day off. Finals studying!


Week 3 Outline

For all [riding] days this week, if the weather is nice, we'll make a short pilgrimage out the front gate. I plan to work extensively on Pandora's ability to go out on the roads alone (she will follow another horse, but freaks out by herself). Not only will road work help conditioning-wise, the confidence she gets from learning to go out by herself should make XC a piece of cake.

Monday 3/16
No ride - I have a final from 6 - 8PM, ugh. But then it's spring break, woohoo!

Tuesday 3/17
Solid flatwork schooling. Working on flexibility all through the body, lengthening/shortening the pace at the trot, and plenty of cantering.

Wednesday 3/18
Lesson across the street at Robin's, jumping.

Thursday 3/19
Chiro appointment, finally! She will get free-longed beforehand.

Friday 3/20
Jumping lesson at Poseidon.

Saturday 3/21
Light flatwork schooling. Practice ring figures, perhaps over poles: figure-8s, half-turns back to the rail, spiraling circles.

Sunday 3/22
Jumping school.
Set up canter-bounce cavaletti on an 11' stride, practice steady cantering. Start with three and maybe go up to five. Practice trotting a low, wide oxer with a placing and landing pole.

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