Supposed to be a hot beginning to the week! Still planning to have jumping outside, but if it is too hot, we can warm up inside, and then come out just to jump. Either way, I recommend bringing a bottle of water to stay hydrated!
Going to work more on landing leads over jumps, and on canter to walk transitions.
Remember when trying to land a lead over a jump, you must have control of the horse's shoulder on the approach, so that they can push off squarely with both hinds and the jump. This makes it easier for them to switch leads in the air. Then, as they are taking off, the rider must look in the direction they wish to go on the land, open that rein, and put weight in the opposite stirrup.
Outside, I will have a jumper course set up so we can practice landing the lead with more obvious turns.
Karen
Monday, July 14, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Wall of Shame
When we were at Maple Leaf Meadows I saw they had a "Wall of Shame" where they listed clients that had apparently broken the rule of not sweeping up after themselves.
If we had a "Wall of Shame" at Hillside, I would use it differently:
THE HILLSIDE WALL OF SHAME:
- Java: for not wanting to be caught on the hottest day of the year.
- Rocket: for ripping his expensive new fly sheet in the first week of wearing it.
- Charlie: for leaving a mouse bum in the arena.
- Phelps: for digging hoof trimmings out of the manure pile, eating them, and then throwing them up in the living room at 2 am.
If we had a "Wall of Shame" at Hillside, I would use it differently:
THE HILLSIDE WALL OF SHAME:
- Java: for not wanting to be caught on the hottest day of the year.
- Rocket: for ripping his expensive new fly sheet in the first week of wearing it.
- Charlie: for leaving a mouse bum in the arena.
- Phelps: for digging hoof trimmings out of the manure pile, eating them, and then throwing them up in the living room at 2 am.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
What a lot of rain over the weekend! Over 2 inches of rain fell on Hillside over the weekend! The week is supposed to be sunny though, so hopefully the outdoor has a chance to dry.
Stephanie, Roman and I went to the Maple Leaf show on Saturday, and they too were hit by the heavy rains the night before. Fortunately they were able to move the classes to the indoor arena rather than cancel, and we had a good show with nice weather during the day. I look forward to returning there in August for their development show which I am hoping with be Dani's debut!
This week in lessons we are going to work some more on counter canter and also on lead changes. Being able to do a correct counter canter helps the horse learn to balance at the canter, so the horse can do its lead change in one piece rather than changing in front first like they tend to do.
For jumping we are going to work on finding the correct approach to diagonal fences. Turning too early remains an issue for many riders, and this nicely ties in to the lead changes: much easier to have a nice corner, or even get the change in the air, with a proper approach to the jump!
Karen
Stephanie, Roman and I went to the Maple Leaf show on Saturday, and they too were hit by the heavy rains the night before. Fortunately they were able to move the classes to the indoor arena rather than cancel, and we had a good show with nice weather during the day. I look forward to returning there in August for their development show which I am hoping with be Dani's debut!
This week in lessons we are going to work some more on counter canter and also on lead changes. Being able to do a correct counter canter helps the horse learn to balance at the canter, so the horse can do its lead change in one piece rather than changing in front first like they tend to do.
For jumping we are going to work on finding the correct approach to diagonal fences. Turning too early remains an issue for many riders, and this nicely ties in to the lead changes: much easier to have a nice corner, or even get the change in the air, with a proper approach to the jump!
Karen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
