Roxy went "home" to Abbotsfort BC today. Well, should make Kelowna by tonight, then the rest of the journey tomorrow.
As I look outside at the blizzard I have to ask myself...why on earth didn't I go with her!
(and of course her owners were kind enough to send me a photo out their door...all green and flowery...)
I will miss Roxy. She was pretty easy to take care of! Glad she is reunited with her owners though, and I hope they have fun with her.
Karen
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
this week in lessons...
This week in lessons we will be continuing to work on rider fitness by doing work/transitions while in the two point, and some work without stirrups as well. It will be fun. Riders without belts or with bad grammar may find themselves doing the two point and no stirrup work concurrently.
Walk to canter transitions, and canter transitions on the 1/4 line (so you can't use the wall to help balance your horse) will also be part of our warm up.
For jumping, we are going to be working on getting perpendicular to the jumps regardless of the location and approach needed to the jump. I have a few ideas to help with this, and it will help lead to next week when we will be working on a simple jumper type course.
The reason I want to work on getting perpendicular to the jumps, is that it is very important for the horse to be able to see the jump equally out of both eyes, and to approach with a straight body, so that the horse can time its take off properly.
This last week I watched rider after rider turning to the oxer on the diagonal right after they passed the jump on the side, rather than going down the track to find the correct approach. Interestingly this wasn't so much an issue with the diagonal jumps that were approached directly from the end of the ring. This makes me think that it is in part a mental block...the rider's feel the jump on the side is blocking their approach or line of sight, and so panic and want to turn ASAP. I think the key to resolving this issue is to work on rider's keeping a larger frame of view and using the ring despite the obstacles in the way.
This leads me to something else we need to work on: being able to adapt and continue doing an exercise despite riders or jumps being somewhat in the way. We did that a little last week with the 4 loop serpentines and trying to keep trotting and avoiding oncoming traffic by adjusting the loops. This is something we need to continue to work on, as well as to work on communicating intent so we can better share the arena with things get busy...and for when we go to shows and there might be more than 4 or 5 riders in the arena! So passing skills, and taking in what is going on in the entire arena while riding will be another skill I will try to work on over the next little while.
Karen
Walk to canter transitions, and canter transitions on the 1/4 line (so you can't use the wall to help balance your horse) will also be part of our warm up.
For jumping, we are going to be working on getting perpendicular to the jumps regardless of the location and approach needed to the jump. I have a few ideas to help with this, and it will help lead to next week when we will be working on a simple jumper type course.
The reason I want to work on getting perpendicular to the jumps, is that it is very important for the horse to be able to see the jump equally out of both eyes, and to approach with a straight body, so that the horse can time its take off properly.
This last week I watched rider after rider turning to the oxer on the diagonal right after they passed the jump on the side, rather than going down the track to find the correct approach. Interestingly this wasn't so much an issue with the diagonal jumps that were approached directly from the end of the ring. This makes me think that it is in part a mental block...the rider's feel the jump on the side is blocking their approach or line of sight, and so panic and want to turn ASAP. I think the key to resolving this issue is to work on rider's keeping a larger frame of view and using the ring despite the obstacles in the way.
This leads me to something else we need to work on: being able to adapt and continue doing an exercise despite riders or jumps being somewhat in the way. We did that a little last week with the 4 loop serpentines and trying to keep trotting and avoiding oncoming traffic by adjusting the loops. This is something we need to continue to work on, as well as to work on communicating intent so we can better share the arena with things get busy...and for when we go to shows and there might be more than 4 or 5 riders in the arena! So passing skills, and taking in what is going on in the entire arena while riding will be another skill I will try to work on over the next little while.
Karen
Sunday, April 21, 2013
This week in lessons
This week in jumping lessons will be similar to last week as it appears we need to practice learning and riding a course a little more! This week I will post the courses in the arena as well as in the barn for those of you who need more time to figure it out.
The course will again be of a hunter type, but slightly different, and we will again school it tiny to practice the pattern before making them actual jumps.
The key is to look for logical patterns in the course, so you can think through which is the next jump even if you go blank part way through! Good hints as to if you are going the right way is if the jump is set to be jumped that way (ground line on the approach side) and if the turn makes sense for a hunter course (such as not a hair pin turn!).
I also want to continue with the circle to start and finish so that the course has a nice start and finish to frame it.
For dressage lessons, we will continue to work on counter bend, with it moving on to the next progression of working on counter canter.
Karen
The course will again be of a hunter type, but slightly different, and we will again school it tiny to practice the pattern before making them actual jumps.
The key is to look for logical patterns in the course, so you can think through which is the next jump even if you go blank part way through! Good hints as to if you are going the right way is if the jump is set to be jumped that way (ground line on the approach side) and if the turn makes sense for a hunter course (such as not a hair pin turn!).
I also want to continue with the circle to start and finish so that the course has a nice start and finish to frame it.
For dressage lessons, we will continue to work on counter bend, with it moving on to the next progression of working on counter canter.
Karen
Monday, April 15, 2013
Lessons this week
In lessons this week we are going to do an actual course. It will be a hunter type course and we will do a working hunter pattern and a handy hunter pattern. Handy hunter is different as the course is meant to show the horse's obedience and to be more challenging so will contain a trot jump and an inside turn.
The course's will be posted at the in-gate so that you can learn them as you would at a show. We will then practice the pattern as poles/little jumps, before making it a "real" course.
The key to hunters is to keep an even rhythm, get straight to the jumps, use the corners to give yourself time to get your lead change, rebalance, and ensure you have the right canter. You want to give your horse the opportunity to show how well it jumps by getting a good, or slightly long distance and leaving it alone as much as possible at the base. For this reason hunter jumps tend to be encouraging to the horse, with generous (well set back) ground lines and fill to help the horse find a good arc.
For flat work we will be working on adjusting the stride: long trot to short trot, long canter to short canter. The key with bringing the gaits back is to remember the LEG. The leg has to push the hind quarters under to shorten the horse, while the hand contains the front. The longer gaits should come from allowing the horse to move out...not by kicking...as you want to have the horse ALWAYS thinking forward, so the desire to go forward should always be there.
For Dressage lessons, we will be working a bit on counter bend vs true bend, and on counter canter vs true canter. This requires the understanding that the horse should bend in (or out) from where the rider is sitting...so the part of the horse where the rider sits (barrel) should be the furthest point out on the arc, with the head/neck/shoulder, and the haunches bending in (or out) from that point. Too often riders want to pop the shoulder out to create the illusion of bend, resulting in an off kilter and unbalanced horse. This requires LEG. Inside leg at the girth to keep the barrel stable as the point the horse bends in from, outside leg to hold the haunch IN, and inside rein active to bring the nose in (Outside rein against neck to hold shoulder from popping out, but not crossing the withers!)
It will be fun, so see you all soon!
Karen
The course's will be posted at the in-gate so that you can learn them as you would at a show. We will then practice the pattern as poles/little jumps, before making it a "real" course.
The key to hunters is to keep an even rhythm, get straight to the jumps, use the corners to give yourself time to get your lead change, rebalance, and ensure you have the right canter. You want to give your horse the opportunity to show how well it jumps by getting a good, or slightly long distance and leaving it alone as much as possible at the base. For this reason hunter jumps tend to be encouraging to the horse, with generous (well set back) ground lines and fill to help the horse find a good arc.
For flat work we will be working on adjusting the stride: long trot to short trot, long canter to short canter. The key with bringing the gaits back is to remember the LEG. The leg has to push the hind quarters under to shorten the horse, while the hand contains the front. The longer gaits should come from allowing the horse to move out...not by kicking...as you want to have the horse ALWAYS thinking forward, so the desire to go forward should always be there.
For Dressage lessons, we will be working a bit on counter bend vs true bend, and on counter canter vs true canter. This requires the understanding that the horse should bend in (or out) from where the rider is sitting...so the part of the horse where the rider sits (barrel) should be the furthest point out on the arc, with the head/neck/shoulder, and the haunches bending in (or out) from that point. Too often riders want to pop the shoulder out to create the illusion of bend, resulting in an off kilter and unbalanced horse. This requires LEG. Inside leg at the girth to keep the barrel stable as the point the horse bends in from, outside leg to hold the haunch IN, and inside rein active to bring the nose in (Outside rein against neck to hold shoulder from popping out, but not crossing the withers!)
It will be fun, so see you all soon!
Karen
Stupid last few days.
I am seriously tempted to load up Izzy and Ginger and drive south until I find somewhere warm and dry and just ride off into the sun. I am so tired of wet and mud and SNOW!
Before you ask how the show went on the weekend...I didn't go. I did go on Friday to school her and that went MUCH better than last time, so progress is being made with my silly spooky mare. I really wanted to show Saturday as the schedule was ideal: I was the second rider of the day meaning I would be able to warm her up, then review the test, then show without much waiting. Alas we got as far as the highway when the trailer started to slip so we turned around and came right home. No show is worth driving on slippery roads. Izzy seemed confused to be right back where we started, and not that thrilled to be put back out in a blizzard!
I could have shown on Sunday, but the schedule was far from ideal: last arena time to warm up was well over an hour before I showed, and I just didn't see that being the ideal situation to get her better in the ring...plus I just felt unmotivated for some reason. I blame the never ending winter, but there was also a lot going on towards the end of the week:
On Friday I also took Dexter in to the vet to get his neck x-rayed. Turns out he does in fact have a broken neck: C2 looks like it was broken, and C2 and C3 both have some arthritis at the top. The break in C2 is long healed, but the new bone that developed from the break is putting pressure on his spinal cord, and causing progressive damage. Fortunately it is unlikely to be painful for him, and he likely has no idea his hind legs aren't fully listening to him. Also fortunately there should be some warning signs before he progresses to the point he is no longer safe. Unfortunately this puts an end to the hope I will one day be able to ride him again. I know it seemed unlikely given he has been off for so long, but the hope was still there, and I am mourning that loss of hope. Dexter was a great horse to ride, and I don't know if I will ever again have a horse as nice as he could have been (and was on good days!).
Thursday I went to the Dr. and he feels we are getting closer to a diagnoses (apparently there are 250 connective tissue disorders which is why it has been so hard to narrow it down), but now that I have Dexter's diagnoses I am not as sure I want to know. Maybe it is better to have false hope than to know? I am not sure. Of course it will likely be months before I get to see a specialist, so lots of time to think about it.
What else...
Oh, I wrote up new barn rules that will be posted in the barn. It is a shorter list now that I no longer deal so much with beginners/kids. I was tempted to add: "Belts must be worn on pants with belt loops" and "improper use of the phrase 'did good' will be punished by loss of stirrups", but I refrained.
Also the barn is closed Friday morning until 1:30ish. If you need to be there during that time, come talk to me and I will explain, and you can decide if you still want to come out.
Karen
Before you ask how the show went on the weekend...I didn't go. I did go on Friday to school her and that went MUCH better than last time, so progress is being made with my silly spooky mare. I really wanted to show Saturday as the schedule was ideal: I was the second rider of the day meaning I would be able to warm her up, then review the test, then show without much waiting. Alas we got as far as the highway when the trailer started to slip so we turned around and came right home. No show is worth driving on slippery roads. Izzy seemed confused to be right back where we started, and not that thrilled to be put back out in a blizzard!
I could have shown on Sunday, but the schedule was far from ideal: last arena time to warm up was well over an hour before I showed, and I just didn't see that being the ideal situation to get her better in the ring...plus I just felt unmotivated for some reason. I blame the never ending winter, but there was also a lot going on towards the end of the week:
On Friday I also took Dexter in to the vet to get his neck x-rayed. Turns out he does in fact have a broken neck: C2 looks like it was broken, and C2 and C3 both have some arthritis at the top. The break in C2 is long healed, but the new bone that developed from the break is putting pressure on his spinal cord, and causing progressive damage. Fortunately it is unlikely to be painful for him, and he likely has no idea his hind legs aren't fully listening to him. Also fortunately there should be some warning signs before he progresses to the point he is no longer safe. Unfortunately this puts an end to the hope I will one day be able to ride him again. I know it seemed unlikely given he has been off for so long, but the hope was still there, and I am mourning that loss of hope. Dexter was a great horse to ride, and I don't know if I will ever again have a horse as nice as he could have been (and was on good days!).
Thursday I went to the Dr. and he feels we are getting closer to a diagnoses (apparently there are 250 connective tissue disorders which is why it has been so hard to narrow it down), but now that I have Dexter's diagnoses I am not as sure I want to know. Maybe it is better to have false hope than to know? I am not sure. Of course it will likely be months before I get to see a specialist, so lots of time to think about it.
What else...
Oh, I wrote up new barn rules that will be posted in the barn. It is a shorter list now that I no longer deal so much with beginners/kids. I was tempted to add: "Belts must be worn on pants with belt loops" and "improper use of the phrase 'did good' will be punished by loss of stirrups", but I refrained.
Also the barn is closed Friday morning until 1:30ish. If you need to be there during that time, come talk to me and I will explain, and you can decide if you still want to come out.
Karen
Monday, April 1, 2013
Clinic Update
Clinic update in short:
- went well I think!
- I am exhausted
- Many of the horses are exhausted
- I do not work you guys nearly hard enough
Izzy jumped a course on Sunday, and I am going to try to jump her once and a while as she seemed to like it and I think it will improve her canter and her bravery.
The main thing I learnt was to keep her neck much straighter to keep her more balanced and focused. This required a much shorter rein and lots of leg! Interested how this concept is almost the opposite of how the Centered Riding Clinician wanted me to ride her, yet I got similar results with her wanting to use her back more.
For the jumping riders, he really wanted to see those horses "dressaged" in the corners and between jumps, and put jumps very close to both ends of the ring for some exercises, forcing riders to use the space. He also had riders go through the patterns with a very short canter to start with, to ensure control, before opening up to a jumping pace. Riding to jumps on a short canter means lots of work so they keep cantering, and means riders have to sit UP, and just follow the horse in the air, not give.
For riders who took the clinic, we will spend this week filtering through what you took away from the clinic. For riders who did not participate, we will work on some of the skills he worked on with the clinic.
- went well I think!
- I am exhausted
- Many of the horses are exhausted
- I do not work you guys nearly hard enough
Izzy jumped a course on Sunday, and I am going to try to jump her once and a while as she seemed to like it and I think it will improve her canter and her bravery.
The main thing I learnt was to keep her neck much straighter to keep her more balanced and focused. This required a much shorter rein and lots of leg! Interested how this concept is almost the opposite of how the Centered Riding Clinician wanted me to ride her, yet I got similar results with her wanting to use her back more.
For the jumping riders, he really wanted to see those horses "dressaged" in the corners and between jumps, and put jumps very close to both ends of the ring for some exercises, forcing riders to use the space. He also had riders go through the patterns with a very short canter to start with, to ensure control, before opening up to a jumping pace. Riding to jumps on a short canter means lots of work so they keep cantering, and means riders have to sit UP, and just follow the horse in the air, not give.
For riders who took the clinic, we will spend this week filtering through what you took away from the clinic. For riders who did not participate, we will work on some of the skills he worked on with the clinic.
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