First lesson of 2018
I was so excited to have a lesson with Coolie and my wonderful coach. I had a fair idea we would be working on suppling, going back over the basics and checking all our buttons were in place. I was right!
Coolie has been super at home recently and I was hoping that would carry over into our lesson. I also knew I had some bad habits creeping in that would be picked up by my coach, so I was looking forward to nipping those in the bud!
We started with a catch up, I explained what Coolie and I had been up to over the summer. I have been keeping him ticking along as I wanted him to stay supple and not lose too much fitness especially as he is now 15. My coach agreed that I was doing the right thing and that any more than 2 weeks off in a row should be avoided.
We got to work and straight away I had to get Coolie stretching down into the contact. This is really hard for Coolie, and he wants to go behind the vertical rather than forward and into the contact. I encouraged him to put his head down and out by showing him the way with my inside hand opening the rein out, and allowing him to stretch with my outside hand. I also had to maintain the forward walk and not lose the rhythm.
While we were getting him to stretch we looked at my position. My hands wanted to sit too wide and too far back, my heels were up and I was leaning too far forward. My coach had me stand in my stirrups, straight up (as opposed to a jumping 2 point), and then close my knee gently to get my leg in the right position. I then sat and stretched down through my heel. I had to make sure my hand stayed either side of coolies wither and if I were to glance down, I could see them easily because they were in front of me!
We moved on to trotting, again ensuring my position was correct. Coolie was been falling into the right so we did an exercise where we spiral into a 10m circle using direct rein and then move back out onto the 20m circle using indirect rein, then building to a leg yield if required.
From there we did an exercise to get Coolie moving forward. I did a half 20m circle, then asked for a bigger trot across the short diagonal before re balancing around another half 20m circle. This exercise meant I had to make sure my position was solid and my hand weren't moving as coolie wanted to come above the vertical. I had to hold the contact and the give with my inside hand when he relaxed, but not throw the contact away!
I am a bit all or nothing as a rider especially with the contact. I either HOLD and don't let go (generally in jumping) or I throw the reins at the horse. It's really hard for me to find a middle ground!
My coach had set up a leg yield exercise where we had to gradually leg yield from the centre line over. There were 3 poles set up to help us keep straight as we rode the yield, over, straight, over straight, a bit like a staircase. I was surprised how easy this exercise was for us as usually it is sometime we struggle with. Our yields to the right were much easier than those tot he left but in the end we nailed it!
We build some suppling and bending exercises into the canter using counter-canter loops. Canter is our most resistive pace but again it is much better than is used to be! Coolie tends to fall back into trot on the left rein if my aides aren't spot on so I was aware of that and expecting a bit of a battle.
Our transitions to canter were a bit err.. fiery! Coolie settled though and actually worked super with very little fighting. The counter canter loops were easy too!
Overall is was a great lesson and an excellent way to start the season. I just have to keep my position and keep chipping away!
Coolie has been super at home recently and I was hoping that would carry over into our lesson. I also knew I had some bad habits creeping in that would be picked up by my coach, so I was looking forward to nipping those in the bud!
 |
| Lean forward much? |
We got to work and straight away I had to get Coolie stretching down into the contact. This is really hard for Coolie, and he wants to go behind the vertical rather than forward and into the contact. I encouraged him to put his head down and out by showing him the way with my inside hand opening the rein out, and allowing him to stretch with my outside hand. I also had to maintain the forward walk and not lose the rhythm.
While we were getting him to stretch we looked at my position. My hands wanted to sit too wide and too far back, my heels were up and I was leaning too far forward. My coach had me stand in my stirrups, straight up (as opposed to a jumping 2 point), and then close my knee gently to get my leg in the right position. I then sat and stretched down through my heel. I had to make sure my hand stayed either side of coolies wither and if I were to glance down, I could see them easily because they were in front of me!
 |
| Bad hands! |
We moved on to trotting, again ensuring my position was correct. Coolie was been falling into the right so we did an exercise where we spiral into a 10m circle using direct rein and then move back out onto the 20m circle using indirect rein, then building to a leg yield if required.
From there we did an exercise to get Coolie moving forward. I did a half 20m circle, then asked for a bigger trot across the short diagonal before re balancing around another half 20m circle. This exercise meant I had to make sure my position was solid and my hand weren't moving as coolie wanted to come above the vertical. I had to hold the contact and the give with my inside hand when he relaxed, but not throw the contact away!
I am a bit all or nothing as a rider especially with the contact. I either HOLD and don't let go (generally in jumping) or I throw the reins at the horse. It's really hard for me to find a middle ground!
My coach had set up a leg yield exercise where we had to gradually leg yield from the centre line over. There were 3 poles set up to help us keep straight as we rode the yield, over, straight, over straight, a bit like a staircase. I was surprised how easy this exercise was for us as usually it is sometime we struggle with. Our yields to the right were much easier than those tot he left but in the end we nailed it!
We build some suppling and bending exercises into the canter using counter-canter loops. Canter is our most resistive pace but again it is much better than is used to be! Coolie tends to fall back into trot on the left rein if my aides aren't spot on so I was aware of that and expecting a bit of a battle.
Our transitions to canter were a bit err.. fiery! Coolie settled though and actually worked super with very little fighting. The counter canter loops were easy too!
Overall is was a great lesson and an excellent way to start the season. I just have to keep my position and keep chipping away!
Comments
Post a Comment