Life is expensive
This weekend has been very hectic to say the least.
It started Friday when Andrew was driving my car up a hill. A warning light came on, which is always a joy. I had a lesson Saturday morning so rather than risk something breaking, we borrowed my dads car. Ahhh, how I wish I could afford a Landcruiser. It doesn't work to tow at all, and it's so smooth. One day... Turns out my car has an air leak in the turbo somewhere, so that will be fixed ASAP when we get back. It never rains.
Henry and I had an amazing lesson though. We built more on the straightness we were working on last time, but I could not get Henry to go forward. I have been really struggling with getting Henry in front of my leg and keeping him there recently, and was starting to feel like it was the missing piece in our work, but was struggling to problem solve it myself. It seems such a simple thing, leg on horse goes forward but I could not keep him there.
We went right back to basics, and reconditioned Henry to the whip. I have definitely done that with him before but obviously as we have built up his training what the whip means has been blocked by all the other stuff he knows. I started by tapping with the whip just behind my leg for the transition from walk to trot. I didn't use my leg. It took about 20 taps for him to go forward. We repeated until the number went way down, then we had a rest and tried again, this time from halt. Once again it took about 20 taps, but the second repetition took about 15, then 10. We had another break before trying again, this time starting out with even fewer taps. Henry was very unhappy with how his life was progressing at this point, tapping him with the whip is not ok, and he does not like going forward, thank you very much! The goal was for him to go forward from 2 taps. That is my homework though.
The transformation in our work though was incredible. We got him nice and light off the whip and my leg and suddenly things just worked. where I was really struggling to half halt, I had one,my position was better and he was working into the contact. It sure made my life a lot easier! I also need to make sure I keep the inside hind leg activated, especially to the right.
I have also been really struggling with my hands, which seem to be a lifelong issue. I would love to pull like my monkey ancestry tells me to. Except you need a horse to work from behind into a steady contact. You need to push them there with the leg not pull them there with your hands. I have been struggling to differentiate between me pulling and me holding. We worked a bit on that too, and I feel like I might have an easier time now.
We finished up with the canter and our transitions were straighter and much quicker off the leg. Hallelujah!
Yesterday when I rode Henry at home he remember his lesson immediately and stayed in front of my leg our whole ride. It made a massive difference and he was much less angry about whip taps too, going forward from 2 taps. Note to self, don't get lulled into thinking your horse can't go forward!
One really exciting thing that happened over the weekend is the chickens laid their first eggs! Clever girls.
It started Friday when Andrew was driving my car up a hill. A warning light came on, which is always a joy. I had a lesson Saturday morning so rather than risk something breaking, we borrowed my dads car. Ahhh, how I wish I could afford a Landcruiser. It doesn't work to tow at all, and it's so smooth. One day... Turns out my car has an air leak in the turbo somewhere, so that will be fixed ASAP when we get back. It never rains.
Henry and I had an amazing lesson though. We built more on the straightness we were working on last time, but I could not get Henry to go forward. I have been really struggling with getting Henry in front of my leg and keeping him there recently, and was starting to feel like it was the missing piece in our work, but was struggling to problem solve it myself. It seems such a simple thing, leg on horse goes forward but I could not keep him there.
We went right back to basics, and reconditioned Henry to the whip. I have definitely done that with him before but obviously as we have built up his training what the whip means has been blocked by all the other stuff he knows. I started by tapping with the whip just behind my leg for the transition from walk to trot. I didn't use my leg. It took about 20 taps for him to go forward. We repeated until the number went way down, then we had a rest and tried again, this time from halt. Once again it took about 20 taps, but the second repetition took about 15, then 10. We had another break before trying again, this time starting out with even fewer taps. Henry was very unhappy with how his life was progressing at this point, tapping him with the whip is not ok, and he does not like going forward, thank you very much! The goal was for him to go forward from 2 taps. That is my homework though.
The transformation in our work though was incredible. We got him nice and light off the whip and my leg and suddenly things just worked. where I was really struggling to half halt, I had one,my position was better and he was working into the contact. It sure made my life a lot easier! I also need to make sure I keep the inside hind leg activated, especially to the right.
I have also been really struggling with my hands, which seem to be a lifelong issue. I would love to pull like my monkey ancestry tells me to. Except you need a horse to work from behind into a steady contact. You need to push them there with the leg not pull them there with your hands. I have been struggling to differentiate between me pulling and me holding. We worked a bit on that too, and I feel like I might have an easier time now.
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| Finished the weekend off like this |
We finished up with the canter and our transitions were straighter and much quicker off the leg. Hallelujah!
Yesterday when I rode Henry at home he remember his lesson immediately and stayed in front of my leg our whole ride. It made a massive difference and he was much less angry about whip taps too, going forward from 2 taps. Note to self, don't get lulled into thinking your horse can't go forward!
One really exciting thing that happened over the weekend is the chickens laid their first eggs! Clever girls.
ugh boo to car repairs :( sounds like a great lesson tho!
ReplyDeleteAwww, that sucks about the car repairs. Life is definitely expensive and adulting sucks. I've got to do that whip exercise with a horse I'm riding who fully thinks he just can't even when it comes to forward. Glad H remembered his lesson!
ReplyDeleteIt is nice when the lesson sticks. Sorry about the car issues. Life is expensive for sure
ReplyDeleteI love when things click on the flat! Sorry about the car - car troubles are the pits and are never as cheap as we could hope.
ReplyDelete