Off the Track WA clinic
Saturday Henry and I went to another Off the Track WA clinic. These clinics are great, they are cheap and they always get really good coaches in. I signed up for a jumping and flat lessons with two coaches I've not had before.
It was so humid, and it even rain a bit which was quite exciting. Our flat lesson was indoors which is usually humid anyway, but the fans in there sure helped a lot! Henry was pretty tense when we started and there were two other very on edge horses. Henry was very relaxed compared to them!
We started walking 10m circles to focus on flexion and bend. That was easy for us but the other two horses found it much harder. They were significantly greener than Henry.
In the trot we worked on shallow loops down the long side. The coach very promptly told me to stop holding and something clicked in my head. I knew I had been holding like that at home and had tried to fix it but I obviously hadn't been very effective about it. The feeling Henry was giving me and the feeling i had was exactly what i have been struggling to over come at home. It was PERFECT to experience it again like this because I was talked through how to deal with it. So I was told to shorten my reins, and make him flex to the inside, and then GIVE.
Once I started insisting on the correct flexion and giving, Henry settled and did some really lovely work. Then I started to sit up more, carry my hands and ride better.
We ended the session with a brief canter. Henry was a good boy but I got told to ask and release a whole lot with my hands around the circle and to use my outside aides to turn. The main takeaways from this lesson were to ask and give. Seriously! I know that so bloody do it. Also insist Henry does what I ask, ride accurately, shorten my reins, and vary Henrys trot speed to work out the best balance for him. all very good pointers and exceptionally useful to remember when I rode at home and in competitions.
There was supposed to be 15 minutes between my lessons, but the lesson ran overtime. My husband is a saint though and carted my jumping gear half way to me and I rapidly changed things over with his help, mounted and was at my second lesson in about 2 minutes. That man needs a medal! I downed a bottle of water as I walked to my next lesson and Bec shouted out to us that we looked like we were in the 10 minute box haha!
Our jumping lesson was equally amazing. Rosemary is a show jumping judge that I know through Andrew. She is quite old school and really knows her stuff. We had a chat and I told her where Henry and I are at and then we started the lesson cantering over 4 poles on a 20m circle. Rosemary yelled at us to be accurate and insist the horses stay soft and round. When we changed reins I asked Henry to canter but not in any kind of precise way and I got yelled at for not insisting on a quality transition. point taken!
We then moved onto trot poles, going through straight the first time, then turning right and left over another pole on the ground. The turn was tight so we had to plan ahead early, get the correct flexion and bend and make it happen. This first time through I was told off for not going over the centre of the pole but then the exercise clicked in my head and I planned early and had Henry soft in my hand well before we turned and we got it right.
From there we gradually built up a grid, starting with the trot poles then a cross, then one stride to a second cross and two strides to an oxer. Henry found it quite easy and put good form through the grid. His tension showed when he landed from a new part of the grid that worried him and he would lose his self carriage and run after the fence. Then we would repeat and he would get confident again, then add a new part of the grid and he would be worried again. He is confident through grids at home and in other places he has been several times but I think he was nervous in the environment.
Once we nailed the grid we built it into a course. there were some tough lines on the course that required adjustability and accuracy. After the grid we turn right and jumped an oxer, then there was a bending line left to an upright. That line was the hardest, because the first jump positioned you to take the second at an angle and to ride it straight you had to be ready before the first jump. We nailed it though, then came around to a related line that we were a bit quiet into. We had to do a flying change on our way through and we got a good one!
The continued left to an upright and then another bending line right. It was a good first attempt, and then we did it again to fix our mistakes. This time I rode more forward through the related line, but got a shit spot to the last jump. We repeated it a few times to try and get it good. i think i was riding too quiet and then firing him at the jump a bit at the last minute.
It was another really interesting lesson, where riding accurately and well was the key. Rosemary was very particular we insisted on getting thing right and it was a good reminder for me not to get too casual.
We made plenty of mistakes in both lessons, but it was a good representation of what happens when we go and compete so to be talked through what i need to do was incredibly helpful. Neither lesson was perfect but we tried our best and got some good results. The jumps we were jumping were not small, all about 80-95 and they felt easy and looked small. We lost self carriage a bit when Hen got worried, but we got it back quickly and improved in it. We got our leads way more than we didn't and it made our upgrade to 80 feel really reasonable. With more time self carriage will come more easily to us in these environments.
It was a very intensive 2 hours and we were both soaked with sweat. However I am looking forward to putting what we learnt into practice and it was just the tune up we needed. After having an ego boost from Jonna the weekend before it was nice to also have a reality check about what to expect in a competition. I am really looking forward to put into practice what we have learnt, the count down is on!
Best $25 I have spent in a while!
It was so humid, and it even rain a bit which was quite exciting. Our flat lesson was indoors which is usually humid anyway, but the fans in there sure helped a lot! Henry was pretty tense when we started and there were two other very on edge horses. Henry was very relaxed compared to them!
We started walking 10m circles to focus on flexion and bend. That was easy for us but the other two horses found it much harder. They were significantly greener than Henry.
In the trot we worked on shallow loops down the long side. The coach very promptly told me to stop holding and something clicked in my head. I knew I had been holding like that at home and had tried to fix it but I obviously hadn't been very effective about it. The feeling Henry was giving me and the feeling i had was exactly what i have been struggling to over come at home. It was PERFECT to experience it again like this because I was talked through how to deal with it. So I was told to shorten my reins, and make him flex to the inside, and then GIVE.
Once I started insisting on the correct flexion and giving, Henry settled and did some really lovely work. Then I started to sit up more, carry my hands and ride better.
We ended the session with a brief canter. Henry was a good boy but I got told to ask and release a whole lot with my hands around the circle and to use my outside aides to turn. The main takeaways from this lesson were to ask and give. Seriously! I know that so bloody do it. Also insist Henry does what I ask, ride accurately, shorten my reins, and vary Henrys trot speed to work out the best balance for him. all very good pointers and exceptionally useful to remember when I rode at home and in competitions.
There was supposed to be 15 minutes between my lessons, but the lesson ran overtime. My husband is a saint though and carted my jumping gear half way to me and I rapidly changed things over with his help, mounted and was at my second lesson in about 2 minutes. That man needs a medal! I downed a bottle of water as I walked to my next lesson and Bec shouted out to us that we looked like we were in the 10 minute box haha!
Our jumping lesson was equally amazing. Rosemary is a show jumping judge that I know through Andrew. She is quite old school and really knows her stuff. We had a chat and I told her where Henry and I are at and then we started the lesson cantering over 4 poles on a 20m circle. Rosemary yelled at us to be accurate and insist the horses stay soft and round. When we changed reins I asked Henry to canter but not in any kind of precise way and I got yelled at for not insisting on a quality transition. point taken!
We then moved onto trot poles, going through straight the first time, then turning right and left over another pole on the ground. The turn was tight so we had to plan ahead early, get the correct flexion and bend and make it happen. This first time through I was told off for not going over the centre of the pole but then the exercise clicked in my head and I planned early and had Henry soft in my hand well before we turned and we got it right.
From there we gradually built up a grid, starting with the trot poles then a cross, then one stride to a second cross and two strides to an oxer. Henry found it quite easy and put good form through the grid. His tension showed when he landed from a new part of the grid that worried him and he would lose his self carriage and run after the fence. Then we would repeat and he would get confident again, then add a new part of the grid and he would be worried again. He is confident through grids at home and in other places he has been several times but I think he was nervous in the environment.
Once we nailed the grid we built it into a course. there were some tough lines on the course that required adjustability and accuracy. After the grid we turn right and jumped an oxer, then there was a bending line left to an upright. That line was the hardest, because the first jump positioned you to take the second at an angle and to ride it straight you had to be ready before the first jump. We nailed it though, then came around to a related line that we were a bit quiet into. We had to do a flying change on our way through and we got a good one!
The continued left to an upright and then another bending line right. It was a good first attempt, and then we did it again to fix our mistakes. This time I rode more forward through the related line, but got a shit spot to the last jump. We repeated it a few times to try and get it good. i think i was riding too quiet and then firing him at the jump a bit at the last minute.
It was another really interesting lesson, where riding accurately and well was the key. Rosemary was very particular we insisted on getting thing right and it was a good reminder for me not to get too casual.
We made plenty of mistakes in both lessons, but it was a good representation of what happens when we go and compete so to be talked through what i need to do was incredibly helpful. Neither lesson was perfect but we tried our best and got some good results. The jumps we were jumping were not small, all about 80-95 and they felt easy and looked small. We lost self carriage a bit when Hen got worried, but we got it back quickly and improved in it. We got our leads way more than we didn't and it made our upgrade to 80 feel really reasonable. With more time self carriage will come more easily to us in these environments.
It was a very intensive 2 hours and we were both soaked with sweat. However I am looking forward to putting what we learnt into practice and it was just the tune up we needed. After having an ego boost from Jonna the weekend before it was nice to also have a reality check about what to expect in a competition. I am really looking forward to put into practice what we have learnt, the count down is on!
Best $25 I have spent in a while!
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