A Clinic with Coolie

 I don't remember the last time Coolie and I had a lesson, probably the beginning of 2019. He's been mostly enjoying the life of leisure with lots of bush riding and the occasional dressage or jump as I can be motivated to. He quite enjoys it for the most part!

I had Tuesdays clinic booked in for a few weeks, but Henry went and hurt himself again and instead of cancelling, I threw the feral orange horse on the float and went out to have fun. It felt weird taking Coolie, and I was a bit sad he wasn't Henry partially since I want Henry to be feeling better and partially because Henry is going so well right now I wanted to keep that trend going.

Who, me? I'm fine! It's play time right?

Coolie seemed so pleased to be The Chosen One and marched onto the float, then marched off at the other end before looking around to say 'yes, I have arrived. Let's do this!'. I really wasn't sure what he would be like, though he is always a good boy, he can be a very active, slightly feral, tricky to ride good boy. I did have a slightly tricky to ride horse, but for the most part, he was the Very Best Boy.

We had flatwork up first, and Bec had set up her favourite box so we could practice square turns, shoulder in and travers. It's all thing Henry and I have done so often, and Coolie has done a similar version, but not quite this finessed. First up I had to get him stretching out and down, which he has always found hard, so we always need to focus on it. We practice a lot in the bush so once he focussed on his job and not just on the fact that he was excited to be The Chosen One he was really quite good. 

Working on a stretch. It is so hard for him!

Once Coolie was stretching and the other horses were doing what they needed to do, we started on a 20m circle focussing on line and pace, then changing rein onto a 10m circle, paying close attention to if the horses rushed or stalled or fell in or out. Coolie was very consistent, and surprisingly straight. i made sure to keep my leg on, and I just needed to add extra flexion but the change of rein was very smooth. 

Next we added leg yield, and again Coolie was quite good. I needed to think about riding more forward rather than sideways, and once I did that the yield was pretty effortless. I can use my body so much better now it certainly makes his job easier. 

The main focus of the lesson was using the box to make square turns, then alternating between shoulder in and travers on each side. The square turns were fine for Coolie, he wasn't done them in such a conscious way before but obviously we needed them when we were competing. He found the shoulder in and travers harder, he always has but I supported him through it and he was very supple and willing. Bec and I were very impressed. 

We finished with canter, again looking at square turns. Coolie found it a bit harder to the right but I popped him into shoulder fore and he got the idea. 

It wasn't a ground breaking lesson, but I had so much fun. It was interesting to feel the difference between the two horses and it highlighted where I could be better on Henry, but also where I have improved overall. I find my bad habits are worse than Coolie, and he doesn't help me out at all, so if it's not right He wont do it. 

We had a break before our jumping lesson, and Coolie relaxed and ate his hay while we all enjoyed the perfect summer day. They are rare here, since usually its horribly hot, so we really appreciated it! I wasn't sure how much energy Coolie would have for jumping but given he is usually fairly gung-ho I put his jumping bridle on just incase. 

He knew exactly what was next so strutted around the arena happily while we warmed up and proceeded to think he knew what was going on when we started trotting over poles for our typical warm up. I again worked on getting him to stretch out over the poles, then when we cantered worked really hard on maintaining the rhythm. The first few times he did his typical acceleration, so I worked on getting a waiting canter earlier on and it just seemed to click for him and he maintained a nice rhythm. That continued when it was put up to a jump, and I was careful to use my body to support him. It was honestly like I had a new horse, or like he had done this every day for the last 2 years rather than being a semi-retired bush pony. He never went that well when we were at our peak!

He was the same when we started a course, nice and steady, listening and easy. We started out on the right rein in a waiting canter, jumping an upright in a waiting canter then coming round and jumping a 4 stride related line up hill in 5 strides. The jumps were small and the hill naturally shortens the canter so it was a nice easy start. Coolie got a bit faster to the second jump, so the next time through I used my body to half halt him and it was much better. 

The jumps went up and we added in a bending line off the left rein. This time through we had a waiting canter to jump our jump with a placing pole, then a more forward canter to get the 4 strides in the first related line. I was conscious to get the right canter early, and we nailed it, got a good spot to the third jump then I didn't quite get a good turn to 4, saw a long spot and jumped before Coolie did. We made it through but it wasn't pretty, so I came through again and had a much nice ride. 

To finish we added a second bending line to the right and I was very pleased we got it all correct the first time through. I am not very good at changing from a waiting canter to a more open canter, and I am alos not good at bending lines so to successfully have a forward canter and jump and turn was a pretty good day out for me. 

Coolie felt amazing, he really seemed to enjoy himself and I felt like such a different rider. I wish I rode like I do now back when we were competing, but thats how it goes really. He felt like a much better horse, but really it is all my hard work on Henry that has made the difference. It was good to feel when I can improve on Henry too, I rode Coolie much more confidently because we have done it all before. I need to ride Hen more like that because he is pretty much at the same place as Coolie is. I just need to change my mind set.

Overall it was a brilliant, fun day out. It felt amazing to be out and about with Coolie, he is really the best little horse. I am very proud of how he stepped up and got to work and of all the improvements I have made. I feel very inspired and enthusiastic to get out and do a bit more on him too. A pretty good day overall considering I had the wrong horse on the float!