(no subject)

[diaryofarider]

After the realization that my lower leg was a disaster (again) I tried stretching out a bit to see if that would help me keep my leg under me, and it did. Stretching back toward the hocks for 30 seconds, then some scissor kicks, then AWARENESS. Stop pinching with the knee, keep the lower leg on, even if she doesn't seem thrilled about it, and keep stretching the leg baaaaack... The circles in particular need work on my lower leg, especially on the outside. I think my upper body is better more of the time overall- must make sure not to lose that while I start fighting the lower leg demon. Less tenseness, better riding, happier me (and happier horse too).
First vid- just wtc, mainly to the left I think. I realized the camera quit recording partway through so I made another one with a bit to the right, with a few nice steps of lengthening and the occasional halfhalt here and there- with some hit-and-miss shoulder fore/in.
Canter needs tons and tons and tons and tons and tons of work. Trot is looking pretty good.

Note: approximately half of each vid takes place out of frame. Sorry, hard to capture a moving object using a stationary one.

^_^

Comments

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Going to have to come back and watch these in full later on, but in brief: Trudi is lovely, and you should be kinder to yourself.

[skyhuntress.livejournal.com]

the first thing I notice is that she is WAY too fast at the walk. She's not even properly tracking up because she's so fast with the front that her hind legs can't keep up. Slow down that front end, and keep the hind end moving, without making her faster.

She's got a lovely, active trot, and her back is actually swinging quite nicely, but again, slow it down. I also get the impression that shes a bit fixed in her head set - maybe try a lot more counter flexion, stretching her down more and expecting her to be more consistent. With enrique right now, I'm expecting him to lengthen while up into the bit as well as really stretched down, and it seems to be helping him tremendously. I also only let him lengthen for 4-5 strides, and then bring him down to an almos walk, and back up to a lengthen, and he stays on my aids more and not on the forehand

Overall, she's a lovely mare and you DO ride her well, so stop beating yourself up so much.

[halfpass-19.livejournal.com]

I agree completely in respect to the tempo. At the walk, she's simply running off her feet. She actually paces at times - generally through the corner opposite from the camera. It's really difficult, but the walk is the easiest to screw up, especially when the horse isn't doing you any favors. I also feel like maybe the tempo and her rushing is part of what's causing your defensive chair-seatiness. I can't tell you how to fix all that, but it's the biggest thing I see, and I definitely think they're related, and the walk is *so* important because it's *so* hard to fix that I thought I'd give my 2 cents on that.

And, I'd like to reiterate that she looks both VERY talented (always has) and like a horse who requires a very delicate, finessed ride. I don't have the skills to ride a horse like her. I tip my hat to you, because I think you're handling her pretty well. There's a LOT of room for improvement, but that's mostly because she's SO nice, not because what you're doing is bad.

[diaryofarider.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the comments ^_^. Very thoughtful and thought provoking.

First off, I think she's lovely too. Now that we all agree on that, moving on... :)

I don't really have the skills to ride her, but I'm trying to develop them. ;P She's a horse that takes an athletic ride, a thoughtful ride, and a careful ride, and even after all that, there are days of utter crap. But wallowing in that won't get us anywhere (though I do appreciate that people recognize the difficulty of my task).

As for the walk, I didn't really say anything, if I did, it would be that, yup, it's a mess at the moment, at times anyway. She usually starts off pretty well, but then after she works a bit at trot and canter she gets pacey/prancy. I don't entirely know what to do about it yet- if I mess with it too much I think I may make it worse. She will start to prance in place if I try too hard to slow her down. I haven't really worked a lot on it partially because I don't have a great plan to improve it at the moment. Trot and canter, at least theoretically, that energy can get channelled into impulsion and suspension. At the walk though...what? I think more leg would have helped especially the way she was at the beginning of the first vid, to push her hind legs under and get her back up more, but the flip side is that she can break to trot too. I'm pretty sure I need to learn to slow her with my seat, but I haven't really "got" it yet. I spent a long time learning to follow horses with my seat and to drive some with my seat, but I haven't yet mastered leading with it. I have trouble not just in the walk--It's at the canter too, which is part of why I have so much difficulty slowing it down (and shame on me for running her into it - she gave me a better right lead canter than I deserved). She has an excellent walk in her--I've ridden it--but not when she is holding tension. The tension doesn't even have to be spookiness- it can just be excess energy, or excitement. It may be that I'm even unconciously driving with my seat, because I rode horses far lazier than her in the past- she's about the hottest thing I've ever ridden, except for one pretty crazy TB mare.
The trot is fast in places partly because I wasn't paying attention or she got strong (shoulder-in going toward the camera? No I won't, I'm outta here...), but also some where I was pushing for a bit of lengthening and she ran a little. The fact that she's starting to take half halts and the tempo is actually slower than she'd prefer makes me happy though, and there are improvements in other ways as well, her neck coming down, her back coming up, and softening along the sides of her body. The fact that she did not take off like a rocket when she cantered. The fact that I had SO MUCH FUN riding her because she felt like she was trying for me.
I'm guessing things are better during lessons and I hope to afford them again soon. :)
But yeah, slower. Yes. We're working on it. Slowly. :D

[halfpass-19.livejournal.com]

You're totally right about that great walk. It's definitely in there, and she shows it a couple times in the videos.

Wally gets pacey and piaffey esp. in the collected walk, but...it seems different than what's going on here, somehow. When he gets pacey/piaffey, I have to remember to loosen up my seat and REALLY follow with my hands - he's responding to a tension in my hips and hardness in my hands, generally. When I really give with the hand (just exaggerate the following motion, really) and make a conscious effort to sit back and deep, it's almost like he lets out a big sigh with his body, and the walk improves almost immediately.

[meupatdoes.livejournal.com]

Can I be a little late to the party and reiterate again that she is really, really lovely (which doesn't mean the same thing as easy!), and that you look like you are doing a great job?

You guys look like a great pair!

[diaryofarider.livejournal.com]

Yes, you absolutely can say this, in fact, I encourage it. :D