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mortal kombat
Aug. 24th, 2006 03:21 pmI rode Phoebus again the other night and it was AWESOME. I thought about not letting him get away with stuff for so long- for example, he might come off the bit and start running through my hands, and he gets away with it for about a dozen strides before I get him back. Peggy's been telling me to fix it faster, so I was a lot more agressive and determined. It helps because he learns he can't get away with it (as much ^_^) and because I don't waste so much time. You don't have the leisure of twelve strides when you're riding a test. I know I sound test-happy, and I'm not really. I haven't ridden a test in years. But it's still something to think about- bottom line is the horse needs to be more responsive.
So I had a lot of little arguments with him, but we started getting it together a little faster. 5 to 7 strides instead of 12. We still blew the right lead several times. But I could tell right away which lead he'd taken and so I didn't worry about it. At one point though, I realized I was so intent on putting my outside leg back that I was actually tensing it and thus he probably percieved it as a cue for the left lead. I realized it and felt really stupid, but at least I realized it and corrected it. It really is possible to try too hard in dressage.
I thought about dozens of transitions too, and I realized that I have been too scared to work on the thing that bothers me most. How am I going to get better if I don't try? Phoebus isn't a green baby that doesn't know the difference between one lead and another. I don't have to get the right lead once or twice and then quit because I'm scared of getting it wrong. I need to practice. So we did about a dozen canter transitions, and we did counter canter, and when he broke out of counter canter we went back the other direction, picked up the canter, and went across the diagonal for counter canter again untill *I* told him to stop. Poor Phoebus, he's not terribly thrilled about my newly discovered drill sergeant persona. I noticed one of my recurring flaws, a battle which I apparantly must fight over and over again. I was sitting crooked at the canter again. I straightened myself and immediately got the softness at the canter I'd been asking for. I asked him to move his shoulders over and got a perfect response- he collected so much it was like feeling a car switch gears- he was almost turning on the haunches/pirouetting. Very very fun. Of course now he'll probably be a jerk on Saturday for our next lesson. :)
I was listening to some techno/industrial music in the car and thought how funny it would be to ride a musical freestyle to "Mortal Kombat", "Non-stop Violence" or "Pretty when you Cry".... Ack, I have such a mean streak. :D
In other news, Peggy announced that Bent will be coming to clinic again in October- it will be our third time this year-- I'm thrilled to have been able to work with him so much this year, especially riding the same horse.
So I had a lot of little arguments with him, but we started getting it together a little faster. 5 to 7 strides instead of 12. We still blew the right lead several times. But I could tell right away which lead he'd taken and so I didn't worry about it. At one point though, I realized I was so intent on putting my outside leg back that I was actually tensing it and thus he probably percieved it as a cue for the left lead. I realized it and felt really stupid, but at least I realized it and corrected it. It really is possible to try too hard in dressage.
I thought about dozens of transitions too, and I realized that I have been too scared to work on the thing that bothers me most. How am I going to get better if I don't try? Phoebus isn't a green baby that doesn't know the difference between one lead and another. I don't have to get the right lead once or twice and then quit because I'm scared of getting it wrong. I need to practice. So we did about a dozen canter transitions, and we did counter canter, and when he broke out of counter canter we went back the other direction, picked up the canter, and went across the diagonal for counter canter again untill *I* told him to stop. Poor Phoebus, he's not terribly thrilled about my newly discovered drill sergeant persona. I noticed one of my recurring flaws, a battle which I apparantly must fight over and over again. I was sitting crooked at the canter again. I straightened myself and immediately got the softness at the canter I'd been asking for. I asked him to move his shoulders over and got a perfect response- he collected so much it was like feeling a car switch gears- he was almost turning on the haunches/pirouetting. Very very fun. Of course now he'll probably be a jerk on Saturday for our next lesson. :)
I was listening to some techno/industrial music in the car and thought how funny it would be to ride a musical freestyle to "Mortal Kombat", "Non-stop Violence" or "Pretty when you Cry".... Ack, I have such a mean streak. :D
In other news, Peggy announced that Bent will be coming to clinic again in October- it will be our third time this year-- I'm thrilled to have been able to work with him so much this year, especially riding the same horse.
