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Feb. 18th, 2008 10:20 amLesson was good, but challenging. We did some very good trot work, and some good canter transitions, till the end when Trudi was tired. I felt her trot didn't have enough impulsion, and since I didn't fix that, it was dribble, dribble, dribble, OOOMPH, canter. :) The last 2 transitions themselves were ok, just took a long time to get them.
At the canter we worked on "the falling down neck" - basically she was curling in the neck (yuck) even though the canter was overall more balanced and not rushing. So I had to lengthen the reins a touch and get her more through, which for now she uses to rush a little, but she's THERE on the bit now and the connection is steady. I remember how long and flat her neck looked to me the first few times we did this at trot, but I have faith and will keep working on this. It feels really good to have her body connected and through, I just have to get the knack of it at the canter now that I can do it some at the trot. It's a little terrifying because she feels more powerful. We also did some small (probably around 15 m) canter circles, where the object was NOT to run over trainer (nutty woman, standing there telling us to go in front of her, while Trudi was all "Yay! Let's play Leapfrog!") Every few strides we managed to engage the hindquarters instead of simply hauling drunkenly around this extremely lopsided circle (I believe it would better be described as a splat).
Trot work started out focusing on "absolute straightness" - basically straightening through bending. :) Shoulder in left on the circle, straighten, shoulder in right on the circle, straighten, and haunches in on the circle (HI is still really hard for me, just feels really wierd and I sort of get it in pieces- move the shoulders, ok now move the haunches, get the bend, push forward, etc). She told me to lift my inside hand up a little to help lift the shoulder- I'll have to remember that because it's new.
After the canter work we finished up with more trot work- volte in the corner, lengthen down the longside, volte again in the corner. It was hard. I thought it would be easier than it was. In the end we finally got a really good one though- in the volte I suddenly felt her hindquarters click into place, and I was like "AH HA! We can do the lengthening now!" And Trudi was all "Whoosh! Whoosh!". :) We quit on that good note.
At the canter we worked on "the falling down neck" - basically she was curling in the neck (yuck) even though the canter was overall more balanced and not rushing. So I had to lengthen the reins a touch and get her more through, which for now she uses to rush a little, but she's THERE on the bit now and the connection is steady. I remember how long and flat her neck looked to me the first few times we did this at trot, but I have faith and will keep working on this. It feels really good to have her body connected and through, I just have to get the knack of it at the canter now that I can do it some at the trot. It's a little terrifying because she feels more powerful. We also did some small (probably around 15 m) canter circles, where the object was NOT to run over trainer (nutty woman, standing there telling us to go in front of her, while Trudi was all "Yay! Let's play Leapfrog!") Every few strides we managed to engage the hindquarters instead of simply hauling drunkenly around this extremely lopsided circle (I believe it would better be described as a splat).
Trot work started out focusing on "absolute straightness" - basically straightening through bending. :) Shoulder in left on the circle, straighten, shoulder in right on the circle, straighten, and haunches in on the circle (HI is still really hard for me, just feels really wierd and I sort of get it in pieces- move the shoulders, ok now move the haunches, get the bend, push forward, etc). She told me to lift my inside hand up a little to help lift the shoulder- I'll have to remember that because it's new.
After the canter work we finished up with more trot work- volte in the corner, lengthen down the longside, volte again in the corner. It was hard. I thought it would be easier than it was. In the end we finally got a really good one though- in the volte I suddenly felt her hindquarters click into place, and I was like "AH HA! We can do the lengthening now!" And Trudi was all "Whoosh! Whoosh!". :) We quit on that good note.
