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Mar. 29th, 2008 09:07 pmMore fabulous weather today- I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and a jacket, and then sun actually made me feel a little hot at times. Trudi started off well at the walk and trot, then we went to canter to the left and she turned into a total butthead. She was not paying attention, tripping, rushing, picked up the wrong lead twice, then the third time I put her into the canter I thought she lamed herself- trainer had me bring her back to a walk and then trot- she was ok, just so distracted that apparantly she was all "DUH, I forgot how to canter, DUH."
So we did walk/trot transitions every few strides, then canter, halfway around the circle, trot, canter halfway around the circle, trot, etc. I actually had to use the whip on her each time for the canter transition because as trainer put it, "She's not even aware that you're asking." So after a bit of this Trudi decided maybe she could pay a little more attention to me and a little less to the person putting things in the dumpster. Once she started paying attention trainer had me raise my hands a couple of inches to keep an unbroken line from elbow to bit and contact got LOOOOOOVELY.
Then we ran through training level test 1 - first time we pretty much did everything, but it was very rough- she fussed with the bit at the halt and backed up, was above the bit and looking around at the trot, tense at the walk- canter was not that bad, though it was above the bit too. Toward the end in the last corner she did a nice trot, last halt was awful too.
We went through it again and did a better job. We did the halts through the walk and I let up on the reins sooner. We did lots of flexing and suppling on the straightaways which engaged the hind (and her mind ^_^), and she relaxed a little and gave some lovely trot. Canter was slightly better when I remembered to step to the inside at the corners and circles. Walk was a little more relaxed (have to remember to slow her down as when she's excited she tends to lose rhythm). If she can pull off a test like that at a show I'll be very pleased to know that she was paying attention and giving a good effort.
So we did walk/trot transitions every few strides, then canter, halfway around the circle, trot, canter halfway around the circle, trot, etc. I actually had to use the whip on her each time for the canter transition because as trainer put it, "She's not even aware that you're asking." So after a bit of this Trudi decided maybe she could pay a little more attention to me and a little less to the person putting things in the dumpster. Once she started paying attention trainer had me raise my hands a couple of inches to keep an unbroken line from elbow to bit and contact got LOOOOOOVELY.
Then we ran through training level test 1 - first time we pretty much did everything, but it was very rough- she fussed with the bit at the halt and backed up, was above the bit and looking around at the trot, tense at the walk- canter was not that bad, though it was above the bit too. Toward the end in the last corner she did a nice trot, last halt was awful too.
We went through it again and did a better job. We did the halts through the walk and I let up on the reins sooner. We did lots of flexing and suppling on the straightaways which engaged the hind (and her mind ^_^), and she relaxed a little and gave some lovely trot. Canter was slightly better when I remembered to step to the inside at the corners and circles. Walk was a little more relaxed (have to remember to slow her down as when she's excited she tends to lose rhythm). If she can pull off a test like that at a show I'll be very pleased to know that she was paying attention and giving a good effort.
