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Aug. 13th, 2010 08:32 amTrudi was a lot less dirty since it hasn't rained for 2 days, so that was a nice change.
^_^
I worked on getting her hindquarters under and straightening her out, and after really insisting during some energetic trot the right hind felt free. Then I asked her to slow down while maintaining the engagememt.
Trudi: "We are not amused."
She wasn't bad really, just didn't really want to do it and kept speeding up, holding her neck up, and basically trying to avoid it. She has an easy time pushing, but not carrying. After I felt like I could slow the tempo at least part of the time, I also worked on getting her to lower her neck and be really honest and consistant in the contact, with a little more pull in my hand. I found that sometimes I had to quickly move a hand a foot up a rein in order to keep the same connection because she would shorten her neck or bring her head up to avoid. Poor Trudi was like "What is your problem?" She didn't really fight, she was just sort of annoyed and puzzled. I felt like I was really soft and effective and to the point about it though- it wasn't like I was grabbing at her, I was just right there with the same connection wherever she went, so that was good.
I also did some lateral bending which freed up the rest of her body- I should remember to always do this at the beginning. When she unlocked the spot just behind her withers her walk just got ridiculously huge. It felt like she was climbing over boulders. I was like "Have I been stiffling this just because it's sort of terrifying?". But I don't think that's it. I think it's just really hard to get all the little pieces together to get to that point.
I need to think of something different for her to do next ride- I'm pretty sure she was feeling the burn and is not thrilled about it- I don't want her to resent being ridden. I still plan to work on some canter departs, but perhaps we can go over some poles or something too for a change.
^_^
I worked on getting her hindquarters under and straightening her out, and after really insisting during some energetic trot the right hind felt free. Then I asked her to slow down while maintaining the engagememt.
Trudi: "We are not amused."
She wasn't bad really, just didn't really want to do it and kept speeding up, holding her neck up, and basically trying to avoid it. She has an easy time pushing, but not carrying. After I felt like I could slow the tempo at least part of the time, I also worked on getting her to lower her neck and be really honest and consistant in the contact, with a little more pull in my hand. I found that sometimes I had to quickly move a hand a foot up a rein in order to keep the same connection because she would shorten her neck or bring her head up to avoid. Poor Trudi was like "What is your problem?" She didn't really fight, she was just sort of annoyed and puzzled. I felt like I was really soft and effective and to the point about it though- it wasn't like I was grabbing at her, I was just right there with the same connection wherever she went, so that was good.
I also did some lateral bending which freed up the rest of her body- I should remember to always do this at the beginning. When she unlocked the spot just behind her withers her walk just got ridiculously huge. It felt like she was climbing over boulders. I was like "Have I been stiffling this just because it's sort of terrifying?". But I don't think that's it. I think it's just really hard to get all the little pieces together to get to that point.
I need to think of something different for her to do next ride- I'm pretty sure she was feeling the burn and is not thrilled about it- I don't want her to resent being ridden. I still plan to work on some canter departs, but perhaps we can go over some poles or something too for a change.
