Hark hear the bells...
Sep. 25th, 2006 08:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
diaryofariderSweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away....
So after my rough time on Wednesday, Peggy told me she was going to warm Phoebus up for me for my lesson on Saturday. She rode him for about 10 minutes, and pointed out some things she was doing. She was putting him on the outside rein immediately, taking up a good feel of his mouth even if it meant counter-flexing and sending his outside hind forward with her outside leg, then changing him back to the inside bend with the inside leg. She told me he hadn't lost anything, which made me feel very relieved, because at least that means I'm doing some things right-- which is what I thought anyway, but it's nice to have it confirmed. I had felt a little bad that she needed to get on and "fix" him, but when I thought about it I realized how lucky I am to have an FEI rider that can get on and remind a horse of his job, and get him up to speed in 5 minutes instead of the 10-15 it usually takes me (and that's on a good day). Even then, it has to be a GREAT day to get him going the way he was.
So I got on and very much enjoyed the gift Peggy had just given me. She had me carry my whip on the outside to keep his outside hind leg more active. Phoebus was softer, more responsive, and had better self carriage. As a result, I was able to sit more correctly and give him a better ride. I wasn't constantly fighting both him and myself. It showed-- I had compliments from the peanut gallery, and Peggy had lots of nice things to say about us. We learned a new excercise, riding a square. The idea is to ride shoulder-in along a side, do a quarter pirouette, and continue on in shoulder in, then quarter pirouette on the next corner, and so on. It was like the horse grew taller. He brought his hind legs under and raised his back and shoulders, making him even lighter and more agile. At first I kept dropping him after the quarter pirouette, as it requires a change of direction- horse starts off moving from the inside leg, then does the pivot from the outside leg, then continues on in shoulder in from the inside leg again. Eventually we started to get that too, and I think we all ended up feeling pleased with ourselves. It was a total change from last week, and it is very nice not to have to endure 4 or 5 bad rides before we got back to a good one, which has happened occasionally in the past.
Peggy had been asking me when I was going to pull Phoebus's bushy mane, so I decided to go ahead and do it. I pulled about half his mane out, which took a long time- but it was shortened from about 8 inches to 4. Then Peggy brought out the clippers and we shaved his bridle path. Not to leave the job half done, she went on to shave the sides of his tail and then we banged the bottom. The change was quite stunning- he looked much more elegant and refined (except for his fuzzy coat ^_^).
The weather Sunday was gorgeous- a mild, fresh fall day with autumn sunlight and a gentle breeze. I don't usually ride on Sundays, but we're going on vacation next week and the baby was napping, so I snatched up the opportunity and went to ride in the afternoon. We rode outside, and the view of the mountains was as lovely as always. Phoebus was, incredibly, even better than the day before. I was hoping to carry over the feeling from our ride the day before (the ringing of the bell).
I started working him to the left, his easy side, as Peggy had done, and kept my whip to the outside throughout the ride. To the right, when I asked for the canter, he blew the lead as he's done pretty much all along, but this time I KNEW I had done everything correctly and I finally felt justified in punishing him- Peggy had been telling me to pull him up and whack him when he took the wrong lead, because he DOES know the difference- but I'd always been sure I was doing something wrong and I didn't feel justified. He immediately did a super transition into the right lead the next time I asked. The canter was much better than it's ever been- more collected and yet not lacking energy. I was able to just sit and stay balanced, and just go with it instead of fighting to get where I needed to be. I felt myself sit tall and straight and my legs drape long around his body, and worked on spiraling down and leg yielding back out. Pheobus was like butter- I brought my hands up to make the reins slack and he maintained the self carriage and stayed in a frame for several strides, and did not mind when I softly took them back. We did downward transitions with no pressure or much effort on my part, I simply thought about it and resisted with my seat and gently increased tension on the reins. We even did a halt that way, and Phoebus always wants to resist me when I ask for the halt. It was easy because he was completely off the forehand. Upward transitions were great too, a few times I simply thought the transition and it happened.
We worked laterals too, shoulder-in and then riding the square. Phoebus got very collected and started to lose too much energy and fizzle out, so I fought the urge to just let it happen and got after him on the outside with leg, spur, and whip. He didn't freak out even though it seemed like he might (I could feel how tightly coiled his muscles were)and ended up doing very energetic collected steps- Yay Phoebus! We did some leg-yield to half-pass and called it a day. It's hard to quit when a horse is being that much fun.
I wish I could ride every day, or at least 4 or 5 times a week. I think Pheobus would really benefit from it- most horses do, but some need it for the mental aspect as much as the physical. I can get myself too busy sometimes though, and I want to be sure I don't spend my "family time" out riding. I keep thinking as the baby gets older it will be easier, but I don't want him to miss out just because he requires less constant supervision. At any rate when he's a teenager he won't want to be seen with me so I should have LOTS of free time- I'm still enjoying being his favorite person for now.
So after my rough time on Wednesday, Peggy told me she was going to warm Phoebus up for me for my lesson on Saturday. She rode him for about 10 minutes, and pointed out some things she was doing. She was putting him on the outside rein immediately, taking up a good feel of his mouth even if it meant counter-flexing and sending his outside hind forward with her outside leg, then changing him back to the inside bend with the inside leg. She told me he hadn't lost anything, which made me feel very relieved, because at least that means I'm doing some things right-- which is what I thought anyway, but it's nice to have it confirmed. I had felt a little bad that she needed to get on and "fix" him, but when I thought about it I realized how lucky I am to have an FEI rider that can get on and remind a horse of his job, and get him up to speed in 5 minutes instead of the 10-15 it usually takes me (and that's on a good day). Even then, it has to be a GREAT day to get him going the way he was.
So I got on and very much enjoyed the gift Peggy had just given me. She had me carry my whip on the outside to keep his outside hind leg more active. Phoebus was softer, more responsive, and had better self carriage. As a result, I was able to sit more correctly and give him a better ride. I wasn't constantly fighting both him and myself. It showed-- I had compliments from the peanut gallery, and Peggy had lots of nice things to say about us. We learned a new excercise, riding a square. The idea is to ride shoulder-in along a side, do a quarter pirouette, and continue on in shoulder in, then quarter pirouette on the next corner, and so on. It was like the horse grew taller. He brought his hind legs under and raised his back and shoulders, making him even lighter and more agile. At first I kept dropping him after the quarter pirouette, as it requires a change of direction- horse starts off moving from the inside leg, then does the pivot from the outside leg, then continues on in shoulder in from the inside leg again. Eventually we started to get that too, and I think we all ended up feeling pleased with ourselves. It was a total change from last week, and it is very nice not to have to endure 4 or 5 bad rides before we got back to a good one, which has happened occasionally in the past.
Peggy had been asking me when I was going to pull Phoebus's bushy mane, so I decided to go ahead and do it. I pulled about half his mane out, which took a long time- but it was shortened from about 8 inches to 4. Then Peggy brought out the clippers and we shaved his bridle path. Not to leave the job half done, she went on to shave the sides of his tail and then we banged the bottom. The change was quite stunning- he looked much more elegant and refined (except for his fuzzy coat ^_^).
The weather Sunday was gorgeous- a mild, fresh fall day with autumn sunlight and a gentle breeze. I don't usually ride on Sundays, but we're going on vacation next week and the baby was napping, so I snatched up the opportunity and went to ride in the afternoon. We rode outside, and the view of the mountains was as lovely as always. Phoebus was, incredibly, even better than the day before. I was hoping to carry over the feeling from our ride the day before (the ringing of the bell).
I started working him to the left, his easy side, as Peggy had done, and kept my whip to the outside throughout the ride. To the right, when I asked for the canter, he blew the lead as he's done pretty much all along, but this time I KNEW I had done everything correctly and I finally felt justified in punishing him- Peggy had been telling me to pull him up and whack him when he took the wrong lead, because he DOES know the difference- but I'd always been sure I was doing something wrong and I didn't feel justified. He immediately did a super transition into the right lead the next time I asked. The canter was much better than it's ever been- more collected and yet not lacking energy. I was able to just sit and stay balanced, and just go with it instead of fighting to get where I needed to be. I felt myself sit tall and straight and my legs drape long around his body, and worked on spiraling down and leg yielding back out. Pheobus was like butter- I brought my hands up to make the reins slack and he maintained the self carriage and stayed in a frame for several strides, and did not mind when I softly took them back. We did downward transitions with no pressure or much effort on my part, I simply thought about it and resisted with my seat and gently increased tension on the reins. We even did a halt that way, and Phoebus always wants to resist me when I ask for the halt. It was easy because he was completely off the forehand. Upward transitions were great too, a few times I simply thought the transition and it happened.
We worked laterals too, shoulder-in and then riding the square. Phoebus got very collected and started to lose too much energy and fizzle out, so I fought the urge to just let it happen and got after him on the outside with leg, spur, and whip. He didn't freak out even though it seemed like he might (I could feel how tightly coiled his muscles were)and ended up doing very energetic collected steps- Yay Phoebus! We did some leg-yield to half-pass and called it a day. It's hard to quit when a horse is being that much fun.
I wish I could ride every day, or at least 4 or 5 times a week. I think Pheobus would really benefit from it- most horses do, but some need it for the mental aspect as much as the physical. I can get myself too busy sometimes though, and I want to be sure I don't spend my "family time" out riding. I keep thinking as the baby gets older it will be easier, but I don't want him to miss out just because he requires less constant supervision. At any rate when he's a teenager he won't want to be seen with me so I should have LOTS of free time- I'm still enjoying being his favorite person for now.
