Flying

Kieran was seriously full of beans today. I mean, as much as he ever gets full of beans...he totally was. Even got a little happybuck when I first asked him to canter while we were warming up. Of course, it was a bit cooler today than is typical for almost-June in Georgia so there's that factor, too.

Anyway, last week (well, Tuesday, it was raining on Sunday), Jessica set up the jump blocks so that to go over them all in one go, I'd have to make a backwards "S" shape. She had us trot over all of them, then trot over the first one and ask for the canter after a stride or two out so he'd be cantering (on the correct lead) over the last two. It was seriously hard work but Kieran did pretty well with it and I was happy with how the lesson went.

That's just background to talk about today, of course. :)

Today, the ring looked something like this:

The plain lines are just poles on the ground, the other ones were the jump blocks. The blocks started as just teeny crossrails but as the lesson went on they moved up so that the ones on the long side were "oxers" with poles in each cup when they lay on their sides (like this, except just one block high) and the one at X as a vertical on the highest block setting (so 2').

The was, when I started, that I came in from the right side over the jump at X while trotting and then was supposed to ask for the canter as we got to the jump, and direct him toward whichever pole on the ground I wanted to head for so that he had to pick up the correct lead over the jump. Jessica was like, "this might actually take most of the lesson for him to 'get' but it's really about you learning to plan ahead and know what you're asking for". Would you believe he got it perfect on the first try? So we did that with the poles from both directions and moved on to doing it over the jump blocks.

He very quickly after that started smacking the teeny crossrails with his feet. He wasn't interested. He thinks crossrails are boring. So that's when they got moved up to the "oxers" and for a while the X jump was a medium vertical before Jessica made it the 2' vertical.

We were able to do it come in from either one of the jumps in the corners and around to the one at X or from the one at X over to one of the jumps in the corners. Kieran was so game for this we even went around in big circles a couple of times or I'd go over the one at X then come around and do the whole long side.

As the lesson went on and we started to get tired though, he stopped picking up the correct lead over the X jump. I'd want to go right and he'd pick up the left lead and I think I've mentioned this before....once upon a time he was so unbalanced that when he got the wrong lead, it was easy to feel. Now? I'm still cantering along up there merrily thinking about what a nice canter he's got and Jessica's on the ground going, "CAN'T YOU FEEL HE'S ON THE WRONG LEAD? (but at least he's staying balanced through the turns....)". I suspect there are longe lessons in my future. But anyway....finally after trying a bunch of times and just not getting it right, I asked Jessica to get on him so I could see what he was doing.

Man. In the past I know you could kind of see him be like, "bwah? who the heck are you putting on me? this is weird..." when someone else got on Kieran but with Jessica...he really doesn't like her on his back (and she wasn't doing anything wrong...he just didn't Approve).  He went from, head down, ears out relaxed, doing whatever I asked to...head up, eye tense...and just generally saying "eff you, lady," whenever she asked him for something. Also, it was kind of hilarious how tiny she looks on him. She did, at least, manage to just get a right lead canter out of him so then we switched back and immediately he was like, "oh, this is the right person again. Cool."

So went back and this time was asking him to canter before the jump at X and then was going to continue cantering to the right for the pole in the bottom corner. Apparently he still picked up the left lead going in to the jump at X but when I was like, "Yo, dude, we're going right" over the jump, he did a change and landed on the correct lead and hopped right over the corner fence.

He totally got told how amazing he was and we ended there. :)

Jumping Courses

Okay, this is not at all to scale, I just whipped it together to give you an idea of what the layout looked like for my lesson today. Hopefully, there will be pictures later but I have to wait and see what Jessica's boyfriend got (he was playing ground crew for us today because she was riding one of the horses she has in for training...that was extra training for Kieran too since he had to listen to me and not pay too much attention to drifting over to where the other horse was).

Anyway, we started out by warming up with a nice walk, then doing the trotting circles in the corners and cantering down the long sides thing we did last week. Despite the temperature having dropped about 20 degrees overnight and it being really windy, Kieran was really relaxed in the warmup and while forward and "there" not...too forward. :)

Then Jessica had us canter both directions over the poles (that's what the thinner lines are). One set was about 3 strides apart, one was about 4 strides apart. The idea was just to get him into a nice canter, canter over the first set, then keep going over the next set and so on. A lot of today was "we've spent a lot of time just getting him over single things and then stopping to talk about it and then doing it again, so now you have to push him forward after a single "thing" and keep going so we can connect it all together".

Then she had the jumps set up. The two angled ones and the one in the middle on the bottom were all using my jump blocks and were just single poles to make verticals. The angled ones stayed at 18" the whole time (and now that I'm looking at it I realize I angled them the wrong direction, pretend they're angled with the outside sides pointed toward the upper corners, not the bottom corners). The vertical on the bottom started at 18" but later we shifted the blocks around so they were at the 2' level. The jump in the middle was made using a pair of jump standards Jessica brought and started out at 2' and near the end of the lesson she had it bumped up two holes to 2'6".

Anyway, a lot of the idea was just to go straight, keep moving forward, and for me to plan out what I wanted to do as we go along. She didn't tell me a particular path to take, she wanted me to decide and make good choices. It was actually really difficult because I've been taking lessons for so long that I've gotten used to letting the instructor tell me what to do and where to go when they're there.

So we had a few false starts, though Kieran of course was pretty good, he never refused a thing. Though like, after we knocked over the same jump (the vertical at the bottom) several times Jessica asked, "okay, so what are you doing that that jump isn't working for you? Maybe you need to do something else." So we talked about it and I changed up what I was doing (went around and did one of the lower jumps first, then came back around for that guy) and it worked.

By the end of the lesson we were able to do the whole "course" without knocking anything over and with me choosing where to go and how we'd get there. Kieran stayed game the entire time. I'm actually really surprised how well he's taking to do this but he seems to enjoy it. One of the other little exercises Jessica had me do with him in the middle of the lesson was to trot in to whichever jump I wanted and get him to canter out and then just sort of get up out of the saddle and allow him to keep going as much as he wanted as a reward. Basically we made jumping into a game today instead of just drilling over and over and he really seemed to take to it.

One of the other things Jessica said today is that I think we need more space to get set up and ready than we actually do. Or well, than Kieran actually does...it's still stuck in my head. So we were coming into one jump but we were a little catty-corner and I stopped and Jessica was like, "why'd you stop? You were totally there!" and I was like, "but it wasn't perfect! we didn't have enough room!" (and that was while that jump was still one of the 18" ones) and she was like..."Kieran is clever enough to figure some of this out on his own even if you don't set him up absolutely perfectly as long as you're up there telling him he can do it, he'll respond okay, Mom." And you know what? She's right. He will. It's actually a little scary that he's so willing. I mean...it's a lot of responsibility up there!

Anyway, it made for a good lesson, even if it wasn't as structured as they usually are. I think it worked for Kieran too. It made for a nice change of pace. :)

We Jumped the Barrel Again :)

Okay, to back up.

Today Jessica tells me, "I've got an exercise he's really going to like today!"

So she has us warm up by trotting circles in all the corners of the ring in both directions. I threw in doing a bit of cantering down the long sides the second time around, then back to trotting for the circles and short sides.

So we started with poles on the ground in a zig-zag pattern, like so:

/
\
/
\

The idea being that you'd come in from the left and after going over the pole, do a circle so you'd come around straight at the next pole, then another circle going the other way so you'd be going straight at the next pole, and so on.

First she had us trot a few times over them. The first trot was fine, okay but just sort of...okay. So Jessica was like, "this time, I want you to get him engaged and really thinking about what we're doing because that time he was totally tuning it out."

And she's right. I mean...I was thinking, "hey, we've done this before, no big deal," and so that's pretty much how Kieran felt about it. So we went through it again and I thought, "we're going to be engaged and paying attention and do it right" and wouldn't you know he was really using his hind end and forward and it was just....lots better. Who knew? LOL

Then she had us do it again but this time she wanted us to do it cantering. So we talked about it because obviously, Kieran doesn't do flying lead changes, so we'd have to trot over the poles themselves to do a simple change and the circles would be a lot bigger than we could do with the trotting. So the idea was that I needed to plan ahead of time how this would go so we could do it.

It...wasn't pretty.

We could do the first circle okayish, but we'd get to the second pole and we'd have to go down to a trot and then I'd be thinking "okay, change the bed, push for another canter but you've got to circle too! omg!" and it would all kind of fall apart.

Didn't help that Kieran kept picking up the left lead coming into the first pole and we were supposed to do a circle to the right. One time I didn't even feel it even did the full circle and Jessica was like, "that was totally on the wrong lead". Usually I can tell, but that one just...felt really put together. Anyway, I ended up switching which side I was coming from and we did it from the top instead and once we got through three poles with no mishap, I skipped the last one, because I didn't want to mess it up so we ended that exercise on a good note. It was really difficult! It's hard because you've got to do the "plan" thing but you can't overthink it (or at least I can't) or it just...doesn't work.

Anyway, so we went back to trotting the poles, but Jessica used my jump blocks to slowly raise them. First they were just low cavaletti, basically, then she made them all half a low crossrail. Then she raised them to very low verticals (or the tall setting for a cavaletti). Then she'd make one side be the tall setting for the jump blocks and the other side be the medium setting but only the ones in the middle. Then she made them all the tall setting, basically 2ft verticals (and added ground poles under them). Theoretically, he could still trot over them but at that point he was more likely to jump them. Here she said if he wanted to canter in or out, I could let him, just...mostly trot.

As they got higher she also said I was really going to have to work at being serious about it (like we talked about with the first exercise) and giving him a boot to push him forward and be like, "yo, they're getting bigger, you've got to give me more effort, dude).

One time she quickly stuck her coat over one to make it more "interesting" and he was like, "oh....she wants me to jump, okay!". LOL So that one got some more effort. That was one about three strides out he started cantering (not rushing, just...cantering) and gave a pretty good jump for.

Anyway, finally we ended up sticking a barrel under one of them (remember we already jumped this last week, just in a different setup) and it was the one we were coming to at the end. (so we came in the top zig zag and jumped the barrel last at the one on the bottom).

Again, about three strides out he cantered but the jump was an "oh, shit!" jump. It wasn't pretty. It threw me out of the tack. If I hadn't thought to grab mane right before I might've actually totally lost it or at least really hung off his mouth and not meant to. But still...he went over. He didn't refuse, he didn't even think about it.

Jessica said the problem was that he made a mistake. He thought he could do that canter thing, but he was really like...two and a half strides away so suddenly he was right on top of it and hence he just had to wing it.

Anyway, she gave me the option of ending there because...hey, he did what we asked, even though it wasn't pretty, he didn't even touch the jump despite the awkwardness. Or she said, we could do it again. Not the whole thing, just the last bit with the barrel.

I really had to think about it. On the one hand, it wasn't a bad spot to end on, again...he did exactly what I asked him to do. On the other, he's got a history of the first time we do something newish tends to be awkward and then the second time through he's figured it out and it tends to be better. So it really came down to me thinking I might mess it up and then if we did it "wrong" that would be a bad note to leave it at.

Well, I just decided we wouldn't do it wrong. That I'd be with him and we'd go again. Heck, I even asked him, "are you ready?" and I could feel him kind of push forward a bit like he does when he's excited about something. Might be in my head but I took that as a yes. So we trotted another circle like we were coming out of hopping over the previous pole and I thought, "look ahead, keep your leg on, stay with him!" and we cantered the last few strides up to it and he jumped over the dang thing like he was at a show and about to win a blue ribbon. No lie, I almost cried afterward because it was pretty much perfect.

Jessica said he looked good, knees tucked up to his chin, and I looked good right there with him and if we jumped like that every time, we'd be winning in shows, no question.

I only wish there was a picture, but hey, I know how it felt. Jessica also said he might be ready then, considering today, to start cantering jumps more instead of trotting them and that we'll likely find it easier.

I'm pretty excited. :)

Making things Interesting

Kieran's getting bored with little, cavaletti-style jumps. But we're not really ready for anything much bigger (I know I'm not, at least in terms of my position and my riding). So today we tried to make things more interesting. Jessica ended up dragging over some lattice things that someone had once used for jumps for one of them because it looked "scary" compared to regular poles...then she hung her jacket over one of the other ones...then finally she had us jump over one of the barrels on its side.

But before that...warmup!

Part of our warmup after walking and trotting is to do some short "handgallops" I've mentioned before, I think.



Then, we did some trotting spirals, both directions.



Then, Jessica had us canter, then make a circle cantering and as we came out of it, to come to a halt. And she wanted it to be a nice halt, not a "fall forward on your face halt". So the idea being that I had to think ahead about what I wanted and prepare him properly so we could actually do it.



Then, since we've only been hopping over single fences, she had set up three in the center of the ring. First time, she had us trot over the middle one, down to the fence, then turn right and come back for the fence on the left (it was slightly catty corner so coming out of the corner meant we were on a straight line for it).



So Jessica progressively made the jumps more interesting (but not too much higher) with what we had on hand because Kieran was not really impressed with them, mostly. So we ended by going over the center one (now a vertical across the "tall" setting for the blocks), then came back around to do the lattice jump, then around for the barrel on the far side. :)



Looking at the videos, I know I need to have quieter hands and really work more again on using my legs. My toes are sticking waaaaaaay out and I suspect my stirrups are too long since in a lot of places when I'm getting out of the saddle, my leg is almost totally straight. (I need to punch holes, those stirrups are as short as they can go without me wrapping them around the irons)

Anyway, what do you think?

New Year's Day? Lesson! :)

Just a couple of short clips from today. The whole lesson was really a lot of hard work. We started by doing figure 8's in each half of the ring (so figure 8's on the top half, then figure 8's on the bottom half) at a trot. Which was harder than I thought, to really get the circles round and not make one small and the other big (i wanted to do a long diagonal between them instead of making them circles that happen to touch). After that, Jessica had use the whole ring to do canter figure 8s (with a few trot strides in the middle, we don't do flying changes yet!) and that was even harder because I really had to plan how I was going to make my canter turns and when to trot in the middle and ask for the other lead canter. That's our homework for the week.

Then she had us canter over some canter poles, down to the fence, come back to a (forward) trot and around over a crossrail with the idea that the canter poles would remind Kieran to pay attention to his feet (we don't keep cantering because she doesn't want us cantering into fences yet). That crossrail he doesn't really like though because it's pretty airy and bare (balanced on a couple of traffic cones, I can't wait until my jump blocks get here!) so he never puts in much effort over it. The other crossrail where we use barrels laying on the ground as "standards" he tends to actually jump (instead of trotting over and hanging his feet) because it looks more solid.

So then we had to canter around down to the barrel crossrail and all I was supposed to focus on was encouraging him forward (she stresses "allowing" and not pushing, because we can't make him think this is a fun thing to do) and just staying straight and getting out of his way when we go over.


That was one of the first times over the barrel jump. Then we had a couple of awkward tries and then we ended on this note:


Ignore Jessica's screaming, LOL.

It's like he's a different horse!

It's just that...in the past couple of lessons....Kieran's been really forward and happy about working. He's always been fairly agreeable, but sometimes it could be grudging. He'd trudge around and I'd coax a nice trot or canter out of him but lately it's just been... I mount up and we walk off from the mounting block with a nice forward walk and even later in the lesson when we have walk breaks he doesn't drop back into the trudge mode. I ask for trots and canters and he gives me nice transitions and moves out and I don't have to spend the whole time pushing forward. Sometimes I even have to ask him to come back a little. It's exciting! :)

Anyway, that's been the big goal we've been working on. Give Kieran A Work Ethic. And now he's actually interested in what we're doing and ready to really learn so we can start doing fun stuff.

Not only that, but I feel like I'm more "with" him than I ever used to be. Like we're on the same wavelength now more times than not, instead of slightly out of sync. And I actually feel like that whole "independent seat" thing is developing and like I can really follow with my body and not feel like I have to hold on for dear life with my hands because my body can't do it.

I'm just really excited about where we're going and I'm glad I found Jessica to help us get there. :)

LESSON VIDEO

So I set up my camera tonight to capture some of my lesson. Obviously you only see us when we passed in front of the camera but hey...a lot of the work happened in the middle of the ring. :)

Lots of circles still and work on turning well and getting Kieran to move more off my leg and me to rely less on the reins.

SO MANY CIRCLES

Had my lesson tonight, we were already warmed up by the time she got there so Jessica had us start with showing her some walking circles since I said I'd worked on them since last lesson. They still weren't pretty (and one day I will get someone to video!), but they did at least feel better than last week. Mostly because Kieran just felt a bit more forward so it wasn't like he was just dragging himself around. Jessica said it looked like he was using his back end properly one stride in three (so...room for improvement, hah)

Once we'd done a bunch of circles in both directions, she had us do the same thing but at a trot (remembering to keep a steady rhythm). The rhythm part was actually much easier this week. Kieran was definitely "with it".

Then we added a new element. We had three barrels set up in a big triangle. So Jessica had us start trotting around them (so, not on the rail, but not inside the "barrel territory") and when we rounded a particular barrel (still remembering the circles! even though this was technically just part of a circle) I was to start pushing him forward with my seat and legs on every down beat of my post...not to get him to go faster, but to get him to move into a more extended trot. Took a couple of repetitions and then she was like, "YES THAT!" and I was like, "what? He didn't move any faster?" but it was bigger which was the point and when we did it again, I felt that.

So, by that point, he was starting to think about anticipating the barrel we'd ask for him to extend at so she has us go around again, but this time she said when I went around that barrel, to think about half halting with my outside seatbone and outside rein and think "easy easy easy, wait wait wait" and then on that side of the triangle, ask for a smaller trot, almost a jog.

The first time, he thought "eeeasy" meant "brakes!". The thing he's good at is stopping...and he's actually pretty good about doing it from his hind end instead of falling all over his front end when he stops. But I managed to push him forward before the brakes fully went on so suddenly he was pushing off from his hind end and we got a really nice little trot out of him. :)

Then we had to do it all going the other direction. (and remember those circles when you go around turns!)

We rounded out the lesson with a bit of cantering and here Jessica said if we needed, I could go more on the rail instead of just staying around the barrels). But the idea was the same...get a nice forward trot going, then sit and ask for the canter. The first time, we just cantered once around both directions (and no snarky kicking out this time when I asked for a left lead canter!).

Then we went back to the right lead canter and Jessica said, "now when you come around the turn heading toward the gate, I want you to sit back a bit more and push with your seat and legs and get him to really move out". We found another gear! Pretty exhilarating, actually.

Back to the left lead and going that way, I asked him for the extra gear going away from the gate, but still got it! He was fairly tired by that point (so was I!) even with several walk breaks but he still was willing to give it to me.

I did have some issues with my feet sliding through the stirrups while cantering (they'd end up shoved "home" instead of on the balls of my feet) but Jessica said I was keeping my hands where they were supposed to be and my butt was where it was supposed to be and my legs weren't flailing around so she didn't stop me. I just...I guess I tense up or something, but I have a really hard time with my leg sort of drawing upward when we canter and then the stirrup goes wherever the heck it wants.

We also talked about me having to remember keeping my calf on and weight in my heels (in general, not just at the canter) which is something I know, but it's good to be reminded of. I like that she reminds me of the things I need to fix with me, but we're focusing a lot on getting Kieran to use himself better and be fitter. And he definitely seemed more interested this week than last week (whether that's the improved weather or he likes that we're doing something instead of random moseying, I'm not sure, but I'll take it!).

So, good lesson! Kieran got peppermints afterward. :)

First Lesson in GA!

Had my first lesson in Georgia tonight. Gosh, it's been since, like...the end of May/very beginning of June since I had a lesson. I totally needed it. As I told Jessica (new instructor), at the end of the lesson: we've been riding, but...I do just sort of get on and ride around for a while and then we're done. It's nice to have someone there with a plan in mind of what she wants to see (and explain how to do it) and to tell me, "no, you can push him to do more than that!" :)

Anyway, today's lesson was a sort of "getting to know you" deal and ran a bit long (expected to). First, she had us start off simply by walking and warming up, then she asked me to do a couple of circles, any size I wanted, and watched what we did and asked me to explain what I was doing to ask for the circle and why. Basically, I was wiggling my inside rein (don't really have to pull, wiggling my ring finger usually works) and nudging with my inside leg. Apparently it wasn't that pretty, LOL.

So she talked about how circles are actually really difficult to do well and you really have to ride them actively and also once you've got a horse that really understands leg and seat aids, the reins can be pretty superfluous. She talked about how I needed to be a more active rider in general but that a good circle you really have to ride actively (not like...moving a lot just... being engaged? Directing the horse? Uh, I'll keep explaining what she said, I wish I had recorded it!). Like, inside shoulder back, inside leg and inside seatbone really on and pushing to encourage that inside hind leg to cross over and that I should use my outside leg back a little to control speed and shape of the circle. Still figuring that one out but I sort of get it. Hands, she said, just really control where the shoulders go but legs control everything behind the girth and everything starts back there with the horse pushing from behind and that's what we need to work on, more leg, less hand.

After that, she had us start trotting and she said she wanted me to sing aloud, "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood" in the same rhythm that I was posting. The idea being that my posting should dictate Kieran's trot rhythm and not the other way around and the "wood chuck" thing helps keep me focused on the rhythm I want. It was a bit rough at first, because he did want to sort of go slooooow, speed up!, go sloooww....and not really keep a consistent rhythm but we did get some nice trotting done in there. And once we got something consistent, then she had me ask for a turn, remembering the stuff we'd talked about with the circles at the walk and still, you know, keeping rhythm. And there it all fell apart. Hah. So we did it again a couple times until we got it and then started over the other direction.

Oh yeah, she also said for now when trotting, not to really worry what he was doing with his head or directing him too much with the reins, just to focus on getting the rhythm I want with my posting and getting it to be consistent.

We also talked about figuring out what gets him interested because right now she says he looks like he's just kind of going along and not really paying a lot of attention to me or caring about what we're doing. Not sour, just not interested. Also that his issues with picking up his feet properly may stem more from that boredom than anything else, since when we get him engaged and active....a lot of that magically disappears.

Then she had us get back into a nice working trot and told me to pick a spot to ask for the canter. First time was going to the right and he gave me a really great transition and a lovely, uphill sort of canter. It actually felt slow but Jessica said he's got a big stride and was really eating up the ground (didn't feel that way though! Maybe I'm just used to a more rushy canter). Anyway, I was all, "wow! That was great!" and we talked about the difference between that and when he canters more on the forehand and kind of dragging himself along. The difference this time, she said, was that I did have him in a nice forward trot and really pushing with his hind end and ready to go so that when I asked for the canter, she could see him really using his back end and pushing off into a nice canter.

So then she asked if I wanted to end on that note or try cantering the other way. I wanted to go the other way too. Hah.

The left has always been a little more difficult to get a good canter out of him. So this time the first one wasn't that great and I don't remember much about it because I remember the second try more. That one, he kicked out right after the transition (rather like the video down below somewhere) and Jessica growled at him for me, I just pushed him to keep cantering. She said for a minute she wasn't sure I actually felt it since I stayed right in the saddle, hah but that I should have really got after him so he knew it wasn't acceptable, instead of just sitting up there and being like, "it's okay, just keep going".

Anyway, we did it one final time and then we got a decent transition (it was late and I did have to get after him there to Just Canter, dammit! with a smack with the crop) but then a good canter most of the way around the ring and when he started faltering, I was able to just push with my seat and squeeze with my legs and he kept moving till I asked him to stop. He wasn't tired (he wasn't even breathing hard, there were a lot of walk breaks in between stuff since we spent time talking about what we were doing and why and what we'd done before), just lazy, I think.

So, all in all, it was a good, productive lesson. I'm happy with it and we've got some homework: active circles and rhythm (oh yeah, she sang "row row row your boat" for the canter). Next week, Jessica says she'll set up patterns with the ground poles for us (and we'll see if that gets Kieran more interested in what's happening, hah).

Couple more things that were mentioned in the lesson:

Jessica says cantering's easy, once you get a really good walk and trot.

I talked about him really trotting out on the trail on Sunday and how he felt like he was ready to canter if I just asked and she said that's what a really good working trot ought to feel like, with them moving out and ready to do whatever you ask. That's not a feeling I've gotten out of him often. ;) His "working trot" has typically been rather more sedate.

Talked about turning my leg out a bit more so I'm not holding my knees so close to the saddle. (Maybe not really "turning out" since it was more about opening at my hip and getting my calf on but my toes weren't really turned out or anything. Ugh. I think that will require video so I can see what I'm doing.)

Here's hoping I can work in some real riding time between now and next week. I pretty much have either Wednesday or Thursday and that's it. And one of those days I have to clean house since I have a friend flying in late Thursday night and staying until Tuesday afternoon. Doubt she'll want to go out to the farm with me every day and sit around in the sun and watch me ride, LOL.