Riding today

Just riding around with some cavaletti and poles. :)



No, not with the new saddle, it hasn't gotten here yet.

New Saddle

That is on its way to me. :)

(Duett Presto)

Pictures from Friday!

Jessica's mom was there and took a few of our lesson. :) Click on them to make 'em bigger.

He's so amazing

Got in a lesson with Jessica this morning. Had plenty of time to warm up before she got there. Started by putting him on the longe line for a quick trot around each direction to see what sort of mood he was in. Despite the fact that the other horses were getting breakfast, he actually was listening very well so I went ahead and got on and we started walking around.

Just did a lot of changes of of direction and a bit of trotting, threw in some cantering each way and thinking about not using rein but trying to use more seat and leg and to keep my shoulders back and my calf on and not pinch with my knee. Did a bit of dropping the reins and letting him walk around while I closed my eyes, too.

So anyway, by the time Jessica got there, we jumped right into the lesson and started with just trotting around with the idea that I should take up the reins and work on pushing him into the bridle and see if he'd do that instead of raising his head and trying to evade.

See, this was our first lesson back off the longe line in the past couple weeks with the idea being that the longe helped me "reset" myself and rely less on the reins and to "reset" him so he'd learn that he could trust the bit. Anyway, she ended up making me drop my stirrups and sit the trot and when I did that, once I relaxed into it (she had to keep telling me, "you did this on the longe line! This is just a bigger circle!!) and sat deep with my seat, he relaxed into it too and put his head down.

So we did that for a bit, working on getting a nice forward trot (a "woodchuck" trot) with me posting and then she'd tell me to sit and drop my stirrups and go with him. I won't say it was perfect, because it wasn't, and it definitely took several repetitions until something clicked in me and went, "oh yeah, you have done this and you can do it. So just do it."

After that, she had us do some cantering wherein we'd really push forward (hand gallop, pretty much) on the long sides and then ask for him to come back down on the short sides. My task was to use my seat and legs to ask for most of this and not to use the reins (or my "exhale heavy" trick he's learned when I want him to stop). Anyway, we started out going to the left and it was pretty darn good. He did break to a trot a couple times when I just wanted him to give me a slower canter but he went right back in the canter when I asked (I didn't have to beat him to get him to go forward, hah) and I never felt like I needed to grab hold of anything to stay with him.

Before we switched directions, Jessica let us take a walk break (that was hard work!) and we talked about half-halting. Now, Kieran and I both have some idea of what a half halt is but for cantering, I'd never heard it explained this way so I'm recording it for posterity. Of course, she talked about how with a full halt, it's like you're holding your body against the motion to get the horse to halt but with a half halt, you're doing it for a moment, then pushing the horse forward so he doesn't actually stop. In the canter, she said, the halt part of the half halt that you do with your body you should do as the horse comes up and its feet are in the air and then as you come back down again is when you push him forward. Because, of course, the transition down has to start in the back end too so if you're asking 'halt' when the horse is in the air, he gets that "okay, we're going to halt" but then you come down and you ask "forward" and you get the half halt whereas I guess if you asked halt when coming down, you'd be more likely to get a real stop or at least a down transition. I don't think I'm explaining it as well as she did, but that's the general idea.

So with that in mind, we went and started cantering to the right and ohmylord. The first one was so lovely, he really opened up on the long side and it was beautiful but then I asked him down the short side to come back to me and collect up a bit and he was right there and then we'd hit the long side and I'd squeeze my legs and push with my seat and we'd push forward again and just. Gah. I love my pony.

Oh yeah, and his downward transitions from the canter were pretty lovely too. Usually he kind of pile-drives through them but this time he really settled into them nicely.

After that, we didn't do any more canter work because that was so freaking beautiful but instead Jessica set up some trot poles at X for us to go over and get Kieran's mind working since so far in this lesson and for the past couple we'd been focusing more on me than him.

First she set the poles (four of them) up for really short trot strides but she had us come in at a working trot and told me not to do anything but follow what he did and keep him straight. The idea being that he'd have to figure out on his own how to adjust.

The first time through he hit and or stepped on every single pole. *facepalm* So we did it again a couple times until he was going through nicely. Then she changed it so the poles were about twice as wide apart as they had been (long trot strides) and we had to go through again. The first time he was like, "wait...weren't these closer together? WTF?" but then he figured it out. :)

So to make it more interesting she put them in an M shape, zig-zagging one right next to the other. The end result was that if we went down the center, he really didn't have to change his stride at all.

So we did that twice and he did it perfectly each time. So then she asked us to go through it but for me to ask him to stay a step or so over to the right side of the poles so he had a short trot stride a looong trot stride, and then a short again.

Another "wtf??" from Kieran the first time through. The second time he shifted just a bit over so he didn't have to go over them at all, and Jessica was like, "hah, he's trying to do the smart thing and avoid the weirdness, but he needs to learn if you're asking him to go straight at a certain point...that's what he does."

So we went back around and did it again a time or two and by the time we finished he was doing the striding just right on the front end but he hadn't quite figured out how to get the back feet to follow along so he knocked a couple of poles. We ended there, though, because he was getting tired and also...getting the point of the exercise, probably when we go do it next time he won't have a problem at all.

Anyway, all in all it was a really good, really productive lesson. He stayed focused and with me the whole time and just generally in "happy pony" mode with only maybe once trying to stick his nose to the outside and evade but I just shortened the inside rein a bit, opened the outside rein and kept my inside leg on and we pushed through it.

Jessica said she could see that the longe lessons had definitely helped as I wasn't falling forward on his neck in downward transitions (except I've got a terrible habit of after a really hard workout when we come down to the walk of letting myself go forward and rest my hands on his neck but that's different since I'm consciously meaning to do it and I need to break the habit) and I was keeping my back straight and my shoulders back where they need to be. My leg she still had to remind me to not pinch with my knee and keep my calf on but I think it was way better than it was previously.

So...happy me and happy pony and next week Jessica said we'd probably (along with some of the other transitions-within-gait thing) add in some low jumps to send him over. See, there's a farm over in Aiken that's doing a schooling show in a few weeks. We decided we probably wouldn't enter in the show because I'm not sure he's ready (it's a combined test with jumping and dressage) but it's possible we can just pay a fee to bring him out there and let him school without being judged so he can go to a new environment and we can see how he reacts there. Plus they have "puddle jumper" sized jumps on their cross country course so the idea would be to take him out there and see how he does with that because, even though he's done some of the show things before, we've never done anything quite like that. I'm excited. :)

Just discovered this...

...and I'm having too much fun making gifs out of Kieran:



and

Still lunging

Gratuitous picture of Kieran out in the field after he rolled after I turned him out again. Doesn't he look good? (and fuzzy!)

Got to keep my stirrups but still had no reins and we did a lot of trotting where I had to keep my eyes closed. Discovered it was a bit easier to do that posting than trying to sit (even though I got to hold on to the pommel of the saddle if I sat).

We talked a lot about how my "default" position is slightly hunched forward so I can use my hands to catch myself on his neck (which since I tend to keep the reins in one spot is also a part of that) so now that I don't have reins I have to re-learn how to use my core to actually hold myself up and sit back.

Anyway, here's video of our last canter of the day. Note I don't touch him with my hands. :)

No reins. No stirrups. No eyes.

So today my lesson was done entirely on the lunge line. No reins at all though I was allowed to grab mane if I felt the need. We alternated between stirrups and no stirrups though Jessica said the difference in my position between when I took up my stirrups and when I dropped them was pretty drastic. (better without) We did that walking and trotting. Then she had me close my eyes (here's where hanging on to something came in handy because if I didn't, I felt a bit of vertigo like I was about to fall off without anything to look at. Jessica says I'm relying too much on what my eyes tell me instead of what my body's telling me).

Then she let me take my stirrups back and open my eyes and we did some cantering. Then she let me still hold mane with one hand but with the other I had to raise it straight up above my head which had the effect of making me sit up straight instead of hunching forward like I want to. Apparently also my heels come down and once again, my position improves dramatically. Apparently it was so good Jessica was like, "WHY DIDN'T YOU BRING YOUR CAMERA TODAY?" Alas, I'd forgotten it at home.

Anyway, then she had me doing all that, and then I had to drop my stirrups while cantering. It was terrifying. Something in my brain said, "you're going to fall off if you do that" but of course, I didn't.

So we talked a lot about the need for me to develop a seat independent of my hands and for me to build up the muscle memory of what to do without having to "see" it and then take action. My homework for the week is to spend time riding without reins (and stirrups, if I can stand it) and do the raise an arm above my head thing.

Fairy Pony!

Our barn had a fun show today...somehow we came in as grand champion. :D

There was also a costume contest...I have been DYING to do one of these for like...ever. So here we are!

Clips from Saturday

We started the lesson by trotting figure eights around two barrels (you can't see the other one, alas) to get Kieran's brains focused. When you hear Jessica near the end be like "there we go!" or whatever, he's really started relaxing into it and paying attention.



Then we moved on to trotting single turns over poles. This was to get me to really use my seat and leg to get him to turn, not so much with the reins. Plus I had to really think about creating a "wall" with the outside rein and leg to keep him from bulging out of the turn and instead keep it kind of crisp.



And then she added in some more poles so we had to make two turns in different directions (so like and S shape), building off the previous exercise except now I had to think ahead even more about what I was doing and not wait till the last minute to start asking for a turn.



Alas, this was the main stuff the video got before it shut itself off so you don't get to see the circle of ground poles we did or the simple changes around the barrels we did at the end of the lesson.

Tonight

Things we discussed in the lesson:

1. I am, apparently, crooked. I find it easier to use my right leg and seatbone than my left leg and seatbone. I also sit skewed (I've noticed, now that I've been thinking about it, that I do it when sitting in chairs too). This likely helps explain some of the issues I've had with Kieran. Like cantering to the right is easier because I can use my right leg to keep him from drifting inward but going the other way is more trouble. Or how when we attempt sidepassing or turns on the forehand, it's easier when I ask him to go left because I'm using my right leg to do it, and vice versa.

2. We can actually trot (and canter!) around on a loooooose rein and not have him drift all the way inward. It just takes a lot of leg and me opening the outside rein (maybe a lot, now but still) instead of pulling back on it. And, for now, maybe tapping his inside shoulder (seriously, I was just tapping lightly, not smacking) with the whip to back up my leg. When I pull back with the rein (which is what I want to do because it's become habit even though I know it's wrong), he just sticks his nose to the outside, bulges his shoulder in, and keeps going wherever he wants. You know this, I know this. I've talked about it dozens of times, it seems. But tonight we were actually able to consistently go around at all gaits more or less straight and without too much cutting into the center (was it perfect? Nah, but it was a far sight better than before).

3. Really, basically everything we're doing is about getting me to better control my body and, in extension, better control Kieran's body so I'm not just trying to haul him around with the reins. If Jessica had her way, by the end of this, we won't need reins at all. ;) That'd be pretty cool.

Annd....no pictures from tonight, but here's a couple from our previous lesson on Saturday (was a makeup) that I didn't write about but should have while it was still fresh in my mind:






Look how he's crossing over on that turn!

We started out the lesson trotting figure eights around two barrels to get his brain on working since it'd been over a week since he'd last worked. We ended the lesson cantering in up the rail coming around between the barrels, going down to a trot, starting to turn around the other barrel (half a figure eight?) and cantering off on the other lead. :)

There was also a nice bit of trail riding that happened this weekend. Got to expose Kieran to all sorts of things: small children running up to pet the pretty ponies (*sigh*), small children on bicycles, a wildly barking herd of seven dogs (behind a fence), surveyor's tape blowin' in the wind, large (unmoving, turned off) construction equipment...all sorts of stuff. We even discovered a trail that has a bit of a slope and that we can probably use even during hunting season so we can get some work on not-flat-ground in. :)