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Nov. 12th, 2008 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI managed to get in time on the red idiot this evening...
I have to get out of work by 3:30, 4:00 at the latest, to see the pony in daylight and get any time on her. I snuck out early at 3:30 today because I'd been at work until 6 PM on Monday and Tuesday and figured I was due.
Red Idiot has "giving to the bit" going on at the walk, real solidly. She bends *well* to the left and is improving (but still not good) to the right. We're going to work more on the right until it is better. Shoulder-in is going well, better on left than right, which I will also have to work on. Stupid right. Transitions still need work but have made progress. She's also getting used to the idea of leg contact but still construes it as "speed up" more often than I'd like. (Dressage work has constant leg contact. The leg contact changes from "present" to "wanting something" but it never goes away. Nick is used to being ridden with no leg contact unless I *want* something. One leg is for lateral stuff, two legs has ALWAYS been for speed in her world... so we're having to do some reprogramming. What I want is "If I am riding you with contact on the reins, then we are in "dressage" mode and you need to act like a dressage horse. If I am riding you with loose reins, then we are in "trail" mode and you need to ride like a trail horse." I don't know if this is possible, but I'm certainly going to give it the old college try.)
Today I worked on lengthening and collecting, with mixed success. From "medium", she goes to "collected" walk pretty well. Rhythm stays the same but she bunches up nicely, gets all coiled and spring. However, she shoves right into trot when I ask her to extend the walk. I've got to see if I can get "extend" instead of "speed-up-to-next-gear"... something for next time, I guess.
Trotting, she's just started to frame up and do the contact thing so I don't have a lot of rate with her yet. (She has plenty of rate, about ten speeds of trot, the old way. However, this is a new way and she doesn't quite trust me to have contact at the trot. *sigh* I'm not sure I'd trust me, either, but we're working on it. Also, my leg falls apart at the trot and I need to work on that, too.) I did get her to move nicely some so it's a start. I can build on that.
I also worked her on "stretch down into contact" which she does seem to be getting. I don't have her nose-dragging-low, but it's visible and about as decent an effort as I can get from Harley, lesson pony who actually knows what I'm asking. Goof doesn't really know what I'm asking -- she's learning as we go along -- so this was really a nice effort.
Mostly, it was a good day. She was relaxed through her neck (all soft and nice) and gave a pretty solid effort until it was getting dark and the damn dogs came across the road to the field where Nick perked up and *stared* at the dogs to try to figure out what on earth they were. Once I got past the dog thing, we did some spiral circle things (start with smallish circle, use inside leg at girth line to shove horse outward so that you stay on the circle thing and spiral out little by little until you are on a much bigger circle) which didn't entirely suck and then we went home.
I have to get out of work by 3:30, 4:00 at the latest, to see the pony in daylight and get any time on her. I snuck out early at 3:30 today because I'd been at work until 6 PM on Monday and Tuesday and figured I was due.
Red Idiot has "giving to the bit" going on at the walk, real solidly. She bends *well* to the left and is improving (but still not good) to the right. We're going to work more on the right until it is better. Shoulder-in is going well, better on left than right, which I will also have to work on. Stupid right. Transitions still need work but have made progress. She's also getting used to the idea of leg contact but still construes it as "speed up" more often than I'd like. (Dressage work has constant leg contact. The leg contact changes from "present" to "wanting something" but it never goes away. Nick is used to being ridden with no leg contact unless I *want* something. One leg is for lateral stuff, two legs has ALWAYS been for speed in her world... so we're having to do some reprogramming. What I want is "If I am riding you with contact on the reins, then we are in "dressage" mode and you need to act like a dressage horse. If I am riding you with loose reins, then we are in "trail" mode and you need to ride like a trail horse." I don't know if this is possible, but I'm certainly going to give it the old college try.)
Today I worked on lengthening and collecting, with mixed success. From "medium", she goes to "collected" walk pretty well. Rhythm stays the same but she bunches up nicely, gets all coiled and spring. However, she shoves right into trot when I ask her to extend the walk. I've got to see if I can get "extend" instead of "speed-up-to-next-gear"... something for next time, I guess.
Trotting, she's just started to frame up and do the contact thing so I don't have a lot of rate with her yet. (She has plenty of rate, about ten speeds of trot, the old way. However, this is a new way and she doesn't quite trust me to have contact at the trot. *sigh* I'm not sure I'd trust me, either, but we're working on it. Also, my leg falls apart at the trot and I need to work on that, too.) I did get her to move nicely some so it's a start. I can build on that.
I also worked her on "stretch down into contact" which she does seem to be getting. I don't have her nose-dragging-low, but it's visible and about as decent an effort as I can get from Harley, lesson pony who actually knows what I'm asking. Goof doesn't really know what I'm asking -- she's learning as we go along -- so this was really a nice effort.
Mostly, it was a good day. She was relaxed through her neck (all soft and nice) and gave a pretty solid effort until it was getting dark and the damn dogs came across the road to the field where Nick perked up and *stared* at the dogs to try to figure out what on earth they were. Once I got past the dog thing, we did some spiral circle things (start with smallish circle, use inside leg at girth line to shove horse outward so that you stay on the circle thing and spiral out little by little until you are on a much bigger circle) which didn't entirely suck and then we went home.
