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Oct. 10th, 2009 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI had a really nice spin on the Red Idiot today. Actually the last time I got on her, she was kind of pleasant to ride, too. Not sure what is up with that, but she's definitely coming along.
I've been working with her on staying in frame consistently, which she is doing much better than she was. She's a lot more pleasant about leg contact than she used to be, too. (Her previous attitude about leg contact was "Argh! Get it off me!!!")
I've been working on adjustable-stride-walk, which she now does pretty well. I've been working on back-up-and-trot-off and she *does* that now and can tell it from halt-stand-and-trot-off and also from back-up-and-walk-off. Like no walk steps at all. She trots off from a halt or a back-up. It's kind of neat.
She has *better* transitions. They're not perfect, particularly downward ones, but they're getting better. Upward from walk to trot is getting respectable. Downward from trot to walk is coming along. Upward from trot to canter is getting good. There is no walk-to-canter transition yet, either up or down. Downward from canter-to-trot still needs work -- she gets wound up -- but she does flat walk on a loose rein after canter work, which is a really nice feature to have on a hot little ayrab.
I have lateral ability at the trot now without speeding up and *with* staying in frame, weight off forehand. It's not perfect, but it is definitely there. I have to work on my timing to firm things up a bit -- different rhythm than walking and I and my lily-white self cannot dance. However, it's so much better than it was even three weeks ago. Amazing. Horse has decided that legs/seat say more than just "speed up" and that two legs AND permission from the reins are needed for "speed up", otherwise it's "stay at the same speed and do other stuff". Right now, we have pretty decent leg yield, which, yes, is a baby exercise. That's more than I used to have. Shoulder-in needs work at the walk before it's going to look like much at the trot, but it's coming along and would come along faster if I had a more effective left leg. *sigh* I'm working on it. (It's much better with horse bent around right leg.) Once we can do shoulder-in tolerably well, then we can do haunches-in and after that, half pass. (It'll be a while, really. No getting the hopes up, here.)
I can sit her trot. No, really. Really. If I rock her weight back and have her tuck her chin so that her face is vertical, I can sit it. Hell, I can fucking well *extend* it and still sit it. Now that's progress. (Horse trots like a jackhammer. Is in no way smooth. I say this as someone who has ridden probablly forty different horses enough to compare their gaits to Nick. Nick has a crappy trot.) If she's framed up, I can sit her trot even if it's really big. And this trot, it comes with control. It goes from big to small to big to small and can be sliced and diced almost any way I want it. In frame. With pretty-good rhythm and not-horrific contact. It's coming along enough that I'm enthused.
Steering is getting amazingly good. I can sit "turn left" or sit "turn right" and she does it, with bending and everything. Turns on HQ are now good enough that I don't make her do them every time I ride her. She is good to 180 degrees with no steps, is getting to where she can do 270 more than half the time.
No. I still can't ride her in traffic. One thing at a time. I am, however, taking her to the Halloween parade this year. Not sure what the theme is, but we'll have to dress up and stuff. It'll be a learning experience for sure.
I've been working with her on staying in frame consistently, which she is doing much better than she was. She's a lot more pleasant about leg contact than she used to be, too. (Her previous attitude about leg contact was "Argh! Get it off me!!!")
I've been working on adjustable-stride-walk, which she now does pretty well. I've been working on back-up-and-trot-off and she *does* that now and can tell it from halt-stand-and-trot-off and also from back-up-and-walk-off. Like no walk steps at all. She trots off from a halt or a back-up. It's kind of neat.
She has *better* transitions. They're not perfect, particularly downward ones, but they're getting better. Upward from walk to trot is getting respectable. Downward from trot to walk is coming along. Upward from trot to canter is getting good. There is no walk-to-canter transition yet, either up or down. Downward from canter-to-trot still needs work -- she gets wound up -- but she does flat walk on a loose rein after canter work, which is a really nice feature to have on a hot little ayrab.
I have lateral ability at the trot now without speeding up and *with* staying in frame, weight off forehand. It's not perfect, but it is definitely there. I have to work on my timing to firm things up a bit -- different rhythm than walking and I and my lily-white self cannot dance. However, it's so much better than it was even three weeks ago. Amazing. Horse has decided that legs/seat say more than just "speed up" and that two legs AND permission from the reins are needed for "speed up", otherwise it's "stay at the same speed and do other stuff". Right now, we have pretty decent leg yield, which, yes, is a baby exercise. That's more than I used to have. Shoulder-in needs work at the walk before it's going to look like much at the trot, but it's coming along and would come along faster if I had a more effective left leg. *sigh* I'm working on it. (It's much better with horse bent around right leg.) Once we can do shoulder-in tolerably well, then we can do haunches-in and after that, half pass. (It'll be a while, really. No getting the hopes up, here.)
I can sit her trot. No, really. Really. If I rock her weight back and have her tuck her chin so that her face is vertical, I can sit it. Hell, I can fucking well *extend* it and still sit it. Now that's progress. (Horse trots like a jackhammer. Is in no way smooth. I say this as someone who has ridden probablly forty different horses enough to compare their gaits to Nick. Nick has a crappy trot.) If she's framed up, I can sit her trot even if it's really big. And this trot, it comes with control. It goes from big to small to big to small and can be sliced and diced almost any way I want it. In frame. With pretty-good rhythm and not-horrific contact. It's coming along enough that I'm enthused.
Steering is getting amazingly good. I can sit "turn left" or sit "turn right" and she does it, with bending and everything. Turns on HQ are now good enough that I don't make her do them every time I ride her. She is good to 180 degrees with no steps, is getting to where she can do 270 more than half the time.
No. I still can't ride her in traffic. One thing at a time. I am, however, taking her to the Halloween parade this year. Not sure what the theme is, but we'll have to dress up and stuff. It'll be a learning experience for sure.
