Horse outing!
Apr. 14th, 2024 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickToday I had a Horse Outing to friend N's new(ish) dressage arena. It's an outdoor with the confidence-building qualities of level, fenced, and nice footing mix of sand and stonedust. Bird (who does not like straight up stonedust by itself) really liked the footing.
His fat, middle-aged rider really appreciated the level and fenced qualities of the work area. (FMAR experiences some dread working canter efforts on grass fields where there can be random spooking on soft, wet grass. Like, horse could slip, fall over, crush rider's knee, etc. There are some fear/middle-age issues there.)
Truck ran well after the first ten minutes of assorted wetness in the fuel. I put in additives but it rained all last week, so... there was damp. When it's damp, the truckie has a hitch in his giddyup.
N's horse is really starting to come together in a visible way. Like, she's just so much more solid and confident, starting to carry herself fancy to where the llama of her youth rarely even makes an appearance. It's really nice to see them progress.
Lol. No, there was not media. But, I'm going to try to get up there every other weekend until we get to DLB outing in May or June or whatever. The footing is super. I feel so much more confident when it's level (instead of gently sloping which is what I have at home). There are not random barky dogs. There's a fence. Hell, there's a human who could probably manage 9-1-1 if there were an actual accident. I mean, I don't expect an accident, but also slippery wet grass and random barky dogs and no fence and sloped ground and y'know, I'm 54. And a wimp. And wow, do I feel better about nitpicking the quality of the canter when I don't have to worry that the horse will fall over in slippery wet grass on a (not very sloped) hill.
Maybe there will be media next time?
So, how did the work go? The work went well. It was a shocking 72F with strong winds today. Like tail-blowing-sideways strong winds. Like "can't really talk to the other person in the arena because of the wind blowing your words away" strong winds. Bird and Grace (friend N's mare) do not care about the wind.
While we're still struggling with fitness levels, Bird is not quite the potato I started with at the end of February. He's a bit more fit. He's not shed out yet, but he's making good progress and his shedding coupled with the "more fit" nature of his dad bod meant that we had enough to make a couple of tries at the current deliverables.
Shaping the canter into a less-sucky canter? Check. Dumbass rider now of the opinion that horse was just waiting for her to ask.
Laterals in canter instead of "Ooof lady, dis too hard" break to trot: Check. Note to dumbass rider: Horse must be shaped into correct canter BEFORE applying aids for lateral work. If aids are applied to an incorrect canter, you get the trot of "Ooof, lady, dis too hard." Shape canter first, then ask. Dumbass rider starting to think horse is more clever than he generally lets on.
Is there a leg yield in canter? Yep, but we've been able to do that at home for a while.
Is there shoulder-in in canter? Well, there's a strong shoulder-fore? Needs more angle, but it's there. Might be fitness or rider error, more research needed.
Is there a half pass in canter? Yes. About two tries per lead, recognizable, not flail-ish, no shoulder pop. Angle of travel is slight but correct. Good job, Bird.
Prompt walk-to-canter? Check, but will burn out fairly quickly on how many tries because takes a lot of abs.
Prompt canter-to-walk... lolnope. But it's coming along. The steps of trot are like two and once we got one.
There's more to do, but I feel kind of encouraged about the current direction of things. It seems like these are good things to be working on and I have some idea of what I'm going for. So, yay.
His fat, middle-aged rider really appreciated the level and fenced qualities of the work area. (FMAR experiences some dread working canter efforts on grass fields where there can be random spooking on soft, wet grass. Like, horse could slip, fall over, crush rider's knee, etc. There are some fear/middle-age issues there.)
Truck ran well after the first ten minutes of assorted wetness in the fuel. I put in additives but it rained all last week, so... there was damp. When it's damp, the truckie has a hitch in his giddyup.
N's horse is really starting to come together in a visible way. Like, she's just so much more solid and confident, starting to carry herself fancy to where the llama of her youth rarely even makes an appearance. It's really nice to see them progress.
Lol. No, there was not media. But, I'm going to try to get up there every other weekend until we get to DLB outing in May or June or whatever. The footing is super. I feel so much more confident when it's level (instead of gently sloping which is what I have at home). There are not random barky dogs. There's a fence. Hell, there's a human who could probably manage 9-1-1 if there were an actual accident. I mean, I don't expect an accident, but also slippery wet grass and random barky dogs and no fence and sloped ground and y'know, I'm 54. And a wimp. And wow, do I feel better about nitpicking the quality of the canter when I don't have to worry that the horse will fall over in slippery wet grass on a (not very sloped) hill.
Maybe there will be media next time?
So, how did the work go? The work went well. It was a shocking 72F with strong winds today. Like tail-blowing-sideways strong winds. Like "can't really talk to the other person in the arena because of the wind blowing your words away" strong winds. Bird and Grace (friend N's mare) do not care about the wind.
While we're still struggling with fitness levels, Bird is not quite the potato I started with at the end of February. He's a bit more fit. He's not shed out yet, but he's making good progress and his shedding coupled with the "more fit" nature of his dad bod meant that we had enough to make a couple of tries at the current deliverables.
Shaping the canter into a less-sucky canter? Check. Dumbass rider now of the opinion that horse was just waiting for her to ask.
Laterals in canter instead of "Ooof lady, dis too hard" break to trot: Check. Note to dumbass rider: Horse must be shaped into correct canter BEFORE applying aids for lateral work. If aids are applied to an incorrect canter, you get the trot of "Ooof, lady, dis too hard." Shape canter first, then ask. Dumbass rider starting to think horse is more clever than he generally lets on.
Is there a leg yield in canter? Yep, but we've been able to do that at home for a while.
Is there shoulder-in in canter? Well, there's a strong shoulder-fore? Needs more angle, but it's there. Might be fitness or rider error, more research needed.
Is there a half pass in canter? Yes. About two tries per lead, recognizable, not flail-ish, no shoulder pop. Angle of travel is slight but correct. Good job, Bird.
Prompt walk-to-canter? Check, but will burn out fairly quickly on how many tries because takes a lot of abs.
Prompt canter-to-walk... lolnope. But it's coming along. The steps of trot are like two and once we got one.
There's more to do, but I feel kind of encouraged about the current direction of things. It seems like these are good things to be working on and I have some idea of what I'm going for. So, yay.
