I had a great lesson last night! But it was freezing cold. 30 degrees F during my lesson. Brrr. All of my extremities felt ready to fall off. 7pm is just too late for a lesson in winter - summer I would be game, but I was just frozen last night.
The topic for the lesson was control. We warmed up doing leg yeilds and walk-canter-walk transitions. There were quite a few people in this lesson, 6 all together which is about the max that the arena can hold. One exercise was to canter a small circle and the girl whose circle was right next to me didn't really get the whole "small-ness" of it, so I had to make Jetta's circle even smaller to avoid collision, lol.
I was pleasantly suprised when Jetta was so good about doing that small circle, she did pin her ears a bit to let me know that she did not like it, but she still did it very well - tight circle, light on the forehand, not too fast either.
Then we jumped. We trotted in, halted, backed up (if they didn't halt nicely) then trotted the next jump. Jetta of course instantly did her best diving impression but a few tweaks to my position really helped. Sitting up over the jump, legs farther forward up near the girth and planning in the air for a halt made a world of difference.
Eventually we put together a course with three lines and two oxers. Jetta did super good. We trotted into the lines and cantered through, counting strides, then trotting again into the next line. Multi-tasking for the win! I was able to do it even counting strides correctly, which has always been difficult for me.
I was so happy to end on a good note and hurry home to defrost!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Trail Champ?
Well, we won't be trail champions anytime soon, but we had a bit of fun on the trail course. ML and I went together, she rode her new horse Spider, a QH that she's leasing.
I finished finals on Thursday - YES!! Freedom! I'm so looking forward to a relaxing month off of school. I'll hopefully be working lots though and riding Jetta as well as playing with Colton. So we had Friday to go play on the trail course. You had to pay $25 for an hour, which really isn't long enough! Jetta was instantly scared-stiff when we went into the arena. Talk about a sensory overload! I lead her through the first little hill with logs and such just to let her get a feel for it, though I definitely feel better on her back as I don't want to get run over by my oversized scare-dy cat!
It was funny because I'd forgotten how Jetta thinks logs are scary. In my book, logs are like the easiest obstacle on the trail course. Ahaha, Jetta did not agree. But by the end, logs were the least of her worries.
We never made it into the water unfortunately, though a nice man offered to let us follow him through, but Jetta was not into following in the water! I discovered that ditches are the most terrifying thing ever, definitely reason to try to run away without paying attention to the surroundings, aka tripping and flailing all over the place. Bridges are no problem, though I don't even want to try a suspension bridge in the near future because of Miss Clumsy...
Step-Ups are fine, scary props are fine, the nasty, stinky cowhide was fine. Most horses won't even go near the cow hide, but Jetta waltzed right up to it. It's on a pulley, so during competition you have to pull it up to eye level, which 90% of horses think is terrifying. Jetta stood right next to it and messed with the rope that was dangling, nuzzling and nibbling it and swinging it around with her nose, lol. Too cute. I didn't want to ruin the moment by trying to lift the cow hide.
Didn't really get that many pics, but here's the few that we did:
I finished finals on Thursday - YES!! Freedom! I'm so looking forward to a relaxing month off of school. I'll hopefully be working lots though and riding Jetta as well as playing with Colton. So we had Friday to go play on the trail course. You had to pay $25 for an hour, which really isn't long enough! Jetta was instantly scared-stiff when we went into the arena. Talk about a sensory overload! I lead her through the first little hill with logs and such just to let her get a feel for it, though I definitely feel better on her back as I don't want to get run over by my oversized scare-dy cat!
It was funny because I'd forgotten how Jetta thinks logs are scary. In my book, logs are like the easiest obstacle on the trail course. Ahaha, Jetta did not agree. But by the end, logs were the least of her worries.
We never made it into the water unfortunately, though a nice man offered to let us follow him through, but Jetta was not into following in the water! I discovered that ditches are the most terrifying thing ever, definitely reason to try to run away without paying attention to the surroundings, aka tripping and flailing all over the place. Bridges are no problem, though I don't even want to try a suspension bridge in the near future because of Miss Clumsy...
Step-Ups are fine, scary props are fine, the nasty, stinky cowhide was fine. Most horses won't even go near the cow hide, but Jetta waltzed right up to it. It's on a pulley, so during competition you have to pull it up to eye level, which 90% of horses think is terrifying. Jetta stood right next to it and messed with the rope that was dangling, nuzzling and nibbling it and swinging it around with her nose, lol. Too cute. I didn't want to ruin the moment by trying to lift the cow hide.
Didn't really get that many pics, but here's the few that we did:
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| Climbing hills in the wilderness. |
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| Chillin' on the bridge |
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| The view from the top... of the step up. |
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| Followin' the trail |
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| Look where we made it to! |
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| Lots and lots of logs. |
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| ML and Spider! |
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| Showing off their skillz |
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| Good pony. |
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Project Sweaty Pony - Part 2
So yesterday I talked about my goal to keep Jetta's brain engaged so that we wouldn't have that major regression in our training. Here's the second part of that plan...
Project Sweaty Pony - Jetta is in good shape, enough that I can ride her for 40 minutes or so and she isn't exhausted, rather, she hardly ever sweats. But, when we go to a lesson, both of us feel like we're about to die. The stamina just isn't there.
(ETA: Suzie commented on yesterday's post that maybe Jetta was sore from using the bouncy trot, hence why we tend to have problems. This post sort of addresses that, though I had written this post before the comment. But it's a very valid point!)
My plan is to have at least two to three rides a week where Jetta ends up sweaty. I realize that I usually warm up on a loose rein at the walk, then collect and start doing shoulder-ins and leg-yeilds. Then we trot around the arena, maybe do some collected and lengthening work, then we canter, come back to the trot and change direction and repeat everything we just did. Kinda boring and it certainly isn't doing us any favors to just canter around the arena just once or twice. So I want to introduce more things that are a little more difficult for Jetta - more halt trot halt transitions to ask her to really use her ab muscles, more circles, work on figure eights, etc.
Another benefit of this is more cantering. Right now this is our transitions - "OHMYGOSH she just said canter!! Whee!!" I would much rather that they be - "Oh, ok. Let's canter then." I think that if Jetta realizes that cantering isn't all that exciting when you actually have to hold it for three or more circuits of the arena, we will have a much less explosive canter transition.
The other part of this is that it doesn't just apply to Jetta. It is also going to apply to me. I'm definitely not in shape. I haven't participated in a sport since middle school and I haven't had a PE class since freshman year of high school. So I'm making my New Year's resolution early. I won't necessarily start until the New Year (because how can I give up peppermint hot chocolate and chrismas cookies right now?!) but I am going to make a concerted effort to start running and continue doing yoga. My goal is to compete in a 5k run next year. Luckily three of my roommates are runners so I know that once I start, they will definitely help keep me going.
At least Jetta and I are going to be in this together, lol! And I know it will give us a much better cross country run when we compete! :)
Project Sweaty Pony - Jetta is in good shape, enough that I can ride her for 40 minutes or so and she isn't exhausted, rather, she hardly ever sweats. But, when we go to a lesson, both of us feel like we're about to die. The stamina just isn't there.
(ETA: Suzie commented on yesterday's post that maybe Jetta was sore from using the bouncy trot, hence why we tend to have problems. This post sort of addresses that, though I had written this post before the comment. But it's a very valid point!)
My plan is to have at least two to three rides a week where Jetta ends up sweaty. I realize that I usually warm up on a loose rein at the walk, then collect and start doing shoulder-ins and leg-yeilds. Then we trot around the arena, maybe do some collected and lengthening work, then we canter, come back to the trot and change direction and repeat everything we just did. Kinda boring and it certainly isn't doing us any favors to just canter around the arena just once or twice. So I want to introduce more things that are a little more difficult for Jetta - more halt trot halt transitions to ask her to really use her ab muscles, more circles, work on figure eights, etc.
Another benefit of this is more cantering. Right now this is our transitions - "OHMYGOSH she just said canter!! Whee!!" I would much rather that they be - "Oh, ok. Let's canter then." I think that if Jetta realizes that cantering isn't all that exciting when you actually have to hold it for three or more circuits of the arena, we will have a much less explosive canter transition.
The other part of this is that it doesn't just apply to Jetta. It is also going to apply to me. I'm definitely not in shape. I haven't participated in a sport since middle school and I haven't had a PE class since freshman year of high school. So I'm making my New Year's resolution early. I won't necessarily start until the New Year (because how can I give up peppermint hot chocolate and chrismas cookies right now?!) but I am going to make a concerted effort to start running and continue doing yoga. My goal is to compete in a 5k run next year. Luckily three of my roommates are runners so I know that once I start, they will definitely help keep me going.
At least Jetta and I are going to be in this together, lol! And I know it will give us a much better cross country run when we compete! :)
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
The Curse of the Bouncy Trot - Part 1
So... studying's not really working for me. I've ran errands today, went to Starbucks with my roomies, watched the Black Stallion on Netflix and am now perusing the interwebz. But I might as well do something semi-productive today right?
The curse of the bouncy trot. This is something Jetta and I have come up against repeatedly. The bouncy trot is that wonderful cadenced trot that has impulsion and engagement, with a moment of suspension, yet isn't rushy or too slow. It's perfect.
Jetta likes to go fast. She takes pleasure in rushing around on her forehand because it's way easier than actually having to carry yourself. So what is the curse part? Well, whenever I start to achieve that "perfect trot", we tend to take a huge step backwards in our training. This will be the third time that I have reached this perfect, bouncy trot stage and I'm afraid that we will again take that giant step back in our training. The first time was last winter. We reached the bouncy trot and it was like reaching nirvana. Amazing. But, then all of the sudden it was like a switch had been flipped and I had a horse rushing around ignoring my aids and trying to dive through my hands. Like all of our work had never been done.
So I started over. I focused on my hands and switched to the bitless bridle for a while. That was a huge improvement over the bit and I didn't feel like I was ruining her mouth. We (again) finally reached that point in our training where things were going better. Then came summer. I think part of the problem this time was that I didn't have anywhere to ride except my very unlevel pasture and Jetta is still pretty unbalanced and has unfortunately become an "arena horse" - you know the kind that has to be ridden within four walls or else they go a little bonkers? It was alleviated slightly when my neighbor put in an outdoor arena but there were no walls to keep her in and Jetta often decided that she was goining home now.
Again, I regrouped. We practiced a buttload of transitions and half halts became our greatest friend. We have been slowly getting better and better until now when we have once again reached that bouncy trot that is so amazing. But I feel a regression is lurking around the corner... The bouncy trot is just so amazing and I've been really working on developing it by doing lots of transitions within the trot to help get her off the forehand. But, am I doing too much? I think that maybe part of the reason that we've always had a big step back is because Jetta gets bored with it. I get too focused on that amazing gait and Jetta needs to keep her brain engaged in other things. So, here's my plan. Mix it up a lot. Do more work in the canter so we can make that gait just as good as the trot. Work on straight lines, square halts, shoulder-in and haunches-in not just as a warm-up, but throw it into the mix farther into our ride. Do serpentines, transitions within the walk, etc.
So hopefully, this third time will be the charm and while we'll focus on other things, we will. not. lose. that bouncy trot!
The curse of the bouncy trot. This is something Jetta and I have come up against repeatedly. The bouncy trot is that wonderful cadenced trot that has impulsion and engagement, with a moment of suspension, yet isn't rushy or too slow. It's perfect.
Jetta likes to go fast. She takes pleasure in rushing around on her forehand because it's way easier than actually having to carry yourself. So what is the curse part? Well, whenever I start to achieve that "perfect trot", we tend to take a huge step backwards in our training. This will be the third time that I have reached this perfect, bouncy trot stage and I'm afraid that we will again take that giant step back in our training. The first time was last winter. We reached the bouncy trot and it was like reaching nirvana. Amazing. But, then all of the sudden it was like a switch had been flipped and I had a horse rushing around ignoring my aids and trying to dive through my hands. Like all of our work had never been done.
So I started over. I focused on my hands and switched to the bitless bridle for a while. That was a huge improvement over the bit and I didn't feel like I was ruining her mouth. We (again) finally reached that point in our training where things were going better. Then came summer. I think part of the problem this time was that I didn't have anywhere to ride except my very unlevel pasture and Jetta is still pretty unbalanced and has unfortunately become an "arena horse" - you know the kind that has to be ridden within four walls or else they go a little bonkers? It was alleviated slightly when my neighbor put in an outdoor arena but there were no walls to keep her in and Jetta often decided that she was goining home now.
Again, I regrouped. We practiced a buttload of transitions and half halts became our greatest friend. We have been slowly getting better and better until now when we have once again reached that bouncy trot that is so amazing. But I feel a regression is lurking around the corner... The bouncy trot is just so amazing and I've been really working on developing it by doing lots of transitions within the trot to help get her off the forehand. But, am I doing too much? I think that maybe part of the reason that we've always had a big step back is because Jetta gets bored with it. I get too focused on that amazing gait and Jetta needs to keep her brain engaged in other things. So, here's my plan. Mix it up a lot. Do more work in the canter so we can make that gait just as good as the trot. Work on straight lines, square halts, shoulder-in and haunches-in not just as a warm-up, but throw it into the mix farther into our ride. Do serpentines, transitions within the walk, etc.
So hopefully, this third time will be the charm and while we'll focus on other things, we will. not. lose. that bouncy trot!
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| This is what I'm talking about! |
Monday, December 5, 2011
Fried
Ugh. Just finished with my Organic Chemistry final. So glad I'm done! Except... I have to take one more term of it. Gross. Definitely not my thing, though I feel like I rocked this last test.
Anyways, it was such a relief to be able to head out to the barn after a boring day of studying. I don't know what I would do without my pony. ML and I finally got to go to the barn together! It's kind of pathetic. We live together, we board our horses at the same barn, yet we still hadn't been out to the barn together this term. Sad.
We just wanted to have a short ride since we needed to get back to studying and it is fuh-reezing out. I rode Jetta in western tack which ML thought was hilarious. I was like - what?! I think she looks cute western ;) Jetta was pretty well behaved save for one minor buck and leap for absolutely no reason, lol. But her canter transitions that we've worked so hard on are definitely improving.
Anyways, here's a cute pic of us looking all western-y. Unfortunately I still have two more finals left this week (though they're not till Thursday), so posts may be short until then.
Anyways, it was such a relief to be able to head out to the barn after a boring day of studying. I don't know what I would do without my pony. ML and I finally got to go to the barn together! It's kind of pathetic. We live together, we board our horses at the same barn, yet we still hadn't been out to the barn together this term. Sad.
We just wanted to have a short ride since we needed to get back to studying and it is fuh-reezing out. I rode Jetta in western tack which ML thought was hilarious. I was like - what?! I think she looks cute western ;) Jetta was pretty well behaved save for one minor buck and leap for absolutely no reason, lol. But her canter transitions that we've worked so hard on are definitely improving.
Anyways, here's a cute pic of us looking all western-y. Unfortunately I still have two more finals left this week (though they're not till Thursday), so posts may be short until then.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Updates
Not much going on here. I had a good ride on Jetta today in the hackamore again, but I decided not to do a post on that because it wasn't all that interesting and my pictures won't upload :( So maybe later.
Anyways, I've made some updates to the tabs above. Take a look. Enjoy!
Anyways, I've made some updates to the tabs above. Take a look. Enjoy!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Sunny Dayz
No, the title wasn't typo, we've actually had sun! Monday and Wednesday were quite nice and both days I got to go on a trail ride! Unusual for living in the pacific northwest.
Yesterday our ride was ah-mazing. It didn't start out so well since I decided to lunge. She had so much energy on Tuesday that I was having trouble containing it, so I figured it would be in our best interest to lunge. Ahaha. It was a little embarrassing trying to control my horse while she leaped and bucked in her best impression of the airs above the ground. There were other people riding so I was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, but luckily none of the other horses took exception to Jetta's antics, though the same might not be true for their riders. Normally, I would have let her buck and gallop as much as she pleased, but I didn't want to spook any of the other horses! At one point she was trotting and leaped straight up with all four feet off the ground. I feel like horses shouldn't be as athletic as they are because of their size, but they sure are!
She finally settled down and I got on her bareback (though with plenty of padding because she has terrible shark-fin withers) and with her sidepull on. She was so good. I had a blast riding her. She hasn't been in the bitless bridle since last year I think, so it took a minute for her to figure out what I wanted before she settled down "on the bit". I'm sure the other people in the arena were thinking I was insane for getting on my supposedly "cuh-razy and nasty" TB mare, but she was a perfect angel. I worked on our sitting trot and riding deep into the corners and she was absolutely perfect.
Our sitting trot has come a long way - she's finally accepting my seat when I sit instead of hollowing her back and coming above the bit. For my part, I think my yoga has really helped develop my core muscles and has allowed me to focus on sitting as quietly as possible. Then we headed outside. She is becoming a pro at letting me open gates from her back and has become almost a steady rock on the trails. We were even able to calmly walk through some mud puddles instead of skirting around them! I'm super excited and ready to head to the trail course to practice, the problem is just getting a buddy to come with me... Hopefully the 9th we'll go since by then I'll be done with all my final exams!
I'm also super happy about her hooves. I was prepared for them to soften since she's stalled 24/7, but they've actually continued to improve. They've hardened a lot and even though it's about time for a trim, she hasn't gotten the huge nasty cracks that she usually gets. And she didn't put a foot wrong walking down the gravel driveway. Yes!
Jetta was just so well-behaved and I'm feeling like such a proud mother. I feel totally comfortable taking her out on the trails bareback and bitless and that's saying something! Today I have planned another ride in the sidepull and I hope it's a repeat of yesterday!
Yesterday our ride was ah-mazing. It didn't start out so well since I decided to lunge. She had so much energy on Tuesday that I was having trouble containing it, so I figured it would be in our best interest to lunge. Ahaha. It was a little embarrassing trying to control my horse while she leaped and bucked in her best impression of the airs above the ground. There were other people riding so I was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, but luckily none of the other horses took exception to Jetta's antics, though the same might not be true for their riders. Normally, I would have let her buck and gallop as much as she pleased, but I didn't want to spook any of the other horses! At one point she was trotting and leaped straight up with all four feet off the ground. I feel like horses shouldn't be as athletic as they are because of their size, but they sure are!
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| Jetta says "Wha? I iz good gurl. My owner says she wantz to go see Cavalia, but she cantz afford it. So I brings the trickz to her! |
She finally settled down and I got on her bareback (though with plenty of padding because she has terrible shark-fin withers) and with her sidepull on. She was so good. I had a blast riding her. She hasn't been in the bitless bridle since last year I think, so it took a minute for her to figure out what I wanted before she settled down "on the bit". I'm sure the other people in the arena were thinking I was insane for getting on my supposedly "cuh-razy and nasty" TB mare, but she was a perfect angel. I worked on our sitting trot and riding deep into the corners and she was absolutely perfect.
Our sitting trot has come a long way - she's finally accepting my seat when I sit instead of hollowing her back and coming above the bit. For my part, I think my yoga has really helped develop my core muscles and has allowed me to focus on sitting as quietly as possible. Then we headed outside. She is becoming a pro at letting me open gates from her back and has become almost a steady rock on the trails. We were even able to calmly walk through some mud puddles instead of skirting around them! I'm super excited and ready to head to the trail course to practice, the problem is just getting a buddy to come with me... Hopefully the 9th we'll go since by then I'll be done with all my final exams!
I'm also super happy about her hooves. I was prepared for them to soften since she's stalled 24/7, but they've actually continued to improve. They've hardened a lot and even though it's about time for a trim, she hasn't gotten the huge nasty cracks that she usually gets. And she didn't put a foot wrong walking down the gravel driveway. Yes!
Jetta was just so well-behaved and I'm feeling like such a proud mother. I feel totally comfortable taking her out on the trails bareback and bitless and that's saying something! Today I have planned another ride in the sidepull and I hope it's a repeat of yesterday!
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