Contact - The riders body connecting with ground on walk/canter transition.
Almost bit the dust! One rein stop to the rescue.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Issues & tension
I've been having problems with Ava for the last week. I need a lesson so badly! It's so frustrating not being able to fix whatever is wrong. Bern, you're going to be so pissed when I come back in October! We were going so well when we left the barn just a month ago. *sigh*
Until then, I have to find a way to fix this. Here's what's going on.... We walk out to the mowed area behind the house at 5:30-6:00. She's fine on the walk out, leg yields softly both ways, calm, relaxed. We step into the mowed area and she turns into a board. She braces against the bit, doesn't really listen to the seat, kicks out at the leg when I put it in, gets really tense. Walk back to the barn and she's relaxed and calm, leg yields easily and softly.
She always goes out to pasture after our ride. I'm not sure if she's in pain from the saddle, anxious about being turned free for the night, upset with the footing in the "arena", or if I'm tensing and causing it. Too many possible issues at this point. But it's driving me nuts and I know Ava isn't enjoying our rides right now so I have to figure out what's going on.
Any suggestions?
Oh... And blogspot has been buggy and won't let me comment lately, so please be patient if I don't reply.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Thursday
I'm so sore today. I don't know what happened yesterday, but both my husband and I have serious neck pain today. I know how he got his... I bounce his head like a basketball when I wake him in the mornings. ha.
All I know is I got off Ava last night, and immediately my shoulder and neck started killing me. It's been non-stop since. But whatever. Real Dressage riders Ride. :)
The ride tonight went okay. I couldn't find my seat to save my life during the warm up. Flopping around like a wet sock up there. My poor pony! I did finally get it together enough to center myself and we got down to some work, but it wasn't anything eye popping or great. We did work on our walk/canter transitions. I've dabbled with them a bit previously and they were horrendous. Terrible. It stressed Ava out and made her into a board that refused to relax. So I stowed that one in the closet until today. I feel she's got the muscle and balance that she can at least begin to work on those. I wasn't asking for perfect, just a relaxed effort on her part.
Since Ava has her little quirk about legs behind the girth (it's getting a little better), I've had to train her to canter by using my seat only. I've found this to be something I could not wrap my brain around - the mechanics of the seat motion without interfering or inhibiting her movement. What usually happens is I screw her up, but she's a good girl and gives me a canter anyway (the saint). Not without a lot of head tossing and snarly looks though. ;) Anyway, the other day I was reading a web site about teaching flying changes, and part of it was talking about the mechanics of the seat and aids when asking for the flying change. To paraphrase: the feeling is the same as if you were taking one big step forward (say your left leg) and brought your left arm up to shoulder level at the same time (before your foot started its journey toward the ground again). That feel in your hip, of going forward is similar to what the aid for the canter should be. So if you're going left - it'd be your left hip; going right - your right hip.
I practiced the weird walk at home so that my neighbors could snicker and point at me (I like to keep them entertained). I tried it on Ava today, and it helped. She was less fussy, and more forward in the initial depart. Practicing that also prevented me from tossing my upper body around, and keeping my body in alignment. The great news is we actually got several decent walk/canter - canter/walk transitions today! So we stopped there and went for a short walk down the lane and then home for a full body scrubbing and a roll in the grass.
All I know is I got off Ava last night, and immediately my shoulder and neck started killing me. It's been non-stop since. But whatever. Real Dressage riders Ride. :)
The ride tonight went okay. I couldn't find my seat to save my life during the warm up. Flopping around like a wet sock up there. My poor pony! I did finally get it together enough to center myself and we got down to some work, but it wasn't anything eye popping or great. We did work on our walk/canter transitions. I've dabbled with them a bit previously and they were horrendous. Terrible. It stressed Ava out and made her into a board that refused to relax. So I stowed that one in the closet until today. I feel she's got the muscle and balance that she can at least begin to work on those. I wasn't asking for perfect, just a relaxed effort on her part.
Since Ava has her little quirk about legs behind the girth (it's getting a little better), I've had to train her to canter by using my seat only. I've found this to be something I could not wrap my brain around - the mechanics of the seat motion without interfering or inhibiting her movement. What usually happens is I screw her up, but she's a good girl and gives me a canter anyway (the saint). Not without a lot of head tossing and snarly looks though. ;) Anyway, the other day I was reading a web site about teaching flying changes, and part of it was talking about the mechanics of the seat and aids when asking for the flying change. To paraphrase: the feeling is the same as if you were taking one big step forward (say your left leg) and brought your left arm up to shoulder level at the same time (before your foot started its journey toward the ground again). That feel in your hip, of going forward is similar to what the aid for the canter should be. So if you're going left - it'd be your left hip; going right - your right hip.
I practiced the weird walk at home so that my neighbors could snicker and point at me (I like to keep them entertained). I tried it on Ava today, and it helped. She was less fussy, and more forward in the initial depart. Practicing that also prevented me from tossing my upper body around, and keeping my body in alignment. The great news is we actually got several decent walk/canter - canter/walk transitions today! So we stopped there and went for a short walk down the lane and then home for a full body scrubbing and a roll in the grass.
Wednesday
It was actually nice out on Wednesday! Yay!
I tacked up Ava, who was very "UP", and we jigged our way out to the field to practice. Man the horse flies were atrocious! Five of those suckers were bombing us on the ride through Pine Tree lane.
The warm up started out poorly with Ava doing her Friesian spook every other stride, interspersed with impatient trot strides. I worked on leg yields and turn on the forehands and I was very happy with how she settled down to work.
So we've been practicing haunches in at the walk for a few weeks now, trying to get her to calmly accept my leg further behind the girth area. Some days are better than others, but overall she's progressing. On Wednesday I had decided it was time to work at it in the trot. I bent her into the corner, got her nicely on the outside rein (going to the left) and gently slid that right leg back behind the girth... AND BAM! Haunches were wrapped around that inside leg like she was born to it. I about dropped her I was so floored! And thrilled!
Needless to say, going to the right was not very good. I'm still having problems getting her to stay in that outside rein after I slide my left leg back. She'll bend nicely into the corner, fills up the outside (left) rein, and the moment I slide my left leg back she hollows out and drops her inside shoulder.
That's her weak side though, so I expect it to be somewhat less elegant. However, I think I really need to work on my seat and aids a little more at the walk going to the right so that I can help her stand up better.
On a side note... I was very nervous about riding Wednesday. It didn't help that I've been watching The Best of Burghly Horse Trials (3 Day Eventing). Some of those crashes are just terrifying! So my head was filled with bad horse crashes, broken collar bones, horses flipping, etc. Add in the fact that Ava was jumping and spooking at every little thing in the barn and outside before I climbed on her. I was really starting to rethink my desire to ride that evening. But I did anyway, and I was very glad I didn't let my fear stop me. Ava's a good mare. She's a little excitable at times, but overall she's very safe. I'm lucky to have such a good horse. :)
I tacked up Ava, who was very "UP", and we jigged our way out to the field to practice. Man the horse flies were atrocious! Five of those suckers were bombing us on the ride through Pine Tree lane.
The warm up started out poorly with Ava doing her Friesian spook every other stride, interspersed with impatient trot strides. I worked on leg yields and turn on the forehands and I was very happy with how she settled down to work.
So we've been practicing haunches in at the walk for a few weeks now, trying to get her to calmly accept my leg further behind the girth area. Some days are better than others, but overall she's progressing. On Wednesday I had decided it was time to work at it in the trot. I bent her into the corner, got her nicely on the outside rein (going to the left) and gently slid that right leg back behind the girth... AND BAM! Haunches were wrapped around that inside leg like she was born to it. I about dropped her I was so floored! And thrilled!
Needless to say, going to the right was not very good. I'm still having problems getting her to stay in that outside rein after I slide my left leg back. She'll bend nicely into the corner, fills up the outside (left) rein, and the moment I slide my left leg back she hollows out and drops her inside shoulder.
That's her weak side though, so I expect it to be somewhat less elegant. However, I think I really need to work on my seat and aids a little more at the walk going to the right so that I can help her stand up better.
On a side note... I was very nervous about riding Wednesday. It didn't help that I've been watching The Best of Burghly Horse Trials (3 Day Eventing). Some of those crashes are just terrifying! So my head was filled with bad horse crashes, broken collar bones, horses flipping, etc. Add in the fact that Ava was jumping and spooking at every little thing in the barn and outside before I climbed on her. I was really starting to rethink my desire to ride that evening. But I did anyway, and I was very glad I didn't let my fear stop me. Ava's a good mare. She's a little excitable at times, but overall she's very safe. I'm lucky to have such a good horse. :)
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