| Eights Again |
[Dec. 18th, 2009|03:24 pm] |
Just one more lesson left of this semester. The second-to-last was jumping, and it turned out pretty good. I was probably most pleased with the fact that I was able to retain some of those nice canter departures from the dressage. Usually I get too focused on going forward when I jump, but this time around I managed to be much more patient.
The exercise was another figure-of-eight variation, this time with two different diagonal and slightly curved lines. If the distance didn't quite suit our horses, we were supposed to either shorten or lengthen the canter or, if that didn't suit our horse, ride the line more or less curved. Given Murphy's canter, I opted for the latter. The first line didn't need any adjusting, though, and it felt like it all fit together pretty nicely. The second line we floated out too far the first time because I didn't have the canter sorted in time, so it took me a couple of tries to a) get the canter sorted in time and b) start the turn in the air so the line ended up straight enough to suit Murphy's canter.
Each time that we did the left-to-right diagonal, we got the correct (left) canter afterwards, even though that line in itself was harder. Each time we did the right-to-left diagonal, we got the wrong canter, though the line itself flowed nicely. So the main struggle each time was breaking off the canter after that line (Murphy does not do changes except once in a blue moon or so) and getting the new canter established quickly enough. This was complicated by the fact that Murphy likes jumping, so coming back down to a trot wasn't really something he was very keen on. He also seems to find it easier to pick up a canter from a walk than a trot, at least to the right.
But overall, fun and it felt good to get the timing to work better. And I did bring treats this time. |
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| Good Boy, No Treats |
[Dec. 14th, 2009|05:00 pm] |
Last Tuesday resulted in an ah-ha moment, which always is good, and a problem to ponder.
I was back on Murphy, in part I imagine because Heddvig wouldn't have managed what we ended up doing, though he was rather disappointed with me. I had, gasp, forgotten the bag of treats. I felt guilty for a long while afterwards, he gave me such looks. But even without treats, he was quite willing to work.
He wasn't quite as soft and balanced as he was some weeks ago, but the exercise proved quite effective. We started with walk between two letters, trot between three, walk between two, etc. Then we moved to trot between two, canter between three, trot between two, and so on. By the end of the walking & trotting, he was nice and responsive, and during the canter he proved again how much better he has gotten at canter departures.
No, he doesn't get it right every time, but he responds right away, and since I had gotten rid of my stirrups before the canter (after feeling like I was using my upper thighs too much in the trot-to-walk transitions) I managed to sit down on him quite well during the departures. I could really feel his hindlegs, which was good for both of us.
After a while, though, I noticed that I would get a good initial departure, but then he'd lose the canter right off and have to throw in a couple of strides at a trot before getting it back. After a little experimenting, I found that a softer outer rein did the trick. I think that, once he got the hang of it, he started getting bigger departures. But then he needed more room, and since his canter is as poor as it is, even a light outside contact was enough to hinder it.
My other issue was the canter-to-trot transitions. He'd come down to a trot fine, but then would heave himself (and me) forward. I didn't quite manage to get a feel for why and what to do about it, so it will have to be a future project. |
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| Trying to Stay Positive |
[Dec. 4th, 2009|01:13 pm] |
Today is not a good day. It should have been, but I worked a little too much yesterday, accomplished a little too little and have too much to do today. Add the usual end of semester and holiday stress on top of that ... and I am not coping.
So, I am going to think about this week's lesson for a bit. Because it was fun. Maybe not a huge step forward, but it felt good. I was on Heddvig (that's our resident North Swedish Horse), and we had cantering to do. Not an easy thing for a pretty untrained horse that a) has been bred primarily for trotting and b) has been spending most of her life until the stable got a hold of her herding cows.
( Read more... ) |
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| Less Than Stellar |
[Nov. 29th, 2009|11:44 pm] |
Last week saw a return of less amazing and more regular Murphy. Doing the same kind of canter work as the week before, but predominantly counter clockwise as opposed to clockwise was not a big hit with him. His hoof looked just fine, btw, but he was even more uneven between his left and his right side.
For the most part, Ulrika was pleased with how I rode him, but I could definitely feel the lack of "wow" moments, and the canter certainly lacked lift-off. It might be that its a little connected to when he has stomach issues; he's apparently got a rather sensitive stomach, and it was a little in uproar last week. I am wondering if its ulcer, since I recently read its very common in horses and most domestic horses have it to some degree or another. Given that he does get unsettled easily, he might have more than most. |
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| Multi Tasking |
[Nov. 23rd, 2009|08:23 pm] |
Where did the week go? Oh, I know, website work and subtitling work swallowed it.
Almost time for a new lesson, so just some shorter musings on last week. Which can be summed up as very good, as Murphy and I put what weeks of counter-cantering had taught us to work on some regular cantering.
It started out a little nervously, though, as I found a small cut on his right back hoof. It turned out to be a scab on top of his old scar, from when his hoof was (somehow) almost split into two parts. He has a lot of scar tissue there, and needs a specially-shaped shoe, but otherwise it doesn't seem to bother him. Ulrika didn't think the cut would affect him, so we gave it a try. I think that during the lesson he was possibly a tiny bit less willing to use his right side correctly (he's always pretty uneven, but it may have been a touch more than usual), but she couldn't see anything from the ground.
There was certainly nothing wrong with his canter. Much of it was just a notch or two over regular Murphy-standard, but on two occasions I got some lovely lift. The second time I tried to point this out to Ulrika ... and it promptly fell apart. She noted that it seems clear I just can't talk and ride at the same time, at least not when me and/or the horse is doing much better than usual. |
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| Bad Habits |
[Nov. 16th, 2009|07:05 pm] |
I had to take some time to digest last weeks double-length jumping lesson before posting about it. It was a very useful lesson, with some quite interesting exercises, but I don't remember when I last had so many issues with a jumping lesson. In part I blame my decision to use my new winter shoes; they were a little too stiff and I couldn't quite get a good feel for my leg position and leg usage. But the rest was all about some really bad habits.
( Read more... ) |
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| Flowing Along |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|10:49 pm] |
This Tuesday was the first of two jumping lessons in a row (next week, its even a double-length jumping lesson), and I was -- rather predictably, given that Gamir and Fleur are gone now, put on Murphy once again. We were also going to continue some work related to the counter-canter of the last weeks, so most of us did get the same horse as last week. Murphy was still rather unhappy in the stable, if not as bad as the last few weeks, and he was also a bit less enthusiastic about the lesson itself, at least initially. I think it may be because he'd not had a good lesson, or maybe one too many lessons, earlier in the day.
After some warmup where we worked them on circles and trotted over rails on the ground, we started off the jumping proper nice and easy. We had an obstacle at each end of the arena and we cantered around and around, focusing on getting a smooth, steady rhythm between and over each jump. Easier said than done, though. Murphy was having more issues with his canter again, and I wasn't able to get him galloping on at a good pace without also having his hindquarters drifting out on every turn. We did manage to finish up with two pretty good jumps, though; both he and I tend to improve after we get a chance to feel it out.
Following that, we put up another obstacle between the other two, and were set the task of jumping all three in a figure-of-eight pattern. Ulrika made a good point about how to get the right canter after each jump: often, instructors give too many instructions for this, and when you try to follow them all you end up all tense and contorted. This has definitely happened to me, and trying to keep it more relaxed really helped. All she reminded me to do once it was my turn and I had ended up with the wrong canter a few times was to use a slight leading rein in the opposite direction of where I was going when jumping the middle jump at the cross-over point, to give the new inside room to come forward.
It didn't work every time, Murphy being who he is. But when it worked, I think it helped give me a feel for how to do it, and we did get a nice flow to the jumps after a while. But its not easy when both horse and rider have co-ordination issues. |
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| Dizzy Me |
[Oct. 31st, 2009|05:38 pm] |
Compared to the last few weeks, this Tuesday's lessons wasn't quite so amazing. However, that mainly had to do with the exercise itself than anything else. Murphy was just as happy to work as he has been of late, and I think I did fairly well too. But, the main exercise was riding circles and going into a counter-canter just before we left one circle and rode over into the next in a pattern-of-eight figure. The constant circling, while focusing on keeping the horses bent counter to the circle as well as on where to start cantering, made me pretty dizzy. I kept losing track of where to start cantering, and consequently asked Murphy to start a little early a few times which his co-ordination couldn't handle. I also didn't get such great lines across to the other circle because I kept drifting a bit, and the fact that we circled at a walk and only got to canter now and then meant I didn't get quite the same build-up of energy in Murphy. Still, he did an admirable job, and he really has improved so much.
Once again, however, he was unhappy in the stables. I am wondering if he's feeling unsettled because of Fleur being gone. They had Martino next to him at first, and he didn't like that at all, so now its Spitfire. Who is very friendly and polite, but maybe not to Murphy's tastes anyway. In any case, I broke the new "no treats" rules a few times to perk him up; I think he needs it, to be reassured, though the rule is a good base to keep kids from overfeeding the ponies. Especially the greedy ones like Nelson, who gets mouthy from it. |
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| Wishing For Last Week |
[Oct. 20th, 2009|04:10 pm] |
So, I forgot all about posting last week. But that's okay, I have time to catch up now, since I am not going to the stables at all today. We were supposed to have a clinic tomorrow instead, with our instructors riding for another instructor, but we have a flu in the stables so it has been postponed.
Which means no hippotheraphy fix for me today. At least I can think back on last week and, once again, say "wow, what a horse" about Murphy. Even though it started off a little dodgy in the stables -- he was a bit uneasy, even made a squealy sound and threatened with a hind leg -- he was once again very happy to be ridden.
After the preparations the week before, we now tackled actual counter-canter. And not as we usually do, by starting regular canter and then doing something to switch which way were going. No, we actually had to ask for counter-canter. A bit daunting when you're a) on Murphy, b) have sucky co-ordination and c) have a hard time feeling which canter you got.
Did we get the counter-canter every time? No. But, we did get canter every time, with fairly subtle aids and not much delay. And the more times we did it, the more explosive it got. I was able to concentrate on all the other details, such as my seat which ended up being pretty steady all along, instead of worrying about Murphy not taking the aids quickly enough.
We didn't trot much, so I didn't really get a chance to feel that lovely trot he gives me when he is in this mood. And even though he transitioned into canter so much better than before, his canter as such is still not exactly great. But, the transitions were enough to make me a very happy girl. The kind of "lift-off" I am getting on him now is so different from anything he has done before. I just wish I knew what's behind it. If I am doing something very right, I'd like bottle it for future use.
Maybe Murphy is just having a lot of fun. It certainly seemed like it afterwards, as he was so charged up when I led him to the stables that I was expecting him to start snorting and prancing any moment. |
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| Wrong Way, But Right |
[Oct. 11th, 2009|03:05 pm] |
I am not sure what they have slipped Murphy in his oats lately, but whatever it is, they should keep doing it. He was just fabulous this Tuesday too. We were supposed to being doing some counter-canter work, but ended up working on preparing for it all lesson, and that gave some amazing results when walking and trotting.
We spent most of the lesson focusing on changing which side was the inner side, regardless which way we were riding, and on making sure that we were handling the turns in corners and on circles appropriately when riding them with the "wrong" side as the inner side. The counter-canter, which will happen next time if all goes according to plans, will be through to two corners, so Ulrika wanted to make sure we had a good feel for how to turn through a corner with the "wrong" inner side. In particular, she wanted to make sure our bodies were doing the right thing.
For me, that's not an easy task. My co-ordination is about as bad as Murphy's (we make an excellent couple that way ;P), and my general issues with left and right means that mirroring a movement is tricky for me. But because Murphy was in such good mood, I was able to continue focusing on doing as little as possible, and that worked to my advantage. I did need to adjust my leg position now and then, but overall I just thought about a steady seat. And it worked quite well. Plus, this kind of exercise, where I have to focus on keeping his shoulders in and his hindquarters under control, really makes a difference when it comes to getting him to work. I just have to take that feeling along to all lessons on him.
Still, I don't think I can take full credit for how hard Murphy was working, though. He really does have bad co-ordination, and doing things the opposite way from how he usually does them is not easy for him, but boy how he worked at it. We had started off just switching inner sides when riding around the arena, and then we moved to riding on two circles and keeping the inside constantly opposite to what it would generally be. It was hard for him, but he just kept at it. He ended up so nicely together, and gave me some excellent walk and trot which I really felt through his whole body. |
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| Clever Girl |
[Oct. 4th, 2009|12:30 pm] |
Tuesday's lesson, which came after a day spent in hard drive hell (and this post has been delayed by more computer problems, ugh), was a nice break from dealing with a mess but otherwise not terribly useful. I was on Hedvig, and the exercise involved transitions to canter. Hedvig, bred to trot for generations, has some issues with cantering. Such as still need quite a running start to get into it. That wasn't easy when the exercise involved canter when you came off the last corner on the short end, and then trot at the end of the long end. Plus, along one side, the canter should be counter-canter.
Still, I think I managed to stay pretty steady in my seat and calm in my aids despite failed attempt after failed attempt. And then Hedvig started to really fight with me every time we neared the point where she was supposed to start cantering. At one point, I tried to interfere less and let her do as she wanted, and she sped through the corner and launched into canter right after. She had figured out where I wanted her to canter, and was trying to tell me she needed to start accelerating through the corner. Smart cookie, and A+ for effort on her part.
Other than that, we had some sad news. Gamir, now 20, had be sold into semi-retirement, which he gets to spend with four other old friends from the stables. Well-deserved, but very sad not to have him around. And poor old Fleur will probably be put down. She had been rested for a long while for lameness, and came up lame again as soon as they tried to start her up again. She's such a sweet girl, poor thing, and I will really miss her too.
For my own part, that means the last two horses I tend to ride will be gone, leaving me with just the ponies; Murphy (okay, so he is technically a horse, if barely), Hedvig and Nelson. Quite worrying, especially as any new additions are likely to continue the trend of being too large. No one breeds reasonably-sized horses any longer, and the stables admittedly tend to go for either ponies or bigger horses, so they can carry a wide range of adult riders. |
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| We Have Lift-Off |
[Sep. 26th, 2009|10:30 am] |
The lesson this Tuesday was one of those magical moments, or magical 45 minutes. I got to pick between Murphy and Nelson, so of course my special darling won. Nelson was mightily jealous when I was getting Murphy ready, and there was something about Murphy that told me he was in a good mood.
That was proven as soon as I took the reins (and, in fact, even when I was just walking him on a long rein before that, he felt positive), and Murphy promptly started chewing contentedly on the bit and getting in between my legs and hands. I knew I was in for a treat then, because while he can be good when you persuade him that yes, you really do need to work this lesson and not just be a lazy riding school horse, it can't compare with when he says "oh, work! love it!".
( Read more... ) |
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| Naughty Nelson |
[Sep. 17th, 2009|08:41 pm] |
I am not sure the lesson on Tuesday came out all that great, all considered, since the two things I remember the most are two mildly unfortunate incidents. One was my fault, the other I can only blame Nelson for.
( Read more... ) |
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| Mellow Murphy |
[Sep. 10th, 2009|11:51 pm] |
A rather wet week got in the way of our plans of jumping out in the field, since it would have been much too slippery. Too bad, I had really been looking forward to a chance for a bit of lightly eventing-inspired jumping. I haven't done that since my riding holidays in England and Wales...which now is too many years ago for me to even start counting. It would just make me feel terribly old, not to mention make me crotchety about how long it was since I was on a riding holiday. I really miss them, but at the same time, I am not sure it would feel at all the same now. I want someplace where I get to act like a horse-mad teenager who is really excited to have her "own" horse or pony for a week, and I am not sure there are any places like that who take people older than 18. ;P
Anyway, we did get to jump, but in the paddock instead. Murphy must have been disappointed about the change too, because he felt a bit sluggish through much of the lesson. This, of course, gave me another opportunity to practice being a) decisive in my riding from the start but b) not too over-active and pushy. Ulrika tried to make sure I worked on getting longer strides from Murphy rather than a higher frequency of strides, which just leaves the poor uncoordinated fellow all tangled up in his own legs. I also had to work a bit on my lower legs, which kept slipping back when asking for more engagement while cantering. That, of course, tipped my upper body forward, completely counter-acting that I was trying to raise his head up a bit and then ride him forward into that more upwards and open form.
The actual jumping went fairly well, though coming in a a trot always makes my timing suck. It wasn't until the end, though, that Murphy really got into things and gave me something to work with. But then it felt quite good, and he seemed rather pleased too. It was also fun watching Hedvig jump; despite being a sturdy, short-legged draft horse, she tucks her legs in lightning fast when jumping. Very good technique from her, overall. |
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| Topic Drift |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|11:17 pm] |
Not much to report from this weeks lesson, since it was theory time. It was intended as a preparatory lesson for a later theory, which will be turned into a sort of clinic with our instructors riding various horses. I think we ended up a bit off-topic, though. We're a rather chatty bunch. |
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| Moving in Circles |
[Aug. 26th, 2009|09:15 pm] |
I had a pretty excellent ride on Murphy yesterday. I was determined to be decisive from the start, and he seemed to be pretty happy to go along with that. I also tried to keep in mind my shoulders, but I think they kept coming forward a bit much.
We spent most of the lesson riding 10-meter circles, first at a walk and then mixing walk and trot and canter. Murphy definitely likes to throw out his shoulder in circles, but I managed to focus fairly well on controlling his outside. I probably fiddled a bit too much with my hands to get the inside soft, though he's not really a horse that is bothered by it. Still, a bad habit.
Once we started mixing in some trot, Ulrika (the instructor) felt that I wasn't asking him to be quick enough with the transitions and that I was instead asking him to lengthen once at the trot. Given that his coordination is so bad, he tends to just fall apart if he lengthens too much when he's not quite ready. So better to work on getting him to react more quickly, and that will help him focus on his coordination and also get more energy into the trot. What she did like was my seat, which she again felt was steadier and more confident, and I also kept it the same through the transitions.
Mixing in a bit of canter was a little harder, but towards the end I did ask him twice for a 10-meter circle at a canter, and he almost managed the second time, so he was definitely nicely warmed up by then. Which he also demonstrated as we finished up with some rising trot and he gave me some nicely balanced trot, engaged at the back and soft in the front. And he definitely looked happy when we finished. |
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| A Quickie |
[Aug. 18th, 2009|09:38 pm] |
As we always try do at the end of each spring semester and the start of each autumn semester, we exchanged the arena for a little trek in the nearby woods today. Of course, one of the horses half threw a shoe, so we made it a short version and got back to finish up with a few minutes of riding in the paddock. Murphy enjoyed the outdoors part quite a lot (the little pig tries to snatch up food even when he's trotting, and ends up slapping branches in my face), and then promptly fell asleep once we got into the paddock. However, I wasn't about to have any of that, and firmly told him to get working. Which he did, offering me some rather nice trot and some decent canter. I'll have to keep that in mind for my next dressage lesson: its all well and good to warm the horse up properly, but most of the time I ask for way too little until too late into the lesson. |
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| Back in the Saddle, and Sore |
[Aug. 13th, 2009|05:33 pm] |
Well, my back is definitely telling me that the autumn semester at the riding school started this week, and that Tuesday's lesson was the first for a few weeks for me. I am not quite sure how I managed to make those particular areas of my back so sore, however. Possibly I was tensing muscles I don't normally use to compensate for my lower back being a bit week after a 12-hour car trip on Monday. But either way, its good to be back in the saddle.
For the first lesson, I was put on Fleur, and while we kept to fairly basic exercises we certainly didn't laze about. Most of the lesson was spent focusing on maintaining a rhythm but shortening or lengthening strides. Fleur has a naturally steady rhythm, but not a lot of scope, though she actually moved quite well towards the end.
At the start, she went into bicycle mode for a bit, with her head up and her back down. She's getting on in years, so I allowed her some time to warm up, and of course I ended up being a little slow to then start putting some demands on her once she was ready. As usual. But after a reminder from Ulrika to ask for quicker reactions from Fleur, she responded quite nicely.
I had some issues towards the end, when we were cantering and trotting and she got a little too eager. I always end up shortening her too much in those scenarios, and since I didn't have my usual riding pants on, I was feeling like my seat was less steady than usual. That made me even more inclined to hold her back rather than ride her forward, as I ought to. But on the whole, I was pleased with how I worked through most of the issues. Ulrika thought my seat was pretty confident on the whole, so maybe the extra training during the summer has helped some. Though I need to keep working on getting my shoulders back without tensing and pulling myself up out of the saddle. |
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| A Bit of Extra Riding |
[Jul. 4th, 2009|11:10 pm] |
While the spring semester at the riding school ended two weeks ago, the group that I ride in had agreed on having a extra three-day course as past of the various summer courses and holiday camps offered at the stables. So, we were booked in to ride Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Of course, it turned into just Monday and Wednesday for me, since the Pet Shop Boys just had to schedule their first concert in Gothenburg for ages and ages for Tuesday.
( Read more... ) |
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| Finishing Up |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|08:26 pm] |
Yesterday was our final lesson of the semester, but in two weeks we're having a three-day evening course. However, it has turned into just a two-day course for me, as Elio and I are going to a Pet Shop Boys concert one of the days. Given that the last opportunity I had to see them at a proper concert was 1991 or so, I decided I could miss the ponies for one evening. Stupid timing, though.
The lesson yesterday wasn't much of a lesson, as such, since the other half of the group did their dressage tests. That meant the rest of us rode without supervision, and as I was placed on Heddvig instead of Murphy I was at a bit of a loss as to what to train. So, it turned out to be pretty light on work, though I did try to use some basic exercises just to make her more relaxed before I tried some cantering. She's still having issues getting into canter, and holding it for long, but she's improving and she's certainly fun to ride.
Afterwards, I chatted with Ulrika a bit about the possibility of doing a private lesson focused on riding a dressage test, and she thought that was a good idea. So, that's on the menu for next semester, if I've got some spare money for extra riding. |
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