This week has been a busy one and I've also been having a few back problems which have made riding a bit tricky. Nevertheless, every time I get on Fudge I'm really pleased with how he's improving!
Tonight was funny - I was trying on a secondhand jump saddle. It looked perfect on, but as part of trying it I hopped on and had a ride and he very clearly said "NO!" and refused to even make a trot transition! Such a shame as a beautiful saddle and very reasonably priced for the quality of it. Then, because I didn't want to put him away and feed him after the last thing he'd done was refuse to trot (despite understanding why he did it!) so I took the jump saddle off and inelegantly struggled back on bareback. It was the first time I'd been on him bareback and potentially the first time he'd ever been ridden bareback! He was very unsure and I have to admit that I was too! But we plopped around the arena for ten minutes, got some quite nice swinging trot work (though rather shorter-striding than we've been working on) and I took the opportunity to use my unencumbered seat contact to play with collecting the trot. I did this by increasing the energy in the trot and then going through the deeper patch of sand in the arena and making the 'shape' of the trot go up instead of out. It's a hard thing to describe but not a particularly hard thing to do once you've got the idea. Fudge seemed to enjoy it and certainly gave me some quite passage-y feeling steps though I doubt they looked much like it!
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Week Thirteen
Well, five weeks of 'full work' and Fudge is travelling very well! I really like his attitude and he's becoming very rideable.
I've had several rides this week with various degrees of improvement. Saturday afternoon was very busy at the yard with lots of coming and going and consequently the horse was quite distracted and spooky. I got a little steady trot work and then went for a walk around the block instead. Sunday was much better and I had some really lovely moments of trots which strrrrrretched beautifully without sacrificing the swing or relaxation. Sadly, the canters seem to have reverted a little and the left lead in particular was a little difficult to gain or maintain.
The difficulty maintaining the canter gave me an idea of what I next wanted to capture with the clicker: "slow down without breaking pace." It took a surprisingly few repetitions on the lunge and I think he also enjoyed getting 'chased' up into a big crazy trot for me to steady him back from. I tried a few times in canter but he didn't catch on and just kept falling back to trot when I said "steady". Will work some more on this one!
I also had a go at putting the dressage whip on the far side of him and trying to get him to cross his hind legs towards me. VERY, very difficult for him and will require a good bit more work to get him confident.
I've had several rides this week with various degrees of improvement. Saturday afternoon was very busy at the yard with lots of coming and going and consequently the horse was quite distracted and spooky. I got a little steady trot work and then went for a walk around the block instead. Sunday was much better and I had some really lovely moments of trots which strrrrrretched beautifully without sacrificing the swing or relaxation. Sadly, the canters seem to have reverted a little and the left lead in particular was a little difficult to gain or maintain.
The difficulty maintaining the canter gave me an idea of what I next wanted to capture with the clicker: "slow down without breaking pace." It took a surprisingly few repetitions on the lunge and I think he also enjoyed getting 'chased' up into a big crazy trot for me to steady him back from. I tried a few times in canter but he didn't catch on and just kept falling back to trot when I said "steady". Will work some more on this one!
I also had a go at putting the dressage whip on the far side of him and trying to get him to cross his hind legs towards me. VERY, very difficult for him and will require a good bit more work to get him confident.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Week Twelve
This week began with Fudge's first outing! We travelled down to the local show ground and participated in a local western club's come and try trail morning. The outing itself was just an excuse to get him out and about - it was a very busy day at the grounds with show jumping, western and polocrosse going on and poor Fudge found it all pretty overwhelming.
At the time I felt a little disappointed that he didn't settle as well as I'd have hoped but on reflection he actually did fine. He loaded and travelled well, was easy to handle and 'came back' every time I redirected him when he was distracted (which was often!) He was tense while I was warming up - I didn't canter as I felt he was too uptight - and then once we got in the indoor for the trail, he did all the obstacles well, tackling the bridge with some trepidation initially but very quickly learning to tromp over it bravely! He was also sweet about the various pole exercises, struggled a bit with the gate and I need to do more work on my one-handed steering but also all very amenable. He even reined-back multiple steps which was very surprising given how strongly he'd objected just a few days before.
The following day I took the opportunity to put one of my students on him both for her to have a feel of how he was going and so that I had a chance to observe some of the details of how he is looking. Overall I was very pleased with how he went for her. Maybe a little hesitant to begin with, after all, I'm the only person that's ridden him for the last eight months or so, but she rides well and is sensitive and has good feel so she soon had him swinging along. My major observation is that he probably feels better than he looks at this point. He's still looking quite insecure in the contact, his long neck makes it look wigglier than it feels. He also sits in his 'safe' trot which feels very nice but is lacking in power and proper engagement and when you see it from the ground you can see that he's got a lot more to give. I also saw how good it looks when he does suddenly give a 'surge' and find the engagement but I have to be a little bit careful how much I ask for and remember that it will take a reasonable amount of time for him to develop the muscular strength required to maintain the true working trot he's showing me he's capable of.
The canter also looked great - better than I expected - especially when R used shoulder-in to prepare for the strike-offs. The more engaged strike-offs made the canter way more uphill and it was great to see he's capable of such work as to me, the canter feels green as grass under saddle, particularly compared with his ease in the trot. Here he is doing some stretchy trot with her - I love the tempo but you can see he needs to go forward more and be more confident and secure into the rein.
So, lots to reflect on!
I had another ride the following day and used my observations to change my approach a little bit. I tried holding the contact very still and stable, keeping my upper body very independent and forcing myself to rise to the trot (although R and I both agreed he finds it easier to balance under a softly sitting rider.) The rises helped me insist on a bigger stride and maintain the lovely steady tempo. I felt like it worked very well!
I was also really pleased that he offered some very confident and prolonged rein back steps, maybe ten or so, with almost no resistance and very nice big steps. Consolidating that movement in hand has been a very good move and I think he's also realised that I'm not going to force him which makes him offer it more willingly.
Unfortunately, the canter strike-offs were woeful on the left rein. I think he went on the wrong leg about ten times! Will have to do more getting the preparation really right and trying to get him really obedient off the aid and not running into it. The two running steps he habitually offers on the left rein are what gives him the opportunity to get onto the wrong lead. I need to be a little bolder about letting the strike-off be a bit bigger and more explosive off a bigger, non-negotiable aid.
Day off tomorrow, then another school on Wednesday afternoon! Will try a few more things in hand including putting the whip on the offside and attempting some travers...
At the time I felt a little disappointed that he didn't settle as well as I'd have hoped but on reflection he actually did fine. He loaded and travelled well, was easy to handle and 'came back' every time I redirected him when he was distracted (which was often!) He was tense while I was warming up - I didn't canter as I felt he was too uptight - and then once we got in the indoor for the trail, he did all the obstacles well, tackling the bridge with some trepidation initially but very quickly learning to tromp over it bravely! He was also sweet about the various pole exercises, struggled a bit with the gate and I need to do more work on my one-handed steering but also all very amenable. He even reined-back multiple steps which was very surprising given how strongly he'd objected just a few days before.
The following day I took the opportunity to put one of my students on him both for her to have a feel of how he was going and so that I had a chance to observe some of the details of how he is looking. Overall I was very pleased with how he went for her. Maybe a little hesitant to begin with, after all, I'm the only person that's ridden him for the last eight months or so, but she rides well and is sensitive and has good feel so she soon had him swinging along. My major observation is that he probably feels better than he looks at this point. He's still looking quite insecure in the contact, his long neck makes it look wigglier than it feels. He also sits in his 'safe' trot which feels very nice but is lacking in power and proper engagement and when you see it from the ground you can see that he's got a lot more to give. I also saw how good it looks when he does suddenly give a 'surge' and find the engagement but I have to be a little bit careful how much I ask for and remember that it will take a reasonable amount of time for him to develop the muscular strength required to maintain the true working trot he's showing me he's capable of.
The canter also looked great - better than I expected - especially when R used shoulder-in to prepare for the strike-offs. The more engaged strike-offs made the canter way more uphill and it was great to see he's capable of such work as to me, the canter feels green as grass under saddle, particularly compared with his ease in the trot. Here he is doing some stretchy trot with her - I love the tempo but you can see he needs to go forward more and be more confident and secure into the rein.
So, lots to reflect on!
I had another ride the following day and used my observations to change my approach a little bit. I tried holding the contact very still and stable, keeping my upper body very independent and forcing myself to rise to the trot (although R and I both agreed he finds it easier to balance under a softly sitting rider.) The rises helped me insist on a bigger stride and maintain the lovely steady tempo. I felt like it worked very well!
I was also really pleased that he offered some very confident and prolonged rein back steps, maybe ten or so, with almost no resistance and very nice big steps. Consolidating that movement in hand has been a very good move and I think he's also realised that I'm not going to force him which makes him offer it more willingly.
Unfortunately, the canter strike-offs were woeful on the left rein. I think he went on the wrong leg about ten times! Will have to do more getting the preparation really right and trying to get him really obedient off the aid and not running into it. The two running steps he habitually offers on the left rein are what gives him the opportunity to get onto the wrong lead. I need to be a little bolder about letting the strike-off be a bit bigger and more explosive off a bigger, non-negotiable aid.
Day off tomorrow, then another school on Wednesday afternoon! Will try a few more things in hand including putting the whip on the offside and attempting some travers...
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Week Eleven
Several rides squeezed into our schedules this week and there has been some more nice progress.
The lateral steps are continuing to really help Fudge 'find his feet' literally and figuratively. It's so lovely to get a big, confident response to a light leg aid and I've been having fun tuning the aids into 'move your whole body over' and 'only move your hind legs over' and he is really nailing it.
I am desperate to get some footage of him under saddle, both for illustrating this blog and so I can check things like the angles of his head and neck and how the paces look compared with how they feel, whether he is properly tracking up and swinging and my own position! Might be time for a lesson or two soon! (when we're both a little fitter, maybe...)
Yesterday was an interesting ride and we worked through two little 'moments' and continued to delve into what makes this pony tick.
The first 'oops' happened early in the ride when I rather thoughtlessly asked for a canter very early in the ride. I think I was justifying it to myself because I wanted to try getting up off his back and seeing if having a big bowl along loosened him up more quickly. So instead of the walking, stretching, lateral work, trotting, stretching, lateral work sequence he's been getting used to, I just put my leg around and asked for a canter after only about half a circle of trot. I also asked on the harder lead, and in the deepest sandy corner of the arena. So it wasn't really surprising that he gave a plunge and a flick of the hind legs. (I think. Nobody saw it and I'm just judging by what it felt like!) I went way way up out of the saddle but luckily crash landed back into it, only losing one stirrup and halting rather raggedly a few steps later. Looks like my 'no bucking!' reflexes are still there. After having one particularly bucky horse many years ago, I learned to sit on, drag him to a halt and then reapply the aid immediately.
Well, popping straight back into canter was not what he was expecting to be asked to do but he did it, a bit fast and snorty but perfectly obedient so we came back to trot and carried on with the schooling session.
Then later in the ride I decided to try asking for multiple steps of rein back. I've done the odd step here and there and while negotiating gates etc, and he's always complied fairly amenably so I was pretty surprised when after initially offering 4-5 shuffly steps back, he just stopped and shut down completely. Wouldn't move, mouth gaping wide, neck twisted and a very mulish expression on his face!
Thinking it through, having played with it a few more times since, I think he's really scared to go back. Specifically, he's scared of his rider's aids, particularly the hand. I surmise that he's been forced back at some point and either had his mouth badly hurt or even panicked and gone up or over. So I have backed (ha!) the pressure right off and am asking for and getting, reasonably consistently, the odd single step back which I praise lavishly. I am also going to consolidate this behaviour on the ground and use the clicker to get him really confident. Tomorrow's game!
The lateral steps are continuing to really help Fudge 'find his feet' literally and figuratively. It's so lovely to get a big, confident response to a light leg aid and I've been having fun tuning the aids into 'move your whole body over' and 'only move your hind legs over' and he is really nailing it.
I am desperate to get some footage of him under saddle, both for illustrating this blog and so I can check things like the angles of his head and neck and how the paces look compared with how they feel, whether he is properly tracking up and swinging and my own position! Might be time for a lesson or two soon! (when we're both a little fitter, maybe...)
Yesterday was an interesting ride and we worked through two little 'moments' and continued to delve into what makes this pony tick.
The first 'oops' happened early in the ride when I rather thoughtlessly asked for a canter very early in the ride. I think I was justifying it to myself because I wanted to try getting up off his back and seeing if having a big bowl along loosened him up more quickly. So instead of the walking, stretching, lateral work, trotting, stretching, lateral work sequence he's been getting used to, I just put my leg around and asked for a canter after only about half a circle of trot. I also asked on the harder lead, and in the deepest sandy corner of the arena. So it wasn't really surprising that he gave a plunge and a flick of the hind legs. (I think. Nobody saw it and I'm just judging by what it felt like!) I went way way up out of the saddle but luckily crash landed back into it, only losing one stirrup and halting rather raggedly a few steps later. Looks like my 'no bucking!' reflexes are still there. After having one particularly bucky horse many years ago, I learned to sit on, drag him to a halt and then reapply the aid immediately.
Well, popping straight back into canter was not what he was expecting to be asked to do but he did it, a bit fast and snorty but perfectly obedient so we came back to trot and carried on with the schooling session.
Then later in the ride I decided to try asking for multiple steps of rein back. I've done the odd step here and there and while negotiating gates etc, and he's always complied fairly amenably so I was pretty surprised when after initially offering 4-5 shuffly steps back, he just stopped and shut down completely. Wouldn't move, mouth gaping wide, neck twisted and a very mulish expression on his face!
Thinking it through, having played with it a few more times since, I think he's really scared to go back. Specifically, he's scared of his rider's aids, particularly the hand. I surmise that he's been forced back at some point and either had his mouth badly hurt or even panicked and gone up or over. So I have backed (ha!) the pressure right off and am asking for and getting, reasonably consistently, the odd single step back which I praise lavishly. I am also going to consolidate this behaviour on the ground and use the clicker to get him really confident. Tomorrow's game!
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