I had an amazing lesson with Dennis today. Wow. We went for nearly 4 hours and it felt like 1. I'm blown away.
We started on the 45 playing in the front pasture over the varying terrain. Dennis helped me a lot with my body language and asking Z to move faster and stay on the circle when I needed her to. I realized many things I'm falling short on with her. She's looking for direction and I'm not always giving it.
Notes for myself...
the way i hold my stick
the way i ask her to transition down
getting more particular
asking her to maintain gait on the 45
looking where I'm sending!!! Arrrgghhh!!
rope handling
at liberty, being more fluid
looking where i want her to go
riding - canter departs
moving my arm to ask for the correct lead
getting more particular
slowing her down by bringing my life up and shoulders up
moving my arms in a bike pedaling motion either forward or backward
straight lines at the walk, trot and canter
my FOCUS!
blog about Gemini play day with 45 yesterday
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Playing with Z, after the class...
So, now my challenge is to remember it all and utilize what I learned in Pagosa. I played with Z for the first time since the trip and it was interesting. We worked on trotting into the trailer on the 45', the squeeze game incorporating more of "the wait", circle game with obstacles at the trot and canter, driving from zone 5 with one rope, then riding in a circle asking her to drop her chin (more contact), supple bending (snakey bends), bridleless riding for a while and a little cantering in the arena.
Then, I took off the tack and we played at liberty a bit. It was getting dark, but I was glad the air was cooler. Not crazy about the summer heat! I started teaching the spin for the first time. It was clutzy and uncoordinated. We did a few and I decided to stop until I could see better another day. We practiced maintaining gate on the circle and I counted trot laps. She gave between 3-6. Not great - not terrible.
I felt a little rushed today with her and watching the sun go down. I had planned for a trail ride, but with my first day back at work and putting in 11 hours, my plan fell apart. She is still sometimes getting bracey in the neck when she doesn't want to do something and I have to continue to not fight the brace and rhythmically break it down. She's also turning around in the trailer, so I have to isolate that movement and get her to stay facing into the trailer when she's on a longer line.
Gemini is fat! He's eating more than his share and I'm now putting him in a run at night with less hay. I also need to get him moving. Today, I plan to take Rain and G on a trail ride. They both need the exercise. The filly looks fantastic and I had a great time with her yesterday just goofing off while talking to her owner. What a nice filly she is. The new mare is a pig like Capaill (bummer), but she'll go out on the track today so we'll see how that goes. Capaill looks more fit since the track installation and his owner is very pleased. I'm now working to figure out how to arrange horses to minimize my workload. I'm thinking to put G and Rain in the west pasture since they are both such easy keepers and don't really need grain. That will leave 4 on the track, a good number for keeping the peace.
Anyway, lots to work out on the horse-keeping front and time to think about minimizing my work for winter. We'll see...
Hopefully, Dennis tomorrow!
Then, I took off the tack and we played at liberty a bit. It was getting dark, but I was glad the air was cooler. Not crazy about the summer heat! I started teaching the spin for the first time. It was clutzy and uncoordinated. We did a few and I decided to stop until I could see better another day. We practiced maintaining gate on the circle and I counted trot laps. She gave between 3-6. Not great - not terrible.
I felt a little rushed today with her and watching the sun go down. I had planned for a trail ride, but with my first day back at work and putting in 11 hours, my plan fell apart. She is still sometimes getting bracey in the neck when she doesn't want to do something and I have to continue to not fight the brace and rhythmically break it down. She's also turning around in the trailer, so I have to isolate that movement and get her to stay facing into the trailer when she's on a longer line.
Gemini is fat! He's eating more than his share and I'm now putting him in a run at night with less hay. I also need to get him moving. Today, I plan to take Rain and G on a trail ride. They both need the exercise. The filly looks fantastic and I had a great time with her yesterday just goofing off while talking to her owner. What a nice filly she is. The new mare is a pig like Capaill (bummer), but she'll go out on the track today so we'll see how that goes. Capaill looks more fit since the track installation and his owner is very pleased. I'm now working to figure out how to arrange horses to minimize my workload. I'm thinking to put G and Rain in the west pasture since they are both such easy keepers and don't really need grain. That will leave 4 on the track, a good number for keeping the peace.
Anyway, lots to work out on the horse-keeping front and time to think about minimizing my work for winter. We'll see...
Hopefully, Dennis tomorrow!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Day Ten, L&HB
Today was sad. We had remuda with John and Tara and talked about saddling. Turns out that my pad is NOT the right pad with my english saddle. That was what I suspected. I maybe should have bought one while I was there to save shipping costs. The pad is too small and a talk with Avery revealed that I should just get the biggest size available. Bummer. I'll try to sell my current one on eBay or Savvy forum.
The saddling demo was good, but a lot of things I'm already familiar with. I did like watching John teach the horse to keep slack in the line facing him and using the 12'. He did a cutting game and taught the horse to follow the feel. Bravo, John. When he sent the horse on a circle at a trot, he did a good buck. I'm sure Darla appreciated knowing that was in there - supposedly that horse is new to her.
The closing session was very touching and Pat's niece came in and sang "One Day in your Shoes". Very nice. John recited a great poem - "Man in the Glass". He had it memorized and it was very well done. They had us come up individually and receive a certificate of completion. We also watched a few inspirational videos such as Silke, the synchronized feeding demo video and a German man named Michael (I think) and another man with his horse Red Sun. All good for giving me ideas of things to build into my horse. We also rewatched a couple videos on prey/predator relationships. We discussed our goals and we were asked to share with another student one very important thing we learned. I shared about giving up on pegging Z's horseanality - important for me.
A lot of us went out dancing Friday night and it was pretty fun. There were probably 20-30 of us, including faculty. It was Sam's (ranch hand) b-day so that made it extra special.
Corrinn had a hard day learning her colt was pretty sick and then when she moved him to quarantine, he got scared and trampled her. She had a black eye and several scrapes and bruises. Poor woman! Kara and Corrinn were forced to stay longer so he can have a chance for antibiotics to kick in before the long haul home.
The saddling demo was good, but a lot of things I'm already familiar with. I did like watching John teach the horse to keep slack in the line facing him and using the 12'. He did a cutting game and taught the horse to follow the feel. Bravo, John. When he sent the horse on a circle at a trot, he did a good buck. I'm sure Darla appreciated knowing that was in there - supposedly that horse is new to her.
The closing session was very touching and Pat's niece came in and sang "One Day in your Shoes". Very nice. John recited a great poem - "Man in the Glass". He had it memorized and it was very well done. They had us come up individually and receive a certificate of completion. We also watched a few inspirational videos such as Silke, the synchronized feeding demo video and a German man named Michael (I think) and another man with his horse Red Sun. All good for giving me ideas of things to build into my horse. We also rewatched a couple videos on prey/predator relationships. We discussed our goals and we were asked to share with another student one very important thing we learned. I shared about giving up on pegging Z's horseanality - important for me.
A lot of us went out dancing Friday night and it was pretty fun. There were probably 20-30 of us, including faculty. It was Sam's (ranch hand) b-day so that made it extra special.
Corrinn had a hard day learning her colt was pretty sick and then when she moved him to quarantine, he got scared and trampled her. She had a black eye and several scrapes and bruises. Poor woman! Kara and Corrinn were forced to stay longer so he can have a chance for antibiotics to kick in before the long haul home.
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