Whoops, I forgot to even write about the no reins part on Thursday!
We had two bounces in a row with 3 pony strides in between, when we came to it the first time she stopped, I don't know if she knew I was hesitating or she was wondering why no one was holding the reins anymore. The second time she made it over perfectly and it was more fun that I thought it might have been. On another try she knocked the second jump in the first bounce and shot through the rest like a bat out of hell, and cantered off all crazy after. We still she must have gotten in trouble for knocking down jumps before so it took her a minute to calm down and realize that I didn't care and wasn't upset with her at all. We had one last try after that, just so she wouldn't end on a bad note, she made it through, but had a super quick canter around the corner after.
Lease ride this afternoon, have to work on her keeping her head up at the trot, getting more left bend and picking up the correct canter lead.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
No Reins & CALIFORNIA?!
Practiced more on the releases, getting better. We used the long crest release a lot more, Pony seems happier with it. We had one run out the first time at the bounce, which was kind of my fault for not pressing her forward when I felt her start to slow up a bit. Then a second when we just had no distance into the second bounce so that wasn't as much of a problem.
On the flat we really have to work on not letting her head drop below her withers at the trot because then she's not using her back end, which is what we want her to do. As well as picking up the correct lead, which we've started having a few problems with.
Still need to keep working on getting more of a left bend and less of a right bend.
So, my mums going to a teaching conference thing in California at the end of July, and I really want to go! I think that would be sick!! Although I'd be a lot more freaked out walking around an American city alone than I ever was in Australia..no idea way. Considering Sydney has a population of 4million, one million more than in my whole province. But yeah, I think that would be a sick trip, unfortunately my sister can't come to because her passport isn't valid anymore.
Except she doesn't even remember where the conference is, how forgets something like that? Oh well, hopefully she finds out soon, and then I can look for plane tickets! Although what I hear about TSA is almost enough for me not to want to fly to the states...even though we had, like, no problems going to or coming back from Australia.
Have you seen Tangled?! It is literally my new faveorite movie!
On the flat we really have to work on not letting her head drop below her withers at the trot because then she's not using her back end, which is what we want her to do. As well as picking up the correct lead, which we've started having a few problems with.
Still need to keep working on getting more of a left bend and less of a right bend.
So, my mums going to a teaching conference thing in California at the end of July, and I really want to go! I think that would be sick!! Although I'd be a lot more freaked out walking around an American city alone than I ever was in Australia..no idea way. Considering Sydney has a population of 4million, one million more than in my whole province. But yeah, I think that would be a sick trip, unfortunately my sister can't come to because her passport isn't valid anymore.
Except she doesn't even remember where the conference is, how forgets something like that? Oh well, hopefully she finds out soon, and then I can look for plane tickets! Although what I hear about TSA is almost enough for me not to want to fly to the states...even though we had, like, no problems going to or coming back from Australia.
Have you seen Tangled?! It is literally my new faveorite movie!
Tuesday, Math Diploma
So this week we are practicing differnet releases over a grid, not to difficult. Poor Pony was really tried, she's worked almost everyday last week I think, so we didn't do the higher jumps and she ran out a few times at the start of the grid. At first it may have been because she was trotting in and neither of us find it very comfortable, but in the end we got it done.
The biggest problem with my releases is that I'll grab mane with my right hand and it'll be where it should be but then my left hand is a bit behind it, so I have to work on keeping them even. Other than that we were pretty good.
Fucking hell, today was the math diploma for Math 30 students in Alberta. It was soo hard, and I studied for ages and had tutoring sessions before, should have been well prepared. But assuming that I got the questions right that I actually knew what I was doing on I would have gotten 19/40. 48%, horrible! But even if I get that I'll still pass the class, which is good. It sucks, the diploma is worth 50%of our totall mark for the year, so it could either raise your mark drastically, or destroy it.
And just like the English one, some dumbass brought their phone, it went off and now they get a zero. There was two this time. But if your dumb enough to bring your phone, you deserve a zero.
The biggest problem with my releases is that I'll grab mane with my right hand and it'll be where it should be but then my left hand is a bit behind it, so I have to work on keeping them even. Other than that we were pretty good.
Fucking hell, today was the math diploma for Math 30 students in Alberta. It was soo hard, and I studied for ages and had tutoring sessions before, should have been well prepared. But assuming that I got the questions right that I actually knew what I was doing on I would have gotten 19/40. 48%, horrible! But even if I get that I'll still pass the class, which is good. It sucks, the diploma is worth 50%of our totall mark for the year, so it could either raise your mark drastically, or destroy it.
And just like the English one, some dumbass brought their phone, it went off and now they get a zero. There was two this time. But if your dumb enough to bring your phone, you deserve a zero.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
No Show =(
So we didn't end up going to the show today, it's been pouring all day! And the barn hosting the show has no where that we can tack up and stay dry or anywhere to warm up. They do have a sperat barn with a bunch of stalls but we didn't want to use them because of the Equine Herpes outbreak and it is a western barn.
So I got up and went with my dad to the barn at twenty to eight, and brough her in from the rain. Poor Pony, she did not look happy to so wet. Dried her off and then tacked up and did my lease ride. She was okay, but all of the downward transitions where terrible. And she was spooking at everything at the far end of the arena. The rain actually wasn't that loud, it was much worse on Thursday so I'm not totally sure what her problem was. She spooked at then end of one of the circles and i didn't even know what happened all of a sudden i was slipping off her shoulder, with my arms around her neck. Luckly she stopped moving so I didn't actaully fall off.
When she's all spooky and weird she carries her head up really high but then she gets mad when you shorten the reins to keep contact but she won't put her head down with the longer reins. So after the first trot and canter we stopped and walked for a while and then did a bit more work. She was much better the second time around. But she was not happy to go back out in the rain.
So I got up and went with my dad to the barn at twenty to eight, and brough her in from the rain. Poor Pony, she did not look happy to so wet. Dried her off and then tacked up and did my lease ride. She was okay, but all of the downward transitions where terrible. And she was spooking at everything at the far end of the arena. The rain actually wasn't that loud, it was much worse on Thursday so I'm not totally sure what her problem was. She spooked at then end of one of the circles and i didn't even know what happened all of a sudden i was slipping off her shoulder, with my arms around her neck. Luckly she stopped moving so I didn't actaully fall off.
When she's all spooky and weird she carries her head up really high but then she gets mad when you shorten the reins to keep contact but she won't put her head down with the longer reins. So after the first trot and canter we stopped and walked for a while and then did a bit more work. She was much better the second time around. But she was not happy to go back out in the rain.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Show Nerves
I haven't had a problem with them all day until now! Which is to bad 'cause I want to sleep.
I've been showing for about 6 years and this isn't even a big show! It's just a little fun one that doesn't count for anything really, but I haven't been back at this barn for years, I've never been to a show with Pony and now the schedule has been screwed up because of the rain.
Original just the jumping was going to be inside and there's only about 6 jumps in the course and theres 3 jump classes, but now everything would be inside so the jumping won't start until about 11 or possibly 10:30 according to the lady in charge, so we'll see.
I still have to get up early because I have to clean Pony's white socks and feet and either ride, lunge or free lunge her so she's not to crazy before we get there because K isn't sure of warm up space anymore.
Went out the barn this evening to clean her tack and my helmet and boots. Spent ages picking the masking tape of my one half chap that the zipper was broken off, but my new ones feel awesome and they're all pretty and black and new, so I might wear them tomorrow.
Still have to pack all the stuff I need for tomorrow and find black shoe laces for my boots...
But yes, show nerves need to go away so I can sleep instead of watching re-runs of American Dad.
I've been showing for about 6 years and this isn't even a big show! It's just a little fun one that doesn't count for anything really, but I haven't been back at this barn for years, I've never been to a show with Pony and now the schedule has been screwed up because of the rain.
Original just the jumping was going to be inside and there's only about 6 jumps in the course and theres 3 jump classes, but now everything would be inside so the jumping won't start until about 11 or possibly 10:30 according to the lady in charge, so we'll see.
I still have to get up early because I have to clean Pony's white socks and feet and either ride, lunge or free lunge her so she's not to crazy before we get there because K isn't sure of warm up space anymore.
Went out the barn this evening to clean her tack and my helmet and boots. Spent ages picking the masking tape of my one half chap that the zipper was broken off, but my new ones feel awesome and they're all pretty and black and new, so I might wear them tomorrow.
Still have to pack all the stuff I need for tomorrow and find black shoe laces for my boots...
But yes, show nerves need to go away so I can sleep instead of watching re-runs of American Dad.
Before the Show & Dressage Bitches
Yesterday wasn't the most ideal ride before a show but it was still pretty good.
We had one run out and 2 refusals that I fell off at.
She refused the fan jump because I caught her in the mouth when she surprised me on the take off and the jump before. Understandably she ran out, would have been better if she hadn't but oh well.
The two refusals were also understandable, she wasn't just doing it to be stupid. We didn't have enough canter to either, normally she'll still try but obviously she's had enough of that, so she stopped and I fell off. The good part was for both falls, even though she did run off after, it was nothing like it used to be and K was able to catch her right away. And on the first jump I got a lovely mouth full of dirt and rubber crumb.
The second one was quite similar, it felt like she had more canter through the line, but I guess not, she stopped and ran off, I fell on the jump, so that was great, now I have a big, sick bursiey cut thing on my back.
So as K says, think sports car! She had told us that we were going to do smaller jumps before the show, but that didn't end up happening. Which I don't mind because despite falling and stopping it was still a really good lesson.
So there is this woman who rides at the barn, shes like a level 2 or 3 dressage rider and her horse is 4-ish years old. When she's on the ground and not riding she's actually a pretty nice person, but when she's riding, she's fucking insane.
She's always like "oh watch out for my horse, he's a bit young and crazy don't get to close." Fair enough, but it's reallllly hard to keep out of her way when you need to ride too. And that's just on the flat when you're doing a lease ride or something outside, in a massive ring!
Indoor is even worse. At our barn, people in lessons have the right of way, but if you aren't doing much, then pass left shoulder to left shoulder as always. But fucking hell, she expects you to stay away from her horse because "he's young and fresh", but she will NOT stay out of your way. Pony hates her horse and makes it well known, she flips her head, pins her ears and makes it quite obvious she doesn't want this psycho woman and her lunatic horse riding beside her. But guess who just doesn't give a fuck? Dressage Bitch! Yay!! Yeah, YOU can't ride past her horse because he's young (he doesn't care anymore, everyone including me and Pony have ridden past, he pays no attention), but SHE can ride past your horse who CLEARLY doesn't want him near her. I really, really wanted to tell her to get the fuck away from me and Pony.
But I didn't because I thought she might kill me.
Because of all the rain, the pleasure/flat classes will probably be inside, so the schedules all messed up and now we don't know when anyones riding anymore. Still waiting to hear back from the lady running the show though. And it looks like it's starting to clear up a bit so maybe it will dry out the arena for tomorrow.
We had one run out and 2 refusals that I fell off at.
She refused the fan jump because I caught her in the mouth when she surprised me on the take off and the jump before. Understandably she ran out, would have been better if she hadn't but oh well.
The two refusals were also understandable, she wasn't just doing it to be stupid. We didn't have enough canter to either, normally she'll still try but obviously she's had enough of that, so she stopped and I fell off. The good part was for both falls, even though she did run off after, it was nothing like it used to be and K was able to catch her right away. And on the first jump I got a lovely mouth full of dirt and rubber crumb.
The second one was quite similar, it felt like she had more canter through the line, but I guess not, she stopped and ran off, I fell on the jump, so that was great, now I have a big, sick bursiey cut thing on my back.
So as K says, think sports car! She had told us that we were going to do smaller jumps before the show, but that didn't end up happening. Which I don't mind because despite falling and stopping it was still a really good lesson.
So there is this woman who rides at the barn, shes like a level 2 or 3 dressage rider and her horse is 4-ish years old. When she's on the ground and not riding she's actually a pretty nice person, but when she's riding, she's fucking insane.
She's always like "oh watch out for my horse, he's a bit young and crazy don't get to close." Fair enough, but it's reallllly hard to keep out of her way when you need to ride too. And that's just on the flat when you're doing a lease ride or something outside, in a massive ring!
Indoor is even worse. At our barn, people in lessons have the right of way, but if you aren't doing much, then pass left shoulder to left shoulder as always. But fucking hell, she expects you to stay away from her horse because "he's young and fresh", but she will NOT stay out of your way. Pony hates her horse and makes it well known, she flips her head, pins her ears and makes it quite obvious she doesn't want this psycho woman and her lunatic horse riding beside her. But guess who just doesn't give a fuck? Dressage Bitch! Yay!! Yeah, YOU can't ride past her horse because he's young (he doesn't care anymore, everyone including me and Pony have ridden past, he pays no attention), but SHE can ride past your horse who CLEARLY doesn't want him near her. I really, really wanted to tell her to get the fuck away from me and Pony.
But I didn't because I thought she might kill me.
Because of all the rain, the pleasure/flat classes will probably be inside, so the schedules all messed up and now we don't know when anyones riding anymore. Still waiting to hear back from the lady running the show though. And it looks like it's starting to clear up a bit so maybe it will dry out the arena for tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Hooray!
Pony was soooo good on Tuesday!
We were inside because of all the rain, but still did bigger jumps. One of the verticals had yellow plastic truck cut outs under it, I thought we might have a repeat of incidents at other jumps with the plastic dog cut outs, but she was perfect! Didn't look at it once, hopefully that will be a good sign for the show on Saturday.
K thinks that we've finally got to some kind of "break through" where she's really starting to trust me so we can be more of a team. Hopefully!
We almost had a run out at a 1-to-a 3 stride line, and I could feel her leaning towards the left getting ready to run out, so I was like "hey!" and gave her a tiny squeeze with my leg (she's quite sensitive to leg, so there's no need for a big kick or anything). And she went forward and did the line.
Both K and I have noticed that Pony responds much better when you use more verbal stuff, like saying hey, before she runs out, work much better than a smack on the ass after.
Pony responds and does sooo much better when you can just relax, ride quietly and let her do her own thing. If that holds true for the show, we should do pretty well I think. Still hoping it's going to be fairly small show though, and that it doesn't rain, otherwise they'll be moving all the flat classes inside and screwing up the jumping.
We were inside because of all the rain, but still did bigger jumps. One of the verticals had yellow plastic truck cut outs under it, I thought we might have a repeat of incidents at other jumps with the plastic dog cut outs, but she was perfect! Didn't look at it once, hopefully that will be a good sign for the show on Saturday.
K thinks that we've finally got to some kind of "break through" where she's really starting to trust me so we can be more of a team. Hopefully!
We almost had a run out at a 1-to-a 3 stride line, and I could feel her leaning towards the left getting ready to run out, so I was like "hey!" and gave her a tiny squeeze with my leg (she's quite sensitive to leg, so there's no need for a big kick or anything). And she went forward and did the line.
Both K and I have noticed that Pony responds much better when you use more verbal stuff, like saying hey, before she runs out, work much better than a smack on the ass after.
Pony responds and does sooo much better when you can just relax, ride quietly and let her do her own thing. If that holds true for the show, we should do pretty well I think. Still hoping it's going to be fairly small show though, and that it doesn't rain, otherwise they'll be moving all the flat classes inside and screwing up the jumping.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Thursday/Sunday & Lots of workouts!
I had two lessons on Thursday, first with Pony and the second with my friends mare.
Pony was soo much better!! Although at one oxer, I had a brain malfuntion and thought she was going to slow and stopped her. No idea why, but it was dumb idea. So the next time to it, she obviously stopped.
Came back a third time and she was good.
We seem to have problems picking up the correct lead everyonce in a while, she has a flying lead change, but still, it's kind of a pain in the ass and doesn't look good for dressage.
We're doing bigger jumps on Tuesday this week and smaller ones on Thursday for confidence going into the show. Hopefully it goes well..
She was good today, but I forgot my sunscreen and the outdoor arena was a bit muddy so we stayed inside and practiced lots of cirlces and serpentines at the trot and canter. Her left bend is still improving.
On Thursday I also rode my friends horse because she a concusion (friend not horse). But her mare is a bit out of shape and hasn't jumped for a while so the highest we did was just under 2'6" or so. But she did really well. She's feels really quick, but she carries herself on the forehand so appearntly she feels faster than she is.
She dropped her head at a couple jumps and I thought we might be stopping, but she didn't refuse anything and jumped prefectly. She's such a friendly mare!
The height difference between her and Pony was a bit shocking, 13.3 to 15.3, not really that big, but when you look down, it feels big!
Never mind the workouts. I have a diploma tomorrow, you can hear about that excitment later.
Pony was soo much better!! Although at one oxer, I had a brain malfuntion and thought she was going to slow and stopped her. No idea why, but it was dumb idea. So the next time to it, she obviously stopped.
Came back a third time and she was good.
We seem to have problems picking up the correct lead everyonce in a while, she has a flying lead change, but still, it's kind of a pain in the ass and doesn't look good for dressage.
We're doing bigger jumps on Tuesday this week and smaller ones on Thursday for confidence going into the show. Hopefully it goes well..
She was good today, but I forgot my sunscreen and the outdoor arena was a bit muddy so we stayed inside and practiced lots of cirlces and serpentines at the trot and canter. Her left bend is still improving.
On Thursday I also rode my friends horse because she a concusion (friend not horse). But her mare is a bit out of shape and hasn't jumped for a while so the highest we did was just under 2'6" or so. But she did really well. She's feels really quick, but she carries herself on the forehand so appearntly she feels faster than she is.
She dropped her head at a couple jumps and I thought we might be stopping, but she didn't refuse anything and jumped prefectly. She's such a friendly mare!
The height difference between her and Pony was a bit shocking, 13.3 to 15.3, not really that big, but when you look down, it feels big!
Never mind the workouts. I have a diploma tomorrow, you can hear about that excitment later.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Tuesday and What I Remeber From Last Week.
Whoops, waited to long to write about last week.
All I remember was on Thursday I was thinking to much during the course rather than letting it flow and then watching some of the jumps as we approached rather than watching over the jump. It wasn't to bad, the only sucky jump (I remember) she took off to long at the pink vertical (3'3") and I lost my stirrup but still made the wide left turn to the next jump and got my stirrup left. But by the time we got straight to the jump we were aimed to far to the right and probably would have knocked the standard or run out to the right.
So yeah, other than that I think it was okay. I don't remember so it can't have been to horrible.
I went to SuperTramp on Sunday so missed my lease ride that day and went on Monday. It was kind of chilly so there wasn't to many bugs out thank god. We did lots of circles, leg yielding and haults. We tried half halts but they weren't very successful. At the canter we did some more circles and simple changes over the diagonal.
Tuesday, was not a treat.
The course would have been fun if it weren't for all the run outs and refusals.
At first she was really good, the first jump had a box under it and she kicked up some dirt on the land and that scared her out to the left so we didn't make it down the line, then that happened a second time. Third time we did make it! Yay!
She had no problem with the second jump in the line, the yellow vertical, or the Swedish oxer. The "give blood" jump (which was made for the R4R show, which is a fun show to raise awarncess about the need for blood donor's and the Canadian Blood Society) we had a run out (i think), but I can understand why, some how I'd let the reins get to short and Pony HATES that so she started flipping her head around. Wait I lied, we went over the give blood but cause she wasn't paying attention we missed the oxer.
Although, it appears she can jump from a stand still. Almost. She was sooo slow through some parts of the coarse. We were doing the coarse and came up to the yellow vertical and we had no momentum, I grabbed mane when she didn't speed up like I asked, thinking we'd be stopping. But nope, we went over, it wasn't all the comfortable but she made it.
The other jump we had a lot of trouble with was the ascending oxer with blue and orange boxes under. It was on a slight angle but we got to it straight each time. A couple times we ran out and then we made it over and it was great. The second last time we were again going sooo slow, so I tried to turn her away so we could circle and come back to it, and Pony was like fuck that we're doing this jump. And we did. I'll post the picture tomorrow but we were super close to the right side I'm surprised I didn't hit my knee on the standard. I lost my left stirrup and in the picture its up by her ear, on the land I sat back in the saddle but got bounced on to her shoulders when she kept cantering. Didn't fall off though!
I'm kind of annoyed my dad didn't get any pictures of that part, that's half the fun (when no one is injured anyway).
So yeah, it was a frustrating lesson. I don't know why she was so slow and floppy, it wasn't hot out at all and there was cool breeze too, no bugs. Unless she was tired from Monday, but we didn't do very much. So hoping Thursday goes better, especially since I'm supposed to ride my friends mare after Oswell. She has a show this weekend but its just flat stuff, and she got a minor concussion the other day after 'an incident with a filing cabinet". So I'm taking her lesson Thursday too and then going to math tutoring, fun stuff.
All I remember was on Thursday I was thinking to much during the course rather than letting it flow and then watching some of the jumps as we approached rather than watching over the jump. It wasn't to bad, the only sucky jump (I remember) she took off to long at the pink vertical (3'3") and I lost my stirrup but still made the wide left turn to the next jump and got my stirrup left. But by the time we got straight to the jump we were aimed to far to the right and probably would have knocked the standard or run out to the right.
So yeah, other than that I think it was okay. I don't remember so it can't have been to horrible.
I went to SuperTramp on Sunday so missed my lease ride that day and went on Monday. It was kind of chilly so there wasn't to many bugs out thank god. We did lots of circles, leg yielding and haults. We tried half halts but they weren't very successful. At the canter we did some more circles and simple changes over the diagonal.
Tuesday, was not a treat.
The course would have been fun if it weren't for all the run outs and refusals.
At first she was really good, the first jump had a box under it and she kicked up some dirt on the land and that scared her out to the left so we didn't make it down the line, then that happened a second time. Third time we did make it! Yay!
She had no problem with the second jump in the line, the yellow vertical, or the Swedish oxer. The "give blood" jump (which was made for the R4R show, which is a fun show to raise awarncess about the need for blood donor's and the Canadian Blood Society) we had a run out (i think), but I can understand why, some how I'd let the reins get to short and Pony HATES that so she started flipping her head around. Wait I lied, we went over the give blood but cause she wasn't paying attention we missed the oxer.
Although, it appears she can jump from a stand still. Almost. She was sooo slow through some parts of the coarse. We were doing the coarse and came up to the yellow vertical and we had no momentum, I grabbed mane when she didn't speed up like I asked, thinking we'd be stopping. But nope, we went over, it wasn't all the comfortable but she made it.
The other jump we had a lot of trouble with was the ascending oxer with blue and orange boxes under. It was on a slight angle but we got to it straight each time. A couple times we ran out and then we made it over and it was great. The second last time we were again going sooo slow, so I tried to turn her away so we could circle and come back to it, and Pony was like fuck that we're doing this jump. And we did. I'll post the picture tomorrow but we were super close to the right side I'm surprised I didn't hit my knee on the standard. I lost my left stirrup and in the picture its up by her ear, on the land I sat back in the saddle but got bounced on to her shoulders when she kept cantering. Didn't fall off though!
I'm kind of annoyed my dad didn't get any pictures of that part, that's half the fun (when no one is injured anyway).
So yeah, it was a frustrating lesson. I don't know why she was so slow and floppy, it wasn't hot out at all and there was cool breeze too, no bugs. Unless she was tired from Monday, but we didn't do very much. So hoping Thursday goes better, especially since I'm supposed to ride my friends mare after Oswell. She has a show this weekend but its just flat stuff, and she got a minor concussion the other day after 'an incident with a filing cabinet". So I'm taking her lesson Thursday too and then going to math tutoring, fun stuff.
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