So I did get to go riding on Thursday after all! Even though there was a whole crap load of snow.
When we got to the barn there was a choice between Zander, out in the farthest pen from the barn, or Kokanee, who is in Pony's old stall... decided not to brave the cold and wind and picked Kokanee.
I rode him once before and thought he had a super smooth canter to one direction, now I have no idea what made me think that.
He has some scar tissue on one hip so his trot is super different depending on the direction, so that takes a bit used too. And the back pain! It hasn't ever been like the time with Pony that it was almost crippling but it was worse than it has been in a while. Plus it started on the right and the moved over to the left as well. But usually it starts on the left and stays there. Not sure what to do about that.
He can also be super wiggly and pops his shoulder out if you aren't careful, which is why we ran out to the first jump.
His canter was crazy weird, very bumpy. K said just don't even bother trying to sit it. So we ended up in some weird two pointy/standing in the stirrups position. And the stirrups on his saddle don't even enough holes for my short legs, so that was annoying, but not horrible.
Jumping was good actually. Sort of? Well, the first jump, my first thought was "crap, should have got Zander." It was just the weirdest effing jump ever and I was not prepared for how low he keeps his neck!! He's more huntery than any other horse I've ridden and he's got the same long neck as Diesel so he needs a bigger release as well. The rest of jumping got better, we were practicing jumping jumps at an angle, so the four stride was a lot of work because he likes to wiggle and wanted to drop out to the right right after the jump. He also goes super well on a longer rein, which is such a weird after Rocky and Zander. And Zander and Kokanee feel so weird because they're both such narrow bodied horses compared to the others, so it's always a strange feeling when we first start riding.
But over all I quite like him, really, it's just something different now but I think we'll get on well enough. Still don't have a lease horse, but being able to ride these 3 will be interesting and hopefully I can improve a lot by the time spring gets here and me and Rocky can start working together again.
Showing posts with label Pony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pony. Show all posts
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
New Horse?
So the cold is apparently on its way (ah Canadian winters are always a treat) and because Rocky is terrified of blankets our time together will be over very soon until spring arrives. Which really sucks, I haven't talked to K today but it looks like Roxy and one other horse are in need or riders and between those two Roxy is my top pick because she's a tad bit crazy and I enjoy crazy. Although I don't think she's crazy like Pony was, she's terrified of getting booted or having her mouth yanked on and that's what makes her do weird things, she's just nervous, but once she figures out that you aren't going to do anything like that she settles right down. I so wish I had Pony back. Anyway, we'll find out if I have a horse at all tonight or if we're driving all the way to the barn for there to be no horses.
I'm rather annoyed now that I might not have Rocky because November is "challenge month" at the barn and today was going to be adding and lengthening strides but I think there's a new girl riding and for some reason this challenge is next week or something like that I don't know. Either way this would have been something me and Rocky could have owned, but now that will probably not be happening.
I guess the nice thing about getting to ride all these different horses is that you get a lot more experience and diversity will dealing with different personalities and preferences but at the same time it sucks soooo bad! One day, one day I can have my own horse and this will be a far smaller problem. But then every horse has something to teach and now it's time to find out what the next horse has to offer...until spring. Then it's back to Rocky.
I'm rather annoyed now that I might not have Rocky because November is "challenge month" at the barn and today was going to be adding and lengthening strides but I think there's a new girl riding and for some reason this challenge is next week or something like that I don't know. Either way this would have been something me and Rocky could have owned, but now that will probably not be happening.
I guess the nice thing about getting to ride all these different horses is that you get a lot more experience and diversity will dealing with different personalities and preferences but at the same time it sucks soooo bad! One day, one day I can have my own horse and this will be a far smaller problem. But then every horse has something to teach and now it's time to find out what the next horse has to offer...until spring. Then it's back to Rocky.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
I got a new computer and the keyboard is insanly difficult to get used too!
But anyway, Rocky did manage to stand still today, but only because he was distracted by the plastic bag on standard because if there's a plastic bag it must have food and it must before him! So he got some cherrios and was delighted.
Less "pony trotting" today, I get weird cramps in my lower back at the trot, usually on the left side and I have no idea why, it's only started happening the past few months, sometime while I was riding Pony. I think it's either my postion or not useing enough core strength and it must be the second one because K would have said otherwise.
But about his pony trotting: he was sooo much better today, at least at the start, that's when his trot is the nicest but once you start going over polls and stuff he starts to get more energetice and more excited he wants to go faster. So then I end up holding more with my hands than I want to, I'm sure there must be something else that would work better. Slowing down the posting rhythm works a fair bit but not always or not quite enough. Circiling helps and slows him right down but once he gets going straight he just picks up the pace again. Not even subtily like some horses do, you can feel him bolt forward.
The jump course was good, I have a bad habit of leaning at him/asking him for the long, especially during the warmup, so today I tried to practice counting strides leading up to the jump and it seemed to work and I was able to not lean at him and we had some really good jumps! One rail down but we weren't sure why he hit it because it was a good jump and there wasn't really a reason for it to come down.
As for bucking; only one big one which was okay because I'd been using to much hand, which he hates. On other one that was for no reason so he got a bit of a smack because he can't just keep doing that when there isn't a reason. If he's pissed that I did something wrong, that is different.
He also prefers to have a following hand over the jump and have steady contact, which is way different than Pony who really wanted her head and would get pissy and not jump as well otherwise. So that will take some getting used to because I'm still getting used to his jumping style.
But I have news about Pony! She's down south (south of this part of the province not the boarder) on some kind of lease where the rider pays 1/3 of the value of the horse and then leases her out for the year. So I'm still sad she's gone, but I know K is happy that no one came out to test ride her at the barn because she likes to test her new riders and just goes nuts, because she wants to know that you can keep up with her or whatever it is she's looking for because K was worried someone would come and try to ride her and then Pony would go crazy and the rider would get hurt.
So hopefully making it out to the barn for a lease ride tomorrow morning, but we'll see cause I need to study like mad from these stupid exams next week.
But anyway, Rocky did manage to stand still today, but only because he was distracted by the plastic bag on standard because if there's a plastic bag it must have food and it must before him! So he got some cherrios and was delighted.
Less "pony trotting" today, I get weird cramps in my lower back at the trot, usually on the left side and I have no idea why, it's only started happening the past few months, sometime while I was riding Pony. I think it's either my postion or not useing enough core strength and it must be the second one because K would have said otherwise.
But about his pony trotting: he was sooo much better today, at least at the start, that's when his trot is the nicest but once you start going over polls and stuff he starts to get more energetice and more excited he wants to go faster. So then I end up holding more with my hands than I want to, I'm sure there must be something else that would work better. Slowing down the posting rhythm works a fair bit but not always or not quite enough. Circiling helps and slows him right down but once he gets going straight he just picks up the pace again. Not even subtily like some horses do, you can feel him bolt forward.
The jump course was good, I have a bad habit of leaning at him/asking him for the long, especially during the warmup, so today I tried to practice counting strides leading up to the jump and it seemed to work and I was able to not lean at him and we had some really good jumps! One rail down but we weren't sure why he hit it because it was a good jump and there wasn't really a reason for it to come down.
As for bucking; only one big one which was okay because I'd been using to much hand, which he hates. On other one that was for no reason so he got a bit of a smack because he can't just keep doing that when there isn't a reason. If he's pissed that I did something wrong, that is different.
He also prefers to have a following hand over the jump and have steady contact, which is way different than Pony who really wanted her head and would get pissy and not jump as well otherwise. So that will take some getting used to because I'm still getting used to his jumping style.
But I have news about Pony! She's down south (south of this part of the province not the boarder) on some kind of lease where the rider pays 1/3 of the value of the horse and then leases her out for the year. So I'm still sad she's gone, but I know K is happy that no one came out to test ride her at the barn because she likes to test her new riders and just goes nuts, because she wants to know that you can keep up with her or whatever it is she's looking for because K was worried someone would come and try to ride her and then Pony would go crazy and the rider would get hurt.
So hopefully making it out to the barn for a lease ride tomorrow morning, but we'll see cause I need to study like mad from these stupid exams next week.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
What?! There's boys?! :O
So this weekend is the Amberlea Meadows show, and there was actually guys competition at the show! That never happens!! Ever! In 8 years of riding/showing, I have never been at a show (besides Spruce Meadows) where there's actually guys competing. It wasn't as exciting after we all realized that they were either super old or super ugly and all super dumb. *tear* but even if they had been hot and this still happened:
*in pompous, yet some what surprised tone* greasy zit man says
"I just realized I have to memorize 16 courses for this weekend"
...well that just ruined everything, since brains appeared to be lacking in this situation as well.
Since 1.) this is JUMPING you remember 1 course at a time (this time it was 2 b/c of the immediate jump off, but it was like 5 jumps so really just 1 super long course).
2.) you can forget it right after it's over
N over heard to and said she was pleased he could do basic math. Maybe we were being to mean? But we were all so excited to actually (possibly) meet guys that also ride English and showed! How exciting would that be, when you never meet guys like that? Well they were a bit of a let down. Although the one 65 year old guy had some stylin' flames zocks on.
But anyway. I MISS Pony sooooooo much!! God damn, why did she have to sell before Amberlea? I love Rocky, I do and they're actually quite similar but he's not a show pony who's shown at 3'3" over super wide oxers. She's the one I would want at Amberlea, we could have done so well, and there was loads of other ponies there too. There was no point in even considering taking Rocky, he's out of shape and we haven't been together long enough and there is zero point in paying $300 to ride in 2 classes (4 counting jump off) and have basically no chance of winning money back.
I have (somewhat) more interesting stories about the show, but now I think I'll go be miserable about not having Pony and missing out on Amberelea. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have had the chance to go to and see what the show is like before having to compete but next to whim catering, I'm also very good at wallowing in my own misery and since I haven't done that for a while....
But tomorrow, show stories, possibly uni stuff from psych and equine science and Rocky, since I get to go see him and no one else will be at the barn!
*in pompous, yet some what surprised tone* greasy zit man says
"I just realized I have to memorize 16 courses for this weekend"
...well that just ruined everything, since brains appeared to be lacking in this situation as well.
Since 1.) this is JUMPING you remember 1 course at a time (this time it was 2 b/c of the immediate jump off, but it was like 5 jumps so really just 1 super long course).
2.) you can forget it right after it's over
N over heard to and said she was pleased he could do basic math. Maybe we were being to mean? But we were all so excited to actually (possibly) meet guys that also ride English and showed! How exciting would that be, when you never meet guys like that? Well they were a bit of a let down. Although the one 65 year old guy had some stylin' flames zocks on.
But anyway. I MISS Pony sooooooo much!! God damn, why did she have to sell before Amberlea? I love Rocky, I do and they're actually quite similar but he's not a show pony who's shown at 3'3" over super wide oxers. She's the one I would want at Amberlea, we could have done so well, and there was loads of other ponies there too. There was no point in even considering taking Rocky, he's out of shape and we haven't been together long enough and there is zero point in paying $300 to ride in 2 classes (4 counting jump off) and have basically no chance of winning money back.
I have (somewhat) more interesting stories about the show, but now I think I'll go be miserable about not having Pony and missing out on Amberelea. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have had the chance to go to and see what the show is like before having to compete but next to whim catering, I'm also very good at wallowing in my own misery and since I haven't done that for a while....
But tomorrow, show stories, possibly uni stuff from psych and equine science and Rocky, since I get to go see him and no one else will be at the barn!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Nervous Mare
I worked on Sunday morning at the barn and got to ride Roxy again.
This time I go to learn more about her. She's here for training and eventually for lessons because the owners kid is afraid of her because she's a bit loopy but it's because she's nervous. K was saying she gets like this whenever a new person rides her because she's worried about being kicked and having her mouth yanked on.
Her weird nervous antics are when you're trying to get her to trot she does this weird canter step with her front feet when you sit down at the post, it took a lot less time this week to get her to come back to a proper trot but she's still a bit nervous. Then at the canter, she gets really scrambly or does a super fast trot. It's really hard to tell with her if she's on the right or wrong lead because she feels so weird and bumpy and the way she moves her body, she pushed your outside leg back to a weird angle and it's really hard to keep it still and in the correct position, so work to do there.
I took her over the trot poles that were out and other than get crooked to the second set she was really good. She stretches her neck out more over them and seems to relax a bit. I'm supposed to ride her again this weekend, so we'll be doing more of those. I'm trying (with little success) to find got trot pole exercises online for both her and Rocky so maybe I'll have to make up my own, unless you have some good ones to share?
As for Rocky, he was pretty good. We rode outside on Sunday since it was so nice. He was a bit more bucky because he had a lot of forward motion over the canter poles so I was trying to hold him back, clearly not the way he wanted, more things to work on! The poor girl that was taking lessons while I was riding! She said later she thought he was doing in on purpose or I was asking him to or something. Not sure why she thought that, but she's only been riding for about a month and I don't know how much time she's spent around horses before now. She's really nice though, she was like "that must be unnerving the first time he does it". I said yes a bit, but it's not. Because I know he does it, even if I think I'm not doing anything with my hands and he bucks, it just...no, it's not unnerving. It's just something that happens, like a weird take off or a fall, it happens and you have to get up and go again and fix the problem. I had a lesson with my friends mum the first time I rode Rocky and she was like "your so unphasable" when he had a few crazy jumps in a row and I'd said something about them being a surprise. I don't know that umphasable is totally correct, cause I was pretty freaked out when Pony had bolted and done her weird buck/rear thing but I still kept going, because what else is there to do?
I have friends that whine or complain when the course gets high or looks hard and I'm not a big whiner when it comes to stuff like that. Mostly I look at it and think "oh shit" but then ride it the best I can. Because whining won't change the course and being worried about Rocky bucking won't change that he does it, and worrying about Pony bolting won't stop her from doing it. Even when something like that comes as a total surprise, I try not worry about it and just be prepared for the next time. Besides, being unphasable may not always be a good thing. Or with the case of Rocky's bucking, ride better so he doesn't.
I'm actually quite pleased to be riding him and have had the time I did with Pony for all her insanity, she was a good teacher. You learn to expect the unexpected and ride better. She liked a quite rider who gave her head, and that's what I always tried to do, luckily that wasn't something I was new to doing (riding quietly I mean) same with Rocky because relying on your hands isn't the great, your supposed to ride more with your legs and body; using your weight and stuff to communicate with the horse not just your hands. So even just knowing how he reacts to to much hand use at the canter makes me more conscious of it and able to correct it when he does buck.
I always try to think of what the horses I've ridden before have taught me and Tangos lessons were loud and clear!
1. Do not look down at the jump because she will stop. Always.
2. Learn to fall. Because you will. A lot.
If it does take 6 falls to make a rider, I must be pretty damn good because there was a lot more falls than that. Diesel also reinforced the falling lessons, but the thing with both of them is they were easily 16hh, Diesel 15.3hh I think, so you have time when falling to catch yourself and try to control the fall. Less so with 13.3hh Pony, so with her there was a lot of falls on jumps or whatever because there wasn't enough time to try and land on my feet or not on the jump.
I still have to get a picture of Rocky to put on here so you can see how cute he is! And the photos from Ride For Red that I still haven't posted...lazy lazy.
This time I go to learn more about her. She's here for training and eventually for lessons because the owners kid is afraid of her because she's a bit loopy but it's because she's nervous. K was saying she gets like this whenever a new person rides her because she's worried about being kicked and having her mouth yanked on.
Her weird nervous antics are when you're trying to get her to trot she does this weird canter step with her front feet when you sit down at the post, it took a lot less time this week to get her to come back to a proper trot but she's still a bit nervous. Then at the canter, she gets really scrambly or does a super fast trot. It's really hard to tell with her if she's on the right or wrong lead because she feels so weird and bumpy and the way she moves her body, she pushed your outside leg back to a weird angle and it's really hard to keep it still and in the correct position, so work to do there.
I took her over the trot poles that were out and other than get crooked to the second set she was really good. She stretches her neck out more over them and seems to relax a bit. I'm supposed to ride her again this weekend, so we'll be doing more of those. I'm trying (with little success) to find got trot pole exercises online for both her and Rocky so maybe I'll have to make up my own, unless you have some good ones to share?
As for Rocky, he was pretty good. We rode outside on Sunday since it was so nice. He was a bit more bucky because he had a lot of forward motion over the canter poles so I was trying to hold him back, clearly not the way he wanted, more things to work on! The poor girl that was taking lessons while I was riding! She said later she thought he was doing in on purpose or I was asking him to or something. Not sure why she thought that, but she's only been riding for about a month and I don't know how much time she's spent around horses before now. She's really nice though, she was like "that must be unnerving the first time he does it". I said yes a bit, but it's not. Because I know he does it, even if I think I'm not doing anything with my hands and he bucks, it just...no, it's not unnerving. It's just something that happens, like a weird take off or a fall, it happens and you have to get up and go again and fix the problem. I had a lesson with my friends mum the first time I rode Rocky and she was like "your so unphasable" when he had a few crazy jumps in a row and I'd said something about them being a surprise. I don't know that umphasable is totally correct, cause I was pretty freaked out when Pony had bolted and done her weird buck/rear thing but I still kept going, because what else is there to do?
I have friends that whine or complain when the course gets high or looks hard and I'm not a big whiner when it comes to stuff like that. Mostly I look at it and think "oh shit" but then ride it the best I can. Because whining won't change the course and being worried about Rocky bucking won't change that he does it, and worrying about Pony bolting won't stop her from doing it. Even when something like that comes as a total surprise, I try not worry about it and just be prepared for the next time. Besides, being unphasable may not always be a good thing. Or with the case of Rocky's bucking, ride better so he doesn't.
I'm actually quite pleased to be riding him and have had the time I did with Pony for all her insanity, she was a good teacher. You learn to expect the unexpected and ride better. She liked a quite rider who gave her head, and that's what I always tried to do, luckily that wasn't something I was new to doing (riding quietly I mean) same with Rocky because relying on your hands isn't the great, your supposed to ride more with your legs and body; using your weight and stuff to communicate with the horse not just your hands. So even just knowing how he reacts to to much hand use at the canter makes me more conscious of it and able to correct it when he does buck.
I always try to think of what the horses I've ridden before have taught me and Tangos lessons were loud and clear!
1. Do not look down at the jump because she will stop. Always.
2. Learn to fall. Because you will. A lot.
If it does take 6 falls to make a rider, I must be pretty damn good because there was a lot more falls than that. Diesel also reinforced the falling lessons, but the thing with both of them is they were easily 16hh, Diesel 15.3hh I think, so you have time when falling to catch yourself and try to control the fall. Less so with 13.3hh Pony, so with her there was a lot of falls on jumps or whatever because there wasn't enough time to try and land on my feet or not on the jump.
I still have to get a picture of Rocky to put on here so you can see how cute he is! And the photos from Ride For Red that I still haven't posted...lazy lazy.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Bye Pony part 3? Ride For Red Show Pictures
Because the computers are beings "special" there's going to be a part 4 to this Bye Pony saga. Also I have to re name the blog eventually, but I guess I have to find out which horse I'll be riding. Not til Tuesday then.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Pony For Sale.
So yeah, Pony has been sold, or at least her owners found a buyer for her. Whether she's going back to her owners on Saturday or to her new place I don't know, but either way, she's leaving on Saturday.
They've already picked up her tack and stuff, so yesterday we were stuck in this awful synthetic saddle that's a bit to wide her for her and I just hate. So neither of us were to happy about that.
This is kind of what happened when I found out Tommy had been sold, when K would say to re do something we were having problems with all I could think was what the hell was the point? It's not going to do us any good since she's leaving. But oh well, eventually we got it.
It was a frustrating ride though, and Pony was being crazy but it might have been because the saddle wasn't hers and didn't fit 100%, but she stopped at a jump and I fell over her shoulder on to the jump. So as K said Pony was trying to make parting easy. I guess so too.
At least I won't be left without a horse when she's gone. There's a few options:
1. Rocky-my favorite he's so sweet. A smallish bay Morgan, he shows 2'6" but has jumped higher. He hasn't been ridden in about a year though, but K said he's usually pretty good to just hop on, even though he's out of shape. I've rode him once ages ago before Diesel and I quite liked him. He can't be used as a lesson horse because he sometimes bucks after jumping and he wasn't eve super well trained, but I really like him.
2. Zander- A big chestnut Arab? Arab cross? He's a decent jumper but used a lot in lessons so that's not a great thing I don't think other than him being in good shape. He's not my favorite horse at the barn but he's okay.
3. Roxy. She's less of a possibility I think. She's a quarter horse mare that's been out in a field a long time and is pretty much totally western. She's 15.3hh but only in the ass. K thinks she could be a good jumper but she might have to start at like cavallaties or something. Not that that's a problem, it could be fun and a very different experience. But I think she's there to be sold or to be retrained as a lesson horse I'm not totally sure.
So we just have to wait and see what happens next week.
They've already picked up her tack and stuff, so yesterday we were stuck in this awful synthetic saddle that's a bit to wide her for her and I just hate. So neither of us were to happy about that.
This is kind of what happened when I found out Tommy had been sold, when K would say to re do something we were having problems with all I could think was what the hell was the point? It's not going to do us any good since she's leaving. But oh well, eventually we got it.
It was a frustrating ride though, and Pony was being crazy but it might have been because the saddle wasn't hers and didn't fit 100%, but she stopped at a jump and I fell over her shoulder on to the jump. So as K said Pony was trying to make parting easy. I guess so too.
At least I won't be left without a horse when she's gone. There's a few options:
1. Rocky-my favorite he's so sweet. A smallish bay Morgan, he shows 2'6" but has jumped higher. He hasn't been ridden in about a year though, but K said he's usually pretty good to just hop on, even though he's out of shape. I've rode him once ages ago before Diesel and I quite liked him. He can't be used as a lesson horse because he sometimes bucks after jumping and he wasn't eve super well trained, but I really like him.
2. Zander- A big chestnut Arab? Arab cross? He's a decent jumper but used a lot in lessons so that's not a great thing I don't think other than him being in good shape. He's not my favorite horse at the barn but he's okay.
3. Roxy. She's less of a possibility I think. She's a quarter horse mare that's been out in a field a long time and is pretty much totally western. She's 15.3hh but only in the ass. K thinks she could be a good jumper but she might have to start at like cavallaties or something. Not that that's a problem, it could be fun and a very different experience. But I think she's there to be sold or to be retrained as a lesson horse I'm not totally sure.
So we just have to wait and see what happens next week.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Show Tomorrow
As long as it doesn't rain like it has for every other show this year.
Sadly because of the rain we aren't even at the height we were in June, for SM we were supposed to be a 2'9" to 3'. This time we're at 2'.
Oh well, I don't mind to much since 2' is still a good height for Pony but it gives us a bit of a break to make more mistakes and she won't have to be exactly perpendicular to the jump like she likes to a the bigger heights. I have no idea how high we'll get to, but I don't think it will be more than 2'9".
If I remember right, the 2' class is actually 2'-2'3" and then 2'6"-2'9".
It's supposed to be a pretty small show, there's about 28 people entered. But the 2' class is usually the most popular so the warm up ring sucks ass. It's always packed and everyone is in everyone elses way (and there's less of a chance of getting a ribbon). Plus since I've never had Pony in a jumper warm up ring, I have no idea what she's going to be like when the other horses are that close to her. K has only ever taken her in dressage shows and she's said Pony is not exactly spooky, but things catch her attention a bit more than they do at home.
We're also bringing one of her stronger bits, since her owner has told us she needs it at jumping shows. That's great, makes me so much more confident going into this [sarcasm :)]. Hopefully she'll be good and we can ride in the normal bit. She has a few different bits and one of them is insanely harsh looking. I can't remember what it's called, but it's two separate skinny bars, each twisted and when it bends it looks like a W. We aren't taking that one and I would never want to use it, but even a normal snaffle can be harsh in the wrong hands.
A few things to remember for this show:
She doesn't like sand hitting the jumps, so be ready on the land after a box or plank
She looks around more at shows than at home
Think of her as a spring and remember to collect her but not lose speed/compulsion so she can extend again if she has too
Try and get her as straight to every jump as possible
Speed doesn't count in the first round, just go clear
I think that's all the advice she gave and all that I can remember. And my child slave has abandoned me!
My sister, she's got a big babysitting job so she won't be at the show to help out. Once I wrote a social presentation on the advantages of child labour. It was a joke of coarse, but my sisters friend presented it in her class and got 75%. Good stuff.
Fingers crossed all goes well tomorrow.
My all time favourite advice from a pro rider about showing (sadly I can't remember his name, so lame) "if you stop getting nervous you should go find a new sport". Maybe it's just me, but it's nice to know even the pros get nervous before a show.
Sadly because of the rain we aren't even at the height we were in June, for SM we were supposed to be a 2'9" to 3'. This time we're at 2'.
Oh well, I don't mind to much since 2' is still a good height for Pony but it gives us a bit of a break to make more mistakes and she won't have to be exactly perpendicular to the jump like she likes to a the bigger heights. I have no idea how high we'll get to, but I don't think it will be more than 2'9".
If I remember right, the 2' class is actually 2'-2'3" and then 2'6"-2'9".
It's supposed to be a pretty small show, there's about 28 people entered. But the 2' class is usually the most popular so the warm up ring sucks ass. It's always packed and everyone is in everyone elses way (and there's less of a chance of getting a ribbon). Plus since I've never had Pony in a jumper warm up ring, I have no idea what she's going to be like when the other horses are that close to her. K has only ever taken her in dressage shows and she's said Pony is not exactly spooky, but things catch her attention a bit more than they do at home.
We're also bringing one of her stronger bits, since her owner has told us she needs it at jumping shows. That's great, makes me so much more confident going into this [sarcasm :)]. Hopefully she'll be good and we can ride in the normal bit. She has a few different bits and one of them is insanely harsh looking. I can't remember what it's called, but it's two separate skinny bars, each twisted and when it bends it looks like a W. We aren't taking that one and I would never want to use it, but even a normal snaffle can be harsh in the wrong hands.
A few things to remember for this show:
She doesn't like sand hitting the jumps, so be ready on the land after a box or plank
She looks around more at shows than at home
Think of her as a spring and remember to collect her but not lose speed/compulsion so she can extend again if she has too
Try and get her as straight to every jump as possible
Speed doesn't count in the first round, just go clear
I think that's all the advice she gave and all that I can remember. And my child slave has abandoned me!
My sister, she's got a big babysitting job so she won't be at the show to help out. Once I wrote a social presentation on the advantages of child labour. It was a joke of coarse, but my sisters friend presented it in her class and got 75%. Good stuff.
Fingers crossed all goes well tomorrow.
My all time favourite advice from a pro rider about showing (sadly I can't remember his name, so lame) "if you stop getting nervous you should go find a new sport". Maybe it's just me, but it's nice to know even the pros get nervous before a show.
Stupid Blogger.. and riding of corse
Stupid blogger will not let me comment on my own blog even though my email is a google account.
Right, so terrible news first: Gross, bad rider girl is now riding Pony too. Turns out Pony doesn't test her dressage riders the same way she does the jumping ones, which kind of sucks because apperantly this girl really likes her. Damn.
If it was someone who wasn't horrible, I'd be sooo happy that someone was doing lots of dressage work with her, it would get her back in shape faster and would be so helpful for jumping. But no such luck. Fingers crossed the other horse gets better quick.
Last Thursday we had a decent lesson, we were inside because it rained again. It was a pretty simple coarse that was designed with her some what lower fitness level in mind and she did quite well once we go going.
We have a reoccuring problem when coming to jumps off the rail, she knows they're coming and will cut of the end of the arena and start to turn to soon and no matter what you change she will keep doing it! It's super frustrating and there's only so much you can do to get her back to the wall and turn straight before you get to the jump, so I'll have to find a way to deal with that on free rides.
We had a couple run outs and then I fell off on one, Pony still ran away, but this time she just walked instead of doing the whole canter and buck around the arena. Once we got on real coarse pace she did great, as she usaully does. I don't get why it's taken so long for this "think sports car" to properly sink in. But I think it finally has.
On Tuesday we were back outside and doing a longer coarse and it was really hot, thank god for the wind or I might have passed out.
It's a bit lame but the jumps we are doing now are about 2'6"-2'9" and that's what we were warming up over in June and July but we haven't done 2'9" in a while so they seem so much scarier, pathetic. This coarse had two oxers; one was the red fan jump and the other was a yellow plank/yellow pole parallel oxer. I thought we would have more trouble with the oxer but that's just me, Pony didn't care at all.
The one she did care about was the lattice jump, she was fine going to the left but when we were on coarse going to the right, she just freaked out and wasn't pleased to go near it. Again we had the same problem with her turning on her own and to soon, even though we came at it off a circle but she knew she was jumping.
She did run out at the brown and white jump we had problems with last week but the second time we came at it, she felt a bit backed off and was looking at it, so I "yelled" at her and she jumped it, if a bit close.
She was good on the lines, didn't care about the oxers, she did run out at the fan, but we didn't have a distance so it wasn't her fault.
But she's starting to use her back end a bit more so thats really helping.
The green verticle she ran out on in the second coarse, we just didn't have a good approach I think was the reason, but we came back to it, stopped again. Came a third time and she was so determinded to get over it that she caught me a bit of guard and we missed the short turn to the next jump and had to take the long way. But she jumped it fine.
The last line was seven pony stirdes and she took off so far from the lattice jump, my friend said her horse could have fit into the extra distance and her horse is HUGE! It was kind of like hitting a turbo button, she had this nice canter heading into the jump and then wham! she took off super long and then was off like a shot to the second jump. It was actually kind of funny, but my friend was like "aren't you terrified?". No, she has done scarier things than that, and Tommy liked his longs so I'm a bit used to them. Did not catcher her in the mouth which is great!
My usual release is grab mane 1/4 up her neck and then full realese with the left hand, which has got us into to trouble before, but now that I'm actually aware of it, I've been able to work on it and now most of the time I can give her the full realese (grab mane with both hands!) and not catcher her and that's also helped a lot.
We have a show on Saturday, just a tiny one but hopefully it won't get rained out like every other show this season.
On Thursday, we had a pretty good lesson, the jumps were pretty small and she did well even over the scary looking ones so hopefully she'll have some confidence going into the show on Saturday.
Right, so terrible news first: Gross, bad rider girl is now riding Pony too. Turns out Pony doesn't test her dressage riders the same way she does the jumping ones, which kind of sucks because apperantly this girl really likes her. Damn.
If it was someone who wasn't horrible, I'd be sooo happy that someone was doing lots of dressage work with her, it would get her back in shape faster and would be so helpful for jumping. But no such luck. Fingers crossed the other horse gets better quick.
Last Thursday we had a decent lesson, we were inside because it rained again. It was a pretty simple coarse that was designed with her some what lower fitness level in mind and she did quite well once we go going.
We have a reoccuring problem when coming to jumps off the rail, she knows they're coming and will cut of the end of the arena and start to turn to soon and no matter what you change she will keep doing it! It's super frustrating and there's only so much you can do to get her back to the wall and turn straight before you get to the jump, so I'll have to find a way to deal with that on free rides.
We had a couple run outs and then I fell off on one, Pony still ran away, but this time she just walked instead of doing the whole canter and buck around the arena. Once we got on real coarse pace she did great, as she usaully does. I don't get why it's taken so long for this "think sports car" to properly sink in. But I think it finally has.
On Tuesday we were back outside and doing a longer coarse and it was really hot, thank god for the wind or I might have passed out.
It's a bit lame but the jumps we are doing now are about 2'6"-2'9" and that's what we were warming up over in June and July but we haven't done 2'9" in a while so they seem so much scarier, pathetic. This coarse had two oxers; one was the red fan jump and the other was a yellow plank/yellow pole parallel oxer. I thought we would have more trouble with the oxer but that's just me, Pony didn't care at all.
The one she did care about was the lattice jump, she was fine going to the left but when we were on coarse going to the right, she just freaked out and wasn't pleased to go near it. Again we had the same problem with her turning on her own and to soon, even though we came at it off a circle but she knew she was jumping.
She did run out at the brown and white jump we had problems with last week but the second time we came at it, she felt a bit backed off and was looking at it, so I "yelled" at her and she jumped it, if a bit close.
She was good on the lines, didn't care about the oxers, she did run out at the fan, but we didn't have a distance so it wasn't her fault.
But she's starting to use her back end a bit more so thats really helping.
The green verticle she ran out on in the second coarse, we just didn't have a good approach I think was the reason, but we came back to it, stopped again. Came a third time and she was so determinded to get over it that she caught me a bit of guard and we missed the short turn to the next jump and had to take the long way. But she jumped it fine.
The last line was seven pony stirdes and she took off so far from the lattice jump, my friend said her horse could have fit into the extra distance and her horse is HUGE! It was kind of like hitting a turbo button, she had this nice canter heading into the jump and then wham! she took off super long and then was off like a shot to the second jump. It was actually kind of funny, but my friend was like "aren't you terrified?". No, she has done scarier things than that, and Tommy liked his longs so I'm a bit used to them. Did not catcher her in the mouth which is great!
My usual release is grab mane 1/4 up her neck and then full realese with the left hand, which has got us into to trouble before, but now that I'm actually aware of it, I've been able to work on it and now most of the time I can give her the full realese (grab mane with both hands!) and not catcher her and that's also helped a lot.
We have a show on Saturday, just a tiny one but hopefully it won't get rained out like every other show this season.
On Thursday, we had a pretty good lesson, the jumps were pretty small and she did well even over the scary looking ones so hopefully she'll have some confidence going into the show on Saturday.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
It Was A Good Lesson....
Until the very very end.
But to start with:
We did ride outside, it wasn't overly hot, the jumps were about 2'6" (possibly a 2'9" oxer but it wasn't marked so I'm not sure).
The course was fairly difficult and K said it was designed to be exhausting, and it was.
For the most part the crazy was kept to a minimum, she started out really well but was really into looking at what was going on around her and then spooking at a few things..like jump poles on the ground. Her trot was much like last day but she was really good when it came to the canter, she wasn't fighting picking up the lead and she didn't get rushy like she sometimes does when we jump outside.
However she did have a few small moments where it felt like she would bolt, she did start a few times but came back really well when I asked. After one jump she did try to buck a bit, I'm not really sure what the problem was. She dropped her head and got in a couple small ones while I was trying to pull her head up, we missed the turn to the jump.
So K said if she ever tries that again (hopefully not) to turn her head to the side and keep looking at where I wanted Pony to go and turning her head, she won't be able to buck and it may remind her what we are supposed to be doing. Luckily she didn't try bucking again.
There was one jump that she really hated while going away from home. It was a brown plank ground line with white writing and a plain brown pole, but the paint kind of reflected the sun which I don't think she liked, so we had problems with that.
There was another jump that was so weird, it was only 2'6" but coming up to it, it looked much bigger. And it's not even a jump meant for illusion, the standards are quite tall so it should look smaller, even with the arenas slight grade it shouldn't have looked like that. Maybe it was the heat.
She jumped beautifully though, so I'm really happy with her and now I know what may be coming on Thursday, unless it rains, then we'll be back inside.
So, the horrible part: I've mentioned this chick before, she's a huuuuuuuge bitch and god awful rider, but her lease horse is lame, which is of coarse horrible, the mare is (usually) a very sweet horse, at least when you're on the ground. She was riding one of my friends horses, but my friend also can't stand her and is really pissed this girl is riding him even though she understands why.
There are no other horses for this girl right now except possibly Pony. It was hard to over hear exactly what they were saying because my friend was trying to wipe some weird medicated horse cream on my arm and we were being a bit loud, but it did sound something like "you may not like her but..." and "the only other option may be Pony." Fuuuuuck. I'll be so pissed if that chick starts riding her, she'll probably ruin her, I still blame her for Tommy becoming so girthy (it started after she started riding him so it's not a big leap to blame her). Did I mention she sucks at riding? I hope Pony doesn't like her, she likes to test her new riders and provided the girl isn't hurt, I kind of hope she fails the test. Or that T (her horse) gets better ASAP. I know I sound like a bitch, but I don't like sharing horses, a pit fall of leasing. And I'll be pissed as hell if this effects my riding schedule. I ride three times a week on set days, and this girl needs to work around it. I don't care she rides on Tuesdays as well, it's my lesson day and she can go away.
Went to gym, 2km run in 13min
5 min rowing (859meters)
30 sec plank
20 sit ups (2 reps)
no stretching
=lazy workout
Tomorrow is another run and weights and plank.
But to start with:
We did ride outside, it wasn't overly hot, the jumps were about 2'6" (possibly a 2'9" oxer but it wasn't marked so I'm not sure).
The course was fairly difficult and K said it was designed to be exhausting, and it was.
For the most part the crazy was kept to a minimum, she started out really well but was really into looking at what was going on around her and then spooking at a few things..like jump poles on the ground. Her trot was much like last day but she was really good when it came to the canter, she wasn't fighting picking up the lead and she didn't get rushy like she sometimes does when we jump outside.
However she did have a few small moments where it felt like she would bolt, she did start a few times but came back really well when I asked. After one jump she did try to buck a bit, I'm not really sure what the problem was. She dropped her head and got in a couple small ones while I was trying to pull her head up, we missed the turn to the jump.
So K said if she ever tries that again (hopefully not) to turn her head to the side and keep looking at where I wanted Pony to go and turning her head, she won't be able to buck and it may remind her what we are supposed to be doing. Luckily she didn't try bucking again.
There was one jump that she really hated while going away from home. It was a brown plank ground line with white writing and a plain brown pole, but the paint kind of reflected the sun which I don't think she liked, so we had problems with that.
There was another jump that was so weird, it was only 2'6" but coming up to it, it looked much bigger. And it's not even a jump meant for illusion, the standards are quite tall so it should look smaller, even with the arenas slight grade it shouldn't have looked like that. Maybe it was the heat.
She jumped beautifully though, so I'm really happy with her and now I know what may be coming on Thursday, unless it rains, then we'll be back inside.
So, the horrible part: I've mentioned this chick before, she's a huuuuuuuge bitch and god awful rider, but her lease horse is lame, which is of coarse horrible, the mare is (usually) a very sweet horse, at least when you're on the ground. She was riding one of my friends horses, but my friend also can't stand her and is really pissed this girl is riding him even though she understands why.
There are no other horses for this girl right now except possibly Pony. It was hard to over hear exactly what they were saying because my friend was trying to wipe some weird medicated horse cream on my arm and we were being a bit loud, but it did sound something like "you may not like her but..." and "the only other option may be Pony." Fuuuuuck. I'll be so pissed if that chick starts riding her, she'll probably ruin her, I still blame her for Tommy becoming so girthy (it started after she started riding him so it's not a big leap to blame her). Did I mention she sucks at riding? I hope Pony doesn't like her, she likes to test her new riders and provided the girl isn't hurt, I kind of hope she fails the test. Or that T (her horse) gets better ASAP. I know I sound like a bitch, but I don't like sharing horses, a pit fall of leasing. And I'll be pissed as hell if this effects my riding schedule. I ride three times a week on set days, and this girl needs to work around it. I don't care she rides on Tuesdays as well, it's my lesson day and she can go away.
Went to gym, 2km run in 13min
5 min rowing (859meters)
30 sec plank
20 sit ups (2 reps)
no stretching
=lazy workout
Tomorrow is another run and weights and plank.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Finaly Back
And I have lots of blogs to catch up on.
I did my free ride on Sunday and was excepting Pony to be out of her mind crazy because she hasn't been ridden in two weeks. K was going to start riding her in the second week but life gets in the way, so Pony had some extra time off.
Surprisingly enough, she was not insane. At all.
Her trot felt slower than usual even when asking for more, but I suppose she's lost some cardio after her time off too. So we did lots of trotting and circling etc. It's finally nice here and we can ride outside, but because I was worried about her being crazy (even under normal circumstances she's crazier outside), and I forgot sunscreen so we stayed inside.
At the canter she had more speed but was not up to course pace at all. So I'm kind of worried about the jumping lesson tomorrow because we are both out of shape, it's really hot out and we'll be riding outside. So I'm kind of hoping that K won't have us do anything to high or difficult this week, just so we can see how it goes. Not to mention the last few times we rode outside they didn't exactly go well.
At the canter she was okayish. She really had a bit of trouble picking up the leads, but I'm assuming it's because she's out of shape and not wanting to work very hard.
We did a lot of circles, but at first they were more like ovals because she was refusing to bend her neck and turn her nose in even a bit. Even to the right which is usually where she has more than enough bend, but she was not having it. She did not want to respond to "give-and-take" or anything. Which is why I'm a bit worried about tomorrow.
Fingers crossed for smallish jumps, an easy course, for it not to be to hot and for Pony not to be insane.
I did my free ride on Sunday and was excepting Pony to be out of her mind crazy because she hasn't been ridden in two weeks. K was going to start riding her in the second week but life gets in the way, so Pony had some extra time off.
Surprisingly enough, she was not insane. At all.
Her trot felt slower than usual even when asking for more, but I suppose she's lost some cardio after her time off too. So we did lots of trotting and circling etc. It's finally nice here and we can ride outside, but because I was worried about her being crazy (even under normal circumstances she's crazier outside), and I forgot sunscreen so we stayed inside.
At the canter she had more speed but was not up to course pace at all. So I'm kind of worried about the jumping lesson tomorrow because we are both out of shape, it's really hot out and we'll be riding outside. So I'm kind of hoping that K won't have us do anything to high or difficult this week, just so we can see how it goes. Not to mention the last few times we rode outside they didn't exactly go well.
At the canter she was okayish. She really had a bit of trouble picking up the leads, but I'm assuming it's because she's out of shape and not wanting to work very hard.
We did a lot of circles, but at first they were more like ovals because she was refusing to bend her neck and turn her nose in even a bit. Even to the right which is usually where she has more than enough bend, but she was not having it. She did not want to respond to "give-and-take" or anything. Which is why I'm a bit worried about tomorrow.
Fingers crossed for smallish jumps, an easy course, for it not to be to hot and for Pony not to be insane.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Awesome Thursday...Mostly
I have my workouts from the past few days, but I'm to tired (lazy) to get them and post them, there's time for that later.
I work at the barn in the morning starting at 7, and I get up at 6, which I was all mad about because I was sick last night. But...IT WAS SUNNY TODAY!! Also I saw frogs. I love frogs. Anyway, the it's been clouding and raining for weeks now, so it was great to finally see the sun.
I worked on Tuesday afternoon and my back hurt so bad and then the ride was not brilliant and I though that we might have a repeat because I thought my back was sore from walking/standing in boots with no support but no problems today!
One of my favorite horses at the barn is a little Morgan, he's sooo sweet. Usually he gets oats and vitamins after a training session but he had today off so I could bring them out to him or him to them. I wanted to be outside so I brought them to him and he was lying out in his pen and when he saw me and the black bucket he made a move like he was going to get up, but then seemed to change his mind and stayed down. He got his oates, ate them lying down, spoiled thing. I wish my phone could upload pictures, it's so cute. Finally he got up when I left and walked half way to the gate with me.
I had to bring in another horse later and he was sleeping the nice cool dirt with the horses in his pen and was not happy to have get up and come in the barn. He makes all these groaning/sighing sounds before he finally got up. Cute.
Pissy Pony has made a return on flat work. We were supposed to trot up the center line and pick up the left lead canter. We did this on Tuesday as well and she was not having it. She kicked at my leg, turns to the side, picks up the wrong lead, leaps forward, yet she's fine to pick them up along the wall. In the end we got it twice out of to many tries to count.
Jumping was a simple course. Up the four stride (vertical to Swedish oxer) down the wall a bit across the diagonal to a vertical up the wall and across to another vertical (sometimes back to the four stride). She did great!! She isn't a horse that's always easy to trust when jumping but when she gets up to course pace it's brilliant. So proud of her jumping today.
Then I went to gym which is for another post, and got a call from the bookstore because the books I ordered are FINALLY here! So I got to pick them up and bought Persuasion by Jane Austen, Wicked by Gregory Maguire, The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens and Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.
The best day in a long time I think.
I work at the barn in the morning starting at 7, and I get up at 6, which I was all mad about because I was sick last night. But...IT WAS SUNNY TODAY!! Also I saw frogs. I love frogs. Anyway, the it's been clouding and raining for weeks now, so it was great to finally see the sun.
I worked on Tuesday afternoon and my back hurt so bad and then the ride was not brilliant and I though that we might have a repeat because I thought my back was sore from walking/standing in boots with no support but no problems today!
One of my favorite horses at the barn is a little Morgan, he's sooo sweet. Usually he gets oats and vitamins after a training session but he had today off so I could bring them out to him or him to them. I wanted to be outside so I brought them to him and he was lying out in his pen and when he saw me and the black bucket he made a move like he was going to get up, but then seemed to change his mind and stayed down. He got his oates, ate them lying down, spoiled thing. I wish my phone could upload pictures, it's so cute. Finally he got up when I left and walked half way to the gate with me.
I had to bring in another horse later and he was sleeping the nice cool dirt with the horses in his pen and was not happy to have get up and come in the barn. He makes all these groaning/sighing sounds before he finally got up. Cute.
Pissy Pony has made a return on flat work. We were supposed to trot up the center line and pick up the left lead canter. We did this on Tuesday as well and she was not having it. She kicked at my leg, turns to the side, picks up the wrong lead, leaps forward, yet she's fine to pick them up along the wall. In the end we got it twice out of to many tries to count.
Jumping was a simple course. Up the four stride (vertical to Swedish oxer) down the wall a bit across the diagonal to a vertical up the wall and across to another vertical (sometimes back to the four stride). She did great!! She isn't a horse that's always easy to trust when jumping but when she gets up to course pace it's brilliant. So proud of her jumping today.
Then I went to gym which is for another post, and got a call from the bookstore because the books I ordered are FINALLY here! So I got to pick them up and bought Persuasion by Jane Austen, Wicked by Gregory Maguire, The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens and Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.
The best day in a long time I think.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Thursday & Workouts
I worked Thursday morning at the barn and then had a riding lesson.
Pony was good, we had one random refusal, which was actually random because we had a good distance, good pase etc. but she stopped anyway. Other than that she was okay.
She got really backed of the blue and yellow truck jump but K was thinking the blue might be hard for them to see and then she was backed of the lattice jump in that line, but she still went over when I yelled/clucked at her.
We also did a lot of work on bridling up, my arms were sore after from trying to get her to keep her head up, so I'll have to do more weights I think!
Thrusday Workout
Cardio: 30 min bike ride @ level 8
distance: 13km
= 939.1 km left
Core: 45 sec plank x2
10 sit ups x4
10 Russian twists x3
30 sec V sit
10 squates x2
10 lunges x2
no weights and no stretching, not good.
Todays workout:
Cardio: 15min run @ 5
Core: 45sec plank
This ^^^ is why I shouldn't work out at home. The run was surprisingly not bad because my home treadmill suuuuucks but that's more for sprint training because by the time it gets to the fast sprint, it's time to go back to a jog and on and on. I try to go the gym and not workout at home because I just don't work as hard at home as I do at the gym.
I was reading a thing about ab training myths/truths and one was something about not doing ab training more than four times a week and not on consecutive days. So I guess I'll have to do a bit more planning for my working out, except plank, that is everyday. So I'll alternate weights and core I guess.
Pony was good, we had one random refusal, which was actually random because we had a good distance, good pase etc. but she stopped anyway. Other than that she was okay.
She got really backed of the blue and yellow truck jump but K was thinking the blue might be hard for them to see and then she was backed of the lattice jump in that line, but she still went over when I yelled/clucked at her.
We also did a lot of work on bridling up, my arms were sore after from trying to get her to keep her head up, so I'll have to do more weights I think!
Thrusday Workout
Cardio: 30 min bike ride @ level 8
distance: 13km
= 939.1 km left
Core: 45 sec plank x2
10 sit ups x4
10 Russian twists x3
30 sec V sit
10 squates x2
10 lunges x2
no weights and no stretching, not good.
Todays workout:
Cardio: 15min run @ 5
Core: 45sec plank
This ^^^ is why I shouldn't work out at home. The run was surprisingly not bad because my home treadmill suuuuucks but that's more for sprint training because by the time it gets to the fast sprint, it's time to go back to a jog and on and on. I try to go the gym and not workout at home because I just don't work as hard at home as I do at the gym.
I was reading a thing about ab training myths/truths and one was something about not doing ab training more than four times a week and not on consecutive days. So I guess I'll have to do a bit more planning for my working out, except plank, that is everyday. So I'll alternate weights and core I guess.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Lattice Jumps & Kieser bikes
So today we were working on using the corners more effectively during the coarse. Pony was soo good, I thought she might have a problem with the lattice jump even though she's done them a million times before, but she was great, didn't look at it all. She did look at the truck jump and it was really awkward and I ended up catching her mouth but she didn't back off at the next jump like she sometimes does.
Then she ran out at the fan but that wasn't to big of a deal, we just didn't have a distance she wasn't being naughty or anything. When we came back to it she was good.
We did some more work on leg yielding and she was great! So hopefully that means they're improving.
K was talking about rider fitness today and how important core strength is when riding, not only to support your back but when your jumping and your horse pulls forward that you can have the strength to try and pull yourself back up.
Today's workout and yoga routine 1:
Cardio: 2min walk @ 2.5
18min run @ 5
Keiser Bike: 12minutes on gear 8 (80+ RPM) with random "hills" on gear 18 for 30 sec
So for the biking, there's a thing on the console that says "trip" I assumed that would mean miles or km, turns out it means revs so 4.0 is actually 4000 revs. Which doesn't convert to km and so doesn't count towards the Pacific Highway.
Oh well, it was still a good workout, just means I have to use a different bike but that sucks because I really love the Keiser bike.
Core: 10 sit ups x4
10 Russian twists x3 with 6lb ball
30 sec V sit x3 with 6lb ball
5 leg lifts x2
45 sec plank
30 sec plank
10 burpees x2
Weights: 12.5lb barbells
10 bicep curls x3
10 triceps curls x3
Stretch
I should do different things with weights like dead lifts and chest flies. Forgot to do squats, lunges and calf raises, but there's always tomorrow.
Yoga
This is a really beginner/simple one I have in a yoga book but this sites diagram is way better.
Sun Salutation yoga routine
Then she ran out at the fan but that wasn't to big of a deal, we just didn't have a distance she wasn't being naughty or anything. When we came back to it she was good.
We did some more work on leg yielding and she was great! So hopefully that means they're improving.
K was talking about rider fitness today and how important core strength is when riding, not only to support your back but when your jumping and your horse pulls forward that you can have the strength to try and pull yourself back up.
Today's workout and yoga routine 1:
Cardio: 2min walk @ 2.5
18min run @ 5
Keiser Bike: 12minutes on gear 8 (80+ RPM) with random "hills" on gear 18 for 30 sec
So for the biking, there's a thing on the console that says "trip" I assumed that would mean miles or km, turns out it means revs so 4.0 is actually 4000 revs. Which doesn't convert to km and so doesn't count towards the Pacific Highway.
Oh well, it was still a good workout, just means I have to use a different bike but that sucks because I really love the Keiser bike.
Core: 10 sit ups x4
10 Russian twists x3 with 6lb ball
30 sec V sit x3 with 6lb ball
5 leg lifts x2
45 sec plank
30 sec plank
10 burpees x2
Weights: 12.5lb barbells
10 bicep curls x3
10 triceps curls x3
Stretch
I should do different things with weights like dead lifts and chest flies. Forgot to do squats, lunges and calf raises, but there's always tomorrow.
Yoga
This is a really beginner/simple one I have in a yoga book but this sites diagram is way better.
Sun Salutation yoga routine
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Refusals
Today was a bad day for jumping.
We were inside again because it's been raining all week, which means we probably won't be going to the show on Saturday either.
Anyway, Pony was out on a bigger field and spent the day running around like a mad woman, so she was pretty tired for the lesson. Which is to bad because we had three AMAZING jumps, but she was just stopping and running out all over the place. Eventually she got it and we did okay, hopefully she'll be better on Thursday.
So I work out quite a lot and at a fairly high intensity, I have a personal trainer who is also an eventer, and I've been meaning to post workouts and keep track of them and weight loss on my other blog. But I'm just far to lazy for that crap.
Today I went to the gym with one of my best friends, she doesn't workout that much, she does Curves circuit stuff, but thats all just weights and core no cardio. I tried to get her to do one of my trainers workouts that she emailed me while she's showing in the states. But because she isn't used to training like this or running it wasn't the best workout ever. It's a a really good one so I'm planning on heading back and doing it on my own. My other friend, L, that I often work out with is being a bit of a tool about the gym, I work for my trainer on Thursday mornings from 7 to 11 and then I have a lesson at 11. She knows this but asked if I wanted to carpool to the lesson and workout after, I told her no to carpooling and why but that we could go to the gym after but now she's all pouty and angry, fuck I hate people sometimes.
Anyway, here's the workout:
Part 1:
1 lap hard run
10 burpees
Run 1 length
20 mountain climbers (10 each side)
Run 1 length
10 jump squats
Run 1 length
10 push ups
Repeat x3
Part 2:
1 lap hard run
1 length high knees
jog short end
1 length butt kicks
jog end
1 length walking lunges
jog end
1 length side squats
Repeat x3
Part 3:
Sprint length
jog end
Repeat for 2 laps
We were inside again because it's been raining all week, which means we probably won't be going to the show on Saturday either.
Anyway, Pony was out on a bigger field and spent the day running around like a mad woman, so she was pretty tired for the lesson. Which is to bad because we had three AMAZING jumps, but she was just stopping and running out all over the place. Eventually she got it and we did okay, hopefully she'll be better on Thursday.
So I work out quite a lot and at a fairly high intensity, I have a personal trainer who is also an eventer, and I've been meaning to post workouts and keep track of them and weight loss on my other blog. But I'm just far to lazy for that crap.
Today I went to the gym with one of my best friends, she doesn't workout that much, she does Curves circuit stuff, but thats all just weights and core no cardio. I tried to get her to do one of my trainers workouts that she emailed me while she's showing in the states. But because she isn't used to training like this or running it wasn't the best workout ever. It's a a really good one so I'm planning on heading back and doing it on my own. My other friend, L, that I often work out with is being a bit of a tool about the gym, I work for my trainer on Thursday mornings from 7 to 11 and then I have a lesson at 11. She knows this but asked if I wanted to carpool to the lesson and workout after, I told her no to carpooling and why but that we could go to the gym after but now she's all pouty and angry, fuck I hate people sometimes.
Anyway, here's the workout:
Part 1:
1 lap hard run
10 burpees
Run 1 length
20 mountain climbers (10 each side)
Run 1 length
10 jump squats
Run 1 length
10 push ups
Repeat x3
Part 2:
1 lap hard run
1 length high knees
jog short end
1 length butt kicks
jog end
1 length walking lunges
jog end
1 length side squats
Repeat x3
Part 3:
Sprint length
jog end
Repeat for 2 laps
It is best to do this workout on a track, but you can do it basically anywhere where you can run. If you don’t have a track, use time (approx 45 seconds) instead of lengths. You can alternate part 1, part 2, and part 3, or complete all sets of each before moving on. Part one will really get your heart rate up, so use your jogs to catch your breath. Do the exercises in the corners of the track or off to the side. Focus on form in part two, and try to get you lunges and squats nice and low. Take your time here. Part 3 is just another heart rate rever, so go all out to finish off.
Yeah, so my friend only made it through one set of part 1 and part 2 and walking instead of jogging in part 2.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
This Week
My computer had to spend some time at Staples having virus's removed this last week, so I haven't bothered blogging.
Pony's done well so far. We had a lease ride on Monday, and it was our first ride in the outdoor ring!! She did better than I thought, she was only super quick to the left, but over all she was really well behaved.
Tuesday, we did our warm up hack outside and again she was pretty good. We're working on bending to the outside, while cantering and eventually we'll be learning to counter canter. Sounds exciting. My friend L got booted from the lesson though because she was late AGAIN! She is always, always, always late. I've never had a lesson with her where she's been on time. So she was pissed, understandably, but it's her own damn fault, so I have no sympathy for her right now.
We jumped inside, and had some trouble with the triple combination. The first two jumps were one stride apart and then three strides, but we had some trouble with the three because I kept leaning at her and she was like "umm no?", but once I sat up, we got the line done perfectly. She didn't even give the Swedish oxer a second look! Good mare! =) Ah, she's so awesome!
Tomorrow is our second jumping lesson and then next week (weather permitting) we get to start jumping outside!
Pony's done well so far. We had a lease ride on Monday, and it was our first ride in the outdoor ring!! She did better than I thought, she was only super quick to the left, but over all she was really well behaved.
Tuesday, we did our warm up hack outside and again she was pretty good. We're working on bending to the outside, while cantering and eventually we'll be learning to counter canter. Sounds exciting. My friend L got booted from the lesson though because she was late AGAIN! She is always, always, always late. I've never had a lesson with her where she's been on time. So she was pissed, understandably, but it's her own damn fault, so I have no sympathy for her right now.
We jumped inside, and had some trouble with the triple combination. The first two jumps were one stride apart and then three strides, but we had some trouble with the three because I kept leaning at her and she was like "umm no?", but once I sat up, we got the line done perfectly. She didn't even give the Swedish oxer a second look! Good mare! =) Ah, she's so awesome!
Tomorrow is our second jumping lesson and then next week (weather permitting) we get to start jumping outside!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday
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.
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.
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.
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