Kokanee!
Rocky!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Oxers
We're back to having problems with the left lead, which is incredibly frustrating and my trainer is not a whole lot of help. She really is fantastic most of the time but all she says is "you need to feel when he picks up the wrong lead". WTF am I feeling for?! He's left lead feels terrible and when he's going left on the right lead, it still feels terrible!!
Once we got over that and started jumping he did really well though! Me and Kokanee haven't done oxers together before so that was exciting. The first time over was quite awkward and he really popped over it, but we did the course a couple more times and as he got more comfortable he really improved!
It sounds like he was good in the dressage clinic for J but apparently she likes him now, so she's riding him as well now. I don't like sharing horses. At all. It's great that he's getting all this extra work and I think it will really help him improve but I just hate sharing lease horses. I've had to share them before and during the winter it's fine but it complicates things during show season and K has hinted a couple times it will be Kokanee who I might end up showing not Rocky. I've only had to share Tommy during show season once and the other chick rode dressage so it wasn't a big deal. But both me and this other girl jump so that will cause problems. Possibly, I don't know if she shows, I've never even met her before.
And I really did try to get some pictures of Kokanee but my phone sucks in indoor lighting.
Once we got over that and started jumping he did really well though! Me and Kokanee haven't done oxers together before so that was exciting. The first time over was quite awkward and he really popped over it, but we did the course a couple more times and as he got more comfortable he really improved!
It sounds like he was good in the dressage clinic for J but apparently she likes him now, so she's riding him as well now. I don't like sharing horses. At all. It's great that he's getting all this extra work and I think it will really help him improve but I just hate sharing lease horses. I've had to share them before and during the winter it's fine but it complicates things during show season and K has hinted a couple times it will be Kokanee who I might end up showing not Rocky. I've only had to share Tommy during show season once and the other chick rode dressage so it wasn't a big deal. But both me and this other girl jump so that will cause problems. Possibly, I don't know if she shows, I've never even met her before.
And I really did try to get some pictures of Kokanee but my phone sucks in indoor lighting.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Back in November or October probably, only just figured out how to get them off my phone
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Kokanee & Roxy
I had a lesson with Kokanee on Thursday night, that weird bump on his eye looks quite a lot smaller than last week, so that's good. His owners are apparently not worried about it for some reason...
Sooo that's a bit weird..
He was really good for the jumping part of our lesson. We did another grid, this time with four jumps in a row (slowly building up to that of course). It was the first time he's ever done a four jump combination and he did really well, he kept trying to drift out to the right but once I started keeping my left rein open he stayed straighter.
We've had less problems picking up the left lead the past couple weeks, but he did struggle with it on Thursday.
No Saturday ride with him because some other girl is taking him in the dressage clinic, even though he's a terrible dressage horse and she doesn't even like him. Not sure how that pairing was made.
Today I rode Roxy instead and we did the same grid only it was like 2.5 jumps because the last vertical was turned into half a cross pole because she was just not getting what was going on.
She was fine when it was just a single jump and then when it was two but once the third one was up it was just to hard for her. She seemed to be focusing to much on the third before we even got to the second.
She always tries hard though, so she's not trying to be naughty or anything. She did very well with the leg yielding and lengthening X pattern which is great, she short legs don't do much extending.
Sooo that's a bit weird..
He was really good for the jumping part of our lesson. We did another grid, this time with four jumps in a row (slowly building up to that of course). It was the first time he's ever done a four jump combination and he did really well, he kept trying to drift out to the right but once I started keeping my left rein open he stayed straighter.
We've had less problems picking up the left lead the past couple weeks, but he did struggle with it on Thursday.
No Saturday ride with him because some other girl is taking him in the dressage clinic, even though he's a terrible dressage horse and she doesn't even like him. Not sure how that pairing was made.
Today I rode Roxy instead and we did the same grid only it was like 2.5 jumps because the last vertical was turned into half a cross pole because she was just not getting what was going on.
She was fine when it was just a single jump and then when it was two but once the third one was up it was just to hard for her. She seemed to be focusing to much on the third before we even got to the second.
She always tries hard though, so she's not trying to be naughty or anything. She did very well with the leg yielding and lengthening X pattern which is great, she short legs don't do much extending.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday
Winter is finally here and all the horses at the barn are crazier than usual.
We did the same grid thing as last day only with out the single jump and going away from home today. Because we were going away from the outgate he wasn't quite as excited so it was a bit more work for him between the jumps. The highest one was about 2'6".
He's also getting better about picking up the left lead, only once he got the right instead.
That weird thing on his eye is still there but not any bigger than it was last day.
We did the same grid thing as last day only with out the single jump and going away from home today. Because we were going away from the outgate he wasn't quite as excited so it was a bit more work for him between the jumps. The highest one was about 2'6".
He's also getting better about picking up the left lead, only once he got the right instead.
That weird thing on his eye is still there but not any bigger than it was last day.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Tumor...?
Kokanee has some weird bump on his right lower eyelid that K thinks is just a cut but that we have to keep an eye on it to make sure it's not a tumor. What do you know about eye tumors (or tumors in general) on horses? If it is the vet can just remove it right? ...right?!
Well we had a much better ride than before, the vet was out on Tuesday to do teeth and sheath cleaning and she said both of his were really bad which explains a lot of his weird habits that he's come up with and his random stopping and refusing to move.
He had a lot of energy yesterday (which could also be because he hasn't been ridden in a week). No courses this week, just a grid and a single. He did really well over the grid, even when it got higher, like 2'9"ish maybe. The first time over that height, he just didn't give it the respect it needed and it came down. Second time round, he got over it, he's come such a long way since October and has a really beautiful jump now. The single jump was the white vertical which he doesn't really like and he started to wiggly and I really thought he was about to duck out but got him over and it stayed up, so we had a really good jumping lesson this week. Not sure if I'm riding on Saturday, I think Shelley's coming back for a dressage clinic this weekend so might not be any jumping lessons and I can't afford to go to the clinic this time because I just bought a pair of Underarmour running tights (and they are the greatest thing ever!) but they were the same price as the clinic. Plus it's not like Kokanee is cut out to be a dressage horse anyway.
Well we had a much better ride than before, the vet was out on Tuesday to do teeth and sheath cleaning and she said both of his were really bad which explains a lot of his weird habits that he's come up with and his random stopping and refusing to move.
He had a lot of energy yesterday (which could also be because he hasn't been ridden in a week). No courses this week, just a grid and a single. He did really well over the grid, even when it got higher, like 2'9"ish maybe. The first time over that height, he just didn't give it the respect it needed and it came down. Second time round, he got over it, he's come such a long way since October and has a really beautiful jump now. The single jump was the white vertical which he doesn't really like and he started to wiggly and I really thought he was about to duck out but got him over and it stayed up, so we had a really good jumping lesson this week. Not sure if I'm riding on Saturday, I think Shelley's coming back for a dressage clinic this weekend so might not be any jumping lessons and I can't afford to go to the clinic this time because I just bought a pair of Underarmour running tights (and they are the greatest thing ever!) but they were the same price as the clinic. Plus it's not like Kokanee is cut out to be a dressage horse anyway.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Rides & Tattoos
Again, I’m sorry for being such a terrible blogger and I’ve now forgotten most of my rides from the last two weeks until this past Saturday. Previously we’d done a lot of work on opening reins over the jumps to help get the horse into the corner and pick up the correct lead (which is a problem for Kokanee). Same thing with circles, opening the inside rein, steady contact with the out and using more leg. Kokanee had been improving quite rapidly even though a couple Thursdays ago we had a really poor ride, we recovered that Saturday and he did very well.
This Saturday he had loads of pent up energy because the ground in their pens is so icy and he hasn’t been ridden since last weekend. He actually bucked! I know it sounds like it, but I don’t mean it to sound like a good thing. It’s just exciting, one of the things I don’t like about him that he can be a bit boring at times, especially after Rocky and Pony, who were both delightfully insane, he’s just a bit…blah. There’s just not a lot of…fight… in him. That’s really not the best word, but I can’t think of a better one. Anyway, we were cantering on the left lead and it just felt really odd, he was on the correct lead (surprise b/c he hates the left and sometimes it’s hard to tell if it’s the correct lead b/c of the scar tissue and what not on the left side, so he’s got a pretty rough warm up canter). K said it looked like he was really under himself, rather than stretching out, then was we passed the home gate, he bucked. Despite that, he did really, really well when it came to the course! He’s improved so much, it’s fantastic. We’ve also been jumping “higher” than we have since I started riding him. Higher gets quotations marks b/c after doing 3’+ with Pony, they are a bit small. It’s to be expected with Kokanee though, he’s not nearly as athletic as Pony or even Rocky and we’re inside so the jumps are generally smaller (although that wasn’t always the case with the other two…).
I have two rides this week since I missed last Thursday b/c I got my tattoo on Wednesday! I thought it would be incredibly painful, but it really wasn’t and it certainly wasn’t a deterrent for any further tattoos, I have a few more that I’ve been dying to get, but they’re quite expensive. It means “consider the end” it’s my family’s Scottish clan motto.
I’m going on Weight Watchers and have signed up for a short 5K race this summer! Plus, if all goes well, I’ll get to go skydiving for my 19th! What else is new…? I saw the Woman in Black today, and it’s actually really scary, I jumped at everything and am expecting nightmares which rarely happen with most “scary” movies.
Tuesdays ride was not bad, but it wasn't great, we did one tiny little jump and the rest was dressage. It wasn't terrible but he's fighting a bit more and he bucked again. Only a small one, considering what Rocky can be like, but it really seems like it's just because he's so fresh from not being able to run outside in his icy pen.
Today's ride was better, "bigger" jumps and a few more than last day as well. He did well, he's actually picking up a his left lead on the straight now, which is fantastic! Overall his jumping was not bad either, he picked up the correct lead 90% of the time I remembered to open the correct rein on the land, except for the half circle/bending line down to the vertical where he always got disunited. I have to get you a picture of him soon, he's so adorable! We've also got a good show name for him (even though I'm supposed to be back with Rocky by then...) but it's going to be Kokanee Ranger, my friend wanted it to be KoKa Kocain b/c she's insane and that's the kind of thing she finds hilarious. But the ranger name is cute, even if the guy it's inspired by looks like pedo.
Tuesdays ride was not bad, but it wasn't great, we did one tiny little jump and the rest was dressage. It wasn't terrible but he's fighting a bit more and he bucked again. Only a small one, considering what Rocky can be like, but it really seems like it's just because he's so fresh from not being able to run outside in his icy pen.
Today's ride was better, "bigger" jumps and a few more than last day as well. He did well, he's actually picking up a his left lead on the straight now, which is fantastic! Overall his jumping was not bad either, he picked up the correct lead 90% of the time I remembered to open the correct rein on the land, except for the half circle/bending line down to the vertical where he always got disunited. I have to get you a picture of him soon, he's so adorable! We've also got a good show name for him (even though I'm supposed to be back with Rocky by then...) but it's going to be Kokanee Ranger, my friend wanted it to be KoKa Kocain b/c she's insane and that's the kind of thing she finds hilarious. But the ranger name is cute, even if the guy it's inspired by looks like pedo.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)