Back to Work: Lesson Recap 3/21

Just something a little different until I can get more riding footage

After missing two lessons I’ll admit to having a bit of anxiety as I drove to the barn for my lesson this Tuesday. Partially that was just the fact that when I mounted up on Saturday for my first ride back it felt pretty foreign after two weeks off. Part of it was also just not feeling especially confident about how Katai would behave after the time off and the cold front we were dealing with that day.

 At any rate when I got to the barn she was quiet and easy to get groomed and tacked up. I later learned that she’d been a hellion for Jane when Jane led her back to the barn but she really behaved well in the barn and also for my lesson so maybe she got rid of all of the shenanigans on her own. 

Jane’s early assessment was that between the cold and the time off Katai needed a long warmup and lots of work to get her bending. We had a REALLY nice warmup with her and she was on the bit right away and stretching down and forward rather than doing a giraffe impression. After a fairly long walk warmup we went to trot and Jane wanted me to really focus on getting the contact on both reins and really using my outside rein appropriately. I think we both expected some fireworks because contact on both reins can put so much pressure on pony mare brains but she was right with us the whole time. She never once got upset and, while I needed to keep the contact fairly active at first to show her what I wanted, we got to a place pretty quickly where she was consistently on both reins. It was a great feeling!

 After that we did some leg yields but Jane wanted more crossover than we were getting. I think Katai was slightly stiff and after running around like a goofball all day probably just didn’t feel like using herself. We switched to head to the wall leg yields to help with the crossover. I really struggled but then once I got it at the walk Jane had us do it at the trot. That was way too tough for my brain so after a few good moments (that were really total mistakes on my part since I still couldn’t quite figure out what I was doing) we took a walk break and then went to canter.

We worked on spirals at the canter again and Jane really had me focus on getting my body to bend/turn the correct way and not to collapse or lean. Katai did REALLY well with these! I really think the work with the Vienna reins has been paying off and, of course, all of our ridden canter work is paying off as well. Our transitions were all pretty good, I was able to keep my position pretty well, especially to the left, and overall this exercise went way better on Tuesday than it has in the past. It’s still a bit of a struggle for me but practice makes perfect :)

I have some great homework to work on, including more of those leg yields along the wall, but tonight will be another night off and then I'll ride/lunge/do a spa day Thursday-Sunday. I've got a make up lesson on Saturday so I'll have another recap this weekend!

I’ve also got an exciting announcement to share soon!

Long Time, No Post

Last week was nuts. Opening a new site like that just is, especially when you’ve got 25+ brand new employees being trained in a site that is still being moved into. Add to that the fact that I had some short nights, early mornings, and I didn’t sleep that well and I’m still exhausted even after a nice quiet weekend. Pretty much the only thing I did outside of relaxing at home was grocery shopping and going to the barn.

I made it out both Saturday and Sunday and Katai was so good! On Saturday I rode (after lunging :) and just focused on forward, stretching, and lots of bending and flexion. I did a bit of lateral work but otherwise just kept it simple at walk, trot, and canter. Her canter, though, was seriously the best it’s been. I guess the two weeks off was a good break for her! She was really moving forward rather than up into the transitions and was stretchy and carrying herself. Her back felt great and solidly strong and she was really through rather than just running with her legs. I tried to get some video but I must have not pushed record because I didn’t get anything.

On Sunday I just lunged with the Vienna reins both because I just couldn’t function still (so tired and I had a headache) and because with the weather and the fact that I was working Katai during the day when she was going to be in the barn by herself, I knew that it would just be a better idea. After one small blow up at the beginning she worked really well and I got more brilliant canter and some really nice open, forward trot.

I’ve recently really started to enforce voice cues. I’ve used different clicks (smooch for canter etc.) but never really enforced voice cues before. She was sort of figuring it out before the break but she must have been doing her homework because this weekend she was spot on with my cues about 75% of the time and the 25% was just that it took me giving the vocal cue twice or needing to reinforce with a slight whip cue.

It was great to see her moving so well after the break and now I just need to be careful about putting her back to work so that I don’t immediately cause her to have sore muscles. I did sign her up for a massage on 4/2 again so she’ll be in good shape going into the show season. I also shared my contact info with my fellow boarder since she’ll likely be my ride to shows this year. It’s so exciting to be making progress towards doing more shows!

Bad Influence

Or actually a good influence. After reading a few of Sprinklerbandit's posts about using Vienna reins with Courage I wanted to try them with Katai. I figured that my neck stretcher could probably play double duty and work for Vienna reins as well and I was right, at least for the most part.

Next time I want to add something to make them at least a few inches longer but I went with it this time since they weren't horrible. I was even able to get some video and I think she's looking really good.

Enjoy some Prairie Home Companion in the background because that's how we roll :)