The Balance Challenge: Lesson Recap 4/4

I'm running out of media again so here's some shiny butt for your viewing pleasure ;)

I had another great lesson this Tuesday! We started with lots of bending at the walk and then before too long went to the trot. Katai was tight and sucked back to start but with lots of bending and some focus on serpentines she loosened right up and started to be more forward.

We did some leg yield and lengthenings and then did some should in midway down the long side, across the short diagonal, and then into canter. Katai did really well, I did less well but after a few times started to get the timing better. To make it even more difficult We added a spiral in at the canter after we picked it up and Jane really had me focus on the bend and inside leg.

I quickly realized that I've NEVER actually used my inside leg at the canter. Let's just say that there's some room for improvement ;) At any rate we got some extremely nice canter and I've got new homework which is always fun.

That already felt like a big deal and like we'd had a successful lesson but then we did some work on transitions. We've only really worked on these once or twice and the goal this time was to do walk to sitting trot to rising trot and then back to sitting trot to walk. With lots of coaching from Jane we got some really nice work. We found that I'm still using my reins too much in the downward transitions, not pulling back but holding to the point of thinking backwards rather than forwards.

Pony is humble about her shininess though

After that we talked a lot about me not being such a perfectionist. Jane told me, and I feel this is a huge compliment, that she's not worried that I'll mess Katai up at this point. She said there's always the chance that during a ride we'll go backwards a bit but that overall she's seen us improve enough and feels that I have enough feel that I'm not going to just keep doing something that is making things worse. Plus, with regular lessons how far wrong can I go.

She wants me to play around with things and try stuff out. She said to keep challenging Katai's balance and playing with things to see what works best for both of us. As a perfectionist that's really tough for me but Jane knows that. Have I mentioned how much I love working with Jane as my instructor?

I've also been feeling better and way more motivated as the spring weather change is starting to smooth out a little which is awesome! I'm really looking forward to spending the weekend at the barn.

June Goals Recap

Update to current goals:

1. Proper bend to the left – I’ve been chipping away at this all month and it’s actually getting better. At the very least she isn’t as surprised when I ask for the bend through the jaw now so she get less defensive. However, either through focus on this side or possibly saddle fit(?) she’s now struggling more with proper bend to the right

2. Stretchy Trot – I’ve been working on this a lot this month. I’m getting better at getting her stretching out but she’s still struggling with her balance a little. Once we’ve gone back into work I haven’t focused on this as much and I think with a little loss of strength she was struggling more with this last week when I worked on it.

3. Canter Transitions – These are getting way better! I’ve had a few great transitions to the right (her tougher side) but her transitions to the left are consistently  WAY better. This is a total win for my new goal setting format

4. Lateral Work – This is getting so much better!! I’ve been doing a lot of shoulder in and nose to the wall leg yield along the wall and she’s really getting it. Her balance has been getting better and she’s getting a bit better at working through and not getting tight through her back. We’re still having some rushing but that’s been getting progressively better.

5. Cavaletti Exercise – I haven’t done this one again but plan to pull it out again in the near future

I haven’t quite decided how I’m going to transition from previous goal to new goals but I think that what I’m going to do is kick anything off the list that’s going well. My goal is to get these items at a good point and then at least maintain but shift my focus to other areas. Then if for some reason I’m having trouble maintaining progress on something I’ll put it back on the list.

 New Goals:  

1. Proper bend to each direction - I honestly think this is something we should have better by this point. I’m sure if I were a more advanced rider that this would be more consistent than we have it right now. I’m going to just keep working and improving my skills at this.

 2. Work outside - I just need to get her outside as much as I can and for as many different activities as possible

 3. Do chiropractor prescribed stretches before every ride (also getting a massage book so that I can do some of this myself :)

Goals Redo

Despite never getting the formatting corrected on my last post about goals (I think I would have had to start from scratch and I haven't been motivated enough to do that) I have been making progress with my goal to reformat my goals. Mainly I think it's more of a conceptual thing but with goals that's the real struggle right?

What I realized, at work of all places, is that I already have the tools to structure goals for myself. After all I participate in coaching conversations with many employees on a regular basis and help them set goals. I just needed to start using my experience and not freaking out about how to structure these in a more standard way that doesn't work for my brain.

So I've decided to break these down into "buckets" and update at the beginning of each month. Thinking of these as buckets (or topics or whatever makes sense) just works better for me. There's more flexibility built into the idea of a list of "buckets" than there is in a more specific list or plan. Since it works for my brain I'm going with it and since it's the beginning of June so I figured this was a good time to start. 

1. Proper bend to the left - We've got it about 90% of the time to the right, not it's time to get it to the left

2. Stretchy Trot - This is so necessary for her brain and teaching her not to just run when we're stretching will help with everything else, plus it's an upcoming movement :)

3. Canter Transitions - Practice, practice, practice

4. Lateral Work - All of the sideways. After a recent break through at the Susanne Winslade clinic we've actually got this sometimes and I can feel when we have it. Now we just need to practice and get more consistent

5. Cavaletti Exercise - I'm currently on the struggle bus with teaching Katai to transition within gaits (trot right now) and she likes to take shuffly little steps and then just walk when I ask her to slow within the trot. I think part of it is strength but part of it is that she just isn't quite sure what I'm asking for. I tried out an exercise where I put three cavaletti on each side of a 20 meter circle with one side being closer together (shorter steps) and the other were further apart (longer steps). 

I didn't do one after the other since that would certainly have just blown her pony mind but I would do one a few times, take a walk break and then do the other. It was really rough but eventually she really started to understand and we quite on a good note. This isn't something I'm planning to work on regularly but it will be a good way to mix up our other rides.

Hollow-ween: Lesson Recap 11/1

I have not been feeling motivated to do any blogging recently :-(

I have been riding regularily and still making great progress but just not writing about it. This week however I didn't get in as many rides as I wanted to. I took Monday off as usual and then had a bad headache on Tuesday and decided that it wouldn't be too big of deal to take that evening off. Then, of course, we were getting some rain/snow on Wednesday so after driving a couple of miles I turned around when it started snowing more heavily. I rode Thursday in Drill Team (more on that later) and Friday but then wasn't able to again on Saturday due to the clinic taking place in the indoor and the rain outside.

Today at my lesson, however, Katai was brilliant! We've been able to start off almost immediately  in a good place recently and although she was a little anxious since the other door on the arena was open she was listening and moving well. We started off with a bunch of changes of direction and L quickly diagnosed that she wasn't taking contact on the left rein. I realized pretty quickly once we started working that I've never had real contact on that left rein and it felt good to find another hole and start filling it in.

L had me start out by getting her on a 20 meter circle at the trot and getting a really good bend. Then she had me straighten her and finally move her into counterbend. We did this going in both directions and then worked on getting the correct bend going to the right and giving the contact forward and quickly taking it back on the right whenever she was leaning on the rein.Then we did the same to the left only now it was the outside rein that I was now giving forward and taking back. It wasn't that I didn't allow her any contact, I just was gently asking her to carry herself rather than just leaning on that rein. Once she had lifted more through the shoulders and wasn't just pulling L had me keep the contact steady on the right as long as she had equal contact on the left rein.

It was amazing how much of a difference this made! It was amazing to me how I've been limping along with her never taking real contact on that side and how after my ride today so many things were easier. Now to just get it consistant!

We did a quickly canter depart in each direction and L started to work with me on how to cue properly when we ran out of time and the clinic was ready to begin. I will do a clinic recap as a separate post soon!