The Sticks: Lesson Recap 1/10

I got to the barn just in time for my lesson this week because it was 15 minutes earlier than normal (I knew it was 15 minutes earlier than normal and still didn't leave enough time). I stopped by the ring, said hi to L and checked to see what was on the agenda and found out that we were doing ground poles!

I've done up to three in lessons before and never raised but Katai has been doing so well that L started us with four raised and then quickly added two more. At first we just focused on maintaining bend through the line and making sure that I could keep her at the same tempo. After a few great circles in each direction L had me do an exercise where I trotted over the poles on a 20 meter circle and then immediately asked for a canter. Sometimes I would do a couple of circles at a canter going around the poles and then L would have me do a circle where I would trot over the poles, canter almost back to the poles and then back to a trot over the poles again.

It was an awesome lesson because I had a great way to not micromanage her and just deal with the big stuff and let the exercise do all the work. It certainly was a great workout for both of us and we ended after a great canter transition.

I stuck around for awhile after my lesson and cleaned Katai's leather halter. It was nasty, there were gunk stalagmites on it that took a lot of scrubbing to clean off. While I was cleaning that I watched L ride one of her training horses, a beautiful Selle Fancais that was an upper level hunter now turning dressage horse. She went to do the poles with this horse and it was funny how confused she was. It was like she was trying to figure out if it was supposed to be a long spread or a very tight bounce. After eyeing it up a few times though she went over it really nicely. 

Finally I  got to see some of P's lesson. She's recently started riding with L and has been making so much progress! Her horse is, I believe, a Saddlebred and is reluctant to stretch forward and down towards the contact but they've been making great progress. It was fun to see her ride again since it's been awhile since I saw one of her lessons.

It was great to be able to spend most of the day at the barn and I'm looking forward to seeing my pony again tomorrow!

Two in One: Lesson Recaps 10/18 & 10/25

I had a great lesson today and since I never did a lesson recap for last week I'll talk about both lessons in one. For the last couple of lessons we haven't been introducing anything new, just firming up what we have. Last week this was trotting and cantering 20 meter circles, staying straight, working on canter departs and doing some spirals in and out. This week we mixed things up a bit by riding in the outdoor arena which gave us the opportunity to work on a couple of pony behaviors that we avoid in the indoor arena. 

Katai was diving for the gate out of the arena since thats the way her friend left. This meant lots of working on outside leg aids for me as well as working on appropriate timing. L wants me to start to be more proactive and we talked about how when I start to get proactive I also start to get aggressive and let Katai pick fights. If course that's not good and something I need to work on so that's my homework for this week. 

At one point we had this really nice, forward trot and she said it was almost a lengthening! It felt really good and Katai's balance is getting to the point where I can influence her in various different frames. I'm able to stretch her forward without her just taking off, although today in the outdoor that was way tougher! 

L had also been to the Jennifer Truett clinic and so some of what we worked on in my lesson were things that Jennifer talked about at the clinic. We also, in keeping with the theme of it being me that needs more work at this point then Katai, worked on my elbows and keeping my hands more stable in the trot so that Katai can feel good about stretching forward into the contact. It made a huge difference! I had seen some of the floppiness in the video I posted but wasn't quite sure what I needed to change to fix it. When L said I needed to fix my elbows to my sides that did it :-)

I'm really quite proud of how we're looking as a team and how much more stable my position is! Photo evidence below :-)

Spring 2015 (Aprilish?)

Summer 2015 (Juneish?)

Summer 2015 (Augustish?)

Today :-)

Thanks to P who just recently moved to my new barn and who I boarded with at J's barn for the photos