Milestone: Lesson Recap 7/9

No new pony pictures so you get some more pictures from Kentucky

As mentioned in my previous post the plan was for me to have a lesson once I got back on Sunday to make up for the past Tuesday when we canceled due to the holiday. Jane's amazingly nice and flexible as she didn't expect me to set a time on Sunday and just watched for me to get there so that I didn't need to feel stressed about making it at a specific time after my flight. I ended up getting there right around 5 I think so it was hot but not unbearable.

We warmed up using the full ring again and getting Katai cruising before we asked for anything else. She was moving nicely to start (especially after a few days off) and so after a bit we did some leg yields and we NAILED them! We've still been struggling but on Sunday we really got them. I think it was a combination of getting her off my leg better in warmup and that I'm finally starting to put the pieces together to be able to ride them appropriately even as her balance changes throughout the movement.

After a walk break we did some shoulder in and just worked on sitting trot in general. It's already improved from how it was at my last lesson but I'm still struggling with losing my stirrups and maintaining consistency in my position. Even with that we got some really good should in. Jane had me do an exercise where we'd do half the long side, do a 10 meter circle and then go straight for the rest of the long side just to make it so that Katai didn't need to do SI the whole distance. I struggled enough with getting her shoulder off the wall and making the 10 meter circles appropriately that Jane set up cones and that ended up being as much a focus of the exercise as the SI was. Ah well, I have to keep reminding myself that this sitting trot thing is really new for both of us.

Overall Jane was really happy with our SI and with our progress in sitting trot as well.

Downtown Lexington

After another walk break we started our canter work and did some counter canter through shallow serpentines. To the right we did quite well but (maybe because she was tired after all the canter to the right and SI) to the left she struggled and wanted to use speed to cheat. However, her canter is still much improved and she's mostly letting me slow her down and control the rhythm and tempo better than she was.

At our final walk break Jane brought up that she thinks we're going to be ready for 1st level at our next show!!! I may make that goal after all. First level test 1 basically has the addition of leg yield and if we can keep going the way we have recently we'll be ready for that by the end of August for that show. Then I'll probably also enter Training 2. It will still be opportunity classes for both and then next year I'll join all of the things so that we have more test options.

The horse park is such a beautiful place

We also decided that instead of doing any other schooling shows I'm going to do two clinic rides with Susanne likely in November. She teaches the clinic at my old barn which is just a few miles away and we'll trailer there and back both days so it will be a great experience for Katai. It shouldn't be too intimidating since she lived there for awhile and it's a nice short journey so it shouldn't be overly stressful. It will also be good for me since I'm sure I'll learn even more than I would at a show.

It was such a great lesson and felt like a great payoff after a few tougher rides :)

Simple: Lesson Recap 4/19

Apparently I had some sort of weird premonition about working on the simple changes through trot on the diagonal because that's one of the things that we worked on with Katai in my lesson this week.

All our crazy weather caused this
humidity cloud inside the arena the other night

We started off with a slightly stiff pony so our main priority was getting her loosened up through her shoulders. We did some leg yield at the walk (I'm STILL on the struggle bus with these) and then did some work at the trot. We didn't do much before we went to canter since we're still trying to mix things up with Katai and the last couple of times we've ended with canter.

We did a lot of canter in this lesson and Katai just kept right on going! She only broke once and then when I cued for her to pick it back up she went right into it. We started with some 20 meter circles and spirals in. Then Jane had me do some simple changes (very simple ;) since we trotted almost all the way across the diagonal).

On our way to this ;)

Katai did SOOO well! I was able to get her to pick up the canter at the letter Jane wanted with very few extra trot steps and she never once got sassy or picked up the wrong lead. She did get more forward and started rushing a bit but with some help from Jane and better riding from me we got it contained and just had more energy which was good. Then we went straight to counter canter and again Katai kept right on going and let me figure things out without ever saying no or putting a foot wrong. We did some shallow serpentines in each direction, I did better going to the right so I have my homework, and then she got a well deserved walk break.

My tiny dog is even cuter when he's sun bathing

I was already SOOO proud of her but then we went to sitting trot and did some shoulder in. We finally NAILED it in both directions. We had everything right, she wasn't fighting me, I kept her round and forward, and didn't flop all over the place. IT WAS AWESOME.

Finally we did some stretchy trot and quit. It was a fairly short lesson since we spent so much time at the canter and knew that she'd be a tired pony but it felt great.

Third Time's The Charm: Lesson Recap 3/28

I'm blogging from Omaha, NE right now but we just got here late last night and haven't been over to the Century Link Center yet so other than a late and rainy drive I don't have much to share yet. So EXCITED to be here though!

At any rate I wanted to recap my lesson on Tuesday because after an ok lesson last Saturday and a decent lesson the Tuesday before this one felt really great.

Katai certainly didn't have much energy and Jane always has a lot of empathy for her (Jane says no sympathy, just empathy :) so she kept it pretty easy during the warm up and gave her lots of walk breaks. After a nice walk warm up with some head to the wall leg yields and a bit of trot when we took a walk break Katai dramatically threw on the breaks and scratched her head on her leg. Jane started laughing that Katai was rearranging her hair and then said that Kati would be "one of those girls that take selfies all the time". We both started giggling pretty hard at that point because she absolutely nailed Katai's attitude.

After some of the best, most consistant canter that we've ever had (again Jane was pretty gentle with us and didn't do much) she had us do some shoulder in. It went ok, it's been way too long since I've worked on it (my fault really but also the two weeks off) so I was really on the struggle bus and couldn't get my aids to work together. Jane took pity on me and gave us a walk break. I was thinking we were maybe done but she asked if we'd like to do some haunches in and since I was hungry for a second chance I went for it.

I struggled through the first direction but going to the left we NAILED it down the entire long side. It felt amazing and Jane said it looked perfect! We did a bit of stretchy trot and then called it there.

My main take away was that I need to get her more forward off my leg. Most of the time she's like a run away freight train which means I constantly have the brakes on. I get used to not needing to use my forward aids strongly but on days like Tuesday she needs more forward and I need to use them more. I'm also realizing that this might have something to do with our transition struggle since if she's not used to me using my leg it might be more of a big deal to her when I do use my legs.

The other really exciting thing is that Jane mentioned at the end of my lesson that we're going to work on half pass again next time and we're going to start doing shallow loop serpentines! I'm so, so excited and I've been wondering when we're going to start introducing counter canter. Not that we could start it when her canter with the correct lead was a hot mess but I've been looking forward to starting some counter canter work so I'm excited that we're finally there!

Woohoo! Lesson Recap 2/14

From my ride on Monday

I had an amazing lesson with my pony valentine on Tuesday! After this lesson I figured out at least part of why Jane is so good for us and that is that she doesn't allow me to be such a perfectionist.

Both of us are but instead of letting me get on a 12 meter circle and pick at the trot for 20 minutes to get it "perfect" she just expects me to ride a "perfect" trot while doing lots of other things. When it's not perfect, she gives me feedback and trusts that even if it's not good in that moment, I'll work on it appropriately and make it better. She never thinks anything is good enough and I always get lots of blunt feedback on everything but she also doesn't let me wait until she starts to introduce new things.

Right after I realized this I saw this quote on VivaCarlos' blog and it so perfectly illustrates exactly what this lesson was all about.

"You'll never be ready if you keep waiting to be."

iOn my own I would totally just keep waiting because I wouldn't let myself move on until something was perfect and my instructors in the past have supported this or brought this out in me. Jane just doesn't care and keeps on pushing me which is exactly what I need.

In this lesson we covered the following:
3 and 4 loop serpentines
Halt
Medium Canter
Medium Trot
Shoulder In
Haunches In
Baby Half Pass
Leg Yield

Plus, she didn't just have me work on each of these things. Pretty much the whole lesson was her calling out what she wanted next much like a reader would do in a test. 

Shiny pony butt!
 I never thought I'd see her actually shine :)

I don't remember exactly what we did where because it was pretty much one thing after the next but one of the exercises we did was to turn down the center line and then A to E do haunches in which was baby half pass. Then straighten on the wall and at C turn down the center line and do the same thing to E which was haunches in (baby half pass) the other direction. It was SO cool, very tricky and it really reinforced how exact I need to be with my aids for haunches in and how I can't "cheat" with the reins and avoid using my legs correctly if I want to be able to ever do half pass.

My favorite exercise that we did though was shoulder in, sitting trot down the long side. Then half way I would straighten her and ride a short diagonal, get the bend, hit the wall and cue for canter. We'd do a 20 meter canter circle and then canter down the long side and transition into trot before I hit the corner. This was cool because a few months ago both of us would have fallen apart at the seams if asked to do those things back to back and now we both held it together a few times in each direction. We also only got one canter lead incorrect!

Yep, it's spring!

This was also the first time Jane had us try medium canter and Katai did so well! Jane asked me to try it towards the end of the lesson and that was where we ended after one really good try. She really lifted in front and lengthened and it felt pretty magical :)

During the rest of the lesson we also got at least one really good medium(ish) trot, some great haunches in at the walk (we spent a lot of time there getting my cues correct - MUST NOT TIP TO THE OUTSIDE!!!), a couple of ok halts, really nice shoulder in and a few nice leg yields!

Katai was clearly extremely proud of herself (as she should be) after this ride and I was too. Jane had some really nice things to say and it really felt good. It was all messy and the perfectionist in me was crying for a lot of it but I held it together and really rode the whole time which I certainly wouldn't have been able to do a month or two ago. 

So happy with my amazing baby girl!!!

Strength: Lesson Recap 1/31 + Ride Recap 2/4

Old picture but I figured some media was needed

To preface this I have a couple of posts that I was going to split up but I've got a bunch more posts I want to get up including a February Goals post so I decided to just combine these. Sorry if it gets long!

Lesson Recap:

Earlier this month I ended up with a sore back. I'm not sure why, I hadn't lifted anything heavy or done anything that hurt so all I can imagine is that it happened when I was sick. I'm guessing that I either pulled something when I was sneezing explosively throughout the time I was sick or that laying on the very unsupportive couch for three days did something to me. It's weird in that it seems to vary day to day how bad it hurts and that it's behind my ribs on the right side rather than my lower back. Right now on the worst day a couple of Advil kill any soreness so I haven't felt the need to get it checked out but if it continues I will.

For whatever reason on the day of my lesson it was the worst that it's been. I'd been popping Advil all day but hadn't got the timing right so when I showed up for my lesson I was pretty sore. I went to pick up my saddle and had to freeze and just breath for a moment. I was trying to decide if a lunge lesson made more sense but I decided to just let Jane know and see if we could arrange my lesson a bit differently. Because of that we stuck to walk and trot and focused on lateral work instead.

We started with walk warm up to a nice trot warm up. Katai was moving well so we didn't need to focus too long on getting her loosened up. Instead we went to lateral work pretty quickly and started with leg yields at the trot. They were really working for me (for whatever reason) at my lesson and so after a few in each direction we switched to doing shoulder in at the walk. 

At first I wasn't doing enough to keep her flexed the correct way but after some coaching for Jane about catching her quicker without pulling I was able to get a couple of successful tries in each direction. Then Jane had me switch to doing haunches in for the first time! We did it at the walk and Katai very naturally just understood so after doing it a couple of times in each direction we went to the trot.

At the trot Jane had me do a new exercise where I would start the shoulder in the way we have been with a 10 meter circle in the corner but then at the center of the long side I would do another 10 meter circle and as I came back towards the wall I would start haunches in and do that to the short side. Other than some very slight fussiness about what I was asking for Katai was brilliant and really thinking and listening instead of just reacting. 

After we had the just of it Jane had me do it again and this time she actively coached me to actually ride and keep the bend and flexion and lower/forward/reaching feeling with the bit instead of just letting Katai fling her head in the air. Wouldn't you know it, with her reminders I was able to very successfully RIDE it correctly.

I'm a very visual person so this sort of thing is so helpful!

Both Jane and I were so happy with that as well as being cognizant of my poor back that we ended at that point and did lots of praising of my amazing pony :)

Ride Recap:

I've been playing around with my riding schedule a bit and trying to find something that works for both me and Katai. When I had Sunday lessons I gave her Monday off and then either Thursday or Friday (or sometimes both haha) and that worked really well. I've been struggling with Tuesday lessons because Mondays off work really well for me but not well for Katai and that sort of throws off my whole schedule. This past week I tried riding Saturday-Wednesday and then giving Katai Thursday and Friday off. 

Because of that my ride today fell after two days off for Katai and so I guessed she'd be full of energy. Oh boy, was I right.

It was interesting because when I was walking her around in the arena she seemed about the same as she normally is (ie. walking around quickly and sometimes with her head in the air) and normally even if she's a bit amped on the ground she goes right to work once I mount up. Today though my adrenaline started amping up right away which is unusual and I couldn't figure out why. Now I think I was picking something up from her. 

I mounted up and she was certainly tense and threatening to rear but never did. She's often better if I go straight to trot which I did and had a gorgeous trot. She was in full suspension bridge mode and on her toes but stretching down in to the contact, if a bit light in the contact, and forward. She wasn't relaxed but she was mostly listening to my leg and other than ensuring she didn't come above the contact I was just focusing on riding her forward and letting her dispel some energy.

Often when she's like this I'll let her decide to canter out of a forward trot and just go with it. Usually she'll canter for awhile, snort a bunch and then when I ask for trot again she's feeling better about life and we continue in a more relaxed and productive way. So when she made the executive decision to canter I went with it. However, a couple seconds in I was having to do a  lot more riding than normal and she was alternating head flinging with bolty steps and some slight leaping. I was just concentrating on keeping her forward when suddenly in the center of the arena she bolted straight up. The only thing I really remember was seeing her withers directly in front of me, that's how bad she bronc-ed up into the air. When she came down I yell/growled at her and asked for forward but she was so frozen up that she didn't move and I could tell she was prepared for battle so I did the wise thing and got off and lunged. 

She could have taught this horse a thing or two today of course I stayed on
This may be an option as a second career path when I get tired of HR ;)

I needed to go retrieve my lunge line, pull the reins off the bridle, and pull off the stirrups since I knew there would be acrobatics (spoiler I was right). When we got back to the arena I pretty much immediately made her go to canter and oh my gosh was she full of herself. Katai has NEVER been one for bucking, kicking, bronc-ing, or bolting on the lunge so I'm used to climbing off a crazy horse and then having a quiet lunge session and being done.

She was kicking out at her tail, bucking because there was a dark spot in the arena, bolting because she had boots on her back legs (like EVERY time I've ever worked her for the past three years) and frankly just being a bit of an ass. Honestly she didn't get in any trouble she just needed to stay forward and out on the line and basically listen to which gait I wanted. I didn't punish her for the antics because it was so clear to me that she just had excess energy and that's my fault. After all we're trying to create a stronger pony so it's not her fault that she is now stronger and has more energy and then after a break needed to express some of it.

After a few "quiet" canter circles on the lunge I did a few transitions and when she was listening we switched directions. She was mostly good the other way other than acting goosed a couple of times when I asked for a transition. Same thing to this side, lots of canter and eventually some transitions and we ended with a few circles at the walk.

Katai's innocent face

Normally I would have been done but I knew I was feeling a little squigged out about the canter transitions (I used to have major canter anxiety issues before Katai fixed them :) so instead I got her put back together (reins, stirrups, and all) and then mounted back up. We started at the walk but she was still slightly tense so before she got to make an issue of it I went into trot. Almost immediately she remembered that she was very tired pony and just went nicely forward, stretching, and also did lots of snorting. She was also more receptive to my cues to bend her and I wasn't have to RIDE as much as I had before. Before I let it drag out too long I cued for canter in her harder direction and other than a slight head toss she did it and was very rideable in canter. In fact she felt so loose and forward, and had such a nice open stride that I'd say it was some of our best canter to date. Again, I didn't wait too long before I brought her back to trot and after a loop to change directions cued for canter in the other way. This time (easier side) she didn't even toss her head just went straight into it and again I had the nicest canter I've had.

I was so proud of both of us that even with a very challenging and scary start we ended in a good place. Adrenaline and having scary moments usually really brings out my frustration so I was especially proud of how I handled this the whole time and that my thought process remained that it was my fault for not working her consistently and was focused on helping her be my partner again rather than getting angry at her for "doing something wrong". After all we're trying to be stubborn together ;)

Boot Camp: Lesson Recap 12/31

Yep, I celebrated the end of 2016 with a good, tough lesson with Jane. It had been a couple of weeks since I'd had a lesson and my rides have been pretty inconsistent (timing wise, Katai has been really consistent and I've had great rides just not as many of them as I'd like) so I knew we were going to get a workout but mainly we are just at a point where we can both be pushed more which is so exciting!

Since I haven't posted many details about my rides in the past month I just want to post a quick recap of what we've been doing. That is, doing more work on lateral movements, specifically leg yield and shoulder in. My leg yield is starting to get more consistent now that I'm starting to be able to use my outside rein and both legs (so, so, so hard for me!). We've also been doing a LOT more canter than we had been. Jane was pushing way more canter than I was used to and when we talked she basically told me that at second level since there is about as much canter work as trot work I should be trying to do that with my rides as well. SO COOL TO HEAR!! I think I just about squealed like a kid :)

At this lesson we started off getting the trot to a good place. Academically I know that I'm working towards a pushing, active hind leg and that if that's right everything else will fall into place (at least at this point in our training) but I struggle sometimes to really get there. I can instantly feel when it's correct but between correct and when Katai's faking it a bit I struggle to catch the change. I eventually get it when I'm riding by myself but only multiple 20 meter circles later which isn't helpful. It's so helpful to have Jane right there telling me when it's good or not but I'm still a long way from being able to feel it instantly.

Katai was stiff and wasn't moving as well as she had been since she's spent a lot of time standing around. Both because I wasn't able to get to the barn and ride as much as I wanted and because it's icy out so she isn't moving around as much as she normally would in turnout. We ended up spending about 30 minutes getting her moving better and really focusing on my bending. I was also really struggling with my right hand, really really struggling. Jane made me come back to walk and I spent awhile on the struggle bus trying to figure out the feel of what she was looking for.

The problem is that when I'm going to the left everything works, then I go to the right and everything falls apart. I completely blame my right hand but my left isn't much better.  I seem to only be able to move my left arm side to side and my right arm straight forward and back. I also struggle to take a good feel on the right rein so Katai is used to the contact being really light on that side. That means that when I'm going to the right I've got my left arm pointing at the wall (when she's trying to fall in which I'm causing haha) and my right is in my lap. I'm not getting her bent properly because I'm not giving her the ability to take the bit forward on the outside and my right arm isn't supporting her on the inside either. Then I fall to the inside hop bone, a lot, and she falls in more to pivot around that "turning point", ie. we're a bit of a disaster and Jane is very patient.

Of course that's not going to be fixed in one lesson so Jane put us back together to the point where we could continue and I've got my homework.

Then we started working on shoulder in!! Jane had told me to practice it when she saw me before my next ride so I knew she was going to bring it up in the lesson. This was actually much smoother than it has been, maybe because Jane had me using both reins a bit more correctly ;), and after we had a couple good tries on either side we took a walk break and then worked on leg yields.

I'm still struggling a bit with the timing of the aids on these but this lesson was the first where I feel like I had a couple of decent tries in each direction. I actually felt like I rode more evenly to both sides and was able to get the timing of the forward and sideways aids a bit better.

Then we went to canter and Katai felt pretty darn good. She's actually starting to develop a little bit of jump to her canter which wasn't there at all before. She's also starting to be capable of holding the canter a little longer which means we get to have more fun with it. We're working on doing 20 meter circles at different points in the arena as well as riding the full sides of the arena but this lesson we also added leg yields in on the 20 meter circles while allowing her to trot when it felt to difficult. At that point we'd leg yield out and ask for the canter again. Katai did really well, I struggled to sit straight up but after a conversation with Jane at the end on the biomechanics I think I get it and know what to do differently next time.

In all the lesson went for about an hour and we took up the full thing with riding and not just "easy" stuff so Katai was fairly sweaty. It was the first time that we made it through the full hour since normally I don't have enough horse to make it that long or we only get there because we do a lot of talking or walking around while Jane explains something to me. I was really proud of both of us and how much progress we've made but even better, it's great to have more new homework!

Sorry for no media! Hopefully next time :)