Sunday
I rode Harry today! I worked with him the whole time, since we didn't have a whole lot of time. I woke up late...I couldn't help it!
He was a good little boy today. He wasn't pulling any tricks or anything. He was super energetic on the longe and I flexed him on the ground before I got on, just in case. Nick broke my carrot stick...so as soon as I order a new one I want to get back into Parelli stuff, especially because I will be staying here for the next three years. Yep, I'm staying here for law school, which I guess is nice, because then I won't have to stop riding and improving myself and the horses.
He was kind of poopy and kind of pacey riding, but I tried my best to connect with his energy and sit deep, urging him on with my seat and my legs while trying to relax his head through checking and circling rather than holding it down. He settled into it eventually. I just feel like now we're back at square two with him. Not square one, because his attitude has definitely improved, but square two, because he isn't performing as well as I know he can. Maybe I'll see how he does at this show next week and then decide whether or not to take him off of the calming supplement. The key is to get him relaxed but not so relaxed that he's a bump on a log, and that's a difficult balance to get right now.
His largo is pretty pacey again...so I can't really make a huge difference in speed between corto and largo in show without him pacing or getting anxious. I hope that doesn't prevent us from placing. It just kind of agitates me that I can't figure out, after a year off of shows, what to do with him to make him super performance ready. I'm really satisfied with how his attitude has come out and how he trusts us (to an extent. still hates the tarp and big ball), but now I need to get his spirit and confidence up to perform. Despite this feeling, I just have to remember that I'm making progress.
Showing posts with label carrot stick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carrot stick. Show all posts
Monday, April 22, 2013
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Day 185
Harry worked so much better today! I started out longeing him right from the get go with the carrot stick and using his jaquima instead of the bosal band, just to see how he would react and if he would try to fishtail. He was so calm! He only got a little nervous and didn't really fishtail, more like stop and look at me when another rider went over the sound board, but he was a very good boy longeing today.
Getting on, we worked circles and flexed like yesterday, except today I had a couple of goals. One, I wanted to work only on the bit rein once we were done flexing, and two, I wanted to stop trying to do everything for him and let him figure it out for himself. After reading a bit of Casey's blog yesterday, I realized how is Harry going to perform better if we're always trying to tell him exactly what to do and do everything for him, like he's incapable of figuring it out himself? I'm proud to say that we accomplished both of those goals! I never had to pick up the second rein the entire time we rode and while we started off a little bumpy, Harry worked things out for himself beautifully.
When we first started out, he was tap dancing and skipping and speeding around the corners, and apparently he wasn't looking too show-y according to my mom. But as we worked and as I gave him more freedom to find his place in what I wanted, an energetic and collected corto, he grew right into the part! We even went for a largo that was surprisingly well collected! Even my mom complimented me on what I did with him when she got on him to ride afterwards. I'm so proud of Harry and proud of myself for letting my overbearing tendencies go and letting him figure it out for himself, because he's really a smart boy! I hope that today was an indicator of things to come!
Then afterwards, I got on Brie and we had some fun for a short ride. Going from Harry to Brie is like night and day! Maybe part of it is going from a Passier saddle to a Wintec, but she's like a mountain compared to Harry, and they're only really a hand's height of difference! She wanted to run run run, but I calmed her down and kept her back in a manageable corto. We ended nicely and they got another bath! I thought that the last of them would come last weekend, but it was warm enough in the barn to get them wet. I really do think that this week we need to prepare some vinegar to spray them with to clean them this weekend, since it's expected to snow this week!
Getting on, we worked circles and flexed like yesterday, except today I had a couple of goals. One, I wanted to work only on the bit rein once we were done flexing, and two, I wanted to stop trying to do everything for him and let him figure it out for himself. After reading a bit of Casey's blog yesterday, I realized how is Harry going to perform better if we're always trying to tell him exactly what to do and do everything for him, like he's incapable of figuring it out himself? I'm proud to say that we accomplished both of those goals! I never had to pick up the second rein the entire time we rode and while we started off a little bumpy, Harry worked things out for himself beautifully.
When we first started out, he was tap dancing and skipping and speeding around the corners, and apparently he wasn't looking too show-y according to my mom. But as we worked and as I gave him more freedom to find his place in what I wanted, an energetic and collected corto, he grew right into the part! We even went for a largo that was surprisingly well collected! Even my mom complimented me on what I did with him when she got on him to ride afterwards. I'm so proud of Harry and proud of myself for letting my overbearing tendencies go and letting him figure it out for himself, because he's really a smart boy! I hope that today was an indicator of things to come!
Then afterwards, I got on Brie and we had some fun for a short ride. Going from Harry to Brie is like night and day! Maybe part of it is going from a Passier saddle to a Wintec, but she's like a mountain compared to Harry, and they're only really a hand's height of difference! She wanted to run run run, but I calmed her down and kept her back in a manageable corto. We ended nicely and they got another bath! I thought that the last of them would come last weekend, but it was warm enough in the barn to get them wet. I really do think that this week we need to prepare some vinegar to spray them with to clean them this weekend, since it's expected to snow this week!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Day 184
Harry had a reintroduction to the carrot stick today.
First, let me start off by saying that Taco is now on our side! They were all set up like I described last week, but Paco told us that Brie is still kicking and kicked out a board in the front of her stall this past week, so we moved her back on the end so it's just her next to Harry and a wall. I hope she stops kicking. I don't know what to do! We're gonna look for toys to put in her stall to occupy her from the kicking, and if that fails then we're gonna have to suck it up and buy some rubber matting for the walls. If you have any suggestions on how to deal with this, please tell me!!
Back to Harry. I worked him today. We started out longeing on his bosal (noseband) like we had decided last week and he was doing okay in his usual direction and then started pulling me around the arena in the clockwise direction. After about 20 minutes of being slowly dragged across the arena by his fishtailing, I had enough and got the carrot stick. Using it behind him was such a transformation! He didn't run away from it and he just walked, observant of it behind him. After doing that for a while, we stopped because that's all I really wanted from him at that point, to not drag me around anymore and go about it calmly! Then I put it on the ground and he was scared to step over it. *shakes head* What a strange horse.
Getting on him, we worked lots of circles and spirals and serpentines to warm up first, then we went at a walk. He started out nicely and then started speeding up, but I managed him. Going into his corto, he was tap dancing a lot and I had to play around with my weight and position until he stopped and was happy. Then I started trying to push him faster into a largo and we go faster counterclockwise than clockwise...makes no sense! But we'll keep working at it. I'm so confused as to how to go about this with him. Should I work on collecting his corto or should I keep pushing him to go faster? I don't know. All I know is that I watched a video today of when Paco used to ride him as a stallion and he was sure speeding around (in comparison to how he goes now) without breaking gait! Is it the bit? Is it me? What is going on?! I have no idea. Maybe tomorrow I'll take off the jaquima rein and just work the bit and see how that goes.
First, let me start off by saying that Taco is now on our side! They were all set up like I described last week, but Paco told us that Brie is still kicking and kicked out a board in the front of her stall this past week, so we moved her back on the end so it's just her next to Harry and a wall. I hope she stops kicking. I don't know what to do! We're gonna look for toys to put in her stall to occupy her from the kicking, and if that fails then we're gonna have to suck it up and buy some rubber matting for the walls. If you have any suggestions on how to deal with this, please tell me!!
Back to Harry. I worked him today. We started out longeing on his bosal (noseband) like we had decided last week and he was doing okay in his usual direction and then started pulling me around the arena in the clockwise direction. After about 20 minutes of being slowly dragged across the arena by his fishtailing, I had enough and got the carrot stick. Using it behind him was such a transformation! He didn't run away from it and he just walked, observant of it behind him. After doing that for a while, we stopped because that's all I really wanted from him at that point, to not drag me around anymore and go about it calmly! Then I put it on the ground and he was scared to step over it. *shakes head* What a strange horse.
Getting on him, we worked lots of circles and spirals and serpentines to warm up first, then we went at a walk. He started out nicely and then started speeding up, but I managed him. Going into his corto, he was tap dancing a lot and I had to play around with my weight and position until he stopped and was happy. Then I started trying to push him faster into a largo and we go faster counterclockwise than clockwise...makes no sense! But we'll keep working at it. I'm so confused as to how to go about this with him. Should I work on collecting his corto or should I keep pushing him to go faster? I don't know. All I know is that I watched a video today of when Paco used to ride him as a stallion and he was sure speeding around (in comparison to how he goes now) without breaking gait! Is it the bit? Is it me? What is going on?! I have no idea. Maybe tomorrow I'll take off the jaquima rein and just work the bit and see how that goes.
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