Saturday
You know how things start out cute and then become really annoying?
Well, a couple of weeks back, Harry started pulling all of our zippers on our coats. He would unzip them and we thought it was the cutest thing. This has now evolved into biting whenever he feels like it and it has to stop. He was awful longeing today, but probably the worst part was when he would come in real close to me, take a bite of my jacket and then run back out! We have to start getting after him for the zipper thing now and prevent this from going any further.
So since my mom has been saying that Harry responds better when weight is more back, I tried that today. He wasn't responding very well at all and kept tap dancing. I was trying my hardest to keep my weight back, but he kept throwing me forward and when I started to grip on him with my lower legs to keep balanced he got really upset and started speeding up, so I finally just settled back into a more forward weight and he was much more responsive. Still fast, but more gaited. His board was very powerful and loud. I hope he keeps it up that way! Now only to work on his manners...
Sunday
I rode Brie today and let my mom have Harry since I rode him yesterday. Today just felt like it wasn't going to be a very good day for me and it was threatening to remain that way. Brie was fighting the bit the entire time and kept trying to run out on me when I started trying to use a light leg contact. I just kept getting aggravated and she just kept going faster until finally I just stopped, removed contact, and rode normally. I was ready to start crying when I decided I had better get off. I keep getting upset because I just have these grand visions of her as a dressage horse, but clearly I don't know how to train her to be one and when I get some tidbit of advice and it doesn't work, I just feel awful about it...I guess I can't really blame myself since I don't know anything about dressage really...so maybe we'll just focus on being Paso Finos...we could always do trail class, I'm sure that desensitizing is a fantastic thing for Brie to learn to keep her brain from turning to mush.
On a non-horsey related note, we went sledding today at the barn! Trust me when I tell you there's no sledding like tractor sledding! And by that I mean being pulled on a sled by a tractor. It's the most fun thing ever! I had such a blast, even though I couldn't feel my hands for a solid 10 minutes afterwards and fell off the sled multiple times going down hills. It was totally worth it though!
Showing posts with label dressage dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dressage dreams. Show all posts
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Days 109 & 110
Saturday
We took some cute pictures of everyone out in the snow today! Here are just a few =]
Since we were on a time limit today, I only got to ride Brie. Her canter is coming around...except now all she wants to do is canter! I have to work on getting her to listen to me instead of getting excited and wanting to bolt all of the time!
Sunday
I RODE EVERYONE TODAY! YAYY!
I started Harry. He's sooo much better lunging now, it's magnificent! For the most part, he's good. I have to read up on how to tighten his gait. I know he can give me so much more, I just don't know how to ask for it. I don't want to fail him. Good thing I have winter break coming up so I can spend quite a bit of time researching and learning new techniques.
Then I hopped on Nina. What a cutie. Her walk is so bouncy and fun, just not when you're in a hard saddle! That Australian saddle is so hard on my butt. She was a very good girl: very responsive, kept her head down, gaited beautifully across the board.
Brie. What a baby. She needs to learn how to listen!! She gets so excited when we start working on something new (i.e. cantering), that's all she wants to do! While her canter was beautiful today, it was unacceptable that she took off for it on her own without me asking her to. What should I do? Spend one day on her listening skills and the other on her cantering skills? It's just so difficult when I can only go out two days a week. I'd get so much more done if I could go out more. I can only work with what I have though.
I can't wait for break to start. My only final is tomorrow afternoon and after that I'm a free woman! I plan on reading up on dressage for Brie and Classic Fino training for Harry. Hope my brain doesn't explode from all that information!
We took some cute pictures of everyone out in the snow today! Here are just a few =]
Brie running
Harry investigating the snow
Nina mid-roll
Dashing through the snowww
Brie dug through the snow to reach the grass. Fatty.
Harry's just so photogenic!
A good romp.
Since we were on a time limit today, I only got to ride Brie. Her canter is coming around...except now all she wants to do is canter! I have to work on getting her to listen to me instead of getting excited and wanting to bolt all of the time!
Sunday
I RODE EVERYONE TODAY! YAYY!
I started Harry. He's sooo much better lunging now, it's magnificent! For the most part, he's good. I have to read up on how to tighten his gait. I know he can give me so much more, I just don't know how to ask for it. I don't want to fail him. Good thing I have winter break coming up so I can spend quite a bit of time researching and learning new techniques.
Then I hopped on Nina. What a cutie. Her walk is so bouncy and fun, just not when you're in a hard saddle! That Australian saddle is so hard on my butt. She was a very good girl: very responsive, kept her head down, gaited beautifully across the board.
Brie. What a baby. She needs to learn how to listen!! She gets so excited when we start working on something new (i.e. cantering), that's all she wants to do! While her canter was beautiful today, it was unacceptable that she took off for it on her own without me asking her to. What should I do? Spend one day on her listening skills and the other on her cantering skills? It's just so difficult when I can only go out two days a week. I'd get so much more done if I could go out more. I can only work with what I have though.
I can't wait for break to start. My only final is tomorrow afternoon and after that I'm a free woman! I plan on reading up on dressage for Brie and Classic Fino training for Harry. Hope my brain doesn't explode from all that information!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Day 92
The farrier came out today. We weren't there for when Nina got her hooves done, but Paco said that she was really good and that what we did with the bucket a while back really did help. The farrier got the other two horses done really quickly.
I wanted to go right out into the outdoor arena, so my mom and Nina and Harry and I went out. As usual so far, we still need to work on the lunging but he got through it. I got on as usual and wanted to walk around the arena first but he seemed a little excited so we did circles. That's when the worry started. He went well one way, clockwise, but after a few turns counterclockwise he started bucking really hard. I lost my stirrup and was seriously considering jumping off when I finally got his head to the side and at a standstill. This little spectacle really threw me off track because if he wanted to dump me, his preferred method has so far been by rearing. He never bucked before. So my mom said she'd walk Nina along side me and we would just walk the rail.
It went okay until we got to the end of the ring where he started getting excited again. I did clockwise circles in the corner and when I asked for counterclockwise I felt him getting ready to buck again. I got off and lunged him. Seemed to be no problem. My mom suggested letting him get it out of his system in the round pen, but on our way out of the arena he started limping really badly once we hit the rocks. Even Ray seemed concerned and said that we should ride inside because Harry might be sore from the farrier. So I walked along him until I noticed his limp went away and got on. With the intention of just going once each way and then letting him rest, he started bucking me again when I went to reverse counterclockwise and when I got him to stop I felt him getting serious in his intentions to dump me: he started dancing in the front so I hopped off and just lunged him a couple times then went in.
Now when I was brushing him I noticed a scratch on his back right leg, still kind of red, so I put some wound spray on it. When I went to touch it after I untacked, he held that leg up. But then again he did the same on the other side. Could that be part of his problem? Or is it just hoof tenderness? Then again, he did have a little limp at the state fair. Could it be just his hoof as a problem or something further up his leg, if not the scratch? When I talked to Jane about it, she said it may be an abscess. Taco had one and it lasted him for 6 weeks. It's a result of a stone bruise, which may be possible in this case because we did spend two hours of rearing while trying to get him in the trailer for the fair. Tomorrow we're going to have the farrier pressure check Harry. Maybe he'll even have the heat check instrument.
I hope Harry's okay and that it was just tenderness from bring trimmed. We never used to ride on trimming day until recently. I think we should start that again.
As a result of starting that precaution again, Brie lucked out. She got a total spa day, carrots included, and was perfectly fine with it. When I visited a stable yesterday, I got an idea as I heard them talk about their dressage school horses. What if I trained Brie for dressage? She wouldn't have the anxiety of seeing other horses in the ring since they test individually. She already does a sidestep pretty well as her preferred way to return to the barn from a trail ride. The only thing I'd have to really work on is the thing I'm most nervous about: teaching her to trot. I'm afraid that it might screw up her flawless gait that Andre worked hard to ensure. I could possibly ruin her both ways if she ends up not being any good at dressage. I have to find out for sure if teaching her to trot will affect her gait. If it won't, then I'll have dressage dreams on my mind!
I wanted to go right out into the outdoor arena, so my mom and Nina and Harry and I went out. As usual so far, we still need to work on the lunging but he got through it. I got on as usual and wanted to walk around the arena first but he seemed a little excited so we did circles. That's when the worry started. He went well one way, clockwise, but after a few turns counterclockwise he started bucking really hard. I lost my stirrup and was seriously considering jumping off when I finally got his head to the side and at a standstill. This little spectacle really threw me off track because if he wanted to dump me, his preferred method has so far been by rearing. He never bucked before. So my mom said she'd walk Nina along side me and we would just walk the rail.
It went okay until we got to the end of the ring where he started getting excited again. I did clockwise circles in the corner and when I asked for counterclockwise I felt him getting ready to buck again. I got off and lunged him. Seemed to be no problem. My mom suggested letting him get it out of his system in the round pen, but on our way out of the arena he started limping really badly once we hit the rocks. Even Ray seemed concerned and said that we should ride inside because Harry might be sore from the farrier. So I walked along him until I noticed his limp went away and got on. With the intention of just going once each way and then letting him rest, he started bucking me again when I went to reverse counterclockwise and when I got him to stop I felt him getting serious in his intentions to dump me: he started dancing in the front so I hopped off and just lunged him a couple times then went in.
Now when I was brushing him I noticed a scratch on his back right leg, still kind of red, so I put some wound spray on it. When I went to touch it after I untacked, he held that leg up. But then again he did the same on the other side. Could that be part of his problem? Or is it just hoof tenderness? Then again, he did have a little limp at the state fair. Could it be just his hoof as a problem or something further up his leg, if not the scratch? When I talked to Jane about it, she said it may be an abscess. Taco had one and it lasted him for 6 weeks. It's a result of a stone bruise, which may be possible in this case because we did spend two hours of rearing while trying to get him in the trailer for the fair. Tomorrow we're going to have the farrier pressure check Harry. Maybe he'll even have the heat check instrument.
I hope Harry's okay and that it was just tenderness from bring trimmed. We never used to ride on trimming day until recently. I think we should start that again.
As a result of starting that precaution again, Brie lucked out. She got a total spa day, carrots included, and was perfectly fine with it. When I visited a stable yesterday, I got an idea as I heard them talk about their dressage school horses. What if I trained Brie for dressage? She wouldn't have the anxiety of seeing other horses in the ring since they test individually. She already does a sidestep pretty well as her preferred way to return to the barn from a trail ride. The only thing I'd have to really work on is the thing I'm most nervous about: teaching her to trot. I'm afraid that it might screw up her flawless gait that Andre worked hard to ensure. I could possibly ruin her both ways if she ends up not being any good at dressage. I have to find out for sure if teaching her to trot will affect her gait. If it won't, then I'll have dressage dreams on my mind!
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