Fly_By_Wire
Well-Known Member
Hello!
I've been lurking on this forum for years, but more and more over the last few months; for the first time in my life I'm not involved in a Livery yard so am missing the horsey chat! Thank you to everyone who gave me advice on finding a share horse - I lucked out and came across Pip
Pip is a 9yo Irish draught who for one reason or another hasn't really been in consistent work since she was broken at 4. We've worked hard on getting her fit (and losing some weight!) but I've ended up in the most perfect situation with her - her owner struggles for time so I get to do exactly what I love, ride 5 days a week bringing on a project horse!
So a quick lesson report:
We went for our first jump lesson today and she was fabulous, she's homebred, and has only been off her yard for a handful of times in her life so any kind of relatively sensible behaviour would have been a win!
She came off the trailer snorting and whinnying like dragon, promptly put all 17hh of her weight through my big toe, and generally spent 20 mins dancing around the lorry park (note to self: this is not a horse who likes waiting!).
Much better once on board, jig joggy but nothing too silly. The coach was brilliant, he had us trotting big laps of the arena in a nice rhythm and gradually built a grid from trot poles to a triple. We trotted around the arena and up to this grid without stopping 10-15 times (which meant some very speedy jump adjustments from the coach!), but the rhythm really relaxed Pip. I realised that I often inadvertently wind her up by stopping and walking to give her a break every 2-3 fences when we're warming up, whereas actually she really settled into the trot rhythm and the repetition of the grid.
We then reversed the grid and had the same exercise the opposite way, with the fences getting higher every lap of the school, but her confidence really built with every jump, and by the end her focus was completely on the jumps and not on the lawnmower/horseboxes/other horses/tigers in the fence! Hugely enjoyed ourselves, hopefully I can post some photos from her owner!
Things I took away:
- I need to ride more quietly down a grid and let her figure it out
- she is much calmer if I get on and give her a job straight away
- she doesn't like stop-start riding and lots of transitions, flowy rein changes and long spells in trot are her way forward!
No photos from today, but a few from the last 2 weeks!
I've been lurking on this forum for years, but more and more over the last few months; for the first time in my life I'm not involved in a Livery yard so am missing the horsey chat! Thank you to everyone who gave me advice on finding a share horse - I lucked out and came across Pip
Pip is a 9yo Irish draught who for one reason or another hasn't really been in consistent work since she was broken at 4. We've worked hard on getting her fit (and losing some weight!) but I've ended up in the most perfect situation with her - her owner struggles for time so I get to do exactly what I love, ride 5 days a week bringing on a project horse!So a quick lesson report:
We went for our first jump lesson today and she was fabulous, she's homebred, and has only been off her yard for a handful of times in her life so any kind of relatively sensible behaviour would have been a win!
She came off the trailer snorting and whinnying like dragon, promptly put all 17hh of her weight through my big toe, and generally spent 20 mins dancing around the lorry park (note to self: this is not a horse who likes waiting!).
Much better once on board, jig joggy but nothing too silly. The coach was brilliant, he had us trotting big laps of the arena in a nice rhythm and gradually built a grid from trot poles to a triple. We trotted around the arena and up to this grid without stopping 10-15 times (which meant some very speedy jump adjustments from the coach!), but the rhythm really relaxed Pip. I realised that I often inadvertently wind her up by stopping and walking to give her a break every 2-3 fences when we're warming up, whereas actually she really settled into the trot rhythm and the repetition of the grid.
We then reversed the grid and had the same exercise the opposite way, with the fences getting higher every lap of the school, but her confidence really built with every jump, and by the end her focus was completely on the jumps and not on the lawnmower/horseboxes/other horses/tigers in the fence! Hugely enjoyed ourselves, hopefully I can post some photos from her owner!
Things I took away:
- I need to ride more quietly down a grid and let her figure it out
- she is much calmer if I get on and give her a job straight away
- she doesn't like stop-start riding and lots of transitions, flowy rein changes and long spells in trot are her way forward!
No photos from today, but a few from the last 2 weeks!
