A wandering shoulder, a sloppy outside rein & major progress!

[Queenbee]

Ive recently had the epiphany of just how bad my outside rein can be... to be fair, its my inside leg too, plus my weak back and my tendency to rely too much on an inside rein for steering.

Ive been working so hard on my seat, my core strength and my lower leg position and strength, this week it really started to click into place, no longer was ben able to catapult me out of the saddle with a stretch of the neck, no longer were my legs in armchair mode, and so I started to focus on other things: Ive worked on pushing him out into a circle with my inside leg. Im well aware that as a baby he is still working on his strength and as such falling out through his shoulder is a common occurrence so have made concerted efforts to keep a strong/clear contact with that outside rein both out on hacks and in the school... its paid absolute dividends. Now there are times when I get forgetful and my outside rein goes a'wandering and his shoulder flys out reminding me to re-establish that contact and he is straightening up right away!

Hes now no longer the slug he was in the school, he is really forward, sometimes too much so and takes a bit of work to relax down, but he is really enjoying himself in there!

Up until recently we had a bit of an issue with rushing when being asked to canter, understandable as hes only just recently started cantering in the school, so we had couple of weeks break, focused on walk and trot and today I simply asked, because the pressure wasnt there, and he was flowing so nicely, he transitioned the second I asked, on the right leg on both reins giving me a nice upward bouncy canter at a lovely steady pace and for the first time he bought his head down, trying to round and work in more of an outline.

Everything is a learning curb at the moment for him and I really feel that by adding a bit of jumping to the mix its really made the school a 'fun' place for him to be, he seems to excel at jumping, he simply loves it.

I know this probably means nothing to anyone else but I had to share as Im bursting with pride, it seems as if he has come on so much this week

 

[TandD]

sounds like your making fantastic progress!!!! it feels wonderful when everything comes together

 

[Queenbee]

Doesn't it just! We were doing so well, but then suddenly all these glitches become apparent, they've always been there just now he's doing more schooling became more apparent, so for a few weeks it was such a mess, then suddenly, bingo!!! Still a long way to go but we are even starting some leg yielding, I'm actually doing this as I come out of a circle to go back onto the track, he's starting to really move off my leg AND his halts are becoming better as my left leg gets stronger so he doesn't float to the left... I'm so very happy with him

 

[doriangrey]

Ah go on .. put yourself out there like Armas. I dare you to do it! I'm so very jealous that I can't ride at the moment, and when I see warts and all on video I think it is very brave. Give Armas the same courtesy .. let him critique you. All due respect because I love reading about Ben.

 

[Queenbee]

Nope, not yet!!!!! The difference is, it's me not a paid trainer riding... And Ben is a wee infant not a grown boy... He's progressing but the progress is not that entertaining!! Plus, I have no one to video me, and I am unable to upload videos to YouTube .

However, in a month or two we will be having weekly lessons, every two weeks will be working on jumping and the other two will be working on dressage... So when that starts I will promise to sort out videos and try and fix my uploading issue for HHO vultures although I doubt anyone will be a bigger critic of my riding than me (apart from my dressage trainer!)