CC on riding needed. Please be kind!

[sandi_84]

Ok it took 5 whole hours for my computer to upload the vid but it's here!
I realised watching it back that my stirrups were different lengths (oops!), they felt fine at the time though ha ha!
Also I know that when he fell back to trot and I asked for canter again he struck off on the wrong leg (oops again), we are still having the occasional issue with that but it's getting much better as we go along.
So here's the link to the video, please be nice to me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J0zgnluXCk&feature=youtu.be

 

[Fluffy pony]

Lovely horse - super canter. Ideally I'd say he needs a little more forwardness in the early trot (which was much more forward after you'd cantered), and although you don't want to push him out of his natural rhythm, a little more impulsion in the trot would be good. Having said that, you look a fab partnership and he's very calm and obedient to you - you make a very nice picture. What are your plans together?

 

[sandi_84]

Lovely horse - super canter. Ideally I'd say he needs a little more forwardness in the early trot (which was much more forward after you'd cantered), and although you don't want to push him out of his natural rhythm, a little more impulsion in the trot would be good. Having said that, you look a fab partnership and he's very calm and obedient to you - you make a very nice picture. What are your plans together?

*Stops holding breath in anticipation of a bashing* Aw thank you! He has got the most comfortable canter to sit to, he's on working livery and this is one of the comments a lot of the riders come out with too
The trot was actually my fault a bit, he tends to rush through your hands a bit so I was trying to keep it nice and steady He seems to be going so much better in the gag. I resited for a while but now I see what my RI was talking about!
We are just taking it slow just now as he's still quite green but we're just going to enjoy each other. I'd like to do a bit more happy hacking (lack of partner to hack with) and eventually work up to more jumping together

What about my riding? any comments?

 

[sandi_84]

Bump

 

[sandi_84]

Anyone?

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

Nothing majorly standing out, quiet, pretty balanced! Only real thing for me personally would be to take more of a contact as reins a little long and in the clip he is offering you a nice uphill frame and outline but he's not getting the reward for it so look to give a little (about an inch - 2 inches) of the inside hand so he learns that when he holds himself 'correctly' the pressure is off.

Also, don't work so hard in the riding trot. Yes he is a bit reluctant before your cantering, but you are putting a hell of a lot of effort into rising out of the saddle! Let the horse push you out of the saddle. Some horses will really ping you out, others (like mine) dont' so you just don't rise quite so much out of the saddle!

 

[sandi_84]

Nothing majorly standing out, quiet, pretty balanced! Only real thing for me personally would be to take more of a contact as reins a little long and in the clip he is offering you a nice uphill frame and outline but he's not getting the reward for it so look to give a little (about an inch - 2 inches) of the inside hand so he learns that when he holds himself 'correctly' the pressure is off.

Also, don't work so hard in the riding trot. Yes he is a bit reluctant before your cantering, but you are putting a hell of a lot of effort into rising out of the saddle! Let the horse push you out of the saddle. Some horses will really ping you out, others (like mine) dont' so you just don't rise quite so much out of the saddle!

Yeay! thank you for responding!
I always worry about having my reins too short so I seem to have inadvertantly gone the opposite way
We've just recently managed to get the occasional outline (something I've never had before on riding school ponies) so I'm still working on that but my RI said the same to me the other day
My sister has also said that I rise too high and looking at the video I can see what you mean, I was wondering why it looked a bit dodgey!
Thanks again

 

[FreddiesGal]

The same as the other two really about the impulsion - other than that you seem to be a nice quiet rider

 

[smokey]

Agree that it looks a wee bit like you're working harder than him in trot, but other than that, lovely!

 

[misterjinglejay]

Very nice and what a lovely lad. Just try and relax your rising a bit, try not to stand up/sit down, let him push your hips forward.

As others have said, he could do with being more forward in trot.

Really nice combination - doing well

 

[neelie OAP]

Nice pony lucky girl, agree too much effort in rising trot, rising too high therefore too much time out of the saddle hence slightly behind the movement of the pony, inside leg to keep pony straight, stop looking down because it throws your weight forward off your centre line, if you get the wrong canter lead, correct it, don't just carry on, a little tense in your shoulders, keep a good bend in your elbow for this will prevent any stiffness in your shoulders, but to be honest I would not use a gag, he has started to throw his head up a little, which is something you do not really want, have you tried a french link, just a suggestion, but go and enjoy wish you have a long and happy partneship

 

[ContinentalRescue]

You're a lovely team together. What are your plans for the future?

 

[Booboos]

Lovely horse and you're doing a great job with him!

A couple of ideas:
- avoid going round the school for too long, work instead on specific exercises. Your school looks wider than 20m, so make sure you do loads of 20m and 15m circles to help him get an inside bend. You should be doing loads more circles than straight lines.

- also aim to do loads and loads of transitions!!! Transitions are the best thing for waking a horse up and helping with impulsion. The only time you should take your time with transitions is if he breaks the canter and is rushing the trot, then pop back on your circle, re-establish inside leg to outside hand so you have the right bend and only then ask for the canter (more likely to get the right canter lead this way).

- try to soften your hands a bit. Your arms look a bit straight, whereas ideally you want them bent at the elbow. Also don't rise so high and try to control the lowering in the trot. Until he is more forward don't worry too much about where his head is, he is better off going forward in a rhythmical trot with his head in the air, than being behind the leg with his head tucked in.

 

[sandi_84]

Nice pony lucky girl, agree too much effort in rising trot, rising too high therefore too much time out of the saddle hence slightly behind the movement of the pony, inside leg to keep pony straight, stop looking down because it throws your weight forward off your centre line, if you get the wrong canter lead, correct it, don't just carry on, a little tense in your shoulders, keep a good bend in your elbow for this will prevent any stiffness in your shoulders, but to be honest I would not use a gag, he has started to throw his head up a little, which is something you do not really want, have you tried a french link, just a suggestion, but go and enjoy wish you have a long and happy partneship

Yup I am indeed a very lucky girl, he's been a gent for the most part and even after falling off twice I feel ridiculously safe on him - the falls were due to cat leaps not daftieness of the naughty sort Ooh you caught me! I'm terrible for looking down! On slow hacks when we're just bimbiling along I often get rocked into a sort of away with the fairies state and catch myself looking at the ground! I stupidly didn't check when we broke canter and I pushed him on again but he does occasionally strike off on the wrong leg and we do come back to trot and try again when he does so I do deserve a wee slap on the wrist for that one We've not tried a french link before. We had up until recently been in a basic snaffle with full cheeks but he can be quite strong and I felt awful in my last lesson because he was so rushy I just felt like I was constantly at him to slow down a bit. My RI sugested a gag for a short term period to see if it helped any and to be honest there has been a marked improvement! If he rushes I only need a very light touch to bring him back and when doing trot/walk/trot transitions it's no longer a bit of a fight RI says when we've had a bit of time schooling in the gag we'll try a snaffle again so I'll borrow a french link and see how we do with that. Thank you!

You're a lovely team together. What are your plans for the future?

Thank you very much, he's a sweet lad I'm a terribly nervous person so we don't plan on doing shows but I am very happy just happy hacking, doing a bit of flatwork and hopefully in the future work up to some jumping as it's one of the things I used to love doing and he has a wonderfully scopey jump. We had tried but I was asking too much too soon - hence my falls - so we are going to go back to basics with trotting poles and work up to little crosspoles at the end

Lovely horse and you're doing a great job with him!

A couple of ideas:
- avoid going round the school for too long, work instead on specific exercises. Your school looks wider than 20m, so make sure you do loads of 20m and 15m circles to help him get an inside bend. You should be doing loads more circles than straight lines.

- also aim to do loads and loads of transitions!!! Transitions are the best thing for waking a horse up and helping with impulsion. The only time you should take your time with transitions is if he breaks the canter and is rushing the trot, then pop back on your circle, re-establish inside leg to outside hand so you have the right bend and only then ask for the canter (more likely to get the right canter lead this way).

- try to soften your hands a bit. Your arms look a bit straight, whereas ideally you want them bent at the elbow. Also don't rise so high and try to control the lowering in the trot. Until he is more forward don't worry too much about where his head is, he is better off going forward in a rhythmical trot with his head in the air, than being behind the leg with his head tucked in.

We usually do a lot more circles, serpentines, transitions etc in the school we did them in the warm up before my sister came to film us
Thanks about the elbows comment I'll definately be more aware of this the next time I ride Sorry the slowed down version of a trot you are seeing was my fault again He has got quite a zippy trot and he tends to rush through my hands so my RI suggested we work on a slightly slower trot and then begin to ask him to come back to normal paces again which isn't shown in the video
Am I thumping down on his back?

Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions which I will definately be trying to put into practice in our schooling sessions. Also thank you all for being gentle with me!

 

[Booboos]

[Am I thumping down on his back? :

No!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't worry you're doing great!

This is something that everyone can work on - try to control the down phase of your rising trot, you should feel the inside thigh muscles working when you do this (and may be quite sore afterwards) but if you can control this it will help with his rhythm and you will be able to send him on from the leg without him getting unbalanced. His back is fine!

 

[sandi_84]

No!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't worry you're doing great!

This is something that everyone can work on - try to control the down phase of your rising trot, you should feel the inside thigh muscles working when you do this (and may be quite sore afterwards) but if you can control this it will help with his rhythm and you will be able to send him on from the leg without him getting unbalanced. His back is fine!

Phew! Ha ha! for a minute there I was really worried I was going all "sack of tatties" on my poor boy
Okey doke I'll give it a go, hopefully be able to crack walnuts soon

 

[celia]

He looks a like a lovely horse and you seem a nice, quiet rider I just think you need to work him a little more. He has nice paces and looks as though he could work very well but he's trundling along, especially in the trot, and you could do with getting the hind leg working a bit better. I'd be doing lots of transitions to get him a bit more active and move him around a lot more to keep him listening and make things a bit more interesting. Forget about the head, get your leg on a bit more and keep him busy. Rushing is usually an evasion as it's easier for him to rush off on the forehand than to use his back legs and carry himself properly. If you feel he's starting to rush keep the leg there but close the hand a little and get him on a circle so you can control the energy he's giving you. Same with the canter - you need to keep him a little more 'together'. Use a little more leg but move him around more so you keep him with you. If he does collapse out of it (as he did in the video) I'd avoid asking again on the straight - especially if you sometimes have trouble getting the right leg. Rebalance your trot and wait for the corner. A good trot will give you a better transition which in turn will have you starting off the canter in a better balance. Over time working him like this should make him even nicer to ride! You'll find the jumping much easier too if you can get the flatwork well established.

 

[sandi_84]

He looks a like a lovely horse and you seem a nice, quiet rider I just think you need to work him a little more. He has nice paces and looks as though he could work very well but he's trundling along, especially in the trot, and you could do with getting the hind leg working a bit better. I'd be doing lots of transitions to get him a bit more active and move him around a lot more to keep him listening and make things a bit more interesting. Forget about the head, get your leg on a bit more and keep him busy. Rushing is usually an evasion as it's easier for him to rush off on the forehand than to use his back legs and carry himself properly. If you feel he's starting to rush keep the leg there but close the hand a little and get him on a circle so you can control the energy he's giving you. Same with the canter - you need to keep him a little more 'together'. Use a little more leg but move him around more so you keep him with you. If he does collapse out of it (as he did in the video) I'd avoid asking again on the straight - especially if you sometimes have trouble getting the right leg. Rebalance your trot and wait for the corner. A good trot will give you a better transition which in turn will have you starting off the canter in a better balance. Over time working him like this should make him even nicer to ride! You'll find the jumping much easier too if you can get the flatwork well established.

That makes sense too thanks!

 

[gillianclaude]

No crit as I'm nowhere near good enough for that, but small world considering I got my horse from the woman that owns your yard

 

[Princess Jess]

I agree with what everyone else has said about impulsion, canter leads and lots of transitions. I'd also keep an eye on your rein length as they look a little too long at times, but nothing too major really.
Sounds like you're making good progress and there's already lots to like

 

[sandi_84]

No crit as I'm nowhere near good enough for that, but small world considering I got my horse from the woman that owns your yard

Aw brilliant! It is indeed a small world It was really funny when she got him in for me because she knew before I did that he would be perfect for me. He honestly didn't strike me at all and I thought he looked a right scruff bag (bearing in mind that I like hairy natives!) but she let me name him and the more time I spend with him the more I love him
Hope you've had a similar experience with yours! Is he the one in your sig?