Ample Prosecco
Still wittering on
After camp was cancelled, I decided just to do a DIY overnight trip to Somerford. Did the farm ride the first evening then hired an arena and book a private lesson the following morning. It was really good fun.
I did the Lucinda Green 'XC basics' exercises round the farm ride. Firstly, trot jumping. And then intalling the STOP button via walk-halt; trot-halt; canter-halt. And finally canter, jump - halt. She was keen but we managed it. Sort of. Lucinda's lesson is that you ask for halt progressively. Cue 1 is to woah in the air, so the horse lands and is coming back to you already. Then cue 2 is shoulders back, sit deep and ask with voice and hand. If the horse ignores that, it's 'pull his teeth out'. (Obviously not literally! But the horse needs to know you mean it when you ask nicely). Lottie never responded in the air - she always landed on a forward stride. But she got better at listening to the first cue and not needing the 2nd.
The SJ lesson was good but a bit scary. Lottie was nicely rideable to the fences, so I coud keep a decent rhythm but after landing, she would increase pace despite all my jump-halt work! With gap between fences this was fine. But the RI set up a 3 stride related distance with a pretty meaty 2nd element. Lottie would cover the ground in between and get there in 2.5. I had to sit quietly to teach her to figure it out. If I flapped at her she might go on a long one and not make it. If I took a pull she'd fight and stop paying attention to the job. Both were a bad idea. But staying quiet with a soft hand meant she saw she was deep and had to pause and pop. RI said this was a very good exercise to train her to use her brain and not just run at things. Seemed to work well. Very happy with her.
I did the Lucinda Green 'XC basics' exercises round the farm ride. Firstly, trot jumping. And then intalling the STOP button via walk-halt; trot-halt; canter-halt. And finally canter, jump - halt. She was keen but we managed it. Sort of. Lucinda's lesson is that you ask for halt progressively. Cue 1 is to woah in the air, so the horse lands and is coming back to you already. Then cue 2 is shoulders back, sit deep and ask with voice and hand. If the horse ignores that, it's 'pull his teeth out'. (Obviously not literally! But the horse needs to know you mean it when you ask nicely). Lottie never responded in the air - she always landed on a forward stride. But she got better at listening to the first cue and not needing the 2nd.
The SJ lesson was good but a bit scary. Lottie was nicely rideable to the fences, so I coud keep a decent rhythm but after landing, she would increase pace despite all my jump-halt work! With gap between fences this was fine. But the RI set up a 3 stride related distance with a pretty meaty 2nd element. Lottie would cover the ground in between and get there in 2.5. I had to sit quietly to teach her to figure it out. If I flapped at her she might go on a long one and not make it. If I took a pull she'd fight and stop paying attention to the job. Both were a bad idea. But staying quiet with a soft hand meant she saw she was deep and had to pause and pop. RI said this was a very good exercise to train her to use her brain and not just run at things. Seemed to work well. Very happy with her.
