HHO Virtual group clinic week 3

rara007 said:
Thanks MP for the demonstration! The trot work did look much more secure than your last video :)

How do you get so much of the school in the video ?
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Tripod behind the fence and camera zoomed right out. Camera was at C so you can see where I'm not hitting the centre line ?
Cant quite get the H and M corners unfortunately, the ground drops away behind the camera so I can't go any further back.

I've stuck it on the corner post before facing down a long side, that captures quite a lot too.
 
Oh and yeah it's all a bit more grown up! Having exercises to focus on has helped me figure out where she's conning me and prioritise things for improvement. Was losing the plot before stuck between napping and trying to work out how to deal with it ?
 
I am so appreciating this thread - we are just doing completely baby stuff at the moment but it is both inspiring and reassuring to see and hear of others' experiences and how the exercises look - thank you milliepops for the videos - I can 't tell you how helpful they are!! :) :) I am going to have a go at this exercise this afternoon though I don't have an arena , just an odd shaped bit of flat field. I will improvise but attempt to work on rhythm and consistency in particular - probably just doing one circle at a time as the mare is so young. This is fantastic stuff - thank you HHO. :)
 
I rode a variation of this today if anyone is interested :). I used it to help warm up the walk, firstly I used larger circles, about 15m as I was warming up. I would ride the first circle make sure I was straight and had even bend, then the next circle I would ask for leg yield around the circle (so not leg yielding out but following the line of the circle) like a leg yield against the wall. Making sure to control the shoulders and asking for good crossing of the inside hind leg. Then across the diagonal I would counter flex then true flex and then repeat the other direction etc. This is good if you have a horse that likes to hold the tension in the neck and back and helps you to control all the parts of your horse.

In the trot circles I would alternate between correct and 'incorrect' diagonal with both true and counter bend. Worked really well to help relax a tense horse.

Hope that helps anyone!
 
We tried this earlier this morning and I really enjoyed it. We started with the kindergarten exercises from week 1 as my boy seems to really enjoy those as a warm up, especially when we follow up with a little leg yield spiral in and out. We then moved onto milliepops 4 patterns for improving bend (improvising slightly as our grass arena is only 20x40), finishing with the 6 circles on both reins. I’m really pleased with our progress - my boy has always struggled with changing bend fluidly but he is getting better and better. Definitely felt some inside hind action in this exercise too. Thank you, keep them coming!
 
I have also had fun trying this but at a very basic level. :) As my mare is only 4 and just starting any regular ridden work I am doing tiny bits only and not really asking for very much other than trying to be accurate to the aids, work rhythmically and play with the things I am suggesting. It might sound like a cop-out really but I don't have an arena, nor anyone on the ground to really help and I am also interested to try a few things in a very relaxed fashion to see if my little mare can work stuff out - it's a more playful approach perhaps than I have used previously!!

Anyway, today we did a few minutes of warm up in walk and trot, then played with the half halting and a few transitions - as well as asking for a different trot in places. All good. Circles were really interesting as my mare does struggle more on the right rein but she did really, really try - I started to feel some genuine suppling AND rather thrillingly, she was working in a really nice, relaxed frame (not on the bit but soft, lovely neck and quite rhythmic). I only asked for 1 circle in each place and had to modify to account for the shape of my bit of field! In total I only worked her for about 30 minutes and ended working when she gave me 2 steps of relaxed rein back. I was chuffed to bits with her today:cool: I love having ideas to work with. Thank you!!
 
Sprat said:
Looking good MP.

I like the look of this one. I mostly spent the weekend hacking so I'll be trying this tonight. If I'm brave I may even pop a video up.
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Please do! I am more than happy to continue sharing our efforts but would be nice to have some company :)
 
Ohhh I need to find the other threads of exercises! I'm just getting back on after 7 weeks off due to dislocating my kneecap and these exercises will give me something to focus on instead of aimlessly pottering about!
 
This exercise did not go well. She was really flat and inconsistent tonight, I couldn’t get her off my leg and my contact was all over the shop. A couple of videos below, please be kind ? yes I am aware that I have wobbly hands and legs, believe me it’s much better than it was and it’s a work in progress. Cc welcome! The walk video cut off the start, and I only did one circle for the walk as she was quite stuffy. My circles are too large so that’s something to be aware of and improve on.


The trot work below. It felt unconnected and wibbly.

 
It looked a little long and flat for me sprat and she seems a bit behind your leg - shes not doing your wobbly bits any favours by being a bit ignorant to your aids - I feel like youd be stiller if she were more off your aids. In fairness to you both I'm not totally convinced I didn't see an odd uncomfortable stride here and there in the trot - but that could just be the lack of forwards or just the effect of video, or the fact that if I look closely enough at anything I start seeing lameness (paranoia is normal with horses right?)
Had you worked in and had a canter? I think if I were you I'd be inclined to have a good canter, maybe off her back and going a bit medium even to loosen her and get her moving before I worked the circles again if you hadn't already done so. Or even do 4 circles and bung a medium trot in on your straight lines maybe.

I couldn't video as I couldn't find any convenient place for my phone tonight, and had to modify as I only had a small square arena, so 6 became 4 in walk and trot, and 2 in canter (also 10 became 15 in canter but I'm still quite impressed we got them that small)
I felt it was a nice one for us - got to watch he doesn't curl up and go btv and down hill with lots of bending so that kept me on my toes, but I liked that he seemed to engage his brain with it and when we came to the canter work he was better able to woah and go than he has been, although it still gets fast flat and drops out if I'm not very careful. Note to self, sit on your arse and bloody ride it emma!
 
We had a good go in trot and tried in canter with simple changes but it was a bit too much for M at this point. Hes only just "got" one 10m circle so it kind of fell apart after the first straight line. We will have another go when his 10m circles are coming a bit easier

The trot work was good though, we used leg yield on the straight lines which were very steep as my school is only just over 30m long. I had to make sure I got the bend switched just before the marker

It's a great exercise for suppling with all of the changes of bend
 
Mochi said:
I'm so sad I've only just seen this, I've missed out on a lot! Still might try it and get a video or two.
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don't worry - catch up when you can :) it won't matter if you want to bump the previous threads and add yours, we're only putting a new thread up each week so that it's easy to find the next exercise, it's not like it goes out of date ;) . other people might want to join if they see the previous ones coming up too.
 
milliepops said:
don't worry - catch up when you can :) it won't matter if you want to bump the previous threads and add yours, we're only putting a new thread up each week so that it's easy to find the next exercise, it's not like it goes out of date ;) . other people might want to join if they see the previous ones coming up too.
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Well thats nice to know! :) I'm really interested in the exercises for week one. I've been trying to work on asking my mare to work properly over herself and not hollow out but she speeds up and then we're both tense. Ill try these new approaches and see how we go!
 
Roxylola said:
It looked a little long and flat for me sprat and she seems a bit behind your leg - shes not doing your wobbly bits any favours by being a bit ignorant to your aids - I feel like youd be stiller if she were more off your aids. In fairness to you both I'm not totally convinced I didn't see an odd uncomfortable stride here and there in the trot - but that could just be the lack of forwards or just the effect of video, or the fact that if I look closely enough at anything I start seeing lameness (paranoia is normal with horses right?)
Had you worked in and had a canter? I think if I were you I'd be inclined to have a good canter, maybe off her back and going a bit medium even to loosen her and get her moving before I worked the circles again if you hadn't already done so. Or even do 4 circles and bung a medium trot in on your straight lines maybe.

I couldn't video as I couldn't find any convenient place for my phone tonight, and had to modify as I only had a small square arena, so 6 became 4 in walk and trot, and 2 in canter (also 10 became 15 in canter but I'm still quite impressed we got them that small)
I felt it was a nice one for us - got to watch he doesn't curl up and go btv and down hill with lots of bending so that kept me on my toes, but I liked that he seemed to engage his brain with it and when we came to the canter work he was better able to woah and go than he has been, although it still gets fast flat and drops out if I'm not very careful. Note to self, sit on your arse and bloody ride it emma!
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It was long and flat and she wasn't off my leg, you are absolutely correct. When she gets like this, I find it hard to pick her up into a more uphill frame as I just don't have the power from behind, so I let her dribble around with a wishy washy contact. If I do pick her up and try to add more power, the contact goes brittle and tense so it seems pointless attempting to achieve it. Days like this I think we should just give up and hack instead...

We have polework tonight then a day off tomorrow, so I'm going to try this exercise again on Thursday and see if I can yield a different result.
 
Yeah, that makes sense, sometimes the best laid plans still go wrong. Hopefully she'll be in a better frame of mind next time but dont feel you have to plough on with something that's not working for you - not every exercise suits every horse - lots of my go to stuff doesn't suit supercob at all, hes just not built for it and we end up getting frustrated with each other
 
Sprat said:
It was long and flat and she wasn't off my leg, you are absolutely correct. When she gets like this, I find it hard to pick her up into a more uphill frame as I just don't have the power from behind, so I let her dribble around with a wishy washy contact. If I do pick her up and try to add more power, the contact goes brittle and tense so it seems pointless attempting to achieve it. Days like this I think we should just give up and hack instead...

We have polework tonight then a day off tomorrow, so I'm going to try this exercise again on Thursday and see if I can yield a different result.
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I also think you're being a bit unkind to yourselves. This kind of exercise could be useful on the wishy washy days, concentrating on bend, suppleness, rhythm and size of circles (because that tests the between hand-and-legness) is always going to be useful, and then maybe you can try something similar to what I did with it in canter, which was to try to add a bit more oomph on the short straight bits in between? it's not a great distance so you need to insist on a response pretty immediately, but then the circle is there to help re-supple and fix any tightness that resulted from the "go" aid.
 
thinking further on that, the helpfulness of having straight and circles in such quick repetition, I am going to try and develop this exercise riding transitions within the pace I think. Maybe ON one circle, BACK on the straight, ON again, or vice versa almost try a few steps of medium on the straight and super collected & engaged on the circle, that would really test the responsiveness
But again be quite intense, probably something to do when well warmed up and aim to just do one rep.
 
I like that idea MP, I think we'd have to do the on on the straight, we might fall over trying our new found medium on a 10m circle
 
Roxylola said:
I like that idea MP, I think we'd have to do the on on the straight, we might fall over trying our new found medium on a 10m circle
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Oh yeah, no medium on a 10m circle :p i'm thinking more like a forward working trot without losing balance on the circle and then collected (for K perhaps towards passage) on the straight:p and then collected on circle/medium on straight. It will come up fast! I think the bending will help rescue any tightness that comes from the snappy transitions.
 
Those of you that have tightness in the contact when the impulsion isn't there from behind, do you have any go to exercises that tend to help this?
 
Transitions possibly would help. I think it's very easy with this sort to end up chucking your contact away just to try and encourage some forwards but that's counter productive a lot of the time. So keep some contact and ignore the tightness a bit - you can improve that when shes more forward.
Does she do turn on the forehand? Or rein back? Maybe one of those and straight off up in to trot. And when you go, really just go go go - give it all you've got
 
Two poles a bit apart on a long side, or across x and ride a transition every time you are between them. Direct transitions as well if you can
 
Roxylola said:
Transitions possibly would help. I think it's very easy with this sort to end up chucking your contact away just to try and encourage some forwards but that's counter productive a lot of the time. So keep some contact and ignore the tightness a bit - you can improve that when shes more forward.
Does she do turn on the forehand? Or rein back? Maybe one of those and straight off up in to trot. And when you go, really just go go go - give it all you've got
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Thanks, some useful ideas. It's hard with no lessons, my brain has turned into mush and I appear to have forgotten everything that could be helpful
 
It's easy even with lessons to just sort of coast with your foot off the gas and everything going "ok". Then without lessons suddenly ok becomes a safety blanket, its hard to push out of because without expert eyes on the ground its difficult to know if when it goes wrong it's a hiccup and part of the process or did we really fluff it up this time. We dont push as much as we could because we're losing the ground we've already gained. If that makes any sense o_O
 
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