blood_magik
Well-Known Member
The other week I finally got around to taking Blue for a lesson with my new trainer.
It was our first time riding outside (we're spoiled with two lovely indoor arenas at home so hadn't ventured outside at that point) and slightly windy but the big(gest) man came off the trailer looking as cool as a cucumber. He was far more interesting in his haynet than what was going on around him and wasn't fussed by anything at all when we wandered down to the arena to start warming up, which was quite nice.
Once we were warm, my trainer hopped on to give Blue a jump over a few bigger fences and then it was my turn. We started with a single upright and once I gave myself a bit of a kick up the backside for not riding forwards enough (and not getting after Blue for not listening to my leg) we actually started making some progress.
Okay, we didn't get the 'perfect' stride to every fence but I didn't get left behind and I actually *rode* around the corners (the school is pretty small so it was tight). I nearly got launched over Blue's ears when I asked for that flying change the second time around the little course but I managed to recover quickly enough to keep going, which is something I've struggled with in the past.
Video here (jumping starts at around the 1:30 mark:
[video=youtube;6AOJI_OcNGY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AOJI_OcNGY[/video]
A few days after the lesson I unexpected had to go to Ireland for a family thing, so the boys ended up having a bit of a break. I was raring to go when I got back but just my luck, Blue was missing a hind shoe and Beau had twisted a hind shoe (the same one - they obviously were in cahoots). So they had another few days off
but thankfully we're back up and running again now.
We've been pretty busy since then. Blue went for his first hack and was a star while Beau pouted because he'd been made to slow down and wait (how small does Beau look? You'd never think he was 17.2/17.3hh
).
We've done some more jumping...
[video=youtube;HFyebcIXYp0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFyebcIXYp0[/video]
[video=youtube;lAPnY5lMfbw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAPnY5lMfbw[/video]
... And today we played at being dressage divas, complete with dead sheep.
Beau felt 10x stronger in his frame and for once, it didn't feel like he was bumbling along on his forehand (he's built downhill, which doesn't help). His left canter actually felt amazing and I finally managed to keep him from falling in/out through his right shoulder for the entire session.
With Blue, I finally figured out that I need to contain him with my outside rein/leg on left-hand circles rather than trying to encourage (pull) him round with my inside hand and then we had a play with some counter canter and mediums with the aim of maybe having a go at N22 in a few weeks (if my dressage trainer approves).
I think Beau's still a few months away from being ready to go to a competition but we are getting there. I've felt a *big* improvement in him in the last 2-3 weeks so we just need to keep working hard and it will hopefully come together enough to be able to go out and not embarrass ourselves.
Thanks for reading.
It was our first time riding outside (we're spoiled with two lovely indoor arenas at home so hadn't ventured outside at that point) and slightly windy but the big(gest) man came off the trailer looking as cool as a cucumber. He was far more interesting in his haynet than what was going on around him and wasn't fussed by anything at all when we wandered down to the arena to start warming up, which was quite nice.
Once we were warm, my trainer hopped on to give Blue a jump over a few bigger fences and then it was my turn. We started with a single upright and once I gave myself a bit of a kick up the backside for not riding forwards enough (and not getting after Blue for not listening to my leg) we actually started making some progress.
Okay, we didn't get the 'perfect' stride to every fence but I didn't get left behind and I actually *rode* around the corners (the school is pretty small so it was tight). I nearly got launched over Blue's ears when I asked for that flying change the second time around the little course
but I managed to recover quickly enough to keep going, which is something I've struggled with in the past. Video here (jumping starts at around the 1:30 mark:
[video=youtube;6AOJI_OcNGY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AOJI_OcNGY[/video]
A few days after the lesson I unexpected had to go to Ireland for a family thing, so the boys ended up having a bit of a break. I was raring to go when I got back but just my luck, Blue was missing a hind shoe and Beau had twisted a hind shoe (the same one - they obviously were in cahoots). So they had another few days off
but thankfully we're back up and running again now.We've been pretty busy since then. Blue went for his first hack and was a star while Beau pouted because he'd been made to slow down and wait (how small does Beau look? You'd never think he was 17.2/17.3hh
).We've done some more jumping...
[video=youtube;HFyebcIXYp0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFyebcIXYp0[/video]
[video=youtube;lAPnY5lMfbw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAPnY5lMfbw[/video]
... And today we played at being dressage divas, complete with dead sheep.
Beau felt 10x stronger in his frame and for once, it didn't feel like he was bumbling along on his forehand (he's built downhill, which doesn't help). His left canter actually felt amazing and I finally managed to keep him from falling in/out through his right shoulder for the entire session.
With Blue, I finally figured out that I need to contain him with my outside rein/leg on left-hand circles rather than trying to encourage (pull) him round with my inside hand and then we had a play with some counter canter and mediums with the aim of maybe having a go at N22 in a few weeks (if my dressage trainer approves
). I think Beau's still a few months away from being ready to go to a competition but we are getting there. I've felt a *big* improvement in him in the last 2-3 weeks so we just need to keep working hard and it will hopefully come together enough to be able to go out and not embarrass ourselves.
Thanks for reading.
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