Okay this may sound like I am beating a dead horse (bad pun!) but I learned another twist on my last blog concept.
I am holding Griffin back. I am scared he will bolt into a canter and buck. So when he starts to put his head up and sideways I get concerned and pull on the reins to slow him.
What is really going on is that Griffin is avoiding the bit. He is not accepting it. He is done and wants to go eat grass and not work up a sweat.
Going to the left, Griffin was throwing his shoulder in to the left, putting his head up in the air and back with his chin to left and ears to the right. So what I needed to do is to keep squeezing/releasing on the right rein (amazingly this works in both directions) to bring his head back to straight. At the same time I needed to squeeze/release on the left to keep him round (not as sure about why right now) and, very important now, I needed to give him leg to push him forward into the contact. Yes, even though he seemed like he would bolt, I needed to push him forward. He gets awkward when he goes slow and I inhibit his forward motion. Keeping thinking trot! Keep squeezing and releasing the rein.
When we went to the right, amazing the same thing happened. Both the problem and the solution.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Stop! No, go!
I tried last weeks lesson on Tuesday and got a bit of a buck to the right. His cantering to the left was great.
On Thursday, since Joanna had asked if I had ridden in the outdoor arena, I decided to work with Griffin around the jumps in the outdoor arena. He was a bit distracted but was doing pretty well. Cantered to the left 2 or 3 times then the last one he almost kicked or bucked to the left. We went inside for cantering to the right.
J had earlier zoomed over on his lawn tractor and scared Nikki and Isaac. Griff was a bit concerned. When we got inside he had stopped mowing and kicked the tractor and went off somewhere for a bit. I decided to take the break in distractions to try cantering. Another instructor had brought a horse for a lesson and was there with the rider. They were calm and not really a distraction. I tried leg yielding several times and finally into a canter. Crap! I shouted as Griffin nearly ejected me! Crap! I yelled again as it continued. What a jerk!
So today, Sunday, we started by warming up for our lesson in the indoor arena. It was just re-grated on Friday so the footing was not hard and pretty comfortable. After 20 minutes or so Griffin seemed to be limping a bit with his head going down with the left front. I switched to the other direction and he still limped. Joanna came over to let me know she was ready and I showed her. His limp switched to the other side and got better. Hmm. He looked fine to her so we went to her sand arena for our lesson.
He had been a bit uneven and I was a bit nervous from Thursday and previous excitement out there. I intentionally relaxed my mind and body giving deep breaths out to relax. We trotted in circles at the WP end of the arena pretty much the whole time.
The idea of today was to ask him for a more energetic trot to get him to move and bend correctly. I was holding him back a bit concerned that he would blast into a canter. His circles, especially to the right, were eggs or triangles or something not circular. When we worked it out he moved a lot better and made circles instead of other shapes. To the left I had to be careful not to let him over-bend and bulge out on the right side. To the right the concern was that he would throw his shoulder and bend his neck the wrong way. Again I asked him to look in to the right, keep his neck straight and keep the energy up. At one point in the circle he would consistently speed up and bend the wrong way. When I said "whoa" to slow his trot he would slow to a walk. I had to tug a bit repeatedly with the outside reign and push on with my legs to slow his trot and keep him trotting.
The other idea of today was that in previous bolts he was always heading toward his barn. Joanna had me ask him to trot (from a walk) when we were heading away from his barn.
I probably should have taken her suggestion and cantered him in the indoor arena after our lesson but instead I wanted to end on a good, calm note.
We had no bucking or bolting today. Griffin got the two apples I promised him. Though I think he would have loved to just eat more grass!
On Thursday, since Joanna had asked if I had ridden in the outdoor arena, I decided to work with Griffin around the jumps in the outdoor arena. He was a bit distracted but was doing pretty well. Cantered to the left 2 or 3 times then the last one he almost kicked or bucked to the left. We went inside for cantering to the right.
J had earlier zoomed over on his lawn tractor and scared Nikki and Isaac. Griff was a bit concerned. When we got inside he had stopped mowing and kicked the tractor and went off somewhere for a bit. I decided to take the break in distractions to try cantering. Another instructor had brought a horse for a lesson and was there with the rider. They were calm and not really a distraction. I tried leg yielding several times and finally into a canter. Crap! I shouted as Griffin nearly ejected me! Crap! I yelled again as it continued. What a jerk!
So today, Sunday, we started by warming up for our lesson in the indoor arena. It was just re-grated on Friday so the footing was not hard and pretty comfortable. After 20 minutes or so Griffin seemed to be limping a bit with his head going down with the left front. I switched to the other direction and he still limped. Joanna came over to let me know she was ready and I showed her. His limp switched to the other side and got better. Hmm. He looked fine to her so we went to her sand arena for our lesson.
He had been a bit uneven and I was a bit nervous from Thursday and previous excitement out there. I intentionally relaxed my mind and body giving deep breaths out to relax. We trotted in circles at the WP end of the arena pretty much the whole time.
The idea of today was to ask him for a more energetic trot to get him to move and bend correctly. I was holding him back a bit concerned that he would blast into a canter. His circles, especially to the right, were eggs or triangles or something not circular. When we worked it out he moved a lot better and made circles instead of other shapes. To the left I had to be careful not to let him over-bend and bulge out on the right side. To the right the concern was that he would throw his shoulder and bend his neck the wrong way. Again I asked him to look in to the right, keep his neck straight and keep the energy up. At one point in the circle he would consistently speed up and bend the wrong way. When I said "whoa" to slow his trot he would slow to a walk. I had to tug a bit repeatedly with the outside reign and push on with my legs to slow his trot and keep him trotting.
The other idea of today was that in previous bolts he was always heading toward his barn. Joanna had me ask him to trot (from a walk) when we were heading away from his barn.
I probably should have taken her suggestion and cantered him in the indoor arena after our lesson but instead I wanted to end on a good, calm note.
We had no bucking or bolting today. Griffin got the two apples I promised him. Though I think he would have loved to just eat more grass!
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