I rode twice this weekend; I took advantage of the boyfriend being away to get some quality time in with my girls.
Friday's ride was all about prompt transitions, and while the red mare was a bit insulted when I'd ask for the trot and not get it (resulting in a good smack on the bottom with my whip to get the transition NOW, not in 5 strides) she improved quite a bit by the end of our ride. I still am confused and troubled by her spooking antics, but the ride itself was pretty satisfying, as rides tend to be when improvement can be seen. I also put my stirrups down a (half) hole for the first time in a long time, and was happy to realize that I am better balanced and stronger than I was - I used to feel so insecure without that extra quarter inch of stirrup leather!
Sunday's ride showed the marked improvement in her transitions from Friday's work - a nice reward to remind me the profits of consistent work! The spookiness was continued, however - and I also saw more of the other annoying behavior I've been seeing lately - head flipping.
Some of it, is, admittedly, playing. It's warm, she feels good, and she gets to really stretch her legs. I'm fine with a little playing. However, I find the head flipping in reaction to discipline, not wanting to do what I want or being pissy about the contact to be OBNOXIOUS. When she's playing she responds to the half halts and generally goes back to work with only a little leg and rein reminder. I feel like her naughty head toss/shaking is a giant red horse middle finger to what I am asking. If I escalate and lift my hands to stay in contact with her mouth, she fights, inverted, and then drops behind the contact and curls in on herself while sucking back behind the bit, and then alternates between being too strong, flipping her head or turning off her face and being sucked back behind my leg and the bit.
ANNOYING.
I took off her flash noseband, and have been using the grackle on the same holes they've been on for a long time. She seems to like her bit and really foams up when wearing it. I'm strongly considering a change to her dressage girth, in part because I need a new girth (my old Ovation is getting some wear holes) and partially because I am not satisfied with how the girth pulls her saddle up onto her shoulders. I'm drooling over the Total Saddle Fit girths, and despite the reviews and such, it's hard to pull the trigger. Her jump saddle seems to stay back a bit better - the Tekna curved girth seems to really help. She seems better behaved doing dressage in her jump saddle, but it could be a thousand things; I usually ride with a running martingale in that saddle, I ride more out of the tack in that saddle. It sits on her back different, a lot of the time we work some dressage into her jump schools so we aren't doing as much work, and it's broken up... like I said, a thousand factors.
I can't justify riding my dressage tests in my extremely forward jump saddle when I have a dressage saddle. And I can't show with a running martingale on.
So my plan for this week is:
Tuesday:
Short and hopefully sweet ride in the dressage saddle with running martingale
Flat Foxie
Thursday:
Reactive ride from Tuesday to see what the red horse needs. Fingers crossed, I'll have a better ride and can decide where to go from there!
Friday's ride was all about prompt transitions, and while the red mare was a bit insulted when I'd ask for the trot and not get it (resulting in a good smack on the bottom with my whip to get the transition NOW, not in 5 strides) she improved quite a bit by the end of our ride. I still am confused and troubled by her spooking antics, but the ride itself was pretty satisfying, as rides tend to be when improvement can be seen. I also put my stirrups down a (half) hole for the first time in a long time, and was happy to realize that I am better balanced and stronger than I was - I used to feel so insecure without that extra quarter inch of stirrup leather!
Sunday's ride showed the marked improvement in her transitions from Friday's work - a nice reward to remind me the profits of consistent work! The spookiness was continued, however - and I also saw more of the other annoying behavior I've been seeing lately - head flipping.
Some of it, is, admittedly, playing. It's warm, she feels good, and she gets to really stretch her legs. I'm fine with a little playing. However, I find the head flipping in reaction to discipline, not wanting to do what I want or being pissy about the contact to be OBNOXIOUS. When she's playing she responds to the half halts and generally goes back to work with only a little leg and rein reminder. I feel like her naughty head toss/shaking is a giant red horse middle finger to what I am asking. If I escalate and lift my hands to stay in contact with her mouth, she fights, inverted, and then drops behind the contact and curls in on herself while sucking back behind the bit, and then alternates between being too strong, flipping her head or turning off her face and being sucked back behind my leg and the bit.
ANNOYING.
I took off her flash noseband, and have been using the grackle on the same holes they've been on for a long time. She seems to like her bit and really foams up when wearing it. I'm strongly considering a change to her dressage girth, in part because I need a new girth (my old Ovation is getting some wear holes) and partially because I am not satisfied with how the girth pulls her saddle up onto her shoulders. I'm drooling over the Total Saddle Fit girths, and despite the reviews and such, it's hard to pull the trigger. Her jump saddle seems to stay back a bit better - the Tekna curved girth seems to really help. She seems better behaved doing dressage in her jump saddle, but it could be a thousand things; I usually ride with a running martingale in that saddle, I ride more out of the tack in that saddle. It sits on her back different, a lot of the time we work some dressage into her jump schools so we aren't doing as much work, and it's broken up... like I said, a thousand factors.
I can't justify riding my dressage tests in my extremely forward jump saddle when I have a dressage saddle. And I can't show with a running martingale on.
So my plan for this week is:
Tuesday:
Short and hopefully sweet ride in the dressage saddle with running martingale
Flat Foxie
Thursday:
Reactive ride from Tuesday to see what the red horse needs. Fingers crossed, I'll have a better ride and can decide where to go from there!
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