Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Arya: May the Second

So when we left off, Arya tried out some magikal tack.

Thursday, 5/17 - Arya got her teeth done, and thus got a day off.



Friday, 5/18 - Arya trotted several circles in a row and even was allowed to canter a lap, though started to get silly towards the end. She goes left really well right now, and I started asking for her to give to the bit using pressure and release. I also continued to focus on applying my leg and calf more. She is feeling more balanced, and seems more and more resigned to her life as a horse being ridden. She still wants to get stuck, and especially going right, wants to counterbend like CRAZY especially when she wants to be bad. She got a little up and did some small spooking at a truck hauling a big empty equipment trailer, that rattled, but was generally quite good.

Sunday, 5/20 - Arya continued her lessons in giving to pressure, not losing one's mind when doing stuff and I also focused more and more on inside leg to outside rein. To the left, she really seems to be getting it, but to the right, she continues to be mentally/physically blocked. She leans hard on my leg and hand and continues to do her super dramatic counterbend when she wants to get shirty. We trotted quite a bit, and did one circle of canter, but again struggled with even a full circle of trot going right. I may stick her on the lunge line again going right and try to see if we can figure out bending right without a person up (thinking lunge line inside, side rein outside... or just breaking her to long line, already).



Thursday, 5/24 - More inside rein to outside leg on this lovely balmy day. Groundwork was obedient, and she cantered without breaking quite well. Once we were riding, going left was really quite good. We trotted and cantered pretty normally and Arya did some chewing and thinking at the trot, and gave me some softening when asked. Good girl! Right continued to be tense, but I didn't feel like she was scheming to buck me off; more that she wanted to rush because she was anxious and felt like she couldn't do what I wanted. We'll probably lunge this weekend as we're fencing pasture and I probably won't have time to ride much.

After Thursday: Arya lunged a bit but basically ended up with a week off due to heat, then several days of thunderstorms, and then I shot a clinic over the three day weekend.

Monday, 6/4 - We're back to the beginning, pretty much. Ground work was obedient and we're mixing in more and more canter, as well as transitions. Once on, left felt like her right side on a good day, and going right was an utter mess. She jigged, threw her head, rooted, counter bent, and tried to rush off into the canter, but she was, surprisingly, manageable, though she couldn't even with my leg, much less contact. Going left improved a lot. I tried to stay steady and just keep asking for what I wanted, and we had two big improvements - several circles of trot that I could actually ride vs manage, and I was able to talk her into bending through her body and giving to the bit at the trot several times. I was thrilled with this, and let her quit and have a bath after that much mental effort. I am excited to get back on and keep working on this new-found talent!



1 comment:

  1. I discovered your weblog website on google and test just a few of your early posts. Proceed to keep up the superb operate. I just further up your RSS feed to my MSN Information Reader. Seeking forward to studying more from you later on!… casino games

    ReplyDelete