But a slow poster. I am late again. But oh well, its December.
We’re stuck with the later time slot for next year, but its too pricey for me to go to private lessons right now, so I will try riding at that time a few times. If it doesn’t work out, I will try to move to an earlier timeslot on Mondays. They also have a good instructor, though I am concerned there are too many juniors (and thus smaller, lighter riders) in the group for me to be able to get the less weight-carrying horses as often as I need them.
So, about that lesson…
We jumped. Properly this time, so Sammy wasn’t allowed to take part, and I was put on Gamir. My instructor noted that she had used Sammy twice last week for those basic exercises (our lesson and one more), and she wouldn’t make that mistake again. By the second time, he caught on a wee bit too quick (he always does that if you have the same exercise twice in a week) and did it even faster. Oops.
I still haven’t done my lesson report for this week, mainly because I am upset that the schedule is changing next year and I am not sure how to be able to manage a weekly lesson unless I move to private tuition which would be lots of fun but also a lot more expensive. In the meantime, however, I (or rather, Elio) came across an interesting paper about the horses in Tolkien. Made me very inspired to try for something horse-related for the next big paper (the final requirement for the new Masters degree) that I may be starting next semester. Something about horses in the Iliad and/or in Greek myth and religion would be interesting, if I can formulate a good question to discuss. And then, if I continue with the Literature, maybe something on horses in fantasy…
Of course, a more practical approach might be to write something involving horses that could actually pay for my riding. Or at the very least, getting some horse-related translation jobs. I am so tired of motocross and surfing. ;P
Today, it was sort-of-dressage, sort-of-jumping. Our instructor had decided to use some small jumps in order to once again get us to ride forward enough and to help us get enough lift and suspension in the canter to facilitate a change of leading leg.
And despite this, I was still on Sammy. A little peculiar, perhaps, since dear old Sammy hasn’t jumped for ... oh, at least 5 and probably more like 7 or more years. He was one of the best (well, most eager, anyway) jumpers in the stable before, but then he went and tore a muscle in a hindleg. This has shortened his stride somewhat and, since he was never a careful jumper in the first place, made them concerned about him tearing that muscle again if overextending himself. So, he was pulled from jumping.
Its been a while since last, but today it was time for the second to last of this years shows. It was also time for my dad to take over the handling, to see if Ringo might behave a little better and to get some practice in because they’ll be taking him to the last show for the year in Stockholm.
This was also the first time for Ringo in the 15-24 month class, since he turned 15 months three days ago. This meant his odds were pretty poor, since he’d likely be the least developed dog in his class. It also meant that more entries were likely, since more people show in this class than in the junior class. So, instead of being alone, he was up against three other dogs. And though he did get his first price for quality (as he has gotten at all but one show so far), he ended up placing last of the four.
His behaviour was better than with me (he jumps up on my father too, but stops when told to do so, at least for a while before trying again), though he was hard to get interested in posing well or running with a bit more interest as he was very easily distracted by just about anything. I think he probably would have needed to be worked with more before the class started, but my dad is a bit more laid-back than me. ;) In the meantime, I was extremely nervous, more so than when handling him myself. ;P
Overall, the judge wasn’t too happy with the behaviour of any of the dogs. None of them got a CK and he told all the handlers that they needed to get them to behave better. The critique .... well, it sounds very positive, but either it wasn’t quite enough anyway or he didn’t really consider the order too carefully. It did seem like he was in a hurry to get the troublemakers out of there. ;)
Masculine male. Dark eyes, good expression, good width and depth of muzzle. Noble neck. Square, substantial body. Good angles, suitable bone structure. Good coat and brindling. Moves well when he wants to. Very lively.
I just realized that I completely forgot my lesson report this week. Bad Linda. Though, I did have a pile of subtitling and course work. But still. In any case, it’ll have to be a briefer one or I will end up putting it off again.
I was on Sammy this week too and we continued to work on cantering, though first she had us emphasize obedience during (in particular) transitions as we warmed up. For me, this was particularly useful, since one of the difficulties with Sammy is getting him to not trot like a harness racing horse after cantering. He still did this a few times, but after he realized that that kept resulting in a gentle but firm halt, he started improving. He’s a very clever fellow, and if you set strict limits, he gets the point pretty quickly.
I also focused a lot on actually riding his canter from the get-go, and the results were overall pretty good. The really hard part about Sammy, though, is that he’s very good at giving you a nice, easy trot or a nice, easy canter that feels very comfortable. He’s learned a thing or two about escaping work during all his years at the riding school, and its easy to be fooled into not actually asking him to work properly.
Another cold Tuesday (with some snow, in fact) and I was again concerned about getting Fleur. Fortunately, it seems my instructor has decided I’ll be on Sammy for the canter work, which is just fine by me. His canter is certainly a lot better than both Fleur’s and Murphy’s, and he’s pretty solid most of the time (except when people set off fire crackers right outside the arena ... ;P). I was, however, a bit jealous to see that someone else got to ride last weeks new arrival, a pretty grey Arabian mare who is just the right size. But fortunately that means she’ll be in my weight class too, and since she was a little frisky yesterday, I guess I can wait a few weeks to try her out. ;) I do hope they keep her, though. We need more big ponies/small horses.
I had some papers to deal with this week, so the lesson report ended up falling by the wayside for a few days. It was, however, a lesson well worth reporting on. I had worried that I’d be back on Fleur (it was pretty cold, so I figured she’d be frisky) since Murphy had done two jumping classes earlier in the day, but I was pleasantly surprised to find myself on Sammy. That’s a rare treat these days, since the big Irish boy is the oldest horse in the stables and mostly used for lower level lessons.
We jumped yesterday, and I was more than a little pleased that I got to trade Fleur in for Murphy. Murphy may not have been quite so pleased, since he tried to sink his teeth into my nose a few times, though he did appreciate the treats. He was also fairly forward-going, suggesting he hadn’t done too much work (if any at all, since he was a bit muddy) earlier in the day. Another plus was that the riding school had bought some ‘sugarcubes’ to use for small jumps instead of needing us to drag in the very heavy wooden supports we usually use. So we were able to pretty quickly setup a nice line of four small jumps with related distances and then a bigger one with the usual equipment.
We had a theory lesson this week, so there’s not too much to report on. We had a horse down in the arena (Winston was the lucky volunteer ;) and our instructor demonstrated some lunging for us. We discussed various kinds of equipment and their pros and cons as well as how to handle problems one may encounter while lunging a horse. On the whole, she prefers ground driving or working them loose, though she only does the latter with horses she knows are suitable for it. They don’t use lunging a lot at the riding school either (basically, its just done for demonstration purposes), so most of the horses aren’t used to it at all. They do some ground driving occasionally when getting a horse back to work after an injury, but generally they work them under the saddle.
Winston was a pretty decent subject to work with (though he did try to kick me a few times in the stables as I got him ready ;P). He was relatively okay with lunging, but he did try some evasive tactics, giving her a chance to show various ways of countering them. Next time we have a theory lesson, we’ll probably do lunging again, and try to get some hands-on practice in. I am already looking forward to getting dizzy. ;P I have tried it a few times, and that has been the inevitable result each time.
After I was too tired to post Tuesday evening, it completely slipped my mind yesterday. Bad Linda. Especially since the lesson was a distinct improvement from the previous two weeks. I was still on Fleur, but since the weather had warmed up again (thank you, global warming, depriving me of a proper autumn ;P), she was distinctly more mellow (read: almost lazy, which I have no issues with). That girl really is like a thermometer.
We continued to work on keeping a steady rhythm (we’ve also added some lateral work these last weeks, and there a good rhythm has always been a big weakness of mine), and after an initial chat with my instructor about how to tackle some of the issues I have with Fleur, I got a much better grasp on how to ride her. Since she’s got a short stride, and is getting a little stiffer (she’s 15-16, I believe), its pointless to ask for too much forward-going right off. Instead, I need to keep her fairly short (her long neck tends to stick up otherwise) and engage the hindlegs to ride her forward to a hand that isn’t so far away.
My instructor was still asking me for more activity at a few points during the lesson, but overall I rode about as effectively as I ever get around to when not taking a private lesson (not only do I get passive when I am nervous, I also get passive when I think too much about what I am doing, so constant nagging helps with that last bit at least. ;), and Fleur certainly worked pretty well. So, a nice change from the last few weeks, though if its cold for our next jumping lesson I’d be very happy to switch horses still.
Today was the first lesson of Ringo’s new course: tracking. Since the next obedience course isn’t scheduled until April (which is just as well, because he needs a lot of training before then), we decided to indulge his interest in tracking in order to give him something to spend some of all his energy on. So, now I am sitting here with really sore hands, because he was (as usual) absolutely wild when getting to meet with other dogs and do super-fun things like follow a track made by dragging a deer hoof over the ground.
Since he saw us put the track down, it was a little hard to get him to track with his nose down all the time, and he also went waaaaay too fast (when competing, the dog isn’t allowed to pull on the leash, so we have some work left), but he more or less got the idea and happily grabbed and carried the hoof. We sure can’t complain about his interesting in grabbing things.
After we had finished up, we passed by where they do agility training, and tried out one of the obstacles (a big, inverted V) with him. First two tries, he ran to the top and then jumped off because he didn’t see he could go down the other side. Third time, he did it properly and really fast. He sure isn’t afraid of heights. In fact, a teensy bit more caution would probably not be a bad thing. But oh no, he’s a boxer through and through.
As I had suspected, I got Fleur this week too. I did ask what else was on the menu (no Murphy, presumably since two other groups jumped today), and I did consider whether I might dare to try Martino again or perhaps Winston. But ... no. I’ll have a chat with my instructor about them, though, to see if she thinks any of them might suit me, at least for non-canter work. Somehow, I do need more options. With Gamir and Sammy almost never being used for our lessons, and Nelson’s weight limit having been lowered, that means I am pretty much down to just Murphy and Fleur. And for winter, that’s no good, since Fleur will become increasingly lively.
Today was better than last week, since we didn’t do any cantering, but I was timid in my riding and the results weren’t too impressive. It wasn’t just all an issue with my nerves, though. Partly, I wasn’t getting a good grip on how to counter her putting her head up. I tend to shorten the reins a bit much and try to pack her together, instead of riding her forward and getting her to come down that way, so she ends up becoming too passive. Eventually, however, I got myself to ride her on longer reins and to ride her more forward, and the last three walk to trot transitions came out fairly well. Her lateral work also improved throughout the lesson, just a lot more slowly than if I had been riding effectively all along.
Towards the end of the class, a disturbance in the form of a very vocal stallion outside was introduced. Someone had decided to take their stallion to the riding school for some socializing training, and all the girls were very interested when we walked outside. Handsome fellow, certainly.
Today was not a particularly good day in terms of my riding at least. I was back on Fleur, and unfortunately she showed the same tendencies that she showed last time outdoors towards easily getting tense and stressed. And since today’s exercise involved mixing trotting and cantering with the transition in a more or less fixed location, she ended up getting very rushy every time we neared that spot. Add to that a new horse that ended up shying as he got too close to Fleur, thereby scaring the silly little girl, and there was plenty for my nerves to get rattled by.
Most of the time, I simply couldn’t get myself to sit back down and ride her, I just kept curling up and leaning forward, with a cramped grip on reins that I kept way too short. She did canter fairly well—really well for being Fleur, actually, whenever we got onto a circle, but that was because she slowed down a bit then, which immediately relaxed me a bit so that I sat down properly and gave her some more rein. But as soon as she had a straight stretch ahead of her, she tensed up and put her head up. And if there’s anything I can’t stand, its a horse that feels tense. I can deal with lively or strong as long as the horse doesn’t feel tense. Sammy, for example, gets really charged up by these exercises too, but he doesn’t get tense. With Fleur, and some others, the tension makes it feel as if I am sitting ‘on top’ of them rather than ‘in’ them. Which logically makes no sense, but that’s the sensation I get. I feel like I could get tossed off at any moment.
So, not good. I really ought to ride her again next week, but I am not sure it will do much good now. Gamir would be nice, if she doesn’t want to put me on Murphy again. He can also get tense, but usually I can work it through on him, so that might be a good one to tackle. I am getting really bothered again by the lack of horses that I can ride, though, and everything new that they buy is either too small or too big. We haven’t had a new mid-sized (150-160 cm) horse for a very long while.
By the time that it was time to head off to the stables yesterday, I was definitely ready for a relaxing riding lesson after struggling for most of the day with an extremely annoying translation (I hate extreme sports shows ;P). Fortunately, a rather muddy but eager (he clearly hadn’t been ridden yet) Murphy was waiting at the stables.