I'm going to have "fun" for the first few hunt meets I think! I took Radar out for some fast work and he was a complete maniac. I got on and knew I had trouble when he turned and trotted out of the yard. He insisted on trotting up the stone track to the galloping area and when his feet touched the grass he tried to shoot off. I was aiming to do three 1/2 mile uphill runs - canter, 3/4 gallop and full gallop. In the very first run I had his nose touching his chest and I STILL could not stop him, he was pulling like the proverbial steam train. The second run he was even worse and the third run I just gave up and let him go. And bejaysus did he go!
He should have been a racehorse, he really should. He is just so excited by movement and particularly by speed. He jogged all the way home again, of course, far too high on endorphins to walk back calmly. I will never gallop him in a snaffle again, the mikmar is going back on tomorrow. He has a terribly smug look on his face tonight!
A big pat on the back to the person who suggested that I try halfpass with Jazz by heading straight across the diagonal and then putting a travers aid on. I knew that technique but I had not thought to try it. I thought half pass was about sideways movement. I realise now that Jazz was, particularly on the left rein, confused about where we were going. In doing it on the diagonal I can make it perfectly clear to him where we are going and focus on keeping his shoulders headed there. Then I just ask him to do it "crooked" by swinging his bum in, but keep up the aids to go straight forward with the shoulders. It works a lot better and I think it will quickly get us better scores.
It was a good day :-)
C
I was giggling when I read about Radar. He sure likes to go! To some degree I bet you loved it too :-) Fess up. It's exhilarating to ride a horse at top speed!
ReplyDeleteThat's how I do half pass too. Only I do it much more shallow. I turn up the center line in a 60m arena, head towards the corner, straight. As soon as he is heading straight towards the corner I ask for the haunches to move over. He's pretty good at it, especially going right.
That'll teach you to put on the right bit when you ride Radarrocket. He is a riot. He might look a bit funny on the racetrack considering his size and build, but he'd probably love it....huge long stretch of good galloping footing....yummy! *lol*
ReplyDeleteGood work with the half pass. And to answer your question below, the shoulders should lead just a little. Pushing the hind end too far to parallel runs the risk of having the hind end lead which is a deductible fault. The cross over is what's important and the hind end needs to follow the front just a little bit.
And yes, if you do try to push the hind end over too far, it is difficult for the horse to keep his balance and the movement becomes more challenging.
Keep practicing and those scores will go up as the smoothness of the movement improves. By the by, if you want to see some gorgeous half passes, look at some video of Steffan Peters and Ravel of the US. I love theirs!
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ReplyDeleteI fess ML, thrilling it is ! :-)
ReplyDeleteChange of bit on the way Jean.
C