I wondered what would happen when it came to rain, whether I would use the arena or chicken out and not ride, or ride inside instead. To be fair it was only drizzling and there was no rain, but it was persistent, and I could not resist the lure of all that space.
Radar first. Ho hum. He did some nice enough walk and trot and today I was determined to canter, as I need him fit. We did canter circuits and circles in each corner on each rein, but the transitions left a lot to be desired. I decided to finish the session with trot canter transitions. Well! It was like shaking the bottle and popping a champagne cork - every single time. He was throwing his backside left and right to avoid rounding up and using himself properly. He was shaking his head and pulling. In the end I decided to take a huge breath, my life in my hands, and give him a loose rein and ask for the transition, and pull up after five strides. And repeat until he was so bored he balanced himself and behaved.
Boy that was scary :-) But it worked. After about ten champagne corks he realised that it would be much easier simply to balance himself, and stay balanced waiting to be asked to stop again. Turning onto the other rein was right back to square one, of course. In fact he was worse on the right rein for chucking himself about the arena. But again, we got there. I think he will have learned a great deal from being made to balance for himself. I certainly hope so!
Ace was lovely and I only did ten minutes just to make sure he was still a happy boy. He skipped a bit at first but nothing nasty and we did some lovely canter circles.
Then Jazz. Yes, I rode ALL THREE. I can hardly believe it myself. Jazz did medium trot (better and better - much more rythmn today) and then some half pass in trot and some in canter. I find it so much easier to keep him in front of me in all the space, with the good footing, and in consequence so much easier to hold him in a half pass. It was definitely the best that he has done. On the last one, canter left, he was going to drop the bend and then he made a supreme effort to put himself back into it and complete the move. I rewarded him by stopping immediately and putting his jimjams back on so he could go out.
I wonder how cold, rainy, and windy it will have to be to drive me out of my playpen?
C
Sounds wonderful. Lucky you. I must have missed all the planning for this when I was away on holiday, as I was very surprised to see the pictures of your lovely arena.
ReplyDeleteAs I said to my OH the other day "If we had put in an arena when we moved here, I would have had 20 years use out of it by now."
One day, it will happen...you will just decide it's too wet to ride outside, but it won't be soon. Outside is really the only place to ride. It's where we and the horses belong.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at a barn with an indoor, I often rode outside in the dark instead of indoors.
Good work for all three, even "schooling challenged" RadaR.
It was a quick decision Judith, so I could have it done before the weather stopped heavy machinery going on the field. It's wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteHe is such an odd boy Jean. He will walk OK as long as he hasn't trotted. He will trot OK as long as he hasn't cantered. Once he has cantered, all bets are off!
C