I was about to get on Ace yesterday when he gave that characteristic little squeal that lets you know that if you do, you are in for a wild ride. So I fetche the lunge line and he lunged himself in trot and canter, mostly canter, for about ten minutes non-stop. He tried a couple of wild escape movements, but I held on to him OK and he gave up easily. Then I rode and he was really well behaved. He is struggling with downwards transitions and is tending to set against them, so that is what I am focussing on at the moment. It's an absolute basic and he really can't do more serious work until he has learned to come back from trot to walk, and from walk to canter, in balance and going forward.
I always finish with him on a free walk on a long rein, and I don't let him stop until he has released his back completely and is swinging through with his head pushed out and down. He knows this and usually gives me it quickly, but not yesterday. He got in a teasy strop about not being allowed out of the arena, and did a simple little jink to the left that caught me right of balance. On top of that, his saddle has gone terribly slippery in the dry cold air, and off I slipped! What an idiot I felt as my feet hit the floor.
To top it all, I then lost balance and sat down and the air jacket cord pulled. And the jacket did not go off. Boy was I MAD. All season I have been wearing a jacket that was not going to inflate anyway. Over £400 on nothing. I took it back inside for SH to see if there was anything wrong, and while he went to fetch the allen key that I needed to undo it, I unscrewed the cannister - to find that it was ....... empty. Point Two had actually sent me back a used cannister when they changed the broken trigger!!!
Jazz did me lovely session after that, where I cracked yesterday's problem with medium trot. I had been coming off the corner and failing to get him straight before I asked for extension. Today I insisted on him being totally straight first, which meant we were already half was across the arena, but when I asked for the extension I got lift instead of run, which was great. He also did some very smart flying changes, which are getting sharper and sharper on the aid.
I'm waiting for the arena to thaw now to ride Radar later.
C.
Good idea to lunge first. Thinking, as I did yesterday, that some ground work might benefit your frisky kid. You could even work a bit on those transitions to let him figure some of it out himself.
ReplyDeleteBoy, have I been there "sliding off" like that. Did it once when Toby shied and he stood there looking at me with a surprised expression, "Hey, what are you doing down there?"
Glad you didn't get hurt, but what a bummer about the vest. Good thing you found out about it now instead of out on the hunt. Hope the company makes good on a new cannister ASAP.
Nice way to end the day by riding the "good" horse. *G* Jazz has really taken to this dressage thing, hasn't he.
ooops, meant to add, I love the blog title. Ace certainly was a chocolate tempest in a teapot. Cute, and perfect.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it's a US expression is it Jean? A jacket with no CO2 in the cartridge is "about as useful as a chocolate teapot" :-)
DeleteI got a good session in on Radar when the arena thawed this afternoon.
C
I would be steaming mad about the jacket! That is not an excusable mistake!
ReplyDeleteHa, a chocolate teapot - I have never heard of that - how funny.
Poor old Allan was shrinking back in terror when I came in, ML, I was so hopping mad!
DeleteIn the end I was glad it was only an empty cartridge, because otherwise I would have lost all faith in the jacket and never worn it again.
I shall have it on again in a minute when I ride Ace this morning.
C