Today was lesson day but Kelli and Marvin really needed a long trail ride, so... we did both! We went to Ranas for a lesson and had a good ride. We still are struggling with the stupid haunches in. Sigh... We warmed up and she reminded me of the haunches in on the figure 8, with no change of bend exercise. So we did that. Then we did a little bit of trotting and she reminded me to keep the bend but to be careful that he's not just bending his neck in, especially to the right. The bend must come through the barrel and back. Then we went to the canter. And, that of course led to the haunches in again. Sigh... It's me! Well, and Dan too. Basically I just have to be quicker at catching him. As Rana pointed out... he doesn't have that many tricks and he uses them repeatedly, so... stay ahead of him. Basically... for now, almost overbend him because when he is overbent, he can't invert and brace through his neck. As soon as he gets straight.. he inverts, braces, and then he can't keep cantering so he props and stops. So I have to stay ahead of him with that. And to my credit, I did get better and caught him a few times before he inverted. I've also got to keep him in front of my leg. When I have to get after him to keep him going, then my body position falls apart! So ride with my thighs, not my spur. Then I can keep my lower leg off of him except for the occasional pony club kick to keep him cantering. Or more than occasional. :) But it works! Because by the end of my ride, he was cantering and forward and in front of my leg. Granted I had to kick almost every 1/4 of the circle to make sure he stayed in front of my leg but it'll get better. So then we got our forward canter... did a circle with kicks to make sure he stayed in front of my leg, and as we finished the circle, we came off of it into the haunches in. I have to keep my inside leg off of him... which is annoying because in theory, that's what creates the bend, but... not yet. Right now.. it's just blocking him. And my right shoulder keeps dropping, which collapses my right core, which makes me draw up my right spur. Sigh... so I need to ride around a bit with my right hand up in the air to stretch out my core and really keep my right shoulder up! This helps me bring that right shoulder forward for the correct positioning for the half pass right. So yeah.. it was a struggle. BUT... we did get about 3 or 4 total steps of legit half pass at the canter. :) And then we tried the other way. Ha ha. That was a disaster too. For the same reason, but a different way. Argh... I need mirrors so I can practice and see what whackadoodle things my body is doing!
So anyways... Dan got rewarded and a rinse off cause it was steamy. We hauled to Ashland and I threw on the bareback pad and the grazing halter and off we went. He was super and it was a beautiful day. We all had fun. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment