Dan and I managed to get into the Working Equitation clinic with Polly today. We were on the wait list because I was a slacker. But we got in, so yay. I figured it would be very helpful because Polly is one of the judges for regionals. Luckily for us, her and Doreen are the judges and that's who I've been showing under at all the shows so far. So I kind of know what they are looking for. I think.
I got up early and fed the ponies and then got stuff together. Then I got Dan and gave him a quick bath. Luckily he wasn't too filthy since I had clipped most of him. He was just so sweaty and hot with the little bit of winter coat he had already grown. I loaded him up and noticed that my left rear trailer tire was a little flat looking. But only a little bit and it kind of looks like that all the time. So, I ignored it. Mostly because I needed to get going!
We made it to the farm where the clinic was. It's a gorgeous place. A long driveway though with some tight pine trees lining the drive. But we made it. I got there and got him groomed and tacked up. They had said we could play on the obstacles or use the outdoor arena to warm up, but I only had about 20 minutes if that, so I opted to play on the obstacles in the woods. They had some fun ones too. Not just working equitation stuff, but other obstacles. They had milk jugs full of water hanging. Dan just barged right through those, even when they were swinging. They also had some hay strings hanging, and I had to seriously duck, but he went right through. And the pool noodles were saggy but he wouldn't have cared anyways. They had a raised platform bridge thing that he was great on, although when he came off it, down the step, he either slipped or his stifle got hung, because he scrambled, but he was non-plussed. Then we zig zagged the tree/log on the ground, which was nice. And we also did the teeter totter which gave him zero pause! They had a big loud livestock pen and he did that. Although he was curiuos about the decor in the middle and tried to touch it. Ideally you look at it friend, but you're not supposed to touch! They also had a pedestal which he walked right up on. But the tires.. he said no. He did not want to walk up on the tires. I didn't push it because.. it doesn't matter. We also practiced some trotting and halting and walking with a march and trotting from the halt. Then it was our turn. They have a fun "runway" of red carpet movie drape railings, so we went through there, which was cheesy fun.
I told Polly what I thought I needed to work on and we got to work. She had us get a more marching walk and then we talked about the trot. Tempo and rhythm. Which, is a little embarassing that I didn't know the correct distinction between the two. I do in theory.. and I get the concept, but I couldn't put it into words. But that's okay. We trotted and got a nice trot with a good tempo and rhthym. I sang Lovely Rita to help. Then I sat the trot, and tried to shorten him up and rev him forward. It took a minute but we got it. Although he did try to canter or passage a few times. Good try buddy, good try! But we got the hang of it.
Then we started doing some obstacles. We worked on the figure 8, the double slalom, the single slalom, the jug, the bell corridor, the bull line, and the drums. The first time I picked up the garocha pole I managed to smack him upside the head with it, right in the eyeball, and then drop it. Good gravy! That's so embarassing!! I guess I was more nervous than I thought! Later I was talking to Kathy who rode after me and she said she did the same thing. Well, she didn't drop it, but she did hit Decano. Whoops. At least I felt better.
Bull line: Be careful that my pole gets all the way to the bottom of the barrel before I let go and don't fling it so it bounces. The one time I did it, it was perched half way up the side of the barrel, so I got lucky that it didn't tip the barrel or bounce out. I also need to do the big pretty trot around the arena and then collect/shorten him as I'm turning to the bull line and then keep him shortened as we go through it so I can give myself time.
Figure 8: Sit the trot and collect him into the figure 8. Make sure I've got the correct bend as I come into the obstacle. Ride his shoulders and ride the outside rein to make the turn, but keep my inside leg on AT THE GIRTH (especially tracking right, because he kept trying to canter) to keep the bend. Make him bouncy. When he turns to the left, he wants to fall in, so really push him out with my inside leg as we make that turn.
Double Slalom: The turn into it is what makes or breaks it. I need to figure out how to get through the markers without cutting my line too tight and then swinging wide. I'll have to play with that at home and put out some markers. But overall, the same thing as the figure 8.
Single Slalom: He actually did that one pretty great! She reminded me the goal was to keep as straight of a line as possible, but show change of flexion/bend. So lots of inside leg and outside rein to turn the shoulders. Ride the shoulders instead of his nose.
The Jug: We only did this one once and he was a bit too far away from it, but it was a prompt and square halt so yay.
Bell Corridor: We trotted in and got a nice square halt, although we almost passed through the end. Our reinback was pretty decent... he was more marching and stayed pretty straight. She asked the audience "What caused that to score a 4 instead of a better score"? Well dang.. I thought it was pretty good. No one knew, but... Polly did. L1 has to WALK into the bell corridor. And the rounding posts too! Whoops. She admondished me and told me to read the rules. Yes ma'am. Though I admitted that I usually do that last minute. But valid point. No sense practicing it wrong. So we tried it from the walk. And he was a slug at first and our halt wasn't square. So then I had to get a nice trot, get a nice forward downward transition and then push for the marching walk into a square halt. Which is hard. And our reinback was still pretty good, although at the end, he wanted to start swinging his haunches a little. Polly told me to ride his shoulders to keep him straight. And I have to remember to not jacknife him. If he starts turning to the right with his haunches, pull the left rein!! Not the right. The left rein pulls his haunches back ot the left and puts his left shoulder back in front of the haunches, thus straightening him. If I pull the right rein, it just jacknifes him and makes his haunches go more right.
photos: 9-26 polly clinic
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