http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YTTNXpaYUY
He was so NOT in the mood it was untrue. You can see me kicking the soft beggar to get him to move!
But we got 7s for everything we'd practised in the lesson with Wonder Woman and I was satisfied with our mark (63%) given the quality of the test as a whole - and I was gobsmacked when we actually won!
I does love that horse.
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Even more Oooh!
We had our second lesson with New Trainer today. As I'd suspected we were heaps better than last time, and by the end of the lesson we were even more heaps better still.
Quite remarkable.
The difference is that I am really riding the horse, keeping control of every stride rather than just hoping it will all stay ok. I have to really watch that left shoulder of his and keep hold of it especially during turns to the right, and to keep him balanced I aim for little strides and keep hold of his shoulders so they don't get too far in front of his back end. Then we end up with a nice pingy, balanced gait.
She said that if we do this, there's no reason why we shouldn't end up with a raft of 7s even in E42, and also pointed out that when I do manage to keep hold of Wilson, he looks flashy and impressive.
So "all" I have to do on Saturday is keep him relaxed (hah!) and remember to ride him. Yup, that's all. ALL!! I am terribly excited though and can't wait for tomorrow so that I can ride again!
Quite remarkable.
The difference is that I am really riding the horse, keeping control of every stride rather than just hoping it will all stay ok. I have to really watch that left shoulder of his and keep hold of it especially during turns to the right, and to keep him balanced I aim for little strides and keep hold of his shoulders so they don't get too far in front of his back end. Then we end up with a nice pingy, balanced gait.
She said that if we do this, there's no reason why we shouldn't end up with a raft of 7s even in E42, and also pointed out that when I do manage to keep hold of Wilson, he looks flashy and impressive.
So "all" I have to do on Saturday is keep him relaxed (hah!) and remember to ride him. Yup, that's all. ALL!! I am terribly excited though and can't wait for tomorrow so that I can ride again!
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Ooooh!
Rode again this morning. Remembered to flex him left and right, and he was much better and softer and more supple than yesterday.
Worked on our canter transitions, same exercise as yesterday: canter half a circle, trot half a circle so that he began to anticipate what I was going to ask and I was able to tone down my aids a lot. He's begun to learn to canter when I make a "Tss" sound - works from walk to canter too :chuffed: Just wish he'd go canter-walk!
Ran through E42. No more difficult than a Novice really although obviously the qualitative issues come into play. Anyway we're going to give it a go on Saturday and see what happens.
Haven't felt this excited for ages!
Worked on our canter transitions, same exercise as yesterday: canter half a circle, trot half a circle so that he began to anticipate what I was going to ask and I was able to tone down my aids a lot. He's begun to learn to canter when I make a "Tss" sound - works from walk to canter too :chuffed: Just wish he'd go canter-walk!
Ran through E42. No more difficult than a Novice really although obviously the qualitative issues come into play. Anyway we're going to give it a go on Saturday and see what happens.
Haven't felt this excited for ages!
Saturday, 19 September 2009
New trainer :)
REALLY like her. So does Wils: he let her hold the rein while I got on, and he let her give him a pat. He usually doesn't trust strangers enough to do either of those things.
Thank goodness I think she is the right person to take over from Paul. I was looking for somebody who was like him; Debbie Jones is, but she's as elusive as he is. This lady doesn't use the exact words that he and Debbie use but she talks about the same things, namely Wilson's left shoulder.
Of course she liked him and she also said some very nice things about my riding. I don't care what anybody says, the feelgood factor is important. It's perfectly possible to say nice things to your client and then set about changing what they do! I don't think you need to have the bad stuff rubbed in your face, and you like to feel that your efforts are at least being recognised, however off the mark they may be.
Anyway we worked on getting Wilson soft and supple, which is our absolute downfall and why we do fairly well but almost never very well. She reckons it isn't difficult to fix but it struck me that I have a lot of things to remember to do and I have to time them right as well, which kinda rates as difficult in my book.
We think we may have a crack at Elemental next Saturday. It's a fairly easy test so I'll go through it tomorrow and see how it feels, and then we'll run it past her on Wednesday. She said we'd be fine at Elem but I said No, we still don't really have a medium trot, and she pointed out that we wouldn't be alone there - but I told her that we don't want to be the types who compete at Elementary when we don't have the basics for it. We'll see; I may be seduced into giving it a go; it depends whether I can bear not to have the opportunity to rack up a mark or maybe two for the league, or whether ambition will get the better of me.
And we're going to affiliate. I was only thinking of Prelim, but she reckoned we'd be ok for Novice as well. Oh, she's a List 4 judge. SBN is "only" List 5.
I am so happy. I think we have a chance of really making some progress now.
Thank goodness I think she is the right person to take over from Paul. I was looking for somebody who was like him; Debbie Jones is, but she's as elusive as he is. This lady doesn't use the exact words that he and Debbie use but she talks about the same things, namely Wilson's left shoulder.
Of course she liked him and she also said some very nice things about my riding. I don't care what anybody says, the feelgood factor is important. It's perfectly possible to say nice things to your client and then set about changing what they do! I don't think you need to have the bad stuff rubbed in your face, and you like to feel that your efforts are at least being recognised, however off the mark they may be.
Anyway we worked on getting Wilson soft and supple, which is our absolute downfall and why we do fairly well but almost never very well. She reckons it isn't difficult to fix but it struck me that I have a lot of things to remember to do and I have to time them right as well, which kinda rates as difficult in my book.
We think we may have a crack at Elemental next Saturday. It's a fairly easy test so I'll go through it tomorrow and see how it feels, and then we'll run it past her on Wednesday. She said we'd be fine at Elem but I said No, we still don't really have a medium trot, and she pointed out that we wouldn't be alone there - but I told her that we don't want to be the types who compete at Elementary when we don't have the basics for it. We'll see; I may be seduced into giving it a go; it depends whether I can bear not to have the opportunity to rack up a mark or maybe two for the league, or whether ambition will get the better of me.
And we're going to affiliate. I was only thinking of Prelim, but she reckoned we'd be ok for Novice as well. Oh, she's a List 4 judge. SBN is "only" List 5.
I am so happy. I think we have a chance of really making some progress now.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Good old Nadi
Her last lesson was a fortnight ago and ended, as all too often, with her in a sulk for no good reason. I had a free and frank imparting of my views and told her quite bluntly that I wasn't paying for the privilege of having a sulking teenager to deal with, and she should damn well grow up.
Today she was fab. Rode really nicely on the flat and although there was the occasional hiccup, jumped really well too. Myles was very very pleased.
They ended the lesson before the plummet set in; he said to me he wasn't going to overload her because it blows her brain.
She didn't sulk. There was nothing to sulk about (well, there never is really, but even less than usual). She was pleased with herself in exactly the right way.
And I have had a Nidea, of which more later if it looks as if it'll come off.
Today she was fab. Rode really nicely on the flat and although there was the occasional hiccup, jumped really well too. Myles was very very pleased.
They ended the lesson before the plummet set in; he said to me he wasn't going to overload her because it blows her brain.
She didn't sulk. There was nothing to sulk about (well, there never is really, but even less than usual). She was pleased with herself in exactly the right way.
And I have had a Nidea, of which more later if it looks as if it'll come off.
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Friday, 11 September 2009
We enjoyed our lesson today
It was with SBN. Mr WoW has pretty much disappeared off the radar, unfortunately, which is a hell of a shame but can't be helped.
Wilson has been going better and better every day lately and I love him so much I think my heart will burst. It's mutual, too.
We ran through tomorrow's tests. Basically my problem is that I don't set him up sufficiently for the transitions, particularly trot-canter. I know I panic slightly about canter transitions for some reason. Anyway, I have to get him really round and keep him there so that we have a better chance of making the transitions, and I need to use every available centimetre of the arena so that I have as much time as possible to prepare. Makes sense!
N25 wasn't too bad except for the rubbishy trot-walk and trot-canter transitions. We even got some MT. I asked SBN if she'd have given us any 8s and she said No but a lot of 7s - and just as I was about to ask What about our G&Rs, she corrected herself and said she'd have given us 8s for them :pleased:
N28 - well, again rubbishy trot-canter transitions but some damn good canter, if I say so myself.
So let's see what tomorrow brings.
Wilson has been going better and better every day lately and I love him so much I think my heart will burst. It's mutual, too.
We ran through tomorrow's tests. Basically my problem is that I don't set him up sufficiently for the transitions, particularly trot-canter. I know I panic slightly about canter transitions for some reason. Anyway, I have to get him really round and keep him there so that we have a better chance of making the transitions, and I need to use every available centimetre of the arena so that I have as much time as possible to prepare. Makes sense!
N25 wasn't too bad except for the rubbishy trot-walk and trot-canter transitions. We even got some MT. I asked SBN if she'd have given us any 8s and she said No but a lot of 7s - and just as I was about to ask What about our G&Rs, she corrected herself and said she'd have given us 8s for them :pleased:
N28 - well, again rubbishy trot-canter transitions but some damn good canter, if I say so myself.
So let's see what tomorrow brings.
Monday, 7 September 2009
No good deed goes unpunished
You know how sometimes you get annoyed about something, and then after you've slept on it you think, Maybe I've over-reacted? I haven't. In fact I under-reacted and I'm really quite peeved.
As you know I help out at our RC SJ. I do it because I enjoy it enormously. Selfishly, I do it because it suits me; the fact that it helps the RC is definitely secondary. You also know that I have no interest in SJ per se and consider it an odd and pointless activity.
So when the RC organised a talk about course-building I immediately decided not to go although I wondered whether I ought to, seeing as I'm involved with the SJ, and the more I thought about it the more I didn't want to go and didn't see why I should, given my complete absence of interest, coupled with the fact that other (more interested) people would go.
However I got collared on Saturday after the Trec and was told that I should attend. I explained that I didn't want to, but to no avail and being the ultra-reasonable person that I am, I reckoned that it probably wouldn't be as dire as I expected.
Suffice it to say that I was wrong, that it went on longer than I had bargained for, and I didn't get home till 10.30pm which is waaay past my bedtime. There is no WAY I'm going to the next one, I'd rather bleed to death, and if my helping out results in my being expected to do things like this, they can stuff the sodding SJ and I'm never helping again.
As you know I help out at our RC SJ. I do it because I enjoy it enormously. Selfishly, I do it because it suits me; the fact that it helps the RC is definitely secondary. You also know that I have no interest in SJ per se and consider it an odd and pointless activity.
So when the RC organised a talk about course-building I immediately decided not to go although I wondered whether I ought to, seeing as I'm involved with the SJ, and the more I thought about it the more I didn't want to go and didn't see why I should, given my complete absence of interest, coupled with the fact that other (more interested) people would go.
However I got collared on Saturday after the Trec and was told that I should attend. I explained that I didn't want to, but to no avail and being the ultra-reasonable person that I am, I reckoned that it probably wouldn't be as dire as I expected.
Suffice it to say that I was wrong, that it went on longer than I had bargained for, and I didn't get home till 10.30pm which is waaay past my bedtime. There is no WAY I'm going to the next one, I'd rather bleed to death, and if my helping out results in my being expected to do things like this, they can stuff the sodding SJ and I'm never helping again.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Squee!
K has prevailed upon us to go dressidging to a venue which is new to us. What the hell, why not, I have to come out of my comfort zone at some point and it'll make a rider of me. I know Wilson will back right off and I'll have to ride him with a lot more gumption and commitment.
We're doing N25 and N28. We've never done N25 before so we had a run-through this morning. Wils had been amazingly good up till then: he'd been more forward and although MT is still a distant dream, he is definitely trying.
The moment we started the test he relapsed into his safe, comfy trot that invariably earns the comment "Could be more forward." Anyway the test wasn't as bad to ride as it looked although we lost our bearings slightly in one of the canter G&Rs, lol.
However, the last canter, on our better (left) rein, was quite extraordinary. Wilson came into an "n" shape: he was all compact and tucked in and not so much forwards as upwards. He has done this before but this was the best yet and he maintained it for the whole canter including the G&R, the change of rein on the long diagonal and into the downwards transition.
He did look pretty pleased with himself afterwards and he said some lovely things to me although I don't quite know what they were.
We're doing N25 and N28. We've never done N25 before so we had a run-through this morning. Wils had been amazingly good up till then: he'd been more forward and although MT is still a distant dream, he is definitely trying.
The moment we started the test he relapsed into his safe, comfy trot that invariably earns the comment "Could be more forward." Anyway the test wasn't as bad to ride as it looked although we lost our bearings slightly in one of the canter G&Rs, lol.
However, the last canter, on our better (left) rein, was quite extraordinary. Wilson came into an "n" shape: he was all compact and tucked in and not so much forwards as upwards. He has done this before but this was the best yet and he maintained it for the whole canter including the G&R, the change of rein on the long diagonal and into the downwards transition.
He did look pretty pleased with himself afterwards and he said some lovely things to me although I don't quite know what they were.
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