A handful of fences
In the back pasture—even though there's only a handful of fences out there, the footing is good and there's 8 acres of galloping space.
We warmed up with trot and canter work, changes of direction in half-seat, using our upper bodies to make the change. Some leg yielding on the circle, I have a hard time/Clover is reluctant to move away from my right leg—something to work on during our next flat school—strange because I'm weaker on the left side, but have an easier time with leg yielding off of that leg.
We also worked on lengthening and shortening the canter stride, using half-seat and sitting the canter to make the adjustment. We used the exercise to jump the railroad tie stack—lengthen stride in half seat, sit and shorten the stride 6-8 strides out, jump, land, then lengthen the stride on the getaway.
We approached and jumped the fence the first time perfectly (well, except for me rushing Clover to the fence), but in my eagerness I goosed Clover forward again before she hardly landed—risking a stumble or tripping. I misheard my trainer say ” ... one more stride … ” Thinking that she meant I needed to add another stride before the fence, I proceeded to try and add another stride the next three tries, causing Clover to chip in. Oops. What she meant was to give Clover another stride after landing, before asking her to go forward again.
We moved on to the middle of the field, and worked a figure 8 pattern over a pair of log jumps. Clover got all of her leads just right, but I got overeager again and started to jump ahead—completely missing the distance. I have to remember NOT to chase Clover to fences and STAY WITH HER over fences, even though it feels like I'm hanging on her but not jumping ahead of her. I've been getting better about not doing it, but it's been such a long-time habit, it's hard to break. My trainer confirms that I'm not hanging on Clover or getting left behind when I don't jump ahead, I just need to release a little bit more with my hands. Well, at least I'm getting there.
Unfortunately, Clover has a bit of a snotty nose and a throat-clearing kind of cough—wonder who she caught that from? She's not running a temp, and her appetite is good, but we've put her on smz's for several days to clear it up. I'll continue to ride her lightly unless her condition worsens. I want to be as consistent as possible, the 2 phase is next Saturday.
I also longed Shadow, bridled with surcingle and side reins, and Little Man, in just a halter. Shadow was pretty well behaved, and Little Man was a cutie, if a bit clueless yet.
We warmed up with trot and canter work, changes of direction in half-seat, using our upper bodies to make the change. Some leg yielding on the circle, I have a hard time/Clover is reluctant to move away from my right leg—something to work on during our next flat school—strange because I'm weaker on the left side, but have an easier time with leg yielding off of that leg.
We also worked on lengthening and shortening the canter stride, using half-seat and sitting the canter to make the adjustment. We used the exercise to jump the railroad tie stack—lengthen stride in half seat, sit and shorten the stride 6-8 strides out, jump, land, then lengthen the stride on the getaway.
We approached and jumped the fence the first time perfectly (well, except for me rushing Clover to the fence), but in my eagerness I goosed Clover forward again before she hardly landed—risking a stumble or tripping. I misheard my trainer say ” ... one more stride … ” Thinking that she meant I needed to add another stride before the fence, I proceeded to try and add another stride the next three tries, causing Clover to chip in. Oops. What she meant was to give Clover another stride after landing, before asking her to go forward again.
We moved on to the middle of the field, and worked a figure 8 pattern over a pair of log jumps. Clover got all of her leads just right, but I got overeager again and started to jump ahead—completely missing the distance. I have to remember NOT to chase Clover to fences and STAY WITH HER over fences, even though it feels like I'm hanging on her but not jumping ahead of her. I've been getting better about not doing it, but it's been such a long-time habit, it's hard to break. My trainer confirms that I'm not hanging on Clover or getting left behind when I don't jump ahead, I just need to release a little bit more with my hands. Well, at least I'm getting there.
Unfortunately, Clover has a bit of a snotty nose and a throat-clearing kind of cough—wonder who she caught that from? She's not running a temp, and her appetite is good, but we've put her on smz's for several days to clear it up. I'll continue to ride her lightly unless her condition worsens. I want to be as consistent as possible, the 2 phase is next Saturday.
I also longed Shadow, bridled with surcingle and side reins, and Little Man, in just a halter. Shadow was pretty well behaved, and Little Man was a cutie, if a bit clueless yet.
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