Flatwork in a borrowed Kieffer
Forgot both my saddles; Tony came along to take pics and we'd taken the car. Saddles were in the truck. Oh well—borrowed a Kieffer, which luckily fit well enough.
Frustrating warm up—lots of resistance in the bridle, reluctance to go forward. Come on Clover, do we have to go through this every ride? Follow the rein? Please? Things improved once we warmed up, though. Wearing spurs might have helped, too. Not sure yet, I don't like jabbing her after she ignores a softer leg aid, and I'm sure she resents it, too. But, what are you going to do? Suppling exercises.
My favorite new suppling exercise at the walk is shoulder fore down the long side, up the center line, leg yield to the opposite quarterline, straighten and walk forward a few strides, then a few more steps of leg yield to the rail. Not only does it get Clover's hind end more supple, it helps me get my self sorted out and coordinating the aids. And better with the seat, not lock it up.
The Kieffer has a deeper seat than I'm used to; deep seats are for sitting in, so I did some sit trot work, some leg yields, doublers, a few transitions to canter. We still think a half-halt means to drop out of whatever gait we're currently working in, but we're working on that. More working up in the bridle today, but I had trouble maintaining rein length.
I gave Tony a brief anatomy lesson and showed him why Clover is an average mover, she's more powerful on the forehand, her shoulder and hip angles are straight, et cetera, et cetera. Still, I can improve her to some extent with dressage, and she could be theoretically trained all the way to Grand Prix movements, but the quality of movement wouldn't be there. I was slyly illustrating to Tony why it was a good idea to breed Clover to a better quality stallion (like Irish's dad) and get hopefully a better moving horse with a little work ethic.
Frustrating warm up—lots of resistance in the bridle, reluctance to go forward. Come on Clover, do we have to go through this every ride? Follow the rein? Please? Things improved once we warmed up, though. Wearing spurs might have helped, too. Not sure yet, I don't like jabbing her after she ignores a softer leg aid, and I'm sure she resents it, too. But, what are you going to do? Suppling exercises.
My favorite new suppling exercise at the walk is shoulder fore down the long side, up the center line, leg yield to the opposite quarterline, straighten and walk forward a few strides, then a few more steps of leg yield to the rail. Not only does it get Clover's hind end more supple, it helps me get my self sorted out and coordinating the aids. And better with the seat, not lock it up.
The Kieffer has a deeper seat than I'm used to; deep seats are for sitting in, so I did some sit trot work, some leg yields, doublers, a few transitions to canter. We still think a half-halt means to drop out of whatever gait we're currently working in, but we're working on that. More working up in the bridle today, but I had trouble maintaining rein length.
I gave Tony a brief anatomy lesson and showed him why Clover is an average mover, she's more powerful on the forehand, her shoulder and hip angles are straight, et cetera, et cetera. Still, I can improve her to some extent with dressage, and she could be theoretically trained all the way to Grand Prix movements, but the quality of movement wouldn't be there. I was slyly illustrating to Tony why it was a good idea to breed Clover to a better quality stallion (like Irish's dad) and get hopefully a better moving horse with a little work ethic.
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