Saturday is pole day
Meaning, I'll be devoting Saturdays to working Keane over ground poles and cavaletti, whether I'm just lunging or actually riding. But as a Formula 1 fan, Saturday is actually pole day, as that's the day on race weekends that they do the qualifying--which determines the grid positions--for Sunday's race. And being on pole, of course, means that that driver has the best starting position.
Anyways. I have very few friends who even know what F1 is, much less enjoy racing.
Needless to say, I worked Keane over poles this past Saturday. We're still doing mostly ground work with him, although frankly, I could and should just be getting on him and riding around the indoor at this point. But for my comfort level, I'm still taking it slow. We did the usual warm up and lunging with side reins, and then I lunged him over 3 poles on a circle. Keane did ok, as long as I didn't let him rush--Mr. Crazy Legs would step all over the poles. My main goal at this point is to slow him down and get him working more from behind. After a few successful trips through the poles, Michele raised the middle one off the ground on one end on the outside of the circle, and that didn't faze Keane a bit.
Changing direction this time, however, threw him for a bit of a loop. He's tenser going to the right, and to be fair, there was a guy hauling away the manure pile, hidden out in the woods near the indoor. It was a little distracting, but once I showed Keane that the poles were the same in this direction, he settled in and we eventually raised the middle pole again. When I was done lunging him, I got on while Michele lunged me at the walk. I'd planned to trot at the very least, but the fuss at the manure pile made the chicken out.
The funny thing is, once Keane gets to work, he actually has pretty good focus and goes right along. When I was riding him, there was another horse being worked in the indoor, and Keane didn't care a bit, even when the horse cantered by and a huge clod of dirt hit the kickboard. Didn't even turn an ear. I really have to suck it up and make it a point this week to ride him off the lunge. Bawk, bawk!
Anyways. I have very few friends who even know what F1 is, much less enjoy racing.
Needless to say, I worked Keane over poles this past Saturday. We're still doing mostly ground work with him, although frankly, I could and should just be getting on him and riding around the indoor at this point. But for my comfort level, I'm still taking it slow. We did the usual warm up and lunging with side reins, and then I lunged him over 3 poles on a circle. Keane did ok, as long as I didn't let him rush--Mr. Crazy Legs would step all over the poles. My main goal at this point is to slow him down and get him working more from behind. After a few successful trips through the poles, Michele raised the middle one off the ground on one end on the outside of the circle, and that didn't faze Keane a bit.
Changing direction this time, however, threw him for a bit of a loop. He's tenser going to the right, and to be fair, there was a guy hauling away the manure pile, hidden out in the woods near the indoor. It was a little distracting, but once I showed Keane that the poles were the same in this direction, he settled in and we eventually raised the middle pole again. When I was done lunging him, I got on while Michele lunged me at the walk. I'd planned to trot at the very least, but the fuss at the manure pile made the chicken out.
The funny thing is, once Keane gets to work, he actually has pretty good focus and goes right along. When I was riding him, there was another horse being worked in the indoor, and Keane didn't care a bit, even when the horse cantered by and a huge clod of dirt hit the kickboard. Didn't even turn an ear. I really have to suck it up and make it a point this week to ride him off the lunge. Bawk, bawk!
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