A lovely ride on Filly today. A perfect day for it as well, clear and still.
I started with the prepare to ride being done at liberty. Why ? It just felt right, and it was a change of routine which for a horse like Filly keeps her mind engaged.
Even though it was a liberty we still worked on the same things. It's just like preparing online, no difference, there just happens to be no rope attached. James Roberts always made the point that liberty done for the purpose of impressing friends looks horrible, done with a purpose and it is a thing of beauty.
The purpose today was to play the circling game with no interference on her head so that she could really think forwards and not be inhibited by the halter and lead rope flapping around. I was after 3 laps of maintain gait, maintain direction and look where you are going at walk, trot and canter.
To be honest it was very easy. Even though we were in the large outdoor school she never left me. The circles were, if anything, a little too small and I had to use the stick and string to gently drive her onto a larger circle. Once she had completed the required 3 laps, with quality, a slight dip of my head and she turned sharply towards me and happily trotted over. Of course each session took more than 3 laps as the count starts again if I have to correct her at all, but mostly it was fewer than 6 laps in total.
I then saddled her up and got her moving around a little more online to let her blow out so I could cinch the girth up to riding tightness. On that subject it amazes me the number of folks who get on a horse and ride it around before they have the girth at the correct tightness. As the horse moves initially they deflate a lot, the net result is that many people are spending at least a proportion of the ride with a loose girth. Do this a few hundred times and it is inevitable that one day they will spook with a loose girth, the saddle will roll and they will come off, leaving a frightened horse with a saddle dangling under its' belly.
Once riding she was fairly good, but seemed to lack forwards so I decided that canter was probably the solution. I have done very little cantering on her to date as we waited for her to get a little stronger, but she has toughened up nicely so I felt I could risk it. The first canter took a little bit to get her going but only maybe ten strides or so. I don't think she could believe that I was actually asking for canter ! Once going it took a while to get in tune with her gait. Due to the conformation issues all her gaits are a little odd. There seems to be an extra little bounce in canter. Once I finally "got it", much to Fillys' relieve, it was actually very comfortable. Given that she is supposed to be a race horse I have to say that her canter is really gentle and sweet. No rushing, just a really relaxed gait.
The stop is, however, amazing. The cue to stop is to let out a deep breath and relax in the body. The first attempt and I felt I was going to fall off forwards. Two strides from canter to a dead stop. Fantastic. They were not all that good but that first one showed what she could do.
Once we had cantered for around 5 minutes total I walked her off for a while by riding alongside another horse and chatting to the owner. All good for her confidence around other horses. Then I dismounted.
I needed to clear some cones I had set up to do the weave pattern at the start of the ride. Filly didn't look as though she was going anywhere so I just let her go. She followed me around the school as I tidied up, and all the time the other rider was riding around looking in amazement. "Just like a pet dog" she said and she was right. I have to say she is becoming a really confident calm horse now, one that I am proud to own.
I started with the prepare to ride being done at liberty. Why ? It just felt right, and it was a change of routine which for a horse like Filly keeps her mind engaged.
Even though it was a liberty we still worked on the same things. It's just like preparing online, no difference, there just happens to be no rope attached. James Roberts always made the point that liberty done for the purpose of impressing friends looks horrible, done with a purpose and it is a thing of beauty.
The purpose today was to play the circling game with no interference on her head so that she could really think forwards and not be inhibited by the halter and lead rope flapping around. I was after 3 laps of maintain gait, maintain direction and look where you are going at walk, trot and canter.
To be honest it was very easy. Even though we were in the large outdoor school she never left me. The circles were, if anything, a little too small and I had to use the stick and string to gently drive her onto a larger circle. Once she had completed the required 3 laps, with quality, a slight dip of my head and she turned sharply towards me and happily trotted over. Of course each session took more than 3 laps as the count starts again if I have to correct her at all, but mostly it was fewer than 6 laps in total.
I then saddled her up and got her moving around a little more online to let her blow out so I could cinch the girth up to riding tightness. On that subject it amazes me the number of folks who get on a horse and ride it around before they have the girth at the correct tightness. As the horse moves initially they deflate a lot, the net result is that many people are spending at least a proportion of the ride with a loose girth. Do this a few hundred times and it is inevitable that one day they will spook with a loose girth, the saddle will roll and they will come off, leaving a frightened horse with a saddle dangling under its' belly.
Once riding she was fairly good, but seemed to lack forwards so I decided that canter was probably the solution. I have done very little cantering on her to date as we waited for her to get a little stronger, but she has toughened up nicely so I felt I could risk it. The first canter took a little bit to get her going but only maybe ten strides or so. I don't think she could believe that I was actually asking for canter ! Once going it took a while to get in tune with her gait. Due to the conformation issues all her gaits are a little odd. There seems to be an extra little bounce in canter. Once I finally "got it", much to Fillys' relieve, it was actually very comfortable. Given that she is supposed to be a race horse I have to say that her canter is really gentle and sweet. No rushing, just a really relaxed gait.
The stop is, however, amazing. The cue to stop is to let out a deep breath and relax in the body. The first attempt and I felt I was going to fall off forwards. Two strides from canter to a dead stop. Fantastic. They were not all that good but that first one showed what she could do.
Once we had cantered for around 5 minutes total I walked her off for a while by riding alongside another horse and chatting to the owner. All good for her confidence around other horses. Then I dismounted.
I needed to clear some cones I had set up to do the weave pattern at the start of the ride. Filly didn't look as though she was going anywhere so I just let her go. She followed me around the school as I tidied up, and all the time the other rider was riding around looking in amazement. "Just like a pet dog" she said and she was right. I have to say she is becoming a really confident calm horse now, one that I am proud to own.
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