My last post dealt with getting Filly to and from JRFS, this one deals with the actual lessons I had whilst there.
On arrival we had pizza and beer with Josh during which we discussed what I wanted to achieve during the week. I've noticed that many folks turn up for a lesson and expect the instructor to tell them what they are going to do. I like to discuss what I feel I need to work on. The instructor may then asses me and disagree, that's fine but at least we have a starting point. My emphasis was threefold.
1) More birdleless riding
2) Assess my liberty to see what needs to be improved for my level 3
3) Hacking out
Day 1
This was really an assessment day to see where Filly and I had got to since my last visit to JRFS.
Normal prepare to ride but with an emphasis on indirect/direct rein online. What is interesting is that as I improve I am using the stick and string less and less. I am also using the 12 foot rope more than in the past.
For example : indirect/direct rein online. Start by getting Filly to walk (or trot) whilst I walk at her hips. Then using my intention to start with and the belly of the rope as phase 4 touching her sides ask the inside hind to step under her body. Timing the "ask" with her leg being off the ground is important in this. So I use a little feel on the halter to ask the outside hind to step out and intention/touching her sides to ask the inside leg to step under. Like I said timing is crucial. Once the steps fluid and willing I ask for a little more so that the hind quarters swing away from me and the nose comes towards me. As the angle off the rope to the halter changes I am now talking to the front feet and start to time the feel on the rope with the inside front being off the ground to ask that leg to step out towards me. Again timing is vital.
Riding emphasised "follow the rail" to improve her responsibilities.
Day 2
More of the same online, but the riding now was all about bridleless. More "follow the rail" to start with trying to use the reins as little as possible to keep her on the rail. Once this was going tolerably well with the reins over the saddle horn Josh asked if I was ready to take the bosal off. I've ridden her bridleless a fair bit so I was happy to do this. We were in a lovely indoor arena with great boarded sides so what could go wrong ?
To start with she would not now stay on the rail. She decided that tighter and tighter circles were a good idea. Josh shouted over "do you want to ride like Pat or Dave Stewart ?". Well much as I respect Pat, Dave Stewart is a beautiful rider who I would love to be able to emulate. "Dave please". At which point Josh handed me a 45 foot rope. Apparently if I had said "Pat" I would have got the carrot sticks :) . Splitting the coils so that I had some in each hand I now had a method of tipping her nose each way if she did not respond to my eyes, belly button or leg. The coils could also be used to give her a nice rub on the neck when all was going well then lifted up and forwards to direct the nose if needed.
This worked very well and we were soon moving along the rail at trot in a very orderly fashion. A few circles were thrown in just to keep it a little more interesting.
Once this was going really well I had now proven I did not need the reins to direct her. It was now time to put the bosal back on and start using the reins to pick up a soft feel. For this a little pressure was applied to the reins, and if that didn't work some soft bumps, to get her head to lower and her nose to tip in. Now all the steering was being done from the body/legs this left the bosal to speak to her about vertical flexion.
This was the theme for the next few days. Ride with the bosal until I wasn't using the reins and was ready to go bridleless. Ride bridleless with the rope coils until I wasn't using the coils for directional control. Put the bosal back on to pick up a soft feel. I really logical progression.
We finished the day with a short hack out across big open stubble fields. She was great on the way out, but a bit joggy on the way back which I corrected with sideways and small circles.
Day 3
No hacking out today as the wind was ridiculously strong.
Prepare to ride emphasised use of the 45 foot rope. That is such a versatile bit of kit. Not once did we use it at its' full length.
Taking a loop over the nose I used it to get the nose to tip gently each way. Adding in a loop around the near front leg allowed me to ask the nose over and the front leg to step over at the same time. Getting the timing so that the nose tipped first followed by the leg stretching out established a link between pressure on the far side of the nose and the leg stretching over.
Take a loop around her belly and now I could work on porcupine game by gently picking up a feel and pulling her towards me.. Depending where the loop was I could talk to the front legs or the hind legs.
We then made a loop that fitted around her neck with a not to stop it tightening. Now with the halter off I could lead her around and ask for yields off the neck. Combine with putting it around her legs or body and there was a huge range of response I could ask for.
Ridden was just the same as before but I added in playing with the big green ball to give more purpose to moving her around. Here's a short video of it
At the end we played a little a liberty. She left me a couple of times, but Josh reckoned that we were easily able to take out level 3 liberty audition. All I have to do is work out a routine to film and hope I can keep her interested for ten minutes ;)
Day 4
The last day :( . More of the same for the school work. But then we headed out for a longish hack up onto the Salisbury Plain. Filly was a star. She seemed to really enjoy her time out of the school. Lots of looking around in curiosity, no spooks. She only got a little fast coming back down the hill of the plain. Again I just set her to going sideways so that she had to think about her feet rather than just charge down the hill. We stopped at the pub for a half pint of beer, which Filly didn't seem to like to my disappointment. Maybe try cider next time.
So ended another great week riding with Josh. As usual I learnt loads of new skills to take me to the next level.
I said that I eventually want to get her good enough that we could pony young horses to help with colt starting. Josh though that given our rate of progress that would be perfectly possible by next summer ! That's at least a year sooner than I expected so I am very pleased with progress
On arrival we had pizza and beer with Josh during which we discussed what I wanted to achieve during the week. I've noticed that many folks turn up for a lesson and expect the instructor to tell them what they are going to do. I like to discuss what I feel I need to work on. The instructor may then asses me and disagree, that's fine but at least we have a starting point. My emphasis was threefold.
1) More birdleless riding
2) Assess my liberty to see what needs to be improved for my level 3
3) Hacking out
Day 1
This was really an assessment day to see where Filly and I had got to since my last visit to JRFS.
Normal prepare to ride but with an emphasis on indirect/direct rein online. What is interesting is that as I improve I am using the stick and string less and less. I am also using the 12 foot rope more than in the past.
For example : indirect/direct rein online. Start by getting Filly to walk (or trot) whilst I walk at her hips. Then using my intention to start with and the belly of the rope as phase 4 touching her sides ask the inside hind to step under her body. Timing the "ask" with her leg being off the ground is important in this. So I use a little feel on the halter to ask the outside hind to step out and intention/touching her sides to ask the inside leg to step under. Like I said timing is crucial. Once the steps fluid and willing I ask for a little more so that the hind quarters swing away from me and the nose comes towards me. As the angle off the rope to the halter changes I am now talking to the front feet and start to time the feel on the rope with the inside front being off the ground to ask that leg to step out towards me. Again timing is vital.
Riding emphasised "follow the rail" to improve her responsibilities.
Day 2
More of the same online, but the riding now was all about bridleless. More "follow the rail" to start with trying to use the reins as little as possible to keep her on the rail. Once this was going tolerably well with the reins over the saddle horn Josh asked if I was ready to take the bosal off. I've ridden her bridleless a fair bit so I was happy to do this. We were in a lovely indoor arena with great boarded sides so what could go wrong ?
To start with she would not now stay on the rail. She decided that tighter and tighter circles were a good idea. Josh shouted over "do you want to ride like Pat or Dave Stewart ?". Well much as I respect Pat, Dave Stewart is a beautiful rider who I would love to be able to emulate. "Dave please". At which point Josh handed me a 45 foot rope. Apparently if I had said "Pat" I would have got the carrot sticks :) . Splitting the coils so that I had some in each hand I now had a method of tipping her nose each way if she did not respond to my eyes, belly button or leg. The coils could also be used to give her a nice rub on the neck when all was going well then lifted up and forwards to direct the nose if needed.
This worked very well and we were soon moving along the rail at trot in a very orderly fashion. A few circles were thrown in just to keep it a little more interesting.
Once this was going really well I had now proven I did not need the reins to direct her. It was now time to put the bosal back on and start using the reins to pick up a soft feel. For this a little pressure was applied to the reins, and if that didn't work some soft bumps, to get her head to lower and her nose to tip in. Now all the steering was being done from the body/legs this left the bosal to speak to her about vertical flexion.
This was the theme for the next few days. Ride with the bosal until I wasn't using the reins and was ready to go bridleless. Ride bridleless with the rope coils until I wasn't using the coils for directional control. Put the bosal back on to pick up a soft feel. I really logical progression.
We finished the day with a short hack out across big open stubble fields. She was great on the way out, but a bit joggy on the way back which I corrected with sideways and small circles.
Day 3
No hacking out today as the wind was ridiculously strong.
Prepare to ride emphasised use of the 45 foot rope. That is such a versatile bit of kit. Not once did we use it at its' full length.
Taking a loop over the nose I used it to get the nose to tip gently each way. Adding in a loop around the near front leg allowed me to ask the nose over and the front leg to step over at the same time. Getting the timing so that the nose tipped first followed by the leg stretching out established a link between pressure on the far side of the nose and the leg stretching over.
Take a loop around her belly and now I could work on porcupine game by gently picking up a feel and pulling her towards me.. Depending where the loop was I could talk to the front legs or the hind legs.
We then made a loop that fitted around her neck with a not to stop it tightening. Now with the halter off I could lead her around and ask for yields off the neck. Combine with putting it around her legs or body and there was a huge range of response I could ask for.
Ridden was just the same as before but I added in playing with the big green ball to give more purpose to moving her around. Here's a short video of it
Day 4
The last day :( . More of the same for the school work. But then we headed out for a longish hack up onto the Salisbury Plain. Filly was a star. She seemed to really enjoy her time out of the school. Lots of looking around in curiosity, no spooks. She only got a little fast coming back down the hill of the plain. Again I just set her to going sideways so that she had to think about her feet rather than just charge down the hill. We stopped at the pub for a half pint of beer, which Filly didn't seem to like to my disappointment. Maybe try cider next time.
So ended another great week riding with Josh. As usual I learnt loads of new skills to take me to the next level.
I said that I eventually want to get her good enough that we could pony young horses to help with colt starting. Josh though that given our rate of progress that would be perfectly possible by next summer ! That's at least a year sooner than I expected so I am very pleased with progress
No comments:
Post a Comment