Finally got back on board today after around a week off. Just 20 minutes in a still partly frozen arena but better than nothing. Did roughly the same warm up as the last time I rode Magic but included more rein back as he was argumentative about it. Tried a few walk pirouettes as he could do them in the summer but then forgot how when he learn't to turn on the forehand both ways. Pretty typical of Magic to unlearn one thing when he learns something new. He's always been like that, doesn't usually take him long to remember he can do something.
Today he forgot to work in an outline in trot, or he was refusing to. I'm still not sure which but no matter how much I asked or in what way I asked he said no 90% of the time. I did get a few strides of trot in an outline but nothing compared to what he was giving me a couple of months ago. It could be down to a few things, he's either tweaked something in his back again, he's fighting against his drop noseband (even though it's not tight) or it's because the last two nights he's been fed from a haynet as someone else has been looking after him over the weekend which would involve him using the huge muscles under his neck that I've been working to get rid of for months. He can still work in an outline when working in his Pessoa so I'm not convinced that he's tweaked something. I thought it may be that his back isn't strong enough to lift with me on board but he's worked well with me riding before so I don't think that's the reason. Next time I ride I'll put his crank noseband on without the flash to see if he'll relax more.
I'm praying it's not a saddle issue too, my current saddle was/is my birthday/early Christmas present and it's the saddle I've wanted for Magic for the last 3 years. His newly improved canter work and almost consistent walk outline makes me think it isn't saddle related though.
Today Magic's canter was even better than the last time we schooled. It seemed to be even more relaxed, balanced and much slower. I've watched some old videos and it feels like it would look a thousand times better if I videoed it now.
Touch wood his bending to the left has improved slightly too.
6.12.10
2.12.10
Snow
Well Magic and me spent our whole week either lunging or schooling so we'd improved by the time it came to doing our dressage tests on the Sunday. We ended up not going. It had been -8°C over night and the diesel in the lorry had frozen so it wouldn't start. At least it gives us more time to work on things before the next competition in January.
We had the best canter we've had yet (in the area) on the Saturday though. We were sharing the area with another horse so schooled on a circle to stay out of the way. Magic's outline was a bit hit and miss but he was really forward going which was nice. Warmed up doing rein back, turn on the forehand, loads of transitions and squares where I'd collect him in the corners get him really stepping under. Asked for canter after doing this in walk and trot and he just popped into it. He was much more balanced and steady than the day before, not quite sure what had changed since then but hopefully it's a permanent change.
Unfortunately we've had a fair bit of snow and the temperature hasn't risen to more than 1°C or 2°C in the day so we can't hack out and the school is pretty solid too. Something always manages to happen when we've made a bit of progress!
We had the best canter we've had yet (in the area) on the Saturday though. We were sharing the area with another horse so schooled on a circle to stay out of the way. Magic's outline was a bit hit and miss but he was really forward going which was nice. Warmed up doing rein back, turn on the forehand, loads of transitions and squares where I'd collect him in the corners get him really stepping under. Asked for canter after doing this in walk and trot and he just popped into it. He was much more balanced and steady than the day before, not quite sure what had changed since then but hopefully it's a permanent change.
Unfortunately we've had a fair bit of snow and the temperature hasn't risen to more than 1°C or 2°C in the day so we can't hack out and the school is pretty solid too. Something always manages to happen when we've made a bit of progress!
24.11.10
Where to start... We've had some fairly terrible schooling sessions lately during which Magic totally forgot he could bend left and also seemed incapable of working in an outline in trot even for a few seconds. Canter on the other hand has improved quite a lot so I can't really complain.
I've been riding Magic in an almost constant long and low frame even when hacking to help build his top line muscles. He finds it very very easy in walk but he's not quite strong enough to work long and low in trot just yet and his first reaction when going in to trot is to stick his head in the air. I can get him to lower it again but only if I almost totally drop the contact for a bit and ask again. He's pretty much the same when lunged. He'll work in a fairly low frame in trot but if he gets his head up I have to bring him back to walk and ask for trot again when he's relaxed his neck. He finds it much easier on the right rein than the left.
I have 3 days left to prepare for dressage on Sunday. A walk and trot (that I still can't remember) and prelim 7. Magic still needs his mane thinned out and more importantly I need to make sure I can plait. Also his legs are only clipped to his knees and hocks as he hates being clipped so I'm hoping that my tiny trimmers will take some more hair off so I can just leave his feather to make him look more presentable.
Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly and that Magic doesn't buck or rear and I can remember both tests by then and that I don't forget them while we're in the arena!
I've been riding Magic in an almost constant long and low frame even when hacking to help build his top line muscles. He finds it very very easy in walk but he's not quite strong enough to work long and low in trot just yet and his first reaction when going in to trot is to stick his head in the air. I can get him to lower it again but only if I almost totally drop the contact for a bit and ask again. He's pretty much the same when lunged. He'll work in a fairly low frame in trot but if he gets his head up I have to bring him back to walk and ask for trot again when he's relaxed his neck. He finds it much easier on the right rein than the left.
I have 3 days left to prepare for dressage on Sunday. A walk and trot (that I still can't remember) and prelim 7. Magic still needs his mane thinned out and more importantly I need to make sure I can plait. Also his legs are only clipped to his knees and hocks as he hates being clipped so I'm hoping that my tiny trimmers will take some more hair off so I can just leave his feather to make him look more presentable.
Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly and that Magic doesn't buck or rear and I can remember both tests by then and that I don't forget them while we're in the arena!
1.11.10
Dressage in the dark
So it seems the key to a well behaved, forward going pony is schooling in the dark.
I'm very lucky that there is a floodlit school at the yard as Magic seems to go best when the fields are so dark that he can no longer see what's going on.
After a quite frustrating half hour last week where all he wanted to do was canter at speed and scary angles around corners it was nice to have a calm pony. I rode in spurs for the first time in almost a year (apart from 5 minutes when we first moved home where he clearly wasn't happy with them that day) and he accepted that I was wearing them and after a few swishes of his tail listened to exactly what I was saying.
I asked for lots of rein back, turn on the forehand and leg yield as a warm up again and then asked him to work round almost straight away. If I let him have his head to start with he thinks he can go the whole half hour with his head in the air. We had some lovely trot work and probably the best medium we've had in the school so far. He's usually not thinking forward enough or using himself enough so it's something we've been working on while hacking where he's naturally forward going. Sometimes his transition to medium is so powerful I momentarily get left behind.
After lots of rein back his canter tends to improve a fair bit and slows down enough that he's not motorbiking around corners in the school. He's still better on his left rein than his right but that's understandable as he went months not being able to canter on the right lead due to tight muscle in his back. He's still a lot weaker that side which also shows up as not being able to hold himself on the left rein while bending so his nose pokes a little but he's improving all the time.
I've also been working a lot on our canter while hacking and We've been making the most of the softer ground and having lots of long canters around the outside of big fields. There are a couple within ten minutes ride from the yard and they are doing wonders for Magic's fitness.
I have noticed that I'm going to need to give him his third clip in as many months by about mid November. He was very very sweaty by the time we got back to the yard and he hasn't even regrown much of his full clip yet!
I'm very lucky that there is a floodlit school at the yard as Magic seems to go best when the fields are so dark that he can no longer see what's going on.
After a quite frustrating half hour last week where all he wanted to do was canter at speed and scary angles around corners it was nice to have a calm pony. I rode in spurs for the first time in almost a year (apart from 5 minutes when we first moved home where he clearly wasn't happy with them that day) and he accepted that I was wearing them and after a few swishes of his tail listened to exactly what I was saying.
I asked for lots of rein back, turn on the forehand and leg yield as a warm up again and then asked him to work round almost straight away. If I let him have his head to start with he thinks he can go the whole half hour with his head in the air. We had some lovely trot work and probably the best medium we've had in the school so far. He's usually not thinking forward enough or using himself enough so it's something we've been working on while hacking where he's naturally forward going. Sometimes his transition to medium is so powerful I momentarily get left behind.
After lots of rein back his canter tends to improve a fair bit and slows down enough that he's not motorbiking around corners in the school. He's still better on his left rein than his right but that's understandable as he went months not being able to canter on the right lead due to tight muscle in his back. He's still a lot weaker that side which also shows up as not being able to hold himself on the left rein while bending so his nose pokes a little but he's improving all the time.
I've also been working a lot on our canter while hacking and We've been making the most of the softer ground and having lots of long canters around the outside of big fields. There are a couple within ten minutes ride from the yard and they are doing wonders for Magic's fitness.
I have noticed that I'm going to need to give him his third clip in as many months by about mid November. He was very very sweaty by the time we got back to the yard and he hasn't even regrown much of his full clip yet!
25.10.10
I've mostly hacked Magic out since our lesson, in fact I think he's only set foot in the school maybe 5 times since then and I think only two of those sessions were proper flat work sessions. I've lunged him in his fake Pessoa a couple of times and we had a short jumping session (in a borrowed saddle) where he didn't get excited and didn't pull me into the jumps, cue me worrying. He always pulls me into jumps even if he's going to stop when he gets to them.
We did a hunter trial the day after which I didn't need to worry about, there was no sign of bucking or rearing. The only problem was that he still wasn't pulling me into jumps and when we do cross country this is totally unlike Magic. I always have no breaks and I like it that way. Instead he was looking at every single jump when he got to it, again really unlike him. He always looks at the first two or three than realises what he's supposed to do and then tanks off round the course. He's fairly fit so that wasn't the problem either.
I upped his feed the day after and so far he seems a little more awake when working.
Our last flat work session was interesting. I haven't schooled him properly for a few weeks and he seemed to have forgotten a lot of what he knew before. With Magic this means he's trying to find out what he can get away with not doing. Picked up my schooling whip and he was instantly more willing for forwards without even touching him with it. He even felt the need to do laps of the school at a very fast canter while i had no breaks so I decided to do some rein back and turn on the forehand to get him focused. After that we did some nice collected and medium trot work before having a much steadier canter on each rein.
He does seem to have forgotten that he can bend to the left but hopefully it won't be too long before he realises he can do it. His back is due for a check up so I'll be asking why he finds it hard to relax his neck on that rein both ridden and on and lunge.
Lastly here is a video still of Magic doing extended trot. Just need to find the right buttons so i can ask for it now!
We did a hunter trial the day after which I didn't need to worry about, there was no sign of bucking or rearing. The only problem was that he still wasn't pulling me into jumps and when we do cross country this is totally unlike Magic. I always have no breaks and I like it that way. Instead he was looking at every single jump when he got to it, again really unlike him. He always looks at the first two or three than realises what he's supposed to do and then tanks off round the course. He's fairly fit so that wasn't the problem either.
I upped his feed the day after and so far he seems a little more awake when working.
Our last flat work session was interesting. I haven't schooled him properly for a few weeks and he seemed to have forgotten a lot of what he knew before. With Magic this means he's trying to find out what he can get away with not doing. Picked up my schooling whip and he was instantly more willing for forwards without even touching him with it. He even felt the need to do laps of the school at a very fast canter while i had no breaks so I decided to do some rein back and turn on the forehand to get him focused. After that we did some nice collected and medium trot work before having a much steadier canter on each rein.
He does seem to have forgotten that he can bend to the left but hopefully it won't be too long before he realises he can do it. His back is due for a check up so I'll be asking why he finds it hard to relax his neck on that rein both ridden and on and lunge.
Lastly here is a video still of Magic doing extended trot. Just need to find the right buttons so i can ask for it now!
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