Finally I have a photo of me on my horse at this barn. And a little video. And I'm disgusted at how behind the leg my horse is, and how it's my fault for not correcting this immediately. Perhaps I needed to see it to believe it. I am using way too much seat and leg to get my horse to simply move. It feels like he's always moving through snow or molasses, he just has no forward.
I'll fix this, and I'm not too worried because I know it's an arena problem, not a trail thing. I actually used spurs on Baasha to do dressage, if you can believe it, he was so dull indoors.
It sometimes makes me wonder if Mag wants to be a Western Pleasure horse. His hooves actually do kick dirt *forward* from time to time. You know what I mean, right?
As much as I hate my riding in this, I find his trot not as bad to look at as it is to ride, *lol* And someday we'll even teach him contact, but that is nowhere near being on my priority list.
I watched an entire private lesson today with a trainer who is popular at the barn. I took photos and vidoes for the lady I was observing. She didn't ask me to, but afterwards I said I'd put them on a stick and give them to her. She said she has no computer. Hrm.
Then I said, "Would you mind taking a few pics of me on my horse? I have no pics of me on my horse at this barn." I gave her my camera and laughed, "Do you know how to use it, or can you only take photos with a cell phone?" No joke, she had no idea how to use a pocket point and shoot!
I told her which buttons did what and she got a few pics of me, which were so terrible, but since they're the only ones I have, here they are (I cropped them because they were mostly arena, I forgot to show her how to zoom, oops). I shouldn't complain, we didn't speak about it beforehand, I just wish I had some nice photos of us at this barn.
I was asking for a leg yield, that's why my leg and his tail look like that. At that moment I hoped she was taking video.
We actually did our best leg yield ever, not this direction, this direction is his bad way, but just as we accomplished it, Bettina walked by and said, "My that's beautiful work!" I was surprised myself, how fluid it was, and how he comprehended my aids so well. I can't wait to make him as bendy as Baasha was. Oh wait, arena stuff is not our priority....: ) But I was so thrilled at this compliment - and BITLESS!
Coming soon, how I nearly lost Mag in the woods, and how his fan club grew in one single day.
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8 comments:
She takes pix about as well as my Hubs! Which is why I never have any of me! Hopefully before you leave you can find someone to take better ones! Mags trot is so much better than Camryns! Lost in the woods???
You both look wonderful. I'm amazed at how far you've come.
Yay for pictures (even blurry pictures) and bigger yay for video!
So, again with the no bit thing, it seems to be working just fine.
Yeah, he's lazy and you're working harder than he is to move him forward.
I use little prince-of-wales spurs on the Dragon because
a.) her body is huge and my leg is short
b.) she prefers tiny precise cues with the nub of spur to the vague cues I can give with my stubby legs
and
c.) every once in a while she flips me the bird and ignores a regular cue and a quick jab can bring her back in line before she foments mutiny. This is rare, but it's much less work to fix immediately.
Can't wait for the next post!
Nicely done! I love his "little" trot. And you don't need no stinkin bit! You looked wonderful together in the video, it was a pleasure to watch.
Hes so cute and looks good! I rarely get pics of me riding to cause I'm always alone so I can understand why you'd want them
I'm always obsessed with your tack in pictures. I love how the black and white compliment each other and work well on any color of horse.
Camryn, I need a friend who will come take photos, but ...*sigh*
Redhorse, really!?!?
Aarene, sorry that I've decided to switch up today's post with yesterday's cuz I'm feeling discouraged and hope I find a little sympathy today for my massive bridge trauma attack today.
Kbryan, I wish I could ride bitless, but I found today that I had little precision when elderly folks were passing behind his rump. For arena work, of course no bit is needed, no one is in danger of being run over. But rails, in Germany really, really old people hike on horse trails. It's very nice of you to say we looked good in the arena.
Crystal, Normally I have your problem but lately I am around tons of people who I'm afraid to ask to take my photo. Ugh.
NM, Thank you so much! You have two greys....OK I understand. Whenever someone says, "White tack on a white horse!" I respond, "Is it OK to ride a black horse in black leather? Or a bay in brown?" OK, I haven't responded yet, but that is my plan. Isn't it interesting how great white looks on various colors, but in my opinion, horses with chrome look the best in white. It is terribly difficult to keep clean though. Good that I'm obsessive.
Aghrhhh, I still want the other stories, but I understand why you posted today's page.
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