I was hoping Katja wouldn't bring up the liberty clinic because I knew I'd be honest and say too much. Thankfully, she did not, and I eventually did, to tell her how interesting I found it that the geldings were so much worse than the mares. She said that's always the case.
Another milestone - I rode in my pasture for the first time since Baasha ran away with me when I tried it in 2009. Cheating though, I fenced in a 30 meter area in the corner by the street, and even though it's not level, it's at least not muddy despite the storm.
I told her I was expecting the horse to react badly because some horses hate being asked to work in their play area. Thankfully Mag was fine. Lethargic because it was naptime (1 PM) and from a very large breakfast.
Katja did not have her cones with her today but I have a lot of white vitamin buckets so we set those up in a square, and I did the cloverleaf pattern thing which was surprisingly hard for Mag on uneven ground. I'm really pleased we did it because he needs to learn to balance with a rider, and this is an easy way to work on that.
I was glad to be able to have my lesson here because I got the full hour, rather than our usual walk to the trail heads which takes up half the lesson.
I wanted to do that fancy square exercise where you come to a cone, stop, and ask the horse to pivot on the forehand 90 degrees to make the turn to the next cone. At the next cone, you ask the horse to pivot on the hindend 90 degrees to make the turn to the next cone. It's a really great exercise if your horse can do turns on the fore and hind end. Which Mag really can't do yet. She told me to make it simpler by doing either fore or hind, not both. So we did fore, which is harder.
Mag could only manage the tiniest of steps with his forehand without needing to swing his hind end as well. I needed Katja right there to tell me what his hind end was doing, because if he even lifted hind hoof, he didn't get praise. She said it's impossible for her to do alone as well, she needs someone on the ground telling her. Anyway it's something to strive for, little 90 degree turns. If anyone has any tips, please tell.
Funnily, the donkey was along for the lesson, and she was right in the middle of it, wanting attention from Kati, wanting to investigate each bucket for food, etc. Some dog walkers stopped at the gate, where we were working, and stuck their arms in to pet Bellis. She even walked some cones with us, and got some ear rubs from Kati. Kati took photos of her, so I'm sure to see them on her facebook site, and she took some of me too, ugh, I know I had some dumb "concentrating" looks on my face. It was a great day for Bellis!
I've been invited to the fancy arena today, tomorrow, and Sunday, if I like. At 7 Euros per visit, that's not gonna happen, but I'll try for one of those days.
I got a surprise Wednesday when I noticed their laundry stand had fallen down and went to pick it up. It was right by their front door. And right next to their front door was a silver and black plaque with their names on it, and an etching of their horses....from a photo I took! Wow. My photos are popping up all over the place (Katja's fb page too)!
S2 texted me about the horse show next month, where I promised I'd be Chilly's groom (not Dakhin, never again Dakhin!).
S1 asked if I'd ride the Bayer loop tomorrow in the afternoon, but I know it will be too hot out.
Ani is coming over Sunday evening to watch New Moon; she's a Twilight fan but has never seen the films. Hard to imagine!
I haven't heard from Seli and Momo but she hates hot weather too. I told her when it cools down, we'll ride.
It's amazing to have all these options all of a sudden, especially in contrast to last year's pit of despair.
And one more thing - after 5 years of unemployment, I am taking the first steps into a new-to-me career next month. It's health care (again) cuz I'm done with software. Hint: I got to see the inside of an ambulance and look in every single drawer and cupboard. Fascinating.
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5 comments:
So excited for the way things are going for you.
Congrats on another great lesson. I can't wait to hear about your new job!
There are so many things to love about this post. Your lessons, your riding partners ("friends"????? how wonderful would THAT be???!!!!!) and maybe a new job?
YAY!
Now, could you send us some of that rain? The pastures here are getting a little crackly, and all the rain we got last winter has grown up a fabulous crop of...fuel for fires.
I agree with Aarene, wonderfully positive post!! Sounds like your "arena" in the pasture might work out for some basics.
For the forehand/hindquarters turns, best bet is to keep it slow and simple. Ask for just one step, pat him, and walk off. When he gets good at one (ten minutes or ten days) ask for two, then three. Don't focus on getting the full 90* at first. Once he has both fore and aft, you can also start combining them to create a sidepassone step in front, catch up the rear, one more in front, then rear again. Always reward a good effort with relaxed forward motion, as all are collected movements, and hard!
(And yes, grew up in the South Bay Area of LA. College (the first time) in Santa Barbara.)
Evensong, you just reminded me that TP had done a leg yield down the long side as I was in the middle of mimicking her, and so we tried too, and it wasn't so bad. Of course, a turn on the hind end is harder than a leg yield. Please read tomorrow's post.
Thanks for the tip, going slow is the key, half and full steps, before 90degrees.
The corner of my arena might work for another week, or more, but we are in a very wet land, it never goes yellow here, like my husband calls Washington, "The Ever-Yellow State." And he's referring to Western Washington, Sea-Tac, in Summer, lately. *LOL*
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