Saturday I did not have a lesson, so I went out to ride. L. mentioned that she didn't ride Friday as usual (her horse list got mixed up), so she suggested I longed him first, since he had the day of Thursday as well.
So I went and did that. I started having him go to the left, and he was fine, trotted and cantered. Then I went to the right, and somehow he suddenly realized that he was hot, and jumped up in the air in the canter, raced around me, didn't want to trot etc. I really don't have that much longing experience, so I couldn't get him to calm down. I was beginning to fear that he would fall over in the racing canter, every time I tried to stop him, the circle just got smaller! Luckily L. was teaching a lesson to someone else, and she came down and helped me. Yelled at Odin, yelled at me, and taught me some more safety concerns and a trick with using the walls to getting him to slow down, and how to really react and get him to respect me some more. She was (rightly) concerned about safety issues, he could hurt me, himself, other horses or equipment.
I definitely need to practice this some more, and get him to respect me. This was clearly not Odin being a dangerous, crazy horse, but me needing some more horsemanship and training knowledge. So many things to learn as a horse-owner!
Afterwards I rode him a bit, and I can see that while all the longing is great for me, I have halfway forgotten how to get him engaged and on the bit. He really pushes his shoulders out and is not straight, I tried to fix it but I am not sure I was 100% successful.
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3 comments:
Lunging isn't as easy as it looks! I was lucky and Echo learned very quickly and has never tested me, but I've lunged horses that turn in and confront you head on - not fun at all! You'll get there, but get your trainer to help, as it is as much a skill as anything else with horses.
Definitely get a couple of how-to-lunge lessons, it's such a good skill to have!
Don't worry about feeling like other skills have gotten worse while you're working so much on your seat, they're not forgotten, they've just been put on the back burner for a while, so you need to dig them out and freshen them up. Improvment in one area often results in a seeming decline in another, but it's just a focus change, not an actul decline. You'll get the feel for that back soon, with the added benefit of a better seat! :)
thanks for the comments, great to know I am not the only one who doesn't have an inborn longing knowledge :P.
Also, I could really feel it all coming back to me in the last two days of lesson, with excatly that added benefit of a better seat. yay!
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