Wednesday & Saturday rides last week

So, my Wednesday ride was a bit tough. I was just very tired, and I didn't feel on top of everything. Despite that, the ride was pretty good, and we most repeated what we had been doing in the previous lessons, working on collection and the feel of the half halt.

Saturday was my next lesson, and he was not as good as he had been the last two weeks. He felt a lot more reluctant to step under himself. L. said that since it had been about 6 months since he got the hock injection, he might need another. He had just had a Legend shot the previous Saturday, and for all the good they do, they tend to wear off in about a week.

I was thinking that he was good the week before that, the first week I was back from being a way, so maybe he was just being a little more stiff? We did some side movements, and he did feel better. I still had to work a bit harder, he didn't feel as light as he had.

L. said that I could do the 'bute test', give the horse 2 bute (horsey pain killers) in the evening, and if he feels better to ride next day, there is probably some pain somewhere (ex in his hocks, since he showed no other signs of pain, wounds, sickness, lameness etc).
However, I did not have time to ride Sunday, so I skipped that for now.

I need to keep track of how he feels, it is in generally hard for me, I focus so much on what I do, or do wrong, that I sometimes forget to feel Odin.

half-halts, collection and a fantastic ride!

Yesterday I had an amazing lesson.
We started out by doing half-steps, which feels like a 'cheap' passage, a bit of collected trot rhythm from walk. It was fun, and I found the 'hind-legs under' button and corrected him going heavy on the bit out of it the first few times.
The point of all this of course, was to make me feel what I need to do for a half-halt, so I could get the feeling of Odin really collecting himself (which according to L. is one of his main features, he can do that if you ask him correctly).
I then did some really good half-halts in trot and canter, especially the canter. Because I corrected him for being heavy in my hand, he was a lot lighter than usual, the half-halt and demanding he stay up was really working! He felt really uphill.
I did some counter canter, and at one point I did a half-halt in the corner, where I probably ended up shifting my legs a bit, so he changed, and it was actually a really nice one since he was collected, huh what do you know, these half-halts are pretty cool... of course was a bit surprised so I didn't manage to keep my aids on a keep riding him, must remember those things.

When we then took a break, L. was asking me 'so you are going to show in the next schooling show, right.' ( I do think it was more of a statement than a question :P). So I said yeah, and she said that we would be showing First Level. First Level! leg yields, argh, I can't really get them straight! I don't even know how to do lengthenings! Well, L.s argument was that if we did Training Level, he would just run around strung out on his forehand, we have to have something to do. Which is probably correct, but still.

We got right on it and did some leg yields, a bit better but still not perfect. So hard for me to keep my outside aids on, and push him over.

In the end we did one lengthening, but L. said it wasn't really that much of a lenghten, I thought he was moving fast though, hehe.

I am actually looking forward to going to the schooling show (first weekend of April), since now we have a goal, and the lesson last night was so good I think we can do. I mean know, I know we can do it. I just need to keep my behind in the saddle...

Being filmed

Canter, originally uploaded by IdaWW.

I got my husband to go along with my to my Saturday lesson, to try and film me with our new video recorder (www.supacam.com - a camera made for filming stuff which goes on the web. Pretty new cam, I got it on the conference I went to).

Oh, its horrible to watch myself ride! It has been a long time since I last was filmed, and while Odin moved a lot better, I still lean forward so much, my butt going out of the saddle all the time. I thought my seat had improved more.

Anyway, we will see if I dare to post it, for now a picture of some canter, and me leaning only slightly forward.
The lesson was good iteself, lots of canter and really getting the feel of using the outside aids to collect him with.

Back home

The previous week I was away at a conference, so my trainer L. and her working student/groom/fellow boarder T. rode Odin.

Sunday I came back to a much more supple Odin, and I was able to get a really great lesson even if had been away for a week. We worked on bend and getting that elusive elastic feel on the rein contact. Hard, but some rewarding moments. I wish my hands were better!

Monday was more of the same, with a bit of counter canter, which really helps to make him more supple. It definitely feel like he has an easier time collecting and bending in the canter than the trot. Ir probably helps that I sit better in the canter too...
At the end of the lesson we had a little argument. I was chatting with L. and Odin kept moving around. She told me to make him stand still on the bit for 20 sec. This turned out to not be that easy. L. walked over to him and made him stand by standing next to me, showing that it is a respect issue... He knows he can fool me. So I really tried not to be the fool. He huffed, and puffed, and cantered on the spot, but in the end he stood still. Funny horse as he is, Odin has the look of of, 'oh, OK, I can do that. I just wanted to see if I could get you to give up'.

Tuesday, it turned out that along with a little positive reinforcement, this really helped me to have him respect me on the ground too. Nice. My lesson was not so good, I was very tried, but we worked on more bend, suppleness etc.

This morning I had a really great lesson. Along with everything else, L. made me constantly think of my own balance, and not leaning on the reins, and keeping a steady (elastic) connection. Still pretty hard, but we had our moments. Of course, when I get my seat and hands independent and stay in my own balance, Odin is more balanced too, and our transitions are really so much better.
In the end of the lesson we did some canter three loop serpentines with trot transitions in the middle, a very useful exercise. And I think it went pretty well :)

Recap

The last 2 weeks we have mostly been working on sensitivity to the aids and bend to the right. Odin is a lot less supple on the right side, and I have up until now not really been able to do that much about it.

The first week we mostly worked on him listening to my aids. If I asked him with a light tap of the leg, and he didn't have a really convincing reation, I corrected him with a large aid with the whip. Doing it a with a little more, and a little more, etc would just need to nagging, which really is a bad habit of mine. Two things I learned that I must remember:
1) Most of this is mental, I must demand a immidiate and large reaction to my aids, not be satisfied with a little bit.
2) I cramp with my right leg. Because Odin is not really in front of it very often, I nag, pull my leg up and cramp it on. Much easier for him and me when I manage to relax it and use it lightly!

This week we worked on bend to the right, now I could get him to move off my right leg. We did a lot legyield on the left lead, and shoulderin or shoulder fore on the right lead, and I could feel him getting easier to bend. Nice!

Wednesday we did this weeks most interesting exercise. I was having trouble keeping him in front of my right leg countercantering on the left lead, not really figuring out how to apply my right leg and keep him on the left lead.
L. had me do this:

We go on a circle to the right, and do some shoulder in in walk. Straighten him, ask for canter to the left. Half halt and collect, keeping him in balance. If he stiffens against my right hand, back to walk and shoulder in, then back to left lead canter. If he popped a change, keep cantering on the right lead, shoulder in (ish, as well as I can do it) in the canter. When he feels softer, do a change back to the left lead.

It was a little hard for me to do, lots of thinking, but in the end I could feel him being softer on the right, more in balance, and I could see how doing all the right bend was helping him to be more in balance, and making it easier for him to do what I really wanted. That was a very cool feeling!

Bonus fact...

8. my farrier just raised his prices for a full shoeing from $110 to $115.

I think it would be interesting to compary horsey price points around the world, like prices for shoeing, board etc. Should even be done in something like 'liters of skimmed milk' or another price index instead of cash value, with the dollar right now I am sure this looks a lot cheaper to European eyes than it was even 2 years ago...

7 things

Diary of a Young Horse tagged me to write 7 things you might not know about me (or Odin, I suppose), so here goes:

1. I have lived my whole life within a 50 km radius, until we in July 2005 moved about 7800 km from Copenhagen to the Seattle area.

2. I have had one dream about Odin (that I remember), in which it was very important that I bring him to Verden for the Hannoverian stallion licencing. I thought it was a bad idea, but his breeders (whom I have never met), told me it was very important for the owners of the foals he had sired. This being a dream it made no sense, even though Odin presumably have sired some foals before he was gelded at 5 years old. I remember I was stressed in dream over bringing him to Germany (why on earth would I bring a 15 year old horse across the ocean for that?), but not over riding him, which is funny since I pretty sure I would not be able to present him in any way to his advantage :P. Anyway, I guess dreams a silly like that.

3. Unlike so many horse people, I am not really a dog person. I like other people's dogs if they are nice, but I would never own one. We have 2 cats, and I also have a freshwater aquarium tank (which had been somewhat neglegted after I got Odin)

4. It is hard to make out in pictures, but Odin has a tiny white snip on his lip. It is very cute.

5. I am in many ways a real geek, I am a software developer by profession, I love sci-fi shows (Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica), playing PC and console games. Actually, if I am not in the barn, I am probably in front of the computer, or maybe the TV.

6. After we moved to the US and could suddenly afford decent cars, both my and my husband got a lot more interested in them. I love my 2005 Mazda MX-5 Mazadaspeed, so much fun. We ended up spending a lot of time looking at cars, we now have 3 for the 2 of us (our American friends mock us and say we have been assimilated), we go to car shows, sporadicly reads car magazines etc. We don't have a truck, though (yet).

7. I rarely watch sports, but I love figure skating and follows it closely. I try to catch every thing the send on TV, what I can find on youtube (Russian tv shows every competition, apperently, yay!), reads about the skaters and so. I am trying to figure out how I can watch the figure skating in the 2010 Olympics, since it will be just around the corner in Vancouver, BC.