Romeo got an early morning ride, as I knew I had a busy day scheduled ahead.
Put my dressage saddle on him, and surprised to find it fits decently. No need for the extra fluffy Mattes pad, just a square sweat absorber. Gave him his English bit, and off we went.
He was great! Now, his collection sucked, but his transitions were pretty good, and his forward motion was nice! He finally got out of the "WP jog" with intentional posting, and was nice & heading somewhere's in his trot & canter.
Rode about an hour. I lost track of time - something I do easily in the morning rides. I had my mp3 player singing in my head, and I was singing along... An entire album played through before I realized how long I'd been pushing him.
Calmed down with a long walk on a loose rein, feet dangling beside my stirrups. Very fun!
Got together with Jen, her hubby, R, and another girlfriend of ours for a dinner cookout, then followed up with fireworks in town with R and one of his friends. A nice display... and a sweet time with my sweetie. *mush*...
Monday, July 6, 2009
07/03/09 Solo Time With Ransom
Got up early Friday morning, and got a busy early start to the day. Got plenty of housework done, chores like cleaning & laundry out of the way.
Wandered to town a while, got a few errands run, connected with R for lunch, and headed back to the house.
Afternoon ride with Ransom went well. He was compliant, but sluggish. This confirmed Jen's suggestion that we needed to try my little spurs on him.
Got in some solid test work, changing some of the directions to keep him from building a pattern and antici-pating the transitions. Took my basic three-breaks, and offered Ransom up some ice cubes as a treat. He loves them! Whatta ham! Crunched them up, slobbered ice water everywhere, tongue-flapping happy!
Had a blast at canter. I was obviously quite relaxed, because I got some good solid deep-seated canter all the way 'round the arena both directions. Heading right, I lost a stirrup, so I kicked the other one free, and laughed my tail off sitting with driving seat & inside leg on telling him "Keep going, buddy.. don't stop on me now.. gotta get back.. to.... A... There! Now you can trot. Good Boy!"
A ride of laughs, and good time, something he and I both need more of. As the show approaches, we're both very serious, and we need less serious, more silly. =)
We rode together for about 45 minutes.
Wandered to town a while, got a few errands run, connected with R for lunch, and headed back to the house.
Afternoon ride with Ransom went well. He was compliant, but sluggish. This confirmed Jen's suggestion that we needed to try my little spurs on him.
Got in some solid test work, changing some of the directions to keep him from building a pattern and antici-pating the transitions. Took my basic three-breaks, and offered Ransom up some ice cubes as a treat. He loves them! Whatta ham! Crunched them up, slobbered ice water everywhere, tongue-flapping happy!
Had a blast at canter. I was obviously quite relaxed, because I got some good solid deep-seated canter all the way 'round the arena both directions. Heading right, I lost a stirrup, so I kicked the other one free, and laughed my tail off sitting with driving seat & inside leg on telling him "Keep going, buddy.. don't stop on me now.. gotta get back.. to.... A... There! Now you can trot. Good Boy!"
A ride of laughs, and good time, something he and I both need more of. As the show approaches, we're both very serious, and we need less serious, more silly. =)
We rode together for about 45 minutes.
07/02/09 Romeo
Little Man up, a little western fiddling around. Rode him up walk, trot, canter, english bit. Fooled with collection a little bit more, especially at the walk & trot. He was less than happy, but eventually compliant.
At the canter, I tried to break it up into spurts, mostly to keep his mind moving. Changed circle sizes, made unexpected turns, all trying to keep him from thinking "stay on the rail & go go go!"
Worked for probably 40 minutes or so - It was ridiculously hot, even for a late ride. Uncomfortably warm... and humid. YUCK.
At the canter, I tried to break it up into spurts, mostly to keep his mind moving. Changed circle sizes, made unexpected turns, all trying to keep him from thinking "stay on the rail & go go go!"
Worked for probably 40 minutes or so - It was ridiculously hot, even for a late ride. Uncomfortably warm... and humid. YUCK.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Dressage Test Humor
The Test
1. A. Enter at ordinary serpentine.X.
Sprawl. Salute.
2. C. Stop dead. Stare in horror at judge and shy to left.Continue at ordinary working gallop.
3. E. Stagger left 20 or 15 or 22 meters in diameter circle or pear shapeor five pointed star. Avoid excessive crossing of legs.
4. K. Begin to halt.
Z. Keep trying.
F. You can do it.
B. Pulley rein. Give up. Continue at out of hand gallop.
5. H. Regain right stirrup. Continue at ordinary trot, bouncing.
6. MKT Change rein. Free Walk loose reins. Remove horse from judge'sluncheon table. Ask judge for leg up. Jump back into ring.
7. Z. Turn down centre Line.Halt. Grin.
Scratch. Burst into tears. Leave area at free walk on long reins, loose language.
1. A. Enter at ordinary serpentine.X.
Sprawl. Salute.
2. C. Stop dead. Stare in horror at judge and shy to left.Continue at ordinary working gallop.
3. E. Stagger left 20 or 15 or 22 meters in diameter circle or pear shapeor five pointed star. Avoid excessive crossing of legs.
4. K. Begin to halt.
Z. Keep trying.
F. You can do it.
B. Pulley rein. Give up. Continue at out of hand gallop.
5. H. Regain right stirrup. Continue at ordinary trot, bouncing.
6. MKT Change rein. Free Walk loose reins. Remove horse from judge'sluncheon table. Ask judge for leg up. Jump back into ring.
7. Z. Turn down centre Line.Halt. Grin.
Scratch. Burst into tears. Leave area at free walk on long reins, loose language.
07/01 Lesson -Track Right Right Right!
Ransom and I have most of those AnTiCi...Pation bugs worked out. He got a very quick free run warm-up, to get the extra gas out of the tank, then off we went.
I warmed up a little on the circle walk & trot, then proceeded to GAGII. No amount of effort Jen exerted would convince me - Halt at X, Salute, Proceed at Trot, At C, TRACK RIGHT! Not track left... Honestly! Right right right! Golly geez I hope I don't forget again... She'll saute me for sure!
First run through of GAGII, and while not incredibly straight diagonals, and not the most forward energy, went well. I didn't blow any of the other movements horribly. Hopped off at the mounting block, took a drink break, and let Ransom stand & wait.
Mounted again, and ran through some canter left and canter right. Great work, again.. His canter in both directions felt collected, and while "big", controlled. I was sunk deep in my saddle, able to push his stride with my toosh while keeping his frame. Very nifty! Took another dismounted break.
Finally, cooled out with a last run through of the GAGII test. Right right right! This one had even less forward energy, so the new thought is to add my baby ittie bittie spurs off and on for rides, and use 'em. Neat idea, because when I'm riding right now, I don't have any horse behind my heels, meaning I'll actually have to move my leg to put spur-to-horse. Previously, it was all I could do to not be constantly sticking the horse in the side, and with the saddle (and subsequently good position), the spurs might actually have a purpose.
Ride lesson was about an hour, and got much accomplished. His trot to halt and walk to halt transitions were, on average, pretty good. He got a little nasty there for a few, but promptly got back to work with a bit of, um, legging motivation.. *giggle*
I warmed up a little on the circle walk & trot, then proceeded to GAGII. No amount of effort Jen exerted would convince me - Halt at X, Salute, Proceed at Trot, At C, TRACK RIGHT! Not track left... Honestly! Right right right! Golly geez I hope I don't forget again... She'll saute me for sure!
First run through of GAGII, and while not incredibly straight diagonals, and not the most forward energy, went well. I didn't blow any of the other movements horribly. Hopped off at the mounting block, took a drink break, and let Ransom stand & wait.
Mounted again, and ran through some canter left and canter right. Great work, again.. His canter in both directions felt collected, and while "big", controlled. I was sunk deep in my saddle, able to push his stride with my toosh while keeping his frame. Very nifty! Took another dismounted break.
Finally, cooled out with a last run through of the GAGII test. Right right right! This one had even less forward energy, so the new thought is to add my baby ittie bittie spurs off and on for rides, and use 'em. Neat idea, because when I'm riding right now, I don't have any horse behind my heels, meaning I'll actually have to move my leg to put spur-to-horse. Previously, it was all I could do to not be constantly sticking the horse in the side, and with the saddle (and subsequently good position), the spurs might actually have a purpose.
Ride lesson was about an hour, and got much accomplished. His trot to halt and walk to halt transitions were, on average, pretty good. He got a little nasty there for a few, but promptly got back to work with a bit of, um, legging motivation.. *giggle*
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
07/01 On the Horizon...
Intellicast Radar
Looking near Junction (TX)
Heading SE
Rain storms
Please, Lord... Bring us that big yellow cell of rain.. Send it straight to my house. I don't care if it floods my pasture, and makes me wade in mud for a few days to get to the barn..
We need rain
Plenty of it
Badly
I need green pastures
I need water on my arena
Here's praying & hoping ...
Looking near Junction (TX)
Heading SE
Rain storms
Please, Lord... Bring us that big yellow cell of rain.. Send it straight to my house. I don't care if it floods my pasture, and makes me wade in mud for a few days to get to the barn..
We need rain
Plenty of it
Badly
I need green pastures
I need water on my arena
Here's praying & hoping ...
06/30 Ending June
Finished up the month in the hot, hot, sun, with Romeo.
Western saddle, french link bit. Ran through the basics - walk, trot, canter, a few turns, backing up straight. All good. I didn't push for much collection, because I know the Little Man is way out of shape, and hadn't been worked hard in quite a while.
We played for about 45 minutes, finishing up on WHOAs on verbal cue only from walk to halt.
I guess I should mention that, last week, Romeo got new feet (reset) on June 25th, and Ransom on June 28th. My regular farrier, Mr Dale, is having some medical stuff taken care of, and is out-of-service for a few more days. Jen and her DH came and finished up the work getting Ransom done on Sunday. Thank you!
Western saddle, french link bit. Ran through the basics - walk, trot, canter, a few turns, backing up straight. All good. I didn't push for much collection, because I know the Little Man is way out of shape, and hadn't been worked hard in quite a while.
We played for about 45 minutes, finishing up on WHOAs on verbal cue only from walk to halt.
I guess I should mention that, last week, Romeo got new feet (reset) on June 25th, and Ransom on June 28th. My regular farrier, Mr Dale, is having some medical stuff taken care of, and is out-of-service for a few more days. Jen and her DH came and finished up the work getting Ransom done on Sunday. Thank you!
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