All on tenterhooks.
I'm finding it hard to settle to any routine while we wait to see if George goes on Friday, so I haven't ridden again today. George's girl came up again after school today and there's no doubt now that he recognises her mother, who will be doing a lot with him, and that he finds M's company reassuring and relaxing.
Today I put him back in a snaffle. Last time he was overbending and M wasn't able to take as much contact as we would have liked because he was reacting too much to the pelham. He was as good as gold in the snaffle. We did some walk and trot indoors and then I taught her shoulder-in. He kept on coming off the wall. I was getting a bit frustrated because we couldn't work out why he would do that, when suddenly her Mum said "which leg is your inside leg, M?". "The one by the wall", she answered - she had been asking him to leg yield and he had been doing just that!!!
The reason she was confused is that I had been saying inside and outside leg while she was on the other rein, and she had "mapped" those names to her legs, instead of to the position on the circle! So when she changed rein, the leg she was still calling "inside", was now the outside one. To be honest, she was just so giddy with the excitement of how much fun she is having with him that she wasn't thinking straight! She said more than once "my cheeks are hurting, I'm smiling so much".
Anyway, we got that sorted, did some travers, and then when I was sure she had the measure of him in a snaffle, we went outside, where it was a beautiful evening. I put up a fence about 15 inches high, and got her to pop it several times in each direction, then keep the canter going for as much of a circuit as she could. She did just fine, stayed in balance, steadied him up when he went too fast, and generally managed him really well.
So the vet comes tomorrow morning and they love him so much that he'll have to be at death's door for them not to take him :-)
C
posted by cptrayes @ 7:50 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
your new career - riding instructor LOL.
have sent you an email or two, but all bar two yards are miles too far away (or not even a livery yard).
"my cheeks are hurting, I'm smiling so much"
Such youthful enthusiasm! Wonderful. Wonder what would it take to have a 55yr old in such a state. Must get up in that hang glider/microlite! (After I've got a new will!)
That story is too adorable for words. Wonder how many other novice riders would make the same mistake? I know when I used to help people out, the concept of being on the right or left rein was totally foreign as was "Cross the diagonal to change rein." So much "horse" vocabulary we take for granted. *S*
Sounds as if George has a perfect match. M and he are "clicking" on all fronts. This is an exciting prospect for a happy life for him.
No chance Claire. I was ready to start shouting at her when her mother realised what had happened - teaching would drive me mad :-)
Kids are so lucky, aren't they P? Everything is still to be discovered. These two girls, twins, have been allowed to be children and not allowed to grow up too fast, so they still have all the wonder of children at 10 years old.
I think they are going to get on like a house on fire Jean. She trusts him absolutely, and he responds so well to that, it's lovely to see him so relaxed.
C.
Yep C. knowing that horses learn THREE times faster than a human being, I think teaching will drive you bonkers LOL!
I know because I am home-schooling my son (after school, it is long a story) and I had to calm down, because human is much much much more slower!!!
It's words that get in the way Muriel - the horses know what I want, the humans hear what they want to hear, not what is actually said :-)))
C
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