A third big improvement by Radar
The big black man has improved in three major ways this week. One, he has not tried to skip out of the arena the last three times we have been in there, so that naughty behaviour seems to be cured. Two, the ride yesterday was far and away the longest time he has held a relaxed frame with a swinging back and soft mouth. Three, today he did trot on the arena with NO messing around first. OK it wasn't the most forward going of trots, but it was self-balanced, in a nice frame, with a soft contact that responded to a half halt aid, and when I turned him off the track he did not feel as if he was going to fall flat on his face. What's more, he did it almost equally well on both reins. Now that really IS a major breakthrough.
Memo to self - write one hundred times "I must not expect him to be as good next time." We have said before that he is not the sharpest tool in the box - five months to learn to trot a 20 metre circle is not the quickest I've managed to teach a newly broken horse :-) !! But he is such a lovely, floppy, soppy fellow and he wasn't bought for 20 metre circles.
Jazz and I practised our elementary test for Sunday. He is already working way above elementary but we want him blase about competing before we try medium in a test. He had completely forgotten how to do a canter/trot transition. We have focussed so much on canter/walk that I can't remember when I last did canter/trot. So we had to practise that. We also had to get the idea in our head that we weren't going to flying change on the 5 metre canter loops, or on the diagonal where we were supposed to be changing legs through trot. I ran the whole test through twice, to get the shape of it in his mind and mine, and I'll probably do the same again tomorrow. It's just a riding club competition but it should have a listed judge and be on a decent surface.
I'm looking forward to going and seeing how much more we can do than last time, when we were being very cautious and had a waterlogged arena and no warm-up. I'm going to ask for more obedience (more consistent head carriage) and more activity this time. I think we are ready.
C
posted by cptrayes @ 3:06 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Another good day! How many can you string in a row?
Lovely that Radar is figuring things out. I think his mind is probably quite good, but like a teenage boy, his body doesn't quite match yet. Kind of the "floppy puppy" stage.
Jazz, on the other hand has the body and a mind of his own. He is almost too smart for his own good, preferring to do it his way instead of surrendering control to you. He might still "outthink" you in the test, so just make sure you ride absolutely precisely. It gets tricky when they are clever like that. Still, I think you are going to have a great test! (or two????)
I am excited for you and wish you good luck on the test. Knowing that you can ride above that level will give you the, not really confidence as I think you already have that, but the calmness to think carefully as you ride.
I get tense when I think people are judging us ML, I need to work at keeping calm (if that's not a contradiction in terms!) because he will react to me if I tense up.
Just one test Jean. There is a novice I could have used to warm up, but not in a double and I can't reliably control him in a snaffle, as we all know!
C
Caroline....ride the test for yourself and no one else. Get in the "zone" and just focus on Jazz.
I know it is hard not to react when there is an audience, but it is a good lesson to learn. Perhaps if you take on your persona as a judge on the bench and pretend you are the one assessing the situation and the one in control of the "courtroom" (the arena) it will help your nerves. Try a little role playing as you ride and see yourself as being the one in charge.
Just have fun with it!
Good luck on your test!
I do a bit of this and that too! : )
Nice tip Jean, I'll try it.
Thanks Kate.
ML that's so good to know :-))) (ps but don't go around telling people that you do a bit of the other - that means something VERY different!!)
C
Post a Comment
<< Home