Alli's Blog

March 8

Nice ride today. Headed out to the forest. We met a friend part way there. I am so proud we could "meet" somewhere, as he is usually so nervous out on his own. Often spins and refuses to go. Today he was very happy to go. I think he thought he was going back to the paddock he was holidaying in. He must have been very happy there. Proud we went out on our own even if it was only a short way. We got a lot of head in the air rubbish, but after about 1/2 hour he settled down, and started listening. Lovely walks with a rounded frame, and even a bit of trot. The best bit was our canter. We had a couple of easy canters, with the second one lasting a good 300 metres. He took off really fast at first but as soon as I relaxed, he relaxed, slowed down a bit and we both really enjoyed ourselves. It felt so good. His training with my friend, focusing on canter, is definitely helping. He doesn't panic anywhere near as much when I ask. I suspect he may have been flogged a fair bit by his previous owner in an attempt to speed up his canter. I think this may be why he gets tense and resists the canter so much. His head still goes up, but he's stopped lurching forward and putting his ears back. We are slowly making progress, and I am thrilled. I could really feel the difference today. Yay

March 7

Had a lovely ride today. Collected Dan from paddock where he has spent a few days while I was away. He came galloping to greet me whinnying madly. (gee it feels nice when they do that). We saddled and stood waiting quietly for my friend to mount. We had a nice ride up to the arena. The little filly who is in season and spraying madly was a slight diversion, but he was mostly good. We got to the arena and there was some minor carry on as we separated from his friend. He soon got his head into work mode and off we went. I needed quite a bit more inside leg today to get him on the bit, but he managed to stay in a nice frame for half a lap of the arena. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Put him away after that with a big biccy of lucerne, much love and pats, and a few carrots. Good, good pony today.

Feb 28

Fantastic ride today. Dan had the day off yesterday, after a tough work out on Sunday, courtesy of my lovely, brave friend. Sunday he put in a couple of quite serious bucks when asked for a canter. I sat watching and trying not to bite my nails, but said friend did great job, and he learnt not to mess with her! So today I rode. We got some nice, rounded trot. I worked really hard on my posture last lesson, and so today practised that again. My abs are sore so I must have been doing something right. After about 45 mins of riding Dan and I took a big step. I kept him / he stayed on the bit the entire long side. This is a major achievement. His usual reaction to the long sides is to pick up his pace and throw his head in the air. I'm so proud of my boy, he's really getting the hang of things.

Feb 25

Well, after a couple of weeks of struggling with lameness that appeared to have no cause, we are finally back to regular work. He is having devils claw root once a day and regular massage, and is much more comfortable. I had a lesson this morning, using my instructors lovely Jessica trainer saddle. Ahh, bliss. I have a crappy Wintec, AP, (which is two sizes too big now I have lost weight) so the beautiful dressage saddle was heavenly. I am currently in the market for a new dressage saddle, but Dan is proving hard to fit. Anyway, lesson was hard work, but Dan was really good. He's really got the hang of going on the bit now. He has quite a hard mouth, so I spent most of lesson feeling as though my hands were gonna drop off, however, he was really good once he worked out what I wanted. My instructor has introduced the concept of me keeping my frame so he can keep his frame. While this isn't new to me, its quite hard. I have crappy ab muscles, and when Dan gets tired he leans on my hands. Hence I get pulled off balance forward. We spent ages doing circles getting him round, on the bit, and flexed and me sitting straight with strong abs and back. I have sore muscles now, but by the end of the lesson he was actually looking like a dressage horse, and I was sitting up straight. So loads more practice for both of us, but real progress was made today. I am really pleased. I've had trouble with the canter, getting pig roots and bucks etc. I have now decided not to have that fight every time, and have a friend who is stronger and more experienced than me riding him twice a week, and she will be working on his canter. I'm really happy about this, as I don't want to do the wrong thing with his training through my lack of experience.

Feb 9

We've been having a few lameness / weird stride / pain type problems, so he has had the vet out and a massage and then a day off. Got on today, not quite knowing what to expect and went down to the jumping arena for a change. We walked for a long time as there are many things in the jumping arena that eat unsuspecting horses. Finally we started trot and he was a dream to ride. He was forward and stretching and just lovely. A little bit of head tossing, mostly due to the wind I think, but nice trot. A few times I even had to ask him to slow down a bit. As per vet / massage lady advice - no circles. (man,he is happy about that!) Decided to give canter a go. Ha, very funny. Last time I tried he just out and out refused, nup, no idea what those leg aids mean Mum. Today, oh canter, cool, this will be fun - NOT! He threw in a couple of large pigroots, and quite a lot of head tossing. He did his best to get me off and convince me he didn't want to canter. Sadly, for him, I stayed on and kept pushing. He went. After the first few strides he realized it wasn't hurting (Thank you Di, miracle massage lady) and actually went forward. I usually have to push and push to keep him in canter but he happily cantered about, and again I had to ask him to slow down. It was SO MUCH FUN. I went home exhausted but really really happy. Fingers crossed he is as forward for my lesson tomorrow.

Jan 26

Got on to ride, walk all good. Ask for a trot on the right rein, my horse is lame. Just as I discover this my instructor arrives for my lesson. My instructor does a bit of an assessment. Looks like he is sore over the loins, not actually in the hindquarters. And much much worse on the right. He does have a small scrape on his stiple, so maybe he's knocked it. Weird though, in a led trot and walk he looks a bit stiff but not really bad, under saddle, it looks terrible. Poor pony, Hopefully massage miracle lady can help my boy. He's so good, he never complains. His behaviour hardly changes at all.

Jan 24

Awesome ride. We practiced our dressage Prep 2 test, got same fabulous canter happening, and had a good time. Man, riding is fun! Dan still needs to learn to halt square, but we are getting there. Front legs good, hind, hmmm, not so good!

Jan 23

Grumpy horse today. He has started backing up when he doesn't want to go in a particular direction. Things felt off, so I rode for about 15 mins and got off. Wonder whats wrong?

Jan 22

Another nice ride. He's picking up the canter aids on the first ask now, but still only when he wants to! Very happy despite consistency problems.

Jan 12

Awesome ride today. I have probably jinxed myself for tomorrows lesson but oh well! We actually managed one single canter circle on both reins!!!! I AM SO HAPPY. I know its a small thing to experienced riders, but I've been back riding (after a 15 year break) for 9 months now. Its a huge achievement for me. I've been terrified of canter and get really tense when we try. Finally I'm starting to relax and its actually happening. Not only did he listen to my canter aid, but I had enough control to put him on a circle and keep him in canter!!! So, so stoked! I LOVE MY ANGEL HORSEY!!!

Jan 10

Today is noteworthy. I've been working pretty hard on my sit trot, in the hope that the canter will just flow if we can get sit trot right. So, today, as we were trotting along, I just gave a canter aid. I didn't really think about it or plan it, just kinda DID it. He went beautifully, didn't pigroot or lean on me at all. He just tucked his head under and hooned along. We managed an entire lap of the arena, on both reins. I actually steered! I actually had that much control! (I'm amazed). I don't know if it worked because I finally got my sit trot right so he felt comfortable, or if its because I didn't really plan it (and hence didn't tense up). I suspect its the latter. Anyway, right now I don't care why it happened, just that it did. He's still pretty unbalanced, and doesn't always strike off on the correct leg, but he listened to my aid, and stayed in the canter. I am most happy with our progress today. Afterwards, he could barely hold his own head up as we walked down to the paddock, he was so tired (after cantering for maybe 4 minutes total, with breaks). Funny boy, he was VERY cute.

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