Exercise 1
This morning, we started with an exercise which mimics the principles of navigating a jumping course, without any jumps, and at first without any poles. Once warmed up a little at the walk, we started the exercise first as our trot warmup. In each corner, we completed a 10m circle; in between each circle - both on long and short sides - we accelerated our speed, but slowing down before the next corner. This exercise mimics a course in that we vary our speeds, in a controlled manner, to get from point A to point B, but our approach to each point, and our work at each point, must be controlled. Charlie and I struggle most in our approach to jumps in that we are off on our timing; Charlie is inclined to take off too early, and I am inclined to jumping ahead of him, rather than riding him to the base of the jump; this exercise was a way to work on this aspect of jumping on the flat. It is important to remember to maintain contact throughout the entire exercise; asking for more forward along the long side is not asking him to throw away the connection and engagement we develop on the 10m circle. We repeated this exercise on both reins.Following this exercise at the trot, we completed it at the canter. This proved a little more difficult for us, because, as we know, Charlie is weaker in the canter. The most important aspect of this exercise at the canter is to ensure he stays balanced in the 10m circles. He likes to bend his neck too much to the inside, and he gets too crooked. On the same note, to improve this with Charlie, I have to work on the interaction of my inside and outside reins - inside opens, outside closes, yet keeping the contact equal overall. Further to this, I have to encourage him to keep his body straight - that is, his hips in line with his shoulders - on the 10m circle with my legs, using the outside leg to counter his tendency to bulge outward, while at the same time using both legs to encourage him forward if he starts to lose his canter. If this sounds complicated - well, you're right. It is. This is definitely on my "homework list" this week.
Exercise 2
Next, we switched the pattern to a figure 8, with poles along one diagonal, but using the same principles - forward down the sides, but riding deep, connected, and controlled into the corners. We did this pattern at the trot and canter as well, with the added element of lead changes - definitely with a lot of room for improvement there.Oxer
Finally, we replaced the poles in the figure 8 pattern with an oxer. I was very proud of how Charlie handled himself over the jumps today. As far as true oxers go, we've only ever jumped a little 18 inch baby one a few weeks ago; this time, they were bigger, and therefore scarier - but Charlie barely so much as looked at them. Today, there was not one refusal or run-out - a big accomplishment for us. This means that I am improving in my ability to ride him confidently to the jump, and wait for him, and that Charlie's confidence is improving as well as his ability to, himself, wait for the jump. Again, with the jump in the figure 8 pattern, it was important that I rode him in a connected, forward canter into the corner to set myself up for a straight line to the jump, and then ride him to the base and wait for him to go first.Overall, I saw lots of improvements in Charlie today during our lesson, even since the clinic last week. He is more confident, and more excited, about the jumps, but he is able to contain his excitement enough such that he can approach the jump in a controlled manner. This means that, now, we can start focusing on after the jump - something we were unable to really do before, because there was so much work to do on just getting to the jump.
Bonus Ride
This evening, I decided to take Charlie out on the trails because it was such a gorgeous day, and I figured he had worked so hard he would be pooped. Well - I figured wrong. He was naughty on the trail and reminded me twice that he was bred to be a racehorse (with horses - two steps forward, one step back, right?). I always, always end on a good note - a horse never gets out of work by being naughty if I have anything to say about it. So, when we got back, we schooled in the large outdoor sand ring - a ring he'd never been in, and something I probably should have done before going on the trail (not-so-rookie mistake on my part). He did end up going very nicely in the ring, though, and I managed to put together a little video of his canter transformation, comparing where we started nearly 2 years ago, to where we are today:
The first clip is from May 2014, only the third time I cantered him at all, and the first time I was able to get him to canter on the righthand lead. It may not really look like much of a difference, but it has been two years of hard work and dedication for both of us (and our coaches). If anyone ever says that it would be a waste of time to try to improve the gaits, especially the canter, of a standardbred, please show them this video. I also want to post this video to show that Charlie did not start with the canter he has now; it isn't luck that makes this standardbred canter better than another one. We still have a long way to go, no doubt, and plenty of room for improvement, and no, we may never have that grand prix canter - but improvements, and significant ones at that, are more than possible, if you're willing to put in the time and effort.
That concludes Lesson Recap 3! On a completely non-horse-related topic, I just want to comment that I've been feeling pretty down and lonely since moving; but this weekend was just fantastic, by far the best since I moved. Thank you to the wonderful people in my barn for showing me such kindness and being so welcoming to me. I may start to feel at home here yet.
Happy trails everyone!
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