Friday, 21 September 2007
I arrived at the field early today speeding everything up and rushing Helen along as I needed to be on my way to Bukcs at 4.30pm. As it turned out though, my lesson in the evening was cancelled and I had lots of time for Columbus!
Since I already got to the field I thought I would give the Big Boy a thorough groom, tidy up his mane a little and generally enjoy lovely warm afternoon.
Effect (after giving it a frame virtually of course!):
Then we proceeded to work on a chambon for 30 minutes. Columbus started in a rather lazy mode, dragging his legs a little and generally doing everything not to exert himself. After some message reinforcement he finally moved forward and worked well. I only did about 10 minutes on the left rein today as he is quite flexible on that side and got him onto the right rein for the remaining 20 minutes. He tested my patience significantly refusing to come back to walk but dropping into his trade mark jog. As I was going through plenty of transitions he finally got bored with jogging and started going cleanly from trot to walk. In order to get him to do just a few steps of trot then back to walk and trot again I took him on a very short lunge line and walked with him which gave me immediate control and I could make sure he walked on my command. After 10 goes he really started using his back legs and lightning the forehand.
We finished on one especially good, soft yet crisp transition and Columbus had a 10 minutes rest while I removed the chambon, adjusted the tack for riding etc
Off we went to the 'arena' area and I started with 15 minutes walk mostly on the right rein but changing direction frequently. We did 10m circle at every other letter and I willed my legs to stay back and underneath me which seemed to aid to Columbus's balance (his saddle is a hunting sort of cut which puts the rider into an armchair seat). I was psyching myself up before my evening dressage lesson and with it being cancelled I moved all that effort into session with Columbus! I must say it must have contributed somehow as he worked really well. He was again even softer in walk than last week, very flexible to the left and fairly well to the right. His responses were amazing but I think it must have been more to do with me keeping my legs back than anything else. We had lovely impulsion in trot which allowed to work on his lateral flexion. He felt easily manoeuvrable within the 40x60 area in walk and trot which I was quite proud of considering I had troubles negotiating turns and circles in a field three times as big a month ago ;)))
The left turns are getting better now and he is managing to keep a nice circumference of the circle and some bend and neck flexion. On the right turns he is still falling to the inside with his inside shoulder and avoiding the bend within his body. However, on a few turns today I really made use of my inside leg and took my inside shoulder back even more than necessary and he responded by moving deeper into the corner and bringing his head to the inside a little more instead of his usual outside.
I then braved on into canter work which is well, quite a hard work on Columbus! On a good note, we stayed within the arena boundaries yet again on both reins and went three circuits incorporating 20m circles at A and C every time. Then a short rest in walk on 6m circles both ways and back to canter again for three circuits and 20m circles at A and C.
He is definitely much fitter now. The weather helped as it was very fresh with the wind blowing and he seems to enjoy lower temperatures. I tried to make him break into sweat a little more but I was exhausted already after an hour of making him work;) Considering that a month ago he would be looking like fresh from the shower after my schooling, he is not doing too bad!
All there was today was just a sweaty saddle/girth patch!
Since I already got to the field I thought I would give the Big Boy a thorough groom, tidy up his mane a little and generally enjoy lovely warm afternoon.
Effect (after giving it a frame virtually of course!):
Then we proceeded to work on a chambon for 30 minutes. Columbus started in a rather lazy mode, dragging his legs a little and generally doing everything not to exert himself. After some message reinforcement he finally moved forward and worked well. I only did about 10 minutes on the left rein today as he is quite flexible on that side and got him onto the right rein for the remaining 20 minutes. He tested my patience significantly refusing to come back to walk but dropping into his trade mark jog. As I was going through plenty of transitions he finally got bored with jogging and started going cleanly from trot to walk. In order to get him to do just a few steps of trot then back to walk and trot again I took him on a very short lunge line and walked with him which gave me immediate control and I could make sure he walked on my command. After 10 goes he really started using his back legs and lightning the forehand.
We finished on one especially good, soft yet crisp transition and Columbus had a 10 minutes rest while I removed the chambon, adjusted the tack for riding etc
Off we went to the 'arena' area and I started with 15 minutes walk mostly on the right rein but changing direction frequently. We did 10m circle at every other letter and I willed my legs to stay back and underneath me which seemed to aid to Columbus's balance (his saddle is a hunting sort of cut which puts the rider into an armchair seat). I was psyching myself up before my evening dressage lesson and with it being cancelled I moved all that effort into session with Columbus! I must say it must have contributed somehow as he worked really well. He was again even softer in walk than last week, very flexible to the left and fairly well to the right. His responses were amazing but I think it must have been more to do with me keeping my legs back than anything else. We had lovely impulsion in trot which allowed to work on his lateral flexion. He felt easily manoeuvrable within the 40x60 area in walk and trot which I was quite proud of considering I had troubles negotiating turns and circles in a field three times as big a month ago ;)))
The left turns are getting better now and he is managing to keep a nice circumference of the circle and some bend and neck flexion. On the right turns he is still falling to the inside with his inside shoulder and avoiding the bend within his body. However, on a few turns today I really made use of my inside leg and took my inside shoulder back even more than necessary and he responded by moving deeper into the corner and bringing his head to the inside a little more instead of his usual outside.
I then braved on into canter work which is well, quite a hard work on Columbus! On a good note, we stayed within the arena boundaries yet again on both reins and went three circuits incorporating 20m circles at A and C every time. Then a short rest in walk on 6m circles both ways and back to canter again for three circuits and 20m circles at A and C.
He is definitely much fitter now. The weather helped as it was very fresh with the wind blowing and he seems to enjoy lower temperatures. I tried to make him break into sweat a little more but I was exhausted already after an hour of making him work;) Considering that a month ago he would be looking like fresh from the shower after my schooling, he is not doing too bad!
All there was today was just a sweaty saddle/girth patch!
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