...that I learned last week when I was off site xc schooling with the Pickle for the first time...
1 - FORWARD FORWARD FORWARD will be key to success with this horse on xc (shocking isn't it?!)
2 - I need to have a better base. My lower leg position sucks (I am not 1/2 as secure as I should be)
3 - Releasing is important....and I need to do a better job of it.
I learned a TON of other stuff too, but I will start with this for the meantime and sort of build from there. We went to John Hobson's property about 20 minutes down the 401 from Maplewood. His farm, is something else. It is beautiful. He and his wife have lived there for years, he is a retired school teacher and has been riding for literally 50 years. He is a horseman, true and true with a no nonsense, this is how it is and this is how I am going to give it to you. I LOVE him. We went in to the morning with the following goal. Get Chester doing the next level of xc: banks, drops, ditches, getting his feet wet, literally. Although lacking a little in confidence when it comes to something new, he is very very brave and will do just about anything I ask him to do. He trusts me and that is more important then just about anything else. My concern from the get go, was the water. He is absolutely petrified of it....we'll get to that in a bit.
We started off in the sand ring, over some stadium jumps so John could get a feel for what Chester (and I) could do. Once comfortable with how I ride, my level and with Chester we moved onto some little banks...as in tiny...up and down. Chester went, yeah, whatever. He only stopped once...and that was after coming up a steep slope, a stride and then a 3 foot drop down...which literally took him by surprise he sort of went 'uh oh, whats THAT'..and just stopped. He didn't freak out or anything just stood there, snorted at it and stood there...we tried again the second time and he nailed it. What I reallllly need to learn...is that 'drops' of no significant size (i.e until we hit training level) can be ridden in your every day 2point over fences position...that was the hardest thing for me to understand. We did skinnies, banks, combinations, you name it, he nailed it. We showed him a ditch...let him get right up to it, take a good sniff, then approached at a trot, he sailed over...then at a canter - and he sailed over that as well. GREAT! We increase the width and depth of the ditch...come at it at a strong trot...he saw it said 'WHoooaaaa!! whats that!!!???', stopped and balked a little. We regrouped - I kept my leg on - and over he went. John then introduced a rail over the ditch and Chester just popped right over like it was no big deal...and, it wasn't...he was a champ. I was so so so happy with him. Water time....there were 2 waters. The one we started with, was a simple water crossing, down a little slope, across 20 feet of water, up a little slope canter on out into the field. He didn't like it very much at first but after some encouragement, he walked right in. Then trotted right in. Then cantered right in. Huh - maybe this would be easier then I had anticipated. Once Chester was comfortable (and by comfortable, I mean attacking the water with no hesitation) John said it was time to move over into the water complex. Ahhhh - the water complex. It was a typical water in which there were any number of ways to get INTO and OUT OF the water. Drop in, bank out, little log out, it was all there....and I was really looking forward to him going in and out and over the little drop etc. Chester however, had other ideas. He simply refused to set foot anywhere remotely NEAR the water, let alone thinking about walking/trotting/catering/JUMPING into or out of it. To the point where he was backing up away from it as quickly as possible...to the point where the added uh 'encouragement' from me was rendered useless...to the point where poor John couldn't even get close enough to lead him into the water without getting run over...to the point where I was beyond frustrated that he wouldn't do it. John eventually said 'forget it, take him back through the original crossing and watch that he doesn't balk at it." So, we went through that crossing and he could have cared less about it. I was beyond mad/frustrated. John said to me as we were walking back to the barn "Don't let that get you in a funk. He was a star the entire morning, it's hot out and he is tired. When you come back, our focus will be the water and by the end of it, he'll be going through it like he had been doing it his entire life." GOD - my words to Chester are this: Please grow a pair so we can move up a level and do more exciting things. We're going back next week. John LOVED him...and said I have to do a better job of riding him to help him more. He asked what my goals were for this horse, I said 1* level...a stretch would be 2*...his response to that was "He's scopey enough for 1* and then some." My answer back to him was "That's great, we'll work on the 'and then some' though." :-). That is where I would have to grow a pair....
We were on a mini vacation over the weekend and Chester had a much deserved 3 days off...which doesn't leave me with a lot of time before Equus on the 12th, but I think Chester likes having a few days off in a row here and there...it is as though he misses his work and is very eager to get to it after a couple days. He was a champ yesterday. Another thing I learned what that we should only do the same exercise twice. Any more then that is too much, leave it, go do something else, come back to it after so that no one gets bored and you don't give your horse the chance to start acting like a donkey. And, I focused on that when we were schooling, do something twice, move on to something else and come back. I am going to spend this entire week focusing on ME as the rider. Chester is GOOD. I know that, Joyce knows that, John knows that, EVERYONE knows that. It is up to me to ride him better so he can be GREAT. In preparation for Equus on the weekend, I will be focusing on riding him better, with more accuracy and keeping him in front of my leg at all times. I will keep my leg on, my hands steady and ride him as best as I can. We will flat tonight, jump tomorrow (little jumps where I will focus on ME), with a canter at the end, off on Thursday (or maybe just a long walk hack), Friday lesson, Saturday 30 minute school/dressage test, Sunday Equus. I have an expectation in my head and I plan on meeting it.
More soon.
Until then - it is forward, good lower body position and release...
No comments:
Post a Comment