In which we achieve Perfection

[dancinghorse]

Lesson-neep time, with sidebar: Still fixing the damned water leak.

Yesterday I longed Capria and Pooka, to see how they were doing.  Capria, in spite of very little work lately, was in great shape.  Pook was not.  He's having his annual "my right hindleg doesn't belong to me" episode, brought on by spring hormones, regular attacks of the whees, and the start of the spring growth-spurt season.  (Yes, he will be 8 in three weeks.  He'll  be doing this until he's 10.)

So, no lesson for da Pooka, though I'll  ride him tomorrow and see how he feels.

Meanwhile we had lessons with everyone else.  Keed has had swollen back cannons all week from charging at Pandora all night and half the day.  At one point he was standing with his head over the top bar of her stall, ears at their nastiest angle, just glaring at her.  However he's been calming down a  bit, and today he was OK for  Joni to ride.  He looked very good, from what I could see--I was working with a very eager and bright-eyed Camilla, who asked for a session and didn't panic over it.  We did a bit of groundwork, then Joni asked if I was going to get on her.  I asked Camilla and she was amenable, so I got on.  She turned.  She backed up.  She experimented.  Finally she managed a couple of steps forward all by herself.  Then she got confused and started backing up again, but that was OK.  She knew the forward part was the good one.  I discovered in the process that she has steering and brakes.  I had to move her out of Pandora's way while Sue was getting her ready for her lesson--Pandora is so big, one forgets how much of her may be oozing out into the arena--and once she nearly swung me into the fence.  I automatically shifted a seatbone and she stepped tidily over, no fuss, no trauma.  (Yep.  Takes same finesse of aids as Capria and  Pooka.  No surprise there.)

We were very pleased.  So was she.  She had a smile all over herself.

Pandora had a very good session.  She fits into keed's Big Horn--the extra-wide one with the huge gullet--and she's got a Really Big head.  The Courbette USDF headstall in Full size just fits around the nose, though the rest is a good fit.  She takes a six-inch loose-ring bit.  She was very good about all the fitting and adjusting, then Joni took her out and longed her.  She longes well, considering it's been eight years since she did anything.   No problem with the concept of work.  She looked as if she was enjoying it. 

Then finally Capria got the lesson she'd been waiting all morning for.  Sometimes when I get on, I cannot get into the saddle, I'm all stiff and perchy, but today for some reason I got on and I had a really deep seat.  We worked on straightness in forward motion, on  serpentines (three and four loops) and 20m circles with changes across the diagonal, walk and trot.  The point was to keep her perfectly balanced in  all the aids, maintain a steady tempo within the gait, and lengthen and shorten the frame without loss of balance or rhythm.  In walk we had her on the buckle and then clear up to trot length on the reins, without change of balance or contact.  Trot was harder until last week's lesson clicked on and I found the back of the thigh again.  This with correct contact is the aid for Capria.  Get that on her and she sits down behind, raises her back, lifts her front end, and floats.  She loooooves that aid.

When we got it, I said, "Omigod!  That's where the piaffe is!"  And Joni gave me a big thumbs-up.  (I could  ride piaffe with leg aids and instructor help, back along,  but with this I don't need help.  Just a ThighMaster.  ;> )  It was a wowzer feeling--coming back to all this from scratch after years of unlearning and relearning.  We started when Pook was three weeks old, and we've stuck with it through a lot of frustration, humiliation, and general tsouris.

Btw, whitezinnia ,  when Andreas said "Tone the thigh," this is what he meant.  Joni said it's an aid she automatically applies so she had to stop and think it through, but yep, that's it.  It's how he got all those horses  to sit down like that and do those pirouettes.

And in our own much simpler and less masterful way,  we achieved perfection: half a circle in trot with outside rein perfectly applied, said Joni.  In eight years she's never said such a thing, so I have to record it.  Especially since dropping the outside rein is one of my bugbears.

I am not supposed to put any more words on  this for now--that's my homework.  Remember the feel of the aid when applied, and repeat it with Capria and Pooka both.  It's very important for him, since it's a collecting as well as a balancing aid and he's a collectamatic with green-horse balance.  I'm eager to try it on him now--I hope tomorrow, if I can get the damned pipe fixed.

Comments

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

YAY!

Congrats! :D I am so happy for you!

And, in good news, I get three riding lessons next month, as a belated Valentine's Day prezzie. I am excited. It's probably hunt-seat, but I'll live. Just to be on a horse again is exciting.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear this is going well for you. Also, so jealous! Maedchen has decided she has Issues. She refuses to acknowledge the human is the boss. She's doing what we ask but only because it amuses her.

This is dangerous.

This started about three weeks ago, when she started ignoring me when I went out into the paddock, but it's gotten substantially worse. She had a really bizarre episode on Thursday, apparently--Kathy had her out on the trail, and about three-quarters of the way down the dirt road towards the ditchbank she froze in place. Kathy says "she wouldn't go forward, she wouldn't go back, and she couldn't even remember where home was." And this is a mare that NOTHING bothers. Kathy had to dismount and lead her home.

We can't figure out what happened. I'm almost tempted to try an animal communicator.

my 2 cents

[raithen.livejournal.com]

I'd start looking for physical issues -- have her teeth checked, look for slight lameness, check saddle and bridle fit. This sounds to me like a mare in discomfort, letting you know the only way she knows how. The only other thought I have: is she (or could she be) pregnant?

And, of course, look to yourself and Kathy -- have you guys changed anything about the way you interact with her, are either of you going through anything in your lives that she could be picking up on? stuff like that.

Re: my 2 cents

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've been thinking for a while that she needs her teeth done. And there could be something else going on too. Good suggestions. I need to follow up on them.

But we still can't figure out the freeze episode.

Re: my 2 cents

[raithen.livejournal.com]

I personally think the freeze episode fits right into the rest of it. If the bit was hurting because of teeth issues, for example, or the saddle was pinching or she was somehow uncomfortable, she may just have decided "enough." I have had horses do that to me.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Yikes.

I agree with raithen, check the saddle fit first, then her teeth.

Though you say she's doing it on her own as well. Have you checked to see if she's feeling OK? Have there been any changes in the herd, barn staff, feed, whatever? Has any of the other horses shown similar personality changes?

Wish I could go and see what's going on. And bring Joni with me.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

It's really two separate things, the Attitude and the freezing up. The Attitude has been building, slowly, for a while. She'll ignore me when I come into the paddock (until I start feeding Dare, of course). Won't come up to either me or Kathy in the round pen (but makes a point of trotting right -past- us, to make sure we Notice. It's like an ongoing Pout.

The freezeup is the really bizarre episode, because she does NOT do that sort of thing, and hasn't done it since. There's been only one change at the barn, and while it was pretty drastic, it was over and done with several hours before the freezeup happened. I suppose it could have been a delayed reaction. None of the other horses have shown any personality changes at all, as far as we can tell.

Three things it could be: delayed reaction; teeth; or she could have twisted something while playing. Although she shows NO signs of lameness. Or, of course, some fourth thing known only to Horse.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I love watching you work so hard and get better and better. It gives me hope.

[equesgal.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the great day with your horses, dancinghorse.

And I hope you figure up what's up with your horse too, Ashley. Lordy, I just hate those unexplained horsie attitudes. Bah.

[lynnesite.livejournal.com]

Congrats on your outside rein, yahoo. And I'm gonna meditate on the use of the thigh in that way.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Yes, he will be 8 in three weeks

Cor blimey, time flies.

Then again, I've had Crumble for <counts on fingers> five years now. So *this* is where you are hanging out! Gotcha!

(E-mail went totally haywire. Come to think of that, life went haywire. Have you changed e-mail or were the bounces on my end, too?)

Note to self: must not catch up with livejournal at two in the morning...

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Hey! So that's who you are! I haven't changed e-mail and I didn't get anything in the spam file.

At least now we know where to find each other. 8)