Da Neep This Week
Apr. 9th, 2006 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseAnd this week's heart attacks were...
Me forgetting to fasten a gate, looking out at lunch and seeing Pandora in with Pooka and the rest of the crew milling around the run. After a nanosecond's pause for complete freakout, I went out and ascertained that Pooka had some kick marks on him, Camilla had a matching set with bite marks, Pandora had been climbed on but not bred (despite their best efforts, and it wouldn't have been a disaster if he'd managed), and everyone else was in normal condition. No damage done, very happy Pooka, rather happy Pandora, stupidhuman had a good fit of the shakes.
Me going out to ride Capria, getting stopped several times by old dog down and unable to get up (we're nearing the end there), then as I started to saddle up, glancing over and realizing Tia was covered with blood--all down both forelegs and splashed on her back legs (hard to see on her seal-brown coat). She looked as if she'd been wading in it. I thought she'd been attacked by the five large dogs that moved in next door, but examination showed that she'd been kicked. It was a very shallow, small cut but seems to have nicked a blood vessel. She took hosing, disinfecting, and spraying with wound spray very well. Is somewhat swollen today but otherwise OK. This morning I found where she'd been kicked--there are pools of blood all over the place. I'd have freaked if I'd got there right as it happened; blood was spraying everywhere. But as I said, she's no worse for wear, so barring infection (unlikely after bleeding clean and beiing treated), she shouldn't have any bad effects from it.
Capria did get a short ride finally. These longer days are nice.
Sent in revision of Shattered Dance, with which I'm fairly pleased, and dived right back into Rose II, aka The Golden Rose for Tor. It's due in early June; I'm hoping to get it in before that.
This morning's lessons went very well. Capria got the nod for the torture-me portion, and Camilla got her usual share of the attention. We talked about the SRS clinic this summer (July 19th-23rd at Proud Meadows near Dallas) and it looks as if I'll take Pandora and Pooka--Pook for in-hand work (we want to learn the SRS way) and Pandora for ridden work.
I have a lot of work to do with them. A Lot. Must be able to take Pandora out and about, ride her everywhere, and condition her for 45 intense minutes over 3 days. Pook will need a lot of in-hand work, and I need to get him boots for walkies. Lots and lots and lots of walkies and ground-driving. I hope I can get back on him before the clinic, but we don't want to screw up his feet, either.
And of course I have to be in shape for major torture as well.
Teacher has decided to up the ante on me--really make me sit correctly. Which is excellent, but I got cranky. Got un-cranky, too, but I need to work on my 'tude. Capria was her sweet relentless self, and that was good. This week's Teacher Notes go like so:
Capria
4-9-06
-Continue using ears and neck as viewfinder especially to right and on right turns
:) You're making good progress here esp. with left so keep up good work
-Remember that "carried" hands help to slide energy back towards haunches
-braced-down hands slide energy onto forehand
-dropping shoulders down and back while carrying hands also helps transfer energy to haunches and to pick up forehand
-stay solid through ribcage
a loose trunk is like a leaky hose and means seat/weight aids lose power to be effective
-perfect posture is the position of power
-success builds on success--little improvements give way to more improvements
Keep attitude positive
Set you and your horse up for success--even if it means doing less than originally intended. Take carefully calculated risks.
-watch left shoulder and left ribcage collapse
bring left hip forward
stack spine--grow an extra rib on left side but let shoulder relax [don't raise left side by trying to lift shoulder, and don't lock body while trying to do this]
-Be creative--be experimental
allow for mistakes--it's how we learn not a reflection on who you are.
-Be open-minded--be compassionate
in other words--
non-judgmental
non-critical
-There is no good/bad or right/wrong--something either works or it doesn't--keep what works, discard what doesn't and don't look back--in other words limit judgment (see above :) )
-It's OK to set expectations high only if you also think of the little steps of how to get there successfully.
In response to me feeling stuck dinking around again. And getting frustrated at my body-stupids. Frustration kills progress.
I was nice and relaxed when it was time to bring Camilla out, and so was she. We did our bit work and in-hand work and it's become much easier; she knows how and I'm not screwing up as much. Very interesting figuring out staying in my space when she was in the scary part of the arena (a lot of Tia blood, dogs nearby, scary bushes) and she wanted to trot--if I kept my body upright and calm, she might bounce in place but she wouldn't run off, or if she did ovewrought, she just trotted around me. Camilla grows when she's scared; she's a bit under 14.3 on her own, but she adds a hand and carries herself Very Very Upright, and her gaits are extremely powerful. Interesting sensation being in her slipstream. Keeping her straight and keeping outside rein plus adding riding aids for collect and slow did the trick. Soft eyes on her part even when she was bouncing--she was just letting me know what her personal score was.
I had enough time today to ride her, and she started off as soon as I was secure in the saddle. Normally I'd stop a young horse who did that, but the Not-Forward Champion of the World gets to move if she wants, as long as I'm sitting solidly on her when she starts. She was all about moving forward today, but it seems she's been overthinking the issue of carrying me, because she was wobbling something awful and picking her way along very carefully. Teacher said she was thinking about it with her whole body. I could see how hard she was thinking: her ears were horizontal. But she took a nice contact and she accepted my aids and my requests to move forward, and we did wiggly bits and figures and she was good about it. We were very pleased.
Next lessons are Thursday, and we have to get Pandora started on her path to total fitness. That should be interesting.
Me forgetting to fasten a gate, looking out at lunch and seeing Pandora in with Pooka and the rest of the crew milling around the run. After a nanosecond's pause for complete freakout, I went out and ascertained that Pooka had some kick marks on him, Camilla had a matching set with bite marks, Pandora had been climbed on but not bred (despite their best efforts, and it wouldn't have been a disaster if he'd managed), and everyone else was in normal condition. No damage done, very happy Pooka, rather happy Pandora, stupidhuman had a good fit of the shakes.
Me going out to ride Capria, getting stopped several times by old dog down and unable to get up (we're nearing the end there), then as I started to saddle up, glancing over and realizing Tia was covered with blood--all down both forelegs and splashed on her back legs (hard to see on her seal-brown coat). She looked as if she'd been wading in it. I thought she'd been attacked by the five large dogs that moved in next door, but examination showed that she'd been kicked. It was a very shallow, small cut but seems to have nicked a blood vessel. She took hosing, disinfecting, and spraying with wound spray very well. Is somewhat swollen today but otherwise OK. This morning I found where she'd been kicked--there are pools of blood all over the place. I'd have freaked if I'd got there right as it happened; blood was spraying everywhere. But as I said, she's no worse for wear, so barring infection (unlikely after bleeding clean and beiing treated), she shouldn't have any bad effects from it.
Capria did get a short ride finally. These longer days are nice.
Sent in revision of Shattered Dance, with which I'm fairly pleased, and dived right back into Rose II, aka The Golden Rose for Tor. It's due in early June; I'm hoping to get it in before that.
This morning's lessons went very well. Capria got the nod for the torture-me portion, and Camilla got her usual share of the attention. We talked about the SRS clinic this summer (July 19th-23rd at Proud Meadows near Dallas) and it looks as if I'll take Pandora and Pooka--Pook for in-hand work (we want to learn the SRS way) and Pandora for ridden work.
I have a lot of work to do with them. A Lot. Must be able to take Pandora out and about, ride her everywhere, and condition her for 45 intense minutes over 3 days. Pook will need a lot of in-hand work, and I need to get him boots for walkies. Lots and lots and lots of walkies and ground-driving. I hope I can get back on him before the clinic, but we don't want to screw up his feet, either.
And of course I have to be in shape for major torture as well.
Teacher has decided to up the ante on me--really make me sit correctly. Which is excellent, but I got cranky. Got un-cranky, too, but I need to work on my 'tude. Capria was her sweet relentless self, and that was good. This week's Teacher Notes go like so:
Capria
4-9-06
-Continue using ears and neck as viewfinder especially to right and on right turns
:) You're making good progress here esp. with left so keep up good work
-Remember that "carried" hands help to slide energy back towards haunches
-braced-down hands slide energy onto forehand
-dropping shoulders down and back while carrying hands also helps transfer energy to haunches and to pick up forehand
-stay solid through ribcage
a loose trunk is like a leaky hose and means seat/weight aids lose power to be effective
-perfect posture is the position of power
-success builds on success--little improvements give way to more improvements
Keep attitude positive
Set you and your horse up for success--even if it means doing less than originally intended. Take carefully calculated risks.
-watch left shoulder and left ribcage collapse
bring left hip forward
stack spine--grow an extra rib on left side but let shoulder relax [don't raise left side by trying to lift shoulder, and don't lock body while trying to do this]
-Be creative--be experimental
allow for mistakes--it's how we learn not a reflection on who you are.
-Be open-minded--be compassionate
in other words--
non-judgmental
non-critical
-There is no good/bad or right/wrong--something either works or it doesn't--keep what works, discard what doesn't and don't look back--in other words limit judgment (see above :) )
-It's OK to set expectations high only if you also think of the little steps of how to get there successfully.
In response to me feeling stuck dinking around again. And getting frustrated at my body-stupids. Frustration kills progress.
I was nice and relaxed when it was time to bring Camilla out, and so was she. We did our bit work and in-hand work and it's become much easier; she knows how and I'm not screwing up as much. Very interesting figuring out staying in my space when she was in the scary part of the arena (a lot of Tia blood, dogs nearby, scary bushes) and she wanted to trot--if I kept my body upright and calm, she might bounce in place but she wouldn't run off, or if she did ovewrought, she just trotted around me. Camilla grows when she's scared; she's a bit under 14.3 on her own, but she adds a hand and carries herself Very Very Upright, and her gaits are extremely powerful. Interesting sensation being in her slipstream. Keeping her straight and keeping outside rein plus adding riding aids for collect and slow did the trick. Soft eyes on her part even when she was bouncing--she was just letting me know what her personal score was.
I had enough time today to ride her, and she started off as soon as I was secure in the saddle. Normally I'd stop a young horse who did that, but the Not-Forward Champion of the World gets to move if she wants, as long as I'm sitting solidly on her when she starts. She was all about moving forward today, but it seems she's been overthinking the issue of carrying me, because she was wobbling something awful and picking her way along very carefully. Teacher said she was thinking about it with her whole body. I could see how hard she was thinking: her ears were horizontal. But she took a nice contact and she accepted my aids and my requests to move forward, and we did wiggly bits and figures and she was good about it. We were very pleased.
Next lessons are Thursday, and we have to get Pandora started on her path to total fitness. That should be interesting.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 05:55 pm (UTC)Lipps are incredibly light to ride. The trick is to stay with the big movement and keep balance. And FOCUS. That's the hardest thing right now. I'm going to need a lot of that for the clinic.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 06:03 pm (UTC)(I just realized that although Tara has been trying to build me up physically to ride Pluto, whenever I actually ride him the only strain is mental. Go light horses. No pulling on the arms, no thighs of steel required.
Also the darling boy figured out that he can do little gait or big gait. And he doesn't right away root to the ground when my balance goes off. Excuse me while I go make kissy faces at him.)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-09 09:16 pm (UTC)Tara must be thinking in terms of 6 hours in the gym to wrangle a Riding Elephant. With our guys, it's all about being mentally able to stay focused, and the physical part is more balance and precision than strength. I'm seldom physically tired after a lesson, but my brain gets sore.
Your boy is growing up. When they figure out they have to take care of you, they're on their way. :)