Thursday, June 14, 2012

Riding Diary: 20

Horse: Quiz!

Bit: roller port with shanks

Time: 1 hr

Ride: Oh Quiz, I love ya - I just can't quit ya. Little mare and I had a really good ride on Monday. I was reaaaaaaally trying to focus on my position, and to keep my hands almost too-low, I find that she really calms down and is just a more responsive, quieter horse when I give her quick and serious checks over long, constant checking. She and I were really meshing, even my trainer told me how good we looked - yep, we're really good looking, and pretty amazing.. so before you bring out those damn ground poles, we might as well quit on a good note hey?

.. Ya, not so much. However, the ground poles were less of a mortal enemy-demon lover this lesson than last. Honestly, when trotting and loping circles on ground poles, I tend to think to myself, "okay, where would I rationally think to leave the rail.. here.. okay, wait 2-4 strides, now go", works like a charm.

At the trot, Quiz and I are fluid over the ground poles, but at the lope she pops her hind end up towards the end, and kind of spring-loads over them. That causes me to totally lose my position, and often ends in a pretty messy departure. Things to work on.From there we got to do some upright poles! Waaaay better than ground poles. Quiz was a star.

Finally, my trainer set up a bit of an obstacle course, a single ground pole, a small maybe a 1/4 ft or less jump. (I'm sure there is a name for this - a standard? I don't know.. I am lost in the world of jumping), then a row of upright poles, come around, exit the rail, three ground poles, end course. Weooooo. Quiz and I did it 3 or 4 times, as did the other people in my lesson. Everyone got a good giggle over everyone else - ground poles look so decieving easy until your horse is flinging around them. Quiz actually did quite well, as did I - I think. Our only main issue was that after the jump she'd swap leads, I'd fail to notice, and then we'd end up doing the poles on the wrong lead. Secondly, I notice that when I get a little excited, I tend to let my horse rush things - gotta keep that cool, calm, collected low-hand mindset I guess.

For Next Time: Keep calm and carry on... over ground poles. :)

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