Horse: John Wayne!
Time: 1.5 hr
Ride: Flag work this time, so no fun videos of me chasing cows today!
I'm still really trying to get that position down that Coach wants from me. I have a really hard time translating what he's telling me into my body during the warm up. When I first started riding with him he had me trying to sit really extended, fast trots. I was having a horrible time at it, which caused me to be bracey, etc. I'm just so used to posting big trots like that, that my body feels unnatural and bouncey at a big extended trot. Things to work on.
However, we chatted about it, and he said that I could post if I wanted too, which made it easier for me to bring my centre of gravity forward and allow JW to extend and reach more. Coach wants his horses really extending and working in the trot before we start.
From there we did some dry-work, rollbacks, stops and backs. I'm finally easing out of the throw my legs forward and back, back, habit that the team-penner taught me a few years ago. Thanks for teaching me how not to stop, buddy. When I can take a moment to think, "deep breath, rock your pelvis, SIT, stop" my stops are nice and smooth, when I'm actually in the heat of the moment is when I revert back to bad form, and throw my legs out to brace my stop.. causing a bracey horse.
Then, it was flag time.. John Wayne is very, very responsive as well as highly sensitive to legs - especially ill-communicating legs. This makes for a horse that is not as forgiving of my newbie experience, than CD. However, it's always a good experience to ride different horses, and this one is definitely teaching me to be quiet, and learn timing... or else I lose him.
For example, Coach kept commenting that "something is going on with your left leg", it's not as strong, it's not as present, and it causes JW to leak away from the flag, and not hold a consistent line whilst working. I know I have a weak left side, it's appeared this year due to Jingle's uneveness, and it's something I'm working on correcting, but it's difficult because sometimes I simply don't realize that I have one leg "on" more than the other.
Because of my weaker left side, while working the flag on my left cow-side leg, I would turn to head right (cow-side) and then lose JW and have to kick him up to hustle to the flag, then, as the flag went left (cow-side) I would be behind in where I was suppose to be, and would have to "ride him" more to get him where I wanted him, but that would throw my timing, causing me to over-ride him left and him not stop quick and deep enough. A horse like CD I can over-ride and he forgives my timing mishaps, a horse like JW, you have to be on, and your timing is crucial. It's a really good lesson in learning where I need to be, why I need to be there and how I can effectively get there. Timing, Timing, Timing. It's all about timing.
We started to get it together after a pretty hard ride of trying to figure eachother out. It's all so quick, and sometimes I wish I could just pour molasses over the entire experience and just slow, it, down. Even with a flag, and Coach controlling the speed, it's still much more fast paced than I ever realized before I started my foray into the sport.
Afterwards, Coach and I took a lovely outdoor stroll down the pasture he has for his cows. It was nice. I got to pick his brain a little bit about showing and what he likes to see and do when he shows, and of course - my favourite topic - breeding. I also brought up the fact that I wouldn't mind trading some helpful hours for lessons (since, they are pretty darn pricey), and he said that we could definitely work something out which is great news. After May Long we'll have to get that all sorted.
For Next Time: Like the country song... timing is everything, I need to really focus on riding slow, and calm.
Showing posts with label Flag Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flag Work. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Riding Diary - 53 - Cutting
Horse: CD Lights (obviously not THE Cd Lights haha)
Time: 1 Hr
Ride: Holy, I realized the other day I never posted about my latest cutting lesson. I barely squeezed it in between all the term papers, finals, and studying, and work that i've been doing lately. When I got there I discovered that a baby had been born recently! So Exciting. Man he is a cutie, he was bouncing around and rearing up on his poor mama. Then he would go for a little run around his stall and slide right down into a stop - pretty cool, that's what good genes get ya! However, Coach is one of those believers in "let a horse be a horse" especially when it's a baby, so we're not allowed to cuddle or coo to it, or anything, until it's quite a bit older. Sad. I just wanna cuddle the baby!!
CD was the first horse I ever worked at Coach's place, and lately i've been riding John Wayne, so I was interested in seeing how different they felt after a couple of rides. We warmed up and then I worked CD on the flag. He was keeping a decent straight line, but he was farther away from the flag than JW usually is, so I always felt like I had to get him closer and closer. When I tried this he'd usually leak away from the flag and lose focus, so it was a lot of stop, back-up, get him in the right position, hold through the line, etc. He's also a big stopper, not in the "showy" sense, but it feels like he's jarring me right out of my seat. I had to really slump and curl low to sit his stops, and I felt like I looked a little too much like quasi-modo for anyones liking haha.
He was a wickedly fun ride though, once we both got eachother sorted out we got some really good work in. My absolute favourite move that cutting horses do is when the flag (or in real life - one of these days - haha cow) moves side to side so the horse has to basically jump from side to side to catch them. I love it. It's that motion that really makes me understand why cutters are often referred to as cats (and not just because of "High Brow Cat" and his many "cat" offsprings haha).
As per usual, all of a sudden, my ride was over. I cooled him off for quite a bit and watched Coach work JW on the flag. Then we sat around talking bloodlines and buying and selling horses for awhile. He has two foals due this year, the colt above, and another, both have some pretty amazing bloodlines. I was drooling all over the idea of a WR This Cats Smart baby. One of my favourite studs for sure. Can't wait to see what the new addition looks like - if I can ever find the time and money to get out there. Sigh.
For Next Time: Clear communication, I did better controlling my legs, but because CD is a bit bigger my hand kept leaping up, I really had to focus to keep my hand down and not move it, which in turn, affected my position.
Time: 1 Hr
Ride: Holy, I realized the other day I never posted about my latest cutting lesson. I barely squeezed it in between all the term papers, finals, and studying, and work that i've been doing lately. When I got there I discovered that a baby had been born recently! So Exciting. Man he is a cutie, he was bouncing around and rearing up on his poor mama. Then he would go for a little run around his stall and slide right down into a stop - pretty cool, that's what good genes get ya! However, Coach is one of those believers in "let a horse be a horse" especially when it's a baby, so we're not allowed to cuddle or coo to it, or anything, until it's quite a bit older. Sad. I just wanna cuddle the baby!!
CD was the first horse I ever worked at Coach's place, and lately i've been riding John Wayne, so I was interested in seeing how different they felt after a couple of rides. We warmed up and then I worked CD on the flag. He was keeping a decent straight line, but he was farther away from the flag than JW usually is, so I always felt like I had to get him closer and closer. When I tried this he'd usually leak away from the flag and lose focus, so it was a lot of stop, back-up, get him in the right position, hold through the line, etc. He's also a big stopper, not in the "showy" sense, but it feels like he's jarring me right out of my seat. I had to really slump and curl low to sit his stops, and I felt like I looked a little too much like quasi-modo for anyones liking haha.
He was a wickedly fun ride though, once we both got eachother sorted out we got some really good work in. My absolute favourite move that cutting horses do is when the flag (or in real life - one of these days - haha cow) moves side to side so the horse has to basically jump from side to side to catch them. I love it. It's that motion that really makes me understand why cutters are often referred to as cats (and not just because of "High Brow Cat" and his many "cat" offsprings haha).
As per usual, all of a sudden, my ride was over. I cooled him off for quite a bit and watched Coach work JW on the flag. Then we sat around talking bloodlines and buying and selling horses for awhile. He has two foals due this year, the colt above, and another, both have some pretty amazing bloodlines. I was drooling all over the idea of a WR This Cats Smart baby. One of my favourite studs for sure. Can't wait to see what the new addition looks like - if I can ever find the time and money to get out there. Sigh.
For Next Time: Clear communication, I did better controlling my legs, but because CD is a bit bigger my hand kept leaping up, I really had to focus to keep my hand down and not move it, which in turn, affected my position.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Riding Diary: 49 - Cutting
Horse: John Wayne!
Bit: Correctional Bit
Time: 1 hr
Ride: John Wayne was feeeeeelin' good when I went out to ride on Friday. Still working on my position at the warm-up, still not feeling ... right... about it. haha. When I watch Coach he just seems so soft and relaxed, even in that cutter "slumped" position. When I try to imitate I feel like a bracey, bouncy mess. At one point I said, "I feel like my feet are bouncing all over the place and i'm a sack of potatoes!" to which he responded, "I don't see that" and rode off... okay. haha. Guess that's a good thing. I need to find some videos of cutters in the warm-up ring... except they all lope their horses, but still... gotta watch more riders.
My dry work was a bit iffy, due to a some terrible advice in the past, when I ask a horse to stop I have a tendancy to rock back and push my legs forward. I have almost 98% gotten over that ugly habit, but every once and awhile it sneaks up and flairs it's less than pretty head. Coach reminded me to be softer when I ask for stops, and gently reminded me to be softer when I ask for anything when it comes to cutting horses. Yet again, I am faced with the fact my riding translates into the fact my horse is not "soft" nor quick and responsive like cutting horses... we're gettting there!! One of these days!... and so I'm quick to assume I need to guide and help them through things like stops, rollbacks, turn-around etc. where with these horses, I definitely just need to sit there, and "shut up"... as it were.
Our first attempt at the flag was pretty gross to be honest, JW was pretty excited and it resulted it me feeling like a true sack of potatoes, he'd stop, I'd bounce halfway out the saddle. He also didn't have the bend and focus Coach likes to see, and when I'd attempt to get his head and eye more locked on the flag he'd swing his body away. When I attempted to back up, he's jut away from the flag and attempt to run off... backwards. Stuff like this doesn't usually bother my riding much, but because i'm one headed on super loose reins while working the flag I often feel a lack of control (even if I am really in control), and so I scramble to grab my reins, resulting in JW braceing and attempting to try to figure out what i'm asking, when often i'm not intending to ask anything really.
We just weren't translating very harmoniously. So, Coach got on, rode him some and then got me to get back on. He told me I was over-riding, and that for the most part I was using my legs too much and it was causing JW to be nervous and fall apart on the flag. So we practiced and discussed "cow-side" leg theory, Coach said to "ride" less, and then "ride" more when I really needed to. I practiced turn arounds and roll backs, only using my cow-side leg to assist in moving forward, and only bumping slightly through the turns.
When we got back on the flag I hunched right down and got to work, and all of a sudden we clicked again. Afterwards Coach apologized for not riding him beforehand since he was being so fresh, but I didn't mind. Now i've felt how easy JW can fall apart if i'm not coming through with my side of the deal. Cutting horses are deceptive that way, they are so well trained that you almost feel as if you can start to get lazy, but then the second you do - their sensitive sides rear their heads.
I'm starting to get a feel for when something is wrong and when something is right, slowly but surely, and riding "tougher" rides will definitely aid in that sense.
For Next Time: Ride less until you need to ride more.
Bit: Correctional Bit
Time: 1 hr
Ride: John Wayne was feeeeeelin' good when I went out to ride on Friday. Still working on my position at the warm-up, still not feeling ... right... about it. haha. When I watch Coach he just seems so soft and relaxed, even in that cutter "slumped" position. When I try to imitate I feel like a bracey, bouncy mess. At one point I said, "I feel like my feet are bouncing all over the place and i'm a sack of potatoes!" to which he responded, "I don't see that" and rode off... okay. haha. Guess that's a good thing. I need to find some videos of cutters in the warm-up ring... except they all lope their horses, but still... gotta watch more riders.
My dry work was a bit iffy, due to a some terrible advice in the past, when I ask a horse to stop I have a tendancy to rock back and push my legs forward. I have almost 98% gotten over that ugly habit, but every once and awhile it sneaks up and flairs it's less than pretty head. Coach reminded me to be softer when I ask for stops, and gently reminded me to be softer when I ask for anything when it comes to cutting horses. Yet again, I am faced with the fact my riding translates into the fact my horse is not "soft" nor quick and responsive like cutting horses... we're gettting there!! One of these days!... and so I'm quick to assume I need to guide and help them through things like stops, rollbacks, turn-around etc. where with these horses, I definitely just need to sit there, and "shut up"... as it were.
Our first attempt at the flag was pretty gross to be honest, JW was pretty excited and it resulted it me feeling like a true sack of potatoes, he'd stop, I'd bounce halfway out the saddle. He also didn't have the bend and focus Coach likes to see, and when I'd attempt to get his head and eye more locked on the flag he'd swing his body away. When I attempted to back up, he's jut away from the flag and attempt to run off... backwards. Stuff like this doesn't usually bother my riding much, but because i'm one headed on super loose reins while working the flag I often feel a lack of control (even if I am really in control), and so I scramble to grab my reins, resulting in JW braceing and attempting to try to figure out what i'm asking, when often i'm not intending to ask anything really.
We just weren't translating very harmoniously. So, Coach got on, rode him some and then got me to get back on. He told me I was over-riding, and that for the most part I was using my legs too much and it was causing JW to be nervous and fall apart on the flag. So we practiced and discussed "cow-side" leg theory, Coach said to "ride" less, and then "ride" more when I really needed to. I practiced turn arounds and roll backs, only using my cow-side leg to assist in moving forward, and only bumping slightly through the turns.
When we got back on the flag I hunched right down and got to work, and all of a sudden we clicked again. Afterwards Coach apologized for not riding him beforehand since he was being so fresh, but I didn't mind. Now i've felt how easy JW can fall apart if i'm not coming through with my side of the deal. Cutting horses are deceptive that way, they are so well trained that you almost feel as if you can start to get lazy, but then the second you do - their sensitive sides rear their heads.
I'm starting to get a feel for when something is wrong and when something is right, slowly but surely, and riding "tougher" rides will definitely aid in that sense.
For Next Time: Ride less until you need to ride more.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Riding Diary: 48 - Cutting
Time: 1 hr
Horse: John Wayne!
Ride: Was definitely itching to ride again, and he had an opening for me on Monday so I jumped at the chance!
Got to the barn and was told I could ride John Wayne again, yipeee - he has the cutest face, i'll have to snap a photo one of these days. He's also a bit of a personality - very mouthy, haha, as I was taking off his halter I had to wrestle it out of his mouth, and, it turns out, he is a bit of a pest and not too fond of other horses around him - nor were the other horses fond of him. Silly boy.
We warmed up as Coach worked a couple horses on the flag. The more lessons I get the more I can see the subtleties that go into flag work. Back in the day when I watched people work horses on the flag I couldn't really "tell" what they were doing, now I can see the bumps through turns, the back-ups, etc. Plus, Coach was riding a roan that was in for re-training, so I could really see the issues there and watch what he did to correct and try to teach the horse how to be less bracey, and to stop better. He also talked me through some of what he was doing. The horses main problem was that, when heading left up the wall, when the flag stopped he immediately tried to shoot outwards/forward - away from the flag, Coach would completely lose his left shoulder, and the horse would lose the "arc" in his body you want when your working a flag. Coach said this was because whoever had originally trained him, most likely would pull his head sharply around through turns, teaching him to brace, and run away on the stops.
He rode the horse twice on the flag, the first time the horse was exceptionally bracey and was pretty.. well... rude. haha I thought to myself, "Coach sure has a good seat". By the time the flag work was over the horse was drenched in sweat, and making the arena a foggy mess... he had only been worked on the flag for 10 minutes tops. Coach let his assistant walk him out and calm him down, she rode in just a halter, and even got off and walked him a lot until he dried - this took about a half an hour, to 45 minutes. Then Coach rode him on the flag again, he was much calmer this time, you could tell they were just working together better. The horse started to really stop and listen to what Coach was asking on a nice loose rein, it was pretty cool to see them both come together, when an hour and a half ago I had witnessed a horse definitely seeing Coach as an adversary, not a partner.
Anyways, more about "me" :)
Warm-up was good, I feel like i'm getting closer to really achieving that more relaxed position that Coach is looking for, I still need to remind myself to meld more in the saddle, and sitting such an extended trot is still a bit on the trickier side for me, but i'm figuring it out. My body doesn't hurt half as much as it has after the last two lessons so that must be a sign i'm loosening up and relaxing!
We did dry-work before flag work, working on nice stops, Coach really got me thinking about my stop. Sometimes it's hard to do nice, slow, collected stops because the horses work SO WELL off your body that the second I "sit down", I don't have a second to think before J.W. is already parking it in the dirt. We worked on backing, stopping and roll backs some more - the constant reminder was: relax. be more relaxed. relax. Thankfully, Coach is one of those guys that actually inspires relaxation. I've had trainers in the past scream "RELAX" at you and it's like, "oh, okay, let me just freak the f- out while I 'relax'"
Our flag work wasn't as harmonious and pretty as last time but that's okay because that means I get to learn how to work better, and it gets to last a bit longer :) Coach talked to me about where the flag should be, and when I should be asking J.W. to back and when he's in the right position. A couple times Coach had me bump J.W. with both my legs to help him "snap" better through the turn. Sometimes I found that J.W. was really rushing as the flag went one way. Coach said that although sometimes speed is important he would rather have his horses long trotting back and forth and not "rushing" the flag, because, when translated into actual live-cow work that can cause the cow to try to rush off and this isn't cow horse people! haha.
I had to remind myself to relax quite a few times - as did he, it's easy to get pretty amped up doing this stuff. All in all really good lesson, once again Coach told me I was doing a really good job, and I was beaming ear to ear.
For Next Time: More work on that position, reeeeeeelax, and figure out when to let the horse do his job, and when to intervene (i.e. bumping through turns, backing, slowing them down, etc.)
Horse: John Wayne!
Ride: Was definitely itching to ride again, and he had an opening for me on Monday so I jumped at the chance!
Got to the barn and was told I could ride John Wayne again, yipeee - he has the cutest face, i'll have to snap a photo one of these days. He's also a bit of a personality - very mouthy, haha, as I was taking off his halter I had to wrestle it out of his mouth, and, it turns out, he is a bit of a pest and not too fond of other horses around him - nor were the other horses fond of him. Silly boy.
We warmed up as Coach worked a couple horses on the flag. The more lessons I get the more I can see the subtleties that go into flag work. Back in the day when I watched people work horses on the flag I couldn't really "tell" what they were doing, now I can see the bumps through turns, the back-ups, etc. Plus, Coach was riding a roan that was in for re-training, so I could really see the issues there and watch what he did to correct and try to teach the horse how to be less bracey, and to stop better. He also talked me through some of what he was doing. The horses main problem was that, when heading left up the wall, when the flag stopped he immediately tried to shoot outwards/forward - away from the flag, Coach would completely lose his left shoulder, and the horse would lose the "arc" in his body you want when your working a flag. Coach said this was because whoever had originally trained him, most likely would pull his head sharply around through turns, teaching him to brace, and run away on the stops.
He rode the horse twice on the flag, the first time the horse was exceptionally bracey and was pretty.. well... rude. haha I thought to myself, "Coach sure has a good seat". By the time the flag work was over the horse was drenched in sweat, and making the arena a foggy mess... he had only been worked on the flag for 10 minutes tops. Coach let his assistant walk him out and calm him down, she rode in just a halter, and even got off and walked him a lot until he dried - this took about a half an hour, to 45 minutes. Then Coach rode him on the flag again, he was much calmer this time, you could tell they were just working together better. The horse started to really stop and listen to what Coach was asking on a nice loose rein, it was pretty cool to see them both come together, when an hour and a half ago I had witnessed a horse definitely seeing Coach as an adversary, not a partner.
Anyways, more about "me" :)
Warm-up was good, I feel like i'm getting closer to really achieving that more relaxed position that Coach is looking for, I still need to remind myself to meld more in the saddle, and sitting such an extended trot is still a bit on the trickier side for me, but i'm figuring it out. My body doesn't hurt half as much as it has after the last two lessons so that must be a sign i'm loosening up and relaxing!
We did dry-work before flag work, working on nice stops, Coach really got me thinking about my stop. Sometimes it's hard to do nice, slow, collected stops because the horses work SO WELL off your body that the second I "sit down", I don't have a second to think before J.W. is already parking it in the dirt. We worked on backing, stopping and roll backs some more - the constant reminder was: relax. be more relaxed. relax. Thankfully, Coach is one of those guys that actually inspires relaxation. I've had trainers in the past scream "RELAX" at you and it's like, "oh, okay, let me just freak the f- out while I 'relax'"
Our flag work wasn't as harmonious and pretty as last time but that's okay because that means I get to learn how to work better, and it gets to last a bit longer :) Coach talked to me about where the flag should be, and when I should be asking J.W. to back and when he's in the right position. A couple times Coach had me bump J.W. with both my legs to help him "snap" better through the turn. Sometimes I found that J.W. was really rushing as the flag went one way. Coach said that although sometimes speed is important he would rather have his horses long trotting back and forth and not "rushing" the flag, because, when translated into actual live-cow work that can cause the cow to try to rush off and this isn't cow horse people! haha.
I had to remind myself to relax quite a few times - as did he, it's easy to get pretty amped up doing this stuff. All in all really good lesson, once again Coach told me I was doing a really good job, and I was beaming ear to ear.
For Next Time: More work on that position, reeeeeeelax, and figure out when to let the horse do his job, and when to intervene (i.e. bumping through turns, backing, slowing them down, etc.)
Monday, March 4, 2013
Riding Diary: 47 - Cutting
Time: 2 hr
Horse: John Wayne
Ride: Finally I got another lesson with the cutting horse trainer, who for the purpose of this blog, I call Coach. I forgot how much I love riding with than man haha, he is so nice, encouraging and soft spoken - I truly appreciate his training style with both horses and humans :)
When I got to the arena, he asked me if I knew "John Wayne"... Uhm, I kind of stammered, "the cowboy?". He laughed at me, the horse I was going to ride is named John Wayne. Did you guys know I dislike human names for horses? This horse has two first human names as it's name! C'mon universe!
We began to warm-up, I fell into the rhythm of sitting an extended trot a little bit better than last time but I still really need to work on relaxing and not being so rigid. I felt like I was doing better at keeping my hand on J.W.'s neck and only using my reins when I really needed to. I also made my stirrups shorter than I usually do, this way my stirrups weren't feeling jostled around as a sat such a big trot.
Coach reminded me on how he wants me to sit during these warm ups - nice and relaxed, a bit of a curve in the back, legs loose, etc. He suggested that I even look "down", as in tuck my chin, and perhaps that will help get a more curve, relaxed back. He asked me to bump J.W. to get him to extend even more and really work and then we did a bit of dry work.
The dry work consisted mostly of stops and rollbacks, he asked me to really sit down when I asked for a "woah", and only draw up my hand if I really needed to. Coach said that with his cutting horses he wants everything done slow and fluidly, so if I ask for a turn my hand should come out to the side slowly and fluidly so that they aren't jarred into a turn - same with a woah, and a back-up, everything should be calm and relaxed so that the horse isn't knocked into doing something right away. I think that's a really good foundation for horses to be started and trained with - slow, calm, steady, makes for a way less brace-y horse. I'm dealing with so many bracing problems with Jingle that I could for sure feel how fluid and easy J.W. was to ride.
From the dry work we moved onto flag work. Coach had me ride J.W. up to the flag really slow and calculated, almost a step for every deep breathe I took. Then I stopped square and we began to work the flag. It felt wicked, J.W. was where I wanted him to be every.single.time, it was honestly amazing. The only thing I really had to "do" was keep him a little straighter, and not let him drift from the flag a few times, so I kept my left leg on him as he was chasing the flag on his right side. A couple times I had to bump to assist him through a turn, but honestly, I didn't do much.
Coach told me I had done a really amazing job. He said that he has trained J.W. from a baby and has shown him pretty limited, but will be amping up his showing this year. He said that I had ridden him really well and that we both were "hooked onto eachother". Finally he finished by saying he was really impressed with my riding, and that my position on the flag was really natural, and that we looked like I was about to show J.W. tomorrow. Pretty awesome praise. His only "criticism" was that he wished I could sit the warmup like a sit during flag-work haha. I think the flag work clicks in my mind as a different kind of riding, and so I can get down and into that cutting position, where as when I'm warming up - walking, trotting, etc, my mind drifts back into "pleasure riding", and my back goes right up and back, shoulders back, heels way down, etc. etc. He wants me to be way more fluid, natural and day I say it "slumped" haha ;)
As per usual, our flag work was done way faster than I had wanted it to be, and I cooled J.W. out. Then I watched him work a couple clients horses, and his stud. Then he let me cool down his stud - a dual rey roan that is one hunk of handsome, let me tell ya. Also, he is a real sweetie.
It was awesome. awesome. awesome.
For Next Time: Keep working on that relaxed, fluid, "different" cutting position during the warm up.
Horse: John Wayne
Ride: Finally I got another lesson with the cutting horse trainer, who for the purpose of this blog, I call Coach. I forgot how much I love riding with than man haha, he is so nice, encouraging and soft spoken - I truly appreciate his training style with both horses and humans :)
When I got to the arena, he asked me if I knew "John Wayne"... Uhm, I kind of stammered, "the cowboy?". He laughed at me, the horse I was going to ride is named John Wayne. Did you guys know I dislike human names for horses? This horse has two first human names as it's name! C'mon universe!
We began to warm-up, I fell into the rhythm of sitting an extended trot a little bit better than last time but I still really need to work on relaxing and not being so rigid. I felt like I was doing better at keeping my hand on J.W.'s neck and only using my reins when I really needed to. I also made my stirrups shorter than I usually do, this way my stirrups weren't feeling jostled around as a sat such a big trot.
Coach reminded me on how he wants me to sit during these warm ups - nice and relaxed, a bit of a curve in the back, legs loose, etc. He suggested that I even look "down", as in tuck my chin, and perhaps that will help get a more curve, relaxed back. He asked me to bump J.W. to get him to extend even more and really work and then we did a bit of dry work.
The dry work consisted mostly of stops and rollbacks, he asked me to really sit down when I asked for a "woah", and only draw up my hand if I really needed to. Coach said that with his cutting horses he wants everything done slow and fluidly, so if I ask for a turn my hand should come out to the side slowly and fluidly so that they aren't jarred into a turn - same with a woah, and a back-up, everything should be calm and relaxed so that the horse isn't knocked into doing something right away. I think that's a really good foundation for horses to be started and trained with - slow, calm, steady, makes for a way less brace-y horse. I'm dealing with so many bracing problems with Jingle that I could for sure feel how fluid and easy J.W. was to ride.
From the dry work we moved onto flag work. Coach had me ride J.W. up to the flag really slow and calculated, almost a step for every deep breathe I took. Then I stopped square and we began to work the flag. It felt wicked, J.W. was where I wanted him to be every.single.time, it was honestly amazing. The only thing I really had to "do" was keep him a little straighter, and not let him drift from the flag a few times, so I kept my left leg on him as he was chasing the flag on his right side. A couple times I had to bump to assist him through a turn, but honestly, I didn't do much.
Coach told me I had done a really amazing job. He said that he has trained J.W. from a baby and has shown him pretty limited, but will be amping up his showing this year. He said that I had ridden him really well and that we both were "hooked onto eachother". Finally he finished by saying he was really impressed with my riding, and that my position on the flag was really natural, and that we looked like I was about to show J.W. tomorrow. Pretty awesome praise. His only "criticism" was that he wished I could sit the warmup like a sit during flag-work haha. I think the flag work clicks in my mind as a different kind of riding, and so I can get down and into that cutting position, where as when I'm warming up - walking, trotting, etc, my mind drifts back into "pleasure riding", and my back goes right up and back, shoulders back, heels way down, etc. etc. He wants me to be way more fluid, natural and day I say it "slumped" haha ;)
As per usual, our flag work was done way faster than I had wanted it to be, and I cooled J.W. out. Then I watched him work a couple clients horses, and his stud. Then he let me cool down his stud - a dual rey roan that is one hunk of handsome, let me tell ya. Also, he is a real sweetie.
It was awesome. awesome. awesome.
For Next Time: Keep working on that relaxed, fluid, "different" cutting position during the warm up.
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