What a great horsing day on Sunday. It was even a bit warm which was a bonus, and no RAIN !
We had a play day first. It was to start at 11am, and I was all organized and had time for a bit of a groom before we even left home. I found that it meant that Gypsy was more with me and less herd bound before we even left home. I have been doing a bit of being late for the show when I do some floating with her. So I will make a mental note of that one for future. When we got to the FWRC I was 15 mins early and there before anyone else. Gypsy was a bit keen to get out of the float, so I took the time I needed, and it was only 10 mins or so, and we just played with in and out till she was happy to "be" in the float. I must say it set the day up well !
..../
On the 22', we started with checking out our extreme friendly game, then focused on yo-yo between the gate. Gypsy was doing her level best to be crooked as she knew what was coming, but we are getting a good language on that one and it wasn't very long before she was a model citizen. Then fig 8, just at the walk, although Gypsy did offer a few trots in there.
Then the three of us played soccer with the Swiss ball where we went up to the ball but before we could kick it we had to play yo-yo away from the ball with our horses in zone 1, and then we could go forward to kick it. We had a good few goes with that until all us old ladies got a bit knackered. It was good to see Gypsy seeing a purpose for the game and putting some effort into it.
I then did some 45' circling, and Gypsy was great. Then we went out of the arena for a play then & I did yo-yo up a slippery hill & Gypsy was a really good girl. Janette arrived then with Ace and joined in with us there and we gradually went back into the arena again.
At about 12.30 I got changed and got lunch, and Tori turned up early. So we started our lesson about 1.15. Online Janette asked for help with being more refined, and I asked for help with ways of getting Gypsy trotting on the fig 8. Ridden I wanted to get some help with not doing the "giddy up a little bit", and getting a true freestyle rein & Janette just wanted some strategies on how to deal with Ace when he was up & active, as he was (he is usually really hard to get going being a LBI. He is a retired racehorse, as he just didn't make it on the track).
To get started on our online, Tori asked me a really obvious thing which I just hadn't made the connection with, and that was how was Gypsy's change of direction on line, with regard to helping us getting a steady trot with our fig 8. It was a big BFO - duh ! Of course get it going there and it will cross over to the fig 8. I had already noticed how the fig 8 had helped the change of direction - just not back the other way. So we started on the 22' and on the circling, and I asked Gypsy for a canter, and I have accepting what I get there, and Tori made a suggestion with it. Looking back I have let it go on too long, because as soon as I asked for more, Gypsy had no real issue with giving it. Mind you with Tori's help, I was asking the question the right way too. Tori suggested that I be more definite in my phases whenever she broke gait back down to the trot. As in put a definite feel on the line, and exaggerate the lead, lift, swing and actually follow thru to the touch it, if necessary every time she broke gait. It didn't take long till she got it and was happily cantering around for a number of circuits, instead of breaking gait every time and mostly putting herself back into the canter. Something else that Tori suggested that I do, was to get her to disengage from the canter. That really gelled with her, have the reward directly from the canter. Neat stuff./...
After I took on board all of that & internalized it:
1. "Feel of: Gypsy before asking her to change - get that what happens before what happens happens going from the "feel of"
2. Match her energy and be more snappy (helped by the maintain gate at the canter that we had just been working on) so that I was being the most effective I could be without any need to micromanage or make her wrong for my shortcomings
3. Make sure that I go straight back and had a focus of where it was to happen by (a bit like having that line that they don't cross on the squeeze game)
4. If it wasn't happening by the line of my focus, get busy with yo-yo down the line to get her attention and give me 2 eyes so she can do the change
5. Go straight back to my centre as soon as the change occurs, and that in itself has an energy to it and helps to maintain the gait in the change of direction
we did some more changes of direction. I went to the good side first so I could set it up for success for both of us, and have a win and have my muscle memory feel what I was going for and transfer that to our testing side. Tori was watching when we did our good side and thought it was our tricky side. I explained my thinking of doing the good side first for the above reasons, and it really paid off because when we did the tricky side, she went really well, and it almost looked like the good side. I finished on that good note, and stopped for Gypsy to do a wee lick and chew before we saddled up.
Really exciting stuff getting into the grey matter !
Something that Tori really helped me with was how I was holding the rein. I had asked for help with my "giddy up a little bit" tendency when riding, "ask and you shall receive" ! She asked if I had heard what Pat calls the way I was holding the rein. I was holding it up slightly off Gypsy's neck so that it wasn't true freestyle, as in my hand down on her neck and her being free from contact, nor was it real contact or any effective form of communication. Of course I wanted to know, and the answer was Pat calls it the "BS rein". Very humbling, because it was exactly that - BS. It was in no mans land, of not quite trusting Gypsy to let her be truly freestyle, and not trusting myself enough, thinking that I didn't know what to do to be able to zig when Gypsy zigs, and zag when Gypsy zags, and not trusting myself enough that I could shut her down should she go too fast that I become uncomfortable./...
And of course when I did get true neutral (more of the time that is - I had to keep vigilant to keep it that way) all of a sudden I noticed a whole lot of changes for the better. For starters Gypsy was needing virtually no corrections to be able to keep to the the ride the rail pattern. I had been doing about 10-12 corrections per time around the arena and that reduced to about 2-3 corrections - the best ever ! It was like all of a sudden she knew the pattern, when in reality she knew the pattern all along, but I was continually interfering with her and taking her off the pattern - duh ! Then her transitions got snappier. Partly that could be attributed to the work we did on line, but 9 tenths of it was that she wasn't being interfered with all the time. Sigh. No giddy up a little bit, just giddy up. Also when I did lift the rein it meant something because there was a difference between the down and neutral position, and the lift, as in prepare for a change.
I have always admired the way Pat is so consistent with that on every DVD you see him in, he is in true neutral when riding, and eventually even the slightest lift or change means get ready for something. So for, I think, the first time ever, I had an harmonic of that, and it felt soooo good !
Basically that was the end of our lesson as time was up, but Janette and I kept on riding for another half hour or so because it felt like we were just getting going. Tori gave Janette permission to remind me if my BS rein crept back in. Before Tori left we had a trot too, as Tori was interested in seeing us trot. Gypsy was pretty stable and rhythmic, and came back to the walk with very little effort. She offered a few canters and I accepted them till they ran out, not making her wrong for offering them. Gypsy is just so comfortable to ride, smooth and easy to sit to. Janette and I trotted and walked and halted quite a bit more while riding the rail. I got to a place where I felt that Gypsy was going consistently well, and left riding the rail then. We then went on to have a bit of a play with fig 8 ridden, and that was really good too. I then purposefully chose to stand still and do nothing for a while before hopping off. Janette did a bit more, and then we finished up.
What a great session !
And still no rain, although it had cooled down by then.
Then off home with the warm fuzzies all the way thru me, and by the way that Gypsy is looking at me and relating to me since then, she has the warm fuzzies too.
Wendy Greavers
No comments:
Post a Comment