It's been an exciting week, with the arrival last week of Bear (short for Bärenjäger) the buckskin German Warmblood x out of Jettie's mare Dee. Hershey, a 4 y.o. Friesian gelding sent to me for saddle starting, is moving along in leaps and bounds now--he has been getting ridden while "attached" to the lunge line at the walk and trot for confidence in open spaces, and came off the "leash" this week to work independently. We still put it on for his first nighttime work in the dressage ring (scary shadows!!) and while he was "up" he was overall very well behaved. I rode him yesterday for the first time on his own (no leash) in the dressage ring and he was EXCELLENT!!!! He REALLY is beginning to understand the concept of reaching for the bit and working into the bridle freely. He's starting to develop bigger, more swinging gaits and use his hindquarters a little more. He's still downhill for now, but hey, he's a kid that's only been under saddle independently about 15 times!! Steering and trotting was, well, interesting---I always get "unexpected steering results" at this stage. Overall, though, he was EXCELLENT in the dressage ring. Really perfect. Couldn't ask for anything more in this stage in training (ok, maybe some bravery, LOL!). Some pictures of him are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/LegacyStables/Hershey
Scooby ROCKED this past week in training! Alex (who is much smaller and lighter than me, let alone jumps extremely well!) has been working with me in training Scooby for jumping. I set up a line for him to learn striding-- a x rail bounce to a 1-stride vertical to a 2 stride vertical to a 4 stride oxer. I also set up some very large obstacles for him to jump to see how his bascule would change over the larger and wider fences. He LOVED it, perked his ears up and jumped extremely well--naturally balanced, relaxed, and with lots of natural talent. Sure, he had some refusals and some miscommunication, but overall he was a willing and excellent pony jumping some very impressive heights and widths!!!!
Go here to check it out: (light was fading, it was late.....so the pics are quite blurry!)
http://picasaweb.google.com/LegacyStables/ScoobyJumpTraining
Uma has been getting light work during her quarantine these past couple weeks with Devinne and I. She has AMAZING gaits--relaxed, extension and engaged and slow relaxed canter on the lunge. Really remarkable and athletic gaits for a Lusitano. To get her used to the environment and to get to know her, Devinne and I have worked her together also "on a leash" (lunge line) while in the dressage ring. She did wonderful on Friday, working relaxed and in frame, reaching in her strides and really coming together once she was warmed up. She had a little anxiety about the woods behind the ring (many horses do) and scooted and boogied a little, but otherwise worked very well. This week we'll try "leash-less!" and see how she does independently.
I've been working with a Swedish Warmblood mare named Gretta--she's been teaching me, actually, and we're really starting to come together. My last ride on her last week was the most "together" we've been yet. We worked on simple transitions, simple lateral work, and some canter pirouhette work. While its fun to work her in piaffe/passage and tempis, right now we just need to work out the my seat in her right lead canter (she loves to flip over to the left) and working on her "sitting" more on the left hind, esp in lateral work. She's older, so I'm doing mostly conditioning work when I ride her now, though some days I just have fun and dance with her. She loves to passage and loves to half pass in the passage, so I harness it from time to time to work on my timing for signalling passage steps.
I worked with Gene last night in the Fhoenix saddle http://www.enlightenedequitation.com/public/saddles_fhoenix.html with the suberpanel and he LOVED it. I have to say, so do I! It's a great, comfortable saddle I could sit in all day long, can ride in a more classical seat and really sit back and swing to absorb the bigger gaits comfortably. More importantly, Gene really rounded his back up to the saddle and worked in frame for me with no problems--something that, on a normal basis, is hard to get unless he's really warmed up (hey, he's an old man....he's allowed to creak!). It easily fit a 10 month pregnant mare (Ariana!) and a high withered TB X one after the other. The suberpanel fills in any muscle wastage at the wither and forms itself across the horse's back to a custom, no-pressure-point-having fit. The seat to the Fhoenix also forms itself to YOU as it heats up. Talk about NEAT!!! Sure, I love my Kieffers, but this will become a valuable part of my training equipment as well.
Rambler got "bike" training this past week--should have seen me wheeling around the barn on a mountain bike in breeches! People kept asking me if I gave up horses :-) He also did tarps, pedestals, jumps in hand etc. Great day for desensitizing.
Stay tuned for next week! I figure it's best for me to do weekly updates--I can keep up with that! LOL!
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