New tricks

Today we worked on canter transitions and bending again. Deuce did good but he was a bit lazy. Maybe his muscles were a little too loose after the massage yesterday. He got the best transitions ever since his injury so that's good news. I did ask him to come more on the bit though and he tried to get away by curling up. I had to keep pushing him forward so that he wouldn't be behind the bit. Hopefully he learned that I won't hold him up and he really does need to carry himself more.
I'm going to just do some east cavaletti and crossrails tommorow - he has worked pretty hard the past few days.

Alright...

Had an okay ride today. We practiced bending into the corners. Deuce did pretty well but he was so wired today due to the cooler weather and not being ridden yesterday. He's getting much better about going into the bridle, but he's not so good about it when he's fresh and excited. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend of riding.

After we rode, deuce got a massage! He's so spoiled.

Is bending so hard?

Today Deuce and I worked on bending into the corners and on circles. I could definately see how much he had to use his body for bending in the corners so I understand that it's difficult at first. By the end he got much better and did not did as strong aids to stay bent in the corners. I also asked him to go more on the bit and carry himself. He was very obedient. I didn't do this for a long period of time, though, because i didn't want him to lose his impulsion. I just kept alternating between a little longer frame and a more collected one. I'm happy with our progress today, and I'm so excited for the show coming up! We'll probably just do training level 3 and 4, but it'll be so fun to get Deuce out and show him off. :)

Below is a video of our warm up. W/t/c in both directions. He's not "in a frame" but he is using his back and is very engaged and forward. It's not the greatest, but enjoy!

I also noticed from this video that my left arm is always bent more than my right. I'm not sure why this is, because Deuce is pretty light in both reins. I'll have to make a conscious effort to fix it.

Licking honey off my ball!

The long and short of it...

Today we had a quick ride, but it was amazing! After we warm up, I've started asking Deuce to use his hind end and carry himself a little more. Today I did this by lengthening and shortening his stride at the trot. We lengthen on the long side, and shorten on the short side. He is pretty good at this now because he ends up taking about 14 strides on the short side and only about 16 strides on the long side. He only broke into the canter one time and I think it was my fault for not keeping the rythmn with my seat.

The last thing we did was we jumped over a little crossrail again. :) Last time we jumped he was clumsily making it over the jump. Today he was very forward-going and jumped beautifully! I could tell he had much more scope because I was having trouble staying in jumping position. I'm not a jumper, but Deuce is. :)

I also asked J to take a video of us riding, but the file was too big to email. I will hopefully have a video up here as soon as we get the file off of the camera phone. Happy riding!

Back to work...

Deuce had Monday off and got do run free in the paddock. I had every intention of giving him the day off on Tuesday as well, but some others from the barn suggested taking horses out near the trails and I couldn't resist. We did some light riding in the field behind the barn and walked out near the trails for the first time. Deuce was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but I'm not sure if it was the new surroundings or the huge amount of mosquitos that were everywhere. I'm looking forward to going to a show in November where we can hack out in a nicer field with less bugs and more open spaces.

Today we did lots of circle and figure eights in the arena. One reason is that Deuce took a long while to relax, but second because there was a mess of lessons going on in the arena. After he finally relaxed, we worked on canter transitions from the trot. He goes beautifully to the left, but the right is still difficult for him. There was no kicking out at all today though, just a little reluctance to strike off into the right lead. I may also sit a little crooked going that direction too....which doesn't help. Over all a good ride though, no complaints. He's still has a lot to learn...which makes it fun. :)

I'm wondering if he was a little high strung today because of the protein supplements I gave him yesterday. I do want him to bulk up and gain more muscle, but I'm not sure yet if I want to use the protein supplement regularly.

Time for a break

I just rode Deuce in the arena today. He didn't relax as much as I would like today, but he did do some nice leg yields. I'm realizing that I should keep him on his toes by doing circles, leg yields or loops periodically. This really helps keep him attentive. I also worked on canter transitions to get him more responsive to the leg. He was great going to left, but to the right he had a little trouble engaging his hind end. He kicked out a little when I asked him to canter to the right but the canter itself was pretty relaxed. Maybe his back is a little sore after being ridden all week?

Deuce will get Monday and Tuesday off and then light riding on Wednesday. Next week we'll work on canter transition again, then maybe some jumping work?