Dementia in one so Young

Yes, not only is Willie feeling the effects of the grass, but Sampson was literally unrideable on Saturday (well unrideable for a nanna that is; no doubt those younger and braver would have been fine).

Put his gear on, and led him around so he could watch others jumping and riding. He was interested, but not too worried it seemed.

Then out of the blue, and for no reason I could determine, he became Mr Leapy Passagie Pony!

Would snort, leap, tail up in the air and start grunting and passaging and leaping. Some ground work to get his attention back on me, then away he would go again. This carried on for some time, and then I (stupidly) thought I would get on him.

Clambered on at the mounting block, took a few walk steps and away he went again. I firmly attached myself with the 'oh shit' strap and pulled him round. But rather than stopping him quickly he continued to circle. Finally he stopped, and we tried again....several walk steps later we were again reeling round in ever decreasing circles (he must be amazingly well balanced).

I am afraid that all I achieved was that I got so dizzy I was wobbly and whoozy. Time to get off.

However, after being dosed up on Saturday night, I rode him in the carpark at WEC on the sunday, among floats and trucks, and apart from one (normal) little spook, he was absolutely fine, and doing a lovely trot also.

Hmmmm; obviously Winter grass can also have an evil effect.
It will be interesting to see if continued supplementation will result in him continuing to be rideable.
Time will no doubt tell!

Kaurilands Dressage: 07.06.09 Day two

Beautiful beautiful weather!

Sun shining and not a cloud in the sky.

He was very relaxed, and apart from a little bit of tension warmed up happily, although we did keep him away from the main melee of warmer uppers. I also did predominantly walk work, with a little bit of trot.

He was a very good boy in both tests, although very hard work at the canter given that he is not at all light off my inside leg, and does find canter work a little difficult at this stage. But apart from one wee skedaddle (then back to good behaviour) in his second test, I was very pleased with him.

I feel that I need to start really riding him in his tests now, rather than sitting tentatively. However, definite progress, and he was my no means last in either test.

Prelim 1.4

6 x 5 nice steady trot, swung quarters at A, could show more imp,

9 x 6 a little off line after X but tracked up, fair into trot, fair loop, a little overbent

4 x 7 trot loop, both canters (‘smooth trans’)and trans to med walk

145 = 58% (but lost 6 marks for course errors!)

Prelim 1.6 ( low marks across whole class)

5 x 4 shld be long rein (walk) neck still restricted, ½ O too big (skedaddle from dog)

9 x 5 much better trot (lengthn)

1 x 6 L canter

94 = 47% (which isn’t bad for that judge!)

It's Skedaddle time!

This week's lesson, he started off much more 'heightened', and very soon showed the instructor his skedaddle mode. I did cope with the first one, then the second wasnt toooo bad, but the leap in the air and skedaddle was the one that got me!

Time to get off and see how it should be dealt with.

Nice to see however, that the skedaddles arent actually a reaction to anything I am doing, but just where he is at in that moment.

Was very good for me to see how they are dealt with, and then you just keep riding. He was actually very naughty.

Nice to see that with a skilled rider, capable of riding through the 'moments', he can look quite impressive at times. It's always great to see a good rider on one's horse!

After some work by the instructor getting his attention on her, and working through, it was my turn again, so I could feel what I should be aiming at. Then some work on serpentines, and shoulder ins, concentrating on keeping a VERY light contact with him supple and flexible, and working through from inside leg to outside rein.

Rode him again today (lesson yesterday) and yes we had a couple of skedaddle moments but I was very pleased to simply ride through them and just carry on with whatever I had been doing beforehand.

There is hope for me yet!