Friday, July 16, 2010

SJ Lesson 17.07.010

Great lesson with Wendy.

Did quite a bit of work initially on getting him to stretch down and out, and then on raising his poll, before moving onto the canter pole exercises....PUFF PUFF PUFF - geeze, I sound like an old, unfit, 2 packet a dayer! Not to mention that I also felt like I'd been in a sauna for several hours.

Sampson went very well, and apart from me learning to control his shoulder, and turn using my legs, all was good.

Moved onto a trot cross to oxer with the object being to use my legs, rather then my upper body, particularly when he feels a little flat. I need to build up the energy (not the speed) on the approach and keep him sharp. He can tend to fall asleep a little if allowed to - yeah, sounds a bit strange when my problems with him stem from skedaddles and reactivity.

He can actually be quite hard work (although a lovely lovely ride), and often not particularly sensitive. But when the mood takes him, he becomes reactive to his surroundings (or any excuse really)...so it becomes a feeding balancing act so that he retains sufficient focus to enable him to be able to do his job. (As well as me learning not to react too, and just correct and ride)

We then moved onto jumping a course, which he did well. Up with a few of the jumps and we finished off with a lovely round...I did lose his shoulder on one turn, but it was all good. I just need to be more demanding with him. Wendy tells me that because he is so big and strong, she finds her half halts are ten times stronger than with any other horse. And yet when he is soft, he can be very soft.....all part of his learning curve I guess.

So, very pleased with how both he and I went today.

:)

Monday, July 12, 2010

Kaurilands 11.07.2010


Despite being a "little inattentive" and reactive warming up (resulting in a few skedaddles), Wendy rode Sampson beautifully and managed to hold his attention through both his tests.

1.4
68.8% for 1st place

4.2
68.75% for 1st place

So the wee boy gained his first red rosettes.