squeeze cluck stick

My lesson ended up being a solo one because of cancellations during the holidays. I rode Tank, who would love to go as slowly as possible if I let him. I did let him, as it turns out, until D told me to use the stick with a little more force. The truth is, I know I'm supposed to let him have it if he isn't responding, but he isn't my horse and I always feel with the lesson horses that I should get permission first. As silly as it sounds, politeness is a tough habit to break.

There's always something that is left unsolved by the end of my lessons, and that day it was keeping Tank from breaking the canter while I was in half-seat position. When I'm sitting the canter, I can keep my leg on him to make sure he keeps going. My leg is not as secure in the half seat. Something I will have to think about. Any suggestions would be helpful!

Straight lines are hard

This past lesson we worked on going down the center line and just off the rail perfectly straight. It was pretty hard, especially when the pony just wants to go where he thinks he's supposed to go - on the rail. D was pretty tough on us and even caught me posting on the wrong diagonal for one second transitioning down from the canter. As she pointed out, at my level, that shouldn't happen. Fair enough! Our lessons are definitely progressing towards jumping, with the center line work supposed to prepare us for lines towards jumps...down the center line. I guess that's pretty obvious, but sometimes I feel like I'll never get to do jumping lessons because a couple people in my group lesson are a little behind me on some things. Still, if D can catch me doing something wrong, then there's still work to be done.

The day before, I got to practice ride Calvin while the high school team was practicing around me. It was tons of fun to watch. They kept mentioning that I could "Jumping right in and use a jump if I wanted." That would have been soooo awkward. I'm sure they think I can pop over jumps like it's no big deal, but that is not the case. I have been wondering if I should get a lesson with Calvin's trainer, as sometimes she does lessons during the week and I will be working from home these next couple of weeks. I feel like I'm progressing much faster with the added practice ride. I have become more confident riding with other people in the ring and don't feel like cantering by myself is so scary. Some things I need to work on:

- Not letting horse/pony break the canter when they feel like they can get away with it
- Not letting Calvin fall in and trot like a mad man instead of immediately going into the canter
- Smoothing out downward transition so I'm not bouncing around to prevent any posting on the incorrect diagnol

Wait...'leg on' actually works?!

I had a lesson with what appeared to be 14 year old twins on Sunday and it was pretty fun. They were around my ability in a lot of ways. I was on Chance and you've heard me complain before that he falls in on the right rein. Well, not any more, folks! I finally keep my leg in the correct spot to funnel him along that rail like he's supposed to. So that's settled.

Okay, new problem. As we got further into the lesson (9am, Sunday) his energy started to increase (he's young and happy) to the point where trying to keep him at the walk required a LOT of half halts. We ended up going bareback at the end so that I could learn to keep my butt in the saddle and relax when he does that and, low and behold, he was walking around just fine. It's kind of nice to be faced with a problem and immediately know the solution you need to work towards (relaxed seat), so hopefully I can ride him again this week and correct that.

Tomorrow I'm going to ride Calvin and then lesson again on Sunday. We are going to see a show with our families on Sunday and I didn't have much on Saturday so I'm actually spreading out my two barns over two days. What a luxury! I really love the flexibility I have to ride Calvin. It's such an unusual set up that I wont be taking for granted.

Practice ride on Calvin - getting to normal

Calvin and I bonded a little on Sunday during my practice ride. I didn't have a lesson that day because the lesson barn was hosting a show. So I spent a good amount of time on Calvin. He is really awesome. I had a feeling he would be awesome, but he's learning and I'm learning so I was going on instinct. In the past month, he has come so far. He trips less, he's in better shape, he has this awesome walk to canter transition that's super smooth. I got him to trot to canter one way and had to struggle a bit to get it the other way, but that's not unique to him. The trainer said she was really happy with how things were progressing with him. He got tired near the end and tried to head over to the gate, but I eventually convinced him not to by pre-empting the behavior and than rewarding him. I wanted to go over a foot-high cavaletti, but no one was watching me at the time so I figured I'd play it safe. We went over some ground poles without a problem.

I'm really hoping the weather is reasonable this winter so that I can keep up these practice rides. Last year was crazy, but you never know with New England (and el nino)!