Cantering over cavaletti and canter to trot transitions

Cantering over a ground pole and foot-high cavaletti is old news now, guys. You can pretty much expect me at the Olympics tomorrow.

JOKES ON JOKES. The Olympics aren't happening tomorrow.

Went to a group lesson Wednesday and we worked up to cantering foot-high cavaletti. I think I used to call that a jump, it doesn't even feel like a jump to me anymore. Maybe because I'm finally in the correct position so it just feels like gliding. Also, I was riding this awesome pony that would do anything, with or without my help, perfectly.

On Sunday I had a semi-private with someone I was a little more advanced than (those exist?!). We started with no stirrups and I really need to get better at posting trot without stirrups, I'm barely coming out of the saddle at all before losing my position.

We did transitions and Danielle was overly complimentary on my canter to trot. I still have to work on keeping my elbows at my sides and also figuring out how to stay out of people's way when sharing a ring. I had to canter past a couple people who were backing a horse for the first time, and I was on Chance, and we were going the direction he likes to fall in on. It's always when I know it's a really bad idea to fall in that I get my focus together and stay on the rail.

I'd like to know if I'm sitting back for the canter more now than I was in that little video of me. And I'm trying not to have my leg swung so back for the canter. I didn't realize how obvious it was! I'd rather not see a video of myself posting trot without stirrups. I know that's terrible without seeing it.

WTC Transitions

Guess what was easier than explaining what my lesson consisted of today? THIS FABULOUS PROFESSIONAL-GRADE DIAGRAM. I worked on transitions on Chance. I did a figure eight cutting across the ring between ground poles.  That little white circle at E represents D, who was standing there to make sure I got as close to her as possible without cutting the corner. It was hard to do! I need to work on getting Chance straight during the walk portion and then bending him correctly into the direction we are going to canter. I also had my stirrups a little shorter than usual and it caused me to put too much weight in them when cantering, which is no excuse, and in fact prompted us to focus on me sitting back and wrapping my legs around the horse better. This confused me because I had been taught to avoid letting Chance fall in by partially putting weight into my outside stirrup. That's probably cheating. I'm gathering the more 'correct' way to do it would be to push him out with my inside leg and adjust the weight in my seat. Bet let me know if you hear differently.

I didn't get to ride Calvin today because I had to some family obligations :(

Cantering a crossrail

So I have a confession to make. My instructor at my lesson barn might not exactly know about my rides at my second barn.

Oopsie.

The truth is, they didn't give me an option to ride outside of lessons unless I wanted to pay $900 a month (you saw that right), so I very discreetly go down the street to pay $40 to ride to my heart's content, whenever I want to. I'm not really sorry. I just figured she'd think it was kind of odd. Someday, I will tell her.

But I don't really feel guilty because it's been working out amazingly.

At my lesson, now on Sunday mornings, I got one-on-one attention for a half-hour. We worked on circling to warm up Chewie (yay, back on Chewie!) and for me to focus on bending at every turn. We then worked on counting strides. Yes, I can count each separate stride. But then, if she asked me to do exactly 7 strides, it was hard for me to transition to a trot at exactly 7. Something to work on. I also do a bad job of getting my seat firmly back in the saddle to transition down. D calls it water skiing, when your weight is in your stirrups and you're holding on to the reins to slow down. When she puts it that way, I feel bad about it. I don't want to just pull on the reins!

After my lesson I got to do a little mini trail ride around the paddocks on Chewie and then put him away. I had an hour in-between to eat a breakfast sandwich (one of my favorite foods) and then I showed up at the second barn to ride in the outside ring. The trainer who belongs to Calvin actually stayed and watched me ride, I think just for safety reasons. It's always kind of a sweet deal when that happens because trainers can't help but put in an idea or two. She said she liked how I ride Calvin "very forward" since mostly he gets beginner-beginners who just kind of kick and pull (after my pulling from canter to trot on Chewie, that made me feel better). I had some trouble getting Calvin to canter tracking right, but left was no problem. I trotted over a cross rail and the trainer pointed out that Calvin needed to be a little more forward or he doesn't do a good job over fences, so why don't I canter it?

Whelp, never done that before, but sure, why not.

We cantered tracking left, turned down the centerline and popped over the cross rail. I'm sure the equitation was terrible, and Calvin and I just kind of settled down to a trot right after because I was disorganized. But we made it over!

After that, I promptly called it a day and cooled Calvin down. It really takes energy out of you to try new things!

The two-barn tango

This Sunday, I pulled off going to two barns. I went to my lesson barn first and did a group lesson with a couple girls that must have been 13. They were at about the same level as me in riding, although based on their complaints about algebra, I feel like I may have a leg up on other things. Not that it's a competition.

I was riding a pretty grey that acts like a big puppy, named Cesar. For our lesson we formed a ride on the rail and would either pass each other at the trot or canter a large circle from the front of the ride to the back, all while maintaining the same exact distance between each other. We weren't allowed to circle to keep our distance so I had to go deep into corners to keep my distance on my energetic 15hh horse behind a wee pony.

After putting Cesar away, I headed down the road a mile or so to the second barn to ride Calvin. Everyone at the barn is really nice. Calvin is skinny and has some scars from his previous life. The trainer isn't exactly sure of his age, but he's young. He might be just 17 hands, maybe not even, but he seems huge to me because of the lesson ponies. The two-step mounting block requires me to hoist myself up on him. The trainer who lets me ride him was standing with me while I groomed him and we witnessed an owner bring her horse through with chains on his bell boots. One of the girls said it was for saddleseat. When I went into the arena, the owner was pulling off a very high trot and a halt with the bag legs stretched way back. It's interesting to me that it's English style riding, but has developed further in the US.

I walked Calvin around for a while before practicing. When I first started learning to ride, I did get to practice ride a few times by myself, but it was still a strange feeling when I was alone in the indoor! I did a serpentine at the walk, worked on two-point at the trot and worked on cantering without falling in or cutting corners. Calvin tripped a few times at the trot, which my novice riding probably doesn't help. I need to make sure I'm not leaning forward at the canter so I don't throw him off balance. He also tripped his back legs at the trot, which was this weird sort of lurching back feeling. I might have to ask about stumbling horses, because the only remedy I know is to blame the rider, and while I'm sure 110 pounds in the wrong place can throw Calvin off, I'm not sure it should be this frequent.