Our lesson on Friday kicked my butt! After trotting a couple fences to warm up, we started working on a bending line going to the left. Since there's no rail to guide us, Buddy really wanted to hold the right bend and throw his haunches to the right. Needless to say, we had a hard time getting a nice distance to the first fence. Jen had me go back and work on a circle for a few minutes, spiraling him out and having me really sit deep.
Once we had a bend we went back to the line. I could get the first fence, but would loose the bend and rhythm to the second fence. At this point Buddy was getting pretty pissed and reluctant to go forward. I really had to sit down and get after him. We nailed the line once, and called it good.
After a walking/water break Jen had us change it up and do a fun, twisty course. Buddy was much happier! The course involved a couple tight rollback, taking an oxer on an angle and a long gallop uphill. We were able to do it pretty well right off the bat, but had a little trouble on the rollback to the angled oxer. Buddy was tired by this point, and doing a tight turn uphill wasn't something he wanted to do. We went back and schooled that turn a few times, and on our last attempt, about 2 strides from the oxer I bridged my reins and hauled off and nailed him with my crop. Boy that got his attention! He moved forward to the long spot and cantered off in front of my leg . We decided to quit with that.
Poor tired pony!
No comments:
Post a Comment