
So the boys had their first combined training session last weekend. I like to think of it as “Operation First CT Event of Our Lives.”
As Saturday was supposed to be stormy and disastrous all day, I jumped at the first beam of sunlight to hop on my boys. Kehbir was the first of my enlistees for the day. The most recent that I had ridden him, however, was the previous weekend where I hopped up on him for only a few moments to work on some canter work (his first, by the way).
Kehbir was surprisingly willing to please (of course, I’m sure sugar cubes played an important role in that equation). Overall though – despite his “baby-ness,” he really surprised me in the progressive strides he has made since our last ride. He is beginning to move nicely away from my leg, has much better impulsion to move forward off my leg – and the steering is MUCH better. We warmed up with some nice stretches at the walk – he was reaching very nicely for the bit. We then progressed to a nice trot – mostly balanced too (a VAST improvement). The little bit of canter work we did do, he was on the correct lead – but I just feel like it’s more of an upward movement rather than a forward movement. However, I’m sure this is just a balance issue.
We worked on both Intro Test A and Intro Test B (see http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/fair/documents/dresintr.pdf ). While B was a bit rocky (we can’t trot in a straight line down the center line :-\), I have to say I was VERY impressed for our first try. Kehbir was so incredibly focused and tried incredibly hard. I couldn’t help but grin the entire time.
Taking him over his first cross bars was equally exciting. We only had one stop – and even then he only sniffed for a few moments, but then proceded to go over it. After each jump, he would be so pleased with himself and pick up a mini canter again. I felt like I was on a natural jumper. We had really only one rocky moment where I decided to try taking a jump from a canter and he was beginning to drift out. However, I brought him back to the jump, and we jumped it crookedly (however, clear!). Well he is just SO collected, he had an immense bunny hop, propelling me onto his neck. He, however, decided this wasn’t something he liked, so he threw in a few bucks to let me know. I chalked this up to something he just needs to get used to, and I was mainly happy that I was able to stay on. :-)
After an exhilarating ride with Kehbir, I was a little sore, but bounding happily along to find Sudi. Sudi however seemed a little tired still from the show, only four days prior, so I wanted this exercise to be fairly low key and simple. And that it was. In the dressage ring, I could barely keep his attention, but at the same time, I could barely get him to move forward either. After two frustrating tries at Test A, my mom suggested we move our practice into the jumping ring to try to get something fruitful from our work. Here, he was much more demure and focused and we produced a decent Test A. I would have liked a little more impulsion, but I was pretty happy with what we got.
After we rounded up the dressage work, I took him VERY successfully over some cross bars. He really didn’t have Kehbir’s enthusiasm, but he was consistent and took every jump I asked. After all the jumps had been cleanly cleared (we didn’t knock any down), I decided to hop off and call it a day.
Sunday was designated to nice, pleasurely trail riding, which it ended up NOT being. There were some lose dogs and then, of course, Halara, who was all TOO helpful in our trail riding process by trotting around and bucking rather obnoxiously. Needless to say, Sud got over his lacsidasical-ness and was very forward. :-) My mom, however, had a bad scare when Halara bolted for Kehbir at a gallop. Thankfully, all of us stayed on and are ok.
So, after the pretty successful weekend, I signed both boys up for the Marston Show. We’re keeping our expectations fairly low and hoping for this to mainly be a training type event for the boys. However, I know these guys are special, and that we always run the risk of them surprising us with a win.
As Saturday was supposed to be stormy and disastrous all day, I jumped at the first beam of sunlight to hop on my boys. Kehbir was the first of my enlistees for the day. The most recent that I had ridden him, however, was the previous weekend where I hopped up on him for only a few moments to work on some canter work (his first, by the way).
Kehbir was surprisingly willing to please (of course, I’m sure sugar cubes played an important role in that equation). Overall though – despite his “baby-ness,” he really surprised me in the progressive strides he has made since our last ride. He is beginning to move nicely away from my leg, has much better impulsion to move forward off my leg – and the steering is MUCH better. We warmed up with some nice stretches at the walk – he was reaching very nicely for the bit. We then progressed to a nice trot – mostly balanced too (a VAST improvement). The little bit of canter work we did do, he was on the correct lead – but I just feel like it’s more of an upward movement rather than a forward movement. However, I’m sure this is just a balance issue.
We worked on both Intro Test A and Intro Test B (see http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/fair/documents/dresintr.pdf ). While B was a bit rocky (we can’t trot in a straight line down the center line :-\), I have to say I was VERY impressed for our first try. Kehbir was so incredibly focused and tried incredibly hard. I couldn’t help but grin the entire time.
Taking him over his first cross bars was equally exciting. We only had one stop – and even then he only sniffed for a few moments, but then proceded to go over it. After each jump, he would be so pleased with himself and pick up a mini canter again. I felt like I was on a natural jumper. We had really only one rocky moment where I decided to try taking a jump from a canter and he was beginning to drift out. However, I brought him back to the jump, and we jumped it crookedly (however, clear!). Well he is just SO collected, he had an immense bunny hop, propelling me onto his neck. He, however, decided this wasn’t something he liked, so he threw in a few bucks to let me know. I chalked this up to something he just needs to get used to, and I was mainly happy that I was able to stay on. :-)
After an exhilarating ride with Kehbir, I was a little sore, but bounding happily along to find Sudi. Sudi however seemed a little tired still from the show, only four days prior, so I wanted this exercise to be fairly low key and simple. And that it was. In the dressage ring, I could barely keep his attention, but at the same time, I could barely get him to move forward either. After two frustrating tries at Test A, my mom suggested we move our practice into the jumping ring to try to get something fruitful from our work. Here, he was much more demure and focused and we produced a decent Test A. I would have liked a little more impulsion, but I was pretty happy with what we got.
After we rounded up the dressage work, I took him VERY successfully over some cross bars. He really didn’t have Kehbir’s enthusiasm, but he was consistent and took every jump I asked. After all the jumps had been cleanly cleared (we didn’t knock any down), I decided to hop off and call it a day.
Sunday was designated to nice, pleasurely trail riding, which it ended up NOT being. There were some lose dogs and then, of course, Halara, who was all TOO helpful in our trail riding process by trotting around and bucking rather obnoxiously. Needless to say, Sud got over his lacsidasical-ness and was very forward. :-) My mom, however, had a bad scare when Halara bolted for Kehbir at a gallop. Thankfully, all of us stayed on and are ok.
So, after the pretty successful weekend, I signed both boys up for the Marston Show. We’re keeping our expectations fairly low and hoping for this to mainly be a training type event for the boys. However, I know these guys are special, and that we always run the risk of them surprising us with a win.
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