Sorry everyone, no photos again. Which really bums me out because I am a photo nut! Oh well....can't be great all the time, right?
I will get everyone caught up. It won't take long.
Sunday evening the weather was absolutely beautiful! I had to decide between going to the next door town arena and doing what we needed to do, or going on a trail ride. Brian said we earned a trail ride....oh, twist that arm a little farther! ha ha! I was not sure how long I would be able to stay out there because after Saturday, my tail bone area was not feeling that great. I ended up heading to the lake - water relaxes me - then turned around and came back. It was an hour ride, and yep, I was very very sore! It was still a great ride tho. We did a little bit of schooling on the trail, so I mixed business with pleasure.
We did a lot of transitions between walk/trot/canter/trot/walk. No butt hops, and we had a great time!
Monday we took the whole day off. For some reason I have been very tired - to the point of just not being with it. Tripp got to play out in the yard with the lush grass that evening, so he was happy.
Tonite, Tuesday, after work we headed to the neighboring town arena to work on some cantering. We still kinda suck at it. :-) Due to this crazy headache I have had for a day and a half, I only stayed out there about 35 minutes, but it was a good 35 minutes. The cantering was our biggest challenge. I am still not getting it from a walk, but we did get it from the trot and only had a very small butt hop twice. Folks, that is what I call progress! Woo hoo!
Now to the biggest horsefly Tripp has ever seen. While we were out there he would stop and look out over this field outside of the arena. I didn't see or hear anything, so would get him moving. A little bit later in the distance I saw this thing rise from another field - it looked like a kite. That is how small it was. It got Tripp's attention real quick! We watched it a while, then I realized it was one of those ultra-lite glider things with a motor. It came closer and closer until we could see it pretty good. Tripp was on point - let me tell ya! That neck was straight up and he was tight as he could be - probably hoping that I would not let him down and maybe I could kill this 'horsefly' too! I let him stand there and watch - they are pretty neat! It never did fly over us but it came close enough for us to hear it. Then it occurred to me, he probably heard it before I did, and that is what had his attention earlier. Pretty neat when ya think about it...
Once it turned and went the other way, and we could not see it good because of the angle, I moved Tripp along again.
Anyways, keeping him cantering is work. I know part of it is me....I am preparing myself for the butt hop, which can get very tall at times, so I hold on to the horn. Well, I just need to let go of that darn horn and be confident that I can ride out a butt hop if it comes! And if I can't ride it out, well, I don't know. I guess I will fall off. So my next trip out there I will be letting go of the horn and pushing him a little bit, and actually driving him.
He is also pretty good one direction - it is the right lead. That is the thing too....at this point I really don't care about leads. I just want him to go and keep going until I ask him to slow down or stop. I did notice that when we go around to the right, his canter is much more smooth than to the left. The left feels lop-sided, like he is cross firing. The next day or two when Brian has time, I am going to have him tape it for me so I can see what is going on. I feel like I am riding a billy goat! I like the video because I see how my form is too, and even tho I don't like how I look, it helps remind me to KEEP MY ARMS DOWN! I am surprised I don't take flight because they are flapping so much at times.
We worked on our pivots too. Same thing....great to the right, not so great to the left. I had not done any rail work, so we played with that a little bit too. I was moving him slow since it was new and I was learning what to do too, but we would go down the rail, stop, then turn into the rail while pivoting on the hind end, then move down the other direction. Basic stuff for a lot of people, but not basic for me. I am a trail rider....just go ride. I have never taught stuff like this before so I am going slow for me too. With some more practice, we might actually learn to do a nice roll back! I am pretty excited about that too!
I look at all these little things that I have always loved watching other people do, and now I am learning how to do them myself. I still have a long ways to go, but I have already come a long ways. You have to start somewhere, right?
Yeah.....life is good!
Until later....Karen and Tripp
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1 comment:
Hoping you didn't get sick, missing the updates as well as Brian's photography.
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