As I was getting ready to head to the barn last night, I spied my full-seats, which I never wear. For whatever reason, I decided to put those on. Man, those are some goofy pants - could they come up any higher? If they did, they could serve as both breeches and a sports bra.
So I head out to inform Skate his vaca is over. He comes out of his stall willingly, albeit muddy. (Good news - the new blanket is still holding up) I get him tacked up and decide we'll go to the outside ring since the footing is newly dragged. Nevermind only half of the lights are working - talk about shadows. Still - its good to keep him on his toes.
I went ahead and lunged him first to get the sillies out. He was an angel tracking left and I almost just hopped on him then, but decided I'd better go both directions. Pffffttt - good thing I did! He was a complete fool in the other direction. I'm glad I had gloves on - every WALK command turned to canter - faster - faster - drag damn anchor (me) across ring - have hissy fit - walk. What the hell? I know that is his worse direction - he is much more unbalanced and is always trying to crane his head out and bulge the shoulder in. I think it was my constant corrections on the line for that maneuver that kept pissing him off. Oh well. I finally got an ok trot - walk transition and decided to hop on.
He really wasn't that bad. He certainly needed some reminders - my whip got used frequently as he was attempting the 'ol titanic turns (where the back end seems to swing way out) and at first I was half halting like a water skiier. After the monotony of 4 thousand figure eights, he chilled out. This is where the random donning of the fullseats saved me. We walked down to the end of the ring on a loose rein when both of us saw 'something' flash over to the left. Its funny how you think, "crap - he's gonna bolt" just early enough to be able to get in a second of panic before it actually happens. So he did his spin and bolt - my foot came out of the stirrup and my entire upper body was parallel to the ground - however, my bum was nicely stuck : ) Thank-you, unflattering breeches.
After that we walked past the flashing thing - which was the laminated dressage letter that had torn and was flapping in the wind. Once he realized what it was, he seemed embarrassed and put his head down (in shame, I like to think).
The rest of the ride was uneventful, thank goodness. I can't really complain - he had over a week off and then I come out and stack the odds against him (cold, windy, poor lighting, I was riding like a weeble wobble, etc, etc). So, I'll just say the ride was as good as can be expected : )
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6 comments:
Not bad for the first ride back! Full-seats are useful on occasion. Glad you stuck on and Skate realized that he was being stupid. :)
Yay for fullseats! I'm in love with mine so I'm glad to see they saved the day. Although I did have to laugh when I pictured your upper body near horizontal, yet seat still firmly stuck. Good thing!
Have you tried any in-hand walk-halt stuff? Gayle had me do it with Pro awhile back (before every ride) to get his attention on me. So you hold the reins and walk normally beside him (Pro's requirement was that his head was DOWN the whole time) and then on "ho", he had to halt but he had to halt off my voice, not off me stopping. Then when I said "walk on" he had to walk off from my voice before I walked off with him. If he didn't, I'd reach behind my body with my left hand to tap him with the whip. If he halted and moved his HQs around, I just kept rotating in place so I was always in line with his body, and kept repeating my "be still and ho" command.
Since they can't just zone out and follow your body, they have to attend to your voice, and it really helped Pro tune in more. It's just a thought I had since Skate seems to want to be silly with the voice commands on the lunge.
I think it was a good ride considering his break, though! :)
YAY for full seats!! I like riding in mine too although I haven't put them on in months. Sounds like a good refresher ride though.
Kate, I've been working on groundwork with Skate, lately - but doing it right before I hop on would probably be a good idea. He is dreadful about getting behind my leg - even though he's generally speedy. He is also dreadful about dragging behind me when I lead him. I have to remind him with the whip to keep up with me regularly!
ahh...the dreaded rushing but behind your leg...I feel your pain! Surf is a behind your leg champion :)
Yay for the full seats and your staying on! That imagery was good.
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