Gia - session 118 - more stretching under saddle, added centerline at walk!
I started Gia today on the lunge line with the Pessoa, working on staying on a consistent circle. She was a little lazy at times, but overall she was pretty good with that.
Under saddle, we started with the same work on consistent circles at the walk and trot. She was a little fussy at times, but overall pretty good with that too. I think we even got a deeper stretch at both the walk and trot today!
To finish off we added walking down centerline, including focus on the turn onto and off of centerline.
The turns onto and off of centerline should be more like a half of a 10 meter circle, rather than a square, 90 degree turn. That part was pretty easy for her. The hard part today was about staying straight on centerline and not drifting one way or the other.
In the videos I took, (there are two simply because my phone was interrupted, but they are pretty much back to back), you will see how Gia starts off very drunkenly down centerline. By the last three passes though, she has straightened up, and is practically perfect.
When she started drifting in the beginning, my aids to correct her were a bit strong (for her), and I would end up overcorrecting and sending her the other way. I was able to lessen the intensity of my aid, and that helped a lot in keeping her straighter. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being the lightest I could possibly cue her and 10 being the hardest), I was probably using a 3 with my leg at the beginning, By the end, I'm really only using my seat bone, and maybe 0.5 with my leg if she doesn't respond to my seat bone.
In the video, you can also see how my leg and seat follow the movement in her body from side to side. I allow the following movement whenever she is doing the right thing, but if I need to make a correction, I accentuate the movement with my seat and/or leg.
By using lighter aids, and then following up with stronger aids if she doesn't listen, I am teaching her to respond to lighter aids to begin with, making her a much more sensitive horse in the long run. A horse that will make it look like she is reading my mind, and we are as one!
Under saddle, we started with the same work on consistent circles at the walk and trot. She was a little fussy at times, but overall pretty good with that too. I think we even got a deeper stretch at both the walk and trot today!
To finish off we added walking down centerline, including focus on the turn onto and off of centerline.
The turns onto and off of centerline should be more like a half of a 10 meter circle, rather than a square, 90 degree turn. That part was pretty easy for her. The hard part today was about staying straight on centerline and not drifting one way or the other.
In the videos I took, (there are two simply because my phone was interrupted, but they are pretty much back to back), you will see how Gia starts off very drunkenly down centerline. By the last three passes though, she has straightened up, and is practically perfect.
When she started drifting in the beginning, my aids to correct her were a bit strong (for her), and I would end up overcorrecting and sending her the other way. I was able to lessen the intensity of my aid, and that helped a lot in keeping her straighter. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being the lightest I could possibly cue her and 10 being the hardest), I was probably using a 3 with my leg at the beginning, By the end, I'm really only using my seat bone, and maybe 0.5 with my leg if she doesn't respond to my seat bone.
In the video, you can also see how my leg and seat follow the movement in her body from side to side. I allow the following movement whenever she is doing the right thing, but if I need to make a correction, I accentuate the movement with my seat and/or leg.
By using lighter aids, and then following up with stronger aids if she doesn't listen, I am teaching her to respond to lighter aids to begin with, making her a much more sensitive horse in the long run. A horse that will make it look like she is reading my mind, and we are as one!
Comments
Post a Comment