Gia - sessions 1098-1099 - transition work

 

I have started studying a very interesting book, simply called "The Dressage Horse" by Harry Boldt.  It was suggested by my dressage instructor, and it's more of a reference than a book to read.  This page shows how he illustrates the aids for some of the basic transitions.  

I have been working on refining the halt and walk aids with Gia these past two days since the heat has been so bad.  

On Wednesday, I took her into the grass dressage arena, so the sun wouldn't reflect up off the sand and make us even hotter.  It also has more trees, thus more shade.  We practiced Harry's aids to the halt a lot.  Gia didn't seem to be getting it very well.  Possibly, because it was a slight change from what we had been doing.  Possibly because she just needs more time.  But eventually, instead of just softening the hands when she responded correctly, I just started dropping the reins completely, and letting her do whatever she wanted so she could process a little more.  She seemed to give me better responses after that.

On Friday, I took her on the trail to do the same work.  It's very shady on the trail, and much cooler, but she was a bit more anxious, so the work was a little harder to focus on.  I had read Harry's section on Takt or rhythm, so I focused on keeping a rhythmic walk throughout the trail, before and after the halt transitions.  I also allowed her to go back to a long rein after the first few halt transitions, because I could feel them cutting into her walk rhythm and big step, and you have to be careful not to ruin a good walk.  Each time I was ready for another halt, I simply shortened the reins again.  It took her a while, but the transitions did get better.  I also noticed that her "lipstick" was much more pronounced than usual, and much more even on both sides.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
 So, the last 6-7 months have been a bit crazy.  You may be wondering why I wasn't blogging, and partly that was due to my own injury, and partly that was due to Gia's surgery. Let me back up. Early in July last year, I had a "bit of a fall" off of Phillip, while schooling cross country.  I immediately knew something wasn't quite right, but luckily, it didn't hurt too bad.  When I stood up, I could feel my right arm dangling quite a bit from my shoulder socket.  When I visited my doctor a few days later, he confirmed that I definitely had injured my shoulder, but he couldn't tell me how bad it was without an MRI.  We discussed doing PT first vs an MRI first, and we both decided PT would be the route to go first.  Unfortunately, there was no improvement after two weeks, so I scheduled the MRI.  It took a few weeks to get on the schedule, and then another week to get in to see the doctor for the results, but basically, I had F'd it up real good...
Read more

Gia - session 955 - lesson at CDP

 I had a lesson with Hayley today at CDP.  Gia felt great today!  We started with a nice, crisp walk, and then moved right into a forward trot.  We worked all over the ring with changes of direction and in a good, steady tempo, we also worked on lengthening and collecting the trot.  Gia was nicely obedient to everything I asked her to do.  When I first asked for the canter, I forgot to keep my arms soft, so it didn't last more than a few steps.  But the second time, I remembered, and stayed a little off her back as well.  It started awkward, and counterbent, but as I stayed soft and following with my seat and arms, she eventually figured out what to do with her body, and started to come nicely around my inside leg.  We did the same thing in the other direction (which is usually her bad direction), but it went really well!  We decided to quite while we were ahead after that!  Hopefully, this ride will carry into this weekend for the ...
Read more

Gia - session 956 and 957 - War Horse schooling and show

 I took Gia to the War Horse schooling and show this weekend at the Carolina Horse Park.  When I got on Saturday morning, she started out quite tense - wanting to go up in the front, and up in the back as well, but not really wanting to go forward.  I finally did get her forward, eventually, and slowly, and we made it to the stadium warm up.  After warming up with some trot, and over a few jumps, we schooled the stadium course.  She was a bit nervous, but did OK otherwise.  So, on to cross country schooling.  She felt fairly the same on cross country - a little nervous, but at least by that time, she was moving forward.  She was a bit nervous about a couple of the jumps, and some of the soggy ground.  We "discussed" it, and then she was able to get over/through it.  She felt a lot more confident by the end. On Sunday, she felt fine when I got on for dressage.  I warmed her up in the grass, near the barns, first, where she could stay...
Read more