Visiting Filly

Yesterday I decided to go and see how Filly is getting on and see if she remembered me.
Armed with some apples I approached her field where she was busy grooming with a couple of other horses over the fence. On calling her name her head popped up and looked, but she went back to grooming. I climbed through the fence as the gate area is very very muddy and called again. Again she looked round, but this time she must have recognised me. She came straight at me with a little whinny and stopped just in front. She had clearly remembered me. She took one apple carefully but greedily and then we just moved around the field together. She stopped to graze occasioanly but always kept up. She clearly wanted to play and actually started circling me at one point, although I hadn't asked. A quick hind quarter yield and she came back to me for her other apple.
We spent a long time with me scratching her all over. Loads of hair came out so she must have been itchy. Even areas, like her flank, where she did not previously like being scratched got a look of ecstasy on her face. She tried to reciprocate, but not wanting to be nibbled I just let her lick my hand.
The time came to leave as a big shower apporached. She followed me all the way to the fence and then walked alongside as I headed back to the barn area. She even walked through some thick mud (very un-Filly like) to stay near me as I left. My last view was of pricked ears as she watched all the way until I was out of sight.
All this after several months of not seeing her. They really don't forget individuals and it was nice to spend time with one of my best friends again.

Cantering gets better abd better

In the last post I described how I had needed to got to phase four with Bonitao to get the canter transition to be snappy. In this case it required the use of a junior carrot stick to back up my leg aid. Now I can report on the result !
Today I had one of the best rides ever on Bonitao. On a recent nightstop in Toronto I had time to watch the latest DVD from Parelli. Now usually I file these away in the back of my mind to be reviewed when they are relavent to my current stage. But this one was the right DVD at the right time.
It concentrated on "Freestyle riding" around a figure of 8 pattern and really emphasised the importance of body position and weight in the stirup, which also translates to body position. For some of it I could run simulations by walking around my room in Toronto (think I wore the carpet a bit thin, sorry!) for the rest I needed to be riding.
In the early part of todays ride I really concnetrated on those lessons at walk and trot. Amazing results. I then took those same principles and applied them to canter transitions. The first transition was from trot to canter and needed the lightest leg aid and one stride. From there they just got better and better. Snag was the canter to trot, walk or halt was now not as good.
For this I had to go up the phases again to a full blown phase 4 lateral flexion. Soon after that I was getting downward transitions that were so good the first one unbalanced me !
The moral to all this is not to be afraid to go up the phases when riding. It gets the problem fixed sooner with less frustration for both of us. BUT be sure to use all the phases each time (even in a "he won't stop" situation) so that he rapidly learns "what happens before what happens happens".
After this indoor session we moved to the savvy park field where we did more figure 8 as shown on the dvd, using weeds and cones, and even a few nice canters.
To end the session on a really high note from Bonitaos point of view, but very boring from mine, I sat on him for 15 minutes as he grazed.
At the end of the day I took him to his field and he whinnied for me as I left. What a great feeling.

 

Canter seems to be improving

After yesterdays less than perfect session (!) Ritchie and I analysed the problem last night. To get a canter transition I felt that I could not physically apply phase 4 pressure with my leg, largely because I am kind of tall and as a result it is difficult to apply pressure with my heel. We decided that my only resort was a stick, a junior carrot stick to be precise. These have virtually no flex so cannot be used as a whip but can be used to backup to my heel with a tap. The tap must be applied rhythmically and with increasing frequency, but not force, as the phase is increased.
So the sequence of phases is as follows. 1) From trot, sit in the seat and take up the canter motion with my body, whilst thinking "canter". 2) Slide outside leg back and apply some pressure with my heel. 3) Tap my own leg twice with the carrot stick to create some rhythmic motion. 4) Tap Bonitao with the stick, just behind my leg and with increasing frequency. 
If at any point he starts to offer canter all the pressure is removed and I just maintain the canter motion in my body. Thus the phases are built gradually and removed immediately the required response is achieved. For best effect I should of course time all this to occur with the point at which the outside hind leg just leaves the ground and increase the phases with each full stride, but to be honest I am not that good yet :-)
The result today was a huge improvement. I only once had to tap with the stick on Bonitaos body, and even then it was only two taps. After that he was cantering off just the leg aid, although it was sometimes a stride late. That could have been because my timing relative to the outside hind was wrong.
I have also been struggling with my riding position at canter, but after my session on the mechanical horse the other day I at least knew what it should feel like. The key was to really relax my shoulders and also to concentrate on my head position. The combination of these two things loosened up my lower back and we felt much more in tune with each other. I am not all the way there yet but at last I can see light at the end of the tunnel. So all in all a very good day !!

Riding Merlin

I have been having a little trouble with my canter seat. It has been improving but not to the level I would like or Ritchie demands. Now I could spend hours cantering around on Bonitao incorrectly or get some instruction to fix it.
So back to basics. It seemed to me that what I needed was a very forgiving, very stable and very very patient mount. Not knowing any horses with the required properties we decided I should go and ride Merlin. Now Merlin is not like a normal horse, he doesn't eat drink or poo. He is made of plastic, metal and has a few motors but no heart or brain (save for a computer). He is stabled at Shardeloes Equestrian Center near Amersham and come with a very very good instructor called Sharon.
The theme for todays lesson to work on my basic seating position and then see how that translated into riding at canter. Merlin can move with walk, trot and canter gaits. Sharon spent a long time just looking over my natural seating position and found I sat very slightly to the left. Having corrected that we then moved onto unlocking my body, which has always been a little stiff. I would never have guessed that the key to this was my head position. My eyes were pointing in about the right direction but there are many combinations of shoulder and neck flexions that can get them there. For me I needed to feel as though my head was in collection, just like a collected horse would appear. As soon as I did this my shoulders unlocked and so did my back. Suddenly I was in a much more balanced pose. I would not say more comfortable as I am not used to the position yet, but definitely in a more controlled position. It would have taken hours of riding to find this spot, but in a nice warm room, with a full length mirror it was easy. I am not even beginning to suggest I now have the perfect riding position, but a major obstacle in achieving that goal has been removed.
From Shardeloes we returned to our yard at Shana and brought out our real horse Bonitao. Under the watchful eyes of Kath I attempted to put the lesson to use. Without Kath this would definitely have failed, but after 20 minutes of riding I really started to feel in a better place, and so did Bonitao. The cantering was much improved and I had a few moments where I could really feel what it should feel like all the time. I can't wait to practise some more on both Merlin and Bonitao.
In case anyone is interested here is the link to their website. Just click on mechanical horse. http://www.shardeloesfarm.com/home.htm