Due to the weather being awful, we were back in the Bubble today. Yay. I'm very grateful to have a place to ride in crappy weather, but I just wish we weren't having crappy weather. Seriously. It's almost May. It should be like 80 f and sunny all day long, not 50 and overcast and raining and gusting winds. Grrr. What ever happened to global warming? That was my favorite concept ever.
So anyways. We had a dressage lesson. Izzy was in a mood and was very inconsistent. We still got some nice work and she was pretty relaxed despite being in the Bubble, but... you know.
This is a training journal, so instead of just whining, I'll record some of what we worked on. Ahem.
I need to keep Izzy really marching forward in all three gaits, but especially the walk. What I consider a good walk right now is fairly mediocre to bad.
In our lengthen/shortens in the trot, I need to focus on asking for more. When we shorten, I need to think short, quicker(ish) strides and then longer, slower strides in the lengthen. Right now, we only lengthen for 5-6 strides and then bring Izzy back before she loses her balance, to develop strength to do more later.
Ack. My brain is fried and I can hardly type. That is all for now.
The best way to develop a good walk is hacking out, rather than ring work, and not doing much "work" at the walk, but rather encourage movement by keeping a long rein with no contact. Using contact at the walk seems to shorten a lot of horses up, and if they are always ring ridden, it is a frustrating battle. IMHO
ReplyDeleteThe walk is a hard gait to develop. If you could get her to stretch down to the bit and round her back, that would help.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I am using the cold and wind as an excuse not to ride as I am really tired. The rain? That stops me entirely as I have no bubble.
But you are right, this weather is really erratic and kind of strange for this time of year.