First lesson was with Tina on one of the advanced horses Real (pronounced Ree-Ahl). Real is a 3/4WB, 1/4 TB and has been here since he was a foal, trained by Tina and her team. Other than Regitse (who doesn't really count, since she's a hundred years old), Real is the first advanced horse I've been allowed to sit on. I've watched a few lessons with Real, where the riders were mostly working on piaffe, passage and pirouettes. No pressure.
Tina put me on Real so I could start getting a feel for 'the next step up'.
Real. He always has this look on his face
We would walk down the long side in shoulder-fore position, halt (keeping the position) and then trot on in shoulder-fore. Doing transitions through lateral movements was a really testing exercise, but one I actually could achieve on Mr.-I'm-really-really-well-trained.
We did the same exercise in travers and shoulder-in. Don't think I've ever done these movements with such little effort. Love me a sensitive horse!
Of course being a schoolmaster, Real very much told me my weaknesses (which I am more than aware of right now). Mainly my inconsistent contact on the reins, my wonky hand-to-leg ration, and a sneaky twisty wrist. Usually on my left hand.
So I need more leg, keep my bloody hands still and straight, and for Godsake stop letting the reins slip.
We finished off with a tiny bit of canter. Hello! There's another weakness. Damn, my transitions suck.
I had to finish the lesson a little early so I could get ready for my next lesson immediately after on Axel with Wanda.
I've ridden Axel twice now, and I rather like him. He has really correct and comfortable paces, and he is nice and reactive to my leg aids. Took me a little while to get him into a frame, and I must admit by the end of the lesson I think I was just pissing him off.
Axel doesn't want to collect. It's hard work. He'd rather stick his nose in the air and trot like a giraffe. At first he listened to my almost constant reminders to stay round and active in the hind, but by the end he was sucking back off my leg and tossing his head. Sorry mate. Such is life as a school horse.
Axel
We moved into a counter-canter exercise which I found rather difficult. By this time in the lesson Axel was starting to resist a bit, and I think I was probably pretty tired. We were to counter flex in trot and pick up counter-canter, then transition down to trot, change the bend, and canter true.
Axel, bless him, wanted to pick up the true lead every time no matter how I flexed and bent him. He was sure I was asking the wrong thing!
We did get there, I needed to really exaggerate the bend aids from my legs (like, inside leg waaaaaay behind the girth), vibrate the outside rein, ask for counter- canter, and not completely flop and drop him, as is my usual style during a canter transition.
We did a little shoulder-in as well, but honestly, I think that's a given for every lesson. It really is the most super exercise which achieves so many things.
Wanda had me thinking about my contact and connection, as always. I need shorter reins, but a softer feel. I can get the feel, but those naughty hands of mine keep creeping backwards towards me, and those reins just keep sneaking out of my grip.
My leg still needs to relax and wrap around the horse better, heels pushing outwards and knee soft.
The last lesson (at 7 pm- give me strength!)
Was with Joao on Walter. I've been eyeing off Walter ever since I arrived. He is a BIG (aren't they all big?) Irish Draught gelding who is owned privately by one of the long term students, but is also used for lessons. He'd easily be 16.3hh, and almost as wide.
Walter would prefer to sleep
We started with- you guessed it- shoulder-fore and shoulder-in. We would shoulder-fore down the long side, 10m circle at either B or E, and then finish the long side in shoulder-in. This was a test in accuracy of angles, as well as effectiveness of aids and obedience of the horse.
I felt quite good on Walter. He is responsive to the leg and light on the contact. I could actually get him to collect (which is nice) and hold a frame without too much effort.
I did find him a bit blocked on the right rein. It was reeeaaallly hard to get him bending easily that way without me forcing it. With Joao constantly on my back to get this horse to bend, we got it.
We moved on to some 1/4 walk pirouettes on a square. This is actually an exercise I use a lot in my lessons at home. The old dressage squares. So it was easy enough to switch from doing turns on the haunches to a walk pirouette. The only difference is forward momentum and a bit more bend!
We finished off with some walk/canter/walk transitions. I am proud to say that I actually managed to hold it together and ride some nice transitions instead of flopping around. More core! More support! More leg!
Walter was fab on the left rein in this exercise, but on the right he was just finding the bend too difficult in the canter, so started doing some bargy stuff. Now we had been doing laterals the whole lesson, so I know he knew what I was asking when I put my inside leg on to move him back to the track, but Walter (with his giant size) instead took every leg aid as FORWARD and counter-bend. It wasn't very dressage like. I'll leave it at that. Not a great way to finish, but we did manage some decent bend by the end, and in his defence we had really been working his bad side, so he was probably as exhausted as I was.
The biggest thing I took out of that lesson was that I am trying too hard. In Joao's words "I can see you really want it, but you are trying too hard. Just chill, and it will happen." And of course he is right. This was the main issue with my horrid lesson with Romeo on Sat. I tried to hard, got tense, and it all fell apart.
Go with the flow, man!
I am in desperate need of rest, so I'm off to bed. Only have a half day tomorrow, so might duck into the village to do some more sightseeing.
Until then!
No comments:
Post a Comment