After trying for hours and hours to put into practice what Amy got me to do last time I felt like no matter how hard I tried there was no way I could predict Ceaser's spooking and deal with it before he had chance to explode. Thankfully just as things were getting a bit on top of me again, Amy was due to come and give me another good kick up the bum!Last time Amy worked Ceaser in for me and I got on once he was warmed up. This time it was the other way round and I worked him in so she could see from the ground exactly what he did when warming up, why and how. She noticed that due to his age it does take a little longer than horses half his age to warm up. She recommended I spend roughly 10 minutes walking, before thinking of moving into the trot and then working on building up to the canter.
I'll try to talk you through the warm up process so you can get a better idea of how things worked.
As soon as I started to walk off Amy noticed Ceaser was tight through his back end and our walk was quite choppy. She asked me to free the reins a little and let Ceaser walk a little slower to enable him to step under and through more. To me it felt like he was taking a long stroll on the beach at snail pace but Amy said the change in the overall picture was immediately noticeable. Luckily Mark was on hand to video all this for me and I agree, after watching it back it makes all the difference! She said he steps under lovely in his walk and has quite a nice walk when I allow him to! As predicted she then asked how we scored in our tests for our walk. Of course we don't score very high for our walk and I've always put it down to him having a bad walk...and "that's why" she said. So next week at Royal London i'll be putting our 'new walk' to the test! I must remember, although it doesn't feel like it's taking me anywhere, it is and it looks nice!Amy said that because Ceaser takes a little longer to warm up than other horses we will need to focus a lot of attention on getting him supple, bending correctly and working through his back. Once we had moved up into the trot we spent a lot of time on flexing left, flexing right and getting him supple on both reins. All this entails is riding just slightly off the track and making him flex left for a little while, whilst keeping in a straight line, and then to the right. In between bursts of doing it i'll make him work properly, then flex a little. It really is a great exercise and great to do in walk, trot and canter!
Next up was the "trusting Ceaser" part, which to be quite honest, in the last few weeks I haven't been! His energy levels are on fire because of how fit he is feeling, the feed he's getting and the supplements he's having which has meant lots of spooks, bucks and high-maintence pony tantrums! Amy said I am holding on to him a little too much, which is causing him not to move forward and stretch through his back into his outline enough. She thinks he is built very short across his back and neck enough already, so when I don't allow or encourage him to stretch for the outline he gives the overall picture of a little coiled spring.
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| Much more "open" and more free in the outline. |
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| Before....Appearance of a short neck! |
So, the next 20 minutes were spent working on getting me to allow him to move forward and free and him accepting the contact and working through his back and stepping underneath a lot more. For a short time he spent a few laps around the arena with his nose in the air - especially whilst some school ponies and children were walking past, but as soon as he accepted and softened I could immediately feel the difference. Amy said again the picture looked a million times better and the illusion was that i'd gone from riding a 14.2hh to a 15.2hh horse. She also said that it would help me with his spooking because I would be able to feel him tensing suddenly if he was going to and his head would come up just ever so slightly, allowing me to react quickly enough to catch him before he could do anything.
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| Amy does it much better! |
It really is amazing the difference just a small change in your riding makes and the noticeable change in both the appearance of Ceaser and I. I finally feel like I have found an instructor that knows what they are talking about and speaks some sense - with a vast amount of knowledge. I'm definitely looking forward to our next lesson already!
In total we had spent 30 minutes doing all of the above exercises and so Amy said that was our warm up and I should aim for that when I ride.
Next it was her turn to get on and do some serious riding, which is amazing to watch. The difference in him with someone on his back that is a fantastic rider is quite something. One day i'll be there I suppose, but for now I'm having fun trying!
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