It seems that if anything is going to happen to someone, it happens to me. I had a dressage lesson booked in for the morning of the yards Christmas party and I was determined I wanted to go out and have a good lesson to round off the new year.
We arrived in Grimsby just short of 5 minutes to spare until my lesson but thankfully they were running a little late so I had another 10 minutes or so to get tacked up and hop on, which is plenty. After arriving at the yard I asked if there was a stable spare for Sara - Ceaser's travel buddy - to go in as the yard we were at are don't like horses tied to lorries in their car park. They happily gave me a stable and off I went to warm up.
Just as I was about to start my lesson Mark came over to say Sara had cut her nose and it was bleeding rather heavily. With quick instructions on what to do I got on with my lesson.
Tracey is lovely and always full of praise for Ceaser, which is really reassuring. She began to reiterate how much she likes his 3 paces and way of going, which fills me with confidence. She asked me to begin by doing some simple warm up exercises whilst she watched him for a few minutes. Within a few minutes she noted he tends to rush out of his transitions and she wanted to focus on getting him a little bit more steady and just bending around my inside leg a little more.
She asked me to do a few half halts as I was coming in and out of transitions but keep the leg on enough so he knew to keep going forwards, but enough to know I wasn't happy for him to rush. After a few tries he seemed to improve and Tracey commented that he really does try his best for me, but sometimes I just need to relax and "trust" he can do it for me.
Next up came the difficult part. Tracey said we were going to focus on transitions for the lesson and getting him sitting back on those hocks a little, whilst continuing to improve how uphill he worked. At every marker she asked me to do a 10metre circle and in the second half of the circle do a transition. So, i'll try to explain. As we begun in walk, when we came to the next transition we asked for trot in the second half of the next circle. Then we trotted on to the next marker and in the second half of that circle asked for walk, then walked to the next marker and in the second half of the circle asked for trot, and so on. Tracey said it would keep his busy brain ticking as he wouldn't know what was coming next. She also wanted me to focus on getting the correct bend within the circle and ensure he didn't rush. If he rushed I had to come down a gait and then ask for it again, so he could realise the best way to go about it was steadily.
After we had mastered this on each rein (and it is much harder than it sounds!) we had a go starting in trot and then moving up to doing the circles in both trot and canter. We soon established that on rein he rushes a lot more and I found it more difficult to keep the circle rounded whilst not rushing. I really like how Tracey helps me remain calm throughout as she almost second guesses when I am getting frustrated with myself and uses several techniques to then do something that makes me feel positive.
Soon enough the lesson was over again and I was really impressed with what we had worked on. Tracey told me to stop doubting our abilities and their was nothing to say we couldn't aim for teams in the New Year - Ceaser was certainly capable. She said his consistent paces are brilliant and where he may loose marks for not always being uphill, he will gain them for always working consistently.
What a fabulous way to end the year - I cannot wait for more training with Tracey in the New Year!
Whilst I was having my lesson I had no idea just how bad Sara's cut nose was! Mark and Perry had done all they could for her but were worried and wanted me to give a second opinion. Upon looking at it, it looked nasty but she didn't seem fussed and the bleeding had stopped so I made the suggestion we get home and see how it was once home where I had all of my creams to hand!
Thankfully it didn't bleed anymore and Sara had no trouble eating and drinking as normal so there was no need for the vet. After a few days it healed up perfectly and you can't see she ever cut it. Blooming' horses!
(Apologies for this post being late, I have been poorly in hospital so unable to post and am just catching up!)
Next up came the difficult part. Tracey said we were going to focus on transitions for the lesson and getting him sitting back on those hocks a little, whilst continuing to improve how uphill he worked. At every marker she asked me to do a 10metre circle and in the second half of the circle do a transition. So, i'll try to explain. As we begun in walk, when we came to the next transition we asked for trot in the second half of the next circle. Then we trotted on to the next marker and in the second half of that circle asked for walk, then walked to the next marker and in the second half of the circle asked for trot, and so on. Tracey said it would keep his busy brain ticking as he wouldn't know what was coming next. She also wanted me to focus on getting the correct bend within the circle and ensure he didn't rush. If he rushed I had to come down a gait and then ask for it again, so he could realise the best way to go about it was steadily.After we had mastered this on each rein (and it is much harder than it sounds!) we had a go starting in trot and then moving up to doing the circles in both trot and canter. We soon established that on rein he rushes a lot more and I found it more difficult to keep the circle rounded whilst not rushing. I really like how Tracey helps me remain calm throughout as she almost second guesses when I am getting frustrated with myself and uses several techniques to then do something that makes me feel positive.
Soon enough the lesson was over again and I was really impressed with what we had worked on. Tracey told me to stop doubting our abilities and their was nothing to say we couldn't aim for teams in the New Year - Ceaser was certainly capable. She said his consistent paces are brilliant and where he may loose marks for not always being uphill, he will gain them for always working consistently.
What a fabulous way to end the year - I cannot wait for more training with Tracey in the New Year!Whilst I was having my lesson I had no idea just how bad Sara's cut nose was! Mark and Perry had done all they could for her but were worried and wanted me to give a second opinion. Upon looking at it, it looked nasty but she didn't seem fussed and the bleeding had stopped so I made the suggestion we get home and see how it was once home where I had all of my creams to hand!
Thankfully it didn't bleed anymore and Sara had no trouble eating and drinking as normal so there was no need for the vet. After a few days it healed up perfectly and you can't see she ever cut it. Blooming' horses!
(Apologies for this post being late, I have been poorly in hospital so unable to post and am just catching up!)
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