Skip to main content

February Kenny Clinic

Image
By
It's been such a long time since I posted that I don't know where to begin. Work has been all consuming over the last couple months, so Gadget has had very light work. In mid-February I rode with Kenny again in a 2 day clinic. It was extremely helpful. One of the most important points he made was that I need to sit UP. I tend to bit on the back of my seat with my shoulders behind the motion in a constant driving seat. I am trying to be more conscious of sitting up and staying with the horse.

Walk
  • I was warned not to chase the walk. Gadget has a nice natural walk.
  •  I need to let my legs hang and if Gadget gets a bit slow, give him one good kick, then leave him alone.
Trot
  • Get him more energized by trotting longside, walk in corner, and turn on the forehand by really swinging his haunches, then immediately trot the same long side. Gadget loved this.
  • Lengthening
    • think of actually bumping his nose up and out -- do not let him lean! Then use legs further back, and ask him to go!
    • Also, ask for lengthening on open end of circle with a bit of legyielding out on circle. The laterla movement loosens the shoulders.
  • Gadget's renver is better than his shoulder-in. In both movements, think of a bouncing ball in your seat to keep it loose and keep the rhythm. Ask him for the position, but do not HOLD him there. Must soften the hand and let him stay there.
Canter
  • Gadget gave lovely simple changes on the diagonal. After the walk transition, leg yield off of new inside leg before asking for canter
  • Walk to Canter transition
    • To the left especially, ask him to accept outside rein before making transition to canter. If he throws his head up, do not fix with the rein; kick him with inside leg.
  • Canter halfpass
    • School shoulder-in in canter, then move him over a few steps.
    • To get control in halfpass, move between shoulder-in in straight line, then halfpass a few steps, then half pas.
    • To avoice anticipating flying changeson centerline, school simple changes on center line from halfpass.
    • He also needs to get a smaller canter for the half passes to be successful
  • Collected canter
    • needs to spend more time in a slower canter getting stronger (this is counter-intuitive to me because of his slow hind legs, but he certainly needs to ge stronger).
    • he gets very active when we begin to school flying changes. I need to be able to find that canter other times!
  • Flying changes
    • He dives down in the right to left change. I need  to think of the same up and out feel as the lengthened trot
    • Kenny said to focus on straightness.
    • My timing is not good enough in the changes yet, but Gadget gives a good response. He often changes behind, but is not up enough in front to change. We can fix this.
    • He recommended that Third level test 3 might be the best test for Gadget while we fix the straightness of the changes.
I'm sure there is more but these are a few of the key points!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When old becomes new - update to my old Pikeur Diana!

By
Here is the finished product! It was a plain black jacket so I added white and light blue trim with RHINESTONES! It's very sparkly! Here's a closeup of the collar, which looks better than the pocket. Now I am going to try to add coordinating trim (minus the rhinestones) to the saddle pad.
Post a Comment
Read more

2014 - New Year, New Goals

By
This past year was a great year for me and Gadget. Although we had our ups and downs, I've learned a lot this year. We made our third level debut, earned our bronze medal in only two shows, improved the flying changes dramatically, and earned Champion for Adult Amateurs at third level in my GMO.  For 2014, I have several goals: Keep Gadget's back feeling good. I think I have found a good combo of chiro, shoeing, saddle fit, and vet maintenance to prevent him from getting sore rather than waiting until he's in pain. Hopefully it works this year. Continue improving Third Leve l. Last year was a great intro to third level, but I am finally learning to ride Gadget more uphill, which is improving everything. This year I want to try 3-2 and 3-3. The canter-halfpass is still tough for us, but it's looking better. I am going to work to fix things that are easy points -- halts, turn on the haunches, transitions, and good centerlines. I am going to focus on the quality o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kenny Clinic - May 9-10

By
As usually Kenny's keen eye helps me fine tune my work with Gadget. I rode Gadget a bit more forward than I do with Kristin, but I felt that I kept the activity in the canter an kept him true in my hand. On video, the canter looked great. As usual, I am still holding too much on my left rein, and softening solves nearly every problem. Things to work on: Left Halfpasses -- the quarters trail in both trot and canter halfpasses. Both Kristin and Kenny told me to ride Gadget with slight haunches in to the left. I especially need to do this (or think this) when going into halfpass. Otherwise, I lose the haunches through most of the movement. Very Collected Canter -- I rode 4-1 with Kenny and the circle with the very collected canter strides is tricky for me. I need to think of pushing his haunches in with my outside leg. If I try to get more bend from inside leg, I get a change. Left change - I need to soften leg reins and let him move that direction. (Changes in general need...
Post a Comment
Read more