August 2016 Kenny Clinic
Although I had not ridden with Kenny since the spring, he immediately picked up on all of our current issues. He has an amazing eye and way of bringing out the best in a horse and rider. The first day of the clinic, we rode outside in the blazing heat. Gadget loves Robin's outdoor arena, so I was thrilled to be outside. I warmed Gadget up in walk, trot, and canter in my very long and low and stretching mode. It's brief, but I like to think it will help keep his back happy.
We then moved into some trot work. To the left, I am to get Gadget more "up" and ride less angle than is my tendency. The right shoulder-in is lovely, so there's not much to fix other than to take a touch of right rein to make sure the bend and flexion are clear. Trot halfpass felt good.
Canter halfpass to the left was sticky as Gadget thought I was collecting him for a pirouette and would take over. Kenny emphasized to keep straighter and move my right rein away from the neck help him move over. It's an odd feeling, but it helped.
In the pirouettes, the right one is quite nice so we didn't do much with it. The left one, Gadget majorly swings out with his haunches. Kenny had me ride the square exercise, with lots of little quarter turns. The key is getting control and getting Gadget to listen.
We finally touched on the tempi changes and my first attempts weren't bad. However, the more that I did, the more my inability to aid at the right time became clear. Kenny had me actually take a slight bend one direction and hold it for the whole diagonal through the series. He said to stop trying to move the shoulders around and just ride the changes. To make the point, he put me on a 20 meter circle. On the open side I was to make 3 changes. Eventually, he had me build up to riding the 4s on a circle -- all while maintaining the bend of the circle. It was actually eye-opening that Gadget can do those changes even if he is bent the wrong way. Super fun lesson! Gadget felt amazing, and the most encouraging group of women made me laugh even when I was majorly screwing up each exercise!
This clinic was definitely confidence building.
Although I had not ridden with Kenny since the spring, he immediately picked up on all of our current issues. He has an amazing eye and way of bringing out the best in a horse and rider. The first day of the clinic, we rode outside in the blazing heat. Gadget loves Robin's outdoor arena, so I was thrilled to be outside. I warmed Gadget up in walk, trot, and canter in my very long and low and stretching mode. It's brief, but I like to think it will help keep his back happy.
We then moved into some trot work. To the left, I am to get Gadget more "up" and ride less angle than is my tendency. The right shoulder-in is lovely, so there's not much to fix other than to take a touch of right rein to make sure the bend and flexion are clear. Trot halfpass felt good.
Canter halfpass to the left was sticky as Gadget thought I was collecting him for a pirouette and would take over. Kenny emphasized to keep straighter and move my right rein away from the neck help him move over. It's an odd feeling, but it helped.
In the pirouettes, the right one is quite nice so we didn't do much with it. The left one, Gadget majorly swings out with his haunches. Kenny had me ride the square exercise, with lots of little quarter turns. The key is getting control and getting Gadget to listen.
We finally touched on the tempi changes and my first attempts weren't bad. However, the more that I did, the more my inability to aid at the right time became clear. Kenny had me actually take a slight bend one direction and hold it for the whole diagonal through the series. He said to stop trying to move the shoulders around and just ride the changes. To make the point, he put me on a 20 meter circle. On the open side I was to make 3 changes. Eventually, he had me build up to riding the 4s on a circle -- all while maintaining the bend of the circle. It was actually eye-opening that Gadget can do those changes even if he is bent the wrong way. Super fun lesson! Gadget felt amazing, and the most encouraging group of women made me laugh even when I was majorly screwing up each exercise!
This clinic was definitely confidence building.
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