It was a bitter sweet clinic as it was the last time we will see Ryan until next Spring. It's amazing the progress that both horses have made this year.
1. Gadget
Over the last month, I'd tried to make Gadget more responsive to my leg in an attempt to get him a bit hotter for the twos. Last weekend, I had a couple great rides where Gadget was getting the twos relatively easily. Then, he didn't want to let me catch him from the field. I decided a couple days off were warranted since he hasn't been that skittish in the field in years. On Wednesday I rode him and he felt like crap. The canter felt like it had no life, so I put him away and hoped it was just an off day. By Friday, I felt like Gadget was feeling much improved.
Our ride on Saturday, Gadget felt pretty good but he did not want to keep the activity in the collection. So we focused on riding movements that would loosen him -- haunches in on a circle in canter, big sweeping and forward canter halfpasses, lines of threes and fours (perfect counts on the first try! woohoo!). These are all movements that don't require much sit from him. It was a good schooling ride for me to remember how to still make progress on days when Gadget may need a lighter load. After the ride, it dawned on me that I rode without my whip and I wondered if Gadget was a bit backed off because of that. Not sure.
On Sunday, Gadget felt much more with the program. He warmed up nicely and I could tell from the first canter that we were going to have better success. After loosening in the walk, trot and canter, we gave him a little walk break before returning to the canter. We worked on some forward and back and really keeping him more honestly stepping up in the shoulders in the collected canter. He willingly collected, so we did some steeper canter halfpasses and counter canter. We then moved on to the threes and twos. They went fairly well. I had some mistakes in some of the attempts but overall a huge improvement from last month. To my surprise, Ryan then said, go try two one tempis. I've played with these with Gadget for more than a year, but not recently. In my first request of Gadget, he did two one-tempis perfectly. Ryan said to to do two, then a few strides then do two more. That is harder than it sounds, so we had some unsuccessful attempts after. We finished with a couple good "flip flops." Ryan explained that in a horse that doesn't have the strongest canter, it can be hard to tie them together as it takes a lot of strength. He also said it's not uncommon to get a good couple ones, and then have trouble. He said sometimes horses think they made a mistake and you made them change back to the original lead. I'll have to be very clear with my praising of Gadget
We then did some of the pirouette work in the shape of a triangle. It's a little more than a quarter pirouette, but not quite as much as the half. Ryan seemed really pleased with this work. Gadget stayed more on the spot and sitting, especially to the right. To the left, he was sitting and staying on the spot, but I felt like the canter was on life support so I was over-riding him. I need to be able to sit there and let him canter around with feeling the need to curl forward.
Finally, we did some trot work -- halfpasses (felt good today) and lots of little trot to big trot. The key for this is to keep a good rhythm and not let it get quick. In the bridle it helps me to think of actually pushing both hands a bit forward and back to give Gadget a bit of rhythm in the reins. He seems to soften and get more cadence in the trot in a different way when I do this. We finished by getting Gadget into his smallest trot and doing turns on a square in that tiny trot. Ryan explained this will help strength each hind leg as it can't avoid carrying in those little turns. Hopefully this will eventually help build strength for half step work. And Ryan ended by saying, once again, there's still more in there. My little Gadget has come so far and it's amazing to think we are actually playing with all of the movement I once only dreamed about riding. It's such an amazing feeling and I am so, so grateful.
1. Gadget
Over the last month, I'd tried to make Gadget more responsive to my leg in an attempt to get him a bit hotter for the twos. Last weekend, I had a couple great rides where Gadget was getting the twos relatively easily. Then, he didn't want to let me catch him from the field. I decided a couple days off were warranted since he hasn't been that skittish in the field in years. On Wednesday I rode him and he felt like crap. The canter felt like it had no life, so I put him away and hoped it was just an off day. By Friday, I felt like Gadget was feeling much improved.
Our ride on Saturday, Gadget felt pretty good but he did not want to keep the activity in the collection. So we focused on riding movements that would loosen him -- haunches in on a circle in canter, big sweeping and forward canter halfpasses, lines of threes and fours (perfect counts on the first try! woohoo!). These are all movements that don't require much sit from him. It was a good schooling ride for me to remember how to still make progress on days when Gadget may need a lighter load. After the ride, it dawned on me that I rode without my whip and I wondered if Gadget was a bit backed off because of that. Not sure.
On Sunday, Gadget felt much more with the program. He warmed up nicely and I could tell from the first canter that we were going to have better success. After loosening in the walk, trot and canter, we gave him a little walk break before returning to the canter. We worked on some forward and back and really keeping him more honestly stepping up in the shoulders in the collected canter. He willingly collected, so we did some steeper canter halfpasses and counter canter. We then moved on to the threes and twos. They went fairly well. I had some mistakes in some of the attempts but overall a huge improvement from last month. To my surprise, Ryan then said, go try two one tempis. I've played with these with Gadget for more than a year, but not recently. In my first request of Gadget, he did two one-tempis perfectly. Ryan said to to do two, then a few strides then do two more. That is harder than it sounds, so we had some unsuccessful attempts after. We finished with a couple good "flip flops." Ryan explained that in a horse that doesn't have the strongest canter, it can be hard to tie them together as it takes a lot of strength. He also said it's not uncommon to get a good couple ones, and then have trouble. He said sometimes horses think they made a mistake and you made them change back to the original lead. I'll have to be very clear with my praising of Gadget
We then did some of the pirouette work in the shape of a triangle. It's a little more than a quarter pirouette, but not quite as much as the half. Ryan seemed really pleased with this work. Gadget stayed more on the spot and sitting, especially to the right. To the left, he was sitting and staying on the spot, but I felt like the canter was on life support so I was over-riding him. I need to be able to sit there and let him canter around with feeling the need to curl forward.
Finally, we did some trot work -- halfpasses (felt good today) and lots of little trot to big trot. The key for this is to keep a good rhythm and not let it get quick. In the bridle it helps me to think of actually pushing both hands a bit forward and back to give Gadget a bit of rhythm in the reins. He seems to soften and get more cadence in the trot in a different way when I do this. We finished by getting Gadget into his smallest trot and doing turns on a square in that tiny trot. Ryan explained this will help strength each hind leg as it can't avoid carrying in those little turns. Hopefully this will eventually help build strength for half step work. And Ryan ended by saying, once again, there's still more in there. My little Gadget has come so far and it's amazing to think we are actually playing with all of the movement I once only dreamed about riding. It's such an amazing feeling and I am so, so grateful.
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