Dee Dee is very sweet - but he's a very forward going and a very strong boy. It was quite a challenge - I struggled to get him to slow down in the trot because he is so bouncy... and in the canter he is extremely strong, but once you get him to settle he's awesome!
I will be riding Dee Dee until Flag gets better - hopefully my boy will be fine by this weekend.
 |
| Little chicks in Flag's stable. |
5 February 2011
I had my first lesson in three weeks' time on Flag today. He was nice and fresh :)... I so very nearly came off!!! He bucked me twice - BIG ONES!!! To such an extent that I was hanging over his neck... looking at the ground, thinking: okay... how am I going to do this without hurting myself. Luckily Pam yelled... hang on!!! Which I did.. and I managed to stay on. Bit nervous now to canter the little brat again, but let's see how it goes tomorrow.
6 February 2011
Today we swapped horses out in our self taught group lesson: Emma on Monty, Vee on Sox, Beatrice on Lily, Tristan on Flag and me on Flight. This was also a rather large achievement for me - since I'm still quite nervous of strange / unfamiliar horses... Flight was awesome though. He's much older than Flag, so obviously way more balanced. Flag was very naughty with Tristan and refused to canter on the left rein - so after our lesson I decided to hop back on him and make SURE he canters! He bucked again, but luckily I managed to stay on.
After the lesson myself, Veronica, Beatrice and Emma took our babies for a little walk down the road. They all behaved very well!
13 February 2011
 |
| Schnoz |
 |
| Lala - Johan's parrot. |
I'm lunging him twice a week now - also concentrating on making him listen to my voice commands. This week was a bit too wet to canter, but either way, it's a good bonding exercise.
In today's lesson I realized that my aids are not precise enough... I tried holding onto the saddle in order to keep my hands still - and in the process I realized that I don't put enough pressure on him with my legs and my outside leg is very weak! It was extremely hot as well - which made him lazy!!! Had to give him a smack with the crop to get him into a canter, which is not ideal but it worked.
15 February 2011
I had such an awesome ride today - we even trotted in the grass arena (which is still a bit of an issue for me), and then he lost a shoe again.... so.... will have to wait till tomorrow to see what the farrier says.
16 February 2011
No riding for 2 days... back to riding Deedee! After that I'll do very light riding every second day until Flag's hoof is strong enough again.
 | |
| Random pic I found: bunch of us at the 2010 Avis Derby. |
23-28 February 2011
We haven't been able to ride much lately - either because of the weather or because myself or Pam was sick. I have however come to the conclusion that the next thing we need to work on is our shapes and circles.
Flag keeps falling into the circle or out of the circle, but I suspect it might have something to do with me and my balance... gotta work on that now! I need to concentrate on keeping my shoulders parallel to his, my weight evenly distributed, my hands still and even and I really need to concentrate on my legs: the amount of pressure, when I apply the pressure and how that pressure corresponds with my use of the outside rein.
Things are going much better in the lunge and I've even started adding little trotting poles in an attempt to try and keep his attention (not always that successful but at least I can now see that he's responding much better to my voice commands)
