Today Max and I went off to our customary Saturday drill session at the arena in Gabriellano Park. Since the weather had warmed up in a major way this last week so there was definately no threat of rain for a change so it was defiantely T-shirt weather which was nice for a change.
In the course of riding over to the park, I anticipated that Max would give me some trouble crossing a stream that I have to pass on the way (it's right after riding under the bridges spanning Foothill Boulevard and the 210 Freeway. For the past few weeks, Max has balked at crossing a stream that he's walked through hundreds of times in the past. The correct solution would have been to school him but I was in too much of a hury so I'd wind up jamming him through with spur and crop. This time I'd allowed extra time because I intended to school him on this crossing. As we rode up to is, I prepared myself for a refusal and subtly gathered up both reins and shortened up the right on (usually Max will swing around to the left).
Well, lo and behold, Max walked right through the stream like it was nothing at all! Go figure! Just when I was ready to devote time and energy to school him, it's not an issue anymore (for now, I guess). That was definately a pleasant surprise!
I wish I can say that the rest of the day was just as pleasant. I got to the arena with time to spare so I proceeded to warm Max up with the usual array of exercises. For the first part of practice, things worked out well and Max had a good time, especially cantering in line (Max is beginning to match pace with the the horses in line).
But things began to deteriorate when, for whatever reason, people simply were not paying attention as to the positions of their horses in line and their pace, especially going into turns. Parts of the line were either going too fast or too slow with no regard to speed or pacing. This is especially rough on Max since he's not the quickest horse and I have to work harder to keep him in synch. Granted that I make mistakes too but if people aren't paying attention to those around them, it just doesn't work well. It seemed to be more of a mad dash at times.
Also complicating things is that a few of the horses are anti-social so you have to keep one eye the situation so they don't try and throw a hoof or try to bite. One horse just doesn't like to keep pace in line and he's constantly shooting off to one side or the other (because of his temperment, he's usually placed on one end of the line or the other). Personally, I think it's a training/discipline issue but I'm no expert.
The worst of it came when we were working on suicide passes at the canter- this is where two lines in extended order pass each other at the canter so as to interleave each other. This wouldn't be a problem except we didn't have the entire arena to work with so it was expected that each line would start in close order, sidepass to extended order, pass each other, sidepass back to close order and then wheel about and do it again. All at the canter. With the space we had, this might work well with something manueverable like an Arab, but it's a lot tougher with slower, bigger horse and with Max, it's a real challenge. The problem was that people were doing things in a rushed manner and Max was getting left behind- I just can't do the whole thing in a short span, especially with people not paying attention to their spacing so I keep having to adjust my speed.
Granted that operator error played a part- I won't lie there- but it was getting frustrating and Max was getting very frustrated because he was trying to keep up with the other horses and not paying attention to my cues. Finally, after one horse next to me swung his hindquarters into Max's flank, I decided to pull out and take a break. Max is getting frustrated and I was getting pissed off- best to cool out because I need Max to keep his head.
After a break, we then worked on some other manuevers and due to people not paying attention, I wind up getting crashed into by another horse and rider- lucky Max isn't disposed towards being nasty because this could have gotten dangerous and resulted in a kick or worse. At this point, the practice ended.
I guess what really irriates me is when people are not paying attention or not taking it as seriously as they should. Basically it was half-assed riding and it makes things a lot more difficult. I have had practice sessions where everything really fell into place because people were taking the time to line up their spacing, watch where other people are, and doing everything at a controlled pace. To me, it makes better sense to learn a new figure at a slower speed until everything clicks and then start doing it faster. Finally, we really need more room in the arena, something that's probably not going to happen since it's a public arena.
Overall, it was an exhausting four hours and my shoulders and legs were sore. Max definately got a large bucket for his efforts.
More later.
In the course of riding over to the park, I anticipated that Max would give me some trouble crossing a stream that I have to pass on the way (it's right after riding under the bridges spanning Foothill Boulevard and the 210 Freeway. For the past few weeks, Max has balked at crossing a stream that he's walked through hundreds of times in the past. The correct solution would have been to school him but I was in too much of a hury so I'd wind up jamming him through with spur and crop. This time I'd allowed extra time because I intended to school him on this crossing. As we rode up to is, I prepared myself for a refusal and subtly gathered up both reins and shortened up the right on (usually Max will swing around to the left).
Well, lo and behold, Max walked right through the stream like it was nothing at all! Go figure! Just when I was ready to devote time and energy to school him, it's not an issue anymore (for now, I guess). That was definately a pleasant surprise!
I wish I can say that the rest of the day was just as pleasant. I got to the arena with time to spare so I proceeded to warm Max up with the usual array of exercises. For the first part of practice, things worked out well and Max had a good time, especially cantering in line (Max is beginning to match pace with the the horses in line).
But things began to deteriorate when, for whatever reason, people simply were not paying attention as to the positions of their horses in line and their pace, especially going into turns. Parts of the line were either going too fast or too slow with no regard to speed or pacing. This is especially rough on Max since he's not the quickest horse and I have to work harder to keep him in synch. Granted that I make mistakes too but if people aren't paying attention to those around them, it just doesn't work well. It seemed to be more of a mad dash at times.
Also complicating things is that a few of the horses are anti-social so you have to keep one eye the situation so they don't try and throw a hoof or try to bite. One horse just doesn't like to keep pace in line and he's constantly shooting off to one side or the other (because of his temperment, he's usually placed on one end of the line or the other). Personally, I think it's a training/discipline issue but I'm no expert.
The worst of it came when we were working on suicide passes at the canter- this is where two lines in extended order pass each other at the canter so as to interleave each other. This wouldn't be a problem except we didn't have the entire arena to work with so it was expected that each line would start in close order, sidepass to extended order, pass each other, sidepass back to close order and then wheel about and do it again. All at the canter. With the space we had, this might work well with something manueverable like an Arab, but it's a lot tougher with slower, bigger horse and with Max, it's a real challenge. The problem was that people were doing things in a rushed manner and Max was getting left behind- I just can't do the whole thing in a short span, especially with people not paying attention to their spacing so I keep having to adjust my speed.
Granted that operator error played a part- I won't lie there- but it was getting frustrating and Max was getting very frustrated because he was trying to keep up with the other horses and not paying attention to my cues. Finally, after one horse next to me swung his hindquarters into Max's flank, I decided to pull out and take a break. Max is getting frustrated and I was getting pissed off- best to cool out because I need Max to keep his head.
After a break, we then worked on some other manuevers and due to people not paying attention, I wind up getting crashed into by another horse and rider- lucky Max isn't disposed towards being nasty because this could have gotten dangerous and resulted in a kick or worse. At this point, the practice ended.
I guess what really irriates me is when people are not paying attention or not taking it as seriously as they should. Basically it was half-assed riding and it makes things a lot more difficult. I have had practice sessions where everything really fell into place because people were taking the time to line up their spacing, watch where other people are, and doing everything at a controlled pace. To me, it makes better sense to learn a new figure at a slower speed until everything clicks and then start doing it faster. Finally, we really need more room in the arena, something that's probably not going to happen since it's a public arena.
Overall, it was an exhausting four hours and my shoulders and legs were sore. Max definately got a large bucket for his efforts.
More later.
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