Now that mid-terms are over, I took the opportunity to get back to some serious riding and re-connect with Max. It's a real pain going for four days at a time without riding- drives me nuts and Max gets all lazy and buzzed-up, in turns.
On Saturday Max and I went to Warhorse practice at the arena at Gabriellano Park. I made sure to lunge Max a bit before saddling him- just to blow upt the crazies. After making my preparations, I rode Max over to the arena (I was the first one there) and began to warm him up- Max presented no issues and slowly I worked him up to the canter and practices transitions. I also works some on turning on the fore-end and the haunches (turning on the haunches has been my recent area of focus).
Max got back into the swing of things very nicely and this was very evident when we cantered in line. Max kept perfect pace and presented no issues. It's too bad not everyone's horse was as practiced- it gets irritating when horses won't hold formation so I'm forces to dodge other horses and riders- it's like racing down a littered road at high speed.
After practice was complete, Max had to patiently stayed tied up in my friend's backyard while we had lunch. In the past, he's been a bit anxious and expects to immediately go home to the stables. I'm trying to train him so that he'll just have to accept that we go home when I say we go home. We still have some progress to make but it wasn't bad.
On Sunday, I took my usual lesson and one of the big areas we're working on currently is turning on the haunches. You may THINK you're turning the horse on the haunches but in reality you're moving both front and back- kind of like spinning a coke bottle. A true turn on the haunches involves the horse actually putting weight on the haunches and crossing his legs. This is not easy to achieve so we've started by doing modified roll-backs but in stead of turning completely around, we make a 90-degree turn and then walk or trot off. I still have a ways to go on this and I'll have to practice more but I know what I need to do.
After my lesson, a friend and I went up into the hills on a trail that was new for me. It has some very steep uphill and downhill portions and we took a good part of the trail at a trol. My friend was on one of his Arabina horses so Max was struggling to keep up- he was covered in sweat. Every so often we'd pause to Max could blow out.
This trail is located to the west of where I board- I normally don't go over there since it involves crossing Osborne Street, which is a narrow two-lane highway with blind spots (I'll have to take some pictures at some point and post them here). The scenary was certainly beautiful with Lupine adn Mustard in bloom. What is nice about this train is that it provides a good workout for horse and rider but it's not too long like the Doc Larsen Trail (nor as well-travelled) and it's easier to access. I'm going to have to add this one to my program. This definately was a workout for Max and I think we've gotten a good start on conditioning.
Overall, it was a busy weekend for both Max and I and hopefully the start of a good riding season.
Max got back into the swing of things very nicely and this was very evident when we cantered in line. Max kept perfect pace and presented no issues. It's too bad not everyone's horse was as practiced- it gets irritating when horses won't hold formation so I'm forces to dodge other horses and riders- it's like racing down a littered road at high speed.
After practice was complete, Max had to patiently stayed tied up in my friend's backyard while we had lunch. In the past, he's been a bit anxious and expects to immediately go home to the stables. I'm trying to train him so that he'll just have to accept that we go home when I say we go home. We still have some progress to make but it wasn't bad.
On Sunday, I took my usual lesson and one of the big areas we're working on currently is turning on the haunches. You may THINK you're turning the horse on the haunches but in reality you're moving both front and back- kind of like spinning a coke bottle. A true turn on the haunches involves the horse actually putting weight on the haunches and crossing his legs. This is not easy to achieve so we've started by doing modified roll-backs but in stead of turning completely around, we make a 90-degree turn and then walk or trot off. I still have a ways to go on this and I'll have to practice more but I know what I need to do.
After my lesson, a friend and I went up into the hills on a trail that was new for me. It has some very steep uphill and downhill portions and we took a good part of the trail at a trol. My friend was on one of his Arabina horses so Max was struggling to keep up- he was covered in sweat. Every so often we'd pause to Max could blow out.
This trail is located to the west of where I board- I normally don't go over there since it involves crossing Osborne Street, which is a narrow two-lane highway with blind spots (I'll have to take some pictures at some point and post them here). The scenary was certainly beautiful with Lupine adn Mustard in bloom. What is nice about this train is that it provides a good workout for horse and rider but it's not too long like the Doc Larsen Trail (nor as well-travelled) and it's easier to access. I'm going to have to add this one to my program. This definately was a workout for Max and I think we've gotten a good start on conditioning.
Overall, it was a busy weekend for both Max and I and hopefully the start of a good riding season.
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