2/27/13 Lesson

Today I rode Asti, the most adorable haflinger out there!  It has been forever since I rode him in early October, but it was great to be back on him again.  He is a horse that needs steady and even contact with no supples.  We flexed and I worked on keeping consistent leg on as he is a pony that needs to be ridden front to back.  A steady leg also makes for a better stride for him that is more extended, rather than a studder- like stride.  Once he was more through I was able to open my hands more an let him drop down into the contact while still maintaining connection.  We did many changes of direction, circles, figure 8's  to help him bend and keep his attention focused as he is a talented youngster.   We then did canter work in both directions.  He is a pony that you need to go through the whole motion to get nice jump in his canter.  He was very good!

Practice ride 2/22/2013

Tonight I rode Majik.  We worked on c-line halts and bending into corners.  We also did simple changes, leg yields from q-line and c-line and we practiced the IDA tests.  One thing that was good was with the tests i can easily anticipate transitions, so it was suggested to take time with transitions especially sincce there is time allowed in transitions if between two letters.

2/20/2013 Lesson

I had a lesson today on Majik.  it was a successful lesson as a pair.  We worked on halts and rotating my pelvis forward and bring my heels up with my thighs off.  We also rode simple changes and it was put in perspective to hold him back so he doesn't do it in one step (should be 2-4 steps) and also so you as a rider makes the change instead of him doing it.  I also rode my IDA test (training one).  Went very well on  a warm day :)

2/18/13 Practice Ride

I did a practice ride today to make up for last Friday when we got the blizzard.  I rode Vincent and with him I like to do a lot of bending where he is older.  We did serpentine's, figure 8's and direction of changes.  We also did halts and some turn on haunches to help him sit more on his hind end.  I also worked on my IDA test (training 1).  I have ridden the test before, so it is coming along nicely; I need to remember to gather reins on the free walk before" H"!  I always seem to space out then  Vincent was good :)

2/15/13 Practice Ride

Tonight I rode Fievel <3  I love this horse to death!!  Our canter work was better than our trot work.  He just gets in his moods to plow through your hands, so I did a lot of direction changes to throw him off and slow him down and that helped him bend and flex more although I had to do that as well.  We did some leg yielding and a couple halts too.  It was not as successful as I hoped.  We tend to g=have good lesson, but when it comes to practices rides, it is not always the result I wanted.  Hopefully we can practice more together, so our practice rides turn out successful.

An overview of previous rides this semester :)

Okay so this is the start of my blog for practice rides and lesson updates

So far this semester  I have had lessons on Majik, Fiona and Fievel <3.  I practice every Friday and that has mostly been on Vincent, but I did one on MKL day aboard the Fievel and will be riding him tonight too.  When I practice, I generally practice on staying loose in my hips, thighs and lower back, work on c-line halts, my sitting trot or my test for IDA along with things that we did in the lesson like leg yielding, turn on haunches or shoulder in.  With Vincent since he is older, I try to work a lot on bending with him and figure 8's, serpentine's and circles.  Lessons have been going well too!