Saturday 23 February 2008

What a windy day!

I taught and rode today but all the horses (apart from one old pony who has seen it all) were on their toes.
People on the yard were saying that it might be a combination of the spring grass coming through, the strong wind and just overall excitement that horses seem to exhibit towards spring month. Either way all the monsters were a bit of a handful, Hamlet including. I am continuing to school him on the grass in the preparation for our first event in a month time but hell, it's so hard to relax him on the fields. He just knows that the grass means party and fast play and I am not happy with the amount of tension he still shows in his movement.
I worked on his transitions today and they were something in between very tense and tense and went a bit like this: walk to halt: oh, what was that in the bushes? Hamlet, look straight ahead! Oo, ok, oops, was it a deer on the left?? Hamlet, look straight! Right, ok, I can't look left and right...I will just stand nicely...but, hey, look at that! On the left! etc

The wind didn't help either sending all the leaves into shivering tango, any accidental rubbish whirling in the air and various noises travelling with the heightened speed.
Oh well, we did get some good work in the end. I rode him through my test, Intro Eventing Dressage Test 101, and I was really pleased with the canter work. The flexions are pretty impressive too considering that a month ago there were non-existent.

This first event will be very much a test!
Share:

2 comments

Rising Rainbow said...

I've had days like this. lol Horses, gotta love 'em.

Unknown said...

hehe, he was impossible but yes, you just have to love the beasts :)

© Riding Instructor's Diary | All rights reserved.
Blogger Template by pipdig