Schooling

Sunny Schooling

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Recently we have been having some absolutely glorious weather and it has been lovely to spend time outside.  It has often been too hot to ride except in the evenings or early mornings which is perfect for me when I am working!  The light is beautiful in the evenings and we have had some very enjoyable schooling sessions.

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I have very much enjoyed having the jumps back out again after we got the fields topped.  Galahad seems to have been enjoying them too.  His jumping has definitely improved in the last couple of months and he is taking off much further away from the jumps.  It feels rather odd still at the moment as I have got so used to him getting in close to the fences but it is a great step forward.

Birthday Jumping

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It has only taken me three months but this week I was finally able to use my birthday presents!

It was a very exciting moment as apart from the odd hop over a small log  we haven’t been able to jump at home since last autumn. My sister and I had a lovely time playing in the field and both ponies behaved very well.  Galahad loves jumping anyway but even Cookster was putting in some very nice jumps and looking beautiful.  Galahad is starting to take off further from the fences and is making a much better shape in general – I am very pleased with his progress.

We are starting to build up a proper little course now.  Hopefully we will be able to move the logs in from the other field soon and then we can have some cross country jumps too.  It is all very exciting!

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Taking a Tumble

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Galahad and I had another great lesson on Friday.  Our flatwork is steadily improving and my instructor thinks Galahad is looking less stiff and much better in general.

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Our jumping also went really well.  We again jumped the barrel with no trouble and this time we jumped the big, scary, white filler which was a first for him.  It is a real sign of growing up!

 

I followed that up with a lesson on my sister’s pony which didn’t go quite so well.  His legs are not so coordinated when it comes to jumping and we completely messed up the striding in the double.  He got his front legs tangled in the pole and we both fell down.  Luckily we were both relatively unscathed, if rather sandy.

The ponies are having a visit from the back lady this week so she’ll be able to check he hasn’t damaged himself.  If we had to fall we couldn’t have timed it better!

A Horsey Weekend

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The ponies are away for a couple of weeks again as we join in with my riding instructor’s horses for visits from the dentist and the back lady.  They saw the dentist on Thursday and were apparently very well behaved – I was at work so couldn’t be there.

It is very strange not having them at home.  Yesterday I had lessons on both of them in the morning and when I came home I didn’t know what to do with myself.  Normally if I have been out in the morning I come home and ride the ponies.  Yesterday I didn’t even have any mucking out to do!  It was most odd but I managed to occupy myself by watching the livestreams of Royal Windsor Horse Show and the Event Rider Masters at Chatsworth.  I just about had enough wifi signal to watch under the apple tree in the garden.  It was lovely!

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Galahad’s lesson went very well.  He felt a little stiff to start with but did loosen up and felt much better by the end.  I had a bit of trouble getting the correct canter lead on the right rein though.  A lot of that was due to him having a good look at things going on outside the school and bending the wrong way.

We had a great jumping session as well.  We began at about two foot which is probably the highest he has jumped to start – normally we work up from much smaller jumps.  We jumped all the scary jumps without a single run out and even went straight over the barrel, although Galahad had a good look at it first!  The first time we had a guide pole up at the side to help us but in our second round it was gone and we still sailed over.  We finished with a fairly substantial spread which Galahad flew over.  He is getting stretched a little more every time we go out but is taking it all in his stride.  Clever pony!

A Harrowing Time

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Over the winter our fields can get quite cut up which means that once the ground starts to dry out we are left with all sorts of lumps and bumps the ponies (and I!) can trip over.  It can make schooling rather difficult as we aren’t confident enough to go forward properly.  We haven’t jumped at all this year yet because the idea of tripping as we do is not pleasant.

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However, we finally managed to get the fields harrowed.  The fields are looking a lot better already and once the grass gets growing properly they should start looking lovely again.

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I schooled this morning and it definitely felt a nicer surface to ride on.  We didn’t trip once and I wasn’t at all worried about working Galahad properly.  Now I should finally be able to use the lovely jumps I got for my birthday.  I can’t wait!

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Getting Back in our Stride

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It was quite hard for me to start schooling again after I lost my brakes last week.  I can be quite a nervous rider and if I am worried Galahad gets worried which makes me worse and it is all a bit of a vicious circle.  My first step was to ride round the field a few times when we came back from a hack.  That went very well so I picked a day to actually try a schooling session.

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I was still a bit worried though and I found myself looking for reasons not to school but to hack instead.  It was a bit windy and drizzling but in the end I made myself ride into the field as I knew that if I didn’t it would be even harder the next time.

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In the end it all went very well.  Galahad was incredibly relaxed and I actually had a really lovely ride.  I even managed to canter without any trouble at all – even when we were heading towards home.  I finished up feeling very good about the ride (and quite proud of myself for riding in the first place).  Now we should be able to move on and start working together nicely.

 

Getting to Grips with Groundwork

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After Galahad and I had our schooling incident last week I was banned from riding when nobody else was home so I used my riding time for groundwork instead.  This is something I definitely do not spend enough time doing.  Galahad can be very stiff through his hindquarters and exercises like turns on the forehand and lunging over a curving line of poles are very good for getting him to use his hindlegs better.

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His turns on the forehand actually went very well – better than they ever have before I think.  He is starting to step through very nicely and he seemed to me to be tracking up better than usual too – his back feet were very nearly stepping right into the place where his front feet had been which is really good for him.

We even tried stepping sideways along a pole as we failed completely at that the last time we went to a trec event.  Galahad still didn’t really understand what I was asking but we were starting to get there and did manage a few steps in the right direction.  It is definitely something we can build on next time.

I was very pleased with the session.  It showed that we really are making improvements and it felt as though we were working more together and were recovering the bond which had been lacking a little over the last few days.  Galahad has very good manners but even so he had been getting a little tricky to catch and it was starting to feel a bit as though we weren’t communicating very well.  Now we seem to be back where we were and we are both happier for it.  At least, I am – I hope he is too!  It just shows how important it is to make time for groundwork.

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Schooling Woes

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Schooling this week has been interesting. I went out on Tuesday and although I didn’t feel like I had Galahad’s full attention – he felt very distracted and full of pent up energy – he was at least doing what I asked when I asked. Then my sister walked into the field, he apparently found her terrifying and we went tearing up to the other end of the field.  I wasn’t too concerned by that – he can still be very spooky – but he then galloped right back to the other end again which is less common.  The neighbouring farmer had just come into his field to feed his sheep which seemed like a possible reason for the second dash.

We went back to walking in circles and my sister went back indoors.  I was very aware of the farmer going through the next gate but Galahad didn’t react and I hoped that was it.

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It wasn’t.  Next thing I knew we were galloping up and down the field again.  I think it wouldn’t have been so bad but that particular field is very long and thin so Galahad can really get going before he has to stop or turn.  This time he ran into the field shelter which was rather scary as I had no option but to duck right down.  I did manage to stop him though and got off as it seemed safer!  I led him round the field a few times until the farmer had left and Galahad seemed more settled.  I knew I had to get back on but I got my Dad to hold Galahad as I did so.  I was barely back in the saddle before he took off again, straight into the shelter.  This time though I managed not to let him gallop up the field.  We walked a lot of circles near the gate and then ventured a little further which was going well until we turned back and Galahad tried to take off again.

This time though, I was starting to get the hang of him.  I couldn’t stop him immediately but I could direct him so we cantered several circles, then trotted a few and finally walked again.  When he eventually started to relax I stopped him and got off.  It seemed like a sensible idea to stop while we were ahead and not try to push it too much.

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It was rather an unnerving experience but hopefully we were just having a bad day.  I have ridden several times since then and although he once tried to canter home across the field we haven’t really had any more problems.  Everyone is entitled to an off day once in a while!

Schooling Excitement

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It is now just about dry enough to school in the field.  Most of the time.  If it rains it is still not really a good idea but I have managed to school twice this week which was brilliant!

In general the sessions went very well.  Galahad was pretty good at listening to me and although he spent a few minutes trying to load his right shoulder so he could go home it didn’t take him long to settle.  We did a lot of circles and changes of direction and he started working quite nicely.  We even managed some fairly decent turns on the forehand which have always been hard for him but are good for helping him to use his hindquarters properly.

The ground still isn’t perfect yet though.  We only had one little slip but it ended up being pretty dramatic.  We were cantering round a corner and it threw me off balance which made him spook and throw me further off.  We went cantering across the field with me practically coming off sideways.  I imagine it must have looked hilarious  but from on top it was bit worrying!   Luckily I managed to hang on, we recovered and the rest of the session went well.  It was a good start and we even got to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

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Back to School

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When I got on my half clipped pony for our lesson on Friday I was ready for anything.  He had never been clipped before and my sister has vivid memories of a freshly clipped pony throwing her off. In the event I needn’t have worried.  Galahad had a bit more energy  (a good thing) but that was all.  I could feel myself tensing ready for an explosion though which is definitely something I need to try to avoid.  The lesson went really well.  Galahad is perhaps a little stiffer than he was in the summer but that is only to be expected – we haven’t been able to school in months.  He is also still using his right shoulder as an escape route so I haven’t improved much there.  Hopefully as the ground dries out I will get the hang of stopping him.

We also jumped for the first time since before Christmas and I was thrilled with the way he went.  He had a good look at the water tray before he jumped it but he didn’t stop.  In fact,the only stop we had was at the scary fillers in the second part of the double.  Galahad was not at all keen on those but once we got over them once we had no trouble at all.

It was a really good session and clearly demonstrated that the clip was worthwhile.  Galahad had been working hard for an hour and wasn’t sweating at all.

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The next day I again took advantage of the limited time we had access to the school. Galahad was fully clipped by then but still behaving impeccably.  No jumping this time but still a good session and I think we were showing some improvement, even if it was erratic.  My sister was schooling her pony at the same time so we would switch between working in a fairly nice outline to working very hard at escaping through the shoulder towards them.  In general though it was very encouraging work.

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