Today was the first ride of the year and it was an eventful ride, it wasn't the best riding that we have ever done but it was good enough for me to know what I need to work on before my competition in march.
We started up warming up, Fiona said that I needed to figure out what the optimal warm up time for both Gatsby and I is, for us this is no more than 20 minutes, probably 10 minutes in walk/trot stretching, followed by 5 minutes to completely stretch out at a walk and relax, then another 5 minutes starting to collect him and add a couple of little bits of canter in! I've got to remember that this is mine and Gatsby's first trip out together so we might not win but we can only do the best that we can do. Also that I am not to put myself under extra pressure just because this competition is at Broomfield, yes there are going to be people there that want to see what Gatsby is like now but I am not to let that bother me.
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| stretching and Gatsby doing his giraffe impression, stretching. |
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Starting to pick up the contact slowly, just look at how he's looking now and his muscles! Gorgeous boy!
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After we had warmed up for about 25 minutes we realised that we were working at our peak moment, that was how we figured how long we needed to warm up for. We had some lovely canter work, it was really good. Our first canter transition went from the trot in to the canter in an outline, it felt amazing! However the problem was that we couldn't quite keep it together so we need to work more on this in the next couple of weeks, instead of having a jumping lesson on a monday we are building up the canter and keeping the canter going for as long as possible. This will be hard work but by March I want to be able to go around the school and do a circle three times before feeling tired.
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| Pretty pony! love how this horse moves, so glad to have been back on Gatsby and to have a good first ride of the year! |
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| Head definitely needs to be slightly straighter he's just popping his nose to the left a little bit, we also need to get Gatsby in to a snaffle. |
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| Canter, he has such an uphill canter, need to work more on that sodding lower leg though I will get there one day. |
After we had talked about this and decided on this we moved on to practicing the dressage test, the test that we needed to look at was Prelim 14 but there is also Prelim 12. I'm not quite sure which test I am going to be doing yet but when I do know i'll let you all know. The test wasn't ridden to the best of our ability because by this point I was starting to get quite tired, I rode the whole test through once and then Fiona gave it me to copy so that I can learn it, to be able to ride it. The canter parts were okay, they were better during the second time cantering. Over all I am really pleased with the work that I have done and I know what I need to do to get better work in the future and how to get the best results on the day, lets be fair, this was only practice one we have three months of practice to go.
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| I adore this photograph, I don't know why it just feels like everything is slowly coming together, so happy with this horse and our work, we will get there one day, after all dreams do come true! |
The Next thing that I have decided that I want to start doing is running, I need to improve my stamina which will help to improve my riding. So I've been looking on the internet and think that I want to do the Couch to 5k running challenge, I am not 100% sure how this will go asI'm not a natural runner, but I'll keep you guys up to date on that.
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| I do quite like this photograph too! Leg position looks a bit better but hands way too low, One day Gatsby and I will get there! |
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| Just before we broke in to trot. |
Until Next Time
The canter always seems the hardest! I know I've been really trying to work on that as well. I hope you can get to where you would like to be before March that way everything feels easy peasy. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that we will be able to I'm not having any time off between now and then so the best that we can do is try hardest but i'm positive we can do it :D
DeleteLooking good! I'm with you on the canter work :) I can give a good review of the couch to 5k app - I used it and I'm NOT a runner. Just don't overdo it, repeat days or weeks as needed. I had to suck up my pride and repeat a lot of days, but I did it and it got easier and felt like such an accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteThank you, canter work i just find takes so much more out of me than doing lots of trot work, so just got to get my stamina up a little bit more. i'll have to try the app and see what i think.i'll probably have to repeat days until i get there but will get there in the end. :D
DeleteGood, uphill canter work can be so hard. Looks like your arena is a big mud puddle, glad you are still getting to ride in what looks like some wet weather.
ReplyDeleteI'll get there in the end, just need to build my core muscles up a bit more and get more stamina ;D, the arena is a massive puddle at the minute, it's where all the snow has melted and then we have had rain as well, only thunder, lighting and really bad winds stops us from riding! :D
DeleteI hate running, but the couch to 5k was actually really cool. I didn't finish it though because I just didn't have a goal motivating me and running is so boring to me. Since you have an actual goal to work toward I bet you will like it. Just be careful not to overdo it. It's designed to repeat things, not to push trying to do it in consecutive weeks.
ReplyDeleteGatsby is so gorgeous! I love his adorable star/snip. That's my favorite face marking. I wish you could buy him. :) You guys look so awesome together!! The only thing I notice, and I've mentioned it before so I hope you don't think I'm nagging, but shortening your reins would make it easier for you to bend your elbows. Your reins are way too long I think. I had a hard time learning to bend my elbows because I grew up riding western with straight arms, so my trainer had me put a whip behind my back, in front of my elbows. It helped a lot. Now it's habit to keep my elbows against my sides. :) Keep up the great work! I can't wait to read about the show. I know my comments are way too late to be any help at this point. I can't believe it's already May!
The running kind of went out the window I used to life running but recently I just couldn't motivate myself to do it so I haven't done it. I'm hoping to start going walking with Jack soon more because I know that he will kick my ass in to shape.
DeleteI love Gatsby he will always be my favourite horse for so many reason. He has taught me so much over the years not just about riding but about life and trust as well. And I love the bond that I have with him. He means the world to me to be honest. Hes my little slice of heaven in my Mad life. Your definitely right about my elbows and the reins it is something that I am working on at the moment and am hoping to improve. In the next couple of days I'll be posting more recent pictures so you'll have to let me know your opinions xx
Yay I can't wait to see the new pictures!! :D
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