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Sunday 27 May 2012

the easy going ride

today was a good ride.had mom be my lunge'r while i did stretching and relaxing exercises while i was mounted.with my hiatus i had, i have reverted back to my uncoordinated beginner days(yuck) and both me and mom thinking it was time to get some lunging while mounted miles in to relax and ride like i was before and  think more about what i am doing .of course it is a lil more harder on my green bean then a made horse,but he was a good boy and looked after me.
then mom got tired after a while and i went out on my own ,it was just a walking schooling day and did some lateral work to try to fix his problem of bulging his shoulder out/leaning to inside on the right rein.i have tried most things that i could think of to fix it.mom came up with the idea of using my dressage whip pointing towards his side of his face and while using my leg aids to just wave it by his face to keep him from over bending and come more into my inside rein , it worked.it may not be the most conventional,or pretty but it worked none the less,of course i didn't use it on his face,just a reminder to keep his head and neck straight and it seemed to fix the bulging shoulder problem,i think after some consistency of doing that he will get the connection of keeping himself straighter.we'll see how it goes.
ended the schooling with a run from the end of arena to the other,well not a run exactly..more like a awkward  forward canter.but wanted to end on something not so stressful and was fun  for him.

would like to add :its great i finally have a arena to work him more consistently.
found out this week my property will be done this summer and will finally have an arena and pasture here at home:)

Tuesday 22 May 2012

making strides

wow has it been a looong time since i have posted(feb 2012).alot has happened since then.so if any of you followers are still following..a big thank you too u:)
my horse is still getting moved back and forth between home and local stables.i have been in a higher end h/j stable,that didn't work..so came home again,then moved to a rescue that is known around my neck of the wood and after a couple months,that didn't work either..so was home again and now presently i had moved my horse to a ranch with a b&b.it is wonderful there,very quiet as it is up higher in the mountains,property owner is great and the horses too..my horse is well looked after.finally everything is going great.i have actually been riding doran quite consistently here and making strides in his training"finally".we even had our first canter this week and is the smoothest canter i have ever ridden.you know the horse AD terminology(has rocking horse canter).he is doing well for a first time.can only go one and a half times around before he and i crap out,but that will improve with fitness and time(me and him).just for fun we also just popped over a very small cross rail no bigger then a cavelleti. i was proud of him as he didn't even hesitate.and take into account this is also bareback.but i wasn't expecting him to persay. as he is a natural jumper and seems to love it.i was proud of him with all the progress he has done in a very short time.
we are going to leave jumping off for a while though, as i would like the flatwork to be more improved/solid as i think the jump training will come all that much easier and smoother,as most of you fellow h/j riders know.
as far as the flatwork goes he is still have some balance issues,especially around the arena corners.bulges his shoulder out when going around corners.i have tried lots of thing to correct it with all the training i have will allow.still haven't hit the right button yet and now contemplating going back to long lining and seeing if that works or just keep up trying/time correcting it undersaddle...what do you think?(comment with your thoughts and suggestions)
Doran is also celebrating his birthday today.is a may 22/2007 model and is given a gift of a day off.enjoy it well doran as its back to work this weekend.

thats it for now,stay tuned for more updated.trying to now be more consistent on blogging as things are finally progressing.