trot video

Finally captured the latest trot work ; it was really windy but he worked well. He is still uncertain with his balance and so his head/neck are not that stable but much improved I think. I'm using the 1/4's moving when I *loose* him (ie when he gets tooonward bound and ignores my aids) and I find that if I ask for a giravolta as soon as he stops listening then it engages the head and then as I increase the circle I can replace the shoulders in front of the 1/4's....until he looses himself again, lol.

perfect

Weather that is! Much cooler and less humid, minor shower but any rain is welcome.
Just about to tack up after the rain shower (instant dust supression) and Lydia runs in the yard as if the house were on fire. She HAD to get to her friends house to play; I resisted the urge to say *ask dad* as he was plumbing in the new dishwasher. Put Moo away and took her up the road to her friend's place.
By the time I got on board the shower had pretty much dried but the dust wasn't too bad. Still playing with the lateral work, moving the shoulders/quarters about and generally enjoying ourselves. I captured all the walk but no trot as I just left the video running from the start, oh well at least i have vid. Trot next time. I really have to crack the outside control, it feels/looks almost there but it's where I loose him every time.
Good news!! We bought a Ripoffair ticket for Wednesday :-)

friend to play

It was so lovely to see Di today, we played with Moo (Di sat on too) and she kindly shot some video for me. Afterwards we laughed lots and put the world to rights over a bottle of wine.

I've had a b*gger of a job with the video because movie maker seems to have uploaded it as lots of tiny clips of a couple of seconds each so I'm afraid it's the best I can do tonight.

Anyway, he wasn't quite right today and felt a little unlevel before he loosened up; after we finished and took him back up to the yard he seemed to be foot sore and I can only surmise that he is bruised.....so day off tomorrow and see him on the lunge Sunday.

He was, as always, FULL of beans and as you will see he tucks back behind and rushes on. However, it may be rather fast but he ISN'T leaning on me and it is slowly getting there.

Too tired to add anything constructive but thanks for coming over Di, great to see you.

careful what you wish for

Yes I did ask for some of the wet stuff but no, I didn't need shower after shower of *cats and dogs* proportions. Ah well, not going to moan as the school needed it badly; we had the outdoor tap connected yesterday so I can now sort out a watering system for the school before the next dry spell.

I rode Moo two days running (video above is the first one on Thursday) and worked him *up* as before. He is definitely finding his balance and is pretty light in my hands; he still drops on to my hand at the slightest loss of equilibrium but it's much more consistent and I'm really pleased with him.

I plan to ride him *up* at least twice a week with at least one session of him longer and out, this will give me the opportunity to work on *me*....goodness knows I need to. I'm trying to drop a couple of kgs before holidays and this will help me open my hips better, Moralejo is VERY wide and I struggle to get *around* him. With the opening of my hips in mind I have dropped my stirrups a hole, it's a little too much but it's working with the hip so we'll see how we go. I need to sit up more and connect my core but the sitting trot is feeling much better than it did in the last video so progress is there even if it's only small.

Oh yes, just a mention of the *high* hands; fully intended for the moment during the *up* stuffb mut they have lowered a little already and will do so further when I don't need to keep reminding him to adjust the balance backwards.

getting to grips with leg yield

Bless my child, this is holiday time and she's been having a go with the video camera. Unfortunately she is a true 8 yo and has the attention span of a flea, lol.

Being useless I can't seem to edit with any ease and so I have lots of boring early stuff (before we're actually awake!!) and by the time the decent stuff happens Lydia and the camera are long gone.

Anyway no excuses, here we are last week commencing our learning of leg yield in the outdoor school. We have done a little indoors but not in as much space as we have outside.

Moo isn't flexing enough in his hocks but I think that has improved this week.

Note to self, wear dark jods to help mask fat a*se......

Back to aids tmorrow, if I have time, Paul Belasik has stirred some great thoughts....just wish I was any good at writing them down.