Got to jump in my lesson yesterday, yay! This was the first time jumping since last spring (where I only had 3 lessons in jumping). The horses were on a program all summer designed to get them in really good shape so they wouldn't all go lame when the hard work of the fall term (and new riders) started. Didn't work, most of them went lame anyway, but it was a good thought.
Anyway, I jumped Dually, a bit 16-something hand thoroughbred. Wow the power! I did 4 jumps in a row, 3 of them about 1' 9". A lot for a beginner like me! My instructor, who was a different one than what I had in the spring or summer, gave me some good tips, like arching my back more. It was so much fun!
Can't wait until next week, maybe I'll get to jump some more!
Tomorrow I will be starting nanowrimo... National Novel Writing Month. I won't be writing a "novel" so much as a collection of memoirs. My sister and mom are doing it, too. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with all my other school work while I'm doing it!
Happy Halloween everybody!
Showing posts with label horses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horses. Show all posts
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
That went well
No, really, it did! No sarcasm intended. I am talking about my riding evaluation, of course. I was all worried about picking up the correct lead, but I managed to do that alright. I also demonstrated my two-point (at trot and canter) and rounding at the walk. That would put me at the B level (A is the highest, E lowest), except I've never jumped before. The woman who did my evaluation said that B-level riders know how to do small cross rails. So she'll put me in B or C depending on where it would fit better into the schedule. I'm happy with that!
The Sigma Alpha rush lunch went well yesterday, too. There were only 2 of us rushes, and 16 or so other girls, who are already part of SA. My friend L (who is already in SA) calmed my fears about SA putting another big time commitment on me. It would mostly be meetings once a week, on Mondays. So I'm thinking more seriously about doing it. There are two more rush events that I could go to: one Monay at 5, a greenhouse tour; and one Wednesday at 5:30, Valentine's Crafts. I would like the one Wednesday better, so I could make my husband a Valentine's day card, but I also have a meeting at 5 that same day (for collegiate 4-H) that I don't think I'll be out of by then. We'll see.
I'm sick today, so my brain is very fuzzy. I still have lots of homework to do that I didn't get to yesterday... So enough (fun) writing for now... back to the books!
The Sigma Alpha rush lunch went well yesterday, too. There were only 2 of us rushes, and 16 or so other girls, who are already part of SA. My friend L (who is already in SA) calmed my fears about SA putting another big time commitment on me. It would mostly be meetings once a week, on Mondays. So I'm thinking more seriously about doing it. There are two more rush events that I could go to: one Monay at 5, a greenhouse tour; and one Wednesday at 5:30, Valentine's Crafts. I would like the one Wednesday better, so I could make my husband a Valentine's day card, but I also have a meeting at 5 that same day (for collegiate 4-H) that I don't think I'll be out of by then. We'll see.
I'm sick today, so my brain is very fuzzy. I still have lots of homework to do that I didn't get to yesterday... So enough (fun) writing for now... back to the books!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Confession
I have a confession to make: I don't know how to ask a horse for the correct lead! I think I know, but I'm not sure... I've grown up riding, but don't know how to ask for the correct lead. Some horse person I am, right? Well, I can explain.
My family always did trail riding and packing, which does not involve a lot of cantering, let alone caring about the correct lead. All the horses I rode, until I went to OSU and played polo, did not know the cue for the correct lead, just the cue for "canter." When I got to OSU and played polo on the club horses, we didn't care about the correct lead too much, either, as long as they had stop and go down pretty well (some of them didn't).
I got a green horse for my 12th birthday, right around when I would have been learning more of the finer aspects of riding. So my horse and I learned together. However, she is three quarters Arabian, and very high strung. So in lessons and clinics, we did most of our work at the walk and trot. I got very good at rouding and half-halting at the walk and trot! When we did do canter work, it was focused on her being calm and more rounded, not even caring about the lead. At one clinic, when my horse and I demonstrated our canter, the clinician asked if I knew how to do flying lead changes. When I indicated that I didn't, he commented, "Well your horse was doing them back and forth!" I guess that means she's athletic. But, I already knew that. I kept her in shape to do competitive trail riding, the open division, which meant 20 to 30 miles a day in competition. Yeah, she didn't have a problem with flying lead changes... doing them on cue, however? We were (are) both clueless.
The reason I bring this up is because I am being evaluated on my riding tomorrow, for the Equestrian Club. They want to know where to put me for lessons, at what level. I am a very advanced horse person in some ways; I can do ground training, I have helped raise and train a couple foals; I have given beginner lessons before; half-passing, side-passing, turn on the haunches, half-halts, etc, all this I can do, and train a horse to do. Which would put me at a higher level, of course. Ask a horse for the correct lead? Puts me down with the people who don't know how to sit a canter or post. *sigh* I think that I'm supposed to bring my inside leg forward and my outside leg back, and give the cue to speed up... or is it the other way around? I don't know. In the past, I just rounded the horse going in the right direction, and they usually picked it up alright. If they didn't, I'd slow them to a trot and try again... but how much was my fault, and how much their lack of training? Guess we'll see tomorrow!
My family always did trail riding and packing, which does not involve a lot of cantering, let alone caring about the correct lead. All the horses I rode, until I went to OSU and played polo, did not know the cue for the correct lead, just the cue for "canter." When I got to OSU and played polo on the club horses, we didn't care about the correct lead too much, either, as long as they had stop and go down pretty well (some of them didn't).
I got a green horse for my 12th birthday, right around when I would have been learning more of the finer aspects of riding. So my horse and I learned together. However, she is three quarters Arabian, and very high strung. So in lessons and clinics, we did most of our work at the walk and trot. I got very good at rouding and half-halting at the walk and trot! When we did do canter work, it was focused on her being calm and more rounded, not even caring about the lead. At one clinic, when my horse and I demonstrated our canter, the clinician asked if I knew how to do flying lead changes. When I indicated that I didn't, he commented, "Well your horse was doing them back and forth!" I guess that means she's athletic. But, I already knew that. I kept her in shape to do competitive trail riding, the open division, which meant 20 to 30 miles a day in competition. Yeah, she didn't have a problem with flying lead changes... doing them on cue, however? We were (are) both clueless.
The reason I bring this up is because I am being evaluated on my riding tomorrow, for the Equestrian Club. They want to know where to put me for lessons, at what level. I am a very advanced horse person in some ways; I can do ground training, I have helped raise and train a couple foals; I have given beginner lessons before; half-passing, side-passing, turn on the haunches, half-halts, etc, all this I can do, and train a horse to do. Which would put me at a higher level, of course. Ask a horse for the correct lead? Puts me down with the people who don't know how to sit a canter or post. *sigh* I think that I'm supposed to bring my inside leg forward and my outside leg back, and give the cue to speed up... or is it the other way around? I don't know. In the past, I just rounded the horse going in the right direction, and they usually picked it up alright. If they didn't, I'd slow them to a trot and try again... but how much was my fault, and how much their lack of training? Guess we'll see tomorrow!
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