Pedro
7th Dec 2000, 03:46 PM
Hello everyone, I'm afraid this chronicle is long-winded and not that funny. Pretty much as the day was :-)
Friday, 1 December
One more holyday, one more crowded lesson!
Everyone was expecting a calm day at the barn. People will go out, enjoying the extended weekend, so they will not show up. Or so we had reasoned... Either we were wrong, or everyone decided to take advantage of this "calm" holyday to compensate for lost lessons. In the end we had lessons a little too crowdy to be particularly useful. Everyone understands that it is impossible for Francisco to keep any organization in these days, with people missing and others unexpectedly showing up. So we all make the most of it and try to have fun :-)!
I had told Francisco I was in no kind of hurry, so though I was at the barn by half past three, my lesson only started by six. I spent the intervening time watching the other lessons. The first one was mostly kids with less experience, with the exception of the boy leading the class that showed some real knack for it (he was quite better than I am). The second lesson was mostly a little more experienced adults. The leading student was another, slightly older, boy showing a lot of skill. I had the dark pleasure, over the length of the lesson, of seeing an adult rider, more experienced than me, unable to keep Lord from getting inside on turns :p.
For me the focal point of this second lesson was a poor girl, probably not much younger than me, on one of her first lessons off the lunge. Finding herself with six(!) other riders, all a lot more advanced, and riding a horse that can be a real plough if you let him, was certainly not motivating. Jubileu, knowing she was a shy novice, would not move any faster than a slow walk. She would try a good progression of aids with absolutely no results. Francisco told her repeatedly to smack Jubileu with the crop, but the soft taps she was using would not have bothered my eight month nephew. I was just imagining Jubileu dropping down and rolling on the floor laughing! With the other students to attend Francisco let it drop and so Jubileu got away with it.
As we were preparing for my lesson, and Francisco was distributing horses, he told me to choose the one I wanted. I told him I already had one in mind and proceeded to get Juby out again. After the last lesson with Lord I wanted to experiment further into lazy behaviour. I was well aware that after the last lesson Juby out be spoiled silly. Just the challenge I was looking for!
I went to Jubileu's box to get him. Confirming my expectations he refused to move. After a few tries to turn him around and get him going led nowhere, the skilful boy from the last lesson passed by, saw my plight and offered help. Even with him pulling Juby from the front and trying to curve him and me from behind pushing, slapping, tapping with the crop and ultimately shouting, we were unable to move him. I know that two guys inside the horse's box making a bit of a commotion is not very wise. Personally I would not even consider it with any other horse at the school. But Juby just stood there unflinching. He didn't flatten or turn back his ears, no white showing in eyes. He just retreated to the corner and waited for us to tire. Come to think of it I've never seen Juby show any sign of fear or anger, to humans or fellow horses. As bomb proof a horse as ever I've seen (not that I've seen many, anyway). In the end Francisco's daughter saved the day and took the whole of ten seconds to get him out :-D! A stern reminder to use tact and not insistence to get things done.
The lesson itself was worse than I had expected. When we were to trot Juby simply ignored me, no amount of leg got through to him. Even the crop at the shoulder gave no results. I had to use the crop at the hip, and he only started trotting at the third try when I smacked him a little harder. The first ten minutes of the lesson went pretty much along this lines. Progressively he began to respond better, so after this initial period the crop was no longer necessary. I wouldn't be praised by the lightness or invisibility of my leg aids, but at least I no longer needed to be rough. I also found that he was more responsive to extremely backward leg aids. Using the leg so far back during rising trot proved so awkward that I managed to toss the right stirrup leather out of the stirrup bar not once but twice! That gives a all new meaning to "loosing your stirrups" :-).
I knew very well that Juby is not usually like this. I've ridden him a few times without this difficulty, so I was reasonably sure it was not a matter of wrong aids or discomfort. But even if I knew that being relentless from the start would improve matters sooner, and in the end spare him more grief. Still I would wish I knew of a better way of dealing with these situations :( (any suggestions?).
After this the rest of the lesson was quite a breeze. While at sitting trot I could incite him forward while controlling the speed and he would change to a different gait. Instead of dragging himself around the arena he would put more "bounce" into it. It was like going from riding a square wheel to riding a large rubber ball. I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but it felt a lot better and was a great deal easier to sit to :-).
Speeding up while in rising trot was not a problem, it only took a little more encouragement. Canter was also trouble-free, once again the transition was a bit messy, but while cantering I'm becoming more and more relaxed. I can now concentrate on other problems like posture, working rhythmically with the leg and preventing my arms from flapping sideways like a funky chicken :-D! Because Juby (lazy and slow as he is) is willing to stay in canter without much encouragement and doesn't try to evade in any other way, he is a great horse to practice it.
Needless to say, during all this time turns and circles were a bloody mess, but I thought I'd better not bite more than I could possibly chew so, although I kept insisting, I didn't concern myself over it. The frustrating part is that Juby is very responsive to side pressure when going straight (and he doesn't care which way you want him to drift). On the whole there was not much into this lesson, there were too many of us riding at different levels.
After the lesson - and now for something completely different - I hung around the barn, mostly around Jubileu. I took the saddle and bridle off and spent a long time just patting and scratching him on the neck and cheek. All the time he just stood there, with his head outside the box and eyes half closed. Once in a while he would raise his head over mine and pass it to the other side of me. In a previous lesson I had tried to lift another school horse's hoof after unsaddling, but I had been ignored. I tried it with Juby and as I slid my hand over the back of his leg he promptly took the weight off and let me raise it.
I think the reason I like this horse so much (besides the fact he is 17hh :D) is because he has so much (maybe too much) of a quality I lack - calmness!
While I was there I watched the owner of Jénio, the big beautiful white Lusitano I'd told you about in one of the first lessons, practicing the piaffer. I have to really apply myself to the lessons, and start saving some money :-)!
The rest of the time I helped feed the horses and close up. This under a thunderstorm that we had been seeing approach for a while now. Looks like the respite we've had from bad weather is ending...
Pedro Fortunato
http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr.html - Photos from my 7th lesson
http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr2.html - Photos from my first horse rides
Friday, 1 December
One more holyday, one more crowded lesson!
Everyone was expecting a calm day at the barn. People will go out, enjoying the extended weekend, so they will not show up. Or so we had reasoned... Either we were wrong, or everyone decided to take advantage of this "calm" holyday to compensate for lost lessons. In the end we had lessons a little too crowdy to be particularly useful. Everyone understands that it is impossible for Francisco to keep any organization in these days, with people missing and others unexpectedly showing up. So we all make the most of it and try to have fun :-)!
I had told Francisco I was in no kind of hurry, so though I was at the barn by half past three, my lesson only started by six. I spent the intervening time watching the other lessons. The first one was mostly kids with less experience, with the exception of the boy leading the class that showed some real knack for it (he was quite better than I am). The second lesson was mostly a little more experienced adults. The leading student was another, slightly older, boy showing a lot of skill. I had the dark pleasure, over the length of the lesson, of seeing an adult rider, more experienced than me, unable to keep Lord from getting inside on turns :p.
For me the focal point of this second lesson was a poor girl, probably not much younger than me, on one of her first lessons off the lunge. Finding herself with six(!) other riders, all a lot more advanced, and riding a horse that can be a real plough if you let him, was certainly not motivating. Jubileu, knowing she was a shy novice, would not move any faster than a slow walk. She would try a good progression of aids with absolutely no results. Francisco told her repeatedly to smack Jubileu with the crop, but the soft taps she was using would not have bothered my eight month nephew. I was just imagining Jubileu dropping down and rolling on the floor laughing! With the other students to attend Francisco let it drop and so Jubileu got away with it.
As we were preparing for my lesson, and Francisco was distributing horses, he told me to choose the one I wanted. I told him I already had one in mind and proceeded to get Juby out again. After the last lesson with Lord I wanted to experiment further into lazy behaviour. I was well aware that after the last lesson Juby out be spoiled silly. Just the challenge I was looking for!
I went to Jubileu's box to get him. Confirming my expectations he refused to move. After a few tries to turn him around and get him going led nowhere, the skilful boy from the last lesson passed by, saw my plight and offered help. Even with him pulling Juby from the front and trying to curve him and me from behind pushing, slapping, tapping with the crop and ultimately shouting, we were unable to move him. I know that two guys inside the horse's box making a bit of a commotion is not very wise. Personally I would not even consider it with any other horse at the school. But Juby just stood there unflinching. He didn't flatten or turn back his ears, no white showing in eyes. He just retreated to the corner and waited for us to tire. Come to think of it I've never seen Juby show any sign of fear or anger, to humans or fellow horses. As bomb proof a horse as ever I've seen (not that I've seen many, anyway). In the end Francisco's daughter saved the day and took the whole of ten seconds to get him out :-D! A stern reminder to use tact and not insistence to get things done.
The lesson itself was worse than I had expected. When we were to trot Juby simply ignored me, no amount of leg got through to him. Even the crop at the shoulder gave no results. I had to use the crop at the hip, and he only started trotting at the third try when I smacked him a little harder. The first ten minutes of the lesson went pretty much along this lines. Progressively he began to respond better, so after this initial period the crop was no longer necessary. I wouldn't be praised by the lightness or invisibility of my leg aids, but at least I no longer needed to be rough. I also found that he was more responsive to extremely backward leg aids. Using the leg so far back during rising trot proved so awkward that I managed to toss the right stirrup leather out of the stirrup bar not once but twice! That gives a all new meaning to "loosing your stirrups" :-).
I knew very well that Juby is not usually like this. I've ridden him a few times without this difficulty, so I was reasonably sure it was not a matter of wrong aids or discomfort. But even if I knew that being relentless from the start would improve matters sooner, and in the end spare him more grief. Still I would wish I knew of a better way of dealing with these situations :( (any suggestions?).
After this the rest of the lesson was quite a breeze. While at sitting trot I could incite him forward while controlling the speed and he would change to a different gait. Instead of dragging himself around the arena he would put more "bounce" into it. It was like going from riding a square wheel to riding a large rubber ball. I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but it felt a lot better and was a great deal easier to sit to :-).
Speeding up while in rising trot was not a problem, it only took a little more encouragement. Canter was also trouble-free, once again the transition was a bit messy, but while cantering I'm becoming more and more relaxed. I can now concentrate on other problems like posture, working rhythmically with the leg and preventing my arms from flapping sideways like a funky chicken :-D! Because Juby (lazy and slow as he is) is willing to stay in canter without much encouragement and doesn't try to evade in any other way, he is a great horse to practice it.
Needless to say, during all this time turns and circles were a bloody mess, but I thought I'd better not bite more than I could possibly chew so, although I kept insisting, I didn't concern myself over it. The frustrating part is that Juby is very responsive to side pressure when going straight (and he doesn't care which way you want him to drift). On the whole there was not much into this lesson, there were too many of us riding at different levels.
After the lesson - and now for something completely different - I hung around the barn, mostly around Jubileu. I took the saddle and bridle off and spent a long time just patting and scratching him on the neck and cheek. All the time he just stood there, with his head outside the box and eyes half closed. Once in a while he would raise his head over mine and pass it to the other side of me. In a previous lesson I had tried to lift another school horse's hoof after unsaddling, but I had been ignored. I tried it with Juby and as I slid my hand over the back of his leg he promptly took the weight off and let me raise it.
I think the reason I like this horse so much (besides the fact he is 17hh :D) is because he has so much (maybe too much) of a quality I lack - calmness!
While I was there I watched the owner of Jénio, the big beautiful white Lusitano I'd told you about in one of the first lessons, practicing the piaffer. I have to really apply myself to the lessons, and start saving some money :-)!
The rest of the time I helped feed the horses and close up. This under a thunderstorm that we had been seeing approach for a while now. Looks like the respite we've had from bad weather is ending...
Pedro Fortunato
http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr.html - Photos from my 7th lesson
http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr2.html - Photos from my first horse rides