Pedro
3rd Jan 2001, 01:36 PM
Here I am back, starting the new year by closing up the overdue chronicles. Two weeks of delay, festivities do that to you :-).
Friday, 22 December
Today's afternoon had such a lousy ending that I was in a crappy mood. As I approached the school I told myself to calm down, to not spoil the lesson with outside unpleasantness. I needn't worry, five minutes after having arrived I'd forgotten all problems and I was calm and relaxed. Nothing like horses to take the mind off worries :)!
I had a small surprise today. Before the start of the lesson Francisco handed me a pair of spurs. I can't say that that was an unexpected development, because everyone above a certain level wears them. I'd just followed the "ostrich" approach and ignored the matter until I could ignore it no longer. The spurs I'd been handed were those short slightly descending cylindrical types with 8mm of width and blunt ends. These are the ones I've seen used by most students in a "medium" level, both at my school and others.
I don't care about spurs, I'd rather keep my distance from them. But I decided that as long as I'm not asked to use them in any way I find unacceptable, I will do what I'm told to.
My mount today was Juby again. This time he didn't present any objection to leaving his box, I guess I'd took him by surprise :-). Unfortunately I had to stop to open the gate of the arena, and guess what... Juby refused to start moving again :rolleyes:. I did the usual tricks: bend him till he had to take a sideways step and then lead him forward, turn him around and try again, etc. But he knows the tricks better then I do, and wasn't about to fall in any of them. Finally I just pulled him forward and he walked in, as if there had been no problem. I was wondering what had I done differently, when I noticed that Francisco had left the stalls and was coming our way, and that was why Juby suddenly gave up the attitude ;-). With me in the lesson was also Lotus and his "mummy", which proved useful for a later experiment.
The lesson consisted of the usual walk, trot and canter in the end. As usual Juby was not keen on speeding up the paces, although he had no problem going from walk to trot and from trot to canter. All was fine as long as he could do it at his own speed. I'd been concerned about inadvertently using the spurs, but I immediately realised that that wouldn't be likely (as long as I kept paying attention!). The spurs were placed immediately above the sole of my short boots, so to bring them into contact I had to turn the heel inside and upwards. That not only required intention, it was even a little awkward. I didn't (and don't) like the idea of using the spurs to make Juby walk or trot faster, I can think of many good possible reasons for him not wanting to. But over the course of the lesson I did use them (as instructed) to apply pressure at the girth to prevent him from cutting inside during turns, trying to follow Lotus. I can see no other reason for him to do that other then wanting to. In that situation, even if I don't like it, I will apply a ever stronger sequence of aids to get the results intended. Putting some pressure with the spurs worked, after doing it a couple of times I could do a turn with only leg pressure. But after a turn with the leg only he would try to drift in again and require stronger aids next time. During the canter part of the lesson I got slightly better result then before. I managed to communicate my intentions better to Juby, and we made a couple of decent transitions. The spurs had no influence on both the request and the good results - other then he knowing that I was wearing them and could use them, but Juby isn't opposed to cantering anyway.
As usual I helped Francisco with the feeding and closing up. We spent quite some time talking about our national equestrian tradition and its present state. The relation between the Lusitano, Alter-Real and Andaluz and the Portuguese / Spanish tradition. All the chatting was irritating some of the horses like Chérie, who threatened to knock down her stall door if with didn't cut it and got on with the job of giving her the hay :-)!
When I got home (around the usual time of 11PM :-) ) I proceeded to try the spurs on myself, with a similar pressure to the one I'd used, on my own ribcage. While I certainly didn't enjoy the experience, neither did I like a similar experiment with the crop, or kicking myself in the ribs (using the inside wrists as per Heather's suggestion, due to technical difficulties in using my feet :-) ). Before anyone gets the idea I'm into kinky practices :-D, I just wanted to know what it feels like. This way, if I think it appropriate to a certain situation and do use any of this "methods", I can empathise with the horse, and have a better idea of what he's feeling. Maybe I should kick, spur and whack myself once in a while to make sure the empathy remains. On the other hand it might be difficult to explain to the inevitable psychiatrist - "I just wanted to know what my horse feels!" might not hold water :D!
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
Friday, 22 December
Today's afternoon had such a lousy ending that I was in a crappy mood. As I approached the school I told myself to calm down, to not spoil the lesson with outside unpleasantness. I needn't worry, five minutes after having arrived I'd forgotten all problems and I was calm and relaxed. Nothing like horses to take the mind off worries :)!
I had a small surprise today. Before the start of the lesson Francisco handed me a pair of spurs. I can't say that that was an unexpected development, because everyone above a certain level wears them. I'd just followed the "ostrich" approach and ignored the matter until I could ignore it no longer. The spurs I'd been handed were those short slightly descending cylindrical types with 8mm of width and blunt ends. These are the ones I've seen used by most students in a "medium" level, both at my school and others.
I don't care about spurs, I'd rather keep my distance from them. But I decided that as long as I'm not asked to use them in any way I find unacceptable, I will do what I'm told to.
My mount today was Juby again. This time he didn't present any objection to leaving his box, I guess I'd took him by surprise :-). Unfortunately I had to stop to open the gate of the arena, and guess what... Juby refused to start moving again :rolleyes:. I did the usual tricks: bend him till he had to take a sideways step and then lead him forward, turn him around and try again, etc. But he knows the tricks better then I do, and wasn't about to fall in any of them. Finally I just pulled him forward and he walked in, as if there had been no problem. I was wondering what had I done differently, when I noticed that Francisco had left the stalls and was coming our way, and that was why Juby suddenly gave up the attitude ;-). With me in the lesson was also Lotus and his "mummy", which proved useful for a later experiment.
The lesson consisted of the usual walk, trot and canter in the end. As usual Juby was not keen on speeding up the paces, although he had no problem going from walk to trot and from trot to canter. All was fine as long as he could do it at his own speed. I'd been concerned about inadvertently using the spurs, but I immediately realised that that wouldn't be likely (as long as I kept paying attention!). The spurs were placed immediately above the sole of my short boots, so to bring them into contact I had to turn the heel inside and upwards. That not only required intention, it was even a little awkward. I didn't (and don't) like the idea of using the spurs to make Juby walk or trot faster, I can think of many good possible reasons for him not wanting to. But over the course of the lesson I did use them (as instructed) to apply pressure at the girth to prevent him from cutting inside during turns, trying to follow Lotus. I can see no other reason for him to do that other then wanting to. In that situation, even if I don't like it, I will apply a ever stronger sequence of aids to get the results intended. Putting some pressure with the spurs worked, after doing it a couple of times I could do a turn with only leg pressure. But after a turn with the leg only he would try to drift in again and require stronger aids next time. During the canter part of the lesson I got slightly better result then before. I managed to communicate my intentions better to Juby, and we made a couple of decent transitions. The spurs had no influence on both the request and the good results - other then he knowing that I was wearing them and could use them, but Juby isn't opposed to cantering anyway.
As usual I helped Francisco with the feeding and closing up. We spent quite some time talking about our national equestrian tradition and its present state. The relation between the Lusitano, Alter-Real and Andaluz and the Portuguese / Spanish tradition. All the chatting was irritating some of the horses like Chérie, who threatened to knock down her stall door if with didn't cut it and got on with the job of giving her the hay :-)!
When I got home (around the usual time of 11PM :-) ) I proceeded to try the spurs on myself, with a similar pressure to the one I'd used, on my own ribcage. While I certainly didn't enjoy the experience, neither did I like a similar experiment with the crop, or kicking myself in the ribs (using the inside wrists as per Heather's suggestion, due to technical difficulties in using my feet :-) ). Before anyone gets the idea I'm into kinky practices :-D, I just wanted to know what it feels like. This way, if I think it appropriate to a certain situation and do use any of this "methods", I can empathise with the horse, and have a better idea of what he's feeling. Maybe I should kick, spur and whack myself once in a while to make sure the empathy remains. On the other hand it might be difficult to explain to the inevitable psychiatrist - "I just wanted to know what my horse feels!" might not hold water :D!
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal