Pedro
14th Feb 2001, 02:44 PM
Friday, 9 February
This Friday I found Francisco back at the school and the lessons. Once again I was given Astérix - there seems to be a trend here somewhere :-). There were five of us in the lesson, besides me there was a more advanced student on Pipas and three other, newer, students on Juby, Lord and Montera. For once I was not first in line at any time during the lesson, the dubious honour falling on the student riding Pipas. I'm sure that a lot more pleased than me was Astérix. That horse's aversion to being in front is impressive! At the lesson's start we were third right after Juby, who was getting the best from his rider and was almost literally dragging his feet through the ground. I tried to overtake Juby to take up the growing space between him and Pipas (whose only feet she drags are the rider's :)). Three times I tried - three times I failed miserably to get us past Juby. I knew that I was not going go get us to overtake without using crop or spurs, and I was not in the mood to be confrontational right at the lesson's beginning - so I let it drop. Not a very good action from an educational point of view, letting the horse win over such matter, but hey...
The core of the lesson was controlling the trot, alternatively extending and containing the gait. From my part it was not very productive, as I was then fourth in line, and so the changes were "washed" down by the time they reached us. We barely had to change gait to keep up with the riders in front. Anyway Astérix kept a constant distance from the horse in front without any need of guidance from me - I was pretty much on autopilot, even if I went through the motion of asking. We also did a few circles that went surprisingly well! Not that they were particularly round (which, believe me, they weren't), but because Astérix was very responsive to my aids. If we were too much inside, a little more inside leg and a little opening of my outside hand would get us in track, and the same was true the other way around, less leg and the outside rein closer to the neck and we would drift inside. Therefore, all the crookedness was my very own fault, no excuses ;)!
To finish the lesson we did some canter. Because we were not in front, there never was any problem with the transition. When Juby in front started to canter I asked and we just got into it, no hassle. I had some difficulty in refraining Astérix, as Juby in front was once again dragging himself around, we were a little in want of room. Astérix would interpret any increase of contention with the hands as a sign to go down to trot. The fact that I lack finesse had nothing to do with it, I'm sure. Really it hadn't! Honest! :D At least, from his own initiative, Astérix kept a couple of meters between him and Juby. Whenever he went back to trot (a very fast and unpleasant one) I'd just rise on the stirrups and ask for canter again. Those, obviously, weren't the best aids for canter ever performed, but Astérix got the message and complied willingly. We worked for a while on both reins and called it a day.
Back at the stalls Francisco complimented me on the canter work. He said that Astérix had worked very well on both hands, and he told me more about him, so here is the scoop. Astérix is around ten years old, he came to the school about one year ago. When he arrived he was a mess, half hour under saddle he would be exerted. He didn't knew how to canter, when asked he would do some strange racing motion (a rotary gallop maybe?). After learning to canter he still refused to go on a left lead, according to Francisco it took five, six tries in a circle for him to start with the correct lead. Nowadays he works almost as much as the others, and although he still is the least schooled horse, he can do more that his fair share. With this I came to realise that being told to ride Astérix is more of a compliment to my developing skills than riding Mefisto or Catraia, who will cover up for my mistakes and limitations allot better.
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
This Friday I found Francisco back at the school and the lessons. Once again I was given Astérix - there seems to be a trend here somewhere :-). There were five of us in the lesson, besides me there was a more advanced student on Pipas and three other, newer, students on Juby, Lord and Montera. For once I was not first in line at any time during the lesson, the dubious honour falling on the student riding Pipas. I'm sure that a lot more pleased than me was Astérix. That horse's aversion to being in front is impressive! At the lesson's start we were third right after Juby, who was getting the best from his rider and was almost literally dragging his feet through the ground. I tried to overtake Juby to take up the growing space between him and Pipas (whose only feet she drags are the rider's :)). Three times I tried - three times I failed miserably to get us past Juby. I knew that I was not going go get us to overtake without using crop or spurs, and I was not in the mood to be confrontational right at the lesson's beginning - so I let it drop. Not a very good action from an educational point of view, letting the horse win over such matter, but hey...
The core of the lesson was controlling the trot, alternatively extending and containing the gait. From my part it was not very productive, as I was then fourth in line, and so the changes were "washed" down by the time they reached us. We barely had to change gait to keep up with the riders in front. Anyway Astérix kept a constant distance from the horse in front without any need of guidance from me - I was pretty much on autopilot, even if I went through the motion of asking. We also did a few circles that went surprisingly well! Not that they were particularly round (which, believe me, they weren't), but because Astérix was very responsive to my aids. If we were too much inside, a little more inside leg and a little opening of my outside hand would get us in track, and the same was true the other way around, less leg and the outside rein closer to the neck and we would drift inside. Therefore, all the crookedness was my very own fault, no excuses ;)!
To finish the lesson we did some canter. Because we were not in front, there never was any problem with the transition. When Juby in front started to canter I asked and we just got into it, no hassle. I had some difficulty in refraining Astérix, as Juby in front was once again dragging himself around, we were a little in want of room. Astérix would interpret any increase of contention with the hands as a sign to go down to trot. The fact that I lack finesse had nothing to do with it, I'm sure. Really it hadn't! Honest! :D At least, from his own initiative, Astérix kept a couple of meters between him and Juby. Whenever he went back to trot (a very fast and unpleasant one) I'd just rise on the stirrups and ask for canter again. Those, obviously, weren't the best aids for canter ever performed, but Astérix got the message and complied willingly. We worked for a while on both reins and called it a day.
Back at the stalls Francisco complimented me on the canter work. He said that Astérix had worked very well on both hands, and he told me more about him, so here is the scoop. Astérix is around ten years old, he came to the school about one year ago. When he arrived he was a mess, half hour under saddle he would be exerted. He didn't knew how to canter, when asked he would do some strange racing motion (a rotary gallop maybe?). After learning to canter he still refused to go on a left lead, according to Francisco it took five, six tries in a circle for him to start with the correct lead. Nowadays he works almost as much as the others, and although he still is the least schooled horse, he can do more that his fair share. With this I came to realise that being told to ride Astérix is more of a compliment to my developing skills than riding Mefisto or Catraia, who will cover up for my mistakes and limitations allot better.
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal