Pedro
30th Mar 2001, 09:48 AM
Friday, 23 March
Fortunately this lesson was not a rehash of last Friday's ;-)!
When I arrived at the school I had the opportunity to watch the funniest lesson ever - though, to be truthful, I was the only one finding it even slightly funny :-). The horses had had a holyday in the previous day, coupled with a sequence over the day of lessons with novice kids, by the end of the afternoon they were pretty much in charge of the show. It was an open rebellion: they would not cut corners, they would go through the middle of the arena, they refused to canter, only to take the kids for a short ride in canter when they (horses) felt like it. They would circle when the riders were trying to change rein, refuse to be in front of the line and circle for the back. Drop behind only to cut through the arena to catch up. Bunch up in a corner facing out, leaving the kids at a loss of how to take them out of that jam. At one point, I don't know how, three of them managed to meet next to the railings, facing each other muzzle to muzzle - an equine conference! And I could just imagine the topic:
- "Our sabotage is going perfectly! Anyone has more ideas of what we can do?"
- "Has anyone tried Astérix's 'Sandwich' technique yet?"
- "Great idea! We have to try that one."
- "Horse, this is great! Did you see the kids flailing about when we jammed them in the corner?"
- "Yeah, that one was beautiful! And Chico, can you see him fuming?!"
Through all this I had a hard time keeping myself from laughing out loud. The fact that this class is usually rather good (considering that these are about 8 to 10 year olds) only made it worse. Francisco's and the riders' exasperation was half the fun! Yes, I know - I have a mean streak ;).
With the lesson down the drain and things starting to grow potentially dangerous, Francisco cut the lesson a little short. In the end he had his revenge, we in the next lesson - the "...seniors" - were given the same horses, a warning and orders to keep them from taking the reins over us.
Once again I got Lord to ride, which was just perfect, as I like riding him and we get along rather well. During the first five minutes he was testing me, to see if he could boss me around. He was (really) slow to obey upward transitions, he tried to cut inside whenever it struck his fancy and finally he stopped suddenly while trotting. When he did that (out of the blue and without any reason whatsoever - other than testing me) I immediately smacked him in the shoulder and asked him forward :(. That seemed to provide him with the answer he was looking for, and for the rest of the lesson we worked really well together (and no, I didn't hit him hard). The rest of the class had gotten their own horses on the proper frame of mind by that time (using less intervention than I had - so I really have nothing to be proud of...).
The lesson was pretty much the usual. Besides the circles, the trot and walk we did a little of carousel. A bit past half we did (for the second time for me) pair work. I love that! It's a type of work where you really have to strike a partnership, not only with your own horse, but also with yet another rider and horse. The challenge is harder but it is all the more rewarding. We paired up while still at walk, and at first Lord was a bit confused. When I got us inside, parallel to Lezíria, he though we were supposed to get in front so he sped up. When I checked him he assumed that he had been wrong, and in fact I wanted him to get in line behind Lezíria, so he stopped suddenly (this time with a good reason!). I asked him forward again, and now with a little more play between leg and reins I managed to keep him in place long enough for him to understand what I wanted of him. When everyone was up to speed we went into trot and started our work. Between the four of us in front it went perfectly. We managed to keep two to three hands between rider's legs for most of the time, with little more during the turns, which due to the nature of the covered arena were tight. Even during changes of rein everyone kept their places just fine - at least as much as I could see, as I had my eyes glued on to my partner's leg (erm... I was focusing on the job at hand, I was not taking advantage of the situation... honest, really... ah... OK, maybe a little :o ).
Francisco was very pleased with our performance, and so were we all. Considering that the horses had obviously started the lesson with rebellious thoughts, the whole class had turned the situation around quite well and done very fine work, for our level of experience at least.
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
Fortunately this lesson was not a rehash of last Friday's ;-)!
When I arrived at the school I had the opportunity to watch the funniest lesson ever - though, to be truthful, I was the only one finding it even slightly funny :-). The horses had had a holyday in the previous day, coupled with a sequence over the day of lessons with novice kids, by the end of the afternoon they were pretty much in charge of the show. It was an open rebellion: they would not cut corners, they would go through the middle of the arena, they refused to canter, only to take the kids for a short ride in canter when they (horses) felt like it. They would circle when the riders were trying to change rein, refuse to be in front of the line and circle for the back. Drop behind only to cut through the arena to catch up. Bunch up in a corner facing out, leaving the kids at a loss of how to take them out of that jam. At one point, I don't know how, three of them managed to meet next to the railings, facing each other muzzle to muzzle - an equine conference! And I could just imagine the topic:
- "Our sabotage is going perfectly! Anyone has more ideas of what we can do?"
- "Has anyone tried Astérix's 'Sandwich' technique yet?"
- "Great idea! We have to try that one."
- "Horse, this is great! Did you see the kids flailing about when we jammed them in the corner?"
- "Yeah, that one was beautiful! And Chico, can you see him fuming?!"
Through all this I had a hard time keeping myself from laughing out loud. The fact that this class is usually rather good (considering that these are about 8 to 10 year olds) only made it worse. Francisco's and the riders' exasperation was half the fun! Yes, I know - I have a mean streak ;).
With the lesson down the drain and things starting to grow potentially dangerous, Francisco cut the lesson a little short. In the end he had his revenge, we in the next lesson - the "...seniors" - were given the same horses, a warning and orders to keep them from taking the reins over us.
Once again I got Lord to ride, which was just perfect, as I like riding him and we get along rather well. During the first five minutes he was testing me, to see if he could boss me around. He was (really) slow to obey upward transitions, he tried to cut inside whenever it struck his fancy and finally he stopped suddenly while trotting. When he did that (out of the blue and without any reason whatsoever - other than testing me) I immediately smacked him in the shoulder and asked him forward :(. That seemed to provide him with the answer he was looking for, and for the rest of the lesson we worked really well together (and no, I didn't hit him hard). The rest of the class had gotten their own horses on the proper frame of mind by that time (using less intervention than I had - so I really have nothing to be proud of...).
The lesson was pretty much the usual. Besides the circles, the trot and walk we did a little of carousel. A bit past half we did (for the second time for me) pair work. I love that! It's a type of work where you really have to strike a partnership, not only with your own horse, but also with yet another rider and horse. The challenge is harder but it is all the more rewarding. We paired up while still at walk, and at first Lord was a bit confused. When I got us inside, parallel to Lezíria, he though we were supposed to get in front so he sped up. When I checked him he assumed that he had been wrong, and in fact I wanted him to get in line behind Lezíria, so he stopped suddenly (this time with a good reason!). I asked him forward again, and now with a little more play between leg and reins I managed to keep him in place long enough for him to understand what I wanted of him. When everyone was up to speed we went into trot and started our work. Between the four of us in front it went perfectly. We managed to keep two to three hands between rider's legs for most of the time, with little more during the turns, which due to the nature of the covered arena were tight. Even during changes of rein everyone kept their places just fine - at least as much as I could see, as I had my eyes glued on to my partner's leg (erm... I was focusing on the job at hand, I was not taking advantage of the situation... honest, really... ah... OK, maybe a little :o ).
Francisco was very pleased with our performance, and so were we all. Considering that the horses had obviously started the lesson with rebellious thoughts, the whole class had turned the situation around quite well and done very fine work, for our level of experience at least.
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal