Pedro
21st Aug 2001, 07:48 AM
I guess the title says it all. Its nothing serious, rest assured. It's just that my life has been a little hectic recently, and shows little sign of settling down :). I'm now taking the lessons I missed while on vacation. This means that, for eight weeks, I'm having three lessons a week. It's very likely that I'll keep that rhythm even after having the eight extra lessons. Also I'm (finally) getting my drivers licence, which represents a total of sixty hours of theoretical and practical lessons. The inevitable bottom line is this - there will be no more chronicles :(. I just don't have the time to write three chronicles a week...
That's not to mean that I will not be badgering you with my stories. You won't get off the hook that easy! I'll keep you posted on the evolution and events of my lessons, just not as regularly and extensively.
Now for some good news: I'm still writing the chronicle of my trail ride in Banff. It's progressing slowly and it will be large (even according to my already inflated standards), but I'll get it done. Another good news is that I now have a net connection at home (cable, no less) which means, besides ICQ (number in profile), that I'll have no excuse not to be more participative :).
Now, with those issues behind us, lets see what I've been up to during this last month!
When I returned I was told that Pipas, the crazy mare, was gone from the school. We're all going to miss her character! In her place we now have a new horse - Quixote. He came to the school as a stallion, a very sweet and tractable one. But because he is intended for lessons with kids, the risk of him hurting someone inadvertently while trying to cover a mare in the middle of a lesson was too big. So, by the time I arrived, he had just recently been gelded. Everyone joked that he used to be called Dom Quixote, and now was just Quixote (at least now he doesn't have to concern himself with proper underwear :D). He has just been slowly reintroduced to work recently, so I had only the chance of riding him for a few minutes. All I can say is that he has a "pillow" like trot - no need to post with him!
Another horse that has been creating quite an impression is Safira. She is the filly that gave me a "massage" the first time I entered her box. Now that she is in her third year, Francisco has slowly started to trained her. He recalled that the first time he, gently, bridled her, she just stood there quietly, undaunted by the bridle and bit. When he left her for a few minutes she managed to snag the bridle somewhere. Instead of going berserk she just waited for Francisco to return and set her free, no fuss about it! The first time Francisco lunged her, five minutes each way, she acted as if she had been doing that for years. Francisco has been very gentle with her, and she has been extremely cooperative. She is still difficult to deal with in a confined space - but now I know what to expect!
Surprisingly, after one month away from the arena, I was in better shape than I expected. I was only mildly sore afterwards, and the lesson had me at the top of my abilities (not that big a mountain!). For the first few lessons after my return I rode mostly Mefisto. The biggest difference being that I was supposed to do the work of the (now absent) elastic Gouge. I was taught to better collect the horse and get him into an outline, since Mefisto so willingly does so, I progressed much more easily than I anticipated. I also had first hand experience of a horse "hanging on the bit" one lesson, when Mefisto was getting tired of my heavy handness :).
I've also ridden the school pony Rezinga for the first time. Now that was one funny experience! I could almost touch the ground with my feet, and kept losing my balance all the time, so round she is. That fast tiny trot had me in hysterics, specially after having just ridden Lotus, who is biiigg and has an awfully uncomfortable trot. Lotus owner had asked me if I wanted to ride him for a while before she did, and I just won't let a change to ride pass by. I guess that her invitation was the best compliment she could ever give me...
I've had a couple of hacks outside the school, both on Chèrrie. I've also had a "jumping" lesson on Lord. A small introduction nothing much, the most we did was two feet. It was a little tiresome, but it provided Francisco with good excuses to scream at me, something I had been sorely missing :)! Ironically this was the first time I used my brand new dressage whip, instead of the usual jumping type crop. Now that I tried it, I just had to give my crop a premature retirement. Compared to the whip, I feel the crop to be nothing more than a blunt "all-or-nothing" kind of tool. With Lord (who is the laziest thing around) I actually managed to get him to work with just soft regular taps on his croup, to which he responded in a way he doesn't to the legs. Now all I have to do is find a comfortable way to switch hands with that big bugger!
Since I've started to work in improved collection, my riding of Mefisto improved tenfold, and I can now work him in both hands indistinctly, including right hand circles - something that had me boggled for months! Another positive note was that Francisco gave me a difficult test one of these days, and I managed to pass it. He had me on Paloma, the mare I had been unable to put on a right hand canter some time ago, and this time I did it. Not that she didn't protest - at one point she was race-trotting around with her head in the air, mouth wide open (no cavesson!) and the bit against the teeth. I managed to calm her, but at the same time demand that she did her dues. Did it a trio of times, which was a whole universe better than in the fatidic day of 16th March :) (see Chronicle XLVI).
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
P.S.: Another nice feature of the new forums. I now know that, for all my effort, this message is only just over half the maximum allowed. I'll just have to try harder :)!
That's not to mean that I will not be badgering you with my stories. You won't get off the hook that easy! I'll keep you posted on the evolution and events of my lessons, just not as regularly and extensively.
Now for some good news: I'm still writing the chronicle of my trail ride in Banff. It's progressing slowly and it will be large (even according to my already inflated standards), but I'll get it done. Another good news is that I now have a net connection at home (cable, no less) which means, besides ICQ (number in profile), that I'll have no excuse not to be more participative :).
Now, with those issues behind us, lets see what I've been up to during this last month!
When I returned I was told that Pipas, the crazy mare, was gone from the school. We're all going to miss her character! In her place we now have a new horse - Quixote. He came to the school as a stallion, a very sweet and tractable one. But because he is intended for lessons with kids, the risk of him hurting someone inadvertently while trying to cover a mare in the middle of a lesson was too big. So, by the time I arrived, he had just recently been gelded. Everyone joked that he used to be called Dom Quixote, and now was just Quixote (at least now he doesn't have to concern himself with proper underwear :D). He has just been slowly reintroduced to work recently, so I had only the chance of riding him for a few minutes. All I can say is that he has a "pillow" like trot - no need to post with him!
Another horse that has been creating quite an impression is Safira. She is the filly that gave me a "massage" the first time I entered her box. Now that she is in her third year, Francisco has slowly started to trained her. He recalled that the first time he, gently, bridled her, she just stood there quietly, undaunted by the bridle and bit. When he left her for a few minutes she managed to snag the bridle somewhere. Instead of going berserk she just waited for Francisco to return and set her free, no fuss about it! The first time Francisco lunged her, five minutes each way, she acted as if she had been doing that for years. Francisco has been very gentle with her, and she has been extremely cooperative. She is still difficult to deal with in a confined space - but now I know what to expect!
Surprisingly, after one month away from the arena, I was in better shape than I expected. I was only mildly sore afterwards, and the lesson had me at the top of my abilities (not that big a mountain!). For the first few lessons after my return I rode mostly Mefisto. The biggest difference being that I was supposed to do the work of the (now absent) elastic Gouge. I was taught to better collect the horse and get him into an outline, since Mefisto so willingly does so, I progressed much more easily than I anticipated. I also had first hand experience of a horse "hanging on the bit" one lesson, when Mefisto was getting tired of my heavy handness :).
I've also ridden the school pony Rezinga for the first time. Now that was one funny experience! I could almost touch the ground with my feet, and kept losing my balance all the time, so round she is. That fast tiny trot had me in hysterics, specially after having just ridden Lotus, who is biiigg and has an awfully uncomfortable trot. Lotus owner had asked me if I wanted to ride him for a while before she did, and I just won't let a change to ride pass by. I guess that her invitation was the best compliment she could ever give me...
I've had a couple of hacks outside the school, both on Chèrrie. I've also had a "jumping" lesson on Lord. A small introduction nothing much, the most we did was two feet. It was a little tiresome, but it provided Francisco with good excuses to scream at me, something I had been sorely missing :)! Ironically this was the first time I used my brand new dressage whip, instead of the usual jumping type crop. Now that I tried it, I just had to give my crop a premature retirement. Compared to the whip, I feel the crop to be nothing more than a blunt "all-or-nothing" kind of tool. With Lord (who is the laziest thing around) I actually managed to get him to work with just soft regular taps on his croup, to which he responded in a way he doesn't to the legs. Now all I have to do is find a comfortable way to switch hands with that big bugger!
Since I've started to work in improved collection, my riding of Mefisto improved tenfold, and I can now work him in both hands indistinctly, including right hand circles - something that had me boggled for months! Another positive note was that Francisco gave me a difficult test one of these days, and I managed to pass it. He had me on Paloma, the mare I had been unable to put on a right hand canter some time ago, and this time I did it. Not that she didn't protest - at one point she was race-trotting around with her head in the air, mouth wide open (no cavesson!) and the bit against the teeth. I managed to calm her, but at the same time demand that she did her dues. Did it a trio of times, which was a whole universe better than in the fatidic day of 16th March :) (see Chronicle XLVI).
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
P.S.: Another nice feature of the new forums. I now know that, for all my effort, this message is only just over half the maximum allowed. I'll just have to try harder :)!