Friday, 18 May
The intent of the previous lesson had been on slowing down. Today the lesson had a similar objective - trotting and cantering slowly.
Mr. Jorge gave me Chèrie to ride. I got her saddle and bridle on and took her to the arena. After checking the bit, throat lash, girth and stirrup length I mounted. I had just gotten "aboard" when André called to my attention that the saddle-cloth was all bunched up under the off-side flap. I had been adjusting that stirrup and completely missed it
! I had to dismount, undue the girth, correct the problem and set everything again.
Chèrie kept trying to drift in on the corners, but she was easy to correct. Although it demanded always some presence from me, it was easy to keep her on the path.
The focus of the lesson was on contention. After the initial warm-up we spent the lesson at very slow trots and canters. We were cantering slower than we could trot and trotting slower than we could walk. As expected the horses were not finding this in the least funny. Preventing Chèrie from making downward transitions required constant attention from the legs. It is ironical that it is when you want to go slower that the legs have to be more active!
Although at times I had some difficulty keeping her in the intended gait and prevent her from trying to overtake the horse in front, mostly we did fine. It is true that a lot of the time Chèrie kept her nose too close to Lotus' rump. In fact at one point I noticed that some of Lotus' tail hairs had gotten caught in Chèrie's bridle. Afraid that they might have been really trapped and might have caused problems, I tried to released them. In the end all it took was reaching forward with my hand and pulling them free - but you just never know!
After the end of the lesson I managed to make another serious slip. I took Chèrie to her box, got the saddle and bridle off her and went to the tack room next door to put them away. When I return to the isle with the bridle to go wash the bit I saw Chèrie, inside her box gently munching at her fresh bed, with her head outside looking at me - and with the door wide open ! I promptly closed the door before anyone saw my blunder and gave me a well deserved lecture and, after washing and putting the bit away, I just had to go get a carrot to give Chèrie for being a good girl and not letting me down .
The same carrots were also the centre of a funny episode with Pampilho. I was with André and another student in front of Pampilho's stall. A little uncomfortable with our presence he had retreated back. André tried to get him to come closer by offering him a tiny carrot. That didn't seem to have much effect over Pampilho. André tried with a larger carrot, still without much results. After going step by step to larger and larger carrots, André was still getting the same response. Even a pretty large carrot was not enough to convince him and finally André gave up. When he did, the other student went to the carrots and got another tiny one. As soon as we saw her get the small carrot, André and I exchanged a knowingly glance... and, sure enough, Pampilho went to her and got the carrot without the slightest hesitation! After that we all tried again, and after having tasted a carrot, Pampilho was no longer going to let the opportunity pass by!
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
The intent of the previous lesson had been on slowing down. Today the lesson had a similar objective - trotting and cantering slowly.
Mr. Jorge gave me Chèrie to ride. I got her saddle and bridle on and took her to the arena. After checking the bit, throat lash, girth and stirrup length I mounted. I had just gotten "aboard" when André called to my attention that the saddle-cloth was all bunched up under the off-side flap. I had been adjusting that stirrup and completely missed it
! I had to dismount, undue the girth, correct the problem and set everything again.Chèrie kept trying to drift in on the corners, but she was easy to correct. Although it demanded always some presence from me, it was easy to keep her on the path.
The focus of the lesson was on contention. After the initial warm-up we spent the lesson at very slow trots and canters. We were cantering slower than we could trot and trotting slower than we could walk. As expected the horses were not finding this in the least funny. Preventing Chèrie from making downward transitions required constant attention from the legs. It is ironical that it is when you want to go slower that the legs have to be more active!
Although at times I had some difficulty keeping her in the intended gait and prevent her from trying to overtake the horse in front, mostly we did fine. It is true that a lot of the time Chèrie kept her nose too close to Lotus' rump. In fact at one point I noticed that some of Lotus' tail hairs had gotten caught in Chèrie's bridle. Afraid that they might have been really trapped and might have caused problems, I tried to released them. In the end all it took was reaching forward with my hand and pulling them free - but you just never know!
After the end of the lesson I managed to make another serious slip. I took Chèrie to her box, got the saddle and bridle off her and went to the tack room next door to put them away. When I return to the isle with the bridle to go wash the bit I saw Chèrie, inside her box gently munching at her fresh bed, with her head outside looking at me - and with the door wide open
! I promptly closed the door before anyone saw my blunder and gave me a well deserved lecture and, after washing and putting the bit away, I just had to go get a carrot to give Chèrie for being a good girl and not letting me down .The same carrots were also the centre of a funny episode with Pampilho. I was with André and another student in front of Pampilho's stall. A little uncomfortable with our presence he had retreated back. André tried to get him to come closer by offering him a tiny carrot. That didn't seem to have much effect over Pampilho. André tried with a larger carrot, still without much results. After going step by step to larger and larger carrots, André was still getting the same response. Even a pretty large carrot was not enough to convince him and finally André gave up. When he did, the other student went to the carrots and got another tiny one. As soon as we saw her get the small carrot, André and I exchanged a knowingly glance... and, sure enough, Pampilho went to her and got the carrot without the slightest hesitation
! After that we all tried again, and after having tasted a carrot, Pampilho was no longer going to let the opportunity pass by!Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal