Hi people, here is another dose of the chronicles!
Friday, 5 January
As I always do, I arrived at the barn before the end of the previous lesson. I went to the bar to tack myself up and then proceeded to prop against the arena's rail, watching the rest of the lesson. Today it was particularly delayed (ten/fifteen minutes being normal), so I just relaxed and enjoyed this calm break at the end of a day's routine confusion.
At the end of the lesson Francisco asked his daughter to help me saddle Chérie, while he went check that the finished students were taking proper care of the horses (it was a children's class). So I went to Chérie's box to help with her saddling and bridling. Francisco's daughter warned me to check the girth when we got to the arena, because Chérie was puffing her chest out. I replied something in the lines of "Check girth. OK, sure!"... and proceeded to forget it in less than five seconds :-\.
Chérie and me went to the arena, and I started to check the length of the stirrups. She was not very cooperative when it came to approach her left side, so I had to assert myself enough to be able to check the left stirrup and mount. I started at walk around the arena, to get acquainted with Chérie. She was the only of the school's best horses I had not yet ridden (the others being Mefisto and Pipas, as Jénio and Lotus are privately owned - Gladiador is another horse I haven't ridden, but I still don't know how he fits in).
Francisco passed by to tell me to start some rising trot work for a while, because he would still be a little longer to be finished. I began with trot on a left rein (paying close attention to the correct diagonal), and soon noticed a slight difference in length between the stirrups. The different felt so small, that I was not sure if there was a difference at all. We changed reins, and after a while I was sure the stirrups were not correct. The surprise was that the left stirrup had felt longer and now it felt clearly shorter! A quick glance down confirmed that the saddle was a tad crooked. "The girth!" - I felt like whipping myself for that one!
I took Chérie to the centre and dismounted. I tried to check the girth, but she positively refused to let me approach her left side. She would either backup or rotate away on her forelegs ("I just hope you're that willing when, in the future, I want you to do those things"
). My alternatives were: a) check and tighten the girth from the right side (bad idea) b) wait for Francisco to return (and swallow a bit of pride) or c) find a way to settle Chérie enough to do the job. In the end I went with the "c)" approach. I lead Chérie to a corner, turned her around and drove her back, so she was cornered. I stroked her neck and watched her for a while, to be sure she was not harbouring any violent response to my strategy , and then did the job. The girth was so loose you could slip a closed fist sideways between her flank and the girth... one more hole and it was fine. I then mounted and proceeded with the exercise.
Francisco returned to the arena, and I explained what had happened (although I forgot to mention that I had not checked the girth in the first place - my memory just plays these tricks on me, you know). We proceeded with the lesson: posting in the correct diagonals, changes of rein, squaring the corners and a few circles.
I was promoted! I was promoted! According to Francisco one of my circles was, and I quote: "... a potato!"! So I went from the "Radishes" of a couple of months ago to the more enhanced "Potatoes". Whenever I get to "Squashed Tomato" category I'll know I'm on the right path!
The final part of the lesson, as usual, was made up of canter. The first time, on a right rein, was not that great. She insisted on starting with the wrong lead, so we were not going far. On a left rein everything went smother, not as smooth as with Juby, but nice anyway. That marked the end of the lesson, but Francisco told me to keep on working on my own, if I wanted, while he went take care of the bedding and feeding. Of course I accepted the suggestion. Mostly I did work in sitting trot, with and without stirrups. I concentrated on keeping Chérie at a slower gait, absorbing the motion and deepening my seat by stretching my legs as much as I could, while maintaining a soft contact with her flanks and a correct position. After a while of this (including changes of rein and a couple of "potatoes") I decided to try a little bit of canter again. The first attempt on a left rein went really smoothly, soft and calm - the best of the day. Next attempt on a right rein didn't work so well, she was already excited before we started. Chérie raced into it and started on a left lead, so I stopped her shortly after. I then saw Francisco taking the feed to the horses on Chérie's neighbourhood, and decided it was about time for her to get her dinner. I walked her off for a while to cool off and took her back to her box. Getting the bridle off was slightly more complicated than usual, as she was impatient to get her head in her manger. After washing and hanging the bridle I approached her carefully to take off her saddle. They usually get a bit worked out over their meals, so I didn't want her to think I was trying to steal her food or something of the kind .
By the time I was over Francisco had almost everything done, so tonight I really was not much help. For a change I got back home before ten - it's a while since the last time I did so.
Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
P.S.: It looks like Juby, the 17hh horse, is not 17hh. A better estimate puts him at 16.5hh. The extra 5 cm came from the me using myself has a yard stick for measuring him. My ID shows me as being 178 cm tall, when I'm in fact 172. So you must shrink your mental images of Juby and myself a little :-D!
Friday, 5 January
As I always do, I arrived at the barn before the end of the previous lesson. I went to the bar to tack myself up and then proceeded to prop against the arena's rail, watching the rest of the lesson. Today it was particularly delayed (ten/fifteen minutes being normal), so I just relaxed and enjoyed this calm break at the end of a day's routine confusion.
At the end of the lesson Francisco asked his daughter to help me saddle Chérie, while he went check that the finished students were taking proper care of the horses (it was a children's class). So I went to Chérie's box to help with her saddling and bridling. Francisco's daughter warned me to check the girth when we got to the arena, because Chérie was puffing her chest out. I replied something in the lines of "Check girth. OK, sure!"... and proceeded to forget it in less than five seconds :-\.
Chérie and me went to the arena, and I started to check the length of the stirrups. She was not very cooperative when it came to approach her left side, so I had to assert myself enough to be able to check the left stirrup and mount. I started at walk around the arena, to get acquainted with Chérie. She was the only of the school's best horses I had not yet ridden (the others being Mefisto and Pipas, as Jénio and Lotus are privately owned - Gladiador is another horse I haven't ridden, but I still don't know how he fits in).
Francisco passed by to tell me to start some rising trot work for a while, because he would still be a little longer to be finished. I began with trot on a left rein (paying close attention to the correct diagonal), and soon noticed a slight difference in length between the stirrups. The different felt so small, that I was not sure if there was a difference at all. We changed reins, and after a while I was sure the stirrups were not correct. The surprise was that the left stirrup had felt longer and now it felt clearly shorter! A quick glance down confirmed that the saddle was a tad crooked. "The girth!" - I felt like whipping myself for that one!
I took Chérie to the centre and dismounted. I tried to check the girth, but she positively refused to let me approach her left side. She would either backup or rotate away on her forelegs ("I just hope you're that willing when, in the future, I want you to do those things"
). My alternatives were: a) check and tighten the girth from the right side (bad idea) b) wait for Francisco to return (and swallow a bit of pride) or c) find a way to settle Chérie enough to do the job. In the end I went with the "c)" approach. I lead Chérie to a corner, turned her around and drove her back, so she was cornered. I stroked her neck and watched her for a while, to be sure she was not harbouring any violent response to my strategy , and then did the job. The girth was so loose you could slip a closed fist sideways between her flank and the girth... one more hole and it was fine. I then mounted and proceeded with the exercise.Francisco returned to the arena, and I explained what had happened (although I forgot to mention that I had not checked the girth in the first place - my memory just plays these tricks on me, you know
). We proceeded with the lesson: posting in the correct diagonals, changes of rein, squaring the corners and a few circles.I was promoted! I was promoted! According to Francisco one of my circles was, and I quote: "... a potato!"! So I went from the "Radishes" of a couple of months ago to the more enhanced "Potatoes". Whenever I get to "Squashed Tomato" category I'll know I'm on the right path
!The final part of the lesson, as usual, was made up of canter. The first time, on a right rein, was not that great. She insisted on starting with the wrong lead, so we were not going far. On a left rein everything went smother, not as smooth as with Juby, but nice anyway. That marked the end of the lesson, but Francisco told me to keep on working on my own, if I wanted, while he went take care of the bedding and feeding. Of course I accepted the suggestion
. Mostly I did work in sitting trot, with and without stirrups. I concentrated on keeping Chérie at a slower gait, absorbing the motion and deepening my seat by stretching my legs as much as I could, while maintaining a soft contact with her flanks and a correct position. After a while of this (including changes of rein and a couple of "potatoes") I decided to try a little bit of canter again. The first attempt on a left rein went really smoothly, soft and calm - the best of the day. Next attempt on a right rein didn't work so well, she was already excited before we started. Chérie raced into it and started on a left lead, so I stopped her shortly after. I then saw Francisco taking the feed to the horses on Chérie's neighbourhood, and decided it was about time for her to get her dinner. I walked her off for a while to cool off and took her back to her box. Getting the bridle off was slightly more complicated than usual, as she was impatient to get her head in her manger. After washing and hanging the bridle I approached her carefully to take off her saddle. They usually get a bit worked out over their meals, so I didn't want her to think I was trying to steal her food or something of the kind .By the time I was over Francisco had almost everything done, so tonight I really was not much help. For a change I got back home before ten - it's a while since the last time I did so
.Pedro Fortunato
Lisbon, Portugal
P.S.: It looks like Juby, the 17hh horse, is not 17hh
. A better estimate puts him at 16.5hh. The extra 5 cm came from the me using myself has a yard stick for measuring him. My ID shows me as being 178 cm tall, when I'm in fact 172. So you must shrink your mental images of Juby and myself a little :-D!