Hi everyone!
This week I’m a bit late, courtesy of a surprise work trip to Porto. Three days in shoe factories is three days more in shoe factories than I’d care for! After a full week away from horses I’m suffering dearly of horse deprivation :-(.
To make up with you, today I have something special prepared!
Wednesday, 1 November
This day is a holiday here in Portugal. I took advantage of the opportunity to take my family to see a lesson.
My brother-in-law took his camcorder and I gave my camera to my sister for her to finish the film I had left. That way I had my incompetence properly documented!
During holidays there isn’t much of a schedule with the lessons. You just show up and something will get organized. Me and my "audience" showed up after lunch, we waited for a while, and entertained ourselves by watching the school pony bullying two other horses (each twice her size) that were loose in the paddock.
The lesson was with Catraia and it started with me being the sole student. We worked on the walk to begin with, including a few circles. My first attempt was so much off the mark that Francisco, my instructor, described it as "... a radish". I did another one with about the same result. We stopped as Francisco tutored me on the use of the outside rein and inside leg. With a couple more tries I was finally able to do something that could (in a loose sense) be described as a circle (or maybe as a tomato if we wish to keep the salad motif).
Afterwards we did some work in trot. That was when Catraia pulled the first stunt of the day. When I asked for trot she went straight for the opposite corner of the arena, knowing I would have to let her stop if we got too close.
I had to "fight" a little with her to get her on track and tap her in the rump to get her to trot and warn her that she would not be taking advantage of me. It worked quite well and she was responsive for the rest of the lesson (with one exception I’ll discuss later on).
We worked on the rising trot, including a few more "circles". Another student joined the class at this point and we spent some time in the sitting trot without stirrups. That was just perfect because I had received Heather’s video the previous day. I had barricaded myself in my room and trotted to my heart’s content. Now I had the opportunity to put the "training" into practice on a horse, and I was quite happy with the results. At this point yet another student joined in for a lunge lesson on Jubileu. This was when I started noticing a change in Catraia. She (who is not a particularly forward horse) became too responsive to the leg and I even had to slow her down to prevent her from cantering instead of trotting (now that’s a first!).
Was she trying to impress Jubileu? After all he is a big handsome horse (he is 17+ hands, remember?). In the end I concluded that she was in fact responding to the lunge whip in Francisco’s hand.
Now, a new instructor entered the scene and to finish the lesson, a bit of canter. The first time I asked Catraia to canter she pulled the same trick she had used in the beginning. The second time I knew what to expect and, with a preventive use of the outside hand, everything went fine. Everything... except for the stirrups, that is! Once again I kept loosing my footing and was forced to stop and start again.
Watching myself on video, later that day, I was quite surprised. I could see that my position still needs a bit of work. My posting, even if it feels a lot better, more relaxed with better freedom of the lower leg, is still too forceful and I could pretty well see why Francisco kept telling me to use the horse’s motion and not to jump myself (I really was all over the place!). On a more positive note, I just couldn’t believe in my motion in the canter. I thought I was rowing too much with the shoulders but on the screen I could see my shoulders and head quite motionless, while my lower back and arms were keeping up with the horse’s motion.
So far I had no way to prove my inabilities. You all just had to believe my words. But now I have proof! Take a peek at http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr.html! I accept orders for printed copies by email. I take Visa or AMEX :-D!
Friday, 3 November
As usual I arrived a little before the end of the previous lesson. This one had a funny look! There were six students (and the corresponding number of horses), the first one was riding the pony, the second one was riding Jubileu (17+h). Seeing the midget being followed by the giant was hilarious, the second kid’s hip was about as high as the first kid’s head! Even more hilarious was seeing the pony rapidly leaving the rest behind in trot – even if she had to take three steps for each of the other horse’s. At the end Francisco turned to the small audience and asked if we wanted to see a bit of magic. He waited until the six horses were walking in line along the longer side of the arena. He said loudly "We’ll end the lesson here!" and all the horses, without any need of aids from the students, turned inside and stopped side by side in the centre waiting for the students to dismount. I was just like that in my school times, whenever I heard those same words I’d rush outside – Pavlov would be proud!
This lesson was pretty much uneventful. There were two other, more advanced, students so I was happy being Tail-End-Charlie. We did rising trot, sitting trot (stirrupless for me), a few circles (no vegetables this time - maybe some fruits... lemons come to mind), some diagonals and a double oval track that used the centre of the arena in the longest direction. My main exercise over the lesson was controlling Catraia’s position in relation to the front horse - not too close, not lagging behind - and preventing her herd instinct from transforming our turns into on-the-spot rotations.
The highlight of the lesson was the canter: <Handel’s Hallelujah blasting in the background> I was finally able to do it without loosing the stirrups! <Fireworks exploding as the music goes on> I finally relaxed enough to allow the legs to rest on the stirrups instead of gripping the horse. I was able to make a couple of full turns around the arena without fighting the stirrups and with my behind gently glued to the saddle.
After the lesson we took the horses to their stalls. After taking the bridle off Catraia I had to wait a little before taking the saddle because she was getting so excited with the prospect of being fed that she was seeing hungry monsters (two legged and four legged) trying to steal her food. Catraia was the first (and so far only) horse to throw me down, I didn’t (and don’t) want her to be the first to kick me! When she was eating she looked calmer, I approached gently and touched her on the side and she moved over to let me past without any sign of aggression or distrust (too busy eating the most before the monsters returned, I guess). I finished up without any more incidents, helped feeding the remaining horses and went home, like always feeling tired but happy and peaceful. I feel that I’m making consistent progress over the lessons, and I can barely wait for the next one. I know that sooner or later I’ll be hitting brick walls. But I’m sure just being around horses is reward enough to keep me going on less exciting times!
See you next week!
Pedro Fortunato
This week I’m a bit late, courtesy of a surprise work trip to Porto. Three days in shoe factories is three days more in shoe factories than I’d care for! After a full week away from horses I’m suffering dearly of horse deprivation :-(.
To make up with you, today I have something special prepared!
Wednesday, 1 November
This day is a holiday here in Portugal. I took advantage of the opportunity to take my family to see a lesson.
My brother-in-law took his camcorder and I gave my camera to my sister for her to finish the film I had left. That way I had my incompetence properly documented!
During holidays there isn’t much of a schedule with the lessons. You just show up and something will get organized. Me and my "audience" showed up after lunch, we waited for a while, and entertained ourselves by watching the school pony bullying two other horses (each twice her size) that were loose in the paddock.
The lesson was with Catraia and it started with me being the sole student. We worked on the walk to begin with, including a few circles. My first attempt was so much off the mark that Francisco, my instructor, described it as "... a radish". I did another one with about the same result. We stopped as Francisco tutored me on the use of the outside rein and inside leg. With a couple more tries I was finally able to do something that could (in a loose sense) be described as a circle (or maybe as a tomato if we wish to keep the salad motif).
Afterwards we did some work in trot. That was when Catraia pulled the first stunt of the day. When I asked for trot she went straight for the opposite corner of the arena, knowing I would have to let her stop if we got too close.
I had to "fight" a little with her to get her on track and tap her in the rump to get her to trot and warn her that she would not be taking advantage of me. It worked quite well and she was responsive for the rest of the lesson (with one exception I’ll discuss later on).
We worked on the rising trot, including a few more "circles". Another student joined the class at this point and we spent some time in the sitting trot without stirrups. That was just perfect because I had received Heather’s video the previous day. I had barricaded myself in my room and trotted to my heart’s content. Now I had the opportunity to put the "training" into practice on a horse, and I was quite happy with the results. At this point yet another student joined in for a lunge lesson on Jubileu. This was when I started noticing a change in Catraia. She (who is not a particularly forward horse) became too responsive to the leg and I even had to slow her down to prevent her from cantering instead of trotting (now that’s a first!).
Was she trying to impress Jubileu? After all he is a big handsome horse (he is 17+ hands, remember?
). In the end I concluded that she was in fact responding to the lunge whip in Francisco’s hand.Now, a new instructor entered the scene and to finish the lesson, a bit of canter. The first time I asked Catraia to canter she pulled the same trick she had used in the beginning. The second time I knew what to expect and, with a preventive use of the outside hand, everything went fine. Everything... except for the stirrups, that is! Once again I kept loosing my footing and was forced to stop and start again.
Watching myself on video, later that day, I was quite surprised. I could see that my position still needs a bit of work. My posting, even if it feels a lot better, more relaxed with better freedom of the lower leg, is still too forceful and I could pretty well see why Francisco kept telling me to use the horse’s motion and not to jump myself (I really was all over the place!). On a more positive note, I just couldn’t believe in my motion in the canter. I thought I was rowing too much with the shoulders but on the screen I could see my shoulders and head quite motionless, while my lower back and arms were keeping up with the horse’s motion.
So far I had no way to prove my inabilities. You all just had to believe my words. But now I have proof! Take a peek at http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/nr.html! I accept orders for printed copies by email. I take Visa or AMEX :-D!
Friday, 3 November
As usual I arrived a little before the end of the previous lesson. This one had a funny look! There were six students (and the corresponding number of horses), the first one was riding the pony, the second one was riding Jubileu (17+h
). Seeing the midget being followed by the giant was hilarious, the second kid’s hip was about as high as the first kid’s head! Even more hilarious was seeing the pony rapidly leaving the rest behind in trot – even if she had to take three steps for each of the other horse’s. At the end Francisco turned to the small audience and asked if we wanted to see a bit of magic. He waited until the six horses were walking in line along the longer side of the arena. He said loudly "We’ll end the lesson here!" and all the horses, without any need of aids from the students, turned inside and stopped side by side in the centre waiting for the students to dismount. I was just like that in my school times, whenever I heard those same words I’d rush outside – Pavlov would be proud!This lesson was pretty much uneventful. There were two other, more advanced, students so I was happy being Tail-End-Charlie. We did rising trot, sitting trot (stirrupless for me), a few circles (no vegetables this time - maybe some fruits... lemons come to mind
), some diagonals and a double oval track that used the centre of the arena in the longest direction. My main exercise over the lesson was controlling Catraia’s position in relation to the front horse - not too close, not lagging behind - and preventing her herd instinct from transforming our turns into on-the-spot rotations.The highlight of the lesson was the canter: <Handel’s Hallelujah blasting in the background> I was finally able to do it without loosing the stirrups! <Fireworks exploding as the music goes on> I finally relaxed enough to allow the legs to rest on the stirrups instead of gripping the horse. I was able to make a couple of full turns around the arena without fighting the stirrups and with my behind gently glued to the saddle.
After the lesson we took the horses to their stalls. After taking the bridle off Catraia I had to wait a little before taking the saddle because she was getting so excited with the prospect of being fed that she was seeing hungry monsters (two legged and four legged) trying to steal her food. Catraia was the first (and so far only) horse to throw me down, I didn’t (and don’t) want her to be the first to kick me! When she was eating she looked calmer, I approached gently and touched her on the side and she moved over to let me past without any sign of aggression or distrust (too busy eating the most before the monsters returned, I guess). I finished up without any more incidents, helped feeding the remaining horses and went home, like always feeling tired but happy and peaceful. I feel that I’m making consistent progress over the lessons, and I can barely wait for the next one. I know that sooner or later I’ll be hitting brick walls. But I’m sure just being around horses is reward enough to keep me going on less exciting times!
See you next week!
Pedro Fortunato
