Hi all,
I had a really, really pooey lesson tonight that has left me feeling thoroughly demoralised. I'd be really grateful for any thoughts, criticisms and suggestions. I have a group lesson once a week, and I've been on the same mare now for a couple of months. Mostly she's pretty good to me - she's been a school horse for years and years and knows all the tricks, which can work to my benefit but also make for a very tense lesson. Tonight the weather was uncharacteristically cold and Annie had probably been stalled all day. Right from the word go, at walk and trot, I could not keep her on the wall and could not get her to turn when I asked. Doing figure-eights at the trot was useless with Annie refusing to go to the wall, cutting corners, trotting slowly and then cutting the corners to catch-up because she hates to be at the end of the line, and yet all my efforts to get her to trot faster were totally ineffective - she'd rather just cut the corners. Then we cantered: Annie is always ridden with a martingale and is considered to be a go-er, but tonight was insane. Normally she gets testy when she has to wait in line for her turn to canter or jump, refusing to keep walking around the ring until it is her turn, preferring to turn in circles and walk backwards, but then when we head off for our turn at canter it is usually (but not always)a nice brisk canter and I feel pretty well in control and enjoy it. But tonight she went off like an exocet missile. When it came to our next turn, the ears went back, the head went down and she took off again but this time I was better at checking her and keeping it at a more modest pace, but I felt like I was battling her the whole time. My instructor told me that I had the reins too short and that the reason she was going so fast was to get away from the bit, but my other instructors normally tell me to shorten my reins (I'm always being corrected for not having my reins short enough on Annie). My feeling was that she was able to rocket-off the first time because my reins weren't short enough. In the end my instructor had me canter behind another rider to help stop Annie from taking-off in a hurry to get to the back of the line.
I guess the thing is that while I know Annie was at the extreme end of her behaviour tonight, I also feel that it's my inept riding that is the problem and that with another rider Annie would be on the wall because they wouldn't let her off! But I just don't know how to keep her going straight and to the wall when she decides to turn at the same time as the horse in front. I keep my back straight, I keep my hands facing the direction I want to go (straight ahead), I have the reins at the appropriate length, but the minute the horse in front turns so does Annie and I'm buggered if I know how to stop her doing this. It really is a case of when Annie decides to let me do my turns etc well, we do them well: I know where my hands and legs should be (...I think!) and when Annie plays along we go up the centre line and turn nicely, but then if Annie decides "Nup. Not gunna happen" then it all goes pear-shaped and I appear to be totally unable to do a thing about it. Some sort of Annie carry-on happens to some degree each lesson, and it's getting to the point where I wonder if it's just that she is a more difficult, less 'press-button' horse to ride or if it's that I suck and am the remedial rider in the class who should get out so that the others can get on with things at a more progressive pace. The instructor we had to night hasn't taken our class for about 5 weeks and I swear after my effort tonight she must be wondering just what the hell I've been doing these last weeks and talk of past weeks jumping must just seem like a total fabrication!
Heck, I've just realised how long this post is. I guess what I can't resolve is whether a horse in a bad mood can be a disaster for even good riders or whether it's me. I'd be really grateful for any thoughts. Ta.
I had a really, really pooey lesson tonight that has left me feeling thoroughly demoralised. I'd be really grateful for any thoughts, criticisms and suggestions. I have a group lesson once a week, and I've been on the same mare now for a couple of months. Mostly she's pretty good to me - she's been a school horse for years and years and knows all the tricks, which can work to my benefit but also make for a very tense lesson. Tonight the weather was uncharacteristically cold and Annie had probably been stalled all day. Right from the word go, at walk and trot, I could not keep her on the wall and could not get her to turn when I asked. Doing figure-eights at the trot was useless with Annie refusing to go to the wall, cutting corners, trotting slowly and then cutting the corners to catch-up because she hates to be at the end of the line, and yet all my efforts to get her to trot faster were totally ineffective - she'd rather just cut the corners. Then we cantered: Annie is always ridden with a martingale and is considered to be a go-er, but tonight was insane. Normally she gets testy when she has to wait in line for her turn to canter or jump, refusing to keep walking around the ring until it is her turn, preferring to turn in circles and walk backwards, but then when we head off for our turn at canter it is usually (but not always)a nice brisk canter and I feel pretty well in control and enjoy it. But tonight she went off like an exocet missile. When it came to our next turn, the ears went back, the head went down and she took off again but this time I was better at checking her and keeping it at a more modest pace, but I felt like I was battling her the whole time. My instructor told me that I had the reins too short and that the reason she was going so fast was to get away from the bit, but my other instructors normally tell me to shorten my reins (I'm always being corrected for not having my reins short enough on Annie). My feeling was that she was able to rocket-off the first time because my reins weren't short enough. In the end my instructor had me canter behind another rider to help stop Annie from taking-off in a hurry to get to the back of the line.
I guess the thing is that while I know Annie was at the extreme end of her behaviour tonight, I also feel that it's my inept riding that is the problem and that with another rider Annie would be on the wall because they wouldn't let her off! But I just don't know how to keep her going straight and to the wall when she decides to turn at the same time as the horse in front. I keep my back straight, I keep my hands facing the direction I want to go (straight ahead), I have the reins at the appropriate length, but the minute the horse in front turns so does Annie and I'm buggered if I know how to stop her doing this. It really is a case of when Annie decides to let me do my turns etc well, we do them well: I know where my hands and legs should be (...I think!) and when Annie plays along we go up the centre line and turn nicely, but then if Annie decides "Nup. Not gunna happen" then it all goes pear-shaped and I appear to be totally unable to do a thing about it. Some sort of Annie carry-on happens to some degree each lesson, and it's getting to the point where I wonder if it's just that she is a more difficult, less 'press-button' horse to ride or if it's that I suck and am the remedial rider in the class who should get out so that the others can get on with things at a more progressive pace. The instructor we had to night hasn't taken our class for about 5 weeks and I swear after my effort tonight she must be wondering just what the hell I've been doing these last weeks and talk of past weeks jumping must just seem like a total fabrication!
Heck, I've just realised how long this post is. I guess what I can't resolve is whether a horse in a bad mood can be a disaster for even good riders or whether it's me. I'd be really grateful for any thoughts. Ta.