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| Love this quirky little guy. |
I had a makeup lesson Sunday and a ride on my own on Monday. Sunday was a drinking-from-the-firehose sort of Dressage ride, she was calling out movements as I got to letters. It was hard work, but we got some great stuff from Connor because I had eyes on the ground to call me out on bad riding.
It's the type of ride I couldn't ever give him on my own, because I can react to instruction way better than I can think ahead. This is going to be the theme for a while as I get used to this new phase in our training.
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| We are SO CLOSE! Just need to keep those hind legs moving a fraction longer so he's under himself. |
Monday was less than impressive, because I'm still struggling to internalize ALL these positional changes (that are working!) that have been discovered in the past week. If you're keeping score:
- Left leg at the girth (instead of six inches behind it)
- "Shopping bag elbows"
- Left shoulder/entire side of my torso back
- Turn torso around circle
- Do not lean back against him ever
All in all, just another up and down of the old training progression. I'm content. We ended Monday with some pre-clinic pony spa:
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| My full tail care routine is here. It starts with soaking the dry tail in soap designed to remove engine grease (from the automotive section) for 20 minutes! |
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| During the 20 minute Goop wait, Connor got his dinner, since he's still on night turnout for now. |
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| All done, after rinsing the Goop, shampooing with grey hair people shampoo, and banging it. |
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| Not quite dry here, it will fluff out. |
LOVE his tail! <3
ReplyDeleteThanks, me too!
DeleteGorgeous tail! I've ben using the 'shopping bag elbows' image since you first posted it, and it's really helped me, too! My forearms/hands tend to be a bit too active, and thinking about heaviness in my elbow joint helps me ride more FROM the elbow - i.e. a steady, following contact instead of changing up the feel all the time with that active forearm. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! That's how it feels for me too. I think that's my worst sin, it's probably the thing I should work on the most.
Deletebeautiful tail! can't wait to hear about the clinic!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll do a full writeup. She's always full of good advice!
DeleteThere is nothing better than a thick, pretty tail :)
ReplyDeleteCome give my giant pony a spa day too
ReplyDeleteMy list is:
Delete- Come teach your giant dog how to wait
- Come give your giant pony a spa day
Haha
As per usual the Connor pics make me drool, I had the bubble butt song stuck in my head after seeing the butt shots!
ReplyDeleteI had to look that one up! Haha!
DeleteWhat a beautiful tail! Reading all these recent blog posts about cleaning tack and pony spa days are inspiring!
ReplyDeleteIt feels good to take pride in something's appearance, you know?
Deletesounds like a fun lesson! i'm with you tho - the day that i can get those results on my own will be a great day lol
ReplyDeleteOh no kidding. The quality of my rides on my own has gone up steadily, but it always lags about 6-10 weeks behind what I can get in lessons.
Delete