Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Roscoe and I are Inadvertant Liars

 Sadly we lost our trainer again to a move to Texas. But she helped Roscoe and I figure out leg yields and get us into First level. So I had to pick another trainer from those at Sprieser. I chose the newest trainer which turned out to be a good choice since the other trainer left soon after. 



I braced myself to see if this trainer could handle my low budget needs, recovering muscles and lack of skills. With all the shows a lot of the lessons focused on prepping for the tests. She was interested in how we did. Plus I texted to say he felt tired at the show after a lesson the same week and she immediately said she would think of how to up his fitness. It really felt great to have someone invested in our training.

In November we started digging into his movement and teaching him to half halt and sit. It was seriously rough going. I was getting to the point of wondering, Is it me or is it him? I finally asked Karrigan if she would get on him and see where he is at. If we are going to move up, we need the insight. She said yes and we planned it for the next lesson. 

I rode for the first 10min and then she got on. Roscoe is always a bit up when we first get into the indoor.

Me and Roscoe part 1

Me and Roscoe part 2

 We had to stop at put a half pad on him, since his saddle had gone too low. As she rode she was like "Wow he has no outside rein," " Wow you two are good liars," "He is really fun to ride." Roscoe and I certainly did not try to hide anything, but I guess we were indavertant liars. 

Karrigan riding Click the left arrow to go through the videos of her riding. I had to chop them up to send them from mom's phone.



The take aways:

He needs to be lower in the base of his neck. I have to work on lowering the 6in in front of the withers.

He needs to be truer in the contact. He will put on a pretty frame, but he avoids the bit.

I have to sit into him at the canter and he has to learn to keep moving.

She can get him to do lateral work no problem. Definitely me holding that up.

She gets along with Roscoe, so I don't have to cringe when she rides.

Roscoe and I worked our butts off on the canter and the truer contact in the time since that ride. I feel like I am learning to canter all over again.



Luckily at our lesson this month Karrigan saw a difference. Good thing too since Comrade decided the friesan having a lesson prior to ours was going to eat him and proceeded to spook, blow air and prance around making everyone tense. Ah well hopefully we can keep the progress going during the winter.


Friday, December 18, 2020

Redemption

 October brought the last two shows for our local series. For these I added First 2, with the hope that the first test would get him settled. 

As with previous shows Roscoe got a bath the night before. An though he normally gets over it, I put the hated fly boots on his hind legs to protect his white. Well this time he decided to be a total tool about those boots. Long story short we prevailed in removing them, but there were injuries on all parties. NEVER AGAIN!

Needless to say I worried how the show would go. Super it turns out. I think Roscoe was really ashamed of his morning antics and wanted to be good. We still have plenty to improve. This was our best First 1.



The second test was nerve-wracking for me because of the leg yields. First time they were judged and my pony did well. We lost some angle going right because I felt like I would hit the rail too soon. To the left we had the angle but lost some forward.  After those I could breathe and deal with the canter. We had a great final halt and I gave Roscoe a big hug. The judge said he earned it.



I don't want to have stressful, injury filled show mornings to get scores in the seventies but redemption felt good.

The second show was less successful in scores but he listened to half halts. That was something we worked on the lesson prior to the show. Roscoe was a bit tired too, both caused a break in the canter. I gave points away to keep him moving.  This was a tough judge so our two 65 were okay with me. Now Roscoe and I are trying to better our fitness and improve our canter. It feels like we are learning to canter all over again. 




Well even with a short season and a new level to challenge him, Roscoe pulled off earning the First Level champion. Our journey is slowly progressing, the pony is happy and I'm healthier. What more can you ask of a year like 2020.

Roscoe says "take this 2020!"