2021 Adult Camp Lesson Two

 

Waiting... and admiring the muscle he has now

After the first lesson I was feeling good, riding the positive wave of my trainer seeing growth even after a month of riding only 5 times. My mom and I settled him into the stall, which Roscoe said did not have enough sawdust for a good roll, and then headed to the arena to watch the cavaletti lessons. This camp divided people into groups of three or four for four sessions. I though the lessons were ½ hour to 45 minutes, but they ended up being an hour… ish. Not going to lie there were a lot of poles and it was interesting. As we watched it got intimidating. The instructor was an event rider who demanded perfection but did not give much direction. I could see areas that would be hard for Roscoe and I due to our weaknesses and the fact that we had not cantered poles a bunch. But he and I normally enjoy cavaletti and there was a chance for jumps.

Sadly this lesson fell into the category of a bad choice.

 

The instructor could not stay within the scheduled times and went over a half hour the session before mine. So my 4:30  lesson did not start until nearly 5:00. And yes we stood around with tacked ponies for that half hour. The lesson started well with working trot over the poles and finding our spots. Then she had us work one at a time doing canter circles over the single poles. That was not bad, though we missed some of our spots. What was tough was her directions were hard to follow. I remember dressage tests and jump courses, but could not get her directions.

The next step added a curved bounce line of poles. At the trot Roscoe wanted to cheat and we worked to get it right. At the canter to the left we did better than I expected. 

The bad choice really became apparent when we switched directions after 15 minutes of standing. I should have insisted we start with the lowest setting, but she had it rolled to the middle height. Going right is when I lose his shoulder when we are stressed. Needless to say we jumped over the end of the cavaletti and had major misses. I tried counting which the instructor was big on, we missed. She said he was going too fast and I was messing him up. Confidence direct hit. I approached a couple more times and passed the poles not comfortable with the probable outcome. She said if you pass again you will never get him through. I got him through, but without watching the video I can’t even remember how it went. I was beaten and done. I kept apologizing to Roscoe for choosing to continue this lesson and put him in a bad spot.

I was the happiest when it all ended, sad to say.

 

The next time I have a bad feeling about something I am going to refuse to do the exercise. It was overly ambitious to do for a second lesson with horses that may not have ever done such specific work. Unfortunately, Roscoe felt the effects of the lesson the next day and is even still be dealing with something now. Roscoe got a ton of treats and his dinner. Mom and I still had to get to the barn and feed the rest of the herd.

  I don't shy away from sharing the good, the bad or the ugly and all of these apply so I included all the videos except the early flat minutes. 

The next morning I was so glad not to be riding with the cavaletti instructor which was the normal camp setup. My trainer changed it around so that her students rode with her. My mom and I did mention that we did not think the cavaletti lesson was suitable for the situation and the lack of punctuality was a problem. Turns out we were not the only ones to say something. I am the kind of rider that puts a fair amount of trust in the clinician to guide me to have the best ride I can in that moment. That does not mean it has to be perfect, but if I or Roscoe do something wrong, I would hope for direction on how to fix it. I am still kicking myself over this lesson.

4 Hooves + 4 Poles = Focus

It has been a rough week between inventory and finding out my schedule will be changed come February. That change will cost me 7 1/2% of my pay, which will hurt. On the other hand I am hoping to get more ride time, though it may be at dusk until the days get longer.

Speaking of riding, I have be able to get on in between odd work hours. Peggy and I went for a ride on the girls out on trail. When we came back, Roscoe was at the gate saying "My turn?" I tried to pacify him by doing a little ground work and tricks with him. It did not do much, but he did give up a while after. The next day he came and haunted the gate again. I knew when we put the mares out in the field next to him and he did not follow, he would not be overlooked. Of course it was a freaking cold day. I took a chance by putting the quarter sheet and bareback pad on him.
That became interesting as he flipped his head, forelock flying and hopped with his back end. And while he is broader than my last bareback ride, it was still a iffy situation. I had Mom walk by him, until I could get him listening. Soon we were moving, but it became apparent he was not happy we were staying in the arena. He wanted to go out on trail and that was all he was thinking about. Solved that by closing the gate. I was still getting forelock flips as we walked around the arena. We revisited moving his hindquarters by working corners.

Then I saw his ears prick and felt his walk get energized. I looked over to see Mom carrying a pole. Roscoe locked his focus onto that pole and bee lined for it. His attention was officially off of going out on trails. Mom added 3 more poles, placing them on a circle. Roscoe and I began walking over them, center point to center point. Or at least we tried. Our lines were a bit drunk. I was happy that the 4 poles brought focus. We kept at it and he found his bend to the right. To the left he kept cutting in, so I made him do a square instead. Roscoe did corners and went over the center of the poles. It nicely combined the poles and our earlier hindquarter movements. I wish we could have trotted, but the arena was crunchy in areas. I had to be satisfied by ending with round lines between poles going both directions and a mentally focused pony.
I found a bunch of 4 pole exercises that I can't wait to play with and even make jumps for Comrade. Two more weeks of inventory and maybe that can happen.