Star, plus the rest of the day

I rode Star after lunch. I'm glad I decided to put a saddle on her because she was not quite behaving herself the way she should. It really wasnt so bad though. I walked her around the arena a few times because there was that backhoe parked at the other end. She was displeased by this, also the barrels as always and Imp being out there pulling the cart was a touch offensive also. She stood for mounting pretty nicely but the started walking off before I managed to reach for my other stirrup. She did a little bit of head in the air pissed off sideways trot that she does sometimes. I stopped her and got my stirrup and off we went. I spent most of the time practicing some of the mental exercises from the centered riding book I just got. Staying aware of my peripherial vision (a.k.a. "soft eyes") and letting my attention continue moving over all the different things she talks about, relaxed hips, relaxed ankles, stretching up tall, breathing from the diaphram, etc. etc. That was helpful and star was mostly pretty good. When she did break into the pissy sideways head up trot or variations thereon, she came down pretty fast and I sat it pretty well. Her pissed off trot is very smooth. As is her calm trot. After walking around for a good long while doing some circles and serpentines we did a little trot.

The first trot transition I asked for was a mess, she stopped and reared up and cocked her head really far to the side. So I asked her to walk again and then I just focused on being super relaxed and stable and centered and just asked with my voice for the trot. Simmillar pissy reaction but then I squeezed with my legs a little and we were off. It was a bouncy, rushed trot that I stopped after like 15 strides to practice the transition a little bit more. Again, center, relax ask with the voice then the leg, it was a little better transition but still very fast. I think she's just not good at transitions and so when she does it on her own terms its when she happens to be ready for it but she doesn't know how to get herself ready to trot when I ask her to. Many lunge line transitions and long line transitions, plus some trot poles maybe? I'm not sure why I think trot poles will help, but I do. I need to teach her how to use that hind end of hers. I worked with her outside for a while trying to get her to walk around the outdoor arena. She balked and backed up so I wound up backing her all the way to the end of the arena and then walking around from there. After doing that two or three times she was willing to walk around it. I was going to do it the other direction but the girth I was using was comandeered.

Alyssa and Luca were nice to watch. Since Alyssa wanted some feedback and Robert didn't seem interested in critiquing I tried my hand at it. It was a strange process because most of the things I saw were subtle or only fairly small things but I said them anyway. It was kindof an experiment for me because I had some theories about what small things might be out of place, I wasnt sure but I went for it and then I tried to see if Luca behaved any better as a result. The only thing that I really clearly helped with was reminding Alyssa to sit back. Luca really can pull from what I could see and that pulled her forward, not much but enough. When you're a little bit forward then it encourages the horse to pull and its harder to resist the pull so a little bit of sitting up goes a long way. Everything else, stretching tall, relax this joint, relax that, stretch down, wrists firm, etc. at the very least I think served to improve focus a little bit even if the content of the comment itself wasnt actually of much use. I haven't tested this yet but I think it will be helpfull for my own riding to spend time looking at someone elses riding and being able to comment and see the resulting changes in horse and rider. One thing it's really impressed upon me is the importance of relaxation. And I've started to think about my own riding differently. I feel like I have an easier time seeing it in the third person and thinking about my position in a more formal way. Plus my sense of cause and effect, which can really take a beating riding green horses, has been strengthened. So its working out well for me anyway. ;)

In misc. news: Robert is looking for a bow saw for me but I have some pretty heavy duty clippers and the next time its convenient I'm going to go out and do some clipping! We have the green light to ride Lady. I think some lungeing first will be in order. Papillon was really annoying about standing still for having her hooves picked. I think I'll need to help with the feed and then after everyone is fed, tie her and pick her hooves. I found a big sharp rock in her shoe though so I at least feel like I did something helpful. Her right frog is re-growing nicely but her left one is still nearly non-existant. Show time is nearly upon us (Saturday) and its pretty exciting.