Last couple of days have been busy with one thing or another, but I have lunged both Anky and Remy each day, Friday and Saturday. I'm going to continue to ride Anky but I'm also going to lunge her regularly to try and strengthen up her abdominal muscles, which, in turn will support her gut and, I'm hoping, help to make her more comfortable.
It's been quite a while since I last lunged her and I'm pleasantly surprised. We've had two good sessions. She's been responsive and forward, and as she started to relax in the trot and stretch over her neck she developed a lovely rhythm and calmness that I've never seen before.
I've decided to concentrate on the lungeing for a while with Remy. I move him around the school on the lunge, first at walk, using the whole of the school, alternating with large circles. He's not easy to motivate and I'm trying to find the way to do this. He's not unwilling and I've never known him to be naughty, he's just so laid-back. I'm finding that staying close and moving with him is working the best, keeping his attention, aiming for quick responses. Today we got some decent transitions to trot and a couple of nice circles with him keeping the trot with good balance. Between rein changes I practice the giravolta and he's really starting to cross over with nice measured steps. I'm trying to keep my signals clear, not wanting any confusion, it's not easy. Today I asked for halt a couple of times and he offered me giravolta with perfect, regular steps - very much appreciated and received. But...
I must be better and I must be clearer!
My Life, My Horses and My Attempts to Train the Classical Way
3 comments:
Sounds good on all counts...good idea for lunging Anky, it's definitely helped Moo!
How interesting! I've gone back to basic lungeing with my mare (Flight) in preparation for regular training sessions. She hasn't been worked for a while so I thought this was a good way to get her halfway fit and also used to our new school. I am also working on the giravolta with her and today she did it almost without prompting. Again each time I change the rein she does a giravolta and then starts to move onto the bigger circle. She crosses over on one rein better than the other, but we're ok with that for the moment. Today also did some canter work. It really is so warm and humid, I hate to make her work too hard!! Bless!
Good work with Anky. Will you be doing some work with poles to get those abdominals strong?
Yes, Sheila, we have poles, I tried her over them today and she was fine.
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