It was supposed to be Magic and Aero... but there was a nasty man chainsawing in the wood behind the yard, set them all off like eejits and Aero just couldn't settle. Sigh.
Fortunately, I wanted her to have a look at Max, so we swapped and gave Max a treatment instead.
Considering how scary life was, Magic was zonked totally out by his treatment. She said he wasn't sore anywhere so he could only be like that from the toxins from the flu jab. Humph.
I was slightly paranoid, as last treatment (after 4 days being ridden by lots of people!) he had been very sore lumbar and very sore behind shoulders. Thank goodness she reported he is absolutely fine in both areas, so phew, I don't make him sore!!
She watched him move (very tense, trotting on drive with chainsawing behind wood!!) and when stood up, his right shoulder is in much better alignment now, not forward of left one, but his whole shoulder area is a bit tilted. So she worked on that and his his TMJ as she felt that might contribute to the wonky shoulders. She was very pleased with the rest of him but he still needs another treatment for his quarters as we haven't got there yet!!
Max - I told her how well he's been going and how sound he is. I don't think she really believed me til we trotted him up the drive and she said "oh WOW" !!
Apparently he is much better :-) which we knew, but still! She can't believe the difference and I just shrugged and said I'd thought for some time that I'd got the feet right "enough" for him to move better, but his body was obviously blocking the movement from holding himself off his feet for however long before I got him.
He was tight in front of his shoulders, pecs down to where join in chest, and just above hip whorls below lumbar area. But even these areas are much improved and he is not tight through back any more and much much easier through his shoulders. Whoohooo. Tight in TMJ but she hasn't treated that before.
So, Magic and Aero need another one, but ok to leave til January time. Max, I said should he keep having them and she said no, see how he is for a few months, he just needs now to get stronger and more used to working on surfaces etc. He has popped a windgall up on his right hind but she thinks this is probably because he is now working on surfaces and is also now finally using himself. She couldn't believe the difference and kept saying so :-)))
I'm soooo soooo pleased that what I've been feeling with both of them has been what has been right.
Magic is to have 4 days off because he was very dozy, even with the tension of the chainsawing man (good job, give my knee a chance to heal.) Max only needs a couple of days off, but as she rightly said, I need to do a bit with him, then let him have a quiet few days, then do a bit more and build him up. That means no having to ride a 7am this week, hurrah!
Magic will probably work Fri/Sat then go to do combined training on Sun. Max can potter Thurs onwards but have a quiet week or so til they have their next double outing to stressage on 3rd Dec. He kind of doesn't have anything to prove to me now, he's such a star. Magic needs to keep going out until I can generally keep him settled.
Just remind me who is 5 and who is 10???!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Me
Accident prone? Pah. Fell down spiral stairs. Bashed left knee very firmly into twisty decorative bannister post. Got big bruise on thigh too. Nice.
Chose Max to ride.... hurts. Boo. If it hurts on Mr Smoooooooooooth, there ain't much chance on the bouncemeister.
So SJ tomorrow is off :-(
On the plus side, I went for a treatment (after falling down stairs) and have another one booked for the 4th. I will get straightened up along side my ponies, I WILL!
Interesting. Pecs very tight. Due to asthma, bad breathing. Discussed breathing through nose, hahah. Shall practice. Have tight left quad = why right seat bone slides off, wooo. Left shoulder, well lets not go there! Am much shorter and tighter in right side of neck than left. When lying on front on treatment table, I can lie with my head to left but it won't lie down to right.... because the right side of my neck is so tight and short it doesn't stretch that far. Interesting.
So homework :rollseyes: pecs - stretch - arm up at 90 on wall, step same side leg forward past it... feeeeeeeel the stretch, oh yes.
Quads - lie with bum to wall and legs straight up against wall. Bend one leg and put foot over other knee, then slide other foot down wall, stretching quads. Also, oh yes.
So, homework shall commence.....
And this weekend will be boring. Magic and Aero getting their 3rd treatments tomorrow. And no parties for us til I've got a functioning knee. Groan. Happy hacking for Maxwell though, cos the bonus is I can't weight it when riding, it hurts, so good practice!!
Chose Max to ride.... hurts. Boo. If it hurts on Mr Smoooooooooooth, there ain't much chance on the bouncemeister.
So SJ tomorrow is off :-(
On the plus side, I went for a treatment (after falling down stairs) and have another one booked for the 4th. I will get straightened up along side my ponies, I WILL!
Interesting. Pecs very tight. Due to asthma, bad breathing. Discussed breathing through nose, hahah. Shall practice. Have tight left quad = why right seat bone slides off, wooo. Left shoulder, well lets not go there! Am much shorter and tighter in right side of neck than left. When lying on front on treatment table, I can lie with my head to left but it won't lie down to right.... because the right side of my neck is so tight and short it doesn't stretch that far. Interesting.
So homework :rollseyes: pecs - stretch - arm up at 90 on wall, step same side leg forward past it... feeeeeeeel the stretch, oh yes.
Quads - lie with bum to wall and legs straight up against wall. Bend one leg and put foot over other knee, then slide other foot down wall, stretching quads. Also, oh yes.
So, homework shall commence.....
And this weekend will be boring. Magic and Aero getting their 3rd treatments tomorrow. And no parties for us til I've got a functioning knee. Groan. Happy hacking for Maxwell though, cos the bonus is I can't weight it when riding, it hurts, so good practice!!
Videos, Magic
Magic, not-soooo-stressage
Magic jumpies, no laughing at the height of the jumps or our amazing "miss" at number 4! I guess its to be expected now I am trying not to mess with him in front of fences. The good thing is, the miss came at the only fence that he was running out from under me... all the others he waited beautifully for. Still not the calmness I wanted, but even when tense, I got the control and he was waiting without me oiking him around the whole time.
Magic jumpies, no laughing at the height of the jumps or our amazing "miss" at number 4! I guess its to be expected now I am trying not to mess with him in front of fences. The good thing is, the miss came at the only fence that he was running out from under me... all the others he waited beautifully for. Still not the calmness I wanted, but even when tense, I got the control and he was waiting without me oiking him around the whole time.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Videos, Max
Max, dressage, bless him :-)
Max, Jumpies, still bless him :-))
Magic will follow, it takes forever for them to upload.
Max, Jumpies, still bless him :-))
Magic will follow, it takes forever for them to upload.
Combined training
Max and Magic again! They are settling well to being one in-one out of the lorry. They are both very good as well at being loaded, unloaded, loaded again, all without doing anything.
The star of the show is most definately Maxwell. I can't believe the change in that horse. He is quite simply a superstar. I might end up having to sell him because he is just toooo good!
We got ready, got on and went to warm up. No dinosaur. All very lovely. I forgot my back brace so sent marvellous groom/video-er back for it. Having only really walked thus far, he stood and let me fiddle it on. He wouldn't have managed that last outing!
Warmed up very well. Cocked his head to the other horses but was ignoring them much better. Into the scary indoor.... "is it?" says Max... "why?".
Bell goes, and we saunter round our test with me thinking push out into my back. It went well! He was a bit tired from all the transitions in the warm up and probably from Tues night (and then a mad gallop round the field yest). So by the time we got to canters I was onto pony club kicks. He lost a leg on the left canter, and then decided he needed to poo mid right-canter, which meant trot and cue lots more pony club kicks from me. Stylish!
But, he's just so darn easy! Got the sheet back and we got 61.4% !! Go Max! We got an 8 for our entry, and a few 7s and then a 4 for our pooing-not-cantering. Really nice comment "Lots to like, forwards and obedient but needs to be more between leg and hand". Absolutely spot on and fair enough. And watching the video back, he is already not looking so much like an extra long blunderbus! Civilisation here we come! Made worse when I realised he should have had more marks - I'd free walked at the wrong place - sorry Max!
Took him back for a breather before the jumpies. Bearing in mind we have not left the floor since the last CT here, which was.... May I think! He was a star! Just picked up canter and lobbed his way round over them. Some had really tight turns which I thought he'd struggle to make, but he was fine. Numpty mother however made his life difficult by forgetting where number 6 was and having to turn on a sixpence, sorry Max!
He went back to the lorry and was happily on board munching away.
Magic's turn. Warmed up amazingly. Really the best ever. More through, actually me riding from leg to hand... not running from me. Me actually RIDING the beast. Best ever canters, just lovely.
Then I stopped and chatted for a bit, then cos it had been so nice, asked for video of next bit. Oh, quelle surprise, I rode like a plank. Actually, if I rode like a plank literally, I'd probably be better off than the wobbly bobbly person I am when on Magic. Sigh.
Decided I needed to just imagine I was riding Max, who has a lovely long stride and a gorgeous rhythm.... and that improved things a lot.... but still felt like I'd blown it....
Went in to ride round waiting for bell, and riding as if he's Max gets harder when Magic is glaring at the wings at the side and leaping sideways in an indian rubber ball stylee. If only Magic had Max's brain, wow, what a horse! He makes me feel like a lump of jelly. And not particularly talented jelly at that!
Also, glaring means I don't have a chance of getting his ears, or control of the speed of his legs. Was not at this point expecting much TBH!
Bell goes, in we go. Trot work was MUCH improved on last tests and the 2nd warm up. Canter felt fab but madam here forgot the test.... you have to canter around for about 2 laps.... as well as doing loops etc. Poor both of us! Canter change of leg through trot was nice, given we haven't practiced any of the novice movements for years! Sorry Magic (notice a theme developing here?!)
So, actually really pleased. He was much calmer and more rideable than the last test we did here and the vid looks good in places (no sarky comments about, yes like when we are asking the judge where to go, whoops!) We got 63%. Very pleased, especially with yet another error of course from rider.... :whistlesinnocently:
Back to lorry for quick change of stirrups and breastplate on. Out to the outdoor in the howling gale, where they have been tearing down the trees alongside. Of course, did Max care about any of this? Nope. Did Magic? Ohhhhh, yessss.
I walked him round calmly for a bit, and then trotted, but I was never going to improve the spook factor of the far side. I got reminded to ride him as if he's Max.... which does really help...but I think I was drowning a bit.
Canter, zoom off, so circled a couple of times until civilised (ish). Jumped practice fence. Ballooned once, dropped to trot 2nd time, managed to do it nicely 3rd time. Then course. Felt absolutely awful. Thank god for my video-er, because watched it back and apart from the number of "misses" due to my attempt at hands down and don't fiddle, the control is still there. And he was about as tense as its possible for him to be. So I should be pleased.
Jumps were far too small, but to do 3" you had to do an elemental test, and after the amount of canter in that Novice, no way am I trying a Elem for a bit!
But sometimes I could just cry, I try so hard, he makes me sweat buckets, and I still feel like a lump of jelly. Hey ho. On the plus side, he tried his hardest to stay calm in the stressage, and he stayed under control when very very tense jumping.
How long til can get calmness for jumpies? Well, we can only watch and wait!!
The star of the show is most definately Maxwell. I can't believe the change in that horse. He is quite simply a superstar. I might end up having to sell him because he is just toooo good!
We got ready, got on and went to warm up. No dinosaur. All very lovely. I forgot my back brace so sent marvellous groom/video-er back for it. Having only really walked thus far, he stood and let me fiddle it on. He wouldn't have managed that last outing!
Warmed up very well. Cocked his head to the other horses but was ignoring them much better. Into the scary indoor.... "is it?" says Max... "why?".
Bell goes, and we saunter round our test with me thinking push out into my back. It went well! He was a bit tired from all the transitions in the warm up and probably from Tues night (and then a mad gallop round the field yest). So by the time we got to canters I was onto pony club kicks. He lost a leg on the left canter, and then decided he needed to poo mid right-canter, which meant trot and cue lots more pony club kicks from me. Stylish!
But, he's just so darn easy! Got the sheet back and we got 61.4% !! Go Max! We got an 8 for our entry, and a few 7s and then a 4 for our pooing-not-cantering. Really nice comment "Lots to like, forwards and obedient but needs to be more between leg and hand". Absolutely spot on and fair enough. And watching the video back, he is already not looking so much like an extra long blunderbus! Civilisation here we come! Made worse when I realised he should have had more marks - I'd free walked at the wrong place - sorry Max!
Took him back for a breather before the jumpies. Bearing in mind we have not left the floor since the last CT here, which was.... May I think! He was a star! Just picked up canter and lobbed his way round over them. Some had really tight turns which I thought he'd struggle to make, but he was fine. Numpty mother however made his life difficult by forgetting where number 6 was and having to turn on a sixpence, sorry Max!
He went back to the lorry and was happily on board munching away.
Magic's turn. Warmed up amazingly. Really the best ever. More through, actually me riding from leg to hand... not running from me. Me actually RIDING the beast. Best ever canters, just lovely.
Then I stopped and chatted for a bit, then cos it had been so nice, asked for video of next bit. Oh, quelle surprise, I rode like a plank. Actually, if I rode like a plank literally, I'd probably be better off than the wobbly bobbly person I am when on Magic. Sigh.
Decided I needed to just imagine I was riding Max, who has a lovely long stride and a gorgeous rhythm.... and that improved things a lot.... but still felt like I'd blown it....
Went in to ride round waiting for bell, and riding as if he's Max gets harder when Magic is glaring at the wings at the side and leaping sideways in an indian rubber ball stylee. If only Magic had Max's brain, wow, what a horse! He makes me feel like a lump of jelly. And not particularly talented jelly at that!
Also, glaring means I don't have a chance of getting his ears, or control of the speed of his legs. Was not at this point expecting much TBH!
Bell goes, in we go. Trot work was MUCH improved on last tests and the 2nd warm up. Canter felt fab but madam here forgot the test.... you have to canter around for about 2 laps.... as well as doing loops etc. Poor both of us! Canter change of leg through trot was nice, given we haven't practiced any of the novice movements for years! Sorry Magic (notice a theme developing here?!)
So, actually really pleased. He was much calmer and more rideable than the last test we did here and the vid looks good in places (no sarky comments about, yes like when we are asking the judge where to go, whoops!) We got 63%. Very pleased, especially with yet another error of course from rider.... :whistlesinnocently:
Back to lorry for quick change of stirrups and breastplate on. Out to the outdoor in the howling gale, where they have been tearing down the trees alongside. Of course, did Max care about any of this? Nope. Did Magic? Ohhhhh, yessss.
I walked him round calmly for a bit, and then trotted, but I was never going to improve the spook factor of the far side. I got reminded to ride him as if he's Max.... which does really help...but I think I was drowning a bit.
Canter, zoom off, so circled a couple of times until civilised (ish). Jumped practice fence. Ballooned once, dropped to trot 2nd time, managed to do it nicely 3rd time. Then course. Felt absolutely awful. Thank god for my video-er, because watched it back and apart from the number of "misses" due to my attempt at hands down and don't fiddle, the control is still there. And he was about as tense as its possible for him to be. So I should be pleased.
Jumps were far too small, but to do 3" you had to do an elemental test, and after the amount of canter in that Novice, no way am I trying a Elem for a bit!
But sometimes I could just cry, I try so hard, he makes me sweat buckets, and I still feel like a lump of jelly. Hey ho. On the plus side, he tried his hardest to stay calm in the stressage, and he stayed under control when very very tense jumping.
How long til can get calmness for jumpies? Well, we can only watch and wait!!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
RC lesson
Today I braved taking Magic for a short trundle to see how he is. He was very spooky and struggled to concentrate on anything for longer than a nanosecond. So I'd say he's feeling better then!
This evening, Max and Dan went to the riding club lesson.
Dan looks like a totally different horse and is now doing fabby work in canter as well as trot.
Max was an absolute star. He can suddenly REALLY canter. In balance and everything. We had to do loops in off the track.... erm hello, he can't even canter a circle yet!! So we tried, and amazingly, he did a really good job of it. I need to think lean back into my back in the canter, or he pulls me over his withers. Once I was back enough and kneeling enough, then it felt fabby!
Trot was good too. A little bit drift in on the right rein, but I suspect a portion of it is my ineptitude with shearing the boards that way.
I wore the back brace and it really helped me to focus on my core strength. I need to do more narrow in pelvis and thighs on Max.... for some reason its harder on him because he is narrower, you'd think it would be easier!
I need to sling shot massively on him, and keep my bear down and my core really engaged for the rise/sit and also to GET to the top of the rise (boring, yes, still the same things!).
Then we did direct transitions and he was fabby at these two! Really switched on and in front of my leg. Never felt him like it.
Am very excited about him now, he felt, dare I say it, athletic, tonight!!
Combined training on Thurs, Max at 11.34 stres and Magic at 2.13... yawn. Well, I did want enough time between!!!
This evening, Max and Dan went to the riding club lesson.
Dan looks like a totally different horse and is now doing fabby work in canter as well as trot.
Max was an absolute star. He can suddenly REALLY canter. In balance and everything. We had to do loops in off the track.... erm hello, he can't even canter a circle yet!! So we tried, and amazingly, he did a really good job of it. I need to think lean back into my back in the canter, or he pulls me over his withers. Once I was back enough and kneeling enough, then it felt fabby!
Trot was good too. A little bit drift in on the right rein, but I suspect a portion of it is my ineptitude with shearing the boards that way.
I wore the back brace and it really helped me to focus on my core strength. I need to do more narrow in pelvis and thighs on Max.... for some reason its harder on him because he is narrower, you'd think it would be easier!
I need to sling shot massively on him, and keep my bear down and my core really engaged for the rise/sit and also to GET to the top of the rise (boring, yes, still the same things!).
Then we did direct transitions and he was fabby at these two! Really switched on and in front of my leg. Never felt him like it.
Am very excited about him now, he felt, dare I say it, athletic, tonight!!
Combined training on Thurs, Max at 11.34 stres and Magic at 2.13... yawn. Well, I did want enough time between!!!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Improvements....
In Magic, the weather and in Max and Dan's ability to cope with a storm! Granted, we had it least bad of the whole country, but hey. It was still wet, windy and wild!!
Magic first. Temp at 2pm was 37.6. Temp at 6pm was 38.1 (eeek, rising).... Temp at 8am this morning (38.1). So maybe stable then!
Meanwhile, Max and I and P and Dan rode out in the storm.... they were very good! Quarter sheets where threatening to blow over our heads, but I was very proud of them both. (Safety in numbers, I wouldn't have liked either of our chances out on our own!)
And then, the weather changed and its now beautiful... so Max and I are off out again. Then they can have the rest of the day on the top field :yummygrassalert:
Magic first. Temp at 2pm was 37.6. Temp at 6pm was 38.1 (eeek, rising).... Temp at 8am this morning (38.1). So maybe stable then!
Meanwhile, Max and I and P and Dan rode out in the storm.... they were very good! Quarter sheets where threatening to blow over our heads, but I was very proud of them both. (Safety in numbers, I wouldn't have liked either of our chances out on our own!)
And then, the weather changed and its now beautiful... so Max and I are off out again. Then they can have the rest of the day on the top field :yummygrassalert:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
