This is from her second greenie show on 5/8/10. I remember we didn't do cantering under saddle yet so I just showed her in the walk/trot classes. We did two that day. That was all my legs could take. Believe it or not, we took second in this class.
I think this may have been the judge noticing Chev was the only one in the class who was actually "green". There was a whole lot of crank/yanking going on with some of the other horses. You can see some of it in the video.
But no matter!
My point with posting this video is to show how much her movement has changed from that time.
In case you can't tell, Chev is the Amazon...I am in the blue hunt coat simultaneously trying with all my might to keep her going, while attempting to steer clear of other horses (and the judge) on a horse that is just learning how to steer.
I remember I was actually, literally sweating through all of this. Half way through I felt like my legs were going to give out. Some of it was nerves, but most of it was sheer muscle exhaustion.
She took so much leg at this point to keep going that I remember I almost died when the announcer asked for "extended trot". Crap! That's what we were doing already! Where do I go from here?
Are you surprised that one of my goals in her training has been for her to take light leg? Ha, ha. My equitation is understandably terrible in the video as I attempt to keep us from dying.
You can also see pretty easily how much she is "on the forehand" here. She is really heavy up front. And I am not helping the situation much with my death grip on the reins.
HOWEVER. As a young horse Chev needed a lot of support from her rider. She needed something to help her keep balance. So my contact at this point at least has a reason behind it.
There is a brief moment at 1:04 where she drops her head and powers up over her back from her hindquarters. It lasts about 2 seconds. That was about all the collection she could maintain back then. But I remember it happening--it felt like she locked into powerhouse mode. Like she was finally all the way in gear. It felt great. She could really move in that position, but she didn't yet have the muscle to keep it up.
I also submit this as evidence that I am actually a huntseat rider.
Not that you'd know it these days...
Chev as a 5 year old, her past life as a huntseat horse
I ride dressage so it always cracks me up to see a 'death grip' that doesn't involve any contact at all! If you wanna see death grip, I'll have to take a video camera with me and try and catch my bad moments on film. Since I already am working with much stronger contact, my death grip is a serious problem. My trainer has to get after me because I'm either holding on for dear life or dropping the contact altogether, which in dressage is a big no-no.
ReplyDeleteYou and Chev are adorable in English tack though!
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ReplyDeleteYou should have your trainer take a video! Even if it's not something you want to post up, I think it's really awesome to be able to see yourself ride and how the horse is reacting.
ReplyDeleteThe video I posted from my ride yesterday was the first time I've seen myself ride since the greenie classes. And wow, has my equitation deteriorated! But I can see that my corrections and releases are fairly subtle and my riding is generally quiet. So I guess I'm happy about that.
Thanks for the compliment--if I had an english saddle that fit her ever-widening shoulders I would still be riding her huntseat...but sadly my Frank Baines became way too small for her as she grew and I had to sell it. Maybe someday I'll get her going english again. She wants to be a western horse, but it doesn't hurt to be well rounded!