Extension Awakened

Last night I had a lesson on my little Pumpkin head. I arrived at the barn a little later than normal, maybe 1745ish. S was teaching a walk trotter so I had a little bit of extra time to groom Vinny than normal.

Here is his reaction to me calling out “Vinnyyyyy” when I walk up to his stall:



Yep. That's my boy caught off guard, mid chew.

  

I got to curry his lovely coat twice instead of the usual one. J I love doing this because it makes it his coat shiny. Between him trying to nip and play with me, I finally got him tacked up and ready to go.

Here is a pic of my saddle that has thankfully lasted me a long time. This surprises me because of how cheap I bought it. Also notice my pretty saddle pad I got from Smartpak. I have kind of decided on my own what Vinny’s ‘colors’ would be. I don’t think K or S care much, but to me I think he looks spectacular in Navy and Royal Blue.

We took a long time walking around the ring and watching a couple of riders jump their horses while S went on a mad-hunt for his spurs. Unfortunately there was no such luck. After the other riders left the indoor, we began our warm up with several laps of working trot. Around and around we went, making a circle at A and circle at C. This is something I plan to work on either tonight or tomorrow. Even though his lateral movement on a circle has greatly improved, his impulsion dies every time. Therefore we really need to work on maintaining the same rate through our circles, changes of direction, etc.

S had me do just a small amount of jump position at the trot, remembering how my leg muscles are affected by this. Then we moved onto canter work.  I did a few laps around the ring both in full seat and half seat, and practiced a hand gallop down the long sides.

Next S chose to have us work on lateral movement at the canter. This is something we haven’t done in a lesson yet, but I do on my own time. I picked up a nice canter and made a big circle using almost half of the ring. I then applied pressure with my inside leg, while keeping strong contact with my outside rein, asking him to bend and move his hind leg over slightly. We are pretty dang good at this!  

I then asked him to transition down to the trot and we began to work on extension. I really do love when my boy does his on his own. He is still amped up from the canter, so his trot stride stays big and open, and his head and neck lower slightly. I wish I could see him do this.

This whole extended trot down from the canter is all nice and well, but I don’t feel like that’s the way I want to ask for it. So I bring him down to a walk and we relax for a little. Then I ask for a quick transition into the trot, squeezing on each down post, opening my reins slightly, and posting higher but landing softer. He responds to this aid immediately and I am rewarded with his lengthy, springy, forward movement. He is actually propelling himself forward using his HIND end! Yay!

S and I end the lesson on this note. We then had a long convo about working on this exercise on non-lesson days.

We are having the masseuse out soon to do Vinny. It’s been about three months since his last one and I think part of his back is bothering him. Also S mentioned that we might need to refit K’s saddle as his body shape is changing from being in work six days/week.

I took Vinny back to the crossties, untacked and groomed. Then took him over the wash stall to wash his legs off. I like to make sure that he looks presentable for his next ride. So I scrub down his back legs of any doodie, brush out his tail with conditioner and then brush his body down with a soft brush and coat conditioner. He is so spoiled.

hole-digger.

Checked to make sure he had hay, water, etc.

Then home to eat dinner and paint my nails. J pretty good evening.