PrintAfter riding Wildflower on Saturday afternoon, I was anxious to get to the hotel to email my blog. As I got into the truck, turned the key and waited for the glow plug light to go off, I had a sinking feeling that something wasn’t right with the truck. It took four times to get it to start while at the barn, and then when I tried to start it again at my trailer, it was dead. Click click click. That's all I heard.
Great, am I going to be stranded in Canada? Well it couldn't be that bad—I'd have lots of young horses to ride at Knights Gate Hanoverian farm, but then my horses and students in Michigan might be a bit upset if I didn't come home.
I found David, the other owner of the farm, and told him of my plight. He quizzed me about the truck (what make, model, year, diesel or gasoline?) and popped the hood and said it sounded like a battery issue.
OK, not too bad then. I called my husband Brian, and he also said it sounded like a battery problem. David said he would look at it on Sunday because we (all the riders, Walter, his wife Heidi and David and Leslie) were going to dinner and had to be at the restaurant by 6 p.m.
I hitched a ride with David and Leslie to the restaurant, a huge place called Mandarin. It was an Asian food buffet with every imaginable type of sushi, egg roll, chicken, shrimp, beef, salad and dessert you could imagine. We had a great time and good conversation, and I'm sure everyone ate WAY too much!
On to Sunday....
With another day under our belt of riding with Heir Zettl, Ike and I felt ready to do a bit more. Once again we did our customary warm-up at the walk. Ike is starting to get the hang of stretching out towards the bit, and Walter was very enthusiastic!
Because the relaxation took less time at the walk, we proceeded to our trot work sooner. Walter started focusing more on my equitation, which really affected my function as a rider. My hands, although I think they are close together, need to be even closer together. Walter says that we should keep our hands close together in order to keep the horse framed in an imaginary triangle. He is also having me close my knees more against the horse at all gaits. I have a tendency to open my knees especially at the walk, which causes my lower leg to move around too much and bump the horse's side.
We continued working on transitions through the gaits, but today we started to collect the trot. I would pick up the sitting trot, then half-halt with my seat and legs and a tiny bit with my inside hand, then close my legs and get Ike to trot forward a bit more, then collect again, then push him forward.
By the end of this exercise I had him sitting back more on his hindquarters. We also worked on turn on the haunches, which has always been challenging for me. Walter explained that I need to use my aids LESS and be quieter with them. The horse should be slightly bent in the direction you are turning, with your inside leg as the driving leg and your outside KNEE turning the shoulders. The half-halt comes from the inside hand. After softening my outside leg and using my knee, we had some VERY nice turn on the haunches! One of my "AH HA" moments of the clinic.
