September 15, 2006

grids

Silvi was a very exciteable little girl today when I got on her, I think flying insects were getting at her because there was a lot of tail (stump?) swishing. And when we first got into the arena she seemed to think that absolutely everything was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen.


She settled really quickly and I did some canter in a 2-point or jumping position. Then later popped my stirrups up a hole as they were feeling a bit too long.


The grid we set up for her was 3 crossrails, with a placement pole between each element to help her fit that good one stride in, as well as (hopefully) encourage her to look down a little more and at what was coming up. I love the second photo below, she just looks so happy! I also think it shows that she was starting to look more at what was coming up.


I put 2 elements up to half-barrel height and by that stage she was getting her striding bang on, and looking where she was going, but still not really stretching down - so I thought I'd try a bit more of a spread where she might have to stretch. It seems she knows better than me and she just popped over it like it wasn't there.


So while I'm really impressed with her learning, I still need to look at a few more ways to get her head and neck stretched down over the fences. I think more poles in her flatwork might be good for this and possibly some unevenly spaced poles - will see what I can come up with over the weekend.

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