Gray Bay Parade

Group riding lessons. 

How to play well with other children. 

How to keep it together when warming up for the start of an endurance ride. 

Had a lesson on Friday with Sheila/Bill, Uwe/Samba and Heidi/Inca. Luba was a pill. She did NOT like Inca being anywhere in her vicinity.  She needed remedial help.  We had to work away from the other horses on our own circle at one end of the ring. It took about 20 minutes of bending and halting for her to find her focus.  Good thing Sonja is so comfortable with horses and people with special needs. We all have special needs.

We never did join the others on their circle, but we did have left and right lead canter enjoyment by the end :)

After the lesson ended, we did trot/canter intervals down the driveway. It it about a 1/4 mile long and we did it 10 times. By the end, Luba was starting to breathe hard. I practised relaxing and lengthening my inner thigh, especially up high.

We joined the group lesson on Saturday. Sonja suggested I arrive early and warm Luba up away from the sand ring. So we went to the grassy spot near the gate and repeated our bending and turning lesson as the others arrived in their cars and opened and closed the gate.  Luba settled quickly and walked calmly up to the barn. We continued bending and turning on the lawn as people made final adjustments to their tack.

We were six horses in total, including Samba and Inca. We were three grays and three bays. Sonja put all the bays at the front of the line and all the grays at the back and we worked on precision riding. Walk, halt, turns on forehand, trot, change hand, canter, turn back on centre line, change direction. Then she mixed us up, one bay, one gray. Everybody walk, front horse canter around the school. Then two front horses canter around the school. Sonja took much pleasure in the symmetry of the colour coordination :)

The best news is that Luba and I did not need remedial help today! I carried a crop which also helped with her focus. We participated fully in the lesson and even picked up our left lead with some help from Sonja on the timing. 

now (imagine you are cantering)

Now (imagine you are cantering)

NOW you are cantering!

I do not have a great sense of where Luba's feet are when I am riding. So we are going to work on feeling the right moment to ask for left canter.

We cooled out by walking up the laneway, past the paddock where Bill and Luba live. Bill was quite miffed that Luba was out riding without him. He accompanied her down the side of the paddock and when we carried on past and towards the back trails, he started to protest. Big gallops around the field and huge bucks. Beauty in motion! 

Luba is also looking lovely. She is getting free choice forage and less feed (down to 4 cups of Evolution Elite twice a day). I am saving the Xplosion feed for race day ;)

Here is how she looked in the warm morning sunshine today.

Serious Moonlight May 6, 2012 at Horses of the Sun