EE Lesson

was a major success. a dearth of pictures though - it was too wet to leave the camcorder on a fence this morning, although did dry up this afternoon. emma used the digital camera this afternoon but the new batteries that i'd put in at about 11 am this morning, gave up the ghost after only about 6 pictures!!! gggrrrhhh.... clearly been hanging around the shop for too long before i bought them.

slightly late start - Emma got held up with traffic, roadworks and torrential rain, so the 2 hours was 2 3/4 eek.

anyway, she arrived, and the first thing was clicker/groundwork. And the first thing on that was getting the bridle on! Molly picked that idea up really quickly, so will be doing that for minor bridle tantrums from now on.

Molly picked up the in hand idea really quickly, and once I'd been shown what to do (which was what i wanted - we agreed that all the books etc aren't at all the same as having someone actually show you what you are meant to be doing) and Emma even got her going sideways and a couple of steps of shoulder in! and she was starting to soften.

We did get a bit wet during all this - all in all about 1 1/2 hours of that - but it was all good.

I had to keep reminding myself to stop looking at Molly's head, but look where I'm going, and it does put quite a twist on the body so I'll need to ensure i wear neck and back support for that. But good.

Then we went for a rather nice lunch at the pub up the road, we were severely underdressed (it is very new - previous building pulled down and this is a totally new building!) but they were very good about it.

After lunch, riding. Emma agrees with me i need to do something about more padding under the saddle - shame I sold that suberpad I had under the cheyenne, it's true what they say, never sell anything horsey, you never know when you'll want it again!

this is a "before" pic

so ridden work. After watching me for 5, Emma got on = i always like that in a teacher, because, as Emma says, unless you've ridden the horse yourself you don't really know what it's like! So she got her softening to the bit with a seriously light contact - then i got back on.

Essentially, i have to do the opposite of what I've been told to do for years. e.g. on circles, push with the outside leg and rein and have pretty much no contact at all with the inside. At one point she said "give it away" and I literally did! tee hee.....

So we did an awful lot of that and Molly was with me, rounding up under me, very soft and light, fantastic feeling. and she was maintaining this on halts, and when moving off again (something i'd never managed to get!)

I even managed to get some sideways movement. Essentially, Molly hadn't been grasping that at all, and now she does.

Then we moved to trot - but only to get the upwards transition, me to not be tense and try and do the same with hand/leg as in walk, and then straight back to walk again.

We did click/treat through all this, but by the finish, Molly didn't really want any more treats!!!!!

We are both "sided & twisted" (that is, molly & I) as a result of our respective various injuries so don't always help each other that way.

my right leg is much worse than my left (interesting, as my left is the injured one - maybe i don't do horrid things with it because it is injured?!)

But this was fantastic work for where Molly had been before. Emma agreed with me that she's got the talent, if i can get it together to get us there....

and this is an "after" pic
So I'm to do an awful lot of walk work, working on this softness and getting me and her right, lots of serpentines, circles, leg yield, shoulder for (i think i finally grasp the concept of shoulder for) just one or two good steps of each till she gets it and then building up...

Emma thought that Molly's issues right rein relate back to her previous injury with the off hind, and that makes sense - it's the same reason she won't happily let me pick up her near hind to pick the hoof out.

And this so emphasises why I was unhappy with my last lesson with my local RI .... sad to say, don't think i'll be going to her again .... save possibly for an odd lunge lesson, and even then, she doesn't want me to take my own saddle...

but I can't use Molly for lunge lessons, and probably won't be able to for a while.

Will see emma again, possibly in a few months time and needs to be nearer her!!!!